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LTTE assures flexibility
Saturday, 26 March 2005 - 1:26 AM SL Time
LTTE's commitment to maintain the Cease Fire Agreement with integrity and exercising flexibility in the matter of formulating proposals for a joint mechanism, remains undiluted, its political wing leader S. P. Thamilselvan has assured Austria.
He gave the assurance when an LTTE delegation led by him met top Austrian officials in Vienna on Thursday, Tamilnet reported.
Franz Horlberger who heads Austria`s Department for Humanitarian Assistance was quoted as saying that political circumspection, wisdom and responsibility were demonstrated well by the LTTE by being flexible in accepting Norway's text in totality for a joint mechanism with the government of Sri Lanka for post-tsunami management.
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UNP to stage mass protests shortly
Saturday, 26 March 2005 - 12:49 AM SL Time
It is three months since the tsunami and the regrettable truth is that the government has failed to deliver the goods. A further cause for concern is that the details of funds received and how such funds have been spent are shrouded in secrecy. Parliament must be informed of all details of funds received and how such funds have been spent, said Professor G. L. Peiris when he addressed a media briefing at the office of the Leader of the Opposition yesterday.
Yet another factor is that the President has stated that Sri Lanka did not receive any funds while the Central Bank officially has published the amount of tsunami funds received as Rs. 9,000 million plus and has said that of this sum Rs. 1,301 million was received through the Bank of Ceylon and Peoples Bank.
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Voices of the Tamils against the LTTE, stronger than before
Saturday, 26 March 2005 - 12:48 AM SL Time
India`s prestigious Hindu Newspaper says that armed groups fighting political battles must not be allowed to get away with criminal violence by legitimising it in the name of the cause. This is the strong message from the mess in which the Irish Republican Army now finds itself following the murder of Robert McCartney, a Catholic, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Public anger against the group for its alleged involvement in the crime refuses to go away. It says, Instead, the gruesome killing has prompted others to come forward with their own experiences of the IRA`s criminality, ranging from murder and `justice` beatings to extortion. This is unprecedented in a place where the IRA commanded fearful respect until recently. The public reaction forced the group to make a statement admitting that some of its men were directly involved.
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Politics
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National school principal, deputy interdicted
Saturday, 26 March 2005 - 1:30 AM SL Time
The principal and vice principal of the Pannala National School were interdicted yesterday by the Education Ministry for allegedly obtaining cash inducements to admit children to Grade 1 classes.
Presidential Investigation Unit (PIU) Director A.A. Wickramasinghe who conducted the probe said the Ministry sent letters to them informing them of their interdiction yesterday.
Acting on a complaint received from a parent on March 2, the PIU started investigations The parent had allegedly been asked by the principal either to make a payment of Rs. 3000 or have the school land cleared, to get his child admitted to the school. PIU detectives had gone to the school posing as parents.
They also found that five vacancies in each of the five Grade 1 classes at the school had not been filled by the principal, though the admission process should have been completed by February 27.
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Norwegian forum accuses Norway of partiality towards LTTE
Saturday, 26 March 2005 - 12:51 AM SL Time
The newly formed Norwegian Forum has told the Norwegian government that the general consensus among the majority of Sri Lankans, including democratically-minded Tamils, is that Norway's role has been partial towards the LTTE.
While it is possible that this is an incorrect perception created by ground realities, the burden is nevertheless on Norway to allay these fears if it is to be accepted as a facilitator capable of engineering a lasting and permanent solution to the problem.
In a letter sent to the Norwegian foreign minister Jan Petersen the group says `Suspicions regarding Norway's role have been exacerbated due to several issues coming to light. These include the supplying of high powered communication equipment to the LTTE using diplomatic channels (which contravenes the Vienna Convention (1961)) and the apparent training of LTTE cadres at Rena and in Thailand. It is imperative for Norway to come clean on these and other controversial issues if it is to be accepted as a neutral facilitator by a majority of Sri Lankans.`
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AG wants two to hang
Saturday, 26 March 2005 - 12:51 AM SL Time
The Attorney General has sent two reports to the Justice Ministry indicating that the capital punishment imposed on two convicts must be implemented, AG Department sources said yesterday.
The two reports, saying that there was no valid reason for the delay of the execution of the sentence, would be forwarded to President Chandrika Kumaratunga along with two other reports of the convicts for her approval, a senior official of the AG's Department said.
The two reports were compiled by the Attorney General on the request of the Justice Ministry for recommendations on the two convicts.
The AG Department is preparing its recommendations on remaining inmates of death row, he added.
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Editorial News
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Who is to monitor the SLSI'
Saturday, 26 March 2005 - 1:30 AM SL Time
The reported removal of the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Standards Institution, Armyne Wirasinha and its other Board members last week may be an indication of a total shake up of the organisation. There have been allegations recently about some of the standards that it is upholding.
