Modi surge incontrovertible
When Mr. Modi was named the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) prime ministerial candidate in September, it was too early to tell whether Indians were prepared to vote in large numbers for him. Following the BJP’s triumph in state elections in December, there were signs something was afoot. Now, with the recent release of three pre-election [...]
The Aerial Tribute
Stepping away from his field of medicine Dr. Nirosha Mendis has authored “The Aerial Tribute- The Role of Air Power in Defeating Terrorism in Sri Lanka” an in-depth account and insight into the air strategy formulated by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) during the final years of the 30- year civil war. In seven [...]
Rukshan Karunanayake releases Sinhala autism song
Rukshan Karunanayake is a young man on a mission. He wants to raise awareness of a serious issue in Sri Lanka – autism. There are 39,000 people with autism in our island and 67 million people on the spectrum around the world. They all need structured support. Rukshan recently released a beautiful and moving song [...]
The boy who won a million hearts
Aitizaz Hassan Bangash has taught the world the intensity of love – love that is ready to sacrifice a life little lived to ensure friends, peers and teachers keep living. He gave his life for hundreds of children and his family has vowed to help hundreds more. Aitizaz’s father Mujahid Ali has decided to set [...]
SWAN Sri Lanka and WCIC appeal against gender discriminatory legislation in Afghanistan
The Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce (WCIC) in association with the South Asia Women’s Network (SWAN) Sri Lanka has joined the Afghan Women’s Network (AWN) in appealing to President Hamid Karzai, to the Afghan National Assembly and to all legislative commissions, especially the Independent Oversight Commission on the Constitution, to uphold equality between women [...]
Legal instruments provide a pathway to peace
One publication that’s recently come across our desks here at United Nations Institute of Disarmament Research (UNIDR) is Vidya Abhayagunawardena’s new book Commonwealth States on Disarmament and Development: A Socioeconomic Analysis. The nature of the multilateral disarmament context in New York and Geneva often results in practitioners like diplomats, civil society advocates and United Nations [...]
Donated water purifiers protect children from kidney disease
It’s heartening to see that the problem of kidney diseases in the Raja Rata is taken seriously by at least several individuals who have taken the initiative in forming organisations to take necessary action. Special attention is focused on schoolchildren to prevent the disease spreading among the younger generation. The seriousness of the problem can [...]
Norochcholai power station: A challenge to our engineers
Suggestions have been made by certain interested persons to hand over the operation and maintenance of the Norochcholai Power Station to the Chinese Contractors, namely China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC). This company was partly responsible for numerous breakdowns due to the reported substandard quality of the equipment supplied following the unsolicited tender to the Government [...]
Resetting Indo-Lanka relations
It was gratifying to read the Sunday Times editorial of February 23, 2014 which referred to the Report of the Indo-Sri Lanka Study Group, established under a joint initiative of the Pathfinder Foundation (PF) and Manipal Global Education (MaGE) of India. As the editorial indicated, this Group comprised senior diplomats, academics, service personnel and economists. [...]
When a police officer’s rights are violated
In his book “Police & Rights”, former Inspector General of Police, Dr Frank de Silva, has laboured hard to elucidate the manifesting issues in regard to Police Action to Promote Rights. In this attempt he has cited an abundance of legal authorities to back up his assertions. Several eminent scholars and lawyers have commended it [...]
Sri Lanka women’s contribution to diplomacy and international relations
To write this article to be published in commemoration of International Women’s Day (March 8), I was inspired by Devi Balika Vidyalaya (Colombo) student Methsarani Lokuge’s response, when asked by the media about her objectives after her success at the 2013 GCE A/Level examination and becoming first in the island from the Arts Stream. She [...]
Facebook – the good, the bad and the ugly
The tragic death of beautiful and talented 16-year-old Grade-10 student Venusha Imanda Bandara who hanged herself with a sari at her home in Kurunegala raises many issues related to Facebook (FB). This is not the first case of student suicide in Sri Lanka and certainly not the last. A few years ago a girl from [...]
Oscar-nominated documentary scrapes at raw wound in Indonesia
JAKARTA/MADIUN, Indonesia, (Reuters) – A chilling documentary about one of the worst massacres since World War Two is up for an Academy Award this weekend. If it does win, don’t expect the Indonesian co-director to go on stage to receive an Oscar: he’s worried for his life. The nearly three-hour “Act of Killing” centres on [...]
Are Google’s doodles racist and sexist?
Activists have accused Google of being racist and sexist in their choice of figures to create the firm’s much loved Google Doodles for. Spark, which describes itself as a ‘girl-fuelled activist movement’, said its analysis found the majority of Google’s doodles were of white males. It said the accolade was the modern equivalent of being [...]
