News

Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon, the wealthiest person in modern history, world’s first centi-billionaire, founder of Blue Origin and the owner of Washington Post. 

In short, 54-year-old Bezos has achieved everything a man dreams of. In just one lifetime, or shall we say just 24 years since he founded Amazon, Bezos went from a nerdy Princeton graduate to the zenith of the corporate galaxy.

Bezos graduated from Princeton with Bachelor of Science degrees in electrical engineering and computer science with a 4.2 grade point average. But that skyrocketing rise probably would not have been possible had Bezos decided to pursue a career in pure sciences. So what made Bezos realise he was not exactly the guy who would spend nights  working to solve an equation?

The Amazon CEO himself gave the answer at The Economic Club of Washington. He said that all credit goes to his friend from Princeton, a Sri Lankan by the name of Yasantha, who he claimed was the smartest person in Princeton University at the time. 

Bezos reveals how the epiphany that he would never make a good theoretical physicist dawned on him when Yasantha cracked a math problem.

Jeff recalled this Sri Lankan man who had the longest last name and how he solved a partial differential equation in no time. 
He recalled how “we showed Yoshantha the math equation and he stares at it and said cosine the answer.” 
It was then that the CEO of Amazon realized he cannot be a great theoretical physicist. He also expressed how some moments can change your life.

The SLFP will not support the 20th amendment to the constitution that aims to abolish the executive presidency, a powerful minister from the party had claimed to the weekly Sinhalese newspaper ‘Anidda’. 

A committee appointed by the SLFP central committee to consider the amendment will say that the party is opposed to a full curtailment of the presidential powers, says the minister. Leaders of the party are in agreement with that, according to him.

The party has maintained its opposition to the abolition of the executive presidency, even when it submitted proposals to the steering committee of the constitutional assembly, the minister notes.

The SLFP wants the executive presidency to continue if there is no change to the provincial council system, he added. (Sri Lanka Mirror)

The nomination of persons to the Constitutional Council (CC) is likely to be finalised by Wednesday (10th), Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said yesterday. The Speaker said that the remaining vacancies would be filled soon after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe returns to the country after his official visit to the United Kingdom. He added that this is likely to happen on October 10 or soon afterwards.

The Speaker will send the names of the new CC members to the President for appointment as soon as he receives the final nominations. The Speaker is yet to receive the list of nominations for the five members to be nominated by the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader and the nominee from the other political parties.

President Maithripala Sirisena nominated Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe as the President’s representative to the CC last month. The Speaker holds the Chairmanship of the Constitutional Council while the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader are ex-officio members.

Another five members are appointed by the President, on the nomination submitted by both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. From these five members, three should be civil society representatives. One other person is appointed by the Members of Parliament from a political party other than the parties to which the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition belong.

When, inquired about possible nominees to the CC the Speaker said he was not in a position to discuss any names but added he would send the nominations to the President as soon as they are finalised.

However, the ‘Daily News’ learns that the three civil society representatives are likely to be Senior Lecturer in Law at University of Colombo Attorney-at-Law N.Selvakumaran (Dean of Faculty at Law 2000 – 2012), Educator and Diplomat Javed Yusuf and Diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala who was Sri Lanka’s official candidate for the post of UN Secretary-General, before withdrawing from the race on September 29,2006.

However, there is opposition to the nomination of Dhanapala from some sections, the ‘Daily News’ learns.

Although CPA Executive Director Dr.Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu was to be nominated as a civil society representative, the Joint Opposition is opposing the move, it is learnt.

Meanwhile, Justice and Prison Reforms Minister Thalatha Athukorale and former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa are likely to be nominated to the CC by the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader.
The 10-member CC is the apex decision making body that recommends the appointments to the Independent Commissions and high ranking positions such as the Attorney General, Auditor General, Parliament Secretary General, IGP, Chief Justice and Supreme Court Judges etc.
It remains defunct since last month following the expiration of the three-year term of six members.

Meanwhile, current Chief Justice Priyasath Dep completes his term on Friday (12). Constitutionally, the President must forward the name of his nominee for Chief Justice to the Constitutional Council which must then approve the nomination.

