British High Commissioner extols strategic direction of tourism in Sri Lanka

British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and Ambassador to Maldives James Dauris lauded the efforts rendered by the government of Sri Lanka to develop the island nation as a travel hub in Asia during his address at the dinner held by the Institute of Hospitality on Wednesday (29). 

In his address High Commissioner Darius stated that the tourism sector has bolstered the community within Sri Lanka by providing ample employment an international exposure. 

He further highlighted the strategic direction of the government stating that the country may become one of the world’s finest tourist destinations. 

His address is provided below, 

I’m honoured to have been invited to address you this evening.  The industries you lead and represent are ever more a corner-stone of the Sri Lankan economy and of the country’s economic planning. 

Within a couple of miles of here billions of dollars are being invested in new hotel and leisure complexes

Around the country hotels are being built, tea estate bungalows and heritage buildings are being renovated and given exciting new identities.  Jobs are being created and skills developed.  Tourist numbers are rising year on year and forecasts look encouraging.

[According to SLTA figures, more than 300,000 Sri Lankans are directly employed in Sri Lanka’s travel and tourism industry.   It earns the country over 3.5 billion US Dollars in foreign exchange earnings each year.  And the target is to double both revenue and employment by the year 2020, just three years from now.]

The Government recently launched it “Tourism Vision 2025”, to provide strategic direction to the tourism sector.  It envisions Sri Lanka recognised as the “world’s finest island for memorable, authentic and diverse experiences”.

Religion, a private matter, says Rahul

        Breaks silence on his Somnath temple visit row

A day after the controversy regarding his signature in a register meant for non-Hindus during his visit to the Somnath Temple in Gujarat, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said his family was ‘Shiv Bhakt’ (devotees of Shiva) and religion was a private matter.

During his second day of campaign in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home State of Gujarat, Mr. Gandhi denied signing any register except the visitors’ book at the historical temple.

“I had signed my name in one of the visitors’ books at Somnath, but people associated with the BJP wrote my name in another visitors’ book,” he said, accusing the BJP of creating the controversy in the run-up to the crucial Assembly polls.

Padmavati: Ek Dil Ek Jaan Video Song | Deepika Padukone | Shahid Kapoor ...

Seoul Metropolitan Honorary Citizenship for President Sirisena

President Maithripala Sirisena was conferred with the Honorary Citizenship of Seoul Metropolitan Government. It was conferred by Mayor of Seoul Metropolitan Government, Park Won-soon at a special ceremony held at the Mayor’s Office in Seoul today (November 30).

The mayor said that after establishing the twin city agreement between Seoul and Colombo in 2016, he was fortunate to visit Sri Lanka and called on President Sirisena earlier this year. “I was highly impressed with the President’s untiring efforts to develop the country, the city of Colombo and further strengthen bilateral ties with Republic of Korea. Hence, the Seoul Metropolitan Government decided to confer the Honorary Citizenship to His Excellency President Sirisena as a symbol of our close friendship”, he said.
The Citation of the Honorary Citizenship stated:

On behalf of the citizens of Seoul Metropolitan Government, am privileged to present this Certificate to, and hereby, confer Honorary Citizenship upon Maithripala Sirisena.”

Park Won-soon, Mayor, Seoul Metropolitan Government

Dual tropical threats to Sri Lanka, India next week?

A newly formed cyclonic storm and second brewing tropical threat will combine to threaten parts of India and Sri Lanka with flooding and mudslides into next week.

Cyclonic Storm Ockhi developed near Sri Lanka on Thursday and has produced rounds of heavy rainfall across the country and neighboring parts of southern India since early in the week.
A slow track to the west will take the cyclonic storm south of India before it turns northward and moves off the coast of western India into early next week.

This track will result in daily downpours across Sri Lanka and southern India through at least Saturday.
The heaviest rain is expected across Sri Lanka and southern and central Tamil Nadu as well as southern Kerala in India.

This includes areas from Puducherry, Madurai and Kochi southward. Rainfall of 50-100 mm (2-4 inches) will be common with local amounts reaching 200 mm (8 inches).

Canada: Postmedia and Torstar swap dozens of small newspapers, most to be shut down

 
Postmedia and Torstar have swapped more than 40 local community newspapers with each other, and most are destined to be shut down.

The media companies announced in a press release Monday morning that Postmedia would get two dozen community newspapers and two free commuter dailies from Torstar, and at the same time give 17 newspapers — 15 community papers and two big-city free commuter dailies — to Torstar.

