Nov 19 (DM) Two brothers who survived the Boxing Day Tsunami and founded their own flip flop company from their London bedroom to support orphans in Sri Lanka are a step closer to achieving their dream. Rob and Paul Forkan have landed their biggest deal to date after Accessorize have agreed to sell their Gandys flip flops designs in their stores across the UK from next Spring. It is also a historic moment for the High Street brand. more..

Nov 19 (DM) Despite Sri Lanka having a rich human resource, the country is yet to harness its full potential because of its low presence in providing professional services to other international markets, according to a top Standard Chartered Bank (StanChart) executive, who operates in the Asian region. Stan Chart Asia Vice Chairman Sir Thomas Harris in a brief interview with Mirror Business said Sri Lanka’s talent pool has the ability to provide business advisory services, more..

Nov 19 (CG) Sri Lankan construction workers in Qatar are among many who have been exploited with low wages and poor living conditions, Amnesty International said in a new report. The report titled ‘The Dark Side of Migration’ researchers have encountered many workers in severe psychological distress due to the treatment they had received and their sense of powerlessness to resolve their own situations. Many spoke movingly of the trauma they felt at not being able to send money back to more..

Nov 19 (ST) Central Bank on Nov 15th issued a slightly modified Rs. 500 currency note as a commemorative to mark the CHOGM. The size and design of the Commemorative note are same with only the CHOGM 2013 Sri Lanka logo in single purple colour replacing the butterfly at the lower left corner of the note, and a new date of issue 2013.11.15. The vertical 500 of the water mark has an additional design on either side to more..

Nov 19 (ST) Vegetable farmers in and around the Nuwara Eliya district are facing difficult times, with prices of cabbage hitting rock bottom. The current season was particularly bountiful to cabbage growers. But the plentiful supply has hit the farmers hard with the market bottoming out. Prices for cabbage in particular have been adversely affected with a kg fetching between Rs. 8 Rs. 12 rendering farmers helpless as the price does not even cover the cost of production. more..

Nov 19 (CT) Fishermen caught deliberately and repeatedly fishing in foreign waters will have their fishing licence revoked, according to a Gazette which will come into force early next year, Media Secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development, Narendra Rajapaksa said, commenting on Sri Lankan fishermen intentionally heading to neighbouring countries' waters to fish. The Ministry stated that 121 SL fishermen were stranded in overseas prisons on charges of more..

Nov 19 (MoD) The newly constructed 'Mihidhu Senpura' housing scheme in Dematagoda, Colombo was ceremonially declared open by President Rajapaksa today (18). The event coincided with the 68th birthday celebration of the President. Secretary Defence and Urban Development Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the driving force behind the project was also present at the occasion. The mega event was inaugurated unveiling the plaque more..

Nov 19 (LT) Buying today’s ‘Dinmina’ would be beneficial for all those who take their lunch parcels for work or places of study. The 140 page newspaper with advertisements from 72 state institutions that are maintained from your tax money has been priced Rs.20 though it should have been made available free to tax payers. Most of the advertisements in today’s ‘Dinamina’ are full page advertisements that cost Rs.185, 000.There would be more such advertisements in the days to come. more..

Nov 19 (Guardian) Channel 4 News editor Ben de Pear pulled his reporting team out of Sri Lanka in the face of ceaseless intimidation. They arrived in Colombo to report the CHOGM but were subjected to days of what he called "organised and controlled protests". The journalists were accused of lying and of supporting the LTTE - the former, and now defeated, Tamil Tigers. Though invited to visit any part of the country the train they took to the north of the country, was stopped by protestors. more..

Nov 19 (PTI) Continuing his tirade against India's participation in the Commonwealth Summit at Colombo, DMK Supremo M Karunanidhi today deprecated PM Manmohan Singh's response to the alleged war crimes by Sri Lanka unlike the strong stand spelt out by Britain. Though Singh skipped the meet without declaring the reason for such a decision, India which was represented by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid's team more..

