Lanka Newspapers

Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

elephanthouse's Page
   http://www.lankanewspapers.com/elephanthouse - Archive of Jan 2012




Vienna New Year`s Concert 2012 Vienna Philharmonic
Sunday, 1 January 2012 - 7:21 PM SL Time

New Year`s Day concert to offer much more than traditional fare

The London Olympics and Denmark`s EU Presidency will get a musical salute at the Vienna Philharmonic`s New Year`s concert tomorrow, conducted for the second time by the Latvian Mariss Jansons.

Broadcast as every year around the world, the 2012 event will see the return of the Vienna Boys` Choir and, unusually, live performances by the Vienna Ballet, amid the usual Strauss waltzes and polkas.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 3 )


A Solemn New Year Wish 2012
Monday, 2 January 2012 - 8:52 AM SL Time

by Sunalie Ratnayake

( January 01, 2012, Washington DC, Sri Lanka Guardian)

May the New Year
Bring hope for the poor, in all their needs,
Poise for the rich, to indulge in good deeds

May the coming year
Sanction the poor to abscond poverty,
Permit the rich to depart gluttony

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 1 )


Syria rebel forces capture Assad troops in north, opposition says
Tuesday, 3 January 2012 - 3:13 AM SL Time

By Dominic Evans

BEIRUT Armed Syrian rebels captured dozens of members of the security forces by seizing two military checkpoints on Monday, the opposition said, even as the Arab League chief reported cautious progress in a peace monitoring mission.

The opposition said army deserters also clashed with security forces at a third checkpoint, killing and wounding an unspecified number of troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

Assad is struggling to defeat a popular uprising and avoid becoming the latest president to be toppled by Arab Spring revolutions, after the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 1 )


The Fat Trap
Tuesday, 3 January 2012 - 11:27 AM SL Time


By TARA PARKER-POPE


For 15 years, Joseph Proietto has been helping people lose weight. When these obese patients arrive at his weight-loss clinic in Australia, they are determined to slim down. And most of the time, he says, they do just that, sticking to the clinic`s program and dropping excess pounds. But then, almost without exception, the weight begins to creep back. In a matter of months or years, the entire effort has come undone, and the patient is fat again. It has always seemed strange to me, says Proietto, who is a physician at the University of Melbourne. These are people who are very motivated to lose weight, who achieve weight loss most of the time without too much trouble and yet, inevitably, gradually, they regain the weight.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 1 )


Sri Lanka: saved by the bell
Wednesday, 4 January 2012 - 3:17 AM SL Time

In Jaffna, you don`t go to the supermarket. Vendors cycle to you, and they all have their own ring tones

Stop me and buy one ... a Sri Lankan fruit vendor sells king coconuts from his bicycle. Photograph: Ishara Kodikara/AFP

In a world of internet shopping, shopping in Jaffna comes as a pleasant surprise they do things a little differently here. The first tinkle of a bicycle bell can be heard at about 5.30am the milkman on his bike, dispensing milk from an old metal churn into housewives` recycled bottles and jars. This discreet little tinkle is followed by the very much less discreet, irritating tune of the bread van. Dah da dah, dah da dah, dah da da dah. And again. And again. You wonder how much bread can possibly be needed on one small street.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 3 )


Revisiting Elephant Pass for Ethnic Reconciliation in Sri Lanka
Wednesday, 4 January 2012 - 8:38 PM SL Time


By Dr Laksiri Fernando


`Elephant Pass` here is an ellipsis for the novel`The Road from Elephant Pass` written by late Nihal de Silva and published by Vijitha Yapa, Colombo, first in September 2003. It is a novel with a mission. Its reading and rereading can bring immense light to some of the ethnic issues underlying the conflict and misunderstandings in Sri Lanka, and could help bring reconciliation in the present context, more than ever.

When the 2003 Gratiaen Prize for creative writing in English was awarded for the novel, the reviewers said, among other things, that the novel convincingly demonstrates that resolution of conflict and reconciliation of differences are feasible through mutual experience.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 2 )


Sri Lanka to build tallest 
 tower in South Asia
Thursday, 5 January 2012 - 7:29 AM SL Time

Qadijah Irshad

5 January 2012

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka is set to build the tallest tower in the South Asian region, the government announced recently. The 350 metre high tower building, the promoters claim, will be visible to India and Bangladesh.