No cash changed hands during the deal, as the papers "have approximately similar fair values," Postmedia said, but the fate of almost all papers is the same — they're destined to be closed either immediately or soon.

Prince Harry: Stars were aligned when I met Meghan

Prince Harry says he and US actress girlfriend Meghan Markle fell in love "so incredibly quickly" and it seemed proof that the "stars were aligned".

The fifth in line to the throne was speaking after the couple announced their engagement and plans to marry in spring 2018.

The couple told the BBC's Mishal Husain they met on a blind date and neither had known much about each other.

Prince Harry said "beautiful" Ms Markle "just tripped and fell into my life".

He believed Ms Markle and his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, would have been "thick as thieves... best friends".

Amazing surprise'

Prince Harry revealed he proposed earlier this month during a "standard, typical night for us" at his home in Kensington Palace as the couple were making roast chicken.

"It was just an amazing surprise. It was so sweet, and natural and very romantic. He got on one knee," Ms Markle said.

Prince Harry said: "She didn't even let me finish. She said 'Can I say yes'.

"Then there were hugs and I had the ring in my finger.

"I said 'Can I give you the ring?'. She said: 'Oh, yes, the ring'. It was a really nice moment. Just the two of us."

Turning to Ms Markle, Prince Harry said: "And I think I managed to catch you by surprise as well."

A New song from former President Mahinda Rajapaksa

Let go off the myths, believe in socialism China tells the people.

Chen Xi, leading Communist party figure, says members becoming politically and morally ‘degraded’ and looking to religion and superstition

One of China’s top leaders has chastised Communist party cadres for putting “ghosts and gods” before Marx and Lenin.

Writing in the party’s official mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, Chen Xi accusedsome officials of becoming politically and morally “degraded” and of looking to religion, superstition and – perhaps even worse – western-style multi-party democracy as their faith in socialism faded.

“Some don’t believe in Marx and Lenin but believe in ghosts and gods; they don’t believe in ideals but believe in sorcery; they don’t respect the people but do respect masters,” wrote Chen, who was last month handed a spot on China’s 25-member Politburo. 

He added: “As Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out … cadres need to be both red and professional.” 

Members of the officially atheist Communist party have always been required to shun religion. However, activists say hostility to religion has intensified since Xi Jinping became China’s leader in 2012 and began clamping down on potential sources of opposition. 

Chen’s article follows reports that Christians in the eastern province of Jiangxi were being told to rid their homes of images of Jesus and the cross and replace them with portraits of Xi. 
Qi Yan, a local official, told the South China Morning Post the move – which has already seen some 1,000 Xi portraits handed out and hung – was part of an anti-poverty drive that seeks to convince misguided believers that Xi and his political disciples could improve their lot, not the son of God.

Shangri -la Colombo open November 16

Every great city deserves a truly great international hotel - a special place that reflects the importance and the beauty of its location with world-class luxury and the very finest service.

Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo is delighted to welcome you to the enchanting capital of Sri Lanka - a precious jewel in the Indian Ocean, with a glittering cultural heritage and a long, proud history.

Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo will be the second property in Sri Lanka for the luxury Asian hospitality group – joining Shangri-La’s Hambantota Golf Resort and Spa, which opened in June 2016 – and is anticipated to be one of the most prominent hotel launches in Sri Lanka in nearly 30 years. 

Located at One Galle Face along the Galle Face Green promenade, which is the most exclusive address in Colombo, Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo will offer uninterrupted Indian Ocean views in most of its 500 guestrooms and suites and 41 serviced apartments

The hotel sits on 10 acres of land that will also soon accommodate an office tower, two residential buildings and a high-end shopping mall, bringing a new level of luxury to the thriving, metropolitan city of Colombo.  
The hotel is a 40-minute drive from the Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport. 

Buddha Tattoo: Sri Lanka court decides not to harm Buddhism.

Naomi Coleman, from Coventry, was detained for four days in April 2014 and then deported from the country halfway through her holiday
A BRITISH woman who was kicked out of  Sri Lanka for having a tattoo of Buddha on her arm has won £3,600 compensation.

Naomi Coleman, from Coventry, was held for four days in April 2014 before being deported from the country during her holiday.

The mental health nurse took legal action against the Sri Lankan authorities after her unceremonious return to the UK.

A court has now ruled there was "no legal basis" for her arrest and admitted she had been subject to "degrading treatment" by some officers and a prison guard.

One jail guard "made several lewd, obscene and disparaging remarks of a sexually-explicit nature" towards Ms Coleman.

Police officers had also forced her to give them money during her tattoo ordeal.

