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Colombo Internatonal Airport - Possible venue for talks
Wednesday, 7 September 2005 - 8:57 PM SL Time
With the government refusing to hold talks in Killinochchi or at a venue outside Sri Lanka and with LTTE`s repeated preference for Killinochchi or a venue outside Sri Lanka , The Norwegian government has decided to take a flight of fancy by suggesting , the Colombo International Airport as the venue for talks between the two parties.
In a statement issued from Oslo the Norwegians who have come under severe criticism for their partiality towards the LTTE say they have determined that the only possible venue is the Colombo International Airport. Norway says 'This venue is in Sri Lanka, and hence should be acceptable to the government of Sri Lanka.'
The statement also say since any travel out of the country by the LTTE would have involved several hours of transit at the Colombo International Airport. Hence we draw the conclusion that this venue also should be acceptable to the LTTE.
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Ranil pledges to restore Parakramabahu era
Wednesday, 7 September 2005 - 2:41 AM SL Time
UNP Leader and Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe pledged yesterday that if elected as president he would take the country towards a Prarakaramabahu era.
Addressing a meeting at party headquarters Sirikotha to mark the 59th anniversary of the UNP, Mr. Wickremesinghe expressed confidence that there would be a UNP president to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the party and as president he would rebuild the country.
He said previous UNP leaders who led the country into independence had a dream and he would carry forward that dream of building a truly Sri Lankan nation where all communities lived in peace and harmony.
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US based LTTE front in appeal on behalf of Katrina victims
Wednesday, 7 September 2005 - 2:36 AM SL Time
The LTTE front organization, the TRO, based in the United States, has made an appeal to help the victims and people displaced by Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans
TRO/USA which is head-quartered in Cumberland, Maryland, has made the appeal through its website.
A website noted for LTTE propaganda has quoted TRO President Dr Ranjinathan as saying ``Our target is to collect US$25k-$35k. With the number of inquiries we have had from expatriate Tamils in the US and in some other countries, and the offers of help, I strongly feel we can achieve this target,` The posting on the TRO website says `TRO is very grateful for the tremendous help provided by American people during Tsunami and wishes to express its sympathy for the victims of Katrina and encourages all of you to help with Katrina relief efforts,`
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Politics
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Mahinda - JVP deal puts Janadasa in the soup
Thursday, 8 September 2005 - 2:09 AM SL Time
President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Tuesday rapped Lake House Chairman Janadasa Peiris for reporting the agreement between Premier Mahinda Rajapakse and the JVP. Informed sources said that President Kumaratunga warned him that he would have to face the consequences if the report was not authentic.
Peiris, a long standing party loyalist is believed to have explained that the Lake House reports on the deal were accurate and the private-owned print and electronic, too, extensively reported on the deal. The two parties are expected to finalise the deal today. (SF)
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Saliya did not leave the UNP, he was removed: SB
Wednesday, 7 September 2005 - 2:45 AM SL Time
Former UNP strongman and Minister, S.B. Dissanayake said his brother Saliya Dissanayake leaving the UNP was a great consolation to him and his family.
In a letter sent to Kalutara district UNPer Dr Rajitha Senaratne, Mr. Dissanayake said that his brother, who obstructed the fight to obtain his release from prison, did not leave the UNP but was removed from the party.
S.B. Dissanayake sent the letter, after coming to know that his brother, who is a Central Provincial Council member decided to support Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse at the Presidential election.
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Brahimi meets CBK, but says no comment on talks
Wednesday, 7 September 2005 - 2:42 AM SL Time
United Nations special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi held discussions with President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Monday evening in relation to the current state of the peace process .
Although details of the meeting were not available agency reports indicated the two were expected to discuss a possible role for the UN in the peace process.
When the Daily Mirror contacted the presidential secretariat and the government peace secretariat on the discussion held between the President and Mr. Brahimi both offices would not comment saying they did not have details. But other sources said the discussion centred on the peace process and Norway`s role.
Mr. Brahimi, who earlier in the day had met Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, was in Sri Lanka on the invitation of President Kumaratunga.
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Editorial News
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Don`t torture the public
Thursday, 8 September 2005 - 2:11 AM SL Time
If Sri Lanka has achieved self-sufficiency, it is in political circuses. Hardly a day passes without a display of political gimmicks by one party or another. May Day is the worst, when politicians lead workers by the nose, straddling their backs. At other times, party supporters fill in for workers and shoulder political derriere of their choice in public. They seem to enjoy playing beasts of burden to their political masters so unashamedly. Is it that he, who coined the not-so-complimentary sobriquet, swinish multitude, had Sri Lankan hoi polloi in mind'
What is at issue, however, is not incorrigibility or servitude of the multitude. It is the suffering that the public is subjected to because of roadshows. It was only a few weeks ago, that the UNP completed its grand march from Devinuwara to Colombo, having caused tremendous inconvenience to the people, mostly the tsunami affected, all the way for days. (The tsunami victims must have wondered where on earth those marchers had been at the hour of their need following the disaster.)
