Manhood lost and regained
He was “less” of a man when he was rushed by the Puttalam Hospital in the “right manner” to the National Hospital in Colombo on Monday (October 7). The details of the incident which had occurred around 2 that morning, which led to the complete severance of the male reproductive organ comprising the penis and [...]
The long road to Expressway
October 27, 2013 is a significant day for all Sri Lankans, the highways sector and the engineering profession in general, when President Mahinda Rajapaksa inaugurates the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway. This is a project that many previous governments have attempted to complete but failed to make it a reality. As a person who has been involved in [...]
Healthy competition at annual dog show
The Kennel Association of Sri Lanka (KASL) officially introduced their judges for their annual All Breeds Championships being held this weekend at the Sports Ministry Grounds. The events included both breed verification and dog handling programmes held yesterday, Saturday October 12, and the championship show which will be held today, Sunday October 13 from 8.30 [...]
Lions mark White Cane Day
The Lion’s Club international, district 306 B1 organised a walk recently to mark the World Sight Day and World White Cane day which falls on Tuesday. The walk began near Wattala Police station and culminated at the Urban Council. About 200 visually impaired people also took part in the event. The club also awardeda visually [...]
Sennheiser Electronic Asia announces exclusive product partnership
The speakers were booming, the guitars picked up, a night of entertaining music ensued and the stars of the night were both the artistes and the sound system that brought about the pitch-perfect sound. With Sennheiser Electronic Asia officially announcing the award of sole distributorship for the music industry and professional audio products to Dynamic [...]
58th International Photographic Competition and Exhibition
The Photographic Society of Sri Lanka will hold its 58th annual International Photographic Competition and Exhibition from November 22 -24 at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery. The oldest photographic society of Sri Lanka, the PSSL was set up with the objectives of developing photography as “an art and a craft”. The roots of the society [...]
German street festival kicks off anniversary celebration
It was a fun celebration of the strong bond between two countries when the German Embassy organised a street festival to mark 60 years of diplomatic ties with Sri Lanka last Sunday. From German cars to German food, German music and German aid projects, puppeteers, street theatre and even a fashion show, the many stalls [...]
Chinese mock official for blaming cooking fumes for pollution
BEIJING (Reuters) – A Chinese official’s remarks that cooking fumes must share the blame for Beijing’s choking pollution drew ridicule from many microbloggers, who mocked the government for not addressing the root causes of smog that can blanket the city for days on end. The government has announced a series of plans over the years [...]
Standards ensure positive change: Whither implementation
Each year on October 14, the World Standards Cooperation celebrates World Standards Day as a means of paying tribute to the collaborative efforts of the thousands of experts worldwide who develop international standards. In doing so in a more fruitful manner, the WSC identifies each year a theme and runs a competition, to find the [...]
Latest migrant deaths fuel Italian, Maltese calls for EU action
ROME, Oct 12 (Reuters) – Italian calls for Europe to do more on the migrant crisis grew on Saturday and Malta’s prime minister said the Mediterranean was becoming a “cemetery” after another boat sank off Sicily, killing dozens more people. Italian and Maltese navy ships recovered 34 bodies and rescued 206 migrants after their boat [...]
Half a million people evacuated as cyclone lashes India
BHUBANESWAR, India, Oct 12 (AFP) -India evacuated nearly half a million people as massive cyclone Phailin closed in on the impoverished east coast today, with winds already uprooting trees and tearing into the flimsy homes. The storm packed gusts of up to 240 kilometres per hour (150 miles per hour) as it churned over the [...]
Obama against Republican plan on debt ceiling deal
WASHINGTON, Oct 12 (AFP) -President Barack Obama today came out against a proposal to extend for just weeks the country’s authority to borrow money as crisis talks with Republicans entered the 12th day. “It wouldn’t be wise, as some suggest, to just kick the debt ceiling can down the road for a couple of months, [...]
Overlooked schoolgirl Malala congratulates Nobel winner
LONDON (AFP) -Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl activist who was widely tipped to win the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, congratulated the eventual winners after missing out on the award. The 16-year-old, who was shot by the Taliban for championing girls’ right to an education, was overlooked for the prize, with the Nobel committee instead [...]
From Chandasoka to Dharmasoka
Asoka, the son of King Bindusara and grandson of King Chandragupta Maurya ascended the throne at Pataliputta in 269 BC. Prior to ascending the throne Asoka had functioned for ten years as the viceroy or the sub-king of Avanthiratta with Ujjain as the capital. On his way to Ujjain to take charge of the sub-rulership [...]
Colombo Medical School gets life support from alumnus body
The Colombo Medical school, now known as the Medical faculty of the University of Colombo, is 143 years old and the second oldest in Asia. Sri Lanka has eight state medical schools with around 1,500 qualifying as doctors every year. In addition, every year, about 300 doctors with foreign degrees qualify to practise medicine in [...]
The catastrophic cost of extended life-expectancy
More animals and birds are becoming endangered as humans live longer, scientists have warned. Previously, deforestation, intensive farming and more tourists flocking to rare habitats had been blamed for the extinction of the some of the world’s rarest animals. But now scientists believe it could be humans ever-increasing lifespan – being described ‘the determining factor’ [...]
Burning of the Jaffna Library: Tears and toil of a district secretariat
With retired Supreme Court Justice C.V. Wigneswaran taking oaths as the Chief Minister and as the Northern Provincial Council becomes operational, it is fitting that we also remember Yogendra Duraiswamy on his 90th birth anniversary this October as one who relentlessly worked for the economic development of the pre-war Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts. It was [...]
Pomegranates protect the heart
It is heartening news for those who can’t resist pigging out. Pomegranates could reverse some of the damage done by junk food, research suggests. A supplement made from the fruit helped keep blood vessels healthy, a key step in keeping heart attacks and strokes at bay. In the first study of its kind, Spanish researchers [...]
