Category: Special Reports

By US Ambassador Gillian Milovanovic, Kimberley Process Chair Oct 05, 2012 (LBO) – Almost a decade ago, the consensus-based Kimberley Process (KP) certification scheme established minimum requirements for global rough diamond production and trade. Today, to keep pace with a changing world, the KP’s 77 participant countries, observers from industry, and civil society must ensure […]

Nov 08, 2011 (LBO) – This week, in what goes for ‘democracy’ in Sri Lanka, property rights of citizens are due to be violated by an expropriation law, as they have been repeatedly since independence from British rule. Constitutional ‘democratic’ majority rule is an imported Western European concept. But in far too many countries ‘democracy’, […]

Sept 22, 2011 (LBO) – Ray Wijewardene, a Sri Lankan aviator and tropical agriculture specialist is being remembered online at www.raywijewardene.net, led by volunteers who want to preserve his legacy. Though a scientist and inventor he was best known publicly for his enthusiasm for aviation and flying small aircraft he had built himself. While in […]

June 11, 2011 (LBO) – Friday Forum, a Sri Lankans citizen’s group has expressed concern about a recent controversial training scheme for undergraduates, conducted the by the military, where relief was sought also from the country’s highest court. “The decision in the Supreme Court dismissing, without stating reasons, all the petitions against the programme, has […]

June 08, 2011 (LBO) – Much has been written about the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed Employment Pension Benefits Fund. The bill was to affect the lives of the majority of Sri Lankans. First a white paper should have made available for public discussion and debate prior to its presentation in Parliament. When the […]

May 26, 2011 (LBO) – I am on an American Airlines flight from Phoenix, Arizona to St Louis, Missouri having enjoyed the only break in the rigorous seven week Eisenhower Fellowship program at the Grand Canyon, America’s great natural wonder. From St Louis I go to San Francisco and a number of other cities to […]

May 26, 2011 (LBO) – Due to the growth of social media and the internet Sri Lankan firms have to be increasingly vigilant to safeguard the reputation of their brands among today’s well informed consumers, a senior executive said. Brands build bonds with end users to ensure they continually consume their products. Brand specialist say […]

May 04, 2011 (LBO) Climate change is a burning issue under discussion today. As a small island nation, Sri Lanka is vulnerable to serious threats of climate change, causing both humanitarian and health hazards, as flooding in recent months has shown. British Foreign Secretary William Hague has described climate change as perhaps the twenty-first century’s […]

Apr 23, 2011 (LBO) – Chandra Jayaratne, respected retired Sri Lankan business executive, and financial professional, has written President Mahinda Rajapaksa to stop state plans to build a controversial pension fund by dipping into the salaries of private sector workers. The full text of the letter is as follows. 22nd April 2011. His Excellency Mahinda […]

Mar 13, 2011 (LBO) – A Great Earthquake, one of the most powerful in recorded history, occurred off the coast of Honshu, North East Japan, on the 11th of March 2011. The previous Great Earthquake in Asia occurred off the coast of Sumatra, North West Indonesia, on the 26th of December 2004. Both were followed […]

Oct 31, 2010 (LBO)- Improved connectivity is an essential precondition for trade in goods and services, hopefully better governed once the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and Sri Lanka is completed and signed. The already large movements of people between the two countries will only grow when multimodal and lower-cost options are restored and […]

Oct 22, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has been awarded the record for the world’s “largest cup of tea,” but the stunt earlier this month may have also earned the island some gargantuan and enormously meaningless records. Had it coincided with the height of the monsoon, we could have also claimed the world’s largest cup […]