Latest news with #Sinhalese
Indian Express
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
June 3, 1985, Forty Years Ago: Talks On Tamil Issue
India and Sri Lanka are said to be inching towards a solution to the Tamil ethnic issue after the talks that began in New Delhi between PM Rajiv Gandhi and President J R Jayewardene. The two sides were not able to indicate what stage the talks were at, though according to them, all aspects of the problem and ways and means to find a negotiated political settlement were being discussed. Choosing A CM A large number of legislators, including ministers, urged the AICC (I) observers to entrust the choice of Maharashtra's new chief minister to the outgoing CM, Vasantdada Patil, it is reliably learnt. Legislators from Patil's group are understood to have recommended the names of two of his cabinet colleagues, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Sudhakar Naik. Indications are that the new CM will be chosen from among the elected MLAs or MLCs. Heat On Bachchan Superstar Amitabh Bachchan, who has had little time for either his constituency or Parliament since his election to the Lok Sabha last December, may soon face a movement seeking his recall for betraying voters' trust. A senior Congress (I) partyman, Sant Bux Singh, brother of Finance Minister V P Singh and a former MP, has fired the first salvo by asking Bachchan to quit politics If he does not like it. Attacks in Sri Lanka Separatists stormed a police station and blew up a bridge in eastern Sri Lanka only a day after killing at least 50 people in raids on Sinhalese villages in the same area. Guerillas sprayed gunfire and threw bombs last night as they attacked the station at Kuchchaveli, about 30 km from the east coast port of Trincomalee town, a senior government politician told reporters.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Factory workers hold head of company hostage after devastating pay reversal: 'The basic issue is not even bonus'
In early April, factory workers in Sri Lanka stepped away from their stations and protested after their employer in Weligama, Matara, backed out of paying their annual bonus. It sparked more than just outrage. For many, it was the last straw in a long pattern of mistreatment tied to the fast-fashion industry's push for profit over people. According to the Daily Mirror Online, garment workers protested by blocking the factory entrance and placing the company's head under a form of house arrest after the workers failed to receive their annual bonus. The Mawrata News reported that management blamed the Trump administration's tariffs on Sri Lankan exports. On April 2, President Donald Trump had announced a 44% tariff on products from Sri Lanka. (Editor's note: The tariff has since been delayed until July and temporarily reduced to 10%. It was then struck down by the Court of International Trade and, most recently, resumed at least temporarily through a federal court appeal. The uncertainty remains that Sri Lanka may face major new tariffs.) However, workers viewed this as an excuse to deny their agreed-upon bonus and possibly more before the Sinhalese New Year. "The basic issue is not even bonus, but basic pay is paid for [a] lot of work," one commenter on the Daily Mirror Online article wrote. This isn't just about one missed bonus check. It's part of a larger pattern in fast fashion — a business model built on low wages, long hours, and disposable clothing. Fast-fashion brands intentionally design garments to wear out quickly, driving people to buy more and dumping billions of pounds of textile waste into landfills yearly. Synthetic fabrics can take decades to break down, creating lasting environmental harm. All the while, fast-fashion companies make billions off the exploitative labor. Zion Market Research projects that the fast-fashion sector will be worth $179.5 billion in 2030. The best way to fight back is by breaking the cycle and saying goodbye to fast fashion. Thrifting, swapping, buying less, and choosing durable items reduce waste while saving money. Every small shift can help build pressure for real change. Speaking out can also help create change. In Sri Lanka, Deputy Minister of Labor Mahinda Jayasinghe told Parliament that an investigation is underway after the strike, per the Daily Mirror. What should the government do about the fast fashion industry? Set strict regulations Incentivize sustainable options Use both regulations and incentives Nothing Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
News18
4 days ago
- News18
Dancing High And Naked At 37,000 Feet: Flight Attendant Shocks Passengers After Taking Drugs
