March 27, 2011 · 4:57 am

A tourism surge: Q and A with Kalaiselvam

from Sunday Observer, 27 March 2011

Sunday Observer spoke to the Director General (DG) of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) S. Kalaiselvam on the latest developments pertaining to tourism in Sri Lanka. With this year being designated the ‘Visit Sri Lanka’ year, the DG said that tourism in Sri Lanka is a true success story, after the dawn of peace.

Q: As 2011 is the ‘Visit Sri Lanka’ year, how is the tourist sector faring presently?

A: Sri Lanka’s tourism sector bounced back so quickly after achieving peace two years ago. We got a record number of arrivals this year with January bringing in as many as 76, 197 tourists and in February these were 65, 797 tourist arrivals. These arrivals reached new heights last year registering a growth of 46.1 percent to 654, 476 from 2009’s figure of 447, 890.

The 206, 586 increase shows that tourism has achieved massive growth which is a real achievement in the history of tourism in Sri Lanka. We are expecting to surpass all boundaries this year with a total of 750,000 tourist arrivals.

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March 25, 2011 · 5:00 pm

Life-Saving Foods:Foods that will save your life no matter what

From Before its News

Are you half-dead and on the way down to the dirt? Poisoned and polluted from a lifetime of industrial living? If you eat the average North American diet you are a high candidate for Heart Disease, Cancer, and diabetes.

If you take a steady flow of pharmaceuticals that you can triple your rate of decline down to worm food. Live in a City? Smoke a pack a day? Good as dead. So how can you come back from the brink?

Mother Nature has the cure

First thing is first: Go to a health food store and buy Cayenne Pepper and Yellow Turmeric. 1 tea spoon of Cayenne and 1 Table spoon of Turmeric per day to start. Mix them in Olive oil in a glass shooter and start your day out that way. Increase as your tolerance goes up. You just started the most powerful cocktail on the menu. Cayenne and Turmeric are huge in restoring balances in the body and fighting inflammation. Continue reading →

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March 23, 2011 · 4:48 pm

Potential boat people apprehended

From the Island, March 11, 2011, under title “Immigrants nabbed”

Pic by athika gitaanggun
 
A group of Sri Lankans who were preparing to go by boat to Australia illegally were nabbed by the police in Negombo and Wellawatte  the police media unit said.  The police said that over 50 people were taken into custody following information received by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). The would-be illegal immigrants were living in lodges and small hotels in Negombo and Wellawatte at the time of the arrest. Among the group were 40 males, 12 females and 6 children, the police said adding that they were residents of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Batticaloa.  The boat which was to be used by the would-be illegal immigrants was seized in Chilaw, the police media unit added. (Newsnow.lk)

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March 23, 2011 · 4:45 pm

Two Canadian Tamils undermined by their ‘shoot’ in Pirapaharan country

From the Island, 12 March 2011, where a different title was deployed

A former member of a Canadian Tamil organization described as “a peaceful separatist group” by the Ontario Progressive Conservatives attended a weapons training session with the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka in 2003.  A photograph of the training session, used by U.S. authorities to convict a Toronto man who tried to buy arms for the Tigers in 2006, raises new questions about the National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT), a group linked to a Tory candidate from the Toronto area. A man shown in the weapons-training photo, Thiva Paramsothy, won a seat on the NCCT in an election last June but has since stepped down. The election was supervised by Shan Thayaparan, who was recently named the PC candidate for Markham-Unionville. Continue reading →

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March 23, 2011 · 2:52 pm

Lanka’s Foreign Service is being destroyed

K. Godage, from the Island, 9 March 2011 and Lanka Guardian, 9 March 2011

The Ides of March for the Foreign Service has come on the 9th of March before the traditional March 15. On this day, a fatal blow is to be struck by the Cabinet of Ministers to the professional Foreign Service. The cabinet is scheduled to approve the recruitment of 12 persons into the permanent cadre, outside the approved scheme of recruitment. Continue reading →

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March 23, 2011 · 2:43 pm

The state of Sri Lanka’s economy in 2010

Nimal Sanderatne,  in the Sunday Island, 13 March 2011

Sri Lanka: The State of the Economy 2010 is an analysis of recent economic developments. This annual ‘State of the Economy’ report of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS), like its previous volumes, is an important contribution to the understanding of the country’s economy.

It provides useful analyses of the country’s economic issues and is quite objective in its discussion of economic performance. This issue discusses the country’s economic performance, policies and prospects within the framework of the country’s political developments and under the theme ‘Growth and Stability in Post-conflict Economic Recovery’ that is most relevant. Continue reading →

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March 23, 2011 · 2:38 pm

Sri Lankan Airlines will fly to Toronto

Shirajiv Sirimane,  in Sunday Observer, 6 March 2011

SriLankan Airlines would fly to Toronto for the first time from October this year. Minister of Aviation Priyankara Jayaratne said that they would be operating this flight with a stopover in London Heathrow. “We are looking at a frequency of seven flights per week,” he said. The Minister said that they have already got the green light for this proposal and are now considering other logistics.

“There is a major traffic load from Colombo to UK, and there is also a market from London to Toronto and back,” he said. Minister Jayaratne said they have already informed their agents of this route and received a positive response. He said that they will also increase the current 14 flights per week frequency to Heathrow to 21 within the next few months. Continue reading →

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March 23, 2011 · 2:31 pm

Nuclear plants in Sri Lanka and the Indian subcontinent

Chandre Dharmawardana, in the Island, 23 March 2011

Japan’s most-recent nuclear accident has become a wake up call to many countries whose  thirst (and greed) for energy seem to know no bounds. Three-mile Island, Chernobyl and dozens of other less publicised accidents had been forgotten. India had even tested a nuclear weapon, in competition with Pakistan’s blasts. Continue reading →

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March 23, 2011 · 7:49 am

Deustche Welle short list GROUNDVIEWS in the English blog category of its awards

We are pleased to announce that Groundviews is a finalist in the Best Blog in English category of the Deutsche Welle Blog Awards, called The Bobs. As http://thebobs.dw-world.de/en/2011/03/22/bobs-voting-is-on/ notes,
“[The] jury members have surfed and sifted and finally pared down the 2,101 blogs, social media projects and social good campaigns you submitted to the BOBS to list of just 11 finalists per category.”
If you’re on Facebook or Twitter (only needed to register with the system), please consider voting for Groundviews here – http://thebobs.dw-world.de/en/nominations/?cat=16. And please pass the word around.
Our category features some excellent blogs, and the finalists in all the categories feature some of the most engaging content on the web today. I’m particularly pleased to see Mobile Active also included in the list of finalists. Katrin Verclas, through this site, has done a great deal to further the understanding and awareness of mobile phones in development, democracy, peace and security. Her site is a vital resource for anyone interested in how mobiles are changing our lives. 
Please vote and know that this, like every other award Groundviews has been listed for and won, is because of the content sent to us by those who give a damn about Sri Lanka, what we become after war and are willing to risk a great deal to express what they feel. Publishing and curating this content has been its own reward.
Sanjana Hattotuwa and Nigel Nugawela

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March 23, 2011 · 7:46 am

Hindu devotee who rendered service to Buddhism: C. C. Sinnadurai

Chelvatamby Maniccavasagar,  from Daily News, 23 March 2011 

Sri Lanka was blessed during the first half of this century with a brilliant band of supermen with a vision, mission and a mandate who have by their sublime thoughts, power-packed words and dazzling deeds attained immortality. To this group belongs ‘Chinthanai Chippi’ S T Sinnadurai whose 31st death anniversary fell yesterday (March 22). Continue reading →

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