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`Jayewardenestein`s monster`!
Wednesday, 7 September 2005 - 2:38 AM SL Time
We Sri Lankans have one trait in common. We go for things that we cannot afford or handle. The most vertically challenged person drives the biggest vehicle in town. We fall for the biggest television set and pay for it for the rest of our lives in installments. Small is never beautiful to us - bigger, we believe, the better. We are a tiny nation with perhaps the biggest ego on this planet. Look at the number of Sri Lankans who want to set world records by pulling trucks with teeth, dancing non stop for days on end and the like.
It is this trait which is manifest in the creation of political institutions as well. We have the biggest cabinets and the most powerful presidency in the world. Poor Bush pales into insignificance in comparison to Sri Lanka`s head of state in terms of powers vested with the presidency. Clinton had to face a legal wrangle over such a flimsy matter as his affair with Monica. But not here! Our presidents are not only above the law but are a law unto themselves. The architect of Sri Lanka`s executive presidency once bragged that the only thing that he couldn`t do was to make a woman a man and vice versa. But his critics say he rendered all his parliamentarians a gender confused lot by obtaining undated resignation letters from them!
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Rathu Sahodarayas for a blue president
Tuesday, 6 September 2005 - 1:50 AM SL Time
Many a political observer expected Chandrika to return from China and do a `Katrina` in the SLFP. They anticipated fireworks at the party`s Central Committee meeting on Sunday with some party heavyweights taking on one another. But nothing of the sort happened. She has exuded political maturity in handling the Mahinda-JVP alliance. Although the JVP left the UPFA in a huff and is disparaging her in public, she was not so na`EFve as to oppose a political pact between Mahinda and her bete noire, whose support is vital for the SLFP at the presidential election.
Chandrika herself did likewise in 1994, by getting the JVP to pull out of the race. In 1999, she failed to secure their support and the JVP Presidential Candidate Nandana Gunathilake entered the fray. The results were as follows:
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| Security |
Gang held with of heroin
Thursday, 8 September 2005 - 2:08 AM SL Time
Police commandos yesterday apprehended three persons, allegedly connected with the LTTE and recovered a kg of heroin, during a raid at Maligawatte. A senior police spokesman said that the police party found photographs of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran with the suspects. Initial inquiries revealed that a gangster identified as `Football` Roshan and other gangsters, based in the Maligawatte area, were aware of the heroin transactions.
Police are investigating possible links between the suspects and the LTTE.
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Airman dies in road mishap
Wednesday, 7 September 2005 - 2:44 AM SL Time
A Leading Airman, attached to the Sigiriya Air Force camp, was run over by a lorry in Naula on the Matale ' Dambulla main road, yesterday morning.
The victim, Dushantha Abeygunasekara was heading towards the Air Force camp at Sigiriya on his motorcycle, when he had collided head-on with the speeding lorry at Nikulabibile junction in Naula.
OIC Naula Police Ajith Wansanatha said the roads were a little slippery due to heavy rains in the area, the previous night.
The lorry driver and the vehicle were taken into custody, to be produced in court.
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Two LTTE cadres kidnapped and killed at Ragama
Wednesday, 7 September 2005 - 2:40 AM SL Time
Two youths believed to be linked to LTTE intelligence operations and working at a plastics factory in Enderamulla were forcibly taken and killed at Ragama on Monday night by an unidentified gang who posed as police.
The victims identified as Tirupan Rajah (19) and Muttuwelu Jegadeegan (23) were forcibly taken away by a gang of seven that had stormed the plastics factory around 9.30p.m.
The gang claiming to be policemen in civies had told the factory owner the two youths were wanted for questioning, police said.
One of the gang was reportedly clad in a police uniform and carrying a gun.
The bullet riddled bodies of the two youths were found tied to a tree trunk in Kurukulawa area in Ragama yesterday morning.
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Business / Economy News
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Trade Chambers react strongly to JVP proposals on economic policy changes
Thursday, 8 September 2005 - 2:12 AM SL Time
The JVP at its recent media briefing stated that its 12 point proposal had been accepted by Presidential candidate Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. `The Island` sought the views of chambers on the JVP proposal, which said that the economic policy based on an open economy be replaced.
Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Deva Rodrigo, said that the statement not to accept the present liberal open economy has very far reaching consequences. He did not wish to comment untill he receives confirmation on what was exactly meant by such a statement.
Daya Bollegala, President of the Institute of Personnel Management said that as a matter of policy the institute does not get involved in issuing press statements on controversial issues, they added prefer to remain independent.
