Reuters: Residents fled Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, on Thursday after authorities warned the city would soon be flooded and called a special five-day holiday to let people escape. Traffic in central Bangkok was light as the holiday began but a main road out of the city to the flood-free south was jammed. Many people were heading ...

Reuters: Greeks greeted the latest European Union deal to rescue their debt-choked country with deep scepticism on Thursday, fearing further painful belt-tightening and years more of recession. EU leaders struck a deal with banks and insurers early on Thursday for them to accept a 50 percent loss on their Greek government bonds under a plan ...

The courage the Government has demonstrated in cancelling the CATIC deal and yet feeling secure, rather than embarrassed by it, must be recognised. It is a responsible step, a prudent decision, which will have enduring benefit both in terms of national policy and FDI strategy. This step will also earn the respect of the indigenous ...

U.S. presidential election all about the economy First bin Laden, now Iraq Obama shows he can answer the “3 a.m. call” WASHINGTON  (Reuters): President Barack Obama delivered on another foreign policy promise on Friday with plans to pull the last U.S. troops from Iraq. But in a re

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairperson Indrani Sugathadasa on Saturday used religion to bring some sanity to the capital market, currently marred by allegations of greed and power. Before concluding her speech at the ceremonial opening of the SEC-organised Investment Day 2011 at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre, Sugathadasa, quoting Lord Buddha, said: ...

Lessons from the life and times of Steve JobsA process of education should equip young people with the values, knowledge and skills required to lead a fulfilling and productive life. Additionally, a good grounding in the fundamentals of math, science and the English language is essential. Nations have to move away from the unquestioning mode ...

Reuters) – European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the European Union’s treaty should be changed to prevent one member state from destabilising the rest of the bloc, and urged stronger governance of the euro zone. “In my view it is necessary to change the treaty to prevent one member state from straying and creating ...

Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, yesterday took delivery of its first A330-200 aircraft retrofitted with Panasonic Avionics Corporation’s (Panasonic) Global Communications Suite. The comprehensive communications and entertainment solution, ‘Sky Hub’, offers passengers onboard full broadband connectivity to access internet, mobile phone services and, for t...

nAsia Pacific most robust region; flat growth for Western Europe in Q2 nFMCG ad spend shows signs of slowing in Europe and North America, while advertising for clothing and accessories increases in Asia Pacific Despite overall growth of 5.7 per cent for the advertising industry in Q2 2011, ad spending fell in nearly half the ...

A COLLEGE drop out and global genius is dead. Steve Jobs was a very private person, eccentric and brash. He was fired from the company he founded Apple and was brought back to resurrect it and make it one of the most valuable and admired companies on earth, its stock earlier this year the most ...

n Becomes first network agency in Sri Lanka to host a premier regional forumJWT’s Asia Pacific Executive Creative Directors (ECD) will be meeting in Colombo for the agency’s quarterly creative review, ‘Passion Patrol’. Held from 10-12 October, ‘Passion Patrol’ is the meeting that reviews the best work produced in the network’s offices across 18 countries ....

Steve Jobs, who died on Wednesday, was a singular figure in American business history. He will go in the pantheon of great American entrepreneurs, inventors, and innovators, alongside John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, and Sam Walton. Jobs didn’t invent computer technology, or the cell phone, or the notion of digitising music. But he invented methods, ...

I like to be an optimist. No matter what may happen around us, I would like to retain feelings of hope I have for all human-kind and on a more intimate level for you, for me, the newborn and the to-be-born. Yet, what has already happened around me, happening now and may happen in the ...

Leading to the New Eco & Smart Life! Panasonic together with Softlogic last week introduced its new product lineup of energy saving home electronics as “Eco-friendly” products. The lineup includes 2011 new “VIERA Plasma TVs” and “VIERA LED LCD TVs” with high efficiency and superb contrast, “ECONAVI Washing Machine” which detects load conditions, ...

Reuters: Rahul Gandhi, heir to the family dynasty that has dominated politics in the world’s biggest democracy for generations, was trying to make himself heard in the uproar of Parliament. Looking nervous, he read haltingly from a prepared statement, criticising as “anti-democratic” a popular anti-corruption campaign led by activist Anna Hazare, whose hunger strike was ...

