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Justice Minister gets volley of incensed phone calls - Age of consent for sex will not be lowered
Sunday, 18 September 2005 - 2:22 AM SL Time
The Ministry of Justice said yesterday that they had not decided to lower the age of consent for sexual relations from 16 to 13.
Government spokesman Nimal Siripala de Silva told journalists on Friday that Cabinet had agreed to amend the section of the Penal Code dealing with statutory rape to reflect a new age of consent of 13.
Under existing legislation, sex with a girl under 16 years (with or without her consent) is treated as rape. A male party cited in such a case cannot use consent as a defence. Under the amendment, de Silva indicated, the age of the girl would be lowered to 13.
The proposal, which was published in all newspapers yesterday, had resulted in a volley of incensed telephone calls to Justice Minister John Seneviratne. The Ministry of Justice said, however, that such a proposal had not come from them.
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Politics of division, exclusion dominate Sri Lankan polity- Australian MP
Saturday, 17 September 2005 - 11:56 AM SL Time
'Minorities [in Sri Lanka] have progressively seen their rights eroded through ingrained discrimination and segregation...Racism and fear is fostered. It is the politics of division, exclusion and misrepresentation, with the truth hidden from the outside world,' said Australian Member of Parliament for Strathfield, New South Wales, Ms Virginia Judge, during the first session of the 53rd parliament on 15 September in a stinging indictment of the Government of Sri Lanka.
Ms Judge returned from Sri Lanka last week after a fact finding mission to different parts of Sri Lanka including the NorthEast to research a suitable project for funds raised here after the tsunami to assist victims.
She said that although she 'experienced first hand a concerted campaign' to prevent her from visiting the NorthEast, she was able to visit parts of NorthEast where she said: '[I] was able to witness for myself the suffering of this proud people as well as their determined efforts to rebuild their community. The Tamils are a resilient people. I observed that in a remarkable three year period the Tamils developed a virtual state within virtual state within the north and north-east of Sri Lanka.'
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CBK urges UN: Put pressure on the LTTE
Saturday, 17 September 2005 - 4:12 AM SL Time
President Chandrika Kumaratunga told the United Nations and world leaders yesterday that if we are to fight global terrorism, poverty and disease, we must take an integrated approach to security, human rights and development, both nationally and internationally.
'We must act together as a UN system to support and strengthen States that are addressing these challenges comprehensively. This would form an essential part of the mission of the UN for the next decade', she said in a globally televised address at the UN General Assembly to mark the 60th anniversary of the world body.
Referring to the crisis in Sri Lanka, the President called on the UN and world leaders to exert pressure on the LTTE to move away from terrorism and to engage seriously in the peace process.
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Politics
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JHU says it`s not fundamentalist
Sunday, 18 September 2005 - 2:53 AM SL Time
The party comprising exclusively of Buddhist monks ' the JHU ' says that they did not include the status of Buddhism in their 12-point MoU signed with SLFP presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse because the place of Buddhism is guaranteed in the Constitution.
JHU President Ven. Ellawela Medananda Thera told The Sunday Times in an interview that the 12-point MoU relates to issues common to all Sri Lankans, and the party was not a ` fundamentalist ` organisation.
Ven. Medananda Thera also down-played the non-inclusion of any anti-conversion provisions in the MoU, one of the key platforms of the JHU in recent months, which even tabled an Anti-Conversion Bill in parliament to stem the forcible conversion of Buddhists to other faiths, especially `new religions `.
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CBK`s retirement plans
Sunday, 18 September 2005 - 2:25 AM SL Time
President Chandrika Kumaratunga plans to sleep well after she leaves President`s House ten weeks hence, she told a meeting of the SLFP`s USA branch at the Asia Society Headquarters in New York on Wednesday. `All my headaches will then be over and I will once again start drawing and listening to music,` she said.
She also said that she plans to travel to various parts of the world and begin writing her life story.
