Why our reservoirs cannot prevent floods during extreme rainfall
By Eng. Thushara Dissanayake Our recent experience with the massive disaster brought by Cyclone Ditwah clearly indicated how vulnerable the country is to an extreme rainfall event. The impacts fell mainly into two categories: flooding across the major river basins and numerous landslides in the hill country. Many major river basins, including the Mahaweli, Kelani, [...]
Sri Lanka participates at United Nations Alliance of Civilizations segment
Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ameer Ajwad headed the Sri Lanka delegation at the 11th Global Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh from December 14–15. Delivering Sri Lanka’s statement at the High-level Segment of the UNAOC on 14 [...]
Marketing torture: Right- or left-handed, abuse is abuse
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – Jeanne Kirkpatrick, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, once made a highly debatable distinction between “friendly” right-wing “authoritarian” regimes (which were mostly US and Western allies) and “unfriendly” left-wing “totalitarian” dictatorships (which the US abhorred). Around the same time, successive US administrations were cosying up to [...]
Rogue hegemons are sabotaging the global economy
By Arvind Subramanian, PROJECT SYNDICATE, EXCLUSIVE TO THE SUNDAY TIMES IN SRI LANKA WASHINGTON, DC – Although 2025 will probably be remembered as the year that US President Donald Trump upended the global trading system, the truth is that both of the world’s hegemons, the United States and China, have gone rogue. Surging US protectionism [...]