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Kohona admits to no love lost between govt, LTTE Sunday, 15 October 2006 - 8:40 AM SL Time The head of the government`s peace secretariat came straight to the point yesterday when he admitted that there was currently no love lost between the government and LTTE'but Palitha Kohona also said he expected both sides to focus on a `workman-like approach` at the forthcoming talks. `I`m sure there will be a big fight,` he said, when asked whether he thought the government and LTTE would spar over numerous issues. `But it won`t end up there. We will meet again to fight again.` `Seriously speaking, both sides will probably focus on a workman-like approach,` he said, adding that they will endeavour to find practical solutions to current issues. Accepting that there was a mutual lack of confidence between the LTTE and government, he said: `We need to establish that confidence and work towards a common goal`85 that`s peace.` 
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Hindus set to convert to Buddhism Sunday, 15 October 2006 - 8:38 AM SL Time Thousands of people have been attending mass ceremonies in India at which hundreds of low-caste Hindus (Dalits) converted to Buddhism and Christianity. The events in the central city of Nagpur are part of a protest against the injustices of India`s caste system. By converting, Dalits - once known as Untouchables - can escape the prejudice and discrimination they normally face. The ceremonies mark the 50th anniversary of the adoption of Buddhism by the scholar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. He was the first prominent Dalit to urge low-caste Indians to embrace Buddhism. As the chief architect of India`s constitution, he wrote anti-discrimination provisions and quota systems into the country`s law. But four-fifths of India`s Dalits live in often isolated rural areas, and traditional prejudice has persisted in spite of official laws.
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LTTE buries 196 cadres Saturday, 14 October 2006 - 5:14 AM SL Time The LTTE yesterday buried 196 of its cadres killed in the Muhamalai clashes in Thunukkai, Kilinochchi, Mannar and Omanthai, security sources said. Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe citing intelligence reports said that 312 Tiger cadres were receiving treatment at Government hospitals and makeshift medical camps in the region. Sources from Kilinochchi also indicated that hospitals were running out of space due to the large number of LTTE casualties. The Tigers were also pressing civilians in uncleared areas to donate blood for their cadres injured in the battle which raged until Wednesday night. There have been attempts to force ordinary people to donate blood, security sources said.
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Security Forum
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Australian forensic experts here this week Monday, 16 October 2006 - 4:45 AM SL Time At least four Australian forensic experts as observers are scheduled to arrive in Colombo this week to conduct investigations on the alleged killing of the Mutur French aid organization workers, after Sri Lanka government called a full scale investigation into the incident. 'The bodies will be exhumed by this week, as the Australian forensic experts are due here to conduct the investigations into the alleged killings,' a senior police official said. He said the bodies would be exhumed in the presence of Anuradhapura Magistrate, four Judicial Medical Officers (JMO) and ACF officials. Two bodies earlier exhumed on the orders of the Anuradhapura Magistrate were now in Police morgue in Colombo, where the remaining bodies would be brought to, he said.
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LTTE kills three Wennappuwa mango traders Monday, 16 October 2006 - 4:40 AM SL Time LTTE cadres shot dead three Sinhala civilians at Kanthapuram about eight kilometers from Vavuniya. They were travelling in a car with two Muslim civilians when their vehicle was stopped by LTTE cadres who told the Muslims to go away. The bodies of the three victims were recovered with their hands tied behind their backs and faces covered with their shirts. According to police they were on their way to collect mangoes. Two of the victims were identified as S. K. Upali and N. K. Gunawardene, both residents of Wennapuwa.
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Mother arrested for killing baby Monday, 16 October 2006 - 4:39 AM SL Time Acting on a tip off from the Ragama Hospital staff, police Saturday arrested a 29-year-old woman who allegedly killed her new born baby. Inquiries revealed that the suspect had been employed as a domestic at a house at Thuduwegedara, Horape in the Ragama police area. `She is from Inginiyagala and worked at Ragama for about six months,` a police official said. Police initiated an investi gation after the hospital staff informed the local police the suspicious behaviour of the woman who sought treatment. `She did not give a plausible answer when the staff inquired about the baby,` the official said. After police questioned the suspect she led investigators to the final resting place of the infant, a baby boy. Police found the body buried under a plantain grove.
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Political News Forum
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Mahinda, Ranil agree to help each other Monday, 16 October 2006 - 4:44 AM SL Time Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe requested President Mahinda Rajapaksa to increase the annual decentralized budget of each MP from the present Rs 5 million to Rs 10 million, to which the latter consented. The matter had been discussed at a recent meeting between the two leaders. Presently, only Rs 5 million is allocated annually for each Parliamentarian to carry out small-scale development work in their respective districts. Mr. Wickremesinghe requested the President to double this amount, as otherwise, it would be insufficient for MPs to deal with the development work in an entire district given the present circumstances. However, the increase is yet to be confirmed.
