India’s sordid record in Lanka
India’s relations with Sri Lanka will heal only if there is a sincere realisation of past mistakes and of the grave damage that India inflicted on a hapless neighbour too small to retaliate, says historian and author A.G. Noorani in an essay he wrote for the March 6 issue of India’s Frontline magazine. Excerpts from [...]
Collaborative comedy
If looks could kill, Russell Peters would be dead. The first few rows directly in front of the stage are always bathed in light at the Canadian-born comedian’s shows. Long-time fans know to avoid them, but Tony from Manchester either didn’t know or didn’t care, until it was too late. Tony turned out to be [...]
Harvard Club farewell for outgoing Sri Lankan Ambassador
When Ambassador Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka’s outgoing Permanent Representative to the United Nations, was honoured as the chief guest at a formal black-tie farewell dinner at the prestigious Harvard Club in New York last week, speaker after speaker sang his praises singling out some of his remarkable achievements both as an international civil servant and [...]
De Lanerolle Brothers pledge support to Unity Mission Trust
A familiar name to music lovers in Sri Lanka, Rohan and Ishan De Lanerolle last week announced they would be Brand Ambassadors to the Unity Mission Trust. The Ekamuthu Oray Makkal Unity Mission Trust (UMT ) has since May 2009, been committed to fostering unity, integration, healing and reconciliation amongst the youth of the Wanni [...]
Charles Henry de Soysa: Memories of a great philanthropist
Philanthropists come and go, but his name stands out as one who gave unstintingly; with sincerity, whose word was his bond, who saw far beyond his personal perspective, with a vision which was far ahead of his time. As March 3, the birth anniversary of Charles Henry de Soysa whose generosity enhanced and enriched the [...]
Compound from Chinese medicinal herb shows promise for Ebola
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A drug derived from a Chinese medicinal herb is showing promise for combating Ebola infection, effectively imprisoning the virus inside cells so it cannot do its usual damage, scientists said on Thursday. The researchers said the compound, called tetrandrine, blocked infection of human white blood cells in lab dishes and prevented Ebola [...]
Defeating dengue the smart way
[KARACHI] Pakistan’s Sindh province is gearing up to launch this month (February) a dengue prediction system based on surveillance data gathered in real time using a smartphone app and fed into a spatial or geographical model. Currently Karachi, the provincial capital, and other cities in Sindh – a province with a population of 45 million [...]
School maths answers only a scan away with Croatian app
ZAGREB (Reuters) – Damir Sabol, Croatian computer expert and entrepreneur, was helping his son with his maths homework when he had an idea. “I found it a bit tedious, all those additions and multiplications, so I reckoned, ‘We already have intelligent software, why not make it deal with maths?’” Sabol said. The result was PhotoMath, [...]
The Ukrainian school of war
VIENNA – The ongoing turmoil in Ukraine has frequently been compared to the Yugoslav crisis of the early 1990s – and, indeed, there are many similarities. But, when it comes to understanding why the conflict between Ukraine’s government and Russian-backed separatists has persisted – and why, after a year of increasingly brutal fighting, a resolution [...]
Shares of South Korean contraceptive makers surge after court scraps adultery ban
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s highest court on Thursday struck down as unconstitutional a decades-old law banning adultery, triggering a surge in shares of condom makers and morning-after pills. The 1953 law aimed to protect women in a male-dominated society where divorce was rare, by making marital infidelity punishable with jail. “The law is unconstitutional [...]
Winning the war and re-establishing peace
After winning the war, re-establishing peace is the responsibility of a victorious Army. Let us take the Allied Forces that defeated the German and Japanese armies in the Second World War. Did the Allied Forces withdraw immediately from Germany and Japan soon after the Second World War? Contingents of the Allied Forces mainly American are [...]