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Kadir`s seat: No decision yet
Sunday, 18 September 2005 - 2:24 AM SL Time
Government spokesman Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva yesterday said that they were still undecided about who would fill Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar`s vacancy in parliament. Kadirgamar assassinated on August 12 was appointed through the PA national list.
Mrs. Priyani Wijesekera, Secretary General of Parliament, said that she informed Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake of the vacancy. Wijesekera said that there was no deadline to fill the vacancy.
Sources close to Mr. Jayantha Dhanapala, who was on the president`s entourage to the UN General Assembly in New York, yesterday dismissed a report that he will fill Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar`s national list parliamentary seat as ``totally wrong.``
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Editorial News
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Terror and error
Sunday, 18 September 2005 - 2:52 AM SL Time
The collective censure of peace-loving and terror-abhorring Sri Lankans in the aftermath of the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was as much on the international community as it was on the LTTE. The world community, especially the developed world, condemned the brutal act using the strongest term in their lexicon, but the Sri Lankan peace constituency are a disappointed lot today because the commitment shown by the international community in word, is not seen in deed.
How many Amirthalingams, Sambandans, Thiruchelvams, Kadirgamars and the like, will it take for the West to stop this almost nauseating sermonising about the need to fight terrorism, and at the same time call for a peaceful settlement in Sri Lanka ' How many child soldiers will it take for the United Nations to get tough' The Western nations seem to take a soft stance on the LTTE under the assumption that it will push the rebels towards peace. In the context of the time-tested political dictum which says whatever a nation does, it does it in the furtherance of its national interest and whatever a politician does he does it for his self-interest, the approach of the West is nothing surprising.
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Yes and No, President!
Saturday, 17 September 2005 - 4:11 AM SL Time
President Chandrika Kumaratunga has said in New York that a federal solution alone will not usher in peace in Sri Lanka. She is belaboruing the obvious. None would have thought otherwise.
She is right in advocating the transformation of the LTTE into a political force, as a necessary condition for a lasting peace. `And just as the LTTE has a stake in the transformation of the Sri Lankan State, all Sri Lankans have a stake in the transformation of the LTTE,` she has said. The question is: Who is going to bell the big cat' Those who tried to do so are no longer among the living. Remember Rajiv and others'
The focus of successive governments has been only on the transformation of the state or cutting of the Sri Lankan melon and not the need to transform the LTTE. The Provincial Council system created with a view to helping transform the LTTE into a political force is an example. President Kumaratunga herself offered to transform the state into a Union of Region in her Package, in 2000, again in vain. The Tigers spurned it unceremoniously before it fell through. The Oslo Declaration also offered federalism by way of a solution. But the Tigers did rat on its pledge to honour it.
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Criminals` Paradise
Friday, 16 September 2005 - 2:33 AM SL Time
Killers, robbers, paedophiles, and all other anti social elements must be jubilant. There is a place for them in this country where they can live happily, untouched by the law enforcement authorities. Nay, it is not the underworld. It is the areas which the CFA recognises as being under LTTE control. Most of the vehicles robbed in the South end up in those parts of the country. So do the wanted criminals. Two years ago, we reported how a gang of criminals had hired a bus from Kandy to Madhu, murdered the driver, robbed it and fled into the LTTE controlled areas. The LTTE captured them but refused to hand them over to the police, even though the crime had been committed in a `government controlled` area. There are several other cases where suspects vanished into those areas, never to be sighted again.
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| Security |
Do banks routinely exceed the law?
Sunday, 18 September 2005 - 2:57 AM SL Time
Among the powerful and the ordinary alike, there has never been much respect for the rule of law in our country. It might seem a little churlish therefore to single out the banking industry for criticism on a matter that many in the country feel has long been settled - that might is right and justice is what you can get away with.
Yet it was difficult to resist the temptation to yield to a little churlishness, once lured into the subject by a recent news item in The Sunday Times FT on insider trading offences by Duruthu Edirimunni.
