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Mangala warns independent media
Thursday, 3 November 2005 - 3:42 AM SL Time
The private electronic media should bear in mind that frequencies licensed to them are valuable state property and the licences are liable to be revoked by the state if guidelines issued to them are violated, former Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera said yesterday.
The minister who is also UPFA candidate Premier Mahinda Rajapakse`s campaign spokesman told a news conference in Colombo last afternoon that the only difference between state property and a country`s TV frequencies were that the latter were not visible to the human eye. Mr. Samaraweera and his UPFA colleagues lashed out at the behaviour of the private media in general, accusing almost all newspapers and TV stations of being in the hands of `bookies` and businessmen prejudiced towards the United National Party.
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Karuna split weakens LTTE hold - UTHR (J)
Thursday, 3 November 2005 - 3:36 AM SL Time
In its latest report, the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), (UTHR (J) has observed that the LTTE had total control of the northern and eastern provinces until the Karuna split.
The report said: `If the peace process has degenerated into a killing spree, averaging more than one a day in early October, it is because there were no working institutional mechanisms to safeguard civilian interests and ensure that they remain primary. The LTTE had an agenda of monopoly control over the North-East, and its monopoly over killings was countenanced until the Karuna split. The manner in which the split was handled took no account of civilian interests. On Norway`s prompting the LTTE`s main faction was given a virtual free hand to crush the Karuna faction, conscript children and kill with impunity. The State while formally agreeing to Norway`s wishes could not resist winking at sections of the security apparatus covertly supporting Karuna. For the people of the East it was the worst of all worlds with several predators, including the State, and no protectors.
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Lanka poll: Rajapaksa needs big lead in Sinhala areas
Wednesday, 2 November 2005 - 8:19 PM SL Time
Mahinda Rajapaksa of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has to get a big lead in the Sinhala majority areas of the country if he is to win the November 17 Sri Lankan presidential election.
With Tamil and Muslim votes slated to go almost en masse to his principal rival Ranil Wickremesinghe of the opposition United National Party (UNP), Rajapaksa has to score very high in the Sinhala-majority areas to make it to the Presidency.
Within the Sinhala-majority area, Rajapaksa is streets ahead of Wickremesinghe in the deep south, an area know as `Ruhuna`. This is simply because he hails from this area. In the deep southern districts of Galle, Matara, Humbantota and Moneragala, Rajapaksa is called `Ruhunu putha` or Son of Ruhuna. But outside Ruhuna, he faces stiff competition. In some districts here, Wickremesinghe is ahead.
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Politics
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GL questions Mahinda`s shift in peace policy
Friday, 4 November 2005 - 2:54 AM SL Time
The country`s economy was in the doldrums and its integrity under threat due to the failure of the government to resume the stagnant peace process, UNP Parliamentarian Prof. G.L. Peiris said yesterday.
Addressing the media at the Opposition Leader`s Office, Prof. Peiris said the US $ 4.4 billion pledged at the Tokyo Donor Conference and the Sri Lanka Development Forum in Kandy were stuck because of the UPFA`s inability to revive the peace process.
'Praising the ceasefire agreement signed by Ranil Wickremesinghe, President Kumaratunga recently said that foreign investments began to flow due to the ceasefire. Investment proposals pouring in are so numerous officials now find it difficult to cope with it. The President also said that because of the CFA many lives were saved,' Prof. Peiris said.
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JVP has become a joke -Vikalpa Kandayama
Friday, 4 November 2005 - 2:53 AM SL Time
Spokesman of the JVP `Alternate Group` (Vikalpa Kandayama) D.R.P.Premachandra, at a press conference in Kandy said that they would be supporting the UNP at the forthcoming presidential election.
Premachandra, an ex-railway worker, described himself as a former member of the `Operations Command` of the Kandy District during the 1988/89 period. Producing a membership card, he said he was in the trade union movement and that was why he held a membership card.
The press conference held at the Keppetipola Waishakaya Dhana Sangraha Samiti Hall on Thursday, was presided by the co-ordinator of the `Alternate Group` Mihira Udumulla.
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Trouble in UNP over Johnston`s actions
Friday, 4 November 2005 - 2:41 AM SL Time
President of the Lanka Private Bus Operators Association (LPBOA) Gemunu Wijeratne Wednesday (2) accused the Kurunegala district parliamentarian Johnston Fernando and Wayamba Provincial Councillor Ruben Silva of forming `bus owners associations` which do not consist of bus owners.
Wjeratne, who was an unsuccessful UNP candidate in the Colombo district at the last general election, mustering only 3,000 votes, charged that both Fernando and Silva, himself holding a top office in another bus association, were involved in extortion of money from bus owners during the previous UNF regime. He condemned the bogus bus owners associations allegedly formed by the UNP parliamentarian and provincial councillor.
