American leadership in a multipolar world
LONDON – Giving up the spotlight is never easy. The United States, like many aging celebrities, is struggling to share the stage with new faces, especially China. The upcoming meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank — two institutions dominated by the US and its Western allies — provide an ideal opportunity [...]
Change of provincial administration: The affidavit and the people’s franchise
In recent times political parties or groups elected by the free choice of the people to provincial councils have been removed overnight with a few crossovers by way of tendering affidavits. The correct legal position is as follows: According to Section 3 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka, sovereignty of the republic lies with the [...]
Big data can make South Asian cities smarter
With more than half of humanity living in cities, there is an urgent need to improve urban planning, design and management. Until now, policy makers and planners have struggled to keep up with trends. Changes were too fast, and variables too dynamic, for conventional surveys or censuses to capture them adequately. The new field of [...]
“RUN”: No ordinary race
Largely inspired by the TV show “The Amazing Race”, “RUN” on Saturday, April 18 in Kandy, will be no ordinary race. “RUN” conceived by the newly formed Gateway Kandy Alumni Association in partnership with the Rotaract Club of Kandy includes the concept of check points and clues, focusing on challenges that would test both the [...]
Scholarships at Elizabeth Moir School
Apply for scholarships to study at Elizabeth Moir School in Colombo The Moir Alumni Scholarship Trust (MAST) is offering 2-year scholarships to complete A/Levels at Elizabeth Moir School. The pre-requisites to qualify are i) students must be Sri Lankan citizens, ii) have completed the local O/Levels, and iii) must demonstrate financial need. MAST is a [...]
Christ Church Mirihana Celebrates 125 years
Christ Church Mirihana celebrated held its 125th anniversary on April 7, 2015 and a Festal Service was held on the 11th. The little church was built when a group of Christians living in Mirihana, headed by the members of the Christian Missionary movement in Mirihana, felt that the Christian community needed a place of worship. [...]
The Hill Sensation is the most talked about event of the season
Come April and Nuwara Eliya beckons many holiday-makers. The Hill Sensation, an event at the Racecourse Indoor Stadium on April 18 from 6.30 p.m. until dawn will see Sri Lanka’s leading DJs in action spinning the hottest music. Fans can look forward to crowd favourites DJ Asvajit, DJ Shiyam, DJ Upul, DJ Tim Tim, DJ [...]
Pakistan gets first women-only auto-rickshaw to beat male pests
LAHORE, PAKISTAN (Reuters) – A Pakistani environmentalist, fed up with being groped and harassed by male auto-rickshaw drivers, has launched her own service exclusively for women passengers and drivers in her home city of Lahore – with just the one rickshaw on the road so far. Zar Aslam, president of Pakistan’s non-profit Environment Protection Fund, [...]
China to document its tourists behaving badly
SHANGHAI (Reuters)- China will keep records of “uncivilised” behaviour by its tourists for up to two years, the country’s tourism agency said on Tuesday, to combat a spate of incidents abroad in recent years which it said reflected badly on the country’s image. Bad behavior included violating customs, destroying public infrastructure and historic sites, causing [...]
How honourable are honourable men?
The article titled Politicians for Sale written by my school friend, veteran journalist Neville de Silva, appeared in the last Sunday Times 2 Comment section by the side of my article titled ‘People – Power Hijacked.’ Neville’s article raises many points to ponder. Neville refers to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe (RW) quoting Foreign Minister Mangala [...]
For forms of elections let fools contest
Man is nasty, society is chaotic and politics is nothing but a struggle for power. What turns disorder into order is democracy complete with the rule of law and a bill of rights, although it is said democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others. Democracy is nothing without universal adult [...]
All in the Penguin family
Pencils, lead and coloured, a drawing book, and a storybook about a family of penguins – these were the trophies we clutched to our chest one bright morning, half a century ago, as we marched out of The Corner Bookshop, a cosy street-corner store a few teetering steps from St. Michael’s Church, Polwatte, down a [...]
Fears over Roundup herbicide residues prompt private testing
April 9 (Reuters) – U.S. consumer groups, scientists and food companies are testing substances ranging from breakfast cereal to breast milk for residues of the world’s most widely used herbicide on rising concerns over its possible links to disease. The focus is on glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup. Testing has increased in the last [...]
I wish I had one more day with my Tha
April 10, 2014: This date will be forever etched deep within our hearts as the worst day in our lives — a day that will never feel the same again in our family. A whole year has gone by since my father passed away. It was sudden but peaceful. Time has passed by so slow [...]
Iran rhetoric: All talk, action not likely
The latest remarks by Iran’s Spiritual Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei should not be seen as an effort to dislodge the interim nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1. “I am neither in favour nor against it,” said Khamenei, elaborating, “I was never optimistic about negotiating with the US.” In the same speech, he lashed out [...]
Acidic oceans implicated in Earth’s worst mass extinction
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – It is one of science’s enduring mysteries: what caused the worst mass extinction in Earth’s history. And, no, it is not the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. Scientists said on Thursday that huge amounts of carbon dioxide spewed from colossal volcanic eruptions in Siberia may have turned the world’s oceans dangerously [...]