The coup in Ukraine: Obama’s dumbest plan yet
“Washington and Brussels … used a Nazi coup, carried out by insurgents, terrorists and politicians of Euromaidan to serve the geopolitical interests of the West.” – Natalia Vitrenko, The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine The United States helped defeat Nazism in World War 2. Obama helped bring it back. As you probably know by now, [...]
Rape of Ukraine: Phase II begins with NATO mercenaries
The events in Ukraine since November 2013 are so astonishing as almost to defy belief. A legitimately-elected (said by all international monitors) Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych, has been driven from office, forced to flee as a war criminal after more than three months of violent protest and terrorist killings by so-called opposition. His “crime” according [...]
China media hurls racist slur at departing US envoy
BEIJING, March 1(AFP) -A Chinese state media outlet used a racist slur to criticise departing US ambassador Gary Locke in an insulting commentary which even blamed him for Beijing’s notorious pollution. The 64-year-old became the first ethnic Chinese in the post when he was appointed in 2011, going on to gain quasi-celebrity status for his [...]
Pro-Russian forces tighten grip on Crimea
SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine, March 1(AFP) -Pro-Russian forces tightened their grip on Crimea today as the Kremlin vowed to help restore calm on the restive Ukrainian peninsula and Washington warned of “costs” to Moscow should it order in troops. Dozens of armed men in full combat gear were patrolling the streets of Crimea’s capital of Simferopol a [...]
Saudi hits back at Russia criticism on Syria
RIYADH, March 1 (AFP) -Saudi Arabia has hit back at Russian criticism of its reported plans to supply shoulder-launched missiles to Syrian rebels, saying it was Moscow’s support for Damascus that was prolonging the conflict. A spokesman told the official SPA news agency that the foreign ministry had been “astonished by Russian criticism of Saudi [...]
S. Korea warns Japan over war sex slavery review
SEOUL, March 1(AFP) -South Korean President Park Geun-Hye today warned Japan would face “isolation” if it pushed ahead with a move to revisit an apology over wartime sex slavery. Her warning, in a speech marking the anniversary of a 1919 anti-Japanese uprising, coincided with the opening of a rare exhibition on “comfort women” in Seoul, [...]
Three bomb blasts targeting Pakistan polio team kill 12
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, March 1 (AFP) -At least twelve people were killed and 11 injured when three roadside bombs targeting a polio vaccination team in Pakistan’s restive northwest exploded today, officials said. The blasts near the Afghan border were the latest attack on efforts to stamp out the crippling disease in Pakistan, which is one of [...]
Cambodia’s violent peace
CANBERRA – Cambodia’s government has been getting away with murder. Not the kind of genocidal slaughter conducted by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970′s. Nor the scale of killing that has been roiling Syria, or that has put Ukraine, Venezuela, Thailand, and Bangladesh in the global headlines of late. But murder nonetheless, with Cambodian citizens [...]
Now that’s a touchscreen
Imagine browsing through photos of animals and being able to stroke them through your phone’s screen, or ‘feel’ products before you buy them online. Japanese firm Fujitsu has developed a prototype tablet that uses ultrasound vibrations to mimic a variety of textures. These vibrations change the friction between the finger and the screen to trick [...]
Pomegranate power: Fruit’s design used to create batteries
An electrode designed like a pomegranate could dramatically boost the battery life of gadgets, researchers have revealed. Stanford researcher developed the new electrode with the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. They say it could soon find its way into gadgets, making them last far longer than current batteries which degrade over time. ‘While [...]
The home of the future is here
In the home of the future, the front door will ‘talk’ to your smoke alarm, lights will flash when the fridge door is left open and a teddy will put your child to bed. That’s the vision presented by Qualcomm at this year’s Mobile World Congress in its Connected Home, which shows how almost anything [...]
Strawberry yields forever
Strawberries could soon be available all year round, thanks to pioneering new technology which will help them grow out of season. Experts have developed new LED lighting for greenhouses which fool strawberry plants into thinking that it is spring rather than winter. The red and blue lights are low-energy, meaning they use less electricity than [...]
Moon punched in the face by a meteorite
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – A meteorite as large as 4-1/2 feet in diameter smashed into the moon in September, producing the brightest flash of light ever seen from Earth, astronomers said this week. Similarly sized objects pummel Earth daily, though most are destroyed as they plunge through the planet’s atmosphere. NASA says about 100 [...]
Boeing Black: This smartphone will self-destruct
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Boeing Co on Wednesday unveiled a smartphone that appears to come straight from a James Bond spy movie. In addition to encrypting calls, any attempt to open the casing of the Boeing Black Smartphone deletes all data and renders the device inoperable. The secure phone marks an extension of the communications [...]
Rock around the clock: Zircon crystal is oldest piece of Earth
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – To put it mildly, this is one gem of a gem. Scientists using two different age-determining techniques have shown that a tiny zircon crystal found on a sheep ranch in western Australia is the oldest known piece of our planet, dating to 4.4 billion years ago. Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience [...]
