Rajani: Right is might
Remembering a Jaffna academic, who is still an inspiration to all who fight for human rights, twenty-five years after she was gunned down by the LTTE It was near 7 pm and the light was fading. Most residents of Jaffna knew better than to loiter in the streets. But one lone man who rode into [...]
Through a daughter’s eyes
My sister, Narmada, and I called my mother “Daji”. She was a public figure to others but not to us. A few days before she died, I remember sitting on her lap. She was in a sari and I pressed into her body while our little puppies played at our feet and she remained lost [...]
Sino-India border tension eases as Xi visit ends
NEW DELHI, Sept 20 (AFP) – Chinese troops have begun pulling back from the disputed border with India, sources said, as President Xi Jinping on Friday wrapped up a rare visit to New Delhi overshadowed by the stand-off at the remote frontier. The row over an alleged incursion by hundreds of Chinese troops into territory [...]
Keeping a promise 25 years on
“My name is Pramuditha. I am eight years old. I am not a prince but I am a village boy! Thanks to the United Nations’ Child Rights Convention, my health rights are respected. I have the freedom to learn…. I have the freedom to think, to express myself and to enjoy the art. Therefore, let [...]
BCIS celebrates the ‘Acquisition of Knowledge’
In Western culture, a graduation ceremony marks the end of an academic programme in which the student officially ends his/her relationship with the institute and teachers. The East has a far deeper meaning attached to this ceremony, where it is the knowledge attained and the relationship between student and teacher that is celebrated. The latter [...]
Sarvodaya wins ‘Outstanding Social Entrepreneurship’ Award
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship has awarded the 2014 Outstanding Social Entrepreneurship Award to Lanka Jathika Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya (Inc.), its Founder Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne and the General Secretary Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne, at the World Economic Forum New Champions Annual Meeting in Tianjin, China. Founded in 1998, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship [...]
Legally honest, Ben made it big
I was saddened when I learnt that my friend Ben Eliyatamby had passed away at Durdan’s Hospital on Friday August 1, 2014. He was 74. I knew that he was ailing for some time but many of us felt that he will make it and that we could enjoy his amiable and pleasant company for [...]
An invaluable case study of maritime boundary issues of a developing littoral State
This is the second part of Dr. Rohan Perera’s review of Nirmala Chandrahasan’s book “Maritime Boundaries in the Indian Ocean:Sri Lanka and the law of the Sea”, a book that is of interest not only to Sri Lanka but also to all Indian Ocean littoral states, especially India which shares a common maritime boundary with [...]
Britain continues to intimidate its media
Where art thou, John Rankin? The last time I had any news of the British high commissioner he was due to return to London at the end of his term. Whether he has already left or is still here packing his wangediya and miris gala to turn out a delectable mus curry and buth for [...]
Do you have a caffeine addiction?
It is the aromatic pick-me-up that millions of us rely on to get going in the morning. But some professions love coffee and tea more than others, a new survey has found. Journalists, teachers, police officers, plumbers and trade workers are the professions that drink the most coffee, the report claims. They were found to [...]
India caps prices of 36 more drugs to improve access: Govt official
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, Sept 20 (Reuters) -India has capped the prices of 36 drugs, including those used to treat infections and diabetes, in its latest move to make essential medicines more affordable, a senior official of the country’s drug pricing authority told Reuters on Friday. The medicines join a list of 348 drugs deemed essential and [...]
China makes rapid headway with its bullet trains
People world over use trains for travelling and transport goods because it is convenient and cheap. In recent times, train services have advanced at an alarming pace due to new technology introduced in countries like Canada, Japan, Germany and France. The railway service is important to China, too. It has a population of 1.3 b [...]
Being religious does not make you better behaved, only more guilty
Being religious does not make you better behaved, researchers have found. A new study found ‘no significant difference’ in the number or quality of moral and immoral deeds made by religious and non-religious participants. The researchers found only one difference – Religious people responded with more pride and gratitude for their moral deeds, and more [...]
What water’s worth
SINGAPORE/ATLANTA – In the early nineteenth century, Lord Byron wrote in Don Juan that “Till taught by pain, men really know not what good water’s worth.” Nearly 200 years later, humanity still does not seem to understand water’s value, exemplified in decades of poor water management and governance practically everywhere. But the impending water crisis [...]
Health developers, doctors want to see more from Apple’s watch
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Technology pundits were quick to predict the demise of most fitness wristbands and smartwatches when Apple Inc launched its Apple Watch. But healthcare professionals and fitness junkies were left wanting to see more. Observers say there is little evidence for now that the device’s fitness capabilities surpass the competition. Others, hoping [...]
