The fall of the Berlin wall: What it means today
The world today marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall – a spectacular event which changed the course of history. The Sunday Times interviewed three Colombo-based European envoys — see picture above: German Ambassador Jürgen Morhard (c), European Union Ambassador David Daly (R) and Romania’s Chargé d’Affaires Victor Chiujdea (L). They [...]
Save the treasure hidden underground
We live in a country blessed with natural resources. Together with indigenous flora and fauna, mountains, rivers, lakes, and other scenic wonders represent our wealth; but perhaps, we have forgotten that we are rich with groundwater too. It is a treasure hidden underground, and not found in abundance everywhere. The general perception of groundwater as [...]
Sri Lankan Youth Delegates meet Ban Ki Moon at UN General Assembly
Mahishaa Balraj and . Senel Wanniarachchi, Sri Lanka’s Official Youth Delegates to the United Nations for the year 2014, attended the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. Selected by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills Development of Sri Lanka Ms. Balraj and Mr. Wanniarachchi were officially mandated to represent the children and [...]
Lyceum student wins Junior Speaker Contest 2014
Dhami Fonseka of Lyceum International School, Panadura was adjudged the winner of the Champion Junior Speaker Contest 2014 with Thariq Ahamed of Lyceum Nugegoda in second place and Shana Nandakumar of Ladies’ College, Colombo placed third. The Junior Speaker of the Year contest was organised for the 10th consecutive year for children between the ages [...]
Ruk Rakaganno AGM
The 39th Annual General Meeting of Ruk Rakaganno will be held on Friday, November 21, at the N.M. Perera Centre, 106,N.M. Perera Mawatha, Borella at 4.30 p.m. followed by a panel discussion at 5.15 p.m. The discussion on ‘Natural Environment.- Reflections of the Past and Needs of the Future’ will be led by patron of [...]
Farewell ceremony for Dr. Gamini Goonetilleke
Well-known Consultant Surgeon, Dr. Gamini Goonetilleke retired from the Sri Jayawardenapura General Hospital after decades of service on October 7. Here Dr. Goonetilleke conducts the ‘grand ward round’ after which many who had worked with him paid tribute not only to his ability as a skilled surgeon but also his expertise in teaching younger surgeons. [...]
Annual Research Symposium of the Faculty of Medicine
The Annual Research Symposium of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, will be held on November 21 from 8.30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the New Lecture Theatre in the faculty. The Chief Guest will be Prof. Janaka de Silva, Director of the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo and Senior Professor of [...]
‘Imagine’ exhibition: Special-needs children create dream landscapes
At the end of 2013, a series of paintings titled ‘Dream Landscape’ was done by a group of special-needs children with their teacher Lakisha Fernando. The vibrant, eye-catching and heart-rending work led to the idea of having the exhibition titled ‘Imagine’-to give exposure to the creative imagination of special-needs children. “Imagine’ presented by the Savi [...]
Ageing Asia needs mature policies
South Asia’s population is ageing faster than anywhere else in the world, posing challenges to planners and societies, says Nalaka Gunawardene. Right economic and health policies, as well as changes in mindsets, can help countries turn these challenges into opportunities for human development. Population ageing happens when older people (typically over 60) account for an [...]
Justice must also be seen to be done
“It is not merely of some importance but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done.” The hallowed words of Chief Justice Hewart in R V Sussex Justices ex parte McCarthy, lay down the fundamental principle that judges must not only do [...]
A questionable economic power: China as world No. 1
TOKYO – The World Bank recently announced that China’s economy will surpass that of the United States this year, measured according to purchasing power parity (PPP). But this is far from a holistic depiction of China’s global economic standing. Though PPP can serve some purpose in comparing welfare across countries, it is affected significantly by [...]
Helping Hambantota case: Sri Lanka, I weep for thee
The destiny of our country is mainly in the hands of two ex-officio persons. They are the all-powerful Executive President of the country, and the Chief Justice. The entry of the Chief Justice to the portals of justice is heralded with such pomp and pageant to trumpet the awesome course of the law that he [...]
Right to know: The secret Govt. or Govt. secrets!
Opinions cannot be formed in a vacuum, for any opinion thus formed should be and could be checked for its veracity against available facts. Therefore, one cannot effectively and genuinely express any opinion in the absence of necessary facts available to the person. If the necessary information is not freely flowing, a person does not [...]
