Sustainable tourism: New profit for businesses
World Tourism Day has been celebrated since 1980 on September 27, the day on which the Statutes of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) entered into force. Official celebrations of World Tourism Day 2017 will be held in Qatar. The UN General Assembly declared the year ahead as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development [...]
The Anagarika’s mission to give Buddhism to the whole world
The following is the text of the speech delivered by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya at the 153rd birth anniversary celebrations of Anagarika Dharmapala in Buddha Gaya, India last Sunday: It is a great pleasure to be with you to attend the 153rd birth anniversary celebrations of Anagarika Dharmapala, organised by the Mahabodhi Society of India. Anagarika [...]
Desperate DMK playing secessionist politics in Tamil Nadu
Sri Lanka may have to beef up its internal and external security and intelligence gathering if the developments in Tamil Nadu are any indication. The opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam (DMK) is getting ready to stoke up Tamil nationalist passions. Frustrated over its failure in successive elections since May 2011 (the 2011 assembly election, the 2014 [...]
Sil-redi saga: Transparency International said it all then
There are many crocodile tears being shed for Lalith Weeratunga (LW), one time secretary to President Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR), who was recently convicted and sentenced to jail by high court for misusing public funds. Many are they who claim innocence on his part stating that he did not steal money for himself and that he [...]
A fascinating biography of a fascinating man
Desmond de Silva was born in the colony of Ceylon in the early months of WWII, the only son of a barrister and grandson of a Minister in the War Council set up by Britain. Ceylon faced an onslaught of the, up till then, victorious Japanese forces. His life in retrospect, as seen through these [...]
Special needs children to showcase talents at Children’s Day event
Special needs children will showcase their talents at a major celebration of Children’s Day to be held on September 30 and October 1 near Lake Gregory and at the Hakgala Botanical Gardens in Nuwara Eliya by the Senehasa Education, Resource, Research and Information Centre (SERRIC). The Chief Guests at the event will be the Education [...]
National Trust lecture: “The study of landscape architecture is a science”
The 99th lecture in the series presented by the National Trust – Sri Lanka will be held at the HNB Auditorium, 22nd Floor, HNB Towers, 479 T.B. Jayah Mawatha, Colombo 10 at 6.30p.m. on Thursday, September 28. “The study of landscape architecture is a science” will be the topic of the lecture to be delivered [...]
KMC Arts festival on Sept. 28
The Arts festival of the Kandy Municipal Council will be held on Thursday, Sept. 28 at the E.L.Senanayake children’s Library Auditorium, Kotugodella Veediya, Kandy at 3 p.m. The Chief guest will be Municipal Commissioner, Chandana Tennakoon.
RASSL monthly lecture tomorrow
Professor in Sinhala and Head of the Department of Sinhala and Mass-Communication,University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Ratnasiri Arangala will deliver the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka (RASSL) monthly public lecture on the ”Uniqueness of the Sinhala Language among Indo-Aryan Languages’ on Monday, September 25 at 5 p.m. at the Gamini Dissanayake Auditorium, No. 96, Ananda [...]
Online tool allows citizens’ participation in electoral demarcation process
LIRNEasia has designed a new online tool that allows citizens to participate knowledgeably in the re-demarcation process by developing their own demarcation scenarios and submitting them to the Delimitation Commission for consideration. The move comes as the Delimitation Commission gets ready to demarcate wards ahead of the Provincial Councils elections next year. The demarcations tool [...]
Government holds the key to the nation’s memory
Even though apartheid-era bureaucrats destroyed much of South Africa’s records in an attempt to sanitise history, much survived and these have to be opened to public scrutiny in the interests of accountability. It is true that our experience of the present depends upon our knowledge of the past. Czech-born writer Milan Kundera, who at different [...]
New Jersey Vihara and Meditation Center launches expansion project
The New Jersey Buddhist Vihara and Meditation Center (NJBV & MC) held its groundbreaking ceremony for a new building on Saturday, September 16 in Princeton, New Jersey. Local and regional dignitaries on hand for the event included state Senators Bob Smith and Christopher “Kip” Bateman; state Assemblymen Joe Danielsen and Andrew Zwicker; Somerset County Freeholder [...]
Empowering girls, freeing them from shackles
WASHINGTON, DC – In the lottery of life, being born female in a poor country places one at a double disadvantage. Women in poor countries have the highest global incidence of poverty of any demographic group, along with the worst health conditions, the least access to education, and the highest likelihood of being victims of [...]