How India is split over Narendra Modi
This is probably the first time that a general election in India is centred around one personality who is loved and loathed in equal measure. Mr. Modi, who has been chief minister of the western state of Gujarat since 2001, is seen as a dynamic and efficient leader who has made his state an economic [...]
India’s Singh wasn’t king, Modi could be
Everything except the title of Sanjaya Baru’s “The Accidental Prime Minister” has invited controversy. And the title escaped opprobrium only because Manmohan Singh, who has never won an election, was the first to acknowledge that his elevation to India’s top political job was an accident of history. The sycophants who surround Sonia Gandhi and her [...]
Little book of royal recipes
Internationally acclaimed chef Dr. T Pubilis Silva has another first to his name. His book which is said to be the world’s smallest recipe book titled “The Royal Meals of the Last King of Sri Lanka” was launched last Thursday evening at the Mount Lavinia Hotel. The book is 1cm by 1 cm. A slightly [...]
Lecture: ‘Reading and Writing Novels Across Cultures’
Randy Boyagoda, Professor of American Studies, Ryerson University, Toronto will deliver a lecture on “From Sri Lanka to Faulkner to Florida and Back Again: Reading and Writing Novels Across Cultures” on Friday, May 9 at 4.30 p.m. at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies auditorium, 2, Kynsey Terrace, Colombo 8. Boyagoda writer, critic and scholar [...]
China to outlaw eating of protected animal species
BEIJING (Reuters) – China will jail people who eat rare animals for 10 years or more under a new interpretation of the criminal law, state media reported, as the government seeks to close a legal loophole and better protect the natural environment. China lists 420 species as rare or endangered, including the panda, golden monkeys, [...]
Janet Yellen, Miley Cyrus odd bedfellows in list of 100 most influential
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Janet Yellen, the first woman to lead the U.S. Federal Reserve, pop star Miley Cyrus and Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly were among the 41 women in the Time 100, the most women ever included in the magazine’s list of the world’s most influential people. The list, released on Thursday, also [...]
Keeping malaria away- the work is not over yet
Visiting Kataragama a few months ago, we stopped at a small wayside boutique selling small antique figurines and regional artifacts, to ornate trays of fruits and flowers to be sold as offerings to the gods. We struck up a conversation with the shop owner, a well-built man possibly in his early thirties and I waited [...]
Leo Burnett team celebrates New Year
In keeping with the traditions of the National New Year, the team at Leo Burnett Solutions Inc (LBSI) came together with the agency’s clients, partners, friends from the industry and families to celebrate the New Year at the agency’s annual Avurudu Uthsavaya. The festivities were held at the Leo Burnett office in Colombo under the [...]
In India, show the finger after voting, get cheaper gas and food
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Showing the finger can get you a punch in the face in many parts of the world. In India, during this general election at least, it can earn discounts at gas stations, restaurants, spas, stores and hospitals after voting. India’s polling stations mark each voter’s left forefinger with an indelible dot [...]
Islamic Women’s Day seminar
Islamic Women’s Day, was marked with a seminar titled, ‘Social Change in the Contemporary World And Women’, by the Iranian Cultural Centre, in Colombo, recently. Southern Province Governor Kumari Balasooriya graced the occasion as Chief Guest while Jezima Ismail, Minna Thaheer, Chulani Kodikara and Marina Ismail presented scholarly papers. Iran’s Acting Ambassador Ibrahim Khany and [...]
Top brass responsible for police apathy
It is with feelings of deep concern, discontentment and sorrow that I, being a senior and serving police officer, write this article, about the force that I was so proud to be a part of and served for so many years. The death of an O.I.C. in the recent Hanwella mob melee which could have [...]
Putin calls Internet ‘CIA project’
MOSCOW, April 24 (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin called the Internet a “CIA project” and warned Russians against making Google searches. Putin assured a group of young journalists that the Internet was controlled from the start by the CIA and its surveillance continues today. “That’s life. That’s how it’s organised by Americans. You know [...]
Costa Rican ‘miracle’ woman was key to John Paul’s sainthood
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Floribeth Mora Diaz does not care if people think she is crazy. She is convinced – and so is the Vatican – that she owes her life to a miracle cure because she prayed to the late Pope John Paul. “I have experienced the mercy of God in my own life [...]
Revamp international law to save planet
Not many listeners would call Sri Lanka’s internationally-known jurist, author and academic, Judge Christie Weeramantry an entertaining speaker. That is not all that important. For Weeramantry’s strength lies in that he is a thought-provoking speaker, one that makes his audience listen and think. His reservoir of knowledge and earnestness in pleading his cause requires, nay [...]
New sanctions to target prominent Russians as Kiev warns of ‘world war’
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE/ SLAVYANSK, April 26 (AFP) – The next round of sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis could target prominent Russians in the energy and banking industries and could come early next week, a senior White House official said today. US Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, speaking on Saturday to reporters [...]
Body recovery from sunken S. Korean ferry suspended
JINDO, South Korea, April 26 (AFP) – Concerns are growing among anguished families that the bodies of those who died in the sinking of a South Korean ferry may never be found, as search teams suspended work today because of bad weather. A looming storm and high tides put a temporary halt to operations to [...]
Obama expresses support on MH370: Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 (AFP) – US President Barack Obama offered support to Malaysia today in the baffling mystery over missing flight MH370, an official said. Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who is leading Malaysia’s efforts to determine the fate of the passenger jet, said he spoke briefly with Obama after the president’s arrival for an [...]
Afghan preliminary election results due as run-off looms
KABUL, April 26 (AFP) – Afghanistan is set to announce preliminary presidential election results today, with former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah ahead in early counting but below the 50-percent vote required to avoid a run-off. Abdullah secured 43.8 percent of the vote, with his main rival Ashraf Ghani on 32.9 percent, after four-fifths of ballots [...]
Claims of good governance and the ground reality
Do we have good governance in Sri Lanka? It is professed that Sri Lanka is a democracy. Good or bad governance is then relative to democratic values. However much the State and the Government-controlled media may claim of good democratic governance, and whatever the opposition parties and some free media may say to the contrary, [...]
Wild obsession
All across the nation, in Americans’ backyards and garages and living rooms, in their beds and basements and bathrooms, wild animals kept as pets live side by side with their human owners. It’s believed that more exotic animals live in American homes than are cared for in American zoos. The exotic-pet business is a lucrative [...]
Alarm bells in Asia
NEW DELHI – The deteriorating situation in Ukraine and rising tensions between Russia and the United States threaten to bury US President Barack Obama’s floundering “pivot” toward Asia — the world’s most vibrant (but also possibly its most combustible) continent. Obama’s tour of Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines will do little to rescue [...]
US-dependent Pacific Island defies nuke powers
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 25 (IPS) – The tiny Pacific nation state of Marshall Islands – which depends heavily on the United States for its economic survival, uses the U.S. dollar as its currency and predictably votes with Washington on all controversial political issues at the United Nations – is challenging the world’s nuclear powers before [...]
