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Sri Lanka lets UN visit rebel area
Saturday, 15 January 2005 - 11:37 P SL Time
The World Food Programme earlier said the government had deemed a helicopter trip by WFP head James Morris to the town of Kilinochchi `difficult`.
The government now says it will allow the visit to go ahead.
Last week, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was barred from visiting rebel areas.
The Sri Lankan government`s decision not to permit Mr Annan to take up an invitation to meet Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran infuriated the rebels.
It further inflamed tensions in the wake of Tamil allegations that Colombo had skimped on aid deliveries to the rebel-held north-east of the country.
Air trip allowed
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Earlier on Saturday, WFP spokesman Jordan Day told the BBC Tamil and Sinhala services that the Sri Lankan government had informed them that it would be difficult to fly Mr Morris to the northern rebel-controlled town of Kilinochchi.
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LTTE says chief Prabhakaran alive
Saturday, 15 January 2005 - 11:35 A SL Time
Elusive Tamil Tigers chief Velupillai Prabhakaran will hold peace talks with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen next week, an official with the rebels said on Saturday.
`He is going to meet the Norwegian foreign minister next week,` Puleedevan, head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) peace secretariat told the agency in an email.
He also quashed rumours that Prabhakaran had been killed by the December 26 tsunami that left nearly 31,000 Sri Lankans dead.
`I can assure you that our chief is alive,` he said.
The Sri Lankan Broadcasting Corporation last week reported that the Tamil Tiger head and his intelligence chief Pottu Amman were among the dead or missing in the tsunami disaster. It later retracted the report.
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9 Women Claiming `Baby 81` in Sri Lanka
Saturday, 15 January 2005 - 8:09 AM SL Time
The infant dubbed `Baby 81` nurses from a bottle of milk and kicks playfully at a pink blanket as nine desperate, heartbroken women quarrel over him - all claiming he was torn from them by the tsunami.
One man standing outside the nursery at Kalmunai Base Hospital threatened to kill himself and his wife if they are not given the baby. A woman at the hospital said she would kill the doctors unless she gets him.
The battle over the wide-eyed boy, who appears to be about three or four months old, symbolizes the enormous loss in the Dec. 26 disaster.
Children accounted for a staggering 40 percent - or 12,000 - of Sri Lanka`s death toll of nearly 31,000. In all, nearly 160,000 people have died across southern Asia.
The loss is especially keenly felt in Ampara district, where the fight over `Baby 81` is taking place. There were 10,436 people killed in Ampara, the highest in Sri Lanka.
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Politics
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Societal Tectonic Plates and Fault-Lines
Sunday, 16 January 2005 - 3:58 AM SL Time
From time immemorial Mankind has sought to rationalize natural disaster as acts of god. In the Old Testament, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of their impiety and sensuous depravity. The writer is informed that the Koran records many such narrations. The historian, Herodotus, reflected Greek belief of the fifth century B.C. when he made Croesus, the Lydian king, say `some god is the author of my misfortune`. Closer home, the Mahavansa records the onset of a tidal wave that engulfed the kingdom of Kelanitissa, in early second century B.C., as retribution for the sin of putting to death a Buddhist monk on suspicion of assisting an illicit liaison of the queen. Similarly, there will be some who will quote the stanzas in the Budugunalankaraya beginning with `Rajun Adamituwath Wethi Mathindoda Epawath` and philosophise on the national tragedy that overtook Sri Lanka on 26th December 2004 as the repercussion of amoral rule and a society that is losing its ethical moorings.
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Health union threatens to show up relief fraudsters
Saturday, 15 January 2005 - 3:36 AM SL Time
The All Ceylon Health Services Union would be forced to take action against officials and reveal their identity if the government failed to act against such officials assisting in fraudulent activities while helping the displaced persons in coastal areas, affected by the Tsunami, the Union said.
It said the malpractices taking place in the medical care of those affected by the recent tidal waves was due to the lack of proper administration in these areas.
General Secretary of the Union Dr. M. W. Ranasinghe alleged that there were several fraudulent activities taking place, following the December 26 tsunami, where the drugs and medical equipment, provided by the Health Ministry were being misused.
The aftermath of the tsunami, which severely damaged several hospitals brought aid flowing in from other countries while the Health Ministry itself issued medical equipment and drugs to be used in these hospitals to assist the injured.
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Cenbank to keep post-tsunami rupee stable
Thursday, 13 January 2005 - 11:19 P SL Time
COLOMBO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka`s Central Bank said on Thursday it will monitor the appreciation of the Sri Lanka rupee and take steps to ensure that exporters don`t lose money on the exchange rate`s post-tsunami fluctuations.
The rupee has gained nearly 6.0 percent so far this year as traders forecast aid dollars will continue to flow in to rebuild a coastline ravaged by last month`s deadly tsunami.
The rupee closed at 98.45 per dollar on Thursday compared to 104.60 on Dec.30, the last full trading session of 2004.
