Sep 11 (IC) A petition has been launched by cricket fans to highlight their displeasure and lack of confidence in the executive committee currently governing Sri Lanka Cricket and the electoral process that has seen candidates mysteriously dropping out of the race at the last minute to allow individuals with ties to the ruling party to win uncontested. Hosted on the internationally-renowned petition website change.org, the petition has received global coverage and has more..

Sep 11 (BBC) Hundreds of mourners have paid tribute to one of Sri Lanka's most renowned rights activists, Sunila Abeysekera, at her funeral near Colombo. Ms Abeysekera, 61, who died of cancer on Monday, worked with both Sinhalese and Tamils during the long conflict that divided Sri Lanka. She was a leading campaigner for the rights of women, workers and farmers. During a four-decade career she received numerous international awards, and also faced death threats. more..

Sep 11 (PTI) DMK President M Karunanidhi asked Tamil Nadu govt to obtain documents offered to be provided by members of a royal family in connection with the Katchatheevu issue and submit them along with others in the Supreme Court in support of its plea for retrieval of the islet ceded to Sri Lanka. The kin of Ramanatha Sethupathy, a former king of Ramanathapuram, had reportedly said there were documents to more..

Sep 12 (NS) Cohabitation; the trial marriage, is the latest mania of present Lankan society. For the current generation, the idea of following a traditional relationship path to marriage seems to have become more the exception than the rule. However, this trend has taken the phase of a subculture - a misunderstood trend to a way of living, in the minor communities, which includes the Free Trade Zone. Free Trade Zone was promoted in Sri Lanka as essential for the economic development of more..

Sep 12 (CT) The difference between Sunila and most of us is that she lived life – queen size. That did not mean she made enormous wealth or lead a life of opulence. If that were the case, there needn't have been any requirement for a solidarity group to raise funds for her medical treatment during the final months of her invaluable life, spent fighting a losing battle against cancer. Not only did she have untrammelled zest for life, she also had a vision and a mission. more..

Sep 12 (CT) World Suicide Prevention Day was marked yesterday (10). The International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) said that every 40 seconds, one person commits suicide, especially among the youth. It is estimated that nearly one million people worldwide commit suicide each year, which translates to 3,000 deaths a day. Research has proved that a large percentage of people who commit suicide more..

Sep 12 (DBS) In his review of Hannah K, Costa Gavras’s movie on the human consequences of Palestinian dispossession, Edward Said points out that the American mass-culture has accepted “the notion that whereas there may be a Palestine question and even Palestinians, neither has much positive human value attached to it” . In Rajapaksa Sri Lanka, the existence of a Tamil community is accepted, as an unavoidable statistic, but the validity of a Tamil problem, at a political or more..

Sep 12 (Island) The UN does not seem to give the Sri Lankan government a break. Close on the heels of UNHRC Chief Navi Pillay’s trenchant remarks which left many a ruling party politician fit to be tied the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network has dropped another bombshell. Sri Lanka finds itself in the exalted company of Sudan, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Mali, Haiti etc close to the bottom of the list of countries in the World Happiness Report (WHR) 2013. We first thought those who prepared more..

Sep 12 (TD) Sri Lanka’s Sinhala-Buddhist nationalists have opened a new front in their war against the island’s minorities. If for decades it was the island’s Tamils who were the focus of their hostility, it is the Muslims who are in their cross-hairs now. Since 2011, scores of mosques and Muslim-owned businesses have come under attack from Sinhalese mobs led by Buddhist monks. In April last year, a mosque in Dambulla, more..

Sep 12 (CT) When former Supreme Court Judge, C.V. Wigneswaran, was first chosen by the TNA as its chief ministerial candidate for the Northern Provincial Council, which is soon to be established, the Tamil Tiger Diaspora levelled serious criticisms against him. The Tamilnet website, the mouthpiece of the Tamil Tigers, expressed its displeasure over the nomination of Wigneswaran in the following scathing attack. "Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, TNA's Chief Minister candidate in the NPC election more..

