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Rain forces helicopter carrying Sri Lanka`s prime minister to make emergency landing
Friday, 11 November 2005 - 8:16 PM SL Time
A helicopter carrying Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse to a presidential campaign rally in eastern Sri Lanka was forced to make an emergency landing Friday due to bad weather. No one was injured.
But it proved to be a big event for hundreds of school children.
The pilot - faced with driving rain and low visibility - landed the helicopter in a rice field next to the Sri Ratnadoya Maha Vidyalaya school in Ratnapura district, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of the capital, Colombo.
Hundreds of school children streamed out of their classrooms to see the helicopter. When they and their teachers saw the prime minister, they thought he had come to address a local rally.
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SLRC offers channel for live debate
Friday, 11 November 2005 - 4:44 AM SL Time
The State owned Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation yesterday requested the two main presidential candidates to allow the SLRC to host their public debate.
This came after Prime Minister and UPFA Presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse yesterday officially accepted the challenge thrown by UNP leader and Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe for a live, televised debate on current issues facing the nation on the eve of a crucial presidential poll.
In a letter to both candidates, Rupavahini Chairman M. M. Zuhair said under Section 117 (3) of the Presidential Elections Act No 15 of 1981, as amended by Act No 16 of 1988, it was the duty of the SLRC Chairman to provide the facilities for this purpose on SLRC channels.
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Indian model is ideal sangaree queries JVP stand on federal solution
Friday, 11 November 2005 - 3:37 AM SL Time
TULF leader Vinayagamorthy Anandasangaree in a letter to the General Secretary of the JVP Tilvin Silva on Wednesday claimed that the JVP has a clean record of not having not harmed a single Tamil or a Muslim the party had not even thrown on them and no .... inflammatory speeches that could promote dissension among various communities the letter said. Yet, the party has been branded as a communal party opposed to other minority groups. Anandasangaree blamed sections of the Tamil media directly or indirectly controlled by the LTTE for being responsible for this. They do not hesitate to condemn everyone opposed to the views held by the LTTE he said.
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Politics
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Kotelawala demands Rs. 1 billion damages from Mangala
Saturday, 12 November 2005 - 4:34 AM SL Time
Ceylinco Consolidated Chief, Lalith Kotelawala is demanding Rs. 1 billion as damages from UPFA Campaign Manager for Premier Mahinda Rajapakse, Minister Mangala Samaraweera for allegedly defamatory statements made at a press conference on Thursday (10).
Mr. Kotelawala sent his letter of demand to the Minister through his lawyer Thushari Weerasinghe yesterday.
A media release from Ceylinco Consolidated said that the letter had been sent demanding from the Minister damages for a statement made at the penultimate campaign news conference of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance which was published in the Daily Mirror of November 11, 2005.
Mr. Samaraweera had stated that Mr. Kotelawala is attempting to create racial and religious tension in the country, by portraying the Prime Minister as a Candidate advocating religious and ethnic chauvinism.
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Presidential candidate Aruna de Silva to support Wickremesinghe
Saturday, 12 November 2005 - 4:32 AM SL Time
United Lalith Front Presidential Candidate Aruna de Silva yesterday pledged to support UNP Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinge at a UNP rally in Nugegoda yesterday.
Mr. De Silva said he endorsed Mr. Wickremesinghe`s policies and therefore decided to support him. The crowd and the supporters of UNP cheered when the announcement was made.
Mr. Wickremesinghe who addressed the rally said that he will not implement any solution to the ethnic problem that would pose a threat to the territorial integrity of the country.
Addressing a public rally at Nugegoda Mr. Wickremesinghe said that it is essential to give wide powers to any regional administrative bodies to bring peace to the country.
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Mahinda appoints Dullas to liaise
Saturday, 12 November 2005 - 4:14 AM SL Time
Prime Minister and UPFA Presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse has appointed Dullas Alahapperuma to liaise with the UNP Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe`s appointed representative on the public television debate.
In a letter, regarding the debate, addressed to the Opposition Leader, the Prime Minister Thursday said:
`Your letter dated 7th November 2005, in regard to a public debate in the run up to the Presidential Election of 17th November 2005, was received by my office on the evening of 8th November 2005.
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Editorial News
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Big cats observing sil
Saturday, 12 November 2005 - 4:21 AM SL Time
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has said the people of the North and the East will be given a free choice at the forthcoming presidential election. This decision, the TNA has said, was taken following an agreement with the LTTE.
