Sri Lanka to resume refinery on Friday with Oman light crude

COLOMBO, (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s sole refinery, which was closed last week due to a delayed crude oil delivery, will resume operations in two days with an expected 1 million barrels of Omani crude, Oil Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said. The decades-old 50,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) refinery, which is configured to run […]



China to lend $580 mln for Sri Lanka development projects

(Reuters) – China Development Bank Corporation will lend $580 million to Sri Lanka to help implement key infrastructure projects, a government document released on Wednesday showed. The loan will bring CDB’s total lending to Sri Lanka to more than $1.4 billion. China’s increasing influence in the island nation has stoked concerns in neighbouring India. […]



The Historical Role of Buddhism and significance of Article 9 in Sri Lanka’s Constitution

  – by Shenali Waduge – The most powerful single factor in the development of Sri Lanka has been Buddhism evidence of which is available through 2300 years of predominantly Buddhist  governance. The status quo changed only with the arrival of Western colonials in 1505 ruling, plundering and removing Buddhism from its foremost place among […]




India has 3000 child soldiers!

– by Shenali Waduge – The international mainstream media is back in action with article headings reading “India has 3000 child soldiers”. Many would jump to the conclusion that the Indian Army is forcibly kidnapping and recruiting child soldiers. Is this so? Sri Lanka faced a similar media onslaught where many reporters were hesitant to […]



Sri Lanka opposition says government threatened to sack strikers

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s opposition parties and trade unions accused the government on Tuesday of threatening state employees with the sack if they took part in planned street protests against a sharp rise in electricity prices. Only a few hundred people joined the demonstrations, coordinated by the political opposition and trade unions, despite expectations […]



Hubby on strike; Maihtri at work

Prof. Maithri Wickremesinghe, wife of Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe reported for duty as usual at the Kelaniya University despite the so called ‘island-wide’ strike called by certain trade unions and organizations led by the UNP, JVP and TNA against the Government. […]




Get Kachatheevu back from Sri Lanka: Jaya to PM

Voicing concern over attacks on Indian fishermen, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Tuesday asked the Centre to take urgent steps for retrieval of Katchatheevu islet, ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974, besides redrawing the International Maritime Boundary Line. […]



Many children among 91 feared dead in tornado-hit Oklahoma

(Reuters) – At least 91 people, including 20 children, were feared killed when a 2 mile wide tornado tore through an Oklahoma City suburb, trapping victims beneath the rubble as one elementary school took a direct hit and another was destroyed. President Barack Obama declared a major disaster area in Oklahoma, ordering federal aid to […]






Awaiting Indictment of Allied Forces for strategic bombing and planned starvation of German CIVILIANS

  – by Shenali Waduge – The topic is accountability. The question is why has there been zero accountability of crimes against humanity committed by Allied Forces which specifically targeted civilian populations with strategic area bombing and post—war comprehensive starvation campaign that killed 2million German POWs and 5.7million German civilians – how else can such […]




Questioning “Final Days of War” – British and American accountability for Dresden and Hiroshima bombings

– by Shenali Waduge – “Final days of war” and accountability is the hot topic in the diplomatic and international arena. Let us ask the Germans and the Japanese what they thought of when the Allied Troops flattened Dresden the night prior to Valentine’s Day in 1945 in a 2 night blanket bombing using 3,300 […]