True, Mr. Wirasinha, who rose from being an executive in the Finco Group to be a billionaire businessman of his own by the early 1990s, had served as Chairman of SLSI solely in an honorary capacity taking neither a salary nor an official vehicle from the Government. His proud boast has been that he had turned the organisation within the four years he had served it as Chairman into a self-sustaining body, which can now do without relying on the Government Treasury for its recurrent expenditure, which he terms a 200 per cent improvement in the body.
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A kick in the back of the sick'
Friday, 25 March 2005 - 12:38 AM SL Time
The new law passed by the Indian Parliament to curtail the manufacture of generic versions of patented drugs, has stirred a hornets' nest in the developing world.
Some have claimed that the law is not as restrictive as feared and the generic drugs approved in India could be sold. But now those who sell them will have to pay a licensing fee. There is also said to be provision for the companies that already manufacture generics to go ahead with copying. `But there are relatively tough criteria for such copying, and activists predict that prices for newly invented drugs will be much higher, because drug makers will have the same 20-year patent monopolies as they have in the West. As AIDS patients develop resistance to old drugs, new treatments will become less affordable, the New York Times quoted drug activists as saying.
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A bovine tussle over a lawn
Thursday, 24 March 2005 - 1:01 AM SL Time
The SLFP and the UNP are, true to form, in for a showdown, we are told, on the Town Hall ground, where both parties want to hold their May Day rallies at the same time. There is hardly anything that they don't fight over and this is yet another manifestation of their deep seated political enmity, which has been the bane of this country. Two dogs at the same bone, they say, seldom agree.
The usual practice among parties is to book public venues for their events months in advance. Come an election and the Opposition is left with hardly any place to hold its rallies as the ruling party has booked them all.
Where the Colombo Municipality is concerned, the situation is different: The UNP by virtue of being in power in the council can turn tables on the SLFP. A spokesman for the UNP has said they booked the ground on March 14 and it will be theirs for the rally.
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| Security |
284 killed in clashes between tiger factions since break up
Saturday, 26 March 2005 - 12:50 AM SL Time
Since the former Eastern province LTTE leader of Karuna Amman left the LTTE, in March 3, 2004 around 284 people have bene killed in clashes between the Wanni LTTE and the Karuna Amman group called the Eastern Tigers Organisation.
The first attack took place before one year ago at the Verugal river bank in Vakarai.
After he left the LTTE, Karuna Amman set up a separate organisation, the Eastern Tigers Association and they challenge the LTTE leader Prabakaran.
The Karuna Amman group since then has killed 119 Wanni Tiger cadres including several top rankers like Kaushalyan and six other top supporters. The Wanni Tigers has killed 6, Karuna Amman cadres and 36 civilian supporters of Karuna.
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Army was searching the area for suicide bombers - witness priest
Saturday, 26 March 2005 - 12:49 AM SL Time
Ven. Balagalle Wimalarathana Thera , a witness in Udathalawinna murder case on Thursday alleged the Deputy Solicitor General Palitha Fernando was insulting the Buddhists of the country by saying that the witness priest was giving false evidence before Court.
The witness was called to give when this case was taken up before High Court of Colombo yesterday. The witness was a priest of Sri Sudharshanaramaya of Rammulla, Teldeniya, and also a teacher of Teldeniya National School.
Examined by counsel Anil Silva, the witness said that he had knoew Ratwatte since 1992 and that he had visited Ratwatte's family several times.
`On December 05 2001, the general election day, I went to Kandy hospital to see one of my close relatives who was suffering from a terminal disease. He was the brother of my father and his condition was not satisfactory. I left the temple about 5.15 am and arrived at Kandy about 6.30 am. I visited the patient and left the hospital about 7.30 am. There was a lack of public transport vehicles. I felt hungry and went to a temple called 'Purana Gallen Viharaya' close to Kandy and had my breakfast there.
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LTTE bus overturns killing one
Saturday, 26 March 2005 - 12:48 AM SL Time
An LTTE bus carrying civilians at Puliyankulama on the A9 road overturned injuring 15 passengers and killing one on Thursday (24), police sources in the North said.
The Vavunia police had requested the SLMM to contact the LTTE and get further details on the accident since it had occurred in the LTTE held area but no further information has been received by the police so far sources said. Police believe that the bus had no official registration or insurance.
In another accident on the same day an LTTE motor cyclist had knocked down a woman near Kottamalai Bridge in the Welikanda area. The woman was admitted to the Welikanda hospital with injuries, police said.
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Business / Economy News
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ADB to provide additional assistance for housing
Saturday, 26 March 2005 - 1:43 AM SL Time
The Asian Development Bank(ADB) is preparing a project for Board consideration to provide an additional $40 million, including a grant of $14 million, to continue reconstruction in conflict affected areas in the North and East the visiting Vice President of the ADB Jin Liquan said in Colombo yesterday. The board paper will be completed by the end of this month. He said that the assistance will focus on restoring community based infrastructure and livelihoods, as well as roads and water supply systems.
`Rebuilding permanent residences will commence during the second phase and the ADB will streamline the progress based on the needs assessment and disburse the funds very fast,` he said.