The curse of Kuveni
It appears as if the curse of Kuveni keeps revisiting this land whenever we are primed to move forward towards prosperity. With a Presidential election looming, we are witnessing the fissiparous fractures in the politics of our land. Mahinda Rajapaksa is likely to call for a Presidential election two years before the due date. The [...]
Gambia blocks UN investigators probing torture and killings
GENEVA, Nov 8 (Reuters) – Gambia has blocked United Nations human rights investigators from completing an investigation into torture and killings during the first ever visit to the West African country by U.N. experts, the world body said on Friday. Christof Heyns and Juan Mndez, the independent U.N. investigators respectively for illegal killings and for [...]
Lankan fishers entangled by global powers
On Oct 20th hundreds of angry southern fishers protested opposite the Fisheries Ministry in Colombo against a European Union ban on seafood exports from Sri Lanka and the Government’s promotion of joint ventures with East Asian fishing companies. Over the years, there have been numerous protests by northern fishers against poaching by Indian trawlers. These [...]
New spaceship restoring hope after Virgin Galactic crash
MOJAVE Calif. (Reuters) – The hangar that housed Virgin Galactic’s ill-fated SpaceShipTwo has an empty space, but at a manufacturing plant just down the road technicians on Wednesday were back at work putting together an identical sister ship. The original rocket-powered space plane, built to take paying passengers on short rides into suborbital space, broke [...]
Elementary, my dear Watson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The case of the disputed Sherlock Holmes copyright is hereby closed after the US Supreme Court on Monday left intact a ruling that said 50 works featuring the famed fictional detective are in the public domain. The high court’s justices, which like the eccentric detective get to decide which cases to tackle, [...]
The body in the garage
BY 9.00 a.m. on the day of the murder, possibly the most-talked about murder ever in this country, the servant boy had already started on the lunch. The rice was on the boil, on a firewood-fed stove in the pantry, and two vegetables were cut, sliced and ready for cooking. The next step was to [...]
ICC: Israel committed ‘war crimes’ but it’s not our problem
(Reuters) – International Criminal Court (ICC) lawyers believe that Israel is guilty of “war crimes” for the raid on an aid ship bound for Gaza in 2010 that killed nine Turkish activists. However, they have also decided that the case does not meet their criteria for prosecution, according to court papers seen by Reuters on [...]
Referendum would further diminish democracy in Sri Lanka
Alice in wonderland might have described this as curiouser and curiouser. But to those in Sri Lanka it would surely be much more than that. It should be a reason for jubilation. Still what is intriguing is the general silence over a recent news report which should have been greeted with firecrackers and a liberal [...]
Police close hundreds of ‘Darknet’ sites
THE HAGUE, Nov 07, (AFP) – Police have closed hundreds of online “dark” markets selling illegal drugs, weapons and services, arresting 17 people in a massive international operation against the Tor network that allows users to be invisible online. Investigators from the United States and 16 European countries, including France, Germany and Britain, on Thursday [...]
China media claim victory after Japan agreement
BEIJING, Nov 8 (AFP) -Chinese state-run media claimed victory today for Beijing after it reached an accord with Japan to tone down tensions over territorial and historical disputes that had fuelled concerns of conflict. The two sides issued similar statements Friday after a meeting in Beijing between State Councillor Yang Jiechi, China’s top foreign policy [...]
Europe set to make space history with comet landing
PARIS, Nov 8 (AFP) -One of the biggest gambles in space history comes to a climax on Wednesday when Europe attempts to make the first-ever landing on a comet. Speeding towards the Sun at 65,000 kilometres (40,600 miles) per hour, a lab called Philae will detach from its mothership Rosetta, heading for a deep-space rendezvous [...]
Arab-Israeli shot dead during arrest attempt: Police
JERUSALEM, Nov 8 (AFP) -Israeli security forces today shot dead a young Arab-Israeli during an attempted arrest, police said. The killing in Kfar Kana in northern Israel comes against a backdrop of soaring Israeli-Palestinian tensions in annexed east Jerusalem where there have been near-daily clashes in flashpoint neighbourhoods. Stone-throwing Palestinians battled Israeli police in a [...]
Indian army admits ‘mistake’ in killing two teenagers
NEW DELHI, Nov 8 (AFP) -The Indian Army has admitted it made a mistake in shooting dead two teenagers in restive Indian-administered Kashmir this week, a rare public admission of fault by the armed forces. The teenagers died after soldiers fired at a car on the outskirts of Srinagar on Monday, while another youngster was [...]
