Do not sling mud at a President who has done so much for this country
The election of politicians to govern the country rests with the public. Some vote for their kith and kin. Others look at their own caste, creed, ancestry and place of birth and cast their votes. There are, of course, those who take into consideration the lessons from the past, look at the future and the [...]
The peerless Podi Hamuduruwo of Gangaramaya legacy
The Ven. Galaboda Gnanissara Thera or Podi Hamuduruwo of Colombo’s Gangaramaya is a remarkable Buddhist prelate. He is in a league all of his own. He had the leadership in the temple forced on him as a novice at the tender age of 16 as his Nayaka Thera, the Ven. Devundara Vachissara Thera had virtually [...]
Microsoft to unveil Windows 10 in January
Microsoft is set to show off the next major version of its Windows software at a January event at its Redmond HQ – but admits its release has already been delayed until fall 2015. Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner told Japanese news service Nikkei on Wednesday that the new system would be released ‘early next [...]
‘Sugar worse than salt’ row erupts
Scientists have clashed over claims that sugar may be worse for blood pressure and heart health than salt. US experts say people need to place a greater focus on cutting sugar intake and suggest the benefits of lowering salt levels are “debatable.” Their arguments are published in the journal Open Heart. But other researchers have [...]
Putin’s rules of attraction
CAMBRIDGE – Russian President Vladimir Putin’s covert aggression in Ukraine continues – and so do Western sanctions against his country. But the economy is not all that is under threat; Russia’s soft power is dwindling, with potentially devastating results. A country can compel others to advance its interests in three main ways: through coercion, payment, [...]
Chevalier Jusey de Silva, Knight of St. Gregory
With the visit of His Holiness Pope Francis, imminent in January 2015, the investiture of one of the first Sinhalese as a Knight of St. Gregory, by Pope Leo XIII will be of interest. Jusey de Silva was born in Pelapolwatta Payagala at his maternal residence on the 2nd of September 1816.He was the eldest [...]
Catholic Church in Australia links celibacy to abuse
SYDNEY, (AFP) -The Catholic Church in Australia on Friday said that obligatory celibacy may have contributed to priests abusing children, and recommended that clergy should be given “psychosexual” training. In a landmark report, an Australian Catholic Church body dealing with the legacy of child sex abuse added that some church institutions and their leaders turned [...]
Poppies dying out in Flanders
Their blood red flowers are a haunting reminder of those who made the ultimate fighting for Britain. But the wild poppy is fast disappearing from the fields of Flanders. Ecologists have warned that the common poppy is being driven out by intensive agriculture. The use of powerful weed killers and nitrogen-rich fertilisers is blamed for [...]
Venezuela’s brutal beauty business
Girls as young as 12 are getting cosmetic surgery such as butt lifts and nose jobs under the watchful eyes of their mothers in a desperate and extreme bid to become beauty queens in Venezuela. In a country obsessed with winning international contests like Miss World and Miss Universe fame-hungry teens are going to shocking [...]
Shedding 6lbs could help beat breast cancer
Losing just under half a stone could be as effective as a so-called wonder drug at boosting the survival chances of breast cancer, researchers claim. A major study has found that women with the illness who shed modest amounts of weight and keep it off while undergoing treatment were a fifth less likely to die. [...]
Feathered friends: researchers unveil bird ‘family tree’
WASHINGTON, (Reuters) -Scientists have unveiled the most comprehensive bird ‘family tree’ ever devised, using genetic data from 48 species to trace how modern bird lineages arose and flourished after the mass extinction that killed off the dinosaurs. The work by researchers from 20 countries helps clarify the evolutionary relationships of modern bird groups and reveals [...]
Earth’s water did not come from comets
The mystery of where Earth’s water came from has got murkier. Results from the Rosetta space probe has proved that water did not come from a comet, as had been previously thought. The Rosetta mission, which made history by landing on Comet 67P in November, shows the water on the icy mass is unlike that [...]