Despite UN treaties, war against drugs a losing battle
UNITED NATIONS, (IPS) – As the call for the decriminalisation of drugs steadily picks up steam worldwide, a new study by a British charity concludes there has been no significant reduction in the global use of illicit drugs since the creation of three key UN anti-drug conventions, the first of which came into force over [...]
On the trail of money laundering
A hot topic being discussed in the media and by both politicians and members of civil society is “money laundering”. Although most of the people are aware of the meaning of “money laundering”, they may not know how money, both notes and coins, could be laundered. Money laundering, in the real sense, is about converting [...]
Astrology is not science; it takes believer for a ride
I refer to last Damith Vitharanage article under the headline ‘Astrology slain at the feet of MR.’ (The Sunday Times February 22). I am responding to this article because it has made some references to a previous article by me. I shall comment at some length on DM’s views because I find them dangerous. They [...]
Scan of 1,000-year-old Buddha statue reveals mummified remains of meditating monk
Mummified remains of a monk have been found encased in a Buddha statue dating back to the 11th or 12th Century. Erik Bruijn, an Buddhism expert, led the study that determined the mummy was of Buddhist master Liuquan, who belonged to the Chinese Meditation School. The CT scan and endoscopy were carried out by Drents [...]
Chronic Kidney Disease: Food as the cause challenged
I am most grateful to the former professor of soil and water resources, Dr. C S Weeraratna for his response to my article of 1st February on North Central Region (NCR) identified as the Endemic region in the GOSL/WHO report. What is most concerning about Dr. Weeraratna’s response are not so much the issues he [...]
Robots may take our jobs and cause the global economy to crash
The race to create robots that look, act and work like humans could see unemployment soar, welfare costs increase and may eventually bring the global economy to its knees. That’s the dystopian scenario put forward in a report looking at how machines will revolutionise the workplace in the not-so-distant future. Economists created a simple model [...]
Upmarket bug snacks to creep into Thai store shelves
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Street vendors selling deep-fried insects as snacks are a familiar sight in Bangkok, but a Thai entrepreneur is trying to give edible bugs a more upmarket appeal. Panitan Tongsiri will launch his “HiSo”, short for high-society, brand of seasoned insect snacks in March and plans to stock them at gourmet food markets [...]
Russian opposition leader Nemtsov shot dead near Kremlin
MOSCOW, Feb 28 (AFP) -Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, was gunned down while walking in sight of the Kremlin late Friday, prompting an international chorus of condemnation. The body of Boris Nemtsov(left) is covered with plastic on Moskvoretsky bridge near St. Basil cathedral (right) (AFP) The Kremlin decried as [...]
North Korean leader tells army: ‘Prepare for war’
SEOUL, Feb 28 (AFP) -North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has urged his army to prepare for war with the United States and its allies, state media said Saturday, as Pyongyang ramps up the rhetoric ahead of US-South Korea military drills. Kim’s comments came after South Korea and the United States Friday conducted a joint naval [...]
Arrests in Maldives after mass protest over ex-leader’s detention
MAL, Maldives, Feb 28 (AFP) -Maldives police said today they arrested 31 supporters of former president Mohamed Nasheed during a mass rally in the honeymoon islands’ capital to protest his detention on terror charges. Police said the supporters were taken into custody late Friday after thousands took to the streets of Male over authorities’ treatment [...]
The girl who gets gifts from birds
Lots of people love the birds in their garden, but it’s rare for that affection to be reciprocated. One young girl in Seattle is luckier than most. She feeds the crows in her garden – and they bring her gifts in return. Eight-year-old Gabi Mann sets a bead storage container on the dining room table, [...]
Iconic ‘Afghan Girl’ at the centre of Pakistani corruption row
She was the green-eyed ‘Afghan Girl’ who shot to global fame when a haunting picture of her appeared on the cover of a 1985 issue of National Geographic magazine. Now a picture of Sharbat Gula is in the news again – but it’s a very different image. Sharbat Gula shot to fame as a green-eyed [...]