Estimated to cost more than $104 million, the Lotus Tower will provide facilities for 50 television services, 50 broadcasting services and 10 telecommunication providers. In addition to its primary function, the tower podium, which is proposed to be four storeys high, will accommodate a telecommunication museum, food courts, offices, conference hall and exhibition spaces.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 11 )


Sri Lanka to broaden sea plane services for tourists
Friday, 6 January 2012 - 7:27 AM SL Time

Sri Lanka to broaden sea plane services for tourists
Fri, Jan 6, 2012, 02:21 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.


Jan 05, Colombo: Sri Lanka Minister of Civil Aviation Priyankara Jayarathna says that 65% of foreign tourists and 40% of local tourists use sea planes.

The Ministry will broaden the operations of sea planes to new locations. This will include destinations such as Jaffna, Iranamadu, Anuradhapura, Pasikuda, Batticaloa, and Kalpitiya.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 12 )


Has the Sangha done enough to foster unity, peace and harmony in Sri Lanka?
Saturday, 7 January 2012 - 5:49 AM SL Time


Sat, 2012-01-07 05:30 editor
By Raj Gonsalkorale

At the outset it needs to be made clear that this article is not a critique of Buddhism considering the writer is the least qualified to do so, and it is not a critique of the Buddha Sasana, because to do so would be to critique the Buddha Dhamma.

The Sasana is not an establishment and has no geographical bounds, and therefore is universal in concept. It does not have leaders, single or plural, it only has guardians comprising of lay Buddhists as well as Buddhist Monks, the Sangha.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 8 )


What Sri Lanka has given Tamils but will not give the Eelaamists
Sunday, 8 January 2012 - 7:44 AM SL Time


By Shenali Waduge


-p-  -/p-

It is apparent that inspite of the elimination of the LTTE that the sole obstacle to reconciliation remains the inability to differentiate between what the Tamils have or do not have and what the Eelaamists desire and aspire but will not be given.

Therefore, it is important that those proclaiming to forward proposals for future peace must first determine if Tamils have been marginalized throughout Sri Lanka and how far the aspirations of the Eelaamists have become jumbled into these demands giving rise to the confusion to find any solution. In so far as determining rights denied exclusively to Tamils, it is obvious that such discrimination in the public sector or the private sector, socially, economically or even politically is clearly nonexistent.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 11 )


Do you need to be a teenager to be successful in the music business?
Sunday, 8 January 2012 - 9:51 PM SL Time

Saturday, Dec. 17, I introduced you to the winner of the M6 France`s Incredible Talents with Marina Dalmas, age 13.

I have recently discovered a Mexican girl age 10 only who is also singing some of the Adele repertoire.

Although here you can clearly identify a child voice, it is still amazing to see very young kids like this performing so well.

Tomorrow is the beginning of the first long week of the year, so take good care and try to respect your New Year`s resolution(s).

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 5 )


Have you ever been on a bungee cord?
Monday, 9 January 2012 - 4:06 PM SL Time

I certainly wouldn`t have the courage to do that.
Wonder what the other guy on the left was thinking after seeing it?
This video was in various news broadcasts yesterday.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 7 )


With Work Scarce in Athens, Greeks Go Back to the Land
Tuesday, 10 January 2012 - 7:55 AM SL Time


By RACHEL DONADIO


CHIOS, Greece Nikos Gavalas and Alexandra Tricha, both 31 and trained as agriculturalists, were frustrated working on poorly paying, short-term contracts in Athens, where jobs are scarce and the cost of living is high. So last year, they decided to start a new project: growing edible snails for export.

As Greece`s blighted economy plunges further into the abyss, the couple are joining with an exodus of Greeks who are fleeing to the countryside and looking to the nation`s rich rural past as a guide to the future. They acknowledge that it is a peculiar undertaking, with more manual labor than they, as college graduates, ever imagined doing. But in a country starved by austerity even as it teeters on the brink of default, it seemed as good a gamble as any.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 5 )


How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body
Tuesday, 10 January 2012 - 3:29 PM SL Time

Members of the Broadway cast of Godspell do their flexible best. From left: Uzo Aduba (doing the wheel), George Salazar (extended-hand-to-big-toe pose) and Nick Blaemire (headstand).


