Posts

When Maithri stays Mute...

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This is one of the most scariest, hair-raising, blood-curdling feelings i've ever had in the recent times. No need to quote those creepy decisions taken by the HE now, yet his silence when two political fronts with the largest followings have had key gathering on yesterday and today, with almost 3 months to the next Presidential Election (PE), should make you realize that he's gonna drop it like it's hot!  HE has been in the forefront claiming the PC elections should be held before the PE. He has been telling this since Jan this year. We saw the opposition demanding the same and eventually giving the impression it is the UNP which was holding on to it (UNP was doing it for obvious reasons).  As per the legal framework, PC elections can be held before the PE, however the Elections Commission (EC) should be notified on the same decision or otherwise.  The moment AG advises HE, followed up with the SC's viewpoint on holding the PC elections, it will not be the PE

Face-booking: 2011- 2018

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Facebook is facing growing government scrutiny in Europe, America, India, when allegations came out last week (the third week of March 2018), by a whistle-blower stating that 'Cambridge Analytica' - a British consultancy, had improperly accessed user data, to build profiles on American voters, which were later used to help elect Donald Trump in 2016. Since last week's allegations, Facebook has lost close to $ 60 Bn in market value to-date in 2018, alone. After few rounds of 'daring' responses, Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Elliot Zuckerberg had finally opted to admit stating, "I'm sorry that we didn't do much at the time", and interestingly his much awaited response to the issue (which came in the form of an apology) came out following the staggering hit on the stock value.  Facebook was looking to buy out many press spaces in European and American newspapers and the largest social media network in the world has

Emirates, Benfica & Safety

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Why would Emirates send their crew to a football field - to do a demo in front of 65K Benfica fans? It's one of those usual stunts (by sponsors) you could see in a football game, but this time it's awesome, simply coz the activation blends in with Football - in this case, with S.L. Benfica of course, its enthusiastic fan-base and Emirates!  We are talking about a football club of Portugal, which has been in existence for 111 years, with an estimated 5.8 million+ fans in Portugal, and a total fan-base of roughly 14 million+ worldwide. In May 2015, Emirates struck a 3-year shirt sponsorship deal with the Lisbon-based football club and Emirates would be adding a second daily flight to Lisbon from January 1, 2016. Since July 2012 Emirates has carried 500K passengers on the Dubai-Lisbon' route, and the second daily flight will lift capacity on the route to 10,000 seats each week! As per the stats from Emirates, since flights were launched in July 2012, a signifi

A journey with passion...building the brand 'BnS'

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L - Bhathiya Jayakody -  R - Santhush Weeraman Not definitely with a quest to build an entire 'Entertainment Empire', these two youngsters embarked on a journey, something catchy but dubbed with actions that attracted a lot of criticism from many corners in the society. They were singing/communicating to them Sri Lankans who were 'sandwiched' in the society, between those elite groups & hard- line extremists (in every aspect).  Their products were unique & different, the impact was slow but steady, mesmerized some of the industry giants who believed the duo has a future ahead. A lot of sweat, tears and hard work went in, hours and hours wasted waiting to meet the big guns in media stations and record labels, to present their case.. one thing was obvious, with a bit of luck in their hands of course, they had a unique product on offer, backed by undying passion coupled with creativity, which meant "the future" for potential investors.  As

NDTV's #TwitterFail paves way for a comprehensive look-out on Post PresPoll 2015

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Following an interview with PM  Ranil Wickremasinghe, India's NDTV had tweeted (mis)quoting the PM "In principle, we have agreed to full autonomy to Tamil areas, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe tells NDTV". Interestingly such statement has neither been recorded in the video clip nor mentioned in the article published in their website. Amidst the continuous requests on NDTV to clarify the tweet, some did a simple look back on the things.  Sri Lanka's 'The Republic Square' had transcribed the full interview (with SL's PM) as appeared on NDTV's 18+ minute documentary "Truth vs Hype: Sri Lanka - Hope or Illusion?" and there remains a clear blunder as NDTV tweeted something extra-ordinary as opposed to what's been told by Ranil Wickremasinghe.  courtesy -  @ mhmhisham courtesy -  @ mhmhisham While many, by now have concluded that NDTV has "sensationalized" the interview with PM Ranil Wickremasinghe

A master-mind behind the PM Modi's Election machinery to steer Pres Rajapakse's SM strategy

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Arvind Gupta, head of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s IT division / IT Cell, a key figure in installing the former Gujarat Chief Minister Narenda Modi as India's 15th (Current) Prime Minister, has been hired by the Sri Lankan Government, in steering & strengthening President Mahinda Rajapakse's social media strategy.  The nerve centre: Arvind Gupta inspecting his team in BJP's digital war room, located within the party's headquarters at Ashoka Road in Delhi. A team of 40 people, mostly professionals from IITs and IIMs, keeps a vigil on the latest voting trends and the mood of voters Arvind Gupta was a master-mind behind the PM Modi's Election machinery, especially its Social Media strategy and campaign execution. According to Indian media "If you see a shot of a pensive Modi in Varanasi — with a maze of buildings behind him — or looking natty in a blue linen kurta while leading foreign dignitaries, you probably have to thank Gupta for it."

The learnings from the "All-whopping" Burger King Sri Lanka

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F or the food, especially for Burger lovers, this has been the most amazing news besides all the somewhat great dining deals that are offered by Pubs, star-graded establishments, restaurants, tea lounges to coffee shops and other fast food joints, during this Christmas season.  Burger King; which was teasing the Sri Lankans' taste buds for a pretty long time with their announcements of opening its Sri Lankan Franchise was made possible via Softlogic Holdings PLC's new business unit which was set up as 'Softlogic Restaurants (Pvt) Ltd'. The official announcement was released in September 2, 2013, highlighting Softlogic Restaurants (Pvt) Ltd as the master franchisee, which entered into a Master Franchise and Development Agreement with BK AsiaPac Pte Ltd - a subsidiary of Burger King Worldwide, Inc (NYSE: BKW), and the master franchisor for the Burger King® System in the Asia Pacific Region. Accordingly,  Softlogic Restaurants (Pvt) Ltd would be developing, oper