It was a powerful piece of reporting in its suggestiveness of an atmosphere, permeating at the Securities Exchange Commission, of pandering to a select few especially its own, perhaps to the detriment of the institutional building role with which it is charged. The report also succeeded in exposing an underling attitude of fear, cowardice, and cynicism among analysts and brokers.
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Defiant LTTE promotes Bala`s book despite new British laws
Sunday, 18 September 2005 - 2:49 AM SL Time
Is the LTTE, banned here as a foreign terrorist organisation, and its supporters deliberately defying Britain`s anti-terrorism laws'
The Sri Lanka Government and some organisations that have sprung up here seem to think so.
Sri Lanka has protested to the British authorities about the announced launch of `War and Peace`, authored by LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham, who lives in England. The book, among other things, not only sets out the violent history of the LTTE but also strongly supports its actions.
The sale of his book on Saturday evening, on the death anniversary of Thileepan, an LTTE cadre who died during a fast in Jaffna, coincides with the sale of videos and other promotional material at the Greenford Hall in north-west London.
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Lady doctor and baby son brutally killed in Kandy
Sunday, 18 September 2005 - 2:49 AM SL Time
A lady doctor and her baby son were brutally knifed to death in their residence in Kandy last morning, Police said. The Police arrested the doctor-husband soon after. Police had noticed that the husband who was returning home while the police were carrying out investigations, made an attempt to reverse his car and escape.
He was being questioned in detail last night about the incident. Chandani Danthasinghe, 30, had deep cuts in the back of her neck, while her six-month-old infant had cuts in the neck. The bloodstains indicated that the lady was killed in the bathroom upstairs and then dragged downstairs.
Kandy Additional Magistrate Ms. G.B. Ranasinghe and Judicial Medical Officer A.B. Seneviratne held the examinations while further investigations are being conducted by the Kandy Police Crimes Division. Dr. (Ms.) Danthasinghe was residing in Lady Gordon`s Drive, while her husband was attached to the Diyatalawa Government Hospital.
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Business / Economy News
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Elections and shareholder value
Sunday, 18 September 2005 - 2:52 AM SL Time
Our columnist advises investors to wait until a clearer picture emerges about the outcome of the presidential poll and argues that lack of economic and social stability will result in fluctuating company earnings.
As far as the Sri Lankan political environment is concerned, the forthcoming presidential elections is one of the most important elections and I believe that it will affect shareholder value.
Shareholder value
National level elections can influence the following factors which will in turn affect shareholder value.
* Business risk
*Macro economic
factor
*Social stability
Business risk
One of the reasons why the Colombo bourse does not always reflect its true value is because the market is perceived as high risk. As a result confidence is low and therefore stocks are at times valued less than what they should be. A contributor for this phenomenon is the fact that there is a risk of war in the country. Even though there is no war at the moment due to the ceasefire agreement which is in place, the risk of it does tend to continue. A clear form of minimising the risk would be reviving and strengthening the peace process and moving towards a sustainable permanent solution.
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Softlogic in $25m property project
Sunday, 18 September 2005 - 2:50 AM SL Time
The Softlogic Group is actively pursuing property development with a US $25 million investment, planning to tie up with an international supermarket chain and is on the lookout for acquisitions complementing its IT related businesses.
'We are putting up a very upmarket shopping and apartment complex near Liberty Plaza in Colpetty and we plan to bring in a very upmarket departmental store as well,' Ashok Pathirage, Chairman, Softlogic Group said. He said the group is also actively looking for suitable acquisitions, which complement its existing businesses, in a bid to grow faster in a short period of time.
'We want to grow faster and bigger in a short period of time. We are looking for acquisitions and are aggressively focused in this area and want to acquire businesses in similar industries or acquire related businesses,' he added. He said that presently the company is finalising the Urban Development Authority approvals for the commercial and apartment complex and will start building by next January. The investment for the project is estimated at some US $25 million and the extent of the land is 90 perches.
