Reconciliation, Sri Lanka and the world
Text of a presentation on January 10th at the
Observatory Research Foundation, Delhi
The report of the Commission of Inquiry on
Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation is now public. It has been
generally welcomed, and the exceptions that prove the rule sadly
confirm the distinction between those who seek reconciliation and
those who have other motives in the extraordinary campaign that has
been conducted against Sri Lanka over the last two years.
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Dr. Lester James Peries - close up of a Cinema Great
Walking down Lester James Peries Mawatha last
week, I arrived at a modest suburban house where I encountered Dr.
Lester James Peries. At the age of 93, Dr. Peries was extremely
frail and an aura of gentleness emanated from him. However, his mind
was sharp and its contents were engrossing. An active film maker
since 1949 he has been involved in almost 28 films, such as, Rekava,
Nidhanaya, Gamperaliya, Golu Hadawatha and Kaliyugaya. It is not
possible to compress 93 years into an article which can do justice
to Dr. Lester James Peries, so this article is one that is done with
the greatest degree of humility.
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Liberal Party, 25 years later
There is no doubt that early liberals had been
influenced by the Liberal Party of the United Kingdom (UK) but in
the 1930's the Liberal Party of UK was diminishing as a major
political contender as a result of a major split and two major
groups of liberals joined the Conservative Party and newly formed
Labour Party and thus ending the dominance of the Liberal Party.
Only in 2010 British Liberals were able to enter the government
almost after 80 years.
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Arctic sea ice hits second-lowest level - NASA
The extent of sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean
in September declined to the second-lowest extent on record,
according to satellite data released recently from NASA and the
NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The Arctic
ice cap grows each winter as the sun sets for several months and
shrinks each summer as the sun rises higher in the northern sky.
Each year the Arctic sea ice reaches its annual minimum extent in
September. It hit a record low in 2007. The near- record ice-melt
followed higher-than-average summer temperatures, but without the
unusual weather conditions that contributed to the extreme melting
of 2007.
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