Did humans first master fire in Israel 350,000 years ago?
Early humans first began to master fire around 350,000 years ago, helping to drive the development of complex culture among our ancestors, new archaeological evidence has revealed. Flint fragments discovered in a cave in the limestone cliffs of Mount Carmel, close to Haifa on the Mediterranean coast of northern Israel, have provided the oldest signs [...]
The science of Father Chrtistmas
He’s making a list, and checking it twice, to find out who has been naughty and nice. But Santa might also want to jot down a few equations and sums, as he’ll need to grapple with the laws of physics come Christmas Eve. Of course, it’s unlikely Santa has to deal with the rules of [...]
Tea breaks aren’t a waste of time at work: Scientists
Bosses worried that staff are wasting time on tea breaks could not be more wrong, for a new study suggests drinking a cuppa could unlock their hidden potential. The research found the process of making and drinking a cup of tea boosts mood and tended to enhance creative problem solving. The work was carried out [...]
The CIA’s torture orgy
We may have known the outline of the global US kidnapping and torture programme for a few years. But even the heavily censored summary of the US senate torture report turns the stomach in its litany of criminal barbarity unleashed by the CIA on real and imagined US enemies. The earlier accounts of US brutality [...]
US faulted for undermining torture convention
UNITED NATIONS, (IPS) – The timing was inadvertently impeccable as two stinging reports on harsh interrogation techniques – by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the United States and former military regimes in Brazil – were released on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the U.N. Convention Against Torture. Not surprisingly, U.N. spokesperson Stephane [...]
10th annual Conference of Buddhist Studies in January
The 10th annual Conference of Buddhist Studies organised by the Dept. of Pali and Buddhist Studies, University of Sri Jayewardenapura in association with The Buddhist Times Trust will be held at the University on Saturday, January 3 and Sunday, January 4 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The conference is open to the public. For [...]
Paintings by Marie Alles
With a Christmas reception at her Raintree Gallery on Sir James Peiris Mawatha, Colombo 2, artist Marie Alles Fernando unveiled her latest collection of paintings to the public. A select crowd of invitees including Indian High Commissioner Y.K. Sinha and Mrs Sinha were also interested viewers.
Rotary’s coveted Polio Eradication Champion Award presented to Tony Abbott
President-Elect of Rotary International, Sri Lankan K.R. Ravindran was in Canberra last week to present Rotary’s coveted Polio Eradication Champion Award to the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, for his strong support to the Rotary Polio eradication programme. Others in the picture are Mrs. Vanathy Ravindran and Rotary officials. The Prime Minister, a huge advocate [...]
ICES discussion on “Civil Society Perspectives on Presidential Priorities”
The International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) has organised a lecture/discussion on “Priorities for President: Civil Society Perspectives” on Wednesday, December 17, at 4 p.m. at the ICES Auditorium, 2, Kynsey Terrace, Colombo 8. The discussion will be led by Radhika Coomaraswamy, Global Professor of Law, New York University, former UN Special Representative of the [...]
Exhibition of wildlife and nature photographs
‘Mahi Roo’ an exhibition of wildlife and nature photographs organised by the Doctors’ Aesthetic Society of the Mahiyangana Hospital will be held on December 18 and 19 at the hospital. “This is not a competition, it is to enhance the aesthetic eye of the hospital staff. There are many who take photographs but they rarely [...]
Commemorating centenary anniversary of ‘Christmas Truce’
Silent Night, Holy Night. All is calm, all is bright. For a few days in December 1914 all was calm and bright while time seemed to stop for the English and German troops on European soil, already ravaged by World War I. For many, the “Christmas Truce” as it is famously known, came back to [...]
Launching of ‘Cultural Memoirs’
‘Cultural Memoirs’ by Sivanandini Duraiswamy was launched on December 6 at the Kalagam Hall in Colombo 6. The chief guest at the event was Attorney-at-Law Manohari Ramanathan while this ‘Collection of Short Stories and Memoirs’ was reviewed by well-known writer Anne Abeysekera and Dr. Sumathy Sivamohan of the Peradeniya University. The book launch in remembrance [...]
