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First locally built train to operate from Sept. next year
Tuesday, 14 December 2004 - 1:34 AM SL Time
The Lanka Econo Rail first locally built train will be on the tracks in September 2005, said Chairman/CEO Transmec Pte.,Ltd Dr. Lawrence Perera. He said that trains, planes and cars have been his passion since he was young, and now after many years of intense trial and experimentation and also trauma of uncertainty, he has the expertise and the infrastructure to realize his ambition of building a train to satisfy indigenous requirements and more importantly to ensure that when completed it would cost approximately 75% less than what it would be to import a similar machine from traditional suppliers.
Construction would commence this month (December), and subject to snags being effectively surpassed the scheduled commencement would be implemented. But, he said ? Before I talk of what I plan to do it is appropriate to detail retrospective overview of how the idea originated and what needed to be done to stylise the infrastructure?
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Floods in Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Ampara
Tuesday, 14 December 2004 - 1:34 AM SL Time
Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Ampara have faced floods due to torrential rains which lashed the respective districts during the past several days.
President has directed the Social Services Ministry and other relevant Government agencies to expedite relief for the displaced in these three districts and also in Kalmunai, Ninthavur and Akkaraipattu divisional secretariat areas.
Nearly 500 families in Horowpothana and 400 families in Kahatagasdigiliya in the Anuradhapura district and another 3,200 families in Polonnaruwa and 3,800 families in Ampara districts have been displaced due to floods in these districts, Women`s Empowerment and Social Welfare Deputy Minister S.M.Chandrasena who visited the Horowpothana area told the Daily News yesterday.
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Government rejects LTTE call for peace talks
Monday, 13 December 2004 - 8:45 PM SL Time
The government has rejected an appeal by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabhakaran for the resumption of peace talks, compounding fears that the present, increasingly shaky ceasefire will break down completely.
Prabhakaran made the call for negotiations in his annual Heroes Day speech on November 27. He warned that the LTTE could not continue indefinitely in a political vacuum? without any settlement or the prospect of talks and that a borderline had been reached. He appealed for talks on the basis of the LTTEs proposal for an Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) for the North and East of the island and hinted at a return to armed conflict if the peace process were not restarted.
The ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), however, flatly dismissed the appeal. In a statement issued on December 1, the government declared: A call, couched in threatening language, from the LTTE now for the resumption of negotiations conditions, while setting conditions itself by insisting unilaterally on a single item is scarcely conducive to good faith negotiations.
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Politics
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Bribery Commission indicts SB
Saturday, 11 December 2004 - 2:54 A SL Time
Former Minister S. B. Dissanayake of the UNP who was sentenced to two years` rigorous imprisonment by a five Judge Supreme Court Bench for contempt of court on Tuesday was indicted by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption yesterday.
He is indicted as he was unable to account for his assets valued at Rs. 39 million amassed between March 31, 1994 and September 30, 2001. The Bribery Commission earlier arrested him and produced him before Colombo Magistrate and was granted a Rs. 25,000 cash bail and Rs. one million personal bail with the sureties.
The five Judge Supreme Court Bench in a unanimous verdict on Tuesday held that Dissanayake had defamed the Supreme Court during a speech he made at a Vap Magul ceremony at Habaraduwa in November last year.
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Sri Lanka`s Muslims warn of backlash
Friday, 10 December 2004 - 8:48 AM SL Time
There is real concern among Muslims that a peace deal between the Sinhalese-majority government and Tamil Tiger rebels will mean they come under Tamil control and that their interests will be ignored.
Now they are demanding full and equal representation if stalled peace talks resume. Each Thursday afternoon at the Kattankudy mosque, little boys recite their Koran. Line by line their small fingers guide their hands.
It is as much a matter or survival as identity. For years, Sri Lanka`s Muslims have been victims of a war that is not theirs.
In 1990, 130 were gunned down at this mosque by the Tamil Tigers. More than a decade on, relations have improved, but there is still concern at the possibility of Tamil rule in the east.
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Sri Lanka Parliament suspended for a second day amid chaos
Thursday, 9 December 2004 - 8:51 PM SL Time
Sri Lanka`s parliament was suspended for a second day Thursday after opposition lawmakers protested the legislature`s decision to pass several budgets without a vote.
Lawmakers from the Tamil National Alliance blocked parliamentary officials from erecting a staff that symbolically opens each session, prompting Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara to suspend Thursday`s proceedings.
