Meet Vega, Sri Lanka’s all-electric supercar
At first blush, it’s lunacy – a 900-horsepower, all-electric supercar from an island nation best known for tea and tourism, not tech. Yet the team behind the stunning Vega sports car has credentials – and financial backing – befitting similar passion projects emerging in California’s Silicon Valley. The effort is the brainchild of technology entrepreneur [...]
Modi in Cricket World Cup diplomacy with SAARC nations
NEW DELHI, Feb 13, 2015 (AFP) – India’s foreign secretary will travel to Pakistan as part of a regional tour in coming months, an official said Friday, the first high-level visit since relations between the arch rivals soured last year. S. Jaishankar will travel to Islamabad where “India will push its agenda” during bilateral meetings [...]
Sasitharan leads UNP’s campaign in Batticaloa
Arasaratnam Sasitharan, a former provincial council and United National Party District organiser for Batticaloa has launched the party’s campaign in the district in view of the upcoming Parliamentary elections. Mr. Sasithran, a UNP Working Committee member, has been in active politics since 1978. He has begun his village-to-village campaign, addressing farmers and fishermen and explaining [...]
‘Pride and Power’ exhibition
Pala Pothupitiye has become one of Sri Lanka’s most recognised and celebrated emerging artists. His latest body of works reveal the artist’s strong expressions of Sri Lanka’s contemporary social and political culture. Religio-cultural extremism and majoritarian Sinhala nationalist sentiments are the main focus in his latest exhibition ‘Pride and Power’ which opens on February 21 [...]
Archbishop of Jos to preach Holy Eucharist
Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi, of Jos, Nigeria will preach the Holy Eucharist at the Cathedral of Christ the living Saviour on March 1 at 5:30 p.m.
WWI documentary to feature Galle Face Hotel
“A week in the firing line today and thank God I am still alive” Diary of a Gallipoli soldier The Battle of Gallipoli -World War I (1914-1918). Colombo’s historic Galle Face Hotel was proud to be a part of a television documentary to mark the upcoming centennial celebrations of the World War One Gallipoli campaign. [...]
UN touts 2015 as milestone year for world body
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – The United Nations, in a sustained political hype, is touting 2015 as a likely breakthrough year for several key issues on its agenda — primarily development financing, climate change, sustainable development, disaster risk-reduction and nuclear non-proliferation. At the same time, the world body is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year while [...]
Two wins for Amaya Resorts & Spas at International Hotel Awards
Amaya Resorts & Spas has won two 5 star category awards at the International Hotel Awards organisation awards ceremony held at the London Marriott Hotel, London. Amaya Lake won a 5 star in the category of Best Hotel Renovation/Refurbishment which was received by Srijith Gooneratne, the General Manager of the Hotel. The 5 Star Award [...]
Fruit juice factories could be powered from waste water
[SAO PAULO] Brazilian scientists have developed a way to use waste water from the orange juice industry to generate power, which could help reduce factory carbon emissions. The technology, created by scientists at Sao Paulo State University, uses waste water produced by orange processing to make hydrogen. Hydrogen has a high energy density and produces [...]
Sri Lankan domestics risk abuse in Hong Kong’s hostile households
Regardless of the risks of abuse they face, more than 480 Sri Lankan domestic helpers got visas last year to work in Hong Kong where there were 115 reported incidents of violence against domestics by their employers in the three years to 2014. While many treat their helpers well, abuse is not uncommon, especially so [...]
No more a servile officer
Dear Police officer, During and after the recent Presidential election, you conducted yourselves in performing your duties to the satisfaction of the entire public of this country. After the election, the President and the Prime Minister categorically stated that the law and order situation should be maintained by the Police and that the Government would [...]
Chapel Hill shooting and western media bigotry
Three Muslim Americans were murdered on Tuesday in a University of North Carolina dorm room. The crime came on the heels of recent anti-Muslim attacks in Europe, carried out in apparent response to the January murders (committed by Muslims) of Charlie Hebdo journalists in Paris. Western media outlets will likely frame the most recent perpetrator [...]
Kejriwal 2.0: Delhi’s political tremor shakes Modi
Delhi, scholars will tell you, was built and rebuilt seven times in history. Modern-day New Delhi, built by the Britishers, is considered to be the eighth city. As it turns out, 84 years to the day after Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy, formally inaugurated it on 10 February 1931, New Delhi underwent a tectonic transformation [...]
In search of economic justice for the developing world
Once upon a time, and to be more precise, in the 1970s, there was the North-South dialogue which was a key feature in international relations. It was supposed to be a dialogue between the countries of the South and the countries of the North. The dialogue happened almost all the time in Geneva and New [...]