Nov 19 (SLBC) The CID intends to conduct investigations into the incident of the supply of coal not confirming to the proper standards, to the Norochcholai coal powered power station. The attorney general is to conduct a separate investigation in this regard. Chairman of the Lanka coal private company Menaka Liyanage told the national radio that the investigations will be conducted under the instructions of the secretary to the ministry of power and energy. more..

Nov 19 (C365) Rain prevented the occurrence of the first Twenty20 International between Sri Lanka and New Zealand at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday. The first delivery was scheduled to be bowled at 18:30 local time, but three hours later, the inclement weather that had marred the preceding ODI series between the same opposition in Hambantota and Dambulla earlier this month had not relented. Umpires Ruchira Palliyaguruge and Raveendra Wimalasiri, more..

Nov 19 (DM) Muttiah Muralitharan said that Channel 4 had lost its credibility in his eyes due to airing an edited clip of an interview which distorted the context he spoke in. “It was unethical for them to edit three minutes of a 45 minute interview and air it. Channel 4 lost all credibility in my eyes” he said. When questioned as to if the journalists assured him of airing the entire interview prior to agreeing on the interview, he replied more..

Nov 20 (CT) None of the Heads of the Countries of the Commonwealth I believe would endorse the forced entry of the “Bodu Bala Sena” (BBS) into the Human Rights Festival yesterday. Also, the delegates would see this incident as a scandal. This unruly act has to be condemned by all who respect the values of the commonwealth. The organizers had a particular purpose in holding this exhibition. It was to inform the local and the international community the type of undemocratic governance that more..

Nov 20 (NS) The heart is associated with feelings and emotion and the mind with thought and reason. How did that come about, though? Did some people, appointed by a collective on account of proven intellect and mandated thereby to discuss such matters, come up with this conclusion, this separation of mind and heart with emotion pushed into one and thought into the other? Come to think of it, did knowledge and fact or what is taken to be either result from similar processes? more..

Nov 20 (ST) Having recently written about Englishwoman Florence Farr, the pioneering Edwardian actress with comrades such as WB Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, and Ezra Pound, who travelled east to Ceylon to become a school principal, I decided someone with similar attributes but opposite switch of locations and differing ethnicity should be my new subject. So here’s the story of a Sri Lankan, more..

Nov 20 (CT) A majority of Sinhalese are less extremist, more rational and more humane than their Rajapaksa-saviours, according to the latest opinion survey by the Centre of Policy Alternatives (CPA). They are also becoming increasingly discommoded by and therefore disaffected with the existing regimen. Mahinda ‘Top Line Survey: Democracy in Post-War Sri Lanka’ contains many expected and unexpected insights into the collective thinking of the Lankan people. more..

Nov 20 (NS) Activities relating to the CHOGM 2013 are progressing in earnest, and Foreign Ministers and Heads of State are now busy formulating proposals that include, the negotiating points from the perspective of the Commonwealth on the UN’s Global Development Goals of 2015 (i.e. successor to the Millennium Development Goals of the UN that is scheduled to ‘expire’ in 2015). This open letter to the Commonwealth Heads of Govts is to draw their urgent attention to a crucial factor facing more..

Nov 20 (SO) The Commonwealth Youth Forum created a stage for constructive criticism and peaceful dialogue and the challenge youth face. Talking about the aims and plans of youth in the Commonwealth, Katherine Ellis, Director of youth Affairs of the Commonwealth Secretariat said that the world needed to harness the energy, knowledge and connectivity that youth have to make a change. more..

Nov 20 (GV) The most fundamental and important right a human being has is her right to life. This cannot be justified through first principles because this is itself a first principle. In common sense morality, it is granted that a human being has a fundamental right to life, and that this right trumps all other rights such as the right to liberty and the right to property. It is assumed that you cannot kill your neighbour merely because he’s trying to forcibly take a part of your land for his use. more..