ADB set up an Asian Tsunami Fund in February, and plans to transfer a total of $600 million from its own resources, to be disbursed as grant assistance. Out of these funds $150 million have been earmarked for Sri Lanka.
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Pakistani envoy stresses importance of new mechanism to stop CD piracy
Saturday, 26 March 2005 - 1:43 AM SL Time
PAKISTAN High Commissioner Bashir Wali Mohmad expressed his serious concern over the CD pirating business in South Asia and stressed the importance of introducing a new mechanism within the legal framework to bring prices within the purchasing power of the South Asian world population.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily News, the High Commissioner said that mere implementation of strict copyright laws in individual countries in South Asia will not eliminate the CD piracy in the long run.
`Along with the implementation of copyright laws, South Asian countries with representatives of record label companies should sit together and discuss a mechanism to bring the price of original material within the reach of South Asians who have far less purchasing power that of other developed countries,` the Commissioner said.
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Don`t interfere: Business leaders warn govt.
Saturday, 26 March 2005 - 1:29 AM SL Time
Amidst moves by the government to present a bill in parliament to increase private sector salaries by Rs. 1000 from next month and increase the employers` contribution to the ETF by 0.5 percent, business leaders have warned the government not to interfere with the private sector salaries.
Addressing a news conference organised by the Joint Business Forum (J-Biz), which consists of the main private sector chambers, Employers Federation Director General Gotabhaya Dasanayake said imposing such a regulation would hamper the development of the private sector and ultimately lead to instability.
He said from 1979 successive governments had not directly intervened in affairs connected to private sector wages except in 2000 when the President ordered a 400-rupee pay hike under Emergency Regulations. It led to a massive unrest in the industry as employees resorted to trade union action demanding salary increments despite employers not being in a position to do so, he said.
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| Sports News
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The laughing stock!
Saturday, 26 March 2005 - 12:53 AM SL Time
The news last Sunday was sketchy but staggering. At least in the papers that I read. Thilanga Sumathipala, the Sri Lankan representative to the recent ICC meeting in New Delhi, had been forced out of the deliberations on the first day by lunch time, when it was revealed that he was not the official nominee to represent Sri Lanka cricket at that meeting.
* Ran the Board much on his own terms
What an absolute scam! Here was a man, rightly or wrongly, who had served as Sri Lanka's nominee at least once before at an ICC meeting in equally questionable circumstances, without ever a question being asked or a furrowed brow being raised by anyone stationed above him in the hierarchy of things. Hence it seemed that Thilanga was an inconvenience cricket had to bear, much on his own terms. One of which being that Sri Lanka Cricket was almost his private fiefdom and he could do much as he liked with it, whether he was its President or not.
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Sri Lanka Cricket hit for a six
Saturday, 26 March 2005 - 12:52 AM SL Time
Minister of Sports Jeevan Kumaratunga dissolved Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Thursday, alleging financial mismanagement, and brought in businessman Jayantha Dharmadasa to run the affairs of the richest sports body in the country as the Interim Chairman. Dharmadasa runs Nawaloka Group, a leading business establishment and has also functioned as the chairman of Sri Lanka Film Corporation.
`I have had so many complaints saying that there is financial mismanagement at Sri Lanka Cricket, and this time when I got their accounts I went through them very carefully and found out that everything was not right. There has been a lot of wastage by the hierarchy of Sri Lanka Cricket and there seems to be no accountability,` Minister of Sports Jeevan Kumaratunga told 'The Island'.
While Dharmadasa will function as the cricket chief, a former secretary of the board, Tryphon Mirando has been assigned the paper work of the new committee with Kumar Weerasuriya coming in as the treasurer. Weerasuriya is a banker by profession and currently functions as the vice-president of the National Development Bank. Another former cricket chief and the chairman of Hatton National Bank, Rienzie Wijetilleke has been brought in as a member along with Mercantile Cricket president, Adel Hasim in the high profile committee, which has members with a sound knowledge of both cricket and business administration. Damien Fernando is also in the committee as the representative of the Sports Ministry.
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India series bowls Sri Lankan trio
Friday, 25 March 2005 - 12:39 AM SL Time
Leading Sri Lanka cricketers who were eagerly looking forward to the opportunity of playing a season of county cricket, have been forced to abandon their plans after their employers, Sri Lanka Cricket, hastily arranged a five-match ODI series against India for April this year. Sanath Jayasuriya (Somerset), Upul Chandana (Gloucestersh-ire) and Chaminda Vaas (Worcestershire) were all expecting to take part in county cricket in the early part of the summer, but Sri Lanka Cricket's eleventh hour decision has sent their plans awry.
However, Muttiah Muralitharan, who is recovering from a shoulder injury and is contracted for the most part of the summer with Lancashire, could still feature for the Old Trafford county for a third time when he recovers from injury and when free from national commitments. While Vaas has been completely ruled out of any involvement with Worcester, Jayasuriya's and Chandana's county debut seem to have been nipped in the bud.
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