Races are scheduled to kick off from 7.00p.m on 17 December By Kshanika Argent For the first time in Sri Lanka’s history (with the exception of a brief period in the 60’s) Colombo will witness night races at the inaugural Colombo Night Races which coincides with the second Electric Peacock Festival, scheduled for this December. ...

Sri Lankan represents global team of entrepreneursAspirations Edu-cation’s General Manager Deepamala Abeysekera became the only Sri Lankan to represent a group of 30 entrepreneurs in the world from, USA, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa, to read for her postgraduate studies in entrepreneurship at the University of Cambridge. Cambridge has acquired an international reputation as an ...

Noel Bruno Dawsan, a Sri Lankan, has been recognized as the world's best tour guide by the British travel magazine Wanderlust. The winner says he is delighted and will help disadvantaged people into further education with his bursary. A Tamil of Indian origin, he comes from a family of impoverished tea pickers in a remote Sri Lankan town. Mr. Dawsan was hailed by the judges as a ...

British media reports that the Sri Lanka Development Fund, set up by Britain’s Defence Secretary Liam Fox has not achieved any results other than to pay for his trips to the island. The defence secretary has told the House of Commons that he had worked with people in business, banking and politics in Sri Lanka since 2009 to set up the Trust to help with reconstruction of the country aft...

Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, yesterday took delivery of its first A330-200 aircraft retrofitted with Panasonic Avionics Corporation’s (Panasonic) Global Communications Suite. The comprehensive communications and entertainment solution, ‘Sky Hub’, offers passengers onboard full broadband connectivity to access internet, mobile phone services and, for t...

The Canadian prime minister has called upon heads of state to consider Sri Lanka’s human rights record before attending the Commonwealth leaders’ summit (CHOGM) to be held in Colombo. Answering a question by a journalist in Toronto, PM Stephen Harper said he has expressed his reservations on Sri Lanka hosting the 2013 summit. “I intend ...

Dr. Craig Turner, EDGE Conservation Biologist from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Sri Lankan zoologist, Saman Gamage called on the British High Commissioner John Rankin recently to brief him about the work being done to protect the red slender loris. Until recently, the Horton Plains slender loris was believed possibly extinct. In 2009, ...

According to latest report of Global Peace Index (GPI), Sri Lanka ranked 126 while Norway ranked in ninth place. Here we are talking about the riots that took place in UK recently and the same GPI ranked the UK in 26th place (100 places ahead of Sri Lanka). A series of incidents erupted in England ...

A son of Muammar Gaddafi, previously reported captured, made a surprise appearance with jubilant supporters in Tripoli overnight, urging loyalists to fight off rebels who say they control most of the Libyan capital. Saif al-Islam, seen as his father’s chosen successor, visited the Tripoli hotel where foreign journalists are staying to declare that the government ...

Tendulkar falls nine short of 100th centuryLONDON, Aug 22 (Reuters): England swept to a series whitewash over India in the fourth test at the Oval on Monday after Sachin Tendulkar had been dismissed nine runs short of a 100th international century. Seven wickets fell for 21 runs on the final day, after Tendulkar and nightwatchman ...

By S. V. Kirubaharan - in France Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.” — Julius Henry, Groucho Marx, American comedian and film star (1890-1977). When life is smooth and everything goes in the right direction, normal civilians can become President, Prime Minister ...

An effort made to harm the reputation of Sri Lanka using the Channel 4 documentary has failed. Sri Lanka was cleared of the allegations at a meeting held to raise awareness amongst all member countries of the UN regarding the Channel 4 documentary. The conspirators were made speechless by the answers offered by Sri Lanka. ...

History proves the efforts made by Channel Four to get popularized by crafting controversial as well as programmes provoking the people. The report telecast by Channel Four villifying the Sri Lankan Government and the Security Forces is the talk of the day among various communities. Media institutions as well as many critics point out that ...

Several trade unions have complained to the United Nations seeking an intervention against the restrictions imposed by the government on trade union activities. Trade unions from the apparel and health sectors have in a complaint to the International Labour Organization (ILO) said the fundamental rights of the workers have been violated by the government by ...

Increasing the profile of Ealam Tamils who have received international recognition, BBC has listed recently appointed as Deputy Prime Minister holding Finance, Manpower and Monetary Authority portfolios, in the Government of Singapore, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, as one of the top nine leading

The Gay Movement In Sri Lanka By Sherman Anthony De Rose I am from a family of seven from the countryside of Kotahena. When I was young, it was a very crowded area where low class people, who earned only for their daily needs, lived. The area had very strong Catholic families, Colombo Chetties and ...

The UN is withdrawing all its international staff from the Libyan capital Tripoli following a mob attack on its offices, the BBC understands. ....

By Tisaranee Gunasekara “The illusion of destiny extracts a remarkably heavy price”. — Amartya Sen (Identity and Violence) The mysterious leaking in Colombo of the Darusman (UN) Report was accompanied by a carefully choreographed outbreak of patriotic-hysteria. The President, in...

Extracts from report on Sri Lanka by advisory panel appointed by Ban Ki moon 2. Violations in the IDP Camps (a) Arbitrary detention of IDPs in closed camps 154. Civilians emerging from the conflicts zone were initially housed in a...

The BBC Sinhala Service, in asking for comments on the 2010 US Report on Human Rights in Sri  Lanka, gave me little notice, and suggested I could just glance through the synopsis with which the report began. As it happened, I was able to look through some of the rest, which was good, because I ...

Cricket may be, as the sociologist Ashis Nandy wrote in 1983, “an Indian game accidentally discovered by the English,” but India took a long time to take control of it. by Huw Richards For Sachin Tendulkar, it was “the proudest...

By BBC News Hundreds of people have protested against Western-led air strikes in Libya outside the United Nations headquarters in Sri Lanka. Protesters chanted slogans against the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon - pic DailyMirror.lk...

by Tisaranee Gunasekara "When heads of state do not pay attention to the needs of their nation, the people take over”. Turkish Presiden Abdullah Gul (During the February 2011 visit to Iran) “As he launched a series of murderous attacks...

By Tisaranee Gunasekara “But these were monstrous times. So, naturally Jennie turned monstrous”. Klaus Mann (The Turning Point) Neither President Mahinda Rajapaksa nor his administration can be faulted for the calamitous weather conditions afflicting Sri Lanka. Global warming is a global phenomenon, an environmental malaise to which the entire world (and each one of its people) has cont...

The Galle Literary festival is a haven of civilised values in a country that is no stranger to strife by Robert McCrum Associate editor, The Observer, UK [Click for more pictures] Ever since the Hay festival set up shop overseas...

Hundreds of millions paid to British PR Firm for  2018 Commonwealth Games bid The Indian government spent $ 8.5 billion to host the Commonwealth Games, which turned out to be a national disaster By Frederica Jansz The Sri Lankan government is reportedly paying a top British PR firm about 3 million sterling pounds (Rs. 545,880,000) ...

By Dr. S. Narapalasingam PART I The baffling moves and actions on the political front of the potent government led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, since the war ended conclusively mid May 2009 have been considered discretely by many analysts, ignoring...

European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli has spoken to BBC News live from on board the International Space Station.

European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli speaks to BBC News from on board the International Space Station.

Tribute to Lasantha Wickrematunge on Second Death Anniversary By Sunalie Ratnayake A recollection of facts Two elongated years have come into conclusion, precisely as of today (January 8, 2011), since the incongruously horrendous cold-blooded murder of one of the most...