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Post-election reflections: Calling the ethnicists’ bluff
The election, we are told, was approved by presidential astrologers. As we all know now, they failed their political client miserably. What they could not predict, or did not wish to tell their client, was that the political fortunes of the people of this country were to change dramatically, and for the better. On January [...]
Latvia assumes presidency of the European Union
Latvia for the first time has assumed the presidency of the Council of the European Union, taking it over from Italy. The presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) rotates among the EU Member States every six months and the country holding the presidency drives forward the Council’s work. Latvia will hand over [...]
Sri Lanka-born American diplomat connects China and the US
Washington, D.C. – Sri Lankan-born American UNESCO Commissioner Dr. Patrick Mendis recently met with Ambassador Crystal Nix-Hines, the U.S. Permanent Representative to UNESCO in Paris. They were in Washington for the annual meeting of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO and to welcome the Director-General Irina Bokova of UNESCO at the U.S. State Department. Both [...]
Anne Frank House exhibition in Sri Lanka
The story of the teenaged Jewish girl who kept a diary of her life in hiding during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II has fascinated readers for decades. Just like ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’, the Anne Frank House exhibition has kept her memory alive, having travelled to 80 countries. [...]
‘Moving Out’ prepares to take Colombo and Hikkaduwa by storm
Tired of sitting in a theatre waiting for a show to start? ‘Moving Out’ is all about public theatre and performance-so prepare to don your holiday wear, grab your backpacks and bask in the island warmth as this first ever festival organised by UZ Arts in association with Colomboscope prepares to take Colombo and Hikkaduwa [...]
Requiem for a supremacist
The presidential election is done and dusted and a new man sits in the chair, which the previous incumbent had converted to a throne. Sri Lanka now has a president instead of a king. What follows after? Assuming that there will be a change for the better is not enough for the people of this [...]
An urgent need to strengthen the people’s sovereignty
The recent presidential election superficially appeared to be a contest between two individuals. But, in fact, there were much deeper currents at work; currents that warned a supposedly sovereign people that there was an imminent danger of drowning and suffocating unless they took a firm stand against divisiveness based on ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious [...]
Japan verifying video claiming hostage death
TOKYO, Jan 24, (AFP) – Japan’s government said today it was attempting to verify a video posted online announcing the execution of one of two Japanese hostages held captive by Islamic State militants. “A new video apparently showing Kenji (Goto) was posted on the Internet,” chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said. “We are collecting information”. [...]
Davos elites warned about catastrophic cyberattacks
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 24, (AFP) – Attacks on power plants, telecommunications and financial systems, even turning all of Los Angeles’ traffic lights green: Davos elites were warned today of the terrifying possibilities of modern cyber terrorism. Eugene Kaspersky, who heads the Kaspersky Lab security group, said the possibilities of individuals being hacked would only increase [...]
Thousands rally against Shiite militia in Yemen capital
SANAA, Jan 24, (AFP) – Thousands of Yemenis took to the streets of Sanaa today in the biggest protest yet against a Shiite militia takeover of the capital that has plunged the country into turmoil. The demonstration came as regions in the formerly independent south stepped up their defiance after the Shiite militiamen, who hail [...]
‘Sex slave’ lawyers to serve papers on Prince Andrew at Washington embassy
Lawyers for the alleged teenage ‘sex slave’ who says she slept with Prince Andrew are trying to serve papers on him via the British Embassy. They claim the duke last week refused to accept a letter asking him to testify on oath about the allegations made by Virginia Roberts. In a bid to try again, [...]
World leaders head to Saudi Arabia after king’s death; Obama cuts short Inda visit
RIYADH, Jan 24, (AFP) – World leaders headed to Saudi Arabia today to offer condolences following the death of King Abdullah, with US President Barack Obama cutting short a trip to India to pay respects. Obama will travel to Riyadh on Tuesday to meet new King Salman, the White House said. Since Abdullah took the [...]
‘Stars aligning’ for India-US relations: Obama
NEW DELHI (AFP) -President Barack Obama said “the stars are aligned” to enable the United States and India to forge a global partnership in an interview published ahead of his visit to New Delhi. Obama, who begins an unprecedented second visit by a serving US president on Sunday, told the India Today magazine that he [...]
Ebola worsens food crisis in West Africa
The Ebola outbreak’s impact on household incomes has significantly damaged food security in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the West Africa countries most affected by the disease, says a report by the European Commission (EC). Assessing data from agencies including the World Bank and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the report says: “The [...]
Countdown to catastrophe: Doomsday Clock moved closer to midnight
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Rising threats from climate change and nuclear arsenals prompted the scientists who maintain the Doomsday Clock, a symbolic countdown to global catastrophe, to move it two minutes closer to midnight on Thursday, its first shift in three years. The Doomsday Clock, devised by the Chicago-based Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, now stands [...]
Not a real ‘bro’: Obama follows wrong David Cameron on Twitter
Well this is awkward. The Prime Minister makes a lot of his special relationship with Barack Obama – but it seems the President who calls him ‘bro’ doesn’t feel the same way. Mr Obama is following the wrong David Cameron on Twitter – a computer game-lover from Oregon who tweets about Back to the Future [...]
Ashin Wirathu: Myanmar and its vitriolic monk
Myanmar’s most radical Buddhist monk is famed for his angry speeches, stoking fears that the Muslim minority will one day overrun the country. Now Ashin Wirathu has drawn the ire of the UN by calling its special envoy to Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), Yanghee Lee, a “bitch” and a “whore”. BBC Burmese explains his [...]
Reviving Internet revolution: Connectivity for all
OXFORD – Over the last decade, the number of new Internet users tripled. But, though a large majority of the world’s population remains offline, the pace of expansion has slowed sharply in recent years. Is the Internet revolution losing steam? From 2005 to 2008, the number of Internet users increased at a compound annual rate [...]
Social networks must help stamp out promotion of violence: France
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – France appealed on Thursday for U.N. member states to work together on an international legal framework that would make social network providers share responsibility for the use of their platforms to spread messages promoting violence. “There are hate videos, calls for death, propaganda that has not been responded to, and we [...]
Is ‘SRILANKA’ the magic healing mantra?
On May 22, 1972, at least one person said the new two-part name SRI LANKA did not bode well for the nation. A decade later began a devastating war that bled the country for 27 years — and often threatened to tear it apart. What’s in a name, asks Stephen Prins Some are saying that [...]