Sunday Observer

23 June, 2019 0

PC elections not possible before Presidential polls – Election monitors

Independent election monitors have ruled out the possibility of holding Provincial Council elections before the Presidential polls planned for December this year.Despite a series of court cases pending before the Supreme Court and the Appeal Courts to speed up holding elections in eight Provincial Councils - Sabaragamuwa, North Central, Eastern, Central, North Western, Northern, Western and Southern - some...

23 June, 2019 0

PSC to summon PM, key politicians soon

The Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) appointed to investigate into the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks will summon key politicians including, the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to testify before the Committee in the coming weeks, the Sunday Observer learns.A member of the PSC said yesterday (22) that they have finalized a list of politicians who will be called to testify before the Committee in...

23 June, 2019 0

Kalmunai hunger strike called off

The hunger strike led by the incumbent priest of Kalmunai Sri Subadrarama Viharaya, Ven. Ranmuthugala Sangharathana, demanding the upgrade of Kalmunai North Sub-Divisional Secretariat (SDS) to the level of a Divisional Secretariat was called off yesterday.The strike was called off after he was assured of a solution by Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) Secretary General Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera who visited him...

23 June, 2019 0

Review : History Flows for All: The War and its Aftermath in Lanka

‘Water is for All’ by Duleep de Chickera poses some...

Ethnic and religious polarisation have been spreading in South Asia and afar in recent decades. Sadly, sections of the intelligentsia and the clergy have also been fuelling divisive nationalist forces and xenophobia.A welcome counter to this trend are Bishop Duleep de Chickera’s thoughtful and inspiring reflections compiled in Water is for All, which raise difficult questions about Sri Lanka’s past and the...

23 June, 2019 0

A sermon on stoning

It is generally assumed we have passed the stone age, the bronze age, the iron age, the industrial age and the space age. After a breathtaking dive in to the digital age, we are well on our way to the age of automation and artificial intelligence.Not quite. In Sri Lanka, we are trapped in a new stone age. An age of stoning. Or to be precise, we are now in an age fascinated with the idea of stoning people...

23 June, 2019 0

CHECKMATE: Inside Ahimsa’s Legal Gambit against Gota

This article was first published in the Sunday Observer on April 21, 2019 that fateful Easter Sunday when suicide bombers unleashed terror attacks on churches and luxury hotels, killing 258 people in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa. The attacks gripped the attention of the nation, and the historic case filed by Ahimsa Wickrematunge, the 27 year old daughter of murdered Editor of The Sunday Leader in...

23 June, 2019 0

Karunaratne: The stand-out Thurstanite

Umesh Karunarantne became the first cricketer from Thurstan College to win the Observer-Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year, some 11 years ago. Karunaratne won the Mega Award in 2008, 30 years after the launch of Sri Lanka’s first ever schools cricket awards show.What is unique in Karunaratne becoming the first and only Thurstanite so far to win the Observer-Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year...

23 June, 2019 0

Lanka awaits global GAP certification to venture into EU markets

Cargills agriculture modernisation project to boost high-...

Sri Lanka will export fresh fruits and vegetables to the European region, after the global accreditation for exports under the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Handling Practices (GHP) are awarded to local farmers this year, Assistant Director Agri-business Development, Department of Agriculture, A.S.M. Roshan told journalists during a visit to the Cargills ‘Sarubima Agriculture Modernisation’...