Awake! All ye citizens to your right to sovereignty
This ‘Wakeup Call’ is addressed to every citizen of the Sri Lankan Nation; to all our citizens, whatever ethnic group they belong to, whatever their cultural heritage, whatever language they speak, whatever religion they practise, whatever political party they belong to or support; in short to all those who comprise this pluralistic society. With another [...]
Black money rears its ugly head
Sri Lankans are eagerly listening to news on radio watch TV to know who has jumped from one political party to another. They have not been disappointed as it has become a daily exercise, with prominent politicians and not-so-prominent politicians crossing over from one party to another. It is alleged that these crossovers are manoeuvred [...]
Debasing the once prestigious post of permanent secretary to ministry
In the good old days, the essential features of the post of permanent secretary to a ministry, was its non-political and permanent nature. Ministers came and ministers went with Cabinet changes or otherwise, but the secretary carried on with his good work. It is the permanent secretaries to the ministries who ensured compliance with the [...]
Circumstances around Palestinian official’s death ‘disturbing’: UN rights chief
GENEVA, Dec 12, 2014 (AFP) – The UN’s human rights chief on Friday said the circumstances of the death of a senior Palestinian official while manhandled by Israeli soldiers this week were “disturbing” and called for a timely and impartial investigation. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein welcomed an investigation launched [...]
Challenging a supremacist
Months of speculation, political manoeuvring and gamesmanship have ended with Maithripala Sirisena emerging as the common presidential candidate. An implosion at the very centre of the UPFA has produced an unlikely challenge, to the incumbent’s self-assumed ownership of the most vital public office in the country. Let me quote myself (OF TRAITORS AND PATRIOTS – [...]
Foreign conspiracy: Not a bluff of the Government
This refers to the article headlined “The Fight is on: Good Governance versus stability, foreign conspiracies, and development” (The Sunday Times, December 7). The article by S.W.R de A Samarasinghe and Tissa Jayatilaka, while making a good analysis of the present political situation in Sri Lanka has unfortunately misinterpreted one of the three themes “foreign [...]
German diplomat elected President of the UNHRC
Joachim Ruecker, Germany’s Ambassador to the United Nations, has been elected President of the UN Human Rights Council. Ambassador Ruecker, the first German to be elected to this post, will lead the UNHRC for one year from January 2015. In his inauguration speech Ambassador Ruecker pledged to “serve this Council in fulfilling its obligation to [...]
Will the Elections Commissioner help Sri Lanka have a free and fair poll?
Free and fair elections are an essential part of democracy. There is significant concern in Sri Lanka today whether the presidential election scheduled for January 8 would be free and fair. There are two major features of a free and fair election: one is the freedom to campaign within the law of the land; the [...]
With rich-poor split, climate talks run into overtime
LIMA, Dec 13, (AFP) – UN climate talks went deep into overtime on Friday as negotiators struggled to break a deadlock between rich and developing nations on the underpinnings of a world carbon-cutting pact. A years-old dispute over sharing responsibility for curbing greenhouse gases saw the 12-day negotiations enter a familiar phase of poker-like holdout, [...]
Thai prince divorces amid anxiety over monarchy’s future
BANGKOK, Dec 13, (AFP) – Thailand’s crown prince has divorced his wife, in a dramatic fall from grace for a senior princess at a time of heightened anxiety over the health of the country’s revered but ailing monarch. A statement published by the palace early of today in the Royal Gazette said Princess Srirasmi had [...]
Descent of democracy
In the run-up to the Presidential election, it is opportune for me to express my academic point of view as I did at previous occasions from 1977 onwards. It is public knowledge that I have extended my maximum support to President Mahinda Rajapaksa through my contributions to the print and electronic media. At this juncture, [...]