`What we intend doing is to monitor exchange rates and make sure that exporters` competitiveness is not eroded,` central bank governor Sunil Mendis told a news conference.
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Editorial News
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Gift Horses and Trojan Horses
Saturday, 15 January 2005 - 3:48 AM SL Time
India when she`A0 declared that she does not need foreign assistance to help their Tsunami victims, it was also said that they were capable of looking after the affected Indians . India indeed has a very strong economy today but a very large segment of her 1 billion people live in poverty. As we said in a previous editorial, there were many other reasons for India in deciding to restrict the inflow of foreigners, foreign governments and NGOs`A0 for Tsunami relief assistance
One possible reason for the decision would have been that India did not want a strong influx of Christian missionaries. Certainly, it is a secular state and the Indian courts have been very emphatic in safeguarding the rights of all the followers of all the multitude of religions in India. But India is 80 per cent Hindu and the concept of safeguarding the rights of Hindus' Hindutva' as it is called resulted in the emergence of the Bharetiya Janata Party which is unabashed in protecting the rights of Hindus.
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Survivors growing restless
Wednesday, 12 January 2005 - 8:33 P SL Time
Galle: `We want a place to live. The government should move fast. We are running out of patience,` said Ameen Hussain 30, who had taken shelter in a school compound along with other 1,200 refugees in Katugowda a village in Galle district. Galle, south of Colombo, is one of the worst hit tsunami areas in Sri Lanka. An estimated 5,000 people have been reported to have been left homeless in the district.
In Katugowda alone, the death toll stands at 517. Pointing towards a mosque located nearby Ameen said: `The dead have been buried in mass graves around that area. It was carried out with the help of people who run the mosque. Infact they are the ones who are running the refugee camp.
`Government officials made a couple of visits to the camp. We have told them that we want our houses reconstructed or another place be given to us to shift temporarily from this refugee camp that is already overcrowded,` he said.
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Saving Sri Lanka`s sea turtles
Tuesday, 11 January 2005 - 9:49 PM SL Time
BENTOTA, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- The tsunami ended so many human lives, the environmental impact has taken second place.
In Sri Lanka, though, there are fears entire species can be wiped out. At particular risk are sea turtles.
Amid the rubble lies the remains of one of the world`s last hopes for five endangered species of marine turtle.
`The waves, they`re coming and they wash all the hatcheries ... all destroyed,` says Kithsiri Kannangara of the Bentota Sea Turtles Project.
For 25 years, kannangari has fought to preserve Sri Lanka`s dwindling turtle populations.
The waves killed thousands of baby turtles that were to have been released into the sea the very day the tsunami struck.
`It was more than 20,000 turtle hatchlings ready to go,` says Kannangari. Of those, only 400 were saved.
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| Security |
Several underworld figures nabbed
Sunday, 16 January 2005 - 4:03 AM SL Time
Police have intensified their anti-crime operation during the past few months and several underworld characters like contract killers operating in Colombo and in the suburbs have been arrested.
Meanwhile the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) has detailed several teams to arrest two more underworld characters who escaped from a safe house at Modera in which they were hiding along with other gang members when the police swooped down last Friday.
Two notorious underworld characters known as Priyantha Kulasekera alias Sella-Kaluwa and W. Gamage Ruwan Pushpakumara alias Thiyagoda Ruwan, died when they were fired upon by their own underworld members hiding in an isolated house at Rajasinghe Mawatha, Modera.
In fact, Sella-Kaluwa and Thiyagoda Ruwan had led the police party to the safe house last Friday. It all happened when the CCD officers raided a farm house at Kiriwanthudawa in Kahathuduwa area last week in search of notorious underworld prisoners who escaped from the Matara Prison during the tsunami which destroyed the Matara prison complex.
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Hands off tsunami kids, S.Lanka rebels warned
Friday, 14 January 2005 - 8:28 PM SL Time
COLOMBO, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The United Nations Children`s Fund has received reports Sri Lanka`s Tamil Tigers are recruiting children displaced by last month`s devastating tsunami as soldiers, and has warned the rebels to stop preying at shelters.
UNICEF`s Sri Lanka representative Ted Chaiban said he had received reports of three children recruited in the Indian Ocean island`s east, where the Tigers control large pockets of jungle. two had since been reunited with family.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) relied heavily on child soldiers during their bloody two-decade war for autonomy, an ethnic conflict which has been in limbo for three years thanks to a ceasefire.
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President puts military in charge of relief operations
Friday, 14 January 2005 - 7:29 PM SL Time
In an extraordinary move on January 3, Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga placed all relief efforts on the island under the control of the armed forces. The following day, in a decision that received no publicity, she imposed a state of emergency in the affected areas, providing the military with extensive powers.
Admiral Daya Sandagiri, a close confidante of the president, who was recently appointed Chief of Defence Staff, has been installed as overall commander of relief operations. In turn, he has appointed rear admirals, air commodores, major generals, brigadiers and colonels as military coordinators in each of the districts hit by the December 26 tsunami.
