spotlight

Port City is now picking up, after being a pile of sand for a decade. At least 150 companies have set up shop. But a closer look suggests that all may not be going according to plan. The zone has drawn local real estate speculators and questionable offshore companies, with few blue-chip investors.

As monks marched from Kandy to Colombo demanding a pardon for the monk Gnanasara, the government was busy updating prison rules. They plan to allow jailed monks to wear robes when appearing in court. Monastic orders will make the final call, deciding based on the vinaya.

Sixteen officials the NPP appointed have quit. Some feel micromanaged and politically pressured. Others find the government uncooperative or the work too difficult. Appeals to the “top leadership” failed. What will the government do to keep these academics, businessmen, and lawyers from leaving?

When diplomats visited Sivarasa Anojan in Saudi prison, Anojan had asked them to appeal his five-year prison sentence. But the appeal backfired and he was sentenced to death. The foreign ministry has now retained three Saudi law firms as it gears up for a legal-diplomatic defence.

The Anti-corruption Act and the 22nd amendment to the constitution passed the Supreme Court’s scrutiny this week. Discussing civil servants’ and judges’ asset declarations will soon be illegal. The government will also be able to appoint a majority of Appeal Court judges.

The Exams Department manually uploads every test score, while the UGC takes a long time verifying each candidate’s residence. Some universities are teaching five or six cohorts at once. It wasn’t always this way: students once entered university just six months after sitting their exams.

Namal Rajapaksa was arrested for the fourth time last week. He’s in a cell with other prisoners. In one previous case, he was acquitted. This time might be different. The SLPP is taking no chances, mobilising their supporters through rallies. The government, meanwhile, is also taking to the streets.

Following social media outrage about Facebook groups sharing non-consensual sexual photos and teaching participants how to drug their victims, the authorities reported four more groups. Over the years Meta’s content moderation has gotten weaker, activists say.

Part I of Richard Simon’s essay asked whether Ravana is supplanting Vijaya as the father of the Sinhalese race. Part II traces its historical origins and then why Hela Ravana took so long to penetrate Colombo’s English-speaking bubble.

Adults think they know what kids are up to on social media. They don’t. How do children and teenagers actually use the apps, and what do they think of plans to ban them? Seventeen-year-old Nadia Nagpal asks her fellow teens to find out.