Sep 12 (DBS) I am not, and never was an admirer/supporter of the synthetic `doctor’ Mervyn Silva and never thought the occasion would ever arise for me to say a good word about him or any of his acts, however, that occasion has now arisen. Amid the welter of voices expressing various views about or relating to Pillay, the one which appealed to me most was that of our synthetic `doctor’, making that which appears to have been a rather unconventional proposal of marriage to her. more..

Sep 12 (SO) A close friend of Sri Lanka, Dr. Subramanian Swamy, commending the decision to hold elections in the Northern Province said out that if Tamil people need true reconciliation then they must select the most meritorious candidates and not based on their ethnicity. “Reconciliation cannot come if the Tamil people think only Tamils can represent them,” said Dr. Swamy. In an interview with the Observer more..

Sep 12 (CT) India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives signed a landmark agreement on July 8, 2013 on coordinated handling of maritime security threats such as piracy, gunrunning and terrorism and presumably human trafficking in the Indian Ocean. The three nations also agreed to share capacities and information related to these threats and to pursue sustainable development of maritime environment. The agreement represents the culmination of a process that started with more..

Sep 12 (CT) If one asks the question “who is the biggest enemy of a central banker?”, the answer plainly hits on the discretionary powers given to central bankers by the statutes under which central banks have been established. It is not because discretionary powers are unnecessary or harmful, but because those powers have been mishandled by those within as well as outside central banks. There is a fundamental difference between a programmed computer and a central banker. more..

Sep 12 (FT) Earlier this week, Minister Basil Rajapaksa made what was possibly the most remarkable ruling party promise yet during its electioneering in the Northern Province. Thus far, UPFA election speeches have been confined to pleas of gratitude for liberation from the LTTE and post-war reconstruction, coupled with dire warnings about the ulterior motives of the TNA, which is likely to claim victory in the 21 Sept poll. more..

Sep 12 (Island) Virtusa Corporation (NASDAQ:VRTU), a global business consulting and IT outsourcing company that combines innovation, technology leadership and industry solutions to transform the customer experience, today announced that it has been honored with Asia’s Best Employer Brand 2013 award. Virtusa has been recognized under the "Excellence in HR through Technology" category, emphasizing Virtusa’s commitment in aligning its people practices to more..

Sep 12 (GV) “There are events, facts from history” and according to the director Shoojit Sircar his film Madras Cafe (2013) is “fiction inspired from fact”. And while the director claims that his film is not biased in any way and is “adapted from history”, the film remains a far cry from the actual facts that it is based on. And as one film review aptly described, the film’s tagline “Intercept the truth” should have rather read “Intercept the half-truth”. The film is set in the years of Indian intervention in SL, more..

Sep 12 (Island) A bit of mystery has accompanied most young spinners who have made an impression at the big stage. Old Fox Rangana Herath has no mystery associated with his bowling, but forgotten virtues like perseverance has stood him in good stead and the ultimate recognition was on Tuesday at the Sri Lanka Cricket Awards Night where he won the prestigious Player of the Year award. "It was a bit of a surprise, but more..

Sep 12 (FT) Standard Chartered recently signed with the Commonwealth Business Council to come on board as a principal sponsor of the Commonwealth Business Forum Colombo 2013, which will precede the CHOGM in November, in Sri Lanka. The Forum, on the theme ‘Partnering for Wealth Creation and Social Development: The Commonwealth, Indian Ocean, Pacific and SAARC,’ will focus on the potential for partnership centred around one of the fastest growing regions more..

Sep 12 (Hindu) A Sri Lankan Tamil facing a deportation order has got a respite with the Madras High Court on Wednesday directing the authorities to keep the order in abeyance till a final order is passed on a fresh representation to be submitted by him within 15 days. If the final order is against him, he may be given some time to work out his own remedy in a manner known to law, the court said. A Division Bench, comprising Justices S. Rajeswaran and A. Arumughaswamy, more..