Robin Williams committed suicide, no drugs found
LOS ANGELES, United States, Nov 8 (AFP) -Robin Williams had recently become more paranoid when he committed suicide by hanging himself, coroners said, adding that he had no alcohol or illicit drugs in his system. There were also signs that the comic actor — who had recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease — had tried [...]
Ebola fight starting to pay off but too early to claim success
FREETOWN, Nov 8 (AFP) -The deadliest Ebola outbreak ever is finally slowing in Liberia, the worst-hit country, but still wreaking havoc in two neighbouring west African states amid warnings of thousands of unreported deaths. As the initially lacklustre global response to the crisis centred in Liberia and adjoining Sierra Leone and Guinea gathered some pace [...]
India blocks more Facebook content than any other country, report shows
Facebook has restricted access to nearly 5,000 pieces of information on its website in India in the first six months of 2014, the highest amount for any country, following requests from government and other agencies to act against hate-content on social media platforms. India is the largest user-base for Facebook outside the US, with over [...]
South Asian women step out of Bollywood, into serious dramatic roles
TORONTO (Reuters) – A trio of films stepped beyond Bollywood song-and-dance to show South Asian women grappling with male-dominated sport, child marriage, and sexual desire of people with disability in their premieres at the Toronto Film Festival. While the stories told vastly different tales, all sought to challenge their home audiences and provoke change. Two [...]
Who shot bin Laden?
The SEAL Team Six member who was named as the man who shot Osama bin Laden dead is facing a whispering campaign from other SEALs claiming that his account of the killing is not truthful. MailOnline yesterday revealed that Rob O’Neill, a retired 16-year veteran of the elite squad is the man who says he [...]
9/11 mastermind appears in Turkishcompany’s hair removal ad
A photo of the terrorist behind the 9/11 attacks on America has been used by a Turkish cosmetics company to advertise its hair removal products. The hirsute former Al-Qaeda member Khalid Sheikh Mohammed featured in an advert for Epila hair removal products. In Turkish, the caption states: ‘Waiting won’t get rid of that hair.’ The [...]
China on best behaviour for APEC, but guests may not be
BEIJING (Reuters) – From territorial disputes with neighbours to rivalry with the United States, China is setting aside some of its biggest foreign policy challenges to prevent discord at a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders that it hosts next week. What’s not clear is whether the guests will behave as well. One potential hotspot is the [...]
Want the voice of a popstar? Just practise
Why can’t we all sing as well as Taylor Swift or Michael Bublé? While most believe you’re born with – or without – the talent, research suggests being a good vocalist is simply a matter of ‘practice makes perfect’. Experts say that we all have the ability to sing well and, just like how going [...]
New Emojis take on racial diversity
Washington (AFP) – Those odd characters on your emails and text messages are about to see more diversity — sending a message that humanity comes in many colors. New draft guidelines released Tuesday by the computing industry consortium Unicode offer a broader range of options for emojis, the ideograms used for various visual messages sent [...]
Mexican gang members admit to massacring missing students
MEXICO CITY, Nov 8 (AFP) -Gang suspects have confessed to killing 43 missing Mexican students, burning their bodies for 14 hours and tossing their charcoal-like remains in a river, authorities said, in a case causing national revulsion. Facing angry protests in the biggest crisis of his administration, President Enrique Pena Nieto vowed to hunt down [...]
Drugmakers look to push the boundaries of old age
ZURICH (Reuters) – Google’s ambition to defy the limits of ageing has fired up interest in the field, drawing in drug companies who are already quietly pioneering research, despite the regulatory and clinical hurdles that remain. In September life-science company Calico, which was set up by Google last year to investigate the aging process, joined [...]
Poor diet ’causes lifetime damage’
The damage caused by unhealthy eating can last a lifetime – even after going on a diet, according to research. Scientists suggest that foods full of fat, sugar and salt change the way genes work and even swapping them for fish, fruit and vegetables cannot turn back the clock. Tests on mice found that those [...]
French watchdog urges no 3D for under sixes
PARIS (AFP) – A French health watchdog recommended that children under six be denied access to 3D films, computers and video games, and that those up to 13 have “moderate” access. The advice is based on a “pioneering” analysis of scientific research into the possible impacts of 3D imaging on the developing eye, the agency [...]