Last Updated: The flight was headed for London and had taken off from San Francisco. News18 A British Airways cabin crew member was arrested after he was found dancing naked in the business class toilet during a flight from San Francisco to London Heathrow on Sunday. The steward reportedly failed to show up for duty mid-flight, prompting colleagues to search the aircraft after he did not serve meals and drinks on time. They then searched the plane and found him completely naked and dancing up and down in the cabin bathroom, according to a report by the Sun. 'We think the guy popped pills when he was meant to be working. It is an extraordinary thing to do. The plane was cruising at 37,000ft over the Atlantic, but this bloke seemed to be higher than anyone else," a coworker said, commenting on the incident. Other crew members quickly threw a spare pair of First Class pyjamas on the nude flight attendant before moving him to the First Class cabin, where he remained for the rest of the ten-and-a-half hour journey. After landing, the staffer was given medical attention and escorted off the plane in a wheelchair before being arrested by airport police. The cabin crew member has been suspended from duty while an internal investigation is underway. The incident comes days after another aviation-related controversy involving a young British former flight attendant. Charlotte May Lee, a 21-year-old from Coulsdon in south London, appeared in a Colombo court on Friday after being accused of smuggling cannabis worth £1.2 million into Sri Lanka. Lee was arrested at Bandaranaike Airport on May 11 after arriving from Bangkok. Sri Lankan police allegedly found 46 kg of 'Kush', a potent synthetic strain of cannabis, in her suitcase. The former TUI Airways flight attendant was held in a cell at the back of the courtroom and briefly brought to the witness box, though she reportedly struggled to follow the proceedings as they were conducted in Sinhalese, the main language of Sri Lanka. Police also wheeled in the nearly 50 kg of cannabis she was allegedly caught smuggling as part of their ongoing investigation. Charlotte is expected to appear in court again in two weeks. First Published:
Indian Express
4 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
May 31, 1985, Forty Years Ago: India-US talks
A new chapter of cooperation between India, the world's largest democracy, and the United States, the world's most powerful democracy, is expected to begin with the visit of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to the US in the second week of June. US arms supplies to Pakistan — a longstanding irritant in Indo-US relations — are expected to figure prominently during the talks Gandhi will have with President Ronald Reagan. Much ground has already been prepared with regard to improved bilateral economic relations. A memorandum of understanding on the transfer of technology from the US to India has been signed. Iraq said its warplanes attacked a 'very large naval target' — a term applied in the past to large merchant ships — near Iran's main oil export terminal at Kharg island in the Gulf. A spokesman said the planes scored an accurate hit and returned safely to base. The raids marked the fourth straight day in the latest flare up between the two belligerents, locked in a border war since September 1980. In the wake of protests by several Labour MPs, the UK government has said that it will not be harsh on Sri Lankan Tamils who are being driven to Britain by the trigger-happy Sinhalese troops, but it insists that representations on behalf of those who are not being allowed in will have to be limited to 24 hours. Earlier, the practice was that an MP could take up a case on behalf of a person denied entry into the country within a month or two. About 500 villagers were evacuated from the coastal villages of Junagadh district in view of the impending cyclonic storm which could strike the Gujarat coast. According to the latest weather bulletin, however, the cyclone had moved north and was heading towards Sind and Pakistan.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
Spiciest food in Ottawa? Thilaks Sri Lankan Cuisine packs heat and heart