Emirates, one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, has unveiled major new expansion plans for the United States with the launch of daily services to Seattle and Dallas. Dallas-Fort Worth and Seattle-Tacoma International airports will both be served by non-stop flights from 2 February and 1 March 2012 respectively.  “These new services emphasise Emirates’ confidence ...

The mobile phone as the pitch goes could be the most powerful marketing tool ever invented. Until recently, however, the cell phone has been mostly about talking the talk (or texting the text). Now, from an advertising perspective, there are signs that they may be starting to walk the walk. Worldwide, there are twice as ...

Establishing a landmark in Sri Lanka’s aviation history, SriLankan Airlines’ makes its maiden flight to the historic city of Moscow, commencing a twice-weekly scheduled service between Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) and Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport on 17 September 2011. Religious observances by dignitaries of the four religions in Sri Lanka will invoke bl...

Reuters) – China’s trade surplus fell sharply in August as exports pulled back from a record high and imports jumped, indicating the world’s second-largest economy is feeling the pinch from weaker global growth while domestic demand remains resilient. China’s exports rose

Nearly two decades ago, Jeep invented the premium sport-utility vehicle (SUV) segment with the introduction of the Jeep Grand Cherokee. More than four million sales later, Jeep improves the formula and delivers the ultimate combination of Jeep 4×4 capability and on-road refinement with the all-new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee.  Jeep Grand Cherokee delivers premium on-road ...

JACKSON HOLE: Central bankers gathered at an annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, this weekend had a message for political leaders: monetary policy alone can’t keep the global expansion going. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke urged adoption of “good, proactive housing policies” to reverse the depressed US real estate market and warned lawmakers to ...

The Economist Intelligence Unit: Asia's consumers are demanding and difficult to please. But they are getting richer, and they might help to save the world from a protracted recession, as well as bring about a long-overdue economic rebalancing. For Western multinationals, Asian consumer markets offer exciting growth opportunities. Despite the challenges of reaching Asian consumers ...

Reuters: The race to pick Japan’s sixth leader in five years appeared on Friday to be shaping up as a battle between the most popular contender and a rival backed by a party powerbroker, although with five candidates in play, the outcome was hard to call. Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who came under fire for ...

According to latest report of Global Peace Index (GPI), Sri Lanka ranked 126 while Norway ranked in ninth place. Here we are talking about the riots that took place in UK recently and the same GPI ranked the UK in 26th place (100 places ahead of Sri Lanka). A series of incidents erupted in England ...

We may have evolved with nature but as time passed and our human attitude turned into a more arrogant way towards conquering what we like, the desire for domination arose.To us Sri Lankans, respecting nature should not be an alien concept though today we may need to have major plans, special school programmes and investments ...

A son of Muammar Gaddafi, previously reported captured, made a surprise appearance with jubilant supporters in Tripoli overnight, urging loyalists to fight off rebels who say they control most of the Libyan capital. Saif al-Islam, seen as his father’s chosen successor, visited the Tripoli hotel where foreign journalists are staying to declare that the government ...

Reuters: The lure of the Premier League has brought many of the world’s biggest names to play football in England – and it also draws huge numbers of fans from abroad to watch it. More than 750,000 visitors to Britain attended a match last year according to figures from national tourism agency VisitBritain, underlining the ...

Is there such a thing as unlimited power?The American Constitution has been hailed as one in which the Founding Fathers ensured that there would be no absolute and unlimited power vested in any one state entity. The written Constitution is supreme, with a strict separation of powers built in. It is adjudicated upon and interpreted ...

Our ‘poli-socionomic’ dialogue You will recall that like Capt. Kirk in his Star Ship-Enterprise,’ we also ventured into new territory with our first discussions under this theme ‘poli-socionomics,’ which appears to have caught on somewhat; thus, on behalf of those of us who still dare to think, I must thank those editors who carried it. ...

By an Independent Analyst The State Assembly of Tamil Nadu (TN) passed a resolution on 8 June 2011, requesting the Indian Central Government to push the international community against Sri Lanka towards imposition of ‘economic sanctions’.  The resolution at the TN assembly moved by Jayalalitha as the Chief Minister passed unanimously with the ruling party ...