Obama, Castro shake hands at historic summit
PANAMA CITY, April 11 (AFP) -US President Barack Obama and Cuba’s Raul Castro shook hands at the Summit of the Americas, a new milestone in efforts to shed decades of animosity between the two countries. The two leaders — who briefly shook hands once before, at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in Johannesburg in 2013 — [...]
Mass beaching fuels ‘unscientif ic’ Japan quake fears
TOKYO, April 11 (AFP) -The mass beaching of more than 150 melon-headed whales on Japan’s shores has fuelled fears of a repeat of a seemingly unrelated event in the country — the devastating 2011 undersea earthquake that killed around 19,000 people. Despite a lack of scientific evidence linking the two events, a flurry of online [...]
Seven hurt as car bomb hits Thai tourist island of Samui
BANGKOK, April 11 (AFP) -A car bomb on the Thai resort island of Samui has wounded seven people, including an Italian girl, police said today, in a further blow to the country’s tarnished reputation as a top tourist destination. The bomb, packed inside a Mazda pick-up truck with false number plates, exploded late Friday in [...]
Australia says Iran should take back failed asylum-seekers
SYDNEY, April 11 (AFP) -Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said today that Iran should take back its citizens who failed in their bids for refugee status, confirming his government will lobby Tehran on the issue. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is expected to raise the deportation of Iranian nationals when she visits Tehran next week, a [...]
35 dead as Syria forces repel attack on airport-monitor
BEIRUT, April 11, 2015 (AFP) – Pro-government forces repelled an attack on a key Syrian airport during a fierce battle in which they lost 20 fighters but killed almost as many militants, a monitor said Saturday. “There was an attack on the outskirts of the Khalkhalah military airport in Sweida province on Friday,” said Rami [...]
Bangladesh moves to hang top Islamist
DHAKA, April 11, 2015 (AFP) – Bangladesh authorities today moved to hang a top Islamist leader for overseeing a massacre during the nation’s 1971 independence war, after he refused to seek clemency from the country’s president. Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, the third most senior figure in the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was originally expected to be hanged in the [...]
New British royal baby faces tricky life as the ‘spare’
LONDON (Reuters) – The newest member of Britain’s royal family, due to make an entrance this month when Prince William’s wife Kate gives birth to the couple’s second baby, will be taking on one of royalty’s toughest roles — life as “spare to the heir”. Unlike brother George, born 21 months ago and expected one [...]
Children take more risks crossing streets than parents think
NEW YORK (Reuters)- Children may cut things closer than their parents realise when it comes to guessing how far cars are from an intersection or how long it takes to safely reach the other side, a small study suggests. Using virtual reality, researchers tested how often children might walk into oncoming traffic in real life. [...]
Don McLean’s original manuscript for American Pie sells at auction for $1.2 million to mystery bidder
Singer-songwriter Don McLean’s original manuscript and notes to ‘American Pie’ have been sold at auction for $1.2 million. McLean offered the wistful anthem that asks ‘Do you recall what was revealed the day the music died?’ at Christie’s in New York. The name of the buyer was not released. The 16 pages include the original [...]
‘I have exploding head syndrome’
“There’s this sudden crescendo of noise, then a profound and jarring explosion of sound, electrical fizzing and a bright flash in my vision, like someone has lit a spotlight in front of my face.” That’s how Niels Nielsen describes what it’s like to live with “exploding head syndrome” – an unpleasant and sometimes terrifying sensation. [...]
Gaza police seize Banksy painting in legal row
GAZA (Reuters) – Palestinian police confiscated from a Gaza graffiti artist on Thursday a bombed-out doorway bearing a Banksy painting after the original owner complained of being swindled into selling it cheap. The artist Belal Khaled had paid 700 shekels ($175) for the image of a goddess holding her head in her hand, which had [...]
Scientists restore the good name of Brontosaurus
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Paleontologists are restoring the good name of Brontosaurus more than a century after it was deemed scientifically invalid and the famous dinosaur was reclassified as another genus called Apatosaurus. They unveiled on Tuesday an exhaustive analysis of Brontosaurus remains, first unearthed in the 1870s, and those of closely related dinosaurs, determining that [...]
India’s rich temples may open gold vaults for PM Modi
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The two-century-old Shree Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai devoted to the Hindu elephant-headed god Ganesha bristles with close circuit cameras and is guarded by 65 security officers. It is one of India’s richest temples, having amassed 158 kg of gold offerings, worth some $67 million, and its heavily guarded vaults are strictly [...]
Eddie Murphy to be honoured with Mark Twain prize for humour
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US Comedian Eddie Murphy, famed for his roles in films like “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Shrek” will receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humour this year, bestowed by the Kennedy Centre. Murphy is the 18th humorist to be honoured with the award and follows television comedians Jay Leno in 2014 and [...]
How our nose shaped the human race
We are expected to spend $45 billion on perfumes by 2018, but why are humans so obsessed with smelling fragrant? A new book suggests that our fascination with scent started with our ancient ancestors and stretches back millions of years. It could even be the reason why we are able to live in dense societies [...]
