Devyani case: Angry India takes more retaliatory steps
NEW DELHI, Dec 28 (Reuters) – India has sought details about staff in American schools in the country for possible tax violations and revoked ID cards of US consular officials and their families, retaliatory steps for the arrest of an Indian diplomat in New York. The measures suggest that the two countries are no closer [...]
The international misrule of law
NEW DELHI – On the face of it, China’s recent declaration of an air defence identification zone (ADIZ) extending to territories that it does not control has nothing in common with America’s arrest and strip-search of a New York-based Indian diplomat for allegedly underpaying a housekeeper she had brought with her from India. In fact, [...]
New Christian sign directory launched
“I couldn’t come to terms with the fact that all 10 children failed!” exclaims General Secretary of the Ceylon Bible Society (CBS) Lakshani Fernando. After her visit to The School for the Hearing Impaired in Ratmalana in 2008 she discovered that all 10 candidates who sat for the Christianity paper at the Ordinary Level Examinations [...]
3rd generation lawyer Rajin Gooneratne takes his oaths
Rajin Wickrama Gooneratne, son of Justice Anil Gooneratne and the late Ruwani Gooneratne took his oaths as an Attorney at Law of the Supreme Court on Dec 18 before Chief Justice Mohan Peiris and Justices S. Hettige and Rohini Marasinghe. Mr. Gooneratne is a third generation lawyer; his paternal grandfather was one time High Court [...]
Visually Handicapped choir perform traditional carols
The season’s sounds were rendered by the choir of visually impaired of the Sri Lanka Federation of The Visually Handicapped entertaining guests at the Blue Water hotel in Wadduwa. The choir of 16 performed traditional carols to delight guests. Spreading their music for over 15 years throughout shopping malls, hotels and anywhere else they are [...]
Celebrating Sri Lankan contemporary art
Supporting the rich and expanding field of contemporary arts in Sri Lanka, Colomboscope 2014, celebrates contemporary literature, music , dance and theatre for the second consecutive year by bringing together writers, academics, cultural commentators, and performance artistes from Sri Lanka, Europe and the region. Organised by the Goethe Institut, the British Council, and Alliance Francaise, [...]
Sunsilk Hair Academy holds ‘Great Gatsby’ themed graduation
The annual graduation ceremony of the Ramani Fernando- Sunsilk Hair Aacademy, the ninth of its kind took place earlier this month at the Kingsbury Hotel. This year’s theme was ‘the Great Gatsby’. Over 100 soon-to-be hair stylists and beauticians presented their final project of dressing models. 18 out of these 100 students were scholarship owners. [...]
UN journalism: Gold for Thalif
Thalif Deen, UN Bureau Chief for Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency and a former columnist for the Sunday Times, received one of the highest honours for excellence in UN reporting at the annual awards ceremony hosted by the UN Correspondents’ Association (UNCA) in New York last week. Deen shared a joint gold medal with [...]
Rescue of stranded Antarctic ship stalls
SYDNEY, Dec 28 (AFP) -Passengers onboard a ship stuck in ice off Antarctica were today placing their hopes in the Australian icebreaker hurrying to their remote location, after a Chinese icebreaker failed to free them. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), which is coordinating the rescue of the Russian passenger ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy, said [...]
China eases one-child policy, abolishes labour camps
BEIJING, Dec 28 (AFP) -China’s top legislative committee formally approved a loosening of the country’s hugely controversial one-child policy today and abolished “re-education through labour” camps, state media reported. The decisions were taken by the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s rubber-stamp parliament, at the conclusion of a six-day meeting, according to Xinhua [...]
India anti-graft hero sworn in as Delhi top leader
NEW DELHI, Dec 28 (AFP)- Anti-corruption champion Arvind Kejriwal was sworn in today as chief minister of India’s national capital region in what supporters hoped would mark a turning point in the nation’s graft-ridden politics. Huge cheers rang out as Kejriwal, who arrived for the ceremony on the city’s subway, took the oath office in [...]