The legislators were protesting a decision by the ruling United National Freedom Alliance on Wednesday to approve budgets for the ministries of agriculture, power and environment without bringing it up for a vote. Each ministry`s budget can be passed without a vote unless lawmakers object. Tamil National Alliance lawmakers said their request for a vote was ignored.
Parliament was also halted Wednesday when opposition lawmakers protested against the speaker`s refusal to let a jailed senior colleague attend the meeting. Legislator S.B. Dissanayake was sentenced to two years` hard labor after being convicted Tuesday of contempt of court for critical comments he made about the Supreme Court.
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| Security |
Monks blame Colombo for bomb blast at Bollywood concert
Sunday, 12 December 2004 - 9:58 PM SL Time
Sri Lanka`s influential Buddhist clergy today blamed the Government for the bomb explosion at Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan`s concert here, accusing it of not taking adequate security measures for the show. `We hold the Government responsible for this attack. It is because they did not give adequate security that this happened.
`The Government`s duty was to protect our Indian guests... If there was any harm to such popular Indian stars, there would have been very serious consequences for our country,` the monk said.
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Indian concert in Sri Lanka ends with blast, two killed
Sunday, 12 December 2004 - 7:12 AM SL Time
The grenade ripped through the most expensive stands closest to the stage where Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan and his troupe were performing, police said. None of the performers were hurt, they said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
`Two people were dead when they were brought in,` Colombo National Hospital director Hector Weerasinghe said. `There are another 18 injured admitted. Six of them are in a critical condition.`
He said all the victims were Sri Lankan nationals. There were however several Indians, including staff of the Indian high commission (embassy), at the show.
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LTTE `educating` people on worst case war scenario
Sunday, 12 December 2004 - 5:34 AM SL Time
The LTTE has begun a door to door campaign to `educate?? Tamil speaking people in the north-east to be prepared for the worst in case the Tigers were pushed into a war situation, a senior political wing leader of the LTTE said in an interview in Vavuniya last week.
He claimed that a survey they have completed had indicated that around 90 per cent of the Tamil people wanted a peaceful settlement of the ethnic problem while the rest did not care if there is war or peace.
`The vast majority indicated their unhappiness about the continuing `no-war, no-peace? stalemate and the failure of the government to indicate which way the country was headed,?? the spokesman who asked not to be named said.
The LTTE-assessed popular public opinion was that peace was a mirage unless President Kumaratunga had the courage to move forward despite differences between her party and the JVP and resume negotiations with the LTTE on the basis of their proposals.
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| Business / Economy News |
Fuel costs delay SriLankan expansion
Tuesday, 14 December 2004 - 10:10 P SL Time
SriLankan Airlines said it will delay its expansion, including starting flights to China, because of higher fuel costs.
The carrier will post losses in its airline division for the year ending March 2005, chief executive Peter Hill said in an interview here, although he declined to provide details.
The airline`s oil bill this year is as much as US$50 million higher than 2003, he added. `It`s been a difficult year because the price of fuel has virtually doubled and that means our plans to lease new aircraft have been delayed,` Mr Hill, 59, said.
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Budget 2005 placed apparel industry in strong position
Tuesday, 14 December 2004 - 1:34 AM SL Time
The Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) commended budget 2005 saying that the budget has placed the industry in a strong position to face the competitiveness emerging from the termination of the Multi Fibre Agreement. The total budgetary allocation for industry development is Rs. 250 million.
Secretary General of JAAF T. Cooray told a press briefing yesterday in Colombo that the Industry determined that if the appropriate initiatives were implemented, they could gain the required competencies to face future challenges with confidence.
`We made a number of proposals to implement the major initiatives under the Five-Year Strategy to the government, and they have taken heed of all our proposals. We wish to expres the appreciation of the government`s prompt response`, Chairman JAAF, Ashroff Omar said.
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Nestle Lanka gets new chairman
Sunday, 12 December 2004 - 11:32 AM SL Time
A new Chairman, Mr. Martial Rolland, has been appointed by Nestle Lanka Limited with effect from December 1 succeeding Mr. Cario Donati who has resigned with effect from November 30, the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has been notified.
CSE also said that Mr. S. M. Paranavithana has been appointed to the board of the Lanka Hospitals Corporation Limited, owners of the Apollo Hospital, with effect from November 24 and Ms. Priyani Ratna-Gopal a director of Asia Capital Limited with effect from November 4.
CSE has also been notified that Mr. A. Yamamoto, alternate director of Horana Plantations Limited, has resigned with effect from November 29 and two directors of Ace Power Generation Matara Limited, an Aitken Spence company, K. E. Westo and A. Malla have resigned with effect from November 18.
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