Nov 20 (SL) Serendipity today publishes letters exchanged across the Palk Strait between two sub-continental brothers Somapala AKA Sinna Thambi (Small Brother) and Nadu Kautilya AKA Periya Aiyaar (Big Brother). Letter of Sinna Thambi to Periya Aiyaar: Eppipudi Shokkum Periya Aiyaar. Enna Karachal? I say, you people have put a hell of a hat on us, no? Not for the laughing, I say it’s simply not cricket. We people have supported you from the days of Umrigar, Manjerikar, more..

Nov 20 (NS) While the Mirijjawila Botanical garden provides an enchanted, tranquil retreat with an opportunity to commune with nature, nature conservation remains the ‘raison d’être’ and cornerstone of all the activities When we walked slowly to the land area encircled with an electric fence to keep the elephants away, I was little amazed. Although the roadsides we passed indicated the peculiar nature of the landscape more..

Nov 20 (Island) November is the month when global media focus is usually on the JFK assassination and conspiracy theories associated with it. With only two more days to go for the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy killing that shook the world, several articles have appeared in leading international newspapers and some of them have attempted to add fuel to the theory that JFK’s assassin was not a lone wolf. However, this year something else has eclipsed the commemoration of Kennedy. more..

Nov 20 (Island) We are victims of the English education we have had received whatever the medium of instruction may be. It is unfortunate there was no change in the substance taught in schools and of course the universities when the medium of instruction was changed to Sinhala and Tamil from English and also when free education was introduced. I myself received the "best" of this education at school and the university and had the "benefit" of free education up to the more..

Nov 20 (CT) The series of documentaries by Channel4, a British public service television broadcaster on Sri Lanka's alleged war crimes are among the most globally publicized. The film content had been questioned by many while some accept the footage to be genuine, but the official version is that the visuals are doctored. In the documentary series titled Sri Lanka – the killing fields, alleged war crimes committed by the more..

Nov 20 (Island) The ascension of Sri Lanka to the chairmanship of the Commonwealth of Nations, while being a foreign policy triumph of sorts for this country, presents Sri Lanka with a challenge which it cannot permit to go unmet. That is, Sri Lanka could seize this opportunity to establish that it is able and willing to be a practitioner of democratic norms and values or prove its critics right that it is incapable of doing so and that it is, indeed, degenerating into authoritarianism. more..

Nov 20 (Island) Sri Lanka is one of the very few countries fortunate enough to have a comprehensive system of health care delivery, which covers all segments of society, irrespective of purchasing power. Our health system evolved gradually over a period of more than 3 decades since independence, to acquire the features that we see today. This means this system has been in operation for more than another 3 decades. However, that evolution did not take place automatically. more..

Nov 20 (MW) In its inaugural debut, The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for Documentary Photography & Film today awarded Sri Lankan journalist and filmmaker Kannan Arunasalam its first annual prize for best documentary 'short-short' film. The foundation also announced the opening of the 2014 call for entries for outstanding work in documentary photography and documentary film. Selected by the executive board of the foundation, Kannan more..

Nov 20 (ST) De La Rue Solutions is discussing with the Inland Revenue and the Department of Excise to implement systems and procedures to close loopholes in payments in alcohol and tobacco industries, officials said. “We are in touch with these authorities and we also discussed it with the Ministry of Finance,” Fergus Graham, Sales Director De La Rue said. He was participating at the Commonwealth Business Forum (CBF). Excise tax increases on tobacco and liquor is more..

Nov 20 (Island) The Indian Premier League (IPL) may request Sri Lanka to host some of the T20 matches next year if dates of its seventh edition clash with those of India’s general election. This is one of the possibilities that was discussed by the IPL Governing Council during an informal discussion it had in Mumbai on Sunday about the likely venues for the tournament in early 2014. According to reports here, the discussions were primarily based on the fact that India will be going for more..