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Exports grow by 10.7% to US $ 560 mn, Imports growth shrinks in July
Thursday, 8 September 2005 - 2:12 AM SL Time
Export earnings grew by 10.7 per cent to US dollars 560 million in July 2005 outperforming the 2.5 per cent growth recorded in July 2004. Cumulative exports for the first seven months of 2005 recorded a growth of 11.4 per cent from US dollars 3,112 million in 2004 to US dollars 3,466 million in 2005.
Imports grew at a relatively lower rate of 8.5 per cent in July 2005 to reach US dollars 721 million in July 2005 from US dollars 664 million recorded in July 2004. Overall imports for the first seven months grew by 10.1 per cent to US dollars 4,838 million in 2005 from US dollars 4, 396 million in 2004.
The higher growth in exports was instrumental in limiting the trade deficit only to a marginal widening in July 2005. Thus the deficit increased only by 1.6 per cent to US dollars 161 million in July 2005. The trade deficit for the first seven month was US dollars 1,372 million compared with a deficit of US dollars 1,285 million in the comparable period in 2004. Despite this, the overall balance of payments position turned around from a deficit of US dollars 223 million to a surplus of US dollars 134 million by the end of July 2005, reflecting the benefits of private remittances, which grew by 23 per cent in the first seven months, official inflows to the government and the benefits from the debt relief. Consequently, official international reserves increased from US dollars 2,196 million in December 2004 to US dollars 2,213 million in July 2005.
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Train strike called off
Wednesday, 7 September 2005 - 2:42 AM SL Time
After a prolonged deadlock between Ministry and union members the week-long train strike launched by the Locomotive Operating Engineers Union (LOEU) was called off yesterday.
LOEU General Secretary K. A. U. Konthasingha said they had decided to temporarily call off the strike after discussions and train services would be back to normal by this morning.
Railways Ministry Secretary K. Saputantri said that Minister Felix Perera determined to thrash out the dispute between various grades within the Department concerning salary anomalies, was making plans to introduce a new salary structure to be decided among the railway unions themselves.
He said the National Council of Administration had presented guidelines to be followed and a draft was being drawn up to be presented to the unions.
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| Sports News
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Sri Lanka capable of finishing among first three
Thursday, 8 September 2005 - 2:09 AM SL Time
The Sri Lanka Sevens rugby team, led by Kandy Sports Club`s dynamic wing-three-quarter Sanjeewa Jayasinghe is confident of finishing among the first three teams at the`A0Singer-SriLankan Airlines Asian Region Sevens which will be held here from September 9 to 11, (Friday-Sunday). The event is organized by Kandy Sports Club for the seventh consecutive year.
The Sri Lankan ruggerites were seen practicing hard at the NIttawella grounds on Tuesday morning and evening under the watchful eyes of George Simpkin.`A0Sri Lanka, who won the Plate under the leadership of Radika Hettiarchchi last year, are capable of doing much better than last year. `A0Team Manager Jude Dimthri said that the side is looking good and the players are capable of beating their group teams.`A0 `We have the fire power and home advantage and all the players are fit and willing to produce good rugby,` he said.
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Twenty-four schools to contest cricket Sixes
Wednesday, 7 September 2005 - 2:43 AM SL Time
The 13th Invitation inter-school Lemonade Cup cricket Sixes organized by the Old Wesleyites Sports Club (OWSC) and sponsored by Ceylon Cold Stores (CCS) is due to be held on October 1 and 2 at Campbell Park. The tournament as in the past will be conducted on a knockout basis and will be played on a matting surface starting from 8.00 a.m. on both days.
Parakrama Wijemanne, president of the OWSC briefing the press said that the tournament is a much looked forward to event in the schools cricket calendar and conducted with the blessings of the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association. As in the past, 24 teams have been selected to participate in the event sponsored by CCS for the past 12 years. He further stated that the sponsors have agreed to support the tournament for a further three years.
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Vidyaratna - school boxing champs
Wednesday, 7 September 2005 - 2:37 AM SL Time
Vidyaratna University College, Horana secured their second championship title for the year 2005 when they outdid the defending champs, Seevali MMV, Ratnapura, to win the Sri Lanka Schools` Boxing Championship, conducted by the Ministry of Education and organised by the Schools` Boxing Association at Sugathadasa Stadium on Monday.
Having proved their ability in the T.B Jayah Boxing Championship recently, where the Horana lads won the championship, the stage was well set for the Vidyaratna University College to clinch a double.
Vidyaratna teenagers, rallying round their pugilist prodigy A.C. Chandrasiri, were on a song and dance at the Sugathadasa Stadium. They won seven medals, namely, 4 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze.
Each school was allowed to contest in eight categories and Vidyaratna College excelled on seven occasions to earn a total of 32 points.
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