“If the appointment of the Chief Justice is delayed the President can appoint an acting Chief Justice for a period of 14 days. If the appointment of the CJ gets delayed due to the lack of a quorum in the CC, the most likely person to be appointed as Acting Chief Justice will be Senior Supreme Court Judge, Eva Wanasundera,” government sources said.

The Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation Services has said that the 36-kilometre extension of the southern coastal rail line from Matara to Beliatta will be completed and declared open before the end of this year.

The first phase of the rail track from Matara to Kataragama which is the track from Matara to Beliatta is scheduled to be vested with the public, the state-run TV network ITN reported.

The second phase of the project is the 48-kilometre segment from Beliatta to Hambantota and the in the third phase the track will be extended another 39 kilometres from Hambantota to Kataragama.

Main stations have been planned at Kekanadura, Bambarenda, Wewurukannala and Beliatta. Two substations will be set up at Piladuwa and Weherahena.

A flyover of one kilometre will be built from Matara to Kekunadura. Sri Lanka's longest rail tunnel will be built on this line at Naakuttigama. It will be 615 meters long. Another tunnel with a length of 268 meters will be built at Bambarenda on this rail track.

The main railway station at Beliatta has a length of 300 meters and it will have three platforms.

Underground tunnels will be made for the passengers to move across the platforms of the station. Plans have been drawn up to construct underground tunnels at the four main railway stations.

The railway track will be built across the Nilwala River. Therefore a bridge with a length of 1037 meters will be built across the Nilwala River.

(Colombo Page)

Troops of the 12 Gajaba Regiment and 4 Sri Lanka Light Infantry of the 14 Division under the Security Force Headquarters - West (SFHQ-West) during small hours on Sunday (7) rushed to the Parliament complex area and took necessary steps to prevent the entrance areas from getting inundated with rainwater which has risen to flood levels. 

After being informed, Major General Sathyapriya Liyanage, Commander, Security Forces - West directed 14 Division troops to attend to the emergency situation developing around the Parliament complex due to prevailing torrential rains. Accordingly, 63 Army personnel laid sandbags along the sideways of the road that leads to the entrance across the Diyawanna Oya to prevent the premises from inundation around 3.00 am on Sunday (7). 

Troops managed to prevent water from flooding the road in question and took other measures to avoid further seeping of rainwater. 

Meanwhile, 8 Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment (SLSR) troops of the 58 Division under the SFHQ-West on Friday (5) took steps to remove a huge tree that has fallen on to the Colombo - Kandy road near 61st milepost in Kadugannawa. Twenty-seven 8 SLSR troops were able to clear the road for traffic by removing the fallen tree within a matter of few hours.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is on an official visit to Norway, met with the business community in Oslo on Wednesday. 

At a meeting organized by the Sri Lankan and Norwegian business leaders engaged in trade between the two countries, the Prime Minister elaborated on ways and means of enhancing bilateral trade between the two countries. The Norwegian business community drew Wickremesinghe's attention to problems that are encountered by them with regard to trade practices. The Prime Minister while taking note of these issues, also discussed possible solutions that can be taken promptly to resolve those issues.

The Premier noted that Sri Lanka will actively seek to strengthen the relationship between the two countries as the government continues to build on its plansrelationships and grow trade and investment.

Wickremesinghe also visited XXL’s robotic warehousing facility run by Element Logic and TIQRI. The automated warehouse uses robots to store, package and ship goods to XXL stores and online shoppers. Here, the Premier is received on arrival by senior management of the companies. 

The robotics functions are run by the high technology company for warehouse solutions Element Logics and the software engineering firm Tiqri.

The automated operation allows quick and efficient storage as well as repacking and reshipping.The company explained that garments, other products as well as fish, vegetables and fruits could be stored and packaged.

"We have already drawn up preliminary plans for the establishment of such stores for the development of the fisheries sector," Minister of Fisheries Vijith Wijayamuni Soysa said.

Addressing widespread rumours and uproar regarding the refusal of the Department of Archaeology to renew the excavation permit granted to prominent Archaeologist Prof. Raj Somadeva, head of the Department Prof. Prishantha Mandawala says the decision was made as Somadeva along with 14 other researchers had not submitted the research reports and lists of artefacts found as required. “He merely handed over a document with newspaper articles regarding his recent work,” Mandawala said stating that instead, the Department requires researchers with permits to hand over extensive research reports about the work carried out. 

