Candidates overlook the biggest minority group
It is a real tragedy that, even after valiant efforts, the manifestos of the Presidential Candidates seeking our votes, fail to recognise the country’s biggest minority group – a huge voting base when their families are also added. The inevitable accidents, debilitating illnesses, wear & tear of the body, etc., not forgetting the ended 30 [...]
Most cancer types ‘just bad luck’
Most types of cancer can be put down to bad luck rather than risk factors such as smoking, a study has suggested. A US team were trying to explain why some tissues were millions of times more vulnerable to cancer than others. The results, in the journal Science, showed two thirds of the cancer types [...]
So much for social media: Teenagers have fewer friends than 20 years ago, study finds
A study carried out by experts at The University of Queensland in Australia, found teens felt less lonely than two decades ago – but that they have poorer social networks. A survey of more than 285,000 US high school students carried out between 1991 and 2012 found young people had fewer friends with whom to [...]
Skin implant replaces the Pill
For many women, taking the contraceptive pill is one in a long list of things to remember every day. But scientists have invented an electronic chip that when slipped under the skin releases daily doses of contraceptive, freeing a woman from the need to remember to take the pill. Once in place, the postage stamp-sized [...]
Sri Lanka at crossroads: Democracy and national unity vs. authoritarianism and sectarianism
On December 29 at Kumbukgate in Kurunegala, a gang led by a local politician of the ruling coalition attacked an unarmed group of artistes who were exercising their democratic right of expressing support for the opposition presidential candidate. The sordid details of this ugly and undemocratic act need not detain us here. Rather the point [...]
Lawyers, your role in ensuring good governance
On Monday, Dec 29 the Daily Mirror carried on Page A4 a brief news item that took me by surprise. As a non-legal, ordinary, yet concerned citizen (as many others are), with no political axe in hand, my criticism in the past, of the legal profession, as a powerful professional body, was, that until very [...]
Searchers find ‘big parts’ of crashed AirAsia plane
PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia, Jan 03 (AFP) – Recovery teams have found two big parts of AirAsia Flight 8501, which crashed into the sea last weekend with 162 people on board, Indonesia’s top search official said Saturday. News of the discovery came after Indonesia’s transport ministry said the plane had been flying on an unauthorised schedule [...]
Saudi king needed help breathing due to lung infection – royal court
CAIRO, Jan 3 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz temporarily needed help to breathe through a tube on Friday due to a lung infection, but the procedure was successful and his condition was now stable, the royal court said. The elderly monarch, 91, was admitted to the King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh [...]
Prince Andrew named in US ‘sex slave’ case
WASHINGTON, Jan 02, 2015 (AFP) – Britain’s Prince Andrew has been named in a US court filing by a woman who claims she was kept as an underaged “sex slave” by a billionaire Wall Street financier. In a statement Friday, Buckingham Palace in London denied the allegations, made in a motion filed by her lawyers [...]
Has Imran Khan secretly married a BBC weather girl?
Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has remarried in secret to a former BBC weather girl, according to reports in Pakistan. The 62-year-old is believed to have tied the knot at the weekend with Pakistani news anchor Reham Khan, 41, who is a divorced mother-of-three. She lived in Britain for part of her previous marriage, when she was [...]
‘Is she a lesbian now?’
Online abusers have set up Facebook hate pages attacking TV news anchor Reham Khan and her family after it was rumoured that she had married Pakistani politician Imran Khan. News of the potential union sparked outrage in Pakistan and trolls have now accused Ms Khan of being a lesbian for stroking a woman’s back, and [...]
Salman saga: Even endorsement by Clint Eastwood could not put Mitt Romney in White House
“I have a very strict gun control policy: if there’s a gun around, I want to be in control of it” — an interesting and witty quote attributed to Clint Eastwood alias Dirty Harry, American actor, filmmaker, musician and politician. I don’t think he needs any formal introduction. The 84-year-old’s infamous rambling gravel-voiced conversation with [...]
Guns, lies and opinion polls in Lanka’s elections
Elections, particularly in countries such as ours, are not confined only to ideas and policy issues. Violence, threats, intimidation and deceptions have been widely used techniques, since universal franchise was introduced to the country. The higher the stakes, the greater was the intensity of the extra democratic acts of coercive persuasion. These practices have become [...]
Measures the next president and government should take
Election fever has reached all strata of society, with promises and more promises made by all. However, one may not realise the deep implications affecting lives of everyone. One thing is certain; the political culture of Sri Lanka has been eroded to such an extent, now the word ‘honorable’ may not be suitable for most [...]
Not so splendid isolation
PARIS – At the end of the nineteenth century, the British Empire pursued a policy of what it called “splendid isolation,” reflecting its leaders’ determination to stand aloof from international engagements. With the strength of its economy and the superiority of its navy, the United Kingdom could afford to avoid entanglement in others’ affairs. Today, [...]