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Editorial News
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A tale of many cities
Friday, 4 November 2005 - 2:46 AM SL Time
Paris is in the throes of a crisis. The riots which erupted, when two immigrant boys who attempted to escape an identity check by scaling a wall of an electricity relay station`s wall and were electrocuted in the process, are a manifestation of tension in the poor quarters in and around the city. The violent clashes are said to have rattled the French government; President Jacques Chirac has vowed to probe the boys` deaths.
The riots, according to observers, have laid bare France`s failure to address the problems of poverty and immigration. This is perhaps the best reading of the situation. In cities where affluence and poverty exist, cheek by jowl, such tensions as have manifested themselves in riots in Paris are something to be expected. The hardline law and order policies being given full cry by Sarkozy et al are said to have aggravated the grievances of the immigrant population. The firing of a tear gas canister at a mosque has reportedly irked the Muslims, who are resentful over the ban on headscarf in public schools.
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Clean elections: A question of will
Thursday, 3 November 2005 - 3:39 AM SL Time
When will Sri Lanka cease to be the White Man`s burden' Fifty seven years have elapsed since Independence but we are still dependent on the West to run our own affairs. It is not only the national economy that we cannot manage without foreign help. We cannot even handle our solid waste disposal on our own.
Yesterday, we reported that foreign governments would shower over Rs. 7.5 million on local polls observers for the forthcoming presidential election. Polls observers have been there over the past so many years and issued several reports, the last being the EU polls observers` report on the 2004 general election. But most recommendations they made are still far from being implemented. Their disillusionment and consternation are such that they have vowed not to come back.
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Ranil`s challenge to Mahinda
Wednesday, 2 November 2005 - 2:26 AM SL Time
Opposition Leader and UNP presidential Candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe has renewed his challenge to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse to abrogate the CFA if he doesn`t subscribe to it. If the Prime Minister really believes the CFA is detrimental to the territorial integrity of the country, he has to honour, Mr. Wickeremesinghe says, the oath he has taken under the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution not to support the formation of a separate state within Sri Lanka.
Ranil has, no doubt, scored a debating point over Mahinda. But in the UPFA, it is not only the Prime Minister who is blowing hot and cold and hemming and hawing on the CFA: Before the 2004 general election, where the UNF government was rejected by the people, President Kumaratunga, too, had been very critical of the CFA, which was, she said, a threat to national security. What a brouhaha it was! The PA not just pressed the panic button but sat on it. The LTTE was laying siege to Trinco and surgical strikes on the harbour were imminent, we were told. What a scare she gave us!
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| Security |
Col. Meedin seldom used security provided: Army
Friday, 4 November 2005 - 2:52 AM SL Time
Army spokesman Brigadier Nalin Vitharana said Colonel T.R. Meedin had adequate security but he seldom used it.
He said all senior intelligence officers had adequate security and had been advised to use them at all times.
But Lt. Col. Muthaliph and Colonel Meedin had not made use of the security and that may be one of the main reasons for their assassinations, the Army spokesman added.
A senior police officer said that over 20 persons had been questioned in this connection and three persons already arrested while investigations were continuing.
The officer said that the main suspect had been identified and a special team has been dispatched to Trincomalee to apprehend him.
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Tiger attack on `Thinamurasu` carrying taxi injures four
Friday, 4 November 2005 - 2:41 AM SL Time
Three policemen and a civilian were injured in an LTTE attack on a three wheel taxi carrying bundles of pro-EPDP newspaper `Thinamurasu` at Kopin Junction, Batticaloa yesterday (3) morning.
An EPDP member was transporting the newspapers in the three wheeler from the Batticaloa bus stand for distribution among newsagents with a police guard when the LTTE cadres had fired on the taxi injuring all four occupants.
The injured were admitted to the Batticaloa hospital police said.
The shooting had taken place around 10.30 a.m. Batticaloa police had launched a search operation to arrest the LTTE cadres but they had fled the area immediately afterwards. The search also resulted in police finding 2 T 56 assault rifles believed to be left behind by the fleeing Tigers.
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Bribery accused acquitted after 16 years
Friday, 4 November 2005 - 2:27 AM SL Time
The Colombo High Court Judge Mrs. Rohini Perera, discharged and acquitted H. A. Siripala, a peon attached to the Immigration and Emigration Department, who had been indicted by the Attorney-General`s Department for having solicited and accepted an illegal gratification of Rs. 3,000 from one P. G. Thilak Lukshman Weerasinghe to perform an official duty to wit obtaining a Passport without the applicant tendering the National Identity Card.
This case (B 985/94/HC/1) was filed in the year 1989, sixteen years ago. The first investigation was carried out by the Special Investigating Unit, which was under the supervision of President Ranasinghe Premadasa. The investigations commenced on a petition sent to the President which revealed that as most National Identity Cards of most members of the public have been taken away by armed groups, the Department of Immigration and Emigration was soliciting and accepting bribes to issue passports without National Identity Cards.
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Business / Economy News
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UPFA leaders to claim 300 mn for starring in UNP ads
Friday, 4 November 2005 - 2:51 AM SL Time
UPFA Mahinda Rajapakse`s campaign team yesterday said they would take legal action against the UNP demanding Rs. 300 million each for starring in its political advertisements.
Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the UNP was using parts of statements made by him and his colleagues for political mileage and taking them out of context.
'These ads are being run on television stations which were known to be linked to the UNP,' the Minister charged.
He said unlike the children used in UNP commercials, the government members would demand millions for starring in main roles in these commercials.
However, a Colombo Court recently turned down an appeal by JVP Leader Somawansa Amarasinghe who requested that advertisements telecast using a statement made by him be stopped.
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Ministries under CBK expended 60% of allocations within three months
Friday, 4 November 2005 - 2:44 AM SL Time
The President has expended about 60 per cent of the budget allocations for the ministries she holds in just three months, between July 31 and September 30, a Treasury report said.
The Ministries of Defence, Education, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation, Information and Media, Transport, and Petroleum Resources Development come under the President. The Highways Ministry comes under the Prime Minister.
According to the report, the total expenditure under these heads during the seven months ended July 31 was Rs. 625 million. But expenses skyrocketed to Rs. 2.323 billion within the next three months ended on September 30.
The total amount spent between July to September amounts to Rs. 1.69 billion, 58% of the total budget allocations which is Rs. 2.899 billion.
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Parents claim Rs. 50mn compensation from Durdans hospital
Friday, 4 November 2005 - 2:43 AM SL Time
The parents of an infant have sued Durdans Hospital, Colombo for Rs. 50 million on the death of their baby alleging negligence.
Buddhi Nilanthi Gunaratne and Nilantha Prasad Gunaratne, filed a petition before Colombo District Court, citing Ceylon Hospitals Ltd., Dr. Suren de Silva and Kusuma Peduruhewa as respondents. Durdans Hospital is controlled by the first respondent Ceylon Hospitals Ltd.
The petitioner parents state that after the conception of their second child, they made an Ultra Sound Scan which revealed that the birth can take place earlier than expected. The mother had been admitted to Durdans Hospital on December 09, 2002. The second respondent doctor was in charge of the ward while the third respondent was the nurse there. It had been revealed that some bodily waste inside the womb had blocked the nose and eyes of the baby. CGT reports had revealed that the condition of the baby was unsatisfactory, and indicated the need for a quick caesarean operation. However, after a successful operation, the newborn baby had suffered difficulty in breathing. This was because the nose of the baby was blocked.
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| Sports News
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SL-Kazakh kicks off early, live on TV
Friday, 4 November 2005 - 2:46 AM SL Time
The Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) has made arrangements to grant concessionary tickets to school children to view the upcoming Rugby World Cup (RWC) 2007 Asian Round Qualifier between Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan, at Longden Place on Saturday (Nov 12).
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), SLRFU Dilroy Fernando said that tickets ranging from Rs. 250 for the main pavilion, Rs. 100 for uncovered terraces and Rs. 50 for the opposite section (standing), will be available at the Union office.
Schoolboys drawn from the Western Province will be given tickets at a concessionary rate, Fernando added.
The November 12 Asian Round Qualifier between Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan will be televised on Sirasa TV from 3.30 p.m. according to the SLRFU CEO.
The game will kick off as early as 3.30 p.m., as heavy thundershowers and atmospheric disturbances have been predicted by the Metrological Department on the match day.
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Skipper Atapattu leads Sri Lanka`s revival in must-win game
Friday, 4 November 2005 - 2:44 AM SL Time
Captain Marvan Atapattu struck timely form with 87 as Sri Lanka recovered from a poor start to post 261 all out in a key one-day international against India here on Thursday.
The tourists, who lost the first three games, need a win at the Nehru stadium here to prevent India from taking a decisive 4-0 lead in the seven-match series.
The Indians, electing to field on a hard wicket assisting seam movement and bounce, reduced Sri Lanka to 51-3 by the 11th over before Atapattu led the fightback.
The skipper, who had scored just 22 runs in the first three matches, dropped himself down the order to number five and returned with his 54th one-day half-century studded with seven boundaries.
Atapattu put on 97 for the fourth wicket with Tillakaratne Dilshan (52) and 83 for the fifth with Russel Arnold (32).
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Ranatunga fears 7-0 drubbing
Thursday, 3 November 2005 - 3:38 AM SL Time
Sri Lanka`s former World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga on Wednesday predicted a 7-0 sweep for resurgent India in the current one-day series unless the tourists quickly stop the rot.
Sri Lanka, beaten in the first three games, must win the fourth one-dayer at the Nehru stadium here on Thursday to stay afloat in the seven-match series.
Ranatunga, who led Sri Lanka to victory in the 1996 World Cup, believes poor tactics and lack of commitment by Marvan Atapattu`s men had placed the world`s second-ranked side in a precarious position.
`I am disappointed with a few of our tactics,` Ranatunga wrote in his column for the Press Trust of India. `The bowling and fielding have been unimaginative and routine.
`If the team is honest they would admit Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena alone have been leading the batting charge in recent months.
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