On a cold Saturday in early 2009, Glenn Black, a yoga teacher of nearly four decades, whose devoted clientele includes a number of celebrities and prominent gurus, was giving a master class at Sankalpah Yoga in Manhattan. Black is, in many ways, a classic yogi: he studied in Pune, India, at the institute founded by the legendary B. K. S. Iyengar, and spent years in solitude and meditation. He now lives in Rhinebeck, N.Y., and often teaches at the nearby Omega Institute, a New Age emporium spread over nearly 200 acres of woods and gardens. He is known for his rigor and his down-to-earth style. But this was not why I sought him out: Black, I`d been told, was the person to speak with if you wanted to know not about the virtues of yoga but rather about the damage it could do. Many of his regular clients came to him for bodywork or rehabilitation following yoga injuries. This was the situation I found myself in. In my 30s, I had somehow managed to rupture a disk in my lower back and found I could prevent bouts of pain with a selection of yoga postures and abdominal exercises. Then, in 2007, while doing the extended-side-angle pose, a posture hailed as a cure for many diseases, my back gave way. With it went my belief, na ve in retrospect, that yoga was a source only of healing and never harm.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 7 )


Fragile and Unbalanced in 2012
Wednesday, 11 January 2012 - 4:12 AM SL Time


NEW YORK The outlook for the global economy in 2012 is clear, but it isn`t pretty: recession in Europe, anemic growth at best in the United States, and a sharp slowdown in China and in most emerging-market economies. Asian economies are exposed to China. Latin America is exposed to lower commodity prices (as both China and the advanced economies slow). Central and Eastern Europe are exposed to the eurozone. And turmoil in the Middle East is causing serious economic risks both there and elsewhere as geopolitical risk remains high and thus high oil prices will constrain global growth.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 5 )


Tamil refugees slowly return from India
Wednesday, 11 January 2012 - 5:15 PM SL Time

JAFFNA, 11 January 2012 (IRIN) - For Thangamma*, returning to Sri Lanka`s once-embattled northern town of Jaffna is nothing short of a pilgrimage. `I waited for two decades to leave India,` she said.

The 65-year-old is one of a small number of Sri Lankan Tamils who have returned home after spending years as refugees in one of 100 camps in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 8 )


Messi takes third Ballon D`or crown
Wednesday, 11 January 2012 - 11:11 PM SL Time

-- Lionel Messi has been crowned world footballer of the year for a third successive time after claiming FIFA`s Ballon d`Or award at a ceremony in Zurich.

The Argentina forward beat Barcelona teammate Xavi and Real Madrid`s Cristiano Ronaldo to the prestigious title.

Messi, 24, becomes only the fourth player in history to claim three awards, matching the feat of current UEFA president Michel Platini and Dutch duo Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten.

`It`s a great personal pleasure for me,` Messi said, after receiving his award.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 13 )


Israel, Expecting Syrian Collapse, Braces for Refugees
Thursday, 12 January 2012 - 1:31 PM SL Time


By ISABEL KERSHNER


JERUSALEM Israel`s military chief said on Tuesday that the army was preparing for a potential influx of refugees into the Golan Heights from Syria with the demise of the government of President Bashar al-Assad, which he said was inevitable.

Addressing a closed meeting of the Israeli Parliament`s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the chief, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, said that Israel was preparing to absorb the refugees in a buffer zone between Syria and the Golan, a strategic area that Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 war, and which remains an area of disputed sovereignty. The plans included defensive measures and humanitarian assistance for those in flight, including thousands from the ruling Alawite sect, the small minority to which Mr. Assad belongs.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 5 )


Senani keeps to Sri Lankan roots with hit single Voodoo Girl
Thursday, 12 January 2012 - 10:30 PM SL Time

Australia-based R&B singer Senani reaches to `Infinity` and beyond, ascending with a mix of sensual pop/soul and exotic elements from her Sri Lankan roots on her first worldwide single `Voodoo Girl`.

Unabashed about and completely receptive to the deep spirituality that lies at the core of her emergence as a recording artist, Senani (www.senani.com) is, in every possible way, all about soul.

A mainstay of Sydney`s hip and happening underground R&B scene for the past five years, the Sri Lanka-born, Australia-based singer/songwriter (whose name means leader of an army ) is fearlessly cool as she explains the feeling that she was truly channeling some of the songs the world is going to hear in the Spring of 2012, when she rolls out Infinity, her first international full length album.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 6 )


Why Sri Lanka Will Be Hit Hardest By Iranian Oil Supply Disruption
Saturday, 14 January 2012 - 12:28 AM SL Time

An interesting if unintentional consequence of potential disruption of the oil supply from Iran, either by sanction or (hopefully not) military action: Sri Lanka may really be hit hard.

