Sri Lanka and Afghanistan: A growing partnership
Afghanistan pursues a foreign policy agenda that promotes cooperation against confrontation, win-win policy initiatives against lose-lose militarism and posturing in the immediate neighbourhood, the wider region, and the world at large. This constructive thinking underpins Afghanistan’s fast-growing ties with Sri Lanka, with which the country shares an ancient civilisation. The statues of Buddha in the [...]
Why Turkey took the fight to Syria
ANKARA — It is dismaying that Turkey’s military operation in northeastern Syria is being spun in the American news media as an attack on Kurds, as weakening the fight against the remnants of Daesh (or the so-called Islamic State) and hurting America’s credibility with its allies. I am compelled to set the record straight because [...]
UN’s 75th anniversary shadowed by right-wing nationalism, widespread authoritarianism and budgetary cuts
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 17 2019 (IPS) – When the six much-ballyhooed high-level UN meetings concluded late September, there were mixed feelings about the final outcomes. And civil society organisations (CSOs), which were mostly disappointed with the results, are now gearing themselves for two upcoming key climate summit meetings: COP25 in Santiago, Chile in December and [...]
John Lennon vs. the Deep State: One man against the ‘Monster’
“You gotta remember, establishment, it’s just a name for evil. The monster doesn’t care whether it kills all the students or whether there’s a revolution. It’s not thinking logically, it’s out of control.”—John Lennon (1969) John Lennon, born 79 years ago on October 9, 1940, was a musical genius and pop cultural icon. He was [...]
Learning lessons from history or teaching history a lesson?
That man does not learn from the lessons of history is the most important of all lessons that history has to teach – Aldous Huxley (famed English writer and philosopher of the 20th Century) Presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a former Lt Colonel of Sri Lanka Army now assiduously attempting to project himself as an intellectual [...]
Worth a thousand words
The America Sri Lankan Photographic Art Society (ASPAS), an affiliate of the Photographic Society of America, in association with the Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Los Angeles, held a photographic exhibition titled ‘The Beauty of Sri Lanka’, at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). It drew a large number of visitors. The [...]
Rural life in imperial Ceylon
There is a growing interest among historians about the role of the British Empire. There is no agreement among them as to its contribution. Even among an older generation in Sri Lanka who yet remember the tail-end days of the British, there is much controversy about the British legacy. John Darwin, the Oxford historian of [...]
Vaccine Forum holds 10th annual symposium
The Vaccine Forum of Sri Lanka will hold its 10th Annual Symposium on Vaccines next Sunday (October 27) at the New Lecture Hall of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo. This half-day symposium is open to all medical professionals, professionals of allied health sciences and medical students. The chief guest will be Prof. Sujeewa [...]
‘Singha Thalam’ to raise funds for National Institute of Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation
‘Singha Thalam’, a dance performance by the Channa and Upuli dance troupe – to raise funds for vital equipment needed by the National Institute of Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation at Maligawatte – will be held on November 3 at 6 p.m. at the Bishop’s College Auditorium. The Lion Ladies of Lions Clubs International District 306 [...]
Taste the local flavour once again at A&K lit. fest today
TheA&K (Annasi & Kadalagotu) Literary Festival will take the stage for the fifth year, today, October 20, (Sunday) at the Mount Lavinia Hotel with the theme ‘Simply Local, Simply Literature’. This year’s programme opens up with Shakthika Sathkumara, no better person to discuss if literature should be censored. Two book launches will brighten up the [...]
Workshop for Gampaha District journalists
A workshop was held in Ja-ela to educate Gampaha district journalists on legal aspects of news reporting. The workshop was organised by the Nalin Fernando Foundation. Lawyers Amal Randeniya and Indika Silva conducted the sessions. Pic by Sarath Chinthaka, Wattala correspondent
Theft of Caravaggio in Sicily still shrouded in mystery 50 years on
Antonella Lampone will never forget that night. Thunder and lightning shook the skies as thick and grey clouds seemed to give back to Sicily all the water it had not received that entire summer. A few metres from her small apartment in the Oratory of Saint Lawrence in Palermo, where her mother was a housekeeper, [...]
Kodagoda receives “Pranama Abhisheka” Award
Sunanda Kodagoda was awarded the ‘Pranama Abhisheka Award’ for his service to the field of Sinhala literature at a recent event. The award was presented to by former Western Provincial Councillor Rodney Frasher at the Literary Arts Festival organised by the Cultural Affairs Department and the Maharagama Divisional Secretariat, concurrent to the National Literary Arts [...]
All-Island Senior Citizens Scrabble Tournament: Rush in those entries
As the annual All-Island Senior Citizens Scrabble Tournament draws near, it’s time to rush in those entries if you haven’t done so already. Being held for the 20th successful consecutive year, the tournament is organized by Sri Lanka Association of Senior Citizens. The tournament will be conducted under two categories. Category “A” will be for [...]
How fact-checking can win the fight against misinformation
JOHANNESBURG – According to fact-checkers at the Washington Post, US President Donald Trump has made more than 13,000 false or misleading claims since his inauguration. It is no wonder some people doubt that the fact-checking of politicians’ claims is an answer to the problems of this misinformation age. When politicians and journalists from Europe, the [...]