Jaya the queen can move anywhere
An upstanding citizen of Chennai tells the story of going through old records at the prestigious Sacred Hearts girls’ school at Church Park in the city. She found many of the “outstanding” students did not go on to achieve any big things in life while some of the “average” students did. But there was one [...]
The good doctor
Here in Sri Lanka, on a short holiday from the USA where he lives, is Doctor Clifford Claude Perera M.D., and his wife Shiranti. Born in Aratchikattuwa, to parents who were highly respected in the village, he schooled at St. Joseph’s College and from his very early days had a passion to be a doctor [...]
Differently-abled heroes
It’s not every day we read a book about a blind girl’s amazing talent for singing or the heroics of a disabled child. The Navajeevana Foundation that works for the betterment of disabled children has published books that are bound to move readers to do their bit to help. The three books are, “Flower Umbrella”, [...]
‘Life’s Motifs’&'Devil’s Palette’from Gunasiri
Gunasiri Kolambage has been a prolific painter for over five decades. Ever since he graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts in 1959, he has proved his creative talent as a painter by winning a large number of awards both locally and abroad. He has participated at exhibitions in several countries and held solo exhibitions [...]
The cost of love
From chocolates to roses and all things red, you can’t miss the fact that Valentine Day is next week, February 14 to be precise. Romance is blaring off the radios, shops are promoting their packages and discounts for the season luring passers-by with glittering hearts and red décor. If you’re looking for the usual gifts [...]
Survey: Children raised with pets are more confident, caring
Plenty of children pester their parents for a puppy or kitten. And now it might be harder for parents to refuse their pleas as a new study claims that young adults who care for an animal have stronger social relationships. U.S. scientists also found that looking after a pet might also boost teenagers’ connections to [...]
Humour in black coat: Lal Perera
If someone was to ask who the wittiest lawyer I had met was and who had the gift of repartee par excellence in the Bar, my answer would be Lal Perera. He was such an excellent raconteur that none would leave the inner table, at the Colombo Magistrate’s Court, when he was seated there. A [...]
How Kotelawala (Snr) got young brother-in-law killed
There were several families that made a fortune in the latter part of the 19th century. Mudliar D.P. Attygalle of Madapatha, Piliyandala was one such person who amassed enormous wealth. In addition to huge tracts of coconut land, he also owned several plumbago mines, namely Kahatagaha Mines and Maduragoda Pits. Plumbago was in great demand [...]
Seducer in chief
The way he intertwined his fingers through theirs, the gleam of his blue eyes…?and the overwhelming scent of power. This week, actor Tom Sizemore claimed that Bill Clinton had an affair with Elizabeth Hurley – only later to withdraw the story, claiming he was high on drugs when he made the outrageous allegations. But what [...]
Communist Vietnam gets first taste of US fast-food giant
HO CHI MINH CITY, Feb 8 (AFP) -Four decades after the Vietnam war ended, US fast-food giant McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in the communist country today, aiming to lure a rising middle class away from rice and noodles. The arrival of one of the most potent symbols of US capitalism in southern Ho Chi [...]
Pope’s Harley Davidson smashes expectations at Paris auction
PARIS (Reuters) – A Harley-Davidson motorbike sold at auction for almost 20 times its estimated value – because its previous owner was the pope. Signed “Francesco” on its tank, the Dyna Super Glide sold for 241,500 euros ($328,300), with a Harley-Davidson leather jacket, also signed by the pope, going for 57,500 euros, both to anonymous [...]
Indian man travels 1,000 miles to claim bogus prize
An Indian villager recently travelled more than a thousand miles to the BBC office in Delhi in an unusual quest – to claim millions of rupees he believed he had won in a “BBC lottery”. Ratan Kumar Malbisoi, a 41-year-old unemployed Indian villager, fell for a message he received on his mobile phone nearly two [...]
Russia’s Potemkin Olympic Village
MOSCOW – Remember the year 2007? Russia was starting to look like a world power again. Its economy was growing at a record 8.5% annual rate. Political life had stabilised. Support for President Vladimir Putin was stratospheric. The decade-long Chechen rebellion seemed to have been suppressed. And, to top it off, the International Olympic Committee [...]
Fighting as aid due to enter besieged Homs in Syria
BEIRUT, Feb 8 (AFP) -Fighting erupted today around besieged areas of the Syrian city of Homs as a UN-supervised aid delivery was due to enter, and both sides traded accusations of truce violations. On the second day of a humanitarian ceasefire, Homs provincial governor Talal al-Barazi called on the army to exercise “restraint” to ensure [...]
Spain princess in court for historic fraud hearing
PALMA, Spain, Feb 8 (AFP) -Smiling under the gaze of the world’s media, Spanish King Juan Carlos’s daughter Cristina faced a judge today as a corruption suspect, in an unprecedented blow to the royals. A judge started questioning her over accusations that she was complicit in tax-dodging and laundering allegedly embezzled money — claims that [...]
Parole for Australian drug convict Corby
SYDNEY, Feb 8 (AFP) -Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop today welcomed the decision by Indonesia to parole drug trafficker Schapelle Corby and called for her privacy to be respected. The 36-year-old, whose incarceration has fascinated the Australian public, was granted parole on Friday in Bali, where she was convicted and jailed for 20 years in [...]
Could studying the universe destroy it?
Knowledge is power – or at least that’s what we’ve been led to believe. But knowing too much could accidentally trigger a countdown to Armageddon, according to two U.S. physicists. The scientific theory suggests we may have nudged the universe closer to its death just by looking at it. Lawrence Krauss of Case Western Reserve [...]
The casino conundrum: Who is cheating whom?
Forbes Asia reported on January 29, 2014 that Australia’s casino king James Packer had claimed he just won approval from the Sri Lankan Government to build a five-star casino resort in Colombo. Sydney Morning Herald had also reported a few days earlier on January 23 that Packer received government approval to build a resort in [...]
