Arthur Clark, the writer, underwater explorer, and space promoter died today at his home in Sri Lanka. The 90 year old renaissance man was perhaps best known as the co-author with Stanley Kubrick of Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Clark is considered to have developed the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality. Geosynchronous orbits, in fact, which keep satellites in a fixed position relative to the ground, are called Clarke orbits. The author of over 100 books, Clark published his best-selling 3001: The Final Odyssey when he was 79. Clarke won the Nebula Award of the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979; the Hugo Award of the World Science Fiction Convention in 1974 and 1980, and in 1986 became Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He was awarded the CBE in 1989. He joined American broadcaster Walter Cronkite as commentator on the U.S. Apollo moonshots in the late 1960s. And in 1976 he became an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

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Combining literature, theatre and music, a group of passionate folks are trying to promote a non-violent and healthy world.

Circle of Health International (COHI) is an international non-governmental organization that seeks to empower women’s health care professionals in crisis settings. Founded in 2004, COHI currently works in Louisiana, Israel/Palestine, Tanzania, Tibet, Sri Lanka, and Sudan.COHI operates on the tenets of consensus-based decision-making, non-violence, and the grassroots model of social change.

On March 26th a group of New York based artists and activists will produce a performance of A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer to support COHI’s efforts. Edited by V-day founder Eve Ensler, A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer features pieces from “Until the Violence Stops,” the international tour that brings the issue of violence against women and girls to the forefront of our consciousness. The collection includes pieces by Maya Angelou, Kathy Najimy,Edward Albee, Alice Walker and many more.

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For the past 20 years, Sri Lanka has been the site of more suicide bombings than any other place in the world. Sadly, the frequency of these suicide attacks has led most Sri Lankans to accept it as a part of everyday life. In an effort to fight against the tendency for society to become desensitized to this level of violence, a group of local artists have begun painting murals at each bombing site to serve as a memorial for the dead and a testament to the living.

by reading more about the road painting movement at PBS’s Frontline/World site.

DM Dasanayake, Sri Lanka’s Building Minister, was killed in his car by a roadside bomb on Tuesday while traveling through J-Ela. The attack was conducted days after the government pulled out of a floundering cease fire agreement with the Tamil Tigers, whom they have blamed for the attack. Dassanayake’s death was the first successful assassination attempt on a high ranking government official in Sri Lanka in 19 months.

The government’s decision to stop ceasefire talks was criticized by international organizations, including the European Union. Approximately 5,000 people have been killed since 2006 due to increasing violence in Sri Lanka over the separatist movement in the north of the country.