Pakistan after the Peshawar massacre
LAHORE – On December 16, the Taliban attacked an army school in Peshawar and killed 132 children and nine adults. Eight terrorists dressed in military uniform penetrated the school’s well-guarded perimeter and opened fire on the students and school personnel. Pakistani army commandos fought the intruders for several hours before killing the last attacker. The [...]
As US eases hostilities, Cuba faces new challenge
HAVANA, (Reuters) – For decades, it was Cuba’s first response to criticism. Poor economic performance? An obvious effect of a U.S. trade embargo that amounted to a blockade of the island nation by a bullying superpower. Arrests of dissidents? A legitimate act of self-defense against mercenaries working for the world’s richest nation, which backed the [...]
Carol service
The Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Polwatte, Colombo 3 will hold its Christmas Carol Service on Christmas Eve, Tuesday December 24, at 6 p.m. The readings will include the traditional Nine Lessons and the Choir will sing Carols for Choir only interspersed with popular carols for choir and congregation. The Service begins with [...]
Christmas get-together
It was a time for family fun and fellowship amongst old schoolmates as the Colombo Branch of Good Shepherd Convent, Kandy held their annual Christmas get-together on Saturday, December 13.
Dance of Freedom and Desire: A homage to choices and sacrifices
For Shashi de Soysa writing a book that was part fiction, part autobiographical was immensely therapeutic. “It was like going to a therapist,” she muses. “Although without the bills and the probing questions I suppose!” Shashi de Soysa is a pseudonym, for ‘Dance of Freedom and Desire’ is based predominantly on the author’s own story. [...]
Major General Shavendra off to National Defence College in New Delhi
NEW YORK — Ambassador Major General Shavendra Silva, Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, will leave New York next week to follow a course at the prestigious National Defence College in New Delhi. The 47-week course in National Security and Strategic Studies is offered every year to only about 25 senior military [...]
Fritz Kodagoda celebrates ‘his life as a lawyer — 50 not out’
Fifty years of service in any sector is admirable, but a man who has dedicated 50 years of his life to preserving and enhancing the rule of law has to be highly commended. On November 20, 2014, a special event was held at 9 Bedford Row in London to pay tribute to Fritz Kodagoda and [...]
Capturing the countryside through colours of the ballpoint
The annual art exhibition by award-winning artist Mangala Madanayake will be held for the 23rd year on December 22 and 23 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Colombo Public Library. It is appropriately titled “The Beauty of Lines”. The specialty of this event is that the 30 exhibits are drawn using simple ball [...]
Appointed first Honorary Consul of Sri Lanka in Ho Chi Minh City
B. T. M. Kevin Perera was appointed as the first Honorary Consul of Sri Lanka in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, on December 10, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ha Noi in the presence of the Sri Lankan ambassador to Viet Nam, K.G. Ivan Amarasinghe. Mr. Perera has been residing in Viet [...]
Appeal to save a life
Sisil Wijesekara, 56, a father of two is to undergo a kidney transplant. He is being treated by Dr. Chula Herath. Since May 2014, he has been undergoing dialysis twice a week at a cost of Rs. 12,000 per session – 96,000 a month. Having to pay for the donor’s medical tests, the costs amount [...]
Barefoot celebrates 50 years
Barefoot (PVT) Ltd, a shop that has something for everyone, celebrates 50 years. Well known for its handloom fabric, Barefoot was founded by Barbara Sansoni, an artist, writer and designer. Barefoot’s shops sell alongside their own brand, a wide range of carefully selected local products. Barefoot under the guidance of Dominic Sansoni’s fosters creativity in [...]
Postpone Christmas and declare Dec 25 as feast of Santa Claus
29th October 2014Globalisation has vastly magnified the commercialization and trivialization of Christmas. to the extent that many thoughtful Christians wonder quite seriously if the Church ought to set apart December 25th as the festival of St. Nicholas or Santa Claus and if we could all agree on celebrating the feast of the nativity or the [...]