Granting her compensation of 800,000 Sri Lankan rupees - about £3,600 - the country's Supreme Court said her treatment was "scandalous and horrifying."

Zimbabwe Crisis: Army 'secures' Mugabe and take's control of Harare.

Zimbabwe's army insisted that President Robert Mugabe is safe as it took over the state broadcaster and arrested a number of senior government officials during a night that saw military vehicles patrolling the streets of the capital while gunfire and explosions rang out.

Military officers denied they had carried out a coup, announcing on state TV that they were targeting a ring of government plotters following a power struggle that saw the vice-president flee the country last week. Emmerson Mnangagwa was fired in a move paving the way for Grace Mugabe, the president’s wife, to take over.

"It is not a military takeover of government," an army spokesman said in a televised statement. "We wish to assure the nation that his excellency the president... and his family are safe and sound and their security is guaranteed.

Pakistan boy arrested on charges of sexually assaulting hen

"Hussain has also confessed to his crime. The boy said he did it out of sexual frustration," Station House Officer Sarfraz Anjum said

In a bizarre case, a 14-year-old boy has been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a hen in Pakistan’s Punjab province of Pakistan, a media report said Tuesday. Mansab Ali, a resident of Jalapur Bhatian police station Hafizabad, some 200km from Lahore, told police that his neighbour Ansar Hussain “abducted” his hen on November 11 and “raped” it.

New Emirates first class cabin

From First Class to Economy Class cabins, new Emirates 777 aircraft boasts multi-million dollar upgrade

Dubai: Emirates released images of its new first class suite on Sunday morning at the Dubai Airshow, complete with large beds, dining spaces, and virtual windows.

The first pictures of the overhauled suites show large rooms, plush designs and bright, airy cabins that are completely sealed off from the rest of the plane.

Dubai’s flagship airline also revealed images of its new economy and business class cabins, highlighting a new colour code and larger, leather seats.

Emirates unveiled completely refreshed interiors for its Boeing 777 aircraft, including its highly anticipated new First Class private suites. 

With floor to ceiling sliding doors and design features inspired by the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Emirates’ new suites offer up to 40 square feet of personal space.

Hyderabad: India city offers cash to round up beggars

Officials in Hyderabad in southern India plan to offer citizens 500 rupees ($7.60; £5.80) to identify beggars as part of an initiative to declare the city "beggar free" after 15 December.
The city's police commissioner has also declared a two-month ban on begging.

Critics say the move is due to a trip by US president's daughter Ivanka Trump, but officials deny this.

The past week has seen police in the city round up beggars outside places of worship, and bus and railway stations.

They are being sent to a rehabilitation centre near Hyderabad's central prison.

Ms Trump will visit Hyderabad for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit on 28 and 29 November.

Hyderabad similarly saw beggars temporarily bundled out of the city when former US President Bill Clinton visited in March 2000.

"This 500 rupees is an incentive announced by the prisons department, one of the agencies involved in the drive to make Hyderabad beggar-free. The aim is to make the Hyderabad public a stakeholder in effective implementation of the prevention of begging act," M Sampat who heads the rehabilitation centre, 

More than 140 killed by earthquake in Iran-Iraq border region

Rescuers battle to find survivors trapped under collapsed buildings after the 7.3 magnitude quake

More than 140 people have been killed in Iran and Iraq after a magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit the border region between the two countries, state media said.

At least 141 people were killed in Iran, according to the country’s disaster management organisation, after the quake struck the region at 9.20pm local time on Sunday. More than 850 were injured, the organisation’s spokesman, Behnam Saeedi, told state television.

Rescuers worked through the night to find people trapped in collapsed buildings after the earthquake, which was felt as far west as the coast of the Mediterranean.

It affected several Iranian provinces and the deputy governor of Kermanshah province on the Iraqi border told state television that the death toll would rise.

“There are still people under the rubble. We hope the number of dead and injured won’t rise too much, but it will rise,” Mojtaba Nikkerdar said.

Nearly 100 of the victims were in the town of Sarpol-e Zahab, about 15km (10 miles) from the border. The main hospital of the town was severely damaged and struggling to treat hundreds of injured people, state television reported.

President’s daughter gets ground role at Air India due to security reasons

Swati, who doesn't use a surname, was a cabin crew on Air India's long-haul Boeing 787 and Boeing 777 flights, but for nearly a month now she has been deputed with Air India's integration department at the airline's headquarters here, the official said

President Ram Nath Kovind’s daughter Swati, who was an air hostess with national carrier Air India, has been assigned ground duties because of security reasons, according to the airline’s spokesperson. Swati, who doesn’t use a surname, was a cabin crew on Air India’s long-haul Boeing 787 and Boeing 777 flights, but for nearly a month now she has been deputed with Air India’s integration department at the airline’s headquarters here, the official said.

