Speaker Jayasuriya: Commonwealth well placed to promote multiculturalism worldwide
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has expressed confidence that Sri Lanka is well placed to promote and sustain multiculturalism worldwide. Addressing an event the Royal Commonwealth Society Sri Lanka (RCSSL) held last week at Capri Club, Colombo to mark the 70th anniversary of the Modern Commonwealth, the Speaker, who graced the occasion as Chief Guest, said promoting [...]
How an AI utopia would work
ANTWERP – It is more than 500 years since Sir Thomas More found inspiration for the “Kingdom of Utopia” while strolling the streets of Antwerp. So, when I travelled there from Dubai in May to speak about artificial intelligence (AI), I couldn’t help but draw parallels to Raphael Hythloday, the character in Utopia who regales [...]
Sri Lanka Women’s Association in UK celebrates 70th anniversary
The Sri Lanka Women’s Association in the UK (SLWA) celebrated with pride it’s 70th Anniversary at a luncheon at St.James Court Hotel,(A Taj Hotel) Buckingham Gate, London last month. The President of the Association, Mrs Natalie Layman welcomed the Chief Guest, Her Excellency Ms Manisha Gunasekera, the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in the UK, [...]
Ambassador Saroja Sirisena presents credentials to Austria’s President
Saroja Sirisena presented Letters of Credence to Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen on July 10 at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, accrediting her as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sri Lanka to Austria. Ambassador Sirisena conveyed greetings of President Maithripala Sirisena to President Van der Bellen recalling the former’s visit to Austria in [...]
Ameerajwad assumes duties as ambassador in Oman
Omar Lebbe Ameerajwad, ambassador-designate of Sri Lanka to Oman, arrived in Muscat on July 10 and assumed duties after a simple ceremony. Addressing the staff, Mr. Ameerajwad recalled historical relations between Sri Lanka and Oman and set out his targets including promotion of tourism, trade, investment and employment opportunities, in further strengthening relations between the [...]
Village Biz Festival at Green Path on July 20
‘Village Biz Festival,” a gathering of more than 100 social entrepreneurs from across the country, will show case their products under an innovative event aimed at creating awareness on sustainable business and life patterns with the main focus being up-cycling, recycling and sustainability. The novel event which follows the highly successful Pumpkin Farmers Festival will [...]
Wanted O positive kidney
A.M. Weerasinghe Christopher Anthony, a resident of Subha Sadhaka Mawatha at Arawwala in Pannipitiya, has been diagnosed with renal failure and is in urgent need of a kidney transplant, according to Consultant Nephrologist Dr. Anura Hewageegana. He requires an ‘O’ Positive kidney and those who wishes to donate a kidney, please contact the patient on [...]
NGO Forum on Ageing holds AGM
The annual general meeting of the NGO Forum on Ageing was held on June 29 at the Mallika Nivasa Samithi Hall. Guest Speaker for the event was Dr. Vasanthy Perera. She spoke about loneliness and how it affects the mental wellbeing of the aging population. Providing helpful insights, she spelt out measures to overcome the [...]
Old Anandians’ get-together
This year too, the Senior Old Anandians Fellowship lunch and get-together will be held at the Sasakawa Hall at Bala Tampoe Mawatha (opposite the Cinnamon Gran Hotel) in Kollupitiya on July 28. The function is open to all Old Anandians over 60. If you are not a member, membership could be obtained at the event. [...]
Presidential donation for Pera alumni’s jubilee celebration
On July 2, President Maithripala Sirisena made a donation towards the 50th anniversary celebration of the 1969 Batch of the University of Peradeniya and the unveiling of the statue of Prof. Ediriweera Sarachchandra, when members of the 1969 + Brotherhood Association met him at the President’s House. The association was represented by D.S. Edirisinghe, R.M. [...]
Sudhu Bodhiya’s third anniversary
The third anniversary of the planting of a bo-sapling known as ‘Sudhu Bodhiya’ was marked recently at the Kolonnawa Raja Maha Viharaya. The event was organised by the Pragna Pradeepa Foundation initiator Jayantha de Silva. He is seen here with the Viharaya’s Chief Incumbent, the Ven. Kolonnawe Dhammika Thera during the ceremony.
Police HQ jumps on the showbiz bandwagon
Much publicity has been given these days, via media, by the Acting Inspector General of Police to large monetary rewards on offer for detections of drunken driving. The matter of rewards to police officers is dealt with in the Police Gazette Part 11 (PG 2). The PG 2 is an ‘Official Document, Entrusted in Confidence [...]
Education: Politicos, keep off the grass
Politics without principles, Education without character, Science without humanity, Commerce without morality— Are not only useless but positively dangerous – Sathya Sai Baba Politics and education make a dangerous mix in Sri Lanka where it is said 94 of the 225 MPs are without the GCE O/L qualification. With the ‘People’s Representatives’ exercising the ‘sovereign [...]
How parliamentary democracy works
In the late fifties — I was then a much younger man — I naively thought (as I am sure most of us young people then did) that the people who were elected to public office were the best folk for the job. I used to believe that they had come forward to offer themselves [...]
Population control: Search for equilibrium vis-à-vis finite resources
The World Population Day was instituted in 1989 by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme and is observed on July 11 annually. It happened due to an outgrowth of the interest generated when the world population reached five billion on July 11, 1987. The UN authorised the event as a vehicle to [...]
Political storm in France over lobster-dinner scandal
PARIS, July13 (AFP) – A senior French cabinet minister defiantly vowed Friday to stay in his job despite fresh claims he used the public purse to fund an extravagant lifestyle including lobster feasts. Environment Minister Francois de Rugy has endured a torrid week after the Mediapart investigative website said he hosted lavish dinners — allegedly [...]