Articles

Sydney – Celebration of 125th anniversary of St Joseph’s College, Colombo Old Josephians, their families and well-wishers gathered at St Joachim’s Church, Lidcombe, on Saturday 6 March to celebrate and give thanks on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the founding of St Joseph’s College, Colombo. Rev Father Ruwan Pradeep, chaplain to the Sri Lankan community in New South Wales, was the celebrant with Miles Andereisz and his grandson, Cooper, assisting as acolyte and altar boy. The service was preceded by a history of the College delivered by Secretary George Rupesinghe. He covered the founding of the College and the contribution of its 14 rectors over the years.  Father Ruwan in his homily referred to the time he and his student colleagues made the trip to College to take swimming lessons in the pool. He said it was appropriate that we gathered to give thanks on this occasion for ...

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A portent of things to come: Waiting to die in Uda Walawe-By Rohan Wijesinha Bull elephant with gunshot injuries  By the fence on New Year’s Day- Pic courtesy Madura Safari Uda Walawe  Source:FT A new year spells new beginnings and brings with it the hope of things better. This year, it dawned very differently at the Uda Walawe National Park. The officers of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) were on a mission of mercy.  A large bull elephant had been shot; the bone and muscle of the knee of his back left leg had been shattered. It had swollen to many times its normal size, and needed urgent treatment. The shooting had taken place outside of the Park, and the DWC officers had to entice this beautiful creature back into it, with food and elephant delicacies, to keep him safe from more human torture, and to try and treat ...

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Artificial beach between Kalutara and Mount Lavinia is a success: Coast Conservation Dept.   Source:Dailymirror An artificial beach created along Kalutara’s Calido Beach, the Ratmalana-Angulana stretch and in Mount Lavinia, which raised strong protests from activists, has been successful, Coast Conservation and Coastal Resource Management Department Chief Engineer (Coastal Design & Research) Sujeewa Ranawaka said. He told the Dailymirror that the project was implemented to build an artificial beach, stretching 2 km along Kalutara’s Calido Beach, 1 ½ km along the Ratmalana-Angulana stretch, and 500 m in Mount Lavinia. He said the project aimed to create a 15m beach at Wellawatte through the sand engine method and 150,000 m3 of sand was placed on Mount Lavinia beach and is expected to be transported to Wellawatte. ...

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Kandy joins 1996 World Cup victory silver jubilee celebrations Source:Dailynews The Central Proivnece Cricket Assocation and Kandy District Cricket Association celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Sri Lanka’s 96 World Cup victory. The 1996 Wills Cricket World Cup, was the sixth cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council. It was the second World Cup to be hosted by Pakistan and India, and for the first time by Sri Lanka. The final was played on 17 March 1996, between former World Champions Australia and Sri Lanka in Pakistan. Wills World Cup comprised 37 matches played in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India from February 16 to March 17. Six games were played in Sri Lanka, fourteen in Pakistan and seventeen in India. Sri Lanka, Australia, India, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand, England, UAE and the Netherlands participated. Debutant were UAE, the Netherlands and Kenya. ...

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National cricket team must be assisted to improve their performance – Jayasuriya-by Indika Welagedara Sanath Jayasuriya Source:Dailynews The Sri Lanka Legends cricket team’s recent performance in the Road Safety World Series cricket tournament was excellent, as they went down to a superior Indian legends team led by Sachin Tendulkar by 14 runs in the recently concluded finals at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur, India. On their arrival at the Katunayake International Airport, former Sri Lanka cricket captain Sanath Jayasuriya said; “The national cricket team must be assisted to improve their performance and it is not the intention of the Sri Lanka Legends team to put down the present national cricket team at all. Our performance in this tournament should not be viewed as an attempt to degrade the current national cricket team. As past national cricketers, if given the chance, we will surely help them out.” ...

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A life dedicated to conserving Namal Uyana-by Nihal P. Abeysinghe Ven. Rahula Thera. Pictures by Wimal Karunathilaka Source:Dailynews This special statement was made by Ven. Rahula Thera who lives in the forest and protects the Galkiriyagama National Namal Uyana and the rose quartz mountains. “I was born on March 29, 1954 and was ordained on July 25, 1969. I lived in the Ranawa temple close by. When I was there, I felt a liking and love for this Namal Uyana. The day before I turned 37, that is on March 28, 1991, I came to Namal Uyana. There was no place for me to live. I built a small hut on top of a Mora tree. I did so because of the elephants and bears living in the forest.” There were no facilities at all available during that time. I actually suffered a lot during the initial days. ...

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A tireless teacher of Buddha’s timeless Dhamma-by Most Ven. Prof. Medawachchiye Dhammajothi Thera Most Ven. Aggamaha Panditha Kotugoda Dhammawasa Maha Nayake Thera Source:Dailynews Most Ven. Kotugoda Dhammawasa Maha Nayaka Thera was admired and appreciated by all Buddhists as one of the most appealing preachers in the country. He had this potential from his younger days, and this he nurtured, taking it into great benefits, making him a much sought-after preacher. For this he used his expertise of the knowledge of the Dhamma and blended it with his well-trained and restrained discipline. He could keep the audience spellbound with his soft, lucid and ear-pleasing intonation of speech. Sri Lanka has been, from the time of the inception of Buddhism, a very fortunate country. One reason for this is that from time to time there appeared ‘epoch-making religious leaders’ who succeeded in instilling hope in the minds of Buddhists and have also ...

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THE PILOT- By Capt Elmo Jayawardena Source:Island The UNHRC is in full swing. The ‘merchants of Geneva’ are getting ready to shoot their arrows of justice against the offenders of this planet. Of course, it is done democratically, by honourable people in Saville Row suits who sit around polished mahogany tables and determine by a count of votes who is guilty and who is not. That is the show-piece; but the truth could be so very different. Powerful people call the tune, and the theme is “You lend me your mule and I will remember you when it is your turn to take the stand. Then I’ll lend you my donkey.” We must try and remember the beginning of all this when the powers that were initiated the Treaty of Berlin in 1885 to carve out the African continent. The newer version of protecting human rights was born after the ...

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“You can’t take a break for education”-Lalith Priyantha Source:Island A table tennis legend speaks by A Special Sports Correspondent Table tennis was one of worst affected sports due to the pandemic. One reason for this could be that most players are also engaged in some kind of coaching; hence there being a loss in income. Table tennis legend and veteran’s player Lalith Priyantha was one such player. He said that he survived a difficult period. We can’t sometimes fathom as to how Priyantha stays in shape and contests the veterans’ events. Times were hard during the past one year without coaching and Priyantha looks back and can send a sigh of relief. ...

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Dilanka Wijesekera was a ruggerite par excellence-by Althaf Nawaz Source:Dailynews It is remarkable to witness a person excel both in his academic and sporting career while engaging in various sports at school level, later becoming the cynosure of all eyes in that circle. Dilanka Wijesekera was a highly talented and a skillful player who had a phenomenal career in sports commencing from school until he reached the national level in the game of rugby. Dilanka was born in 1983 and his home town is Wadduwa in Kalutara district. His father Donald worked at Colombo Ports Authority and now is a Proprietor of a business. Mother Delanthi worked at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. He has two siblings Dilshika is a Director at Instacart in USA played hockey at school while Dilshan the other brother is the head of operations at Gaucho in UK played cricket at school. All three ...

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