Aitken Spence’s port efficiency enhancement and terminal management services arm, Port Management Container Services Ltd., was one of the three short listed finalists for the Investment in People award at the inaugural Containerisation International Awards held in London recently. The award attracted 90 applications from companies worldwide. The other two finalists were Port of Salalah ...

Will the big issues be discussed at International Convention in Colombo in February 2012? The International Tea Convention to be held in Colombo in February next year is named Exclusivitea.  I learn from the remarks of one of the key organisers that this alludes to the special attributes of Pure Ceylon Tea and the Sri ...

WASHINGTON: The Sri Lankan Congressional Caucus and Embassy of Sri Lanka sponsored the 2 November screening of the video “Lies Agreed Upon,” – a rebuttal of allegations made about the end of Sri Lanka’s conflict against terrorist by a British news program. The screening included a panel discussion of Sri Lanka’s 26-year conflict against the ...

Discussion on the validity of non-military engagements of the military The war or internal armed conflict in the north and east is over; the Emergency is no more; but still the military is everywhere. The military is now engaged in peacetime police-work, whale watching, selling vegetables, agriculture, cleaning, constructions and many other non-military activities. Yet, ...

Muttiah Muralitharan, the most successful bowler in the history of cricket, is to play a key role in Sri Lanka’s Hambantota 2018 bid to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Now retired from international cricket, Murali (39) seemingly has one more special delivery up his sleeve for Sri Lanka. He is part of a delegation travelling ...

 Butt, Asif and Amir given jail sentences Judge says image and integrity of game has been damaged LONDON (Reuters): Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were jailed on Thursday for their roles in a spot-fixing scandal which the judge said had damaged the integrity of a game renowned for its fairness. Former ...

This is the seventh article in the Daily FT’s fortnightly series titled ‘Business of Sports,’ focusing on the back office of the various sports administered and played in this country. Readers are invited to share their views and express their opinion via email to editor@ft.lk on the features carried in this column so that a ...

Confidence, the most critical element of the business climate Need of the hour Investment needs to increase from 28% (2010) to 34% of GDP to attain the Government’s growth target of 8%, as Sri Lanka’s incremental capital output ratio is 4.2. Public investment has been capped at 6%-7% of GDP. This means that private investment, ...

Following is the address delivered by Senior Minister for International Monetary Cooperation Dr. Sarath Amunugama at the fourth South Asia Economic Summit (SAES IV) Plenary Session: In the aftermath of the global economic crisis, there has been a noticeable shift in economic clout, moving from the USA and the debt-plagued countries of the Eurozone, to ...

DNH Financial Ltd. last week said that corporate earnings released so far look impressive but the bourse has not performed compared to strong earnings generation. The broking firm also suggests time is right for investors to go bottom fishing. Here are excerpts from DNH’s Weekly Report: The Colombo bourse ended the week on a relatively ...

PERTH, Australia (Reuters): Commonwealth leaders on Sunday defended their moves to toughen support for human rights, rejecting criticism the group was becoming irrelevant and had failed at their three-day summit to hold member Sri Lanka accountable for alleged abuses. But several leaders of the 54 mostly former British colonies, meeting in the remote Australian city ...

Five energetic young professionals, representing Rotary International District 3220 Sri Lanka will fly to Osaka, Japan for a Group Study Exchange (GSE) programme in November. Led by a Rotarian Past President Pubudu de Zoysa, a member of Rotary Club of Colombo, the team includes Rukshi Liyanage, Shamali Perera, Srikanth Selladurai and Mel Gunasekera. The month-long ...

Sri Lanka Economic Association Conference – Key takes at the inauguration By Dinali Goonewardene The Government in addition to domestic constraints faces a series of external and global constraints and the Sri Lanka Economic Association at its annual sessions from 13-14 October 2011 discussed this under the theme ‘Achieving National Economic Goals Amidst Global Challenges’. ...

In the midst of the turmoil in international financial markets and national economies, Sovereign Wealth Funds are coming into closer focus. For the first time since the breakout of the financial crisis, the financial mandarins of China intervened to shore up confidence in the country’s four largest banks by increasing its holdings in them through ...

Truman visits CIS Truman State University Missouri USA International Admissions Coordinator Rachel Davis recently met with Colombo International School Principal M.J. Chappell with the aim of introducing the most affordable US higher education to CIS students. Truman State was ranked as the #1 public university in the US Midwest by the US News and World ...