As Reuters reminds us, Sri Lanka is nearly entirely dependent on Iran for its oil imports. While its overall imports of oil are lower than those of China, India, and Japan Iran`s largest oil customers these nations also import oil from plenty of other places as as well, so on a percentage basis, it`s far less of a challenge to switch suppliers.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 24 )


10 Surprising Health Benefits of Beer
Sunday, 15 January 2012 - 4:04 AM SL Time

Beer drinkers rejoice: Your favorite brew may be healthier than you think.

For years, wine drinkers have indulged without guilt, reveling in the news that red wine can help protect against heart disease. Recent research shows that beer can also be good for what ails you, from reducing risk for broken bones to helping warding off diabetes and mental decline. It can even increase longevity, a large study suggests.

However, the key to tapping into beer`s benefits is moderation, meaning just one 12-ounce beer per day for women and two for men. Heavy drinking ups the threat of liver damage, some cancers, and heart problems. Bingeing on brewskis can also make you fat, since a 12-ounce regular beer has about 150 calories, while light beer has about 100.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 14 )


The euro zone crisis
Sunday, 15 January 2012 - 4:11 PM SL Time

France goes soft-core
Jan 14th 2012, 12:38 by J.O.

FRIDAY, January 13th, proved unlucky for nine euro-zone countries: they had their credit ratings cut by Standard and Poor`s (S&P) soon after the American markets closed for the week. France and Austria were stripped of their triple-A credit rating. Three smaller euro-zone countries (Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia) also suffered a one-notch downgrade. Italy and Spain had their ratings knocked down by two notches (to BBB+ and A respectively), as did Portugal and Cyprus, whose debts are now considered junk by S&P.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 6 )


Italy investigates fatal cruise ship sinking
Monday, 16 January 2012 - 8:02 AM SL Time

Two found alive, three dead and dozens missing in ship accident, as thousands are saved and captain is detained.

The captain of a cruise ship that hit a reef off the coast of Italy has been detained on suspicion of manslaughter after at least three people were found dead as a result of the accident.

Many more people were still missing on Sunday morning, but rescue crews managed to evacuate to safety two more survivors who had been trapped inside the massive Costa Concordia ship, which ran aground off the Italian coast late on Friday.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 10 )


A boxing legend turns 70
Tuesday, 17 January 2012 - 4:16 AM SL Time

The boxing legend and humanitarian Muhammad Ali turns 70 this Tuesday, January 17.

In the town where he was born, in the southern US state of Kentucky, a party was held on Saturday night in his honour. Ali was there, along with 250 of his closest friends.

The event was in aid of the Muhammad Ali Center, which showcases the achievements of a man known the world over as, simply, `The Greatest.`

Media access was limited, but I was able to squeeze into the building just in time to see Louisville`s favourite son - and one of the world`s most beloved men - shuffle to the barrier of a balcony overlooking the foyer.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 5 )


Fuel duel: Top three energy conflict hot spots
Tuesday, 17 January 2012 - 4:33 PM SL Time

Welcome to an edgy world where a single incident at an energy chokepoint could set a region aflame, provoking bloody encounters, boosting oil prices, and putting the global economy at risk. With energy demand on the rise and sources of supply dwindling, we are, in fact, entering a new epoch the Geo-Energy Era in which disputes over vital resources will dominate world affairs. In 2012 and beyond, energy and conflict will be bound ever more tightly together, lending increasing importance to the key geographical flashpoints in our resource-constrained world.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 5 )


India praises Sri Lanka`s reconciliation
Wednesday, 18 January 2012 - 8:04 PM SL Time

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- India`s foreign minister urged Sri Lanka to continue reconciliation efforts started at the end of the island nation`s brutal 30-year conflict with Tamil separatists.

Indian Minister of External Affairs S. M. Krishna, on a four-day visit to Sri Lanka, also praised the Colombo government`s efforts to move ahead with recommendations in a report by Sri Lanka`s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 5 )


Post-conflict hype waning for Sri Lanka, tough times ahead: WB
Thursday, 19 January 2012 - 2:59 PM SL Time

Publication Date : 19-01-2012




The World Bank, painting a bleak picture of the global economy, says Sri Lanka`s post-conflict economic rebound is waning and the country is vulnerable to risks associated with falling exports, declining remittances and increased rick averseness of the international investment community. Growth is expected to slow down to 6.8 percent this year, a much slower rate compared to the Central Bank`s forecast of near-8 percent.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 9 )


Kodak rolls into bankruptcy
Friday, 20 January 2012 - 8:34 AM SL Time

US photographic film pioneer files for bankruptcy protection after years of failing to make a profit in digital market.