Gunman in deadly attack on Thai opposition rally
BANGKOK, Dec 28 (AFP) -A gunman opened fire at an opposition rally in Thailand today in a deadly attack that inflamed tensions in the politically divided kingdom, where anti-government protesters wreaked fresh havoc in election preparations. The shooting, which killed one demonstrator and wounded several others, follows weeks of mass street protests seeking to oust [...]
India’s Martian chronicles: space conquest and realities on the ground
NEW DELHI – The news that the Mars orbiter spacecraft Mangalyaan, launched by India on November 5, has left the Earth’s orbit, traversed the moon, and is on course for its ultimate destination, 400 million kilometers (249 million miles) away, brought early holiday cheer to Indians. Space missions have become a matter of pride for [...]
‘Angels exist but they don’t have wings’
A Catholic Church official has said angels do exist – but that they ‘do not have wings or look like cherubs’. Father Renzo Lavator, an ‘angelologist’, said the heavenly beings, which are ‘back in fashion’ thanks to New Age religions, are in fact more like shards of light. ‘You do not see angels so much [...]
SAARC anthem to celebrate our South Asianness
Fostering regional consciousness needs mammoth efforts. South Asia has a formal mechanism of cooperation in place among its member countries through the vibrant organisation of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). I visited foreign ministries and foreign service institutes of South Asian countries in 2004-2005. Those days the idea of deeper interaction among [...]
Cyclones: Sri Lanka’s underrated hazard
The recent devastation in the Philippines due to Typhoon ‘Haiyan’ once again reminded us of the threat of powerful storms in the tropics. Such rotating weather systems are called typhoons in Northwestern Pacific, ‘hurricanes’ in North Atlantic and Northeastern Pacific, and ‘cyclones’ in Indian Ocean Region and South Pacific. A satellite image of the tropical [...]
Mumbai’s last generation of letter writers signs out
MUMBAI (AFP) -Letter writer Shakil Ahmed is a proud keeper of secrets. For decades he penned the missives of Mumbai’s illiterate workers, whether lovers pledging devotion to faraway sweethearts or prostitutes sending home money while concealing their trade. Today, Ahmed is lucky if he gets to write an address. “Thousands of people used to come [...]
Sculptor Kapoor brings new stone works to old Istanbul
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – For his first major show in Turkey, famed Indian-born British sculptor Anish Kapoor brought huge works that have never before been exhibited to a gallery that ripped down walls to accommodate him. Massive slabs of rough-hewn slate, polished Iranian onyx and rough sandstone, weighing a combined 121 metric tons, dominate the galleries [...]
Cure your hangover with mashed potatoes
Waking up with a pounding head, a delicate stomach and mouth as dry as a desert is an all-too-familiar scenario for many over the festive season. It’s not just the pain you have to worry about. Having a hangover could also make you a danger behind the wheel, suggests a recent study from the University [...]
Dubai promises record-breaking New Year’s Eve firework show
DUBAI (AFP) -Dubai has promised to celebrate New Year’s Eve with a record-breaking extravaganza featuring over 400,000 fireworks, the largest display the world has ever seen, its government said. The United Arab Emirates city state, home to the world’s tallest tower, largest man-made island and one of the world’s busiest airports, will “break the Guinness [...]
Do you have two left feet? New smart socks can teach anyone how to dance
This could be the perfect gift for the partner who embarrasses you on the dance floor. Smart socks that can teach you to dance may be the answer for anyone with two left feet. The futuristic gadget was invented by an American company as a tool to help runners improve their technique. But the firm [...]
From despair to hope, dare to dream the impossible dream
As we move into 2014 in an era of savage capitalism with its vices of selfishness, self-centtredness and greed, wars, violence and wickedness, deception and double-dealing, corruption and plunder of public money, we yet need to begin the year on a hopeful note. Hope indeed springs eternal in human hearts and we could, for instance, [...]
Conflict resolution in Lanka: Three defining questions
The central issue that I want to address today is simple. What can we learn from the case of Sri Lanka – and particularly from controversy-ridden way in which the armed conflict ended – about the problems, and possibilities, of attempts at conflict resolution more generally? In particular, what can we learn about the establishment [...]