Sri Lankan represents global team of entrepreneursAspirations Edu-cation’s General Manager Deepamala Abeysekera became the only Sri Lankan to represent a group of 30 entrepreneurs in the world from, USA, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa, to read for her postgraduate studies in entrepreneurship at the University of Cambridge. Cambridge has acquired an international reputation as an ...

Professionals are shy to raise critical issues in public!It is believed that the single focus advocacy proposal of the Joint Chambers of Commerce and Industry for the Budget 2012 to address is the continuing high priority of enhancing the ‘ease of doing business in Sri Lanka’. A president of a chamber holds a publicly articulated ...

Reuters:  Australia cricket captain Michael Clarke is expecting great things from his predecessor Ricky Ponting in the one-day series against South Africa that starts on Wednesday. “Ricky’s very experienced and talented and I believe he still has a hell of a lot to offer Australian cricket in both ODIs and tests,” Clarke told a news ...

DNH Financial shares some key insights to the upcoming earnings season and how to manage investments in the Colombo stock marketFIn the absence of any significant news, the Sri Lanka bourse continued to trade on a lacklustre note with the ASPI and MPI falling by 2.2% and 1.7%WoW to close the week at 6,550 and ...

The semi finals of the IT Mastermind quiz programme organised by the Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) with the full sponsorship of ESOFT Computer Studies have begun, and are telecast live every Sunday at 5.30 p.m. on ITN. Sixty four students, selected for the final round, are vying for the semi finals in eight ...

The Carlton Sports Network (CSN), Sri Lanka’s premiere sports entertainment channel will be exclusively broadcasting all the action as the Lions take on Pakistan in 3 Tests , 5 ODI’s and 1 T20 match, commencing 18th October 2011. Enjoy exclusive access via CSN all throughout the series as it travels from Abu Dhabi to Dubai ...

I first met Nirosh de Mel as a schoolboy, at Colombo International School; then headed by its Founder, Elizabeth Moir. He was rather mischievous but bright; an excellent combination which has stood him in good stead on life’s journey. Although I had met him with his parents on and off at family events, I was ...

The world’s economies are competing for investment, in order that they create jobs for their citizens and trade effectively in goods and services in this globalised world economy. Barriers and restrictions are tumbling down as nation states compete against each other, to become attractive to investors.Competitiveness is a comparative concept of the ability of a ...

Reuters: Three Pakistan cricketers, driven by greed, betrayed their team mates and the sport of cricket itself by taking bribes to fix incidents during a test match against England last year, a London court heard on Wednesday. The plot was orchestrated by Pakistan captain Salman Butt and his agent Mazhar Majeed and involved the team's ...

The Chamber of Young Lankan Entrepreneurs (COYLE), the vibrant forum of the new generation entrepreneurs of Sri Lanka plans to conduct a highly interactive series of programmes named ‘Zero to Billionaire – The Story behind Sri Lankan Business Heroes of the 21st Century’ to bring to the surface the untold truths of success of the ...

Long awaited and following the enormous success of the first edition of the Colombo Art Biennale ‘Imagining Peace’ in 2009, CAB is delighted to announce its second edition with ‘Becoming’ in February 2012. CAB is honoured and proud to introduce its two curators for this year’s edition of the Biennale – Roman Berka, who heads ...

Justice and fair-play is paramount Justice and fair-play are of paramount importance to all members of the world family consisting of 193 nations expecting justice and fair-play equally. It is the principle on which the United Nations was established in place of the less-effective League of Nations, in order to settle differences among nations based ...

Admits that he tampered with the ball during triangular series in SL Former Pakistani cricket player Shoaib Akhtar lived up to his notorious title of being “controversy’s favourite child” with the launch of his autobiography in India. In a book titled “Controversially Yours”, Akhtar hits out at prominent names in the world of cricket and ...

Initiated as an add-on trip to the Council of International Schools (CIS) South Asia Tour and coordinated by Scholarships for USA (Pvt) Ltd. (www.scholarshipsforusa.com), Vanderbilt University, Pepperdine University and Penn State would be visiting Colombo on October 4/5 in the company of few prestigious universities that have rarely travelled to the island before. The highlight ...

Named ODI Player of the Year 2011 and LG People’s Choice AwardSri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara was in for double joy as he was named ODI Player of the Year 2011 as well as LG People’s Choice Award winner at the LG ICC Awards in London. During the performance period, Kumar played 25 ODIs and compiled ...