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Govt. loan facility to rice mill owners
Saturday, 17 September 2005 - 4:10 AM SL Time
The Minister of Agriculture, Rathnasiri Wickramanayake is prepared to solve problems facing rice mill owners. Problems need permanent solutions and not palliatives he stressed, at a mill owners union meeting held in the agriculture ministry.
The minister stressed the need for using modern technology for preserving the quality of milled rice.
The Agriculture ministry secretary Tissa Waranasuriya said 482 mill owners were provided loans worth around Rs. 500 million, with loan interest rate reduced from in 12% to 7%.
The co-operation of the government as well as the private sector is essential in purchasing paddy from the farmer, the secretary stressed.
G. D. S. Somachandra, secretary of the Mill Owners Union said 400 union members in 10 districts including Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Ampara and Gampaha have relied faith on the new minister Mr. Wickramanayake in solving their problems.
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| Sports News
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Nalanda College goes favourites at OWSC ?Sixers?
Sunday, 18 September 2005 - 2:55 AM SL Time
The 13th annual schools (six-a-side) invitation cricket tournament organized by the Old Wesleyites Sports Club will be held on October 1 and 2 at Campbell Park.
This year there will be three teams from the North ' Vavuniya, Jaffna and Trincomalee. They will be afforded with accommodation at Wesley College hostel.
The Principal of the school amiable M.A.P. Fernando is helping to bring about an understanding among all races via cricket. Neighbours Nalanda Vidyalaya, are the defending champions. They have been dominating and will go flat out to retain it.
Runners-up, St. Joseph`s, a well-knit side. Besides Nalanda won it in 1996, 1998, year 2000. Kalutara Vidyalaya gave a sterling performance to bag the Lemonade Trophy in 1994.
The draw:
Group `A`: Isipatana ' St. Joseph`s bye Lumbini, Trincomalee Dist-Zahira Maradana: bye Nalanda, De Mazenod ' Dharmapala bye President`s Rajagiriya, Holy Cross ' Joseph`s Vaas bye Wesley.
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Murali: I have nothing to do with bar dancer
Sunday, 18 September 2005 - 2:25 AM SL Time
Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan on Friday dismissed media reports which have suggested that he was involved with a Bombay-based bar dancer, who has been investigated for her links with India`s betting mafia. Muralitharan issuing a strongly worded statement rubbished allegations in the Indian and certain local media segments, which suggested that he was a frequent visitor to the Bombay bar, where Tarannum Khan performed.
`These allegations are shocking and totally baseless,` said Muralitharan, who is the second highest wicket taker in cricket, in a release which he put out through Sri Lanka Cricket having consulted his lawyers. India`s Criminal Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is inspecting the dancer`s links with bookmakers in Bombay after income tax officials discovered US $ 50,000 after raiding her home.
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Police arrest bar girl in match-fixing probe
Saturday, 17 September 2005 - 4:38 AM SL Time
ICC tips Indian cops on bar girl`s links with bookies in massive investigation
Friday, September 16, 2005 (Mumbai): Mumbai police Friday arrested former bar girl Tarannum Khan who is allegedly involved in cricket match-fixing and betting racket.
She is believed to have links with various bookies. Police suspect she may also have links with the underworld.
Police raided Tarannum`s house at Andheri in Mumbai early this morning and arrested her at 5.30 am (IST).
She has been booked under the Gambling Act of the Indian Penal Code. Police are questioning Tarannum and will take her to court by 3 pm (IST).
After Tarannum admitted her involvement in betting in of the cricket matches, police are now trying to put together the sequence of events.
Bollywood actor Aditya Panscholi was questioned by the police on Thursday about allegations that he had introduced Sri Lankan cricketer Muthaiah Muralitharan to Tarannum.
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