Tamil and Sinhala versions attached
Sri Lanka has opportunity to break from past – Türk
GENEVA (13 August 2025) – A report published today by the UN Human Rights Office calls on Sri Lanka’s Government to seize the historic opportunity to break with entrenched impunity, implement transformative reforms, and deliver long-overdue justice and accountability for serious violations and abuses committed in the past, including international crimes.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, demography, Eelam, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, migrant experiences, military expenditure, military strategy, parliamentary elections, patriotism, photography, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, population, power politics, racism, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, violence of language, war crimes, world events & processes, zealotry
Dilum Alagiyawanna, in Daily Mirror, August 2025
Local-based renewable projects, unlike Adani’s mega 5.2 MW high-efficiency turbines, show that cleaner energy is possible, without harming Sri Lanka’s sensitive bird habitat.
The Central Asian Flyway is one of the most significant bird migration corridors globally, stretching from Siberia and Central Asia to the Indian Ocean.
Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, whose preferred title is “Opportunity in Trump’s Tariff Shock: Diversify Products, Markets, and Industrialize”
Real and staged crises present opportunities to reorient, innovate and think outside the box. Trump’s tariff ‘shock’ presents Sri Lanka’s business sector and national policy makers with an opportunity for short, intermediate and long term economic and industrial policy shifts out of the current neocolonial, services heavy, economic model.
At this time, the focus of discussion should be on Development of New Products and New Markets by businesses and entrepreneurs, in partnership with state agencies like the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI), in order to grow the economy out of the Eurobond- USD debt trap and International Monetary Fund bailout business.
Fazli Sameer, at Those Fuzzy Days where the title of the article runs thus: “Ethics of Health Care: Waiting, Paying and Weeping,” … with highlighting here imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
When my sister, Kumari, went for her annual cardiac check-up to the elite Makalanka hospital, we expected the usual strain, long hours of waiting, some tests, and maybe a bit of worry. What we didn’t expect was to be caught between two worlds: one where care came with a steep price and hidden payments, and another where care seemed trapped in endless waiting and fading patience.
Waiting. It’s the first and most universal experience patients face when seeking medical care in today’s clinics and hospitals. Whether public or private, the hours-long wait, without explanation or apology, has become the norm.
Keith Conlon in a Genealogical Society of Queensland – GSQ’s post =deospnoStrg8 r42uti9lf3m8pgff0il26tl5f1tag2f57flti74h033aA5t · … entitled “From Prussa to Hahndorf in South Australia. Thanks to Keith Conlon”
The end of an epic pioneer voyage: it began in Silesia, Prussia, for the ‘Old Lutheran’ religious refugees who founded Hahndorf in South Australia in August 1839.
John Ford waterccolour
Monument Australia Continue reading
Filed under architects & architecture, Australian culture, centre-periphery relations, colonisation schemes, cultural transmission, economic processes, ethnicity, European history, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, migrant experiences, outmigration, refugees, religiosity, transport and communications, travelogue, world events & processes
GV NOTE INTRODUCING THE AUTHOR : In 2001 Duleep De Chickera was ordained the 14th Anglican Bishop of Colombo. Educated at Royal College, Colombo and representing the college at 1st XV Rugby, he gained his training for the ministry at the Theological College of Lanka in Pilimathalawa, earning a B.Th thereafter earning a M.Sc. from Keble College, Oxford. He has served as chaplain and then as the sub-warden of S. Thomas’ College, Mt Lavinia. And in 2008 was accorded the honour of preaching a key sermon at the Lambeth Conference in the presence of 650 Bishops from around the world.
When US President Donald Trump arrogantly suggested that the neighbouring Arab States should absorb the Gaza population as a solution to Israel’s decimation of Gaza, he announced what discerning persons the world over had already perceived – the earliest Zionist Israeli arrivals, courtesy Lord Balfour, had come to take it all.
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Kagusthan Ariaratnam in Groundviews, 8 August 2025, where the title reads “Neelan Unsilenced …” while highlights here have been added by The Editor, Thuppahi
Photo courtesy of Pitasanna Shanmugathas
NEELAN: UNSILENCED is a compelling and vital documentary that successfully situates the life of Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam within the turbulent history of the Sri Lankan conflict. Its greatest achievement is providing a nuanced entry point into the war by focusing on the non-violent, intellectual and pluralistic dimensions of Tamil resistance – a perspective often eclipsed by the narrative of armed struggle. By foregrounding Neelan’s journey, the film illuminates a leader who dedicated his life to constitutional reform and reconciliation.
Photo courtesy of Pitasanna Shanmugathas
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, democratic measures, economic processes, education, Eelam, electoral structures, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, nationalism, NGOs, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, power sharing, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, unusual people
Uditha Devapriya in SAPNnews, August 2025, where the title runs thus: “Ravindra Randeniya: Sri Lankan Actor, South Asian Artist”
Ravindra (left) & Dilip Kumar (right) in New Delhi…Courtesy Ravindra Randeniya
In South Asia, cinema is more than an art: it is a way of life. Sri Lanka is no exception. Despite its size, the small island-state boasts of a film industry that has won renown abroad, even if it is facing a downturn today. At its peak in the 1960s and 1970s, Sri Lankan films travelled to New Delhi, Tehran, Tashkent, even Cannes and New York.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, Colombo and Its Spaces, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, heritage, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, theatre world, travelogue, unusual people
Firdose Moonda, in ESPNcricinfo, August 2025 where the headline reads “New Zealand script their biggest win after Foulkes and Co flatten Zimbabwe”
After New Zealand declared overnight, with a lead of 476, Zimbabwe were bowled out in 28.1 overs in an extended first session ………….. New Zealand 601 for 3 decl (Ravindra 165*, Conway 153, Nicholls 150*) beat Zimbabwe 125 (Taylor 44, Henry 5-40, Foulkes 4-38) and 117 (Welch 47*, Foulkes 5-37) by an innings and 359 runs
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