The Tamil people in the North and East''or anywhere else for that matter''to begin with, don`t need anyone`s permission to exercise their voting rights freely. They don`t need the TNA to tell them that they could do so. If the TNA is really desirous of safeguarding their rights, what it should do is to ask the LTTE to get out of their way and allow them to make an informed decision. The LTTE-held areas must be opened up for others to do political work and educate the people therein on their policies. How else can those trapped in those parts of the country under the LTTE`s jackboot with no communication with the world outside, make an informed decision at a crucial election'
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Drama drawing to a close
Friday, 11 November 2005 - 4:44 AM SL Time
The Presidential election campaign is now drawing to a close while the nation awaits the finale of this political drama in the form of a debate between the two main contenders for the highest position in the land.
Both parties in the election fray understandably express supreme confidence in the victory of their respective candidates. They expect their optimism to spread among the voter community like an infectious disease. They also get the agents and media institutions supporting them to resort to anything, whether ethical or otherwise, to project the expected victory of their parties. The plethora of advertisements, surveys and opinion polls that the people witnessed was the result of these efforts.
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Plunder of state assets
Wednesday, 9 November 2005 - 2:41 AM SL Time
Of an election, what is always calculated is only the direct cost. The indirect costs or external costs defy assessment, the abuse of state property being one, as politicians and their bureaucratic lackeys have over the decades destroyed the tracking systems that once existed in the public service.
Transparency International (TI) has told the media that election propaganda costs the state coffers dearly due to the abuse of public resources for political purposes. The main culprit is the ruling party'in the present instance the UPFA'and the other parties that wield power in provincial councils and local government bodies also help themselves to public resources to further their political interests. This abuse is so widespread and the public are so helpless that it has gone the same way as environmental pollution or bribery and corruption'taken for granted. What cannot be cured, as they say, must be endured!
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| Security |
We trapped and split LTTE, sank their ships, says UNP
Saturday, 12 November 2005 - 4:39 AM SL Time
Sri Lanka`s opposition United National Party this week claimed credit for engineering a split within the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) through the peace process whilst at the same time keeping the movement locked in via an international security net. The UNP also claimed credit for the sinking of LTTE vessels during the peace talks.
UNP stalwart Milinda Moragoda, a close confidante of the party`s Presidential candidate, Ranil Wickremesinghe, was one of the negotiators who represented his government in six rounds of talks with the LTTE between September 2002 and March 2003.
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EU monitoring impact of SC decision
Saturday, 12 November 2005 - 4:28 AM SL Time
European Union Chief Observer, John Cushnahan said in Jaffna yesterday the European Election Observation Mission would assess the impact of the Supreme Court judgement on voting at the cluster polling stations in the North and East.
Mr. Cushnahan said:
'Following the Supreme Court Judgement, we had a meeting with the Elections Commissioner to seek clarification on the implication of this decision on the election process.'In response to our queries, he assured us that the same procedure relating to identification and exercising the right to vote would apply throughout the whole country. He also said he would in consultation with his senior officials ensure that sufficient transport was available to bring voters to the cluster polling stations.
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Remanded for rape of 9 year-old niece
Saturday, 12 November 2005 - 4:13 AM SL Time
A 77-year-old man was remanded till November 20, by the Baddegama Magistrate, Rashmi Singappuli, on Monday (7) on a charge of raping his 9-year-old niece.
The girl, the daughter of a plantation labour couple, had been at home alone when the uncle had come to the house while the parents were at work and had given her 14 rupees and lured her out of the house to an abandoned tea estate where he is alleged to have committed the offence.
The girl`s brother, who too had been away from home at the time, had returned to find the girl missing and on inquiring from a neighbour was told he had seen her going along with her uncle to the abandoned plantation. The brother went in search of the girl and found her being raped by the uncle. He had taken the sister to the grandmother who had examined the girl and found she had been raped.
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Business / Economy News
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Employee in Court for cheating company funds
Saturday, 12 November 2005 - 4:35 AM SL Time
A female employee of a Market Research Organization was produced before Mt. Lavinia Additional Magistrate on Thursday for allegedly cheating company funds.
The Fraud Bureau had arrested Sandya Samanmalee Weerakoon for having failed to handover to the Company Rs. 80,000/= she had collected from company debtors.
The suspect had allegedly manipulated the cash payments, prosecution further stated.
Further inquiry was put off for Januaty 12.
Attorney at Law Mahasen Munasinghe appeared for the complainant.
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Chinese company to construct Matara - Kataragama railway line
Saturday, 12 November 2005 - 4:33 AM SL Time
The Railway Ministry in collaboration with the People`s Republic of China will commence the construction of the Matara- Kataragama railway line shortly.