Eastman Kodak, the US-based company which brought photography to the masses over a century ago, has filed for bankruptcy protection after years of failing to become a profitable seller of modern consumer products.

The 130-year-old photographic film pioneer said it had obtained a $950m loan from Citigroup, the US financial firm, to help keep it going.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 6 )


Pingu
Saturday, 21 January 2012 - 3:55 AM SL Time

Some fun for the weekend.
Specially dedicated to our LNP Eskimo!
Note that they are talking in Swiss German, not in Chinese!

Ali
Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 7 )


How sweet
Sunday, 22 January 2012 - 2:57 AM SL Time

Twins make fun of their daddy`s sneeze

Twins Mimic Daddy`s Sneeze. These twins mock there father and his hilarious sneeze.


Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 1 )


Rajapaksas, Education And State Secrets
Monday, 23 January 2012 - 3:24 AM SL Time

By Ravi Perera


Picture courtesy: srilankaguardian.org

A Vietnamese was so poor the only way he could keep body and soul together was by going to jail where at least he was sure of getting regular meals. But to go to jail he had to commit a crime. So he went to the Hanoi city square where he began shouting repeatedly, The General Secretary of the Communist Party is an idiot . Of course the Vietnamese Police which is totally under the control of the Communist Party promptly arrested him and produced him in court. Needless to say, the Vietnamese courts which are also peoples` courts sentenced him to a jail term of 10 years, two for disturbing the peace and eight for revealing State secrets!

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 5 )


Kudu Duminda bolts to Australia : confirmed as a lifetime invalid
Monday, 23 January 2012 - 7:17 PM SL Time


R Duminda Silva alias Kudu Duminda , the monitoring M P of the defense Ministry, and the prime suspect in the murder of Bahratha Lakshman and three others , and on whom a court order has been issued for arrest , has bolted from Singapore to Australia according to reports reaching Lanka e news.

Kudu Duminda who sustained injuries in the shoot out at Mulleriyawa sometime ago was taking treatment at the Elizabeth Hospital , Singapore . His ability to speak and make identifications are impaired. His right side of his body is not properly functioning. His right side leg , arm and eye are adversely affected. The Singapore medical Doctors have confirmed that these defects will be permanent.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 11 )


Don t Do It, Bibi
Tuesday, 24 January 2012 - 12:28 AM SL Time


By ROGER COHEN


PARIS A U.S. ambassador in Europe was recently asked by an Israeli ambassador what could be done to improve the lousy relations between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Obama. He replied: Every once in a while, say thank you.

The American ambassador added a couple of other thoughts. Maybe, once in a while, ask the president if there`s anything you can do for him. And above all stay out of our election-year politics.

This sharp riposte reflects Obama`s fury at several things: the way Netanyahu has gone over his head to a Republican-dominated Congress where he is a darling Netanyahu`s ingratitude for solid U.S. support, including the veto of an anti-settlements resolution at the United Nations last year and opposition to the unilateral Palestinian pursuit of statehood the delaying tactics of Netanyahu reflecting his conviction Obama is likely a one-term president and Netanyahu`s refusal to pause a second time in settlement building for the sake of peace negotiations.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 7 )


The Perils of 2012
Tuesday, 24 January 2012 - 9:19 PM SL Time


KOLKATA The year 2011 will be remembered as the time when many ever-optimistic Americans began to give up hope. President John F. Kennedy once said that a rising tide lifts all boats. But now, in the receding tide, Americans are beginning to see not only that those with taller masts had been lifted far higher, but also that many of the smaller boats had been dashed to pieces in their wake.

In that brief moment when the rising tide was indeed rising, millions of people believed that they might have a fair chance of realizing the American Dream. Now those dreams, too, are receding. By 2011, the savings of those who had lost their jobs in 2008 or 2009 had been spent. Unemployment checks had run out. Headlines announcing new hiring still not enough to keep pace with the number of those who would normally have entered the labor force meant little to the 50 year olds with little hope of ever holding a job again.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 3 )


IMF, Sri Lanka in rupee standoff
Wednesday, 25 January 2012 - 12:31 PM SL Time

Sri Lanka and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meet this week amid a standoff over the central bank`s defence of the rupee currency, which has cost $2.6 billion in foreign exchange reserves since July - the same amount the global lender has pledged to loan.