Dalai Lama concedes he may be the last
Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has said he realises that he may be the last to hold the title. But he told the BBC it would be better that the centuries-old tradition ceased “at the time of a popular Dalai Lama”. The Dalai Lama suggested the UK had taken a soft line with [...]
Battle lines drawn: National security and development vs. corruption and CoL
A President, who has two years of a six-year term yet to go, calls for an election for a good electoral reason. The reason is captured in the figures in Table 1. The last presidential election was held in January 2010. In the Provincial Council elections of September 2012 the Government lost its voter share [...]
Black money vs public resources
In my article last Sunday I averred to the fact that secretaries to ministries are part of public resources, and how their political partisanship draws officials in their ministries also to join the campaign. Last week, the Sunday Times also carried an article by former DIG Anton Jeyanathan regarding black money amassed by government politicians [...]
US says it won’t support Palestine resolution
WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The United States would not support a new Palestinian-proposed U.N. Security Council draft resolution, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Thursday. “It is not something we would support,” Psaki told reporters. Earlier, Israel’s foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman described a draft resolution that calls for a peace deal within a year [...]
Devastated Queen
For the people of Sri Lanka, December 26, 2004, was a double holiday, for apart from being the day after Christmas, a secular occasion enjoyed by the entire population, it was also the full moon day known as Unduwap Poya, observed by the country’s Buddhist majority. From around 6 am, 1,500 people, many of them [...]
Reverend Libby named first female bishop
Reverend Libby Lane has been announced as the first female bishop for the Church of England, just a month after a historic change to canon law. She will become the new Bishop of Stockport, a post that has been vacant since May. Mrs Lane has been the vicar at St Peter’s Hale and St Elizabeth’s [...]
Barking up the Jilmart tree
So we come to yet another time of electioneering where politicians run a circus to amuse the rest of us. And, to a large extent we oblige, exchanging cartoons and videos via social media and even reading posters and cutouts smiling down on us from giant hoardings. Almost exactly five years ago, I had to [...]
The day anti-Castro forces tried to bomb the UN
UNITED NATIONS, (IPS) – When the politically-charismatic Ernesto Che Guevera, once second-in-command to Cuban leader Fidel Castro, was at the United Nations to address the General Assembly sessions back in 1964, the U.N. headquarters came under attack – literally. The speech by the Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary was momentarily drowned by the sound of an explosion. [...]
Playing with fancy fire
From morning, an air of evergreen-scented suspense has hung over the sealed boxes under the Tree. These are the explosives – the beautiful “bad” goodies that, strictly speaking, thinking of safety, Santa Claus should never have brought. The boxes of incendiaries are stacked in the shadow of the Tree, and will remain there till the [...]
Pakistan strikes back after school massacre
PESHAWAR, , Dec 20 (AFP) – Pakistani security forces killed more than 50 suspected militants Friday as operations against insurgents intensify in the wake of a Taliban school massacre that killed 149 people. The bloody rampage in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Tuesday brought international condemnation and promises of swift, decisive action against militants [...]
Wrap up Jayalalithaa case in 3 months: SC
Paving the way for a speedy hearing of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s appeal on her conviction in the disproportionate assets case, the Supreme Court asked the Karnataka High Court Chief Justice on Thursday to constitute a Special Bench to hear the case “exclusively” on a day-to-day basis and complete it in three months. [...]
Cyberattack on Sony: Obama vows to retaliate
WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) -President Barack Obama has vowed to respond to a devastating cyberattack on Sony Pictures that he blamed on North Korea, and scolded the Hollywood studio for caving in to what he described as a foreign dictator imposing censorship in America. Obama said the cyberattack caused a lot of damage to Sony [...]
Van Gogh’s blue irises were once purple
The red pigments in some of Vincent van Gogh’s most valuable paintings are fading, according to new research. The Dutch impressionist’s work is famed for its rustic beauty and bold colours, but some of the pigments are now at risk of disappearing entirely. Scientists studying the colour blue irises in one of Van Gogh’s later [...]