It’s not a small world after all: World population will soar
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Contrary to some earlier projections, the world’s population will soar through the end of the 21st century thanks largely to sub-Saharan Africa’s higher-than-expected birth rates, United Nations and other population experts said on Thursday. There is an 80 percent likelihood that the number of people on the planet, currently 7.2 billion, will [...]
India maps its eroding coastline
[HYDERABAD] A shoreline mapping exercise carried out by India is expected to help this peninsular country cope with coastal erosion attributed to climate change and rising sea levels. The two-year exercise completed in August covered 6,032 kilometres of coastline. It suggests that 40 per cent of India’s 7,500 kilometre-long coastline has been eroded to a [...]
Banana peel study, ugly art research win Ig Nobel spoof awards
BOSTON (Reuters) – Researchers who measured the slipperiness of banana peels, the ability of pork strips to stop nosebleeds, and the reactions of reindeer to humans in polar bear suits were among the winners of this year’s Ig Nobel prizes for comical scientific achievements. The annual prizes, meant to entertain and encourage global research and [...]
India’s Mars mission enters last lap; faces crucial test on September 24
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s first mission to Mars will attempt to put a spacecraft in orbit around the red planet next week, in a crucial test of a low-cost project carrying the country’s hopes to join the leaders of a global space race. A successful outcome for the $74-million mission would stiffen Prime Minister [...]
Sigmund Freud: The phrases you use without realising it
It’s 75 years since the death of Sigmund Freud, and the words and phrases he popularised are deeply ingrained in popular culture and everyday language. How did Freudian jargon become so widespread? There’s the Freud in textbooks. The bearded Viennese polymath who pioneered psychoanalysis. The Freud that academics never tire of arguing about. Then there’s [...]
India TV anchor’s number is up after naming China’s Xi ‘Eleven’
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – An Indian TV news anchor has been sacked after she referred to Chinese President Xi Jinping as ‘Eleven’ Jinping, apparently confusing Xi’s name with the Roman numerals XI, a senior official at the state television channel said, . Xi left India on Friday after a visit to boost trade and economic [...]
Philippines picks up pieces after storm leaves five dead
Residents take shelter at an evacuation centre for flood victims a day after tropical storm Fung-Wong inundated the Philippine capital Manila September 20, as the death toll from the disaster rose to five. Heavy rain in the capital caused flooding in many areas on Friday, shutting schools, government offices and financial markets as a tropical [...]
Turkey secures release of 49 hostages seized in northern Iraq
SANLIURFA Turkey (Reuters) – Turkish intelligence agents brought 49 hostages seized by Islamic State militants in northern Iraq back to Turkey today after more than three months in captivity, in what President Tayyip Erdogan described as a covert rescue operation. The hostages, including Turkey’s consul-general, diplomats’ children and special forces soldiers, were brought to the [...]
Queen urges unity after Scotland rejects independence
EDINBURGH, Sept 20 (AFP) -Scottish leader Alex Salmond said he would resign after losing an independence referendum that left the United Kingdom intact, while Queen Elizabeth II called for “mutual respect” among Scots following a divisive campaign. Despite a surge in Scottish nationalist support in the final fortnight of the campaign, the anti-independence “No” camp [...]
France mounts Iraq strikes as jihadists advance in Syria
BAGHDAD, Sept 20 (AFP) -France mounted its first air strike to beat back the Islamic State group in Iraq, even as jihadists across the border in Syria seized dozens of Kurdish villages in a lightning offensive. More than a decade after Paris famously refused to back the US-led invasion of Iraq, France became the first [...]
New Zealanders go to polls in ‘dirty tricks’ election
WELLINGTON, Sept 20 (AFP) -New Zealanders voted today in a general election with conservative Prime Minister John Key tipped for a narrow victory despite a roller-coaster campaign dominated by allegations of dirty tricks and mass surveillance. Polling booths opened at 9:00 am and will close at 7:00 pm (0700 GMT) as 3.06 million registered voters [...]
Boeing’s ‘space taxi’ includes seat for a tourist
CAPE CANAVERAL Fla. (Reuters) – Boeing Co’s (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) proposal to develop a so-called space taxi for NASA astronauts includes a seat for paying tourists to fly to the International Space Station, the company’s program manager said on Wednesday, a first for a U.S. space program. The $4.2 billion, five-year contract [...]