Sep 12 (Island) Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union (FTZ & GSEU) questions the statement made by Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene at the Ministerial Parliamentary Consultative Committee (PCC) on Sept 4, that the govt will not intervene to lay down conditions as to how workers should be employed in foreign collaborated factories as it would hinder foreign investment from coming into SL. more..

Sep 12 (FT) Despite speculation of facing delays, Shangri La Hotels and Resorts on Monday made a credible case for investing in Sri Lanka at a forum of investors and fund managers in Hong Kong. “We do plan to invest more than half-a-billion US Dollars in two major projects in Colombo and Hambantota. That itself is a very significant vote of confidence in the country,” Shangri La Hotels and Resorts Vice Chairman Madhu Rao told the Invest Sri Lanka Forum organised by SEC and CSE more..

Sep 12 (NS) The controversy over milk powder continues to simmer. It took a new twist when the Fonterra Company of New Zealand temporarily suspended its operations in their Biyagama factory. The company claimed that it took the decision due to the unstable situation in Sri Lanka. The real reason could be the issue of notice by the Gampaha District Court to the Board of Directors for contempt of the court or the fear of protests reaching the magnitude of the Rathupaswala protest more..

Sep 12 (IL) The Metropolitan Police of London were embarrassed today (11) by mistakenly publishing Tamil Tiger flag in its web site in section under ‘Info about contact points’ (met.police.uk/contact_points). This particular web page contains the key information about the new Met contact points translated into few languages such as Bengali (Bangladesh), Lithuanian, Portuguese more..

Sep 12 (LR) A journalism fellowship was recently announced in honour of Richard De Zoysa Sri Lankan journalist, author and poet, human rights activist and actor killed in 1990 and Tamil journalist Subramaniam Sivanayagam. On September 21, 2013, Sri Lankans Without Borders in partnership with the Centre for Policy Alternatives will announce the launch of the De Zoysa-Sivanayagam 2014 Fellowship in Digital Journalism. The partners will jointly select one candidate for more..

Sep 12 (Island) The Insurance due to the family of a 28-year-old unmarried Sri Lankan taxi driver, who had been killed in a road accident in Dubai, on January 4 this year, has still not been paid. Romesh Saman Etheldred met with his death in Dubai due to the irregular and illegal parking of a heavy vehicle on a highway. However, the insurance claim, that is due, had not been paid to the bereaved parents although eight months have elapsed. The father of the deceased had already submitted the more..

Sep 12 (CT) A UK investor who was involved in a hotel project in Wadduwa, had to ultimately leave the country, due to alleged death threats. The UK investor, Sir Clive Leech, has 38% of shares in the Sherine Pavilian Hotel, having invested Rs 200 million. In addition, S. Guruge and J. Warnakulasuriya, own 17% and 12%, respectively, of the shares, while an Indian investor owns 5%. The construction of the hotel more..

Sep 12 (Island) A 25-year-old married man was killed by his wife’s 37-year-old paramour yesterday morning in the Teldeniya police area. SSP Ajith Rohana told The Island that the victim, Karupan Kumar of No. 420, New Estate, Rajawella, was found lying on the Ambakote temple road near the police post with cut injuries around 8.30 a.m. The severely injured victim was rushed to the Minkenna hospital with the help of the people in the area and police personnel at the post. more..

Sep 12 (Hindu) Faced with protests and threats of disruption by Sri Lankan Tamil groups, three major cinema companies in the U.K. have decided not to screen Madras Café in their theatres. The political action thriller directed by Shoojit Sircar — and set in the background of the civil war in Sri Lanka in the 1990s — was to have opened in the U.K. on Aug 28, 2013 in theatres owned by Cineworld, Odeon and Vue. By Aug 24, protests began outside the head office of these theatres, more..

