Biden administration grants immunity to Saudi crown prince, murderer of Jamal Khashoggi
By Patrick Martin US State Department has granted immunity to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, shielding him from prosecution for the murder of Saudi political dissident and legal permanent US resident Jamal Khashoggi. The decision was disclosed last week and widely reported on Friday. This action shows that the Biden administration’s
Wickremasinghe Government to employ school-going youth in “part time” jobs
By Sanjaya W. Jayasekera Wickremasinghe government's neo-liberal labour liberalization process has started. The government is about to amend existing labour laws to remove restrictions imposed on youth and women employment. Under Sri Lankan law "young persons" have been defined as those between the age range of 16 to 18 years, while
In a conspiracy against the People, Sri Lanka Parliament elects Ranil Wickremasinghe the President
By Sanjaya W. Jayasekera On 20 July, Sri Lanka Parliament constitutionally elected the former Prime Minister and acting President, Wickremasinghe, a right-wing politician and the longtime leader of the United National Party(UNP), as the eighth President of the island. Rejected by the people, his appointment is anti-democratic. His election was
US Supreme Court abolishes constitutional right to abortion
By Eric London On Friday, at the stroke of a pen, six unelected judges ended the right to abortion, dramatically altering the country’s legal and social landscape. For the first time in American history, the Supreme Court eliminated a fundamental constitutional right broadly recognized and supported by the overwhelming majority of
US Supreme Court orders state funding of religious education in Maine
By John Andrews Yesterday, the US Supreme Court demolished more of what once stood as a “wall of separation between church and state,” embodied in the first clause of the first sentence of the First Amendment to the Constitution, the prohibition against government “establishment of religion.” Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for
What Next for Global Growth? WEF, Davos 2022
We considered it important that our readers pay critical attention to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting held between 22 to 26 May in Davos, Switzerland. We re-publish here the full transcript from a panel discussion titled "What Next for Global Growth?" with Tom Keene, Managing Editor, Bloomberg Television &
Sri Lanka at centre of growing debt and inflation crisis
By Nick Beams Sri Lanka, now engulfed by ongoing demonstrations and protests, is at the centre of a debt storm ripping through a swathe of lower-income countries. This is bringing social devastation for hundreds of millions of people as capitalist governments, banks, financial speculators and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) demand
Sri Lankan government tables sham amendments to draconian anti-terrorism law
By Sanjaya Jayasekera Early last month, the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G. L. Peiris tabled an amendment bill in parliament to the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) with debate to begin on March 8. Two petitions filed in the Supreme Court challenging the unconstitutionality of the amendments are yet
Poorer countries facing sovereign debt crisis
By Nick Beams The move by the US Federal Reserve and other major central banks to lift interest rates in response to rising inflation threatens to set off a sovereign debt crisis for many so-called emerging market economies and low-income countries. Numerous warnings to this effect have been made since the beginning
US supreme court will hear challenge to affirmative action in college admission
Harvard and University of North Carolina are defendants, giving majority-conservative court an opportunity to overturn precedent. Historically, the supreme court has upheld the use of race-based considerations in college admissions since first affirmative action case in 1974. The US supreme court agreed on Monday to hear a pair of cases on race-based