India’s nuke materials are vulnerable to theft
Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu – On October 8, 2014, Head Constable Vijay Singh awoke before dawn and scurried across the ochre gravel outside the constabulary barracks here at the Madras Atomic Power Station “looking like the monsoon was about to break,” as a ground sweeper later recalled. Singh was one of 620 paramilitaries in the country’s [...]
Is cost of living your problem?
We are compelled to talk about our country being sick physically and mentally. Sicknesses that at one time afflicted us at the age of 60-70 are now afflicting us even at 25. Why did we lose the treasure of good health? We need a public debate on this. It has become a problem to gauge [...]
Oldest existing Sinhala newspaper, the Gnanartha Pradeepaya is 150 years old
It was 1866. Ceylon was a British colony and English reigned supreme as the land’s official language. It wasn’t the most successful of times for publications in indigenous languages, but with strong faith, on July 7, the Catholic Limited Company launched the Gnanartha Pradeepaya which celebrates 150 years of existence this year. It is known [...]
Alagaratnam re-elected as BASL president
President’s Counsel, Geoffrey Alagaratnam was re-elected uncontested as President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) for 2016/17. The election to the office of President was confirmed after nominations were called on January 11 for the forthcoming term. The election for the post of Secretary is scheduled for February 17. The BASL Convocation of [...]
A suicide survivor tells her story
Samutthana (The King’s College London Resource Centre for Trauma, Displacement and Mental Health) will present a discussion and debate on depression and suicide, moderated by Nivendra Uduman (Counselling Psychologist, Samutthana) on Wednesday, January 20 at the Bougainvillea Room, Hotel Galadari from 6.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. The discussion will explore the realities of depression and [...]
A day with the differently-abled
The InternationalAssociation of Lions Clubs District 306A1 has organised a Day with the Differently-Abled under the theme ‘Dedication the Way to Success.” The programme will be held today from 8.30 a.m. onwards at De Soysa Stadium, Moratuwa. Lions District Governor Muthumuni Nihal Jayantha de Silva will be the chief guest.
Victim unknown, killer unknown: Fingerprints to the fore
I wish to share some of my reminiscences of a murder inquiry I handled in 1970 to stress on the importance of fingerprints in the investigation of crimes. I was then the Officer-in-Charge of the Crimes Branch at the Matugama Police Station. It was during the National New Year period, when most of the people [...]
Western powers protect arms markets ignoring civilian killings
UNITED NATIONS – The West continues its strong political and military support to one of its longstanding allies in the Middle East – Saudi Arabia – despite withering criticism of the kingdom’s battlefield excesses in the ongoing war in neighbouring Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition has been accused of using banned cluster bombs, bombing civilian targets [...]
How to save the World Bank
OXFORD – The World Bank is quietly sliding into insignificance, as its core fee-paying clients increasingly seek other lenders. If it is to survive, its management will need to streamline its loan approval processes and leverage the unique assets that distinguish it from its competitors. The Bank once comfortably earned enough to be self-sustaining. Today, [...]
From Sanskrit to Bojhpuri to Urdu and Hindi
Sanskrit the great language of the Aryans and of their Vedas and epics died its natural death and ceased to be a spoken language, leaving behind a variety of dialects in and around the present region of Uttar Pradesh which comprises Ayodhya, Varanasi Mathura and Allahabad, and Lucknow. These dialects which were in only a [...]
US, Iran step back from the brink
To awaken Thursday to front-page photos of U.S. sailors kneeling on the deck of their patrol boat, hands on their heads in postures of surrender, on Iran’s Farsi Island, brought back old and bad memories. In January 1968, LBJ’s last year, 82 sailors of the Pueblo were captured by North Korea and held hostage with [...]