Bucking all its Asian peers, Sri Lanka has propped up the rupee since the second half of 2011 to prevent depreciation, which prompted the IMF in September to withhold the latest $400 million loan tranche.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 5 )


Sri Lanka media rights activist demands probe into killings
Wednesday, 25 January 2012 - 8:39 PM SL Time

Published on Jan 25, 2012

Sri Lanka media rights activist demands probe into killings



COLOMBO (AFP) - Dozens of media rights activists took to the streets in Colombo on Wednesday demanding action against those responsible for killing journalists and attacking news organisations.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joined Sri Lankan media organisations at the demonstration in Colombo`s Lipton Square.

Organisers said the rally was in response to a spate of attacks on the media and the failure of the government to bring those responsible to justice.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 3 )


Sri Lanka s trade deficit more than doubles
Thursday, 26 January 2012 - 1:34 PM SL Time

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka`s trade deficit rose 238.8 per cent to $1.1 billion in November from the same month last year, pushing 2011`s record trade gap deeper into record territory, the central bank said.

The trade gap in the first 11 months of 2011 widened 111.3 per cent to a record $8.84 billion.

The island nation`s foreign exchange reserves, which the central bank has been spending to defend the rupee currency, fell 10.1 per cent to $6.2 billion from $6.9 billion a month ago.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 5 )


World Economic Forum 2012 - Asian Economic Growth the Center of Attention at Davos
Thursday, 26 January 2012 - 10:30 PM SL Time

K. Zainuddin | January 26, 2012

South African Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, center, speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. The overarching theme of the forum, which will take place from Jan. 25 to 29, is `The Great Transformation: Shaping New Models.` (AP Photo/Michel Euler)


Related articles

Business Titans, Political Leaders Gather in Davos 8:23pm Jan 25, 2012

Davos Forum`s Global Elite Damaged by Year of Scandals 8:27pm Jan 24, 2012

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 3 )


Bottled Life
Friday, 27 January 2012 - 8:26 AM SL Time

Nestl `s Business with Water
Cinema-Documentary, CH/DE, 90 Min., HD
Can you imagine someone turning ordinary water into a billion dollar business? The secret key to the blue gold lies in the hand of Swiss transnational nutrition company Nestl . Nestl is generating 10 billion dollars a year with bottled water. A Zurich-based journalist starts investigating into his country`s most powerful corporation. He wants to find out what is behind Nestl `s fastest growing line of business. The journey leads him from Switzerland to the USA and Pakistan. He gets involved in a harsh fight between citizens trying to protect their local sources and an international giant.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 3 )


Find the right path
Friday, 27 January 2012 - 11:43 PM SL Time


Jan 28,2012

Capitalism is in crisis. It has never been so unanimously attacked with the backdrop of deepening income inequalities worldwide and an insecure global financial system, underscored by the Lehman Brothers meltdown and the credit crisis in Europe. The angry masses - 99 percent - have occupied Wall Street, the iconic symbol of capitalism. Has capitalism outlived its day? Looking back on the trajectory of capitalism over the last 500 years, it was a continuation of the crisis. It was a repetition of the boom-bust cycle. Despite numerous setbacks, it lasted in different forms. It evolved from merchant capitalism to industrial capitalism to modified capitalism to neo-liberalism.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 1 )


Auschwitz Survivor Dies Exactly 67 Years after Liberation
Saturday, 28 January 2012 - 3:41 PM SL Time



First Publish: 1/27/2012, 10:41 PM



Auschwitz Birkenau

Israel News Photo: Morguefile


Kazimierz Smolen, a 91-year-old Auschwitz survivor who after World War II became director of the memorial site, died Friday, The Associated Press reported.

Smolen died on an historic day: the 67th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. AP reported that he died in a hospital in Oswiecim, the southern Polish town where Nazi Germany operated Auschwitz-Birkenau during World War II

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 3 )


2012 NRJ Music Awards: The Show, The Winners
Sunday, 29 January 2012 - 5:04 AM SL Time

Hitting the red carpet for an evening honoring the best in music, the stars converged for the 13th annual NRJ Music Awards in Cannes on Saturday (January 28).

Held at the Palais des Festivals et des Congres, top names including Justin Bieber and Shakira worked the arrivals area before heading inside to collect their NRJ Honor Awards.



Other celebrities turning up for the annual event included Seal, Shy`m, Mika, David Guetta, Patricia Kaas and Miss France 2012 Delphine Wespiser, while Bieber, Coldplay and LMFAO were among the high-powered lineup of acts set to take the stage.

Full Story     Post Reply To This     Read Replies ( 5 )


 

 

(C) 2000-2013 www.lankanewspapers.com - Sri Lankan News & Discussions - Contact Us - RSS Feed - News Archives - src - FAQ  Google+