Chandika Hathurusingha: Bangladesh coach resigns

Chandika Hathurusingha has resigned from his role as head coach of the Bangladesh national team.

The Sri Lankan, 49, had been in charge since 2014 and led the Tigers to maiden Test wins over England and Australia.

However, Bangladesh were heavily beaten in their most recent series in South Africa, where they failed to win a single game on tour.

Nepal Kathmandu :Golden paddy fields of Rampur

The paddy fields of Rampur in Molung Rural Municipality-2 in Okhaldhunga have turned golden with the beginning of harvest season.

Here's Why Queen Elizabeth Doesn't Need a Passport to Travel

Preparing for international travel almost always involves a last-minute scramble to locate one’s passport — unless of course you’re the Queen of England.

That’s right, her Majesty the Queen has no need for commoner items like passports when she travels abroad. As the official website of the British monarchy describes:

When traveling overseas, The Queen does not require a British passport. The cover of a British passport features the Royal Arms, and the first page contains another representation of the Arms, together with the following wording:

Is this Nibiru? NASA boffins STUNNED as HUGE alien planet found

A MASSIVE alien planet has been discovered by space boffins – and people think its proof mystical planet Nibiru has arrived.

The object – dubbed OGLE-2016-BLG-1190Lb – is 13 times the size of Jupiter and is located 22,000 light years away.

Although it’s orbiting its own star, researchers believe the planet could be a failed star, or brown dwarf.

The discovery has fuelled speculation that an alien planet predicted to unleash an apocalypse on Earth is real.

Mahinda samarasinha: Dual citizens if any parliament MPs, in Sri Lanka must be jailed.

If there are any parliamentarians who are dual citizens, they should not only be barred from Parliament, stripped of their parliamentary privileges and asked to pay compensation but should also be sent to jail, Ports and Shipping Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said yesterday.

He told the weekly SLFP news briefing that the country's apex court has given a clear ruling on dual citizenship and as such no parliamentarian with dual citizenship has the right to sit in the House anymore.

“The law must be amended to send parliamentarians with dual citizenship to jail in addition to disqualifying them from sitting in Parliament and being stripped of their parliamentary privileges,” the minister said and added he had never obtained dual citizenship as suggested by some media institutions.

valuables belonging to the South Asian countries of the British Museum's

The Queen undertook one of her first public engagements since her private estate became caught up in the Paradise Papers leak, as she opened a refurbished gallery at the British Museum.
Wearing a Stewart Parvin magenta double-breasted cashmere coat and a red flower posy brooch, she toured the newly restored and renovated Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery of China and South Asia.

Chairman of the British Museum trustees, Sir Richard Lambert, said the first phase of the reopening, with the rest of the gallery set to be fully open to the public from December 14, was a “huge moment” for the museum and the “culmination of a lot of work”
It is a really important gallery for us because we get millions of visitors here every year from China and Asia – and it is beautiful,” he said.
On what it was like to show the Queen around the refurbished gallery, Sir Richard said it was “wonderful” and noted that she was “really interested in it”.

Disney plans new star wars tv series

"Star Wars is the greatest modern mythology
Disney on Thursday announced plans for a new Star Wars film trilogy and a live-action TV series as it builds on the beloved and profitable science fiction franchise.

We have big ambitions for the Star Wars franchise," Disney chief executive Robert Iger said during a quarterly earnings call.

Disney just closed a deal with Rian Johnson, director of upcoming film "The Last Jedi," to develop a brand new trilogy, according to Iger.

"We're also planning to produce a number of original series for the new service and are already developing a Star Wars live-action series," Iger said of a planned direct-to-consumer pay service offering television and film content.

While there have previously been animated Star Wars series, this will be the franchise's first live-action show for the small screen.

The Star Wars franchise has been "exceeding expectations" since Disney acquired Lucasfilm five years ago, according to Iger.

Disney touted the box office success of two new Star Wars films and expressed confidence that "The Last Jedi," set to debut in theaters next month, would be a hit.

"The excitement will only intensify as we get closer to the release date," Iger said of the coming instalment.

Is there anyone in the world, who has the same voice as Audrey Luna?

Crackling slightly down a transatlantic phone line, Audrey Luna has a pleasant, normal speaking voice. But she's only able to use it for 10 minutes.