Sep 12 (Hindu) In a surprising move, the Tamil Nadu Prison Department has submitted to the State Information Commission that information sought by A.G. Perarivalan, convict on death row in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, cannot be disclosed as it would “certainly entail trans-border ramifications with far-reaching consequence which cannot be visualised now.” DIG of Prisons A.G. Mourya submitted to the SIC more..

Sep 12 (FT) The Supreme Court has recently dismissed cases filed by Cornel Perera as a shareholder of the Hotel Developers (HDL), the owning company of Colombo Hilton. It was ruled that two cases filed by Cornel and Company in the District Court and Commercial High Court to restrain the enforcement of agreements between the Government and connected parties of HDL was on the basis that he was a major shareholder. However, following the Revival of Underperforming more..

Sep 12 (Stuff) Trade Minister Tim Groser says NZ is in phase two of a three-phase process to fix our reputation after the Fonterra botulism scare. His comments come after a $2 million New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) fund was announced to rebuild relationships and regain the confidence of international clients hurt by the whey contamination scare. "It was more important to recover from the lack of confidence global markets now had in our products than to play the blame game". more..

Sep 12 (CT) Governor of the Northern Province, Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri, maintained he has the right to be in any part of Sri Lanka as he is representing President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and he is not concerned about the allegations that he is participating in election propaganda for the ruling party in the Northern Province. "People are stupid to listen to what the TNA, which is contesting in the North, is saying. more..

Sep 12 (CT) The vehicle of TNA Jaffna District candidate, Ananthy Sasitharan, came under attack on Tuesday (10) around 9:45 p.m. Sasitharan said she was returning home after campaigning when the vehicle, which she has hired, was attacked. However, neither she nor her driver was injured in the incident and only the vehicle was damaged. "A person riding a motorcycle rode alongside and hurled a heavy object in the direction where I was seated. Fortunately, I was not physically more..

Sep 12 (CG) Minister G.L Peiris will come face to face with Foreign Ministers from the Commonwealth during a meeting in New York later this month. The External Affairs Ministry said that Minister Peiris will be attending the Commonwealth Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in New York on Sept 26. The meeting will take place at the UN Headquarters building in New York. The meeting will be taking place while the Foreign Ministers are in the New York for the UN General Assembly which begins that week. more..

Sep 12 (DM) Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is in China said that Sri Lanka hopes to draw on China's experience and constantly expand exchanges with China. “Sri Lanka regards China as a close friend and hopes to draw on China's experience and constantly expand exchanges with China, so as to constantly push forward friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries and the two militaries, more..

Sep 12 (Hindu) An organisation to protect the interests of fishermen has moved the Madras High Court for a direction to the Centre to take diplomatic steps to secure the release of Tamil Nadu fishermen languishing in Sri Lankan jails. It also sought a further direction to the authorities to take up the issue with the island government of frequent attacks on Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy and find a permanent solution to the problem. Fisherman Care, represented by its president, more..

Sep 12 (DN) Religious leaders yesterday raised a united voice against the vicious efforts of the TNA to realize what the LTTE terrorists failed, through its election manifesto which they claim would ‘lead to a revival of separatism and ethnic disharmony.’ These leaders representing various religious denominations said that the TNA has released a manifesto that conformed to the LTTE separatist agenda. They urged the Tamil people in the Northern Province not to be misled by the more..

Sep 12 (DM) A recent report issued by the Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) reveals that four brands of milk powder imported from New Zealand were contaminated with DCD. One brand, Milgro Infant Full Cream Milk Powder, had contained a sufficient quantity of the contaminant for ITI to quantify its DCD content. The other three varieties were manufactured by Fonterra; these contained too little DCD to quantify. more..

Sep 12 (DM) With the Milkgate crisis ending on a note of honey, the government and the people of Sri Lanka now need to act effectively to ensure the safety and quality of local and imported food items. Though we have a food Advisory Authority in the Health Ministry, the Consumer Affairs Authority, the Food Commissioners Department and other State institutions there appears to be little or no effective monitoring and regulations for the safety and more..