The Ministry signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) last Thursday in this regard with CITIC International Co-operation, a Chinese company to construct the Matara Kataragama railway line.
The construction of Matara Kataragama railway line will benefit the commuters who will travel to the very remote areas of Matara. It will also speed up the economic development in very distant areas in the southern province, a statement issued by the ministry said.
The railway line will also increase the number of pilgrims who will visit sacred places in the Southern province.
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Mahinda will be rejected with his budget on Nov. 17: Bandula
Friday, 11 November 2005 - 4:46 AM SL Time
The UPFA government`s Budget presented on Tuesday was the biggest fraud perpetrated on the people of this country and it has totally rejected the Mahinda Chintanaya, UNP front liner and finance spokesman Bandula Gunawardena said yesterday.
He told a meeting at Deniyaya that under the circumstance the best that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse could do was to withdraw his manifesto and make a public apology for cheating the people as he had no moral authority to continue speaking on the Mahinda Chintanaya.
'His own Finance Minister has clearly said the proposals in Mr. Rajapakse`s manifesto could not be implemented', he added.
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| Sports News
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Sri Lanka out to topple top-dogs Kazakhstan
Saturday, 12 November 2005 - 4:14 AM SL Time
The crunch return leg match of the Rugby World Cup 2007 Asian Round Qualifiers between hosts Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan will kick off at 3.30 p.m., with the former out to put the record straight after a 19-25 defeat in the first leg match, while the latter will look for a repeat performance at Longden Place (CR & FC grounds), today.
Sri Lanka, led by outside centre Sajith Mallikarachchi, were overpowered in Almaty by the powerful Kazakhstan forward pack and was outscored by five tries to one in the end.
Thus, the onus will be on the home side to turn tables on the tourists with a six-point winning margin and book their place in the next round with a clash against either China or Arabian Gulf, in February-March 2006.
The Sri Lanka pack chosen for Saturday sees only a solitary change, with hard-working CH & FC open-side flanker Dhanushka Perera replacing injured CR & FC skipper Pavithra Fernando (spine injury), while the selectors have made a few crucial positional changes in the outside backs.
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SJC-Ananda ends in tame draw
Friday, 11 November 2005 - 3:41 AM SL Time
Josephians Treshan Rajasooriya and Roshen Silva shared six wickets between them to help dismiss Ananda for 226, five runs behind their first innings total, in their drawn Elephant Lemonade trophy inter school cricket encounter which ended at St. Joseph`s College, ground on Wednesday.
St. Joseph`s batting first scored 231 runs on the first day. Hashan Gunathilaka with a fine knock of 121 runs top scored for St. Joseph`s.
In reply Ananda were bowled out for 226.
Chief Scores:
St. Joseph`s 231 all out (Hashan Gunathilaka 121, Prabuddha Sankalpa 31, Ruchira Herath 4/34, Gayan Rupasinghe 2/44, Malith Gunathilaka 2/55)
Ananda 226 all out (Udara Jayasundara 37, Amal Athulathmudali 28, Ranganath Wijetunga 23, Vishva Wijesuriya 66, Treshan Rajasuriya 3/51, Roshen Silva 3/45, Ashan Perera 2/32)
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Teenager extends Sri Lanka`s misery
Thursday, 10 November 2005 - 3:43 AM SL Time
Sri Lankans put a poor show at Rajkot in their sixth ODI against India as the hosts registered an easy seven wicket win to extend the lead 5-1 in the seven match series.
In an unbelievable display of careless batting, Sri Lanka was bundled out for 196 in the 43rd over. India, led by acting captain Virender Sehwag, reached home with 15.1 overs to spare.
Bowling a modest spell, 19-year old left arm medium pacer, Rudra Pratap Singh claimed four wickets for 35, against a set of batsmen who spinelessly did not stand on a good track, for their own reputation. Having been totally outplayed in the series so far, Sri Lanka had little opportunity to salvage some pride in the last three games but still far beyond their expectations.
Only Tillakaratne Dilshan made an impact among the Lankans with the bat and fielding. Arguably the best fielder in the team at the time, Dilshan played some dazzling shots to please the full but small crowd at Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium at Rajkot.India too lost two quick wickets in the eight and 10th overs for 57 runs but recalled Mohammed Kaif (38 not out) and that stylish left-hander Yuviraj Singh (79 not out) got them home by putting an unfinished partnership of 105 runs for the fourth wicket. Yuviraj played some delightful shots to include nine fours and three sixes in his 67-ball stay at the crease while Mohammed Kaif taking the green route to send three of the deliveries to the boundary.
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