Come Friday evening, these same vocal cords will unleash a note so dizzyingly high, so astoundingly rare, that archivists say New York's Metropolitan Opera has never heard it in 140 years - at least, not since her last performance.

And like a world-class athlete on game day, she needs to conserve her strength.

Ms Luna is a coloratura soprano - the voice type capable of the highest notes - and specialises in thrilling, trilling vocal runs that pour out strongly even at their peaks.

Few people alive have the potential to reach the note now winning her headlines - the A above high C.

To put that in context, Christmas choristers singing the descant line of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing will usually hit a high A - some with difficulty. Ms Luna's note is a full octave - or eight notes - higher than that.

The opera showcasing this rarity is Thomas Adès's The Exterminating Angel, a savage, surrealist piece based on the 1962 Luis Buñuel film of the same name.

Ms Luna plays Leticia, an opera diva who joins a well-off couple for a glittering dinner party. Macabre twists unfold as the partygoers find they have entered a strange vortex - and are trapped in the house when the evening ends.

It's a supernatural note for a supernatural story - and the Oregon native is hitting it twice a night.

IOC arm blamed for fuel shortage in Sri Lanka

supplies disrupted over allegations of fuel contamination

Sri Lankan politicians have blamed Indian Oil Corporation subsidiary LIOC for a sudden fuel shortage that has gripped the country since Friday.

The problem arose after authorities rejected a recent 35,000 million tonnes shipment of petrol procured by LIOC from a French oil company, citing contamination. The Petroleum Ministry said in a statement that Lanka IOC had requested it to accept the cargo — that was initially turned away — after filtration but authorities had refused to, “in the interest of the Sri Lankan consumers”.

LIOC has denied the allegation and said it sought replacement of the shipment from the French company soon after officials rejected the supplier’s offer to filter the consignment.

The state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and LIOC handle Sri Lanka’s retail oil distribution. Following the shortage, some politicians and a section of the media voiced strong criticism against India for “being responsible” for the crisis.

U S $ 500000: promote religious freedom in India, Sri Lanka

And for Sri Lanka, it seeks to ensure that authorities at all levels of government in Sri Lanka effectively implement national laws and policies protecting religious freedom.

The US has announced a grant of nearly USD 500,000 for organisations which can come up with ideas and projects to promote religious freedom in India and Sri Lanka. The Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, in its notice, said it seeks to “reduce religiously-motivated violence and discrimination in India” through its USD 493,827 programme.

And for Sri Lanka, it seeks to ensure that authorities at all levels of government in Sri Lanka effectively implement national laws and policies protecting religious freedom. Recipient of both the India Programme and Sri Lanka – with similar objectives of religious freedom and protection – would be announced after screening of applications in this regard, it said.

Elephant Pictures Awarded

An image of two elephants fleeing a mob that set them on fire in eastern India highlights the ongoing human-elephant conflicts in the region.

The photograph, named “Hell is Here” was taken by Biplab Hazra and was named the winner of the Sanctuary Wildlife Photography Awards 2017.

The image shows a calf on fire as it and an adult elephant run for their lives -- as a crowd of "jeering" people throw "flaming tar balls" and firecrackers at the pair.

According to the Sanctuary Asia Foundation, these type of scenes are common in the Bankura district of West Bengal.

ICIJ releases The Paradise Papers

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists today releases The Paradise Papers, a global investigation that reveals the offshore activities of some of the world’s most powerful people and companies.

ICIJ and 95 media partners explored 13.4 million leaked files from a combination of leaked files of offshore law firms and the company registries in some of the world’s most secretive countries.

The files were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, and shared with ICIJ.

The Paradise Papers documents include nearly 7 million loan agreements, financial statements, emails, trust deeds and other paperwork over nearly 50 years from inside Appleby, a prestigious offshore law firm with offices in Bermuda and beyond.

The leaked documents include files from the smaller, family-owned trust company, Asiaciti, and from company registries in 19 secrecy jurisdictions.

The Paradise Papers reveal offshore interests and activities of more than 120 politicians and world leaders, including Queen Elizabeth II whose private estate indirectly invested in a rent-to-own loan company accused of predatory tactics. At least 13 allies, major donors and Cabinet members of U.S. President Donald J. Trump appear, including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s interests in a shipping company that makes millions from an energy firm whose owners include Russian President Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law and a sanctioned Russian tycoon.

The leaked files from Appleby, the offshore law firm, include details of tax planning by nearly 100 multinational corporations, including Apple, Nike and Uber.