Lanka’s own crusader against apartheid
Among all the pens carried in to South Africa in the early 1980s was one that concealed a secret. Hidden in its casing was a microfilm, a mini-reproduction of an extraordinary book that would soon be printed and distributed widely through underground, anti-apartheid networks. Published originally by a Sri Lankan professor in distant Australia, it [...]
“Not our War”: Army doctor launches latest book
Dr. Sanjiva Wijesinha, launched his latest book “Not our War” at his ancestral home in Colombo ‘Lakmahal’ this week amongst a distinguished gathering of old school mates, relatives and family friends. Old Thomian Rakhita Jayawardena introduced the book at the launch together with Publisher Vijitha Yapa. Brigadier Bahar Morseth, President Sri Lanka Ex-Service and Police [...]
SriLankan Cares hosts ‘disability awareness’ concert
Emmanuel Kelly the singer who caught the world’s imagination when he appeared on the Australian version of X Factor will be performing live at 7 p.m. on the Terrace at the Mount Lavinia Hotel on December 16 courtesy Sri Lankan Cares – the charity arm of SriLankan Airlines. Guest performances will be by local stars [...]
Clear Point Residencies to bring green look to highrise apartments
The night of December 10 was a memorable one for architect Milroy Perera and his team along with Maga Engineering (Pvt) Ltd. as they announced the launch of their joint venture: Clear Point; the world’s tallest residential vertical garden. The event was graced by several well-known personalities including UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe. Located in Kotte, [...]
VOX ONE choir’s annual Christmas service
VOX ONE is a young choir based in Negombo specialising in classical and contemporary choral works. The choir was formed in 2011 to promote choral music in the area as Negombo had not had a solid choir for nearly 50 years. Their choral journey from their first performance at Scots Kirk in Colombo in July [...]
A celebration of local art
It is a golden opportunity for any art enthusiast to see the best of contemporary young talent as the George Keyt Foundation in association with Nations Trust Bank- American Express Cards holds their annual show “Sri Lanka Art 2013″. A celebration of local art this is the third consecutive partnership between the George Keyt Foundation [...]
Behind Obama’s handshake with Raúl Castro
When President Obama shook hands with the Cuban President, Raúl Castro, on Tuesday, in the V.I.P. section at Nelson Mandela’s memorial, in Johannesburg, there was more at work than mere politeness between heads of state, although that certainly played a part. Bill Clinton shook Fidel Castro’s hand at a U.N. gathering in 2000. As the [...]
Mandela sanitised by hypocrites and apologists
We have now had a week of unrelenting beatification of Nelson Mandela by exactly the kind of people who stood behind his jailers under apartheid. Mandela was without question a towering historical figure and an outstanding hero of South Africa’s liberation struggle. So it would be tempting to imagine they had been won over by [...]
The saint versus the humanist
There are striking parallels between Gandhi and Madiba, but at heart they were very different men. Nelson Mandela and Mohandas Gandhi were in some ways twins – and in other ways were starkly contrasting figures. Both could lay claim to being the fathers of their respective countries, but they were more than nationalist icons. Their [...]
From some, Mandela praise masks a darker past
Jerusalem (AFP)- World leaders have heaped praise on the late Nelson Mandela, but among the countries paying tribute are some that had long backed the South African apartheid regime that jailed him. Many of the eulogies for the iconic peacemaker have glossed over Western support for the white supremacist regime in Pretoria during the Cold [...]
Life under apartheid
I live in Atteridgeville, a township outside Pretoria. Like many townships in South Africa, this is where black people were moved to; we had to live far from white people. The enemy was clear to all of us in the township – it was the white man. We knew that we had to destroy the [...]
Japan makes $20 bn pledge to combat Chinese expansion
TOKYO, Dec 14 (AFP) -Japan pledged $20 billion in aid and loans to Southeast Asia on Saturday, the latest step in its bid to woo global public opinion in a territorial dispute with China. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe offered the cash over five years for members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at [...]
Mandela’s ‘long walk’ nears its end
The funeral cortege carrying the coffin of late former South African President Nelson Mandela leaves the 1 Military Hospital on the way to the Waterkloof air force base in Pretoria for a Farewell Service, December 14, before being flown to the Eastern Cape province for a state funeral today at his ancestral home in Qunu [...]
US concern following N. Korean purge
SEOUL, Dec 14 (AFP) -The United States has warned North Korea against any “provocative acts” following the shock execution of leader Kim Jong-Un’s uncle, as the reclusive state campaigned to rally support behind the young supremo. Washington also sought to step up talks with its Asian allies, voicing concern over regional stability after Jang Song-Thaek [...]