2924 Carling Ave. (basement of Manila Mart), 613-721-6746, Open: Daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Prices: most dishes $12 to $18 Access: Restaurant is down a flight of stairs The texts that I sent my dining companion about the restaurant in my sights included some warnings. 'Very spicy. But I like it,' I wrote. 'I usually like spicy,' she wrote back. 'Another warning: it's in a pretty homely, beat-up basement.' 'I won't get all fancied up!' 'But it's authentic. May be the spiciest food in town.' 'I'm game.' 'Don't say you weren't warned.' 'Sounds like an adventure!' Relieved that my companion would approach our lunch with the right attitude, I met her at Thilaks Sri Lankan Cuisine, an underground hole-in-the-wall beneath the Manila Mart Filipino grocery store on Carling Avenue, just east of the Cineplex Cinema Ottawa complex. Before we ate in Thilaks' extremely modest dining room, I had enjoyed some of its takeout items, even if they definitely had to be accepted on their own brusque, mouth-scorching terms. I'd ordered mutton rolls ($2.50 each), an appetizer that's like an egg roll's distant relative, made with a spiced, onion-y, chopped lamb or goat filling inside a crisp, bread-crumbed wrapper. I liked the toothsome mutton rolls from Thilaks as much or even more than the mutton rolls I had last year at Ceylonta in Centretown. That's saying something, as Ceylonta, with its widely admired food and hospitality, strikes me as a great ambassador for Sri Lankan cuisine. From Thilaks, I also ordered a heaping portion of black pork kotthu roti ($18), an intensely flavoured mish-mash of highly seasoned, if somewhat dry, chunks of pork, chopped flatbread, onions, carrots, cabbage, garlic, ginger, green chili peppers and enough spices to make my scalp steadily sweat. When I visited Thilaks with my friend, we ordered more mutton rolls, noodles with seafood ($18) and black pork curry with rice and sides ($18). It was significantly punchier than the kotthu roti at Ceylonta, which may be explained by Ceylonta being Tamil-run while Thilaks' chef and owner are Sinhalese Sri Lankan expats. But the dish from Thilaks so won me over with its heady spiciness and textural contrasts that I was determined to finish all three pounds of it, over several meals, even if the assault of flavours made me repeatedly pause for water breaks. The mutton rolls did not let us down. The noodles were both curried and distinctly salty and peppery, and the dish's pieces of squid were better than the shrimp, which were tough. The serving of black pork curry was small but packed with flavour. Happily, it came with intriguing side dishes, including a dal-like lentil curry, a lotus root curry and even a curry made with pellets of soy. However, the heaping serving of rice tasted burnt to me. Still, my adventurous friend liked the meal and took home the leftovers. During my most recent visit to Thilaks, I met its chef, Nick Diyagu Baduge, who told me the eatery had opened last summer and brought in ingredients like cinnamon from Sri Lanka. He said he had catered a party for the Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa last year. We met on a Wednesday, which meant that Thilaks was serving lump rice ($20), a multi-curry feast with origins that go back to the 1700s, when Sri Lanka was under Dutch rule. That's not to say that lump rice is all that Dutch, although what Thilaks serves does include two frikandellen, which are snacky Dutch meatballs. The lump rice also included a curry of peas and cashews, a vegetarian curry of ash plantain and eggplant, the meat curry of our choice, an intoxicatingly funky and hot condiment of grated coconut and dried shrimp, two boiled and then deep-fried eggs, and a gigantic heap of yellow rice ('ghee rice,' Baduge said), all wrapped in a banana leaf and then baked. Baduge said that his lump rice, which smacked me with a parade of robust flavours, was so popular that he can make as many as 100 servings for delivery to Montreal-based Sri Lankan expats. I'm inclined to think that scores of Sri Lankan expats ordering food from almost 200 kilometres away can't be wrong. Baduge also made a massive plate of deviled chicken ($16), which consisted of bone-in pieces that required some determined knifework or gnawing, plus big chunks of leeks, onions and peppers, all bathed in a sweet, sour and hot sauce. Baduge described the dish as something Sri Lankans might snack on with beer. Indeed, it occurred to my friend when we ate at Thilaks that she would have liked a beer to go with her food. Thilaks, however, is not licensed. All the more reason, in addition to the windowless-ness and harsh fluorescent lights of Thilaks' spartan dining room, to order its food for takeout, she added. When I asked Baduge if Thilaks' owner would consider moving to another location, his answer was: 'Yes, of course. We really want to.' Until then, ordering takeout is my recommendation. Even then, the food at Thilaks, not to mention its ambience or lack thereof, will be too much for readers who prefer to experience spicy food vicariously. But if you're attracted to bold, rugged flavours and culinary adventure, this surprising, no-frills restaurant is worth considering. phum@ Hum: Grey's Social Eatery serves familiar, well-made fare in attractive surroundings Hum: Caméline in Vieux-Hull indulges a passion for creative pasta