Nov 20 (CT) A row between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Ministry of Sports took a fresh turn last week with the former demanding an urgent review of the Sports Law before the election of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka is held. The NOC election is scheduled for Dec 27 and campaigns are in full swing to get hold of the country's most powerful sports body, but given the seriousness of the crisis, the election more..

Nov 20 (DM) The DFCC group has been selected as a consultant in the transformation of Home Finance Company (HFC) of Fiji, a state-owned financial institution with a limited offering of products and services. “DFCC, together with its subsidiaries Vardhana Bank and Synapsys, has entered into a management contract with HFC and will provide technical and advisory services in the areas of IT, treasury and trade finance, in order to launch its commercial banking operation by Jan 2014,” more..

Nov 20 (IE) British diplomats joke that the inelegant acronym, CHOGM, stands for "Chaps on Holiday on Govt Money". Some also say that wealth is the only thing which is not common in the Commonwealth. In fact, after the days of colonialism and apartheid, the Commonwealth has been an organisation in search of an agenda. It duplicates the work of the UN in various ways, but since it has no unifying thread other than memories, the Commonwealth does not even endeavour to take a position of its own more..

Nov 20 (Island) The closure of Dipped Products PLC for four months, without specific reason, is a national crime, as the company had not caused low PH in the area, as shown in evidence, the Company’s Managing Director Dr. Mahesha Ranasoma says. CEO of Hayleys Group, Mohan Pandithage said that he would seek the President’s help to open the factory that had been closed for more than three months without any evidence more..

Nov 20 (4T) Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has signed an agreement with Brandix, the largest exporter of apparel in Sri Lanka, to provide business process outsourcing (BPO) services for human resources, finance and accounting and procurement. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The agreement is designed to help Brandix build streamlined, leading-edge back office processes at a reduced cost and to drive significant improvement in operational efficiency and effectiveness. more..

Nov 20 (Island) President, Sri Lanka Vietnam Business Co-operation Council, Dr. A.S.Sabaratnam, said that there were trade delegations visiting Vietnam, since 2011. However although there were trade enquiries for Sri Lankan products, product exposure did not attract positive support from Vietnam buyers. In consequence, a Vietnamese trade Delegation invited to visit Sri Lanka would assess possibilities of investment and bilateral trade between both countries. more..

Nov 20 (Hindu) A public interest litigation has been filed in the Madras High Court bench here to declare the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India as a persona non grata (an unwelcome person) as per Article 9 of the Vienna Convention of Diplomatic Relations, 1961, for allegedly transgressing his limits as a foreign diplomat and issuing ‘provocative’ statements. The petitioner, Lena Kumar, a social activist and more..

Nov 20 (DM) A Commonwealth Conference seems a strange launch pad for any campaign for human rights. This useless organisation, set up as a pretence that the British Empire lived on, has long contained a notable proportion of corrupt and repressive regimes, in conflict with their own people and even each other. But David Cameron had no reservations during last week’s occasion, even if three nations refused to attend, given Sri Lanka’s record in its own civil war. more..

Nov 20 (AC) ‘To jaw-jaw’ said Winston Churchill ‘is always is better than to war-war”. Unfortunately, when faced with an opponent who declines to negotiate but insists on attacking one militarily, there is no alternative but to meet force with force. As Britain did against Nazi Germany in 1939 and America did against Japan after the Pearl Harbour attack of 1941, Sri Lanka too had to take up arms against the LTTE- an organisation that was proscribed as a terrorist organisation by more..

Nov 20 (Island) Sports Ministry, in a communiqué issued yesterday, denounced the move by the National Olympic Committee (NOC) chairman Hemasiri Fernando to write to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on alleged ill-effects of the National Sports Law on the NOC without any approval of its Executive Committee. Fernando is said to have informed the IOC that Act 25 of 1973 Sports Law of SL affects independence more..