Trouble in Nepali paradise over new constitution
NEW DELHI – Away from the glare of global headlines, Nepal is grappling with a constitutional crisis that could once again propel the tourist mecca, sensitively situated between India and China, into full-fledged conflict. From 1996 to 2006, Nepal was wracked by a brutal civil war that pitted a Maoist insurgency against the long-ruling monarchy, [...]
Death toll in Pakistan Shiite mosque attack rises to 21
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Feb 14 (AFP) -The death toll in a militant attack on a Shiite mosque in northwest Pakistan rose to 21 after an injured person died of his wounds, officials said on Saturday. Three heavily armed Taliban militants stormed the Imamia mosque with grenades, Kalashnikovs and explosive suicide vests in Peshawar, the main city [...]
Anti-graft leader gets second chance as Delhi chief
NEW DELHI, Feb 14 (AFP) -Tens of thousands of supporters gathered today to see Arvind Kejriwal sworn in as Delhi chief minister for the second time after his upstart anti-corruption party won one of the biggest election victories the Indian capital has ever seen. The 46-year-old former civil servant’s Aam Aadmi (Common Man) Party (AAP) [...]
Australia PM pleads with Indonesia over death row men
SYDNEY, Feb 14 (AFP) -Prime Minister Tony Abbott Saturday pleaded with Indonesia to heed Australia’s call for clemency for two death row convicts, and warned that Canberra would make its displeasure known should the executions go ahead. Andrew Chan, 31, and Myuran Sukumaran, 33, are facing execution by firing squad after being convicted over a [...]
Iran’s Khamenei sends letter to Obama: report
WASHINGTON, Feb 14, 2015 (AFP) -Iran’s supreme leader has sent a secret but noncommittal letter to US President Barack Obama in response to American overtures, amid talks to strike a nuclear accord, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The newspaper cited an Iranian diplomat as saying Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had written to Obama in response [...]
Yemen clashes kill 26 as embassy closures continue
SANAA (Reuters) – Clashes between Shi’ite Houthi militiamen and Sunni tribesmen fighting alongside al Qaeda militants killed 26 people in Yemen, local officials said, as the United Arab Emirates joined Saudi Arabia and Western countries in closing its embassy in the country. Heavy fighting was ongoing in the southern mountainous province of al-Bayda, leading to [...]
Ceasefire looms as fresh Ukraine fighting kills 28
DONETSK, Ukraine, Feb 14 (AFP) -Fighting has raged on in Ukraine, throwing doubts on a ceasefire deal due to take effect over the weekend, with the US saying Russia is still deploying heavy arms and Kiev warning that shelling of civilians had intensified. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Friday that the continuing bombardment of civilians [...]
Canada police foil Valentine’s Day shooting-spree plot
MONTREAL, Feb 14 (AFP) -Canadian police said Friday they had foiled a plot that would have seen an armed duo carry out a shooting spree in the city of Halifax on Valentine’s Day before killing themselves. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Nova Scotia said a 19-year-old man from the rural town of Timberlea had [...]
Are rappers better linguists than Shakespeare?
The Oxford English Dictionary credits William Shakespeare with coining up to 2,000 words we use today. But linguists from Manchester have found that rappers, such as Eminem and London-based Akala, are actually more adept at creating lyrics and prose than the 16th century poet. By studying rap lyrics, the experts said that traditional and complex [...]
The Facebook will
Facebook will from today allow users to appoint an ‘online executor’ of their profile to decide what happens to it after they die. The ‘Legacy Contact’ will be able to administer the page after you pass away by writing one last post and even approving new friend requests. They will also be able to update [...]
Malaysian opposition on knife-edge after Anwar jailing
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – The jailing of Anwar Ibrahim dashes the dreams of millions of Malaysians yearning to oust the country’s authoritarian regime, unless his shell-shocked opposition movement can bridge deep differences without his unifying presence, analysts said. The suddenly leader-less opposition must continue its fight against a government that, despite a worsening reputation at [...]
‘Fifty Shades is abuse!’
Domestic violence campaigners are calling for a boycott of the hotly-anticipated Fifty Shades of Grey film because they say it ‘glorifies’ and ‘romanticises’ abuse against women. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation has launched a campaign titled Fifty Shades Is Abuse, which urges people to donate to local women’s shelters instead of buying movie tickets. [...]
Looking for love online? Change your name to Aardvark
PARIS (AFP) – Faces, bodies, status and humour are all important in Internet dating, but the biggest success factor of all could be your name. So say scientists who found that people whose online name began with a letter in the top half of the alphabet — A to M — get the most “looks” [...]
