Monthly archive

By Quintus Perera - Asian Tribune

Trade facilitation is very important for the economy of Sri Lanka and the exercise undertaken by the Commonwealth Secretariat in collaboration with the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) is appropriate and timely, said Prof G L Peiris, Minister of Export Development and International Trade speaking at the press briefing held at Taj Samudra Hotel to explain the purpose and modalities of the Trade facilitation. Kosala Wickramanayake, President, FCCISL making the welcome address said that trade facilitation is an essential component of trade promotion and such facilitation involves many systems and processes. He said that Sri Lanka has been one of the pioneers in introducing facilitation way back in 1980s, but the interest on this key subject suffered and have fallen behind in the efforts to introduce new methods and facilities that would ultimately enable the speedier movement of export and import cargo.

M.A.Qader-Our Correspondent in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Telecoms Minister Raziuddin Ahmed Razu on Saturday said the government will constitute a committee to see if the bribed money given by German company Siemens was diverted to fund the banned outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh. Raziuddin Ahmed Razu told reporters yesterday that the committee would be formed in a week to investigate irregularities in the telecoms sector during the 2001-2006 BNP-led coalition government, the period Bangladesh was ranked the most corrupt country in the world by Transparency International.

Kosh Raj Koirala – Asian Tribune Correspondent in Nepal

At least two persons were killed and 14 others injured Saturday morning when a pressure-cooker bomb went off inside a Roman Catholic church in Lalitpur, a district adjoining to capital city Kathmandu. A little-known Hindu fundamentalist group, Nepal Defense Army, has owned up responsibility for the gory incident at the sacred site, according to police. The armed outfit formed after the first sitting of the Constituent Assembly last year declared Nepal a secular state and abolished the 240-year-old institution of monarchy. It has been carrying violent activities in religious sites for what it said re-establishment of a Hindu kingdom in Nepal.

By M Rama Rao, India Editor, Asian Tribune

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh obliged his senior colleague Pranab Mukherjee who wanted to be relieved strenuous foreign office assignment which involves extensive foreign travel. Pranab has been moved to finance in the limited allocation of portfolios announced on Saturday evening. While SM Krishna, former Karnataka Chief Minister filled his slot at the foreign office, Chidambaram, Sharad Pawar and AK Antony retained their old portfolios- home, agriculture and defence. Bengal tiger, Mamata Bannerjee, who joined the UPA cabinet for the first time, is made the railway minister. Portfolios of other cabinet ministers will be announced in two or three days. That will coincide with the second intake on Tuesday.

By Gopal Ethiraj from Chennai

'Slumdogs' don’t make it to Millians; maybe one 'slumdog' out of millions go millionaire. In films, it is possible; in reality making few bucks is sure. Being exploited is more than sure. But the makers of "Slumdog Millionaire" sure made millions with the film. The child stars who fetched them millions are not on their 'pillions' yet. The child stars of "Slumdog Millionaire" which won eight Oscars and brought in more than US$326 million for its makers, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Rubina Ali, are still underdogs. Both of them are in the streets now. The success of "Slumdog Millionaire" has done little so far to improve the lives of the film's two impoverished child stars. The shanty slum house of Rubina Ali was torn down by Mumbai authorities a few days back as they demolished part of the slum where she lived.

By Malinda Seneviratne

When gods turn out to be mortal the worshippers are benumbed and languish in disbelief. It is natural for the most naïve to cling on to the flimsiest of hope that the death was fabrication. After all, when those who are immortalized come to take up residence in vast swathes of one’s sense of meaning and being, and pledge over and over again to create for one a private heaven on earth, mortality is insufferable. Prabhakaran’s politics required that kind of deification. Deification alone guaranteed that many if not all adherents would never believe that the deified could do wrong. It would always be shoved under the conscious-carpet or dismissed as vile fabrication by the unbeliever.

By Gopal Ethiraj from Chennai

The standoff between the Congress and the DMK over the number of cabinet berths could end soon. This indication is available as the DMK Chief and Tamil Nadu CM Karunanidhi on Saturday said the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s remarks on the issue of induction of two ministers from his party has cleared the air. Responding to Dr. Singh’s invitation to the DMK to participate in the Ministry, the DMK chief, in a three-line statement, thanked the Prime Minister and said, “Our high level action committee will soon take a decision." "We thank Manmohan Singh for the clarification on the two DMK Ministers in his previous cabinet, T R Baalu and A Raja, who had been the target of some Delhi-based satellite television channels," he said and added that the Prime Minister's statement had cleared the air on two DMK Central Ministers.

Hilary Rajakarunanayake, Editor – Sri Lanka, Asian Tribune

President Mahinda Rajapaksa felicitated"As much as I treasure and cherish this highest honour bestowed on me by the Maha Sangha on this historic occasion, for having defeated and swept off terrorism from the soil of my land of birth, and for once again unifying my country under our National Lion flag, I also solemnly promise the nation that I will do my utmost to establish a righteous and virtuous society free of vice and corruption in my motherland, Sri Lanka".This was stated by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the historic ceremony held in Kandy at the 'Magul Maduwa' (Ceremonial Court) in the premises of the temple 'Dalada Maligawa' where the Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha is enshrined. The Mahanayake (Chief) monks of the Asgiriya and Malwatte Chapters bestowed the title
"Vishvakeerthi Shree Sinhaladhishwara" on the President at the solemn ceremony held today (23)