China prepares for first lunar rover landing on the moon
BEIJING, Dec 14 (AFP) -China will attempt to land a probe carrying the country’s first lunar rover on the moon today in a major breakthrough for its ambitious space programme. The spacecraft is expected to make touchdown at 9:40 pm (1340 GMT), state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) said, 12 days after the Chang’e-3 mission [...]
Could mushrooms save the world?
Fungus can be used to make bread and beer, but few people might imagine it could play a key role in creating safer insecticides, medical implants or green fuel. But a group of scientists who are fans of mushrooms and their other spore-producing relatives believe we could be entering the ‘Age of the Fungus’ – [...]
Unsettled still
P. PASPATHI, a 68-year-old former rubber tapper, recalled his journey from Sri Lanka in 1972 as if it happened yesterday. “First, we came to Ratnapura from the Peenkande estate. The city of gems, as Ratnapura means, was surrounded by plantations where many Indian Tamils worked. From there, we took a bus to Colombo before taking [...]
Indian government scrambles to undo Supreme Court judgement on homosexuality
A day after the Supreme Court’s recriminalization of gay sex triggered anger and dismay, the government was scurrying to explore all possible ways out of the jam. But a reading of the Wednesday judgment reveals that the court has squarely blamed the Centre for the entire mess. The court has said that the government sat [...]
Licensed to booze… 007 was an alcoholic
His ability to dodge the enemy’s bullet is the stuff of legend, but James Bond was far more likely to die from liver disease or a drunken car crash, say doctors. They claim Bond’s skilled exploits in the field of espionage – and the bedroom – were all the more remarkable in light of his [...]
Canada’s audacious bid to own the Arctic
Canada has made a claim on the North Pole in an effort to assert its sovereignty in the resource-rich Arctic. The country last week applied to extend the borders of its seabed in the Atlantic Ocean, including extensions into the Arctic seafloor covering roughly 656,000 miles (1.7 million sq km). Canada filed the preliminary submission [...]
Asia’s historical furies and obsessions
TOKYO – A country’s foreign policy is supposed to be aimed, first and foremost, at advancing its national interest. But, in large parts of Asia, the national interest — whether building commercial ties or bolstering security — is often subordinated to history and its hold on the popular imagination. As US Vice President Joe Biden [...]
Middle East frenemies
PRINCETON – The recent interim nuclear agreement between Iran and the so-called P5+1 countries, led by the United States, has provoked unprecedented criticism of US policy from two of its strongest Middle East allies: Israel and Saudi Arabia. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has called on his ministers and his supporters in the US to [...]
Jesus Christ tops list of world’s top ten most significant people
Jesus has been named the most significant person in human history, followed by Napoleon and Shakespeare, as ruled by the internet. Based on the impact on opinions certain individuals have had over time, and how that has reflected onto their Wikipedia pages, two computer scientists have come up with the ultimate list. Professor Steven Skiena [...]
China’s smog is so bad you can see it from space
China’s deadly pollution has joined its Great Wall and achieved the dubious honour of being seen from space. Fluffy white clouds over the world’s fastest-growing economy are surrounded by a thick, grey pall of smog in a satellite photograph which lays bare the perilous state of the country’s skies. Released by NASA, the image, taken [...]
‘Give us back our treasure’
David Cameron has been inundated with demands for the return of priceless artefacts looted from Beijing in the 19th century as his visit to China draws to a close. The Prime Minister has to the southwestern city of Chengdu on the largest ever British trade mission to the country. Recently, British officials set up a [...]
China, India in race to exploit Indian Ocean seabed
A serious and a cracking battle is about to begin in the deep Indian Ocean seabed as China moves to explore polymetallic sulphides in the southwest Indian Ocean ridge – an area beyond national jurisdiction of any state. Polymetallic sulphides are sulphide deposits found at water depths of 3,700 m. in mid ocean ridges, back-arc [...]
In the land of the holy cow, fury over beef exports
DELHI/MUMBAI – (Reuters) – Symbols of India’s emergence as an economic powerhouse line the four-lane highway to Jaipur out of New Delhi: a factory owned by the world’s biggest motorbike maker, glass towers housing global call centers, shopping malls for India’s burgeoning middle class. One night in August here, an angry mob ran amok, burning [...]
India, Pak nuclear war could put 2 billion people at risk: Study
WASHINGTON (PTI) -A nuclear war between India and Pakistan would result in a global famine that could kill over two billion people — a quarter of the world’s population — and end human civilisation, a study warned this week. “A nuclear war using only a fraction of existing arsenals would produce massive casualties on a [...]