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Business / Economy News
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World Bank: First take grants, loans later
Sunday, 16 January 2005 - 3:57 AM SL Time
The World Bank has encouraged Sri Lanka to first accept the grant aid available in the wake of the recent disaster and later take loans, the bank's Country Director, Peter Harrold said yesterday.
He said that this advice has been tendered by the bank's President, James Wolfesohn, during his recent meeting with the president.
Asked whether the pledges made would translate into real commitment, Harrold said that they hoped `that this time at least they would.''
`Pledges had been made not only for Sri Lanka but for the whole region. A sum of US$ 8 billion has been mentioned. I don't know, that seems an awful lot,'' he said.
Harrold said that it was not known how much of the pledges were grants and how much loans. That was not clear.
Many of the countries that have made big pledges like the US, Canada, EU, Britain, etc. did not make loans any more and extend only grant assistance. Other countries like Japan and Australia and institutions like the World Bank and the ADB etc still made loans.
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Need for consensus on important issues
Saturday, 15 January 2005 - 3:37 AM SL Time
The Joint Business Forum in a letter to President, Chandrika Kumaratunga said: The devastation caused to the country, resulting from the Tsunami which ravaged almost the entire coast line, is the worst natural disaster to affect our country. We believe that in this time of crisis, there is a need for all citizens, specially the political leadership to at least temporarily forget the political divide and act in a united effort to rebuild the country as early as possible. In this regard, we feel that the undernoted issues should be addressed.
The J-BIZ consists of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka, the Ceylon National Chamber of Industries, Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Industry of Sri Lanka , the Employer's Federation of Ceylon , the Exporters Association of Sri Lanka , National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka , International Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Banker's Association.
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Medical assistance and drugs not monitored ' GMOA
Saturday, 15 January 2005 - 3:12 AM SL Time
The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) accused the Health Ministry of not keeping tabs on the medical assistance given in Tsunami affected areas. Assistant Secretary of the Association Dr. Uditha Herath said yesterday that it was high time the Ministry figured out a way of monitoring the medical assistance given to the North and East and coastal areas as there were persons distributing drugs which had exceeded their expiry date.
He accused the Ministry of not having control over the situation. There have been so many groups coming over'foreign groups brought down by NGOs, those who come through the Ministry of Health and personal friends of Sri Lankans, who have come here with medical aid for the affected people and other voluntary groups.
Herath pointed out that there should be a system to identify the medical personnel who worked in the IDP camps as well as a method to examine the quality of the drugs that were being brought to the country for those people.
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| Sports News
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Arjuna throws down the gauntlet
Saturday, 15 January 2005 - 3:46 AM SL Time
Former Sri Lankan cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga has written to President Chandrika Kumaratunga vehemently opposing the appointment of Thilanga Sumathipala as the chairman of the Tsunami Aid Project, a scheme launched by Sri Lanka Cricket to help the tsunami victims.
To support his claims, that Sumathipala is ineligible to hold the position, Ranatunga brings up four pertinent points in requesting the immediate removal of the ex-cricket chief. In his letter, the World Cup winning captain notes, that Sumathipala is facing charges in the court for helping an underworld gangster to leave the country on a fake passport. He also points out that the CID is investigating the alleged misuse and misappropriation of funds of BCCSL by the ex-cricket chief.
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Galle `out of action for a year`
Thursday, 13 January 2005 - 7:24 AM SL Time
`It will take another year before the ground will be ready to host international matches,` said stadium curator Jayananda Warnaweera.
It will also cost £2.3 million for a total renovation, including relaying the pitches establishing a drainage system and building modern stadiums.
Debris from the 26 December catastrophe is still strewn across the ground.
The Galle International Stadium, to give it its full title, is a much-admired seaside venue.
With a historic Dutch-built fort as its backdrop and views of the ocean it is frequently described as one of the most beautiful grounds in the world.
It is the only modern ground for southern Sri Lanka and was used by all three clubs and six schools in the area and has played host to 11 Test matches.
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Aussie PM and Murali sort out differences
Wednesday, 12 January 2005 - 1:45 A SL Time
MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan 11 (AFP) - Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has made his peace with Australian Prime Minister John Howard after the Aussie leader's 'chucker' call.
Asian Cricket Council chief executive Syed Ashraful Huq said the two met in the dressing-rooms after the Asian Tsunami Relief Appeal match here on Monday which raised 14.6 million dollars (11 million US) towards helping the tsunami victims.
Howard last year upset Sri Lankan cricket when he referred to Muralitharan as a `chucker`, over his much-publicised double-jointed bowling action.
Muralitharan subsequently refused to tour Australia with the Sri Lankan team last July.
But Huq, the manager of the Asian XI, said the spirit of goodwill of the charity match had also extended to the post-match celebrations as he introduced Howard to the Asian XI players.
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