Etihad’s luxurious £12,500 penthouse in the sky
With much fanfare and theatrics, Etihad has unveiled its brand new flagship aircraft, the behemoth Airbus A380, which boasts the world’s only penthouse in the sky, and the Boeing B787 Dreamliner. Stepping onto the A380 is more like arriving at a chichi business hotel than a plane. Even the galley is like an elegant reception [...]
Stories behind the top shots of 2014
Reuters / Wednesday, February 05, 2014 Bangui, Central African Republic: I was heading back to the hotel to file after a ceremony in Bangui, where the interim president had promised to reinstate the country’s armed forces, urging for national unity. I was in the taxi for just a few minutes when my fixer asked me [...]
Destructive tsunami also brought peace to conflict-riven Aceh
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AFP) – When a tsunami engulfed Indonesia’s Aceh a decade ago, it not only killed tens of thousands of people but also wiped the slate clean in the conflict-racked, poverty-stricken province and paved the way for peace. The province on the northern tip of Sumatra island was ill-prepared when disaster struck — [...]
Saudi cleric’s wife shows face on TV, sparking uproar
DUBAI (AFP) – A Saudi cleric has sparked uproar by appearing on television along with his wife — whose face was uncovered in an open challenge to strict tradition in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom. Sheikh Ahmed al-Ghamedi, who has said covering the face is not a must for women under Islam, sat alongside his wife [...]
Japanese lingerie firm recalls 20,000 bras
TOKYO (Reuters) – A Japanese lingerie maker is recalling more than 20,000 brassieres after complaints that underwires suddenly poked out, sometimes while women were wearing them. The Japanese division of lingerie maker Triumph International, which has made a name for itself with concept lingerie such as a solar-powered bra and an “Abenomics” bra that honoured [...]
Is this the globe’s most eligible woman?
She beat 120 international contestants each deemed to be not only the most beautiful in their home countries, but the best example of what it means to be a modern woman. So, who is Rolene Strauss – aka Miss World 2014 – and is she really one of the world’s most eligible women? This year’s [...]
A black man in a tuxedo? Must be a waiter
As national protests over the death of unarmed black men by white police officers pushed race relations to the top of the headlines, President Barack Obama revealed his own experiences of racism including being mistaken for a waiter and a parking valet. In an interview with People magazine published on Wednesday, Obama and his wife [...]
From Russia with love
Vladimir Putin on Thursday admitted he is in love, fuelling rumours over a relationship with Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva. Denying he had ‘completely gone wild’ in his romantic life, the divorced strongman revealed that he ‘loves’ and is loved in return, but refused to disclose the identity of his mystery partner. If true, it could [...]
Huge quantities of Earth’s oldest water discovered deep underground
Huge reserves of the oldest water on Earth are locked deep within the planet’s crust and could be home to new forms of life, according to scientists. Geologists have revealed that they have found water that is up to 2.7 billion years old in sites all over the world. They now estimate that there could [...]
Will this be the first new cloud type in 60 years?
Since 1951 clouds have remained fairly easy to classify, with about 80 separate classifications officially recognised. But that could all be set to change next November if one enthusiast can seek official classification of a new cloud type. Known as Undulatus asperatus, a group are now clamouring for the cloud shape to be included in [...]
Different parts of the brain age at different rates
Different parts of the brain age at different rates, scientists have discovered. The research explains why older people will lose some functions of the brain more quickly than others. For example, they may lose the ability to pay a bill more quickly than the ability to multi-task, scientists said. This is because the part of [...]
The GI diet debunked
Scientists have long warned of the dangers of eating foods high on the glycaemic index amid fears they increase a person’s risk of heart disease and diabetes. But a new study has revealed evidence to the contrary – debunking the GI diet for those who are healthy. The glycaemic index is a measure of how [...]