Mandawala also denied claims that Somadeva was singled out and the decision has any political aspect to it. “He is not the only researcher who was denied a permit,” Mandawala said adding that the Department decided to take a tough stance as its repeated requests for detailed research reports went unheeded. 

However, he also assured the ongoing excavations at the recently discovered Mass grave in Mannar by Somadeva will not be affected. “He does not need the Department’s permit to carry out work there,” Mandawala said. But supporters of Somadeva have been trying to portray the incident as an attempt to stop Somadeva’s work and hide certain aspects of the country’s history. Among others who have been denied permits are Prishantha Gunawardena, Jagath Weerasinghe, Gamini Adhikari, Sumanasiri Wawwage, Anura Manatunga, Arya Lagamuwa and several others.

Minister of Finance and Media, Mangala Samaraweera is now receiving proposals from the public to be included in his 2019 Budget speech titled 'A Strong Economy and An Enriched Country'. 

Samaraweera will present the 2019 budget to parliament on November 05, 2018.

The Ministry of Finance announced that the general public, including professionals, scholars, individuals/companies engaged in production, services, and agriculture sectors are also able to submit their proposals for the upcoming budget.

The Ministry of Finance and Mass Media requests the public to send their proposals to the following address or via e-mail on or before October 12, 2018.

Proposals can be addressed to;
Director General,
Commerce and Investment Policy Department,
Ministry of Finance and Mass Media,
The Secretariat,
Colombo 01.


E-mail address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Sri Lanka’s flagship carrier, SriLankan Airlines (SLA) had fully outsourced its call centre operations in 2009 to HelloCorp, despite the controversial entity submitting a higher bid for the contract, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) into irregularities at SriLankan Airlines learnt last week.

HelloCorp, initially set up as a subsidiary of Expolanka Holdings PLC in 2002 was first acquired by NR Consultancy (Pvt) Ltd in 2012 and its shareholding was transferred to Gowers Corporate Services (GCS) a year later. Both NR Consultancy and Gower Corporate Services are fully owned entities of Namal Rajapaksa, the son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Namal Rajapaksa is currently on trial at Colombo High Court on charges of allegedly acquiring the HelloCorp call centre using laundered money through GCS and NR Consultancy (Pvt) Ltd.

At the time of the takeover of HelloCorp by GCS, SriLankan Airlines was headed by Nishantha Wickremasinghe, brother of former first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa and Namal Rajapaksa’s maternal uncle. The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firm also then had an existing business agreement for coordinating services with SLA.

Testifying before the commission, witness SLA General Manager of Commercial Services and Support Services, Panduka Weeraratne said that while HelloCorp and SciCom, were selected as the finalists to run call centre operations for SLA, HelloCorp was finally awarded the three-year agreement despite offering a higher bid. While SciCom quoted Rs. 445 million, HelloCorp’s offer was Rs.28 million higher at Rs. 473 million.

A subsequent Board Paper submitted through the Head of Finance to the SLA Board had stressed the importance of an outsourced call centre (with four SLA staff and 126 outsourced contract staff) and highlighted that the outsourced operation would reduce staff by 50% and bring in Rs 77 million cost savings.

However, witness Weeraratne failed to produce any documentary evidence as to how such conclusions were arrived at prior to submitting the Board Paper or any later evaluations done. He further said that a 10-member team appointed in awarding this contract to an outsourced company of which he was a member, developed a Request For Proposal (RFP) and received responses from 10 vendors of which five companies were shortlisted following a marking scheme based on various factors.

According to investigations reported to court before the case went to trial, the ownership of HelloCorp was acquired through laundered money, using a trove of false invoices and documents to prove that NR Consultancy had sufficient avenues of income. Accordingly, Namal Rajapaksa had taken over HelloCorp through GCS by using his two close female associates as proxies.

In 2013 — during the period the HelloCorp transaction took place — the directors of GCS were Ornella Iresha Silva, a former Private Secretary to Namal Rajapaksa and Nithya Senani Samaranayake, the controversial air hostess attached to SriLankan Airlines, who was released to work in a ‘mysterious role’ at the Presidential Secretariat at an exorbitant salary. Samarasinghe is currently a member of the Colombo Municipal Council, elected on the SLPP ticket.

