Why the World Cup mattered
PARIS – The seventeenth-century philosopher and satirist Jean de La Bruyère once quipped that, “Corneille portrays men as they should be; Racine depicts them as they are.” For Europeans, and even more so for the French, the 2018 World Cup was a Corneillian event. The month-long soccer tournament in Russia offered an enchanted respite from [...]
Trump in hot seat over the indecisive summit
In a historic bilateral summit, the United States President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on July 16. The summit took place notwithstanding myriad objections, conjectures and apprehensions from many US political leaders who oppose rapprochement with Russia over a plethora of issues: Crimea, East Ukraine, Syria, and Russia’s alleged meddling [...]
Executive Demon and Other Works: Thenuwara’s exhibition from Tuesday
Executive Demon and Other Works -Chandraguptha Thenuwara’s exhibition at the Saskia Fernando Gallery opening on Tuesday will feature his political commentary on the Executive Presidency in Sri Lanka in the form of a sculptural installation. “While the talk of the abolition of power continues there is no change. Getting rid of this demon becomes paramount [...]
Palitha Place residents hand over petition
Grievances of the residents of Palitha Place, Dematagoda were discussed at a programme attended by Western Provincial Councillor and the United National Party Borella Organiser Jayantha de Silva. Mr. de Silva is seen accepting a petition outlining the grievances of the residents.
Help this senior hotelier
Oscar J.F. Rodrigo, a senior hotelier, is seeking urgent help to treat his illness. Mr. Rodrigo has an acute left foot injury and a wound in the right foot. All his ten toes have been amputated. Both his kidneys too are affected due to extreme diabetic conditions. He says that due to his illness, he [...]
AAC 113th Annual General Meeting
The 113th Annual General Meeting of the Automobile Association of Ceylon was held on June 29 in the Auditorium of the AAC Headquarters. Dhammika Attygalle, President of the Association, who is the Vice President of Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), Region II and also a member of the National Road Safety Council Sri Lanka was [...]
US embassy launches “Small & Mighty” grant competition in cooperation with Sarvodaya
The United States embassy has launched the Small & Mighty grants competition, which is administered in cooperation with Sarvodaya. The programme provides funding opportunities to small organisations and individuals that may not have the infrastructure to compete in the US embassy’s formal Notice of Funding Opportunity process. “The Small & Mighty grants competition will benefit [...]
Death penalty: Cardinal’s clarification on Sunday Punch remarks
The Archbishop of Colombo, the Rt. Rev. Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has sent us a reply, clarifying a statement attributed to him in last week’s Don Manu’s column headlined ‘….. Execute them, says the Archbishop’. The following is the full text of the Archbishop’s letter: My attention has been drawn to a comment that has been [...]
Enforcing the death penalty: A violation of national and international law
The reports in recent newspapers that President Sirisena “will commence signing death warrants”, and that the prisons authorities had been requested to send him nineteen names of death-row prisoners who are dealing in the drug trade while in prison, raise serious legal issues of a national and international nature. These issues have apparently been ignored [...]
Lanka holds ‘World Youth Skills Day’ event at UN
UNITED NATIONS — The ‘World Youth Skills Day 2018’ was celebrated for the fourth consecutive year at the United Nations headquarters in New York last week. Organised by the Permanent Missions of Sri Lanka and Portugal, in partnership with the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, ILO and UNESCO, the event was attended by [...]
Sri Lanka’s foreign policy and the power struggle in the Indian Ocean
The 22nd convocation of the Bandaranaike International Diplomatic Training Institute (BIDTI) was held on July 13 at the BMICH. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe graced the event as chief guest, in the presence of Foreign Affairs Minister Tilak Marapana, National Policies and Economic Affairs State Minister Harsha de Silva, Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya, Foreign Affairs Ministry [...]
After this World Cup victory, can France finally throw off racism?
Liberté, egalité, Mbappé! After France’s World Cup victory on Sunday, the French slogan was rewritten to celebrate a winning goal by a 19-year-old player from the Paris suburbs who is donating his World Cup fee to charity because, he says, it is such an honour to play for his national team. Much has been made [...]