Directors and key executive staff of NR Consultancy were Lakshman Namal Rajapaksa (Holder of all shares), Nithya Samaranayake (Director), Ornella Iresha Silva (Legal Officer), Sudarshan Ganegoda (Director), Sujani Bogollagama (Chief Executive Officer), Dilrukshi Mahanama (Accountant) and Vasitha Pinnawala (Project Officer). The five-member PCoI consisted of Retired Supreme Court Justice Anil Gooneratne (Chairman), Court of Appeal Judge Gamini Rohan Amarasekara, Retired High Court Judge Piyasena Ranasinghe, Retired Deputy Auditor General Anthony Harold and Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board Director General Wasantha Jayaseeli Kapugama.

A raft of policy measures recently introduced by the Sri Lankan government is expected to ease the excessive demand for foreign currency and reduce the pressure in the domestic foreign exchange market.    

The Sri Lankan rupee depreciated at a faster pace of 9.7 per cent against the US dollar during the year up to 01 October 2018 . The country currently possess USD 7.5 billion in foreign reserves and expects to close this year with around USD 8.3 billion. 

Speaking at a media conference, Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy said that they are in a better position now than in the past years. The Central Bank has intervened with USD 184 million in forex markets to defend the rupee so far this year. Coomaraswamy said that USD 84 million had been bought on Monday while noting that the foreign currency outflows stood at USD 487 million. 

Central Bank total purchases of foreign exchange stood at USD 551 million while total sales amounted to USD 731 million during the year. The substantial surge in import expenditure was driven by the growth in imports of fuel, gold and personal motor vehicles. 

Even though services related inflows such as tourism performed notably and the financial account of the Balance of Payments (BOP) strengthened during the year, outflows of foreign investment from the government securities market exerted pressure on the Balance of Payments (BOP).

Refuting allegations made by the ‘Sunday Times’ Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Russia, Prof. Dayan Jayatilleka claims the news was inaccurate and false.

“The headline of the newspaper story ‘Defense Attache’ recalled from Moscow after Dayan's Protest’ is false he said adding that he made no such "protest" and neither did he make an “official complaint" against the attache.

The Ambassador also denied sending a report to the Foreign Ministry as claimed by the newspaper. 

I have made no official complaint about any staffer and have sent nothing in writing to either the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry of Defense on any staffer or matter” Jayatilleke clarified. 

However, the Ambassador did admit that he made certain critical observations in good humour, in agreement with the Defence Attache’s superior at an informal dinner claiming these have been taken out of context and embellished or spun. “The newspaper should have checked the story with me, which it did not” he added. 
 
The Sunday Times in its report claimed Air Force Group Captain Channa Dissanayake, Sri Lanka’s Defence Attache in Moscow, has been recalled to Colombo and instructions had gone out last week after an official complaint by Sri Lanka new Ambassador in Moscow Dayan Jayatilleka.

It went on to say that the ambassador had said the Air Force officer had allegedly “partitioned” the Embassy premises calling it the “Defence Section” leaving other areas in the diplomatic mission outside it. 

“Dr. Jayatilleke contended that he could not be the head of only one part of the Sri Lanka Embassy. He also alleged that the Defence Attache had imported a vehicle for his use in Moscow and it cost US$ 80,000” the report said. It also claimed Air Marshal Jayampathi was first told of the actions of the Defence Attache by Ambassador Jayatilleke when he visited Moscow recently and was recalled thereafter.

Chief of Staff (CoS) of Sri Lanka Army Major General Dampath Fernando’s term of office has been extended by three months with effect from today by President Maithripala Sirisena,  Army Spokesman Brigadier Sumith Atapattu said today.

He was scheduled to retire the day before yesterday and a farewell guard of honour was also held in his honour at the Kuruwita Gemunu Watch Headquarters. “Major General Fernando was given a guard of honour because they were unaware of his extension before giving the guard of honour,” he said.

According to security forces sources, the Army Commander had recommended six senior officers to fill the post of Chief of Staff of the Army and sent this list to the President.

However, under such a situation, it is unique that the President upon arriving from New York had taken the decision to extend Maj. Gen. Fernando’s term.

Maj. General Dampath Fernando was appointed as the 52nd Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army on March 27. He had joined the Army as a Cadet Officer of the Gemunu Watch on April 27, 1983.