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10 Proposals to change everlasting UNP leadership Sunday, 15 October 2006 - 8:45 AM SL Time A revolts is being hatched within the UNP to clip same of the unlimited powers enjoyed by Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe the leader of the UNP when the dates were fixed to sign the MOU after the consensus reached by the leaders of SLFP - UNP after talks. As a result of this revolt the National Organizer of the UNP Mr. S.B. Dissanayake is to present 10 proposals to the leadership and the secretary. The people who lead this revolt say that the democracy that was formed during the days of leaders like D.S, Dudley and Sir John is not to be seen under the autoerotic leadership of the present leader.
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U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher in SL Saturday, 14 October 2006 - 5:33 AM SL Time U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher and two other foreign envoys will visit Sri Lanka next week to seek a halt to a rash of fierce fighting that threatens to derail peace talks, officials said on Friday. Boucher`s visit, due to start Thursday, comes as the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fight nearly daily artillery battles in the island`s far north. This week, dozens of troops and rebels were killed in one of the deadliest battles since a tattered 2002 truce. `He is coming to show support for the peace talks and call for an immediate cessation of hostilities,` an official at the U.S. embassy in Colombo said. Mediator Norway`s special peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer will also visit the island next week, his second trip in a month, as will Yasushi Akashi, the envoy of the island`s chief financial donor, Japan.
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| Business / Economy News
Business News Forum
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More than half of Sri Lanka`s A/L candidates qualify for universities Monday, 16 October 2006 - 4:52 AM SL Time Out of the total 201,660 Advanced Level students sat for exams this May, 119,775 are qualified to entre to the universities. Of these qualifying candidates, 4164 have obtained `A` passes for all three subjects, the Department of Examination sources said. 121, 308 candidates passed all three subjects and 19,741 failed all three subjects. In the recent years, the gap between the students who sat for the Advanced Level Examination and the qualifiers to entre to the university stream has minimized. This is a considerable positive enlargement in the Sri Lankan education sector. Still the current university system cannot accommodate more than 15% of them.
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Attract Buddhist tourists Monday, 16 October 2006 - 4:38 AM SL Time Sri Lanka`s High Commissioner in Islamabad General Srilal Weerasooriya recently urged Pakistan to promote Buddhist relics and sites such as Taxila, Ghandara and Harappa as tourist attractions. During a meeting with President and members of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry Majyd Aziz, Weerasooriya said, `Your tourism industry would benefit immensely if a tangible plan is launched to attract Buddhists. The Sri Lanka envoy said that Buddhists from all over the world would visit Pakistan to see the Buddhist relics and sites such as Taxila, Ghandara and Harappa. He expressed the belief that Pakistan could attract a sizeable number of Sri Lankans. Last year two delegations of Buddhist priests visited Pakistan to explore this possibility. He suggested that to facilitate the Buddhist tourism, it is imperative that PIA schedule two weekly flights on the Lahore-Colombo route. He said that PIA Chairman Tariq Kirmani should take the initiative in this regard.
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Harry to retain Apollo name? Sunday, 15 October 2006 - 8:49 AM SL Time India`s Apollo Hospitals Chairman, Dr. Prathap Reddy is due in Sri Lanka this month for talks with business tycoon Harry Jayawardena on possibilities of retaining the name for Colombo`s Apollo. Jayawardene`s Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC) now controls the hospital. 'SLIC is considering an option where Apollo can manage a certain sector in the medical area in order to retain the Apollo brand name,' a hospital company source said. He said Apollo`s Indian doctors are also anticipating a `favourable outcome,` after Dr. Reddy`s visit. 'They do not want to leave.' All Indian doctors, except the ones whose contracts have ended, have been assured continued employment. The Apollo brand awareness has been active in the country way before the hospital was built in Colombo. 'It would be a wise move to retain the name,' the source said.
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Editorial News Forum
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Enemy No 1 far from dead - II Monday, 16 October 2006 - 4:42 AM SL Time The government shouldn`t let the battlefield gains lull it into a false sense of complacency. The war is far from over and the LTTE cannot be written off that easily. The morale of the troops must be kept as high as it is at present. But there are signs of the chronic disease that once debilitated the military recurring. Infighting gnaws away at the fighting capability of the military and is probably its worst enemy. The government had better nip it in the bud. That is how we concluded our comment, Enemy No. 1 far from Dead (reproduced on page 6 today) five days before the army`s costly blunder at Muhamalai on Oct. 11. `Animosity among the defence top brass,` we said referring to our experience with the armed forces in the past, `ate into the vitals of the military finally rendering it hollow. Debacles were the inevitable outcome.`
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Holding a community to ransom Saturday, 14 October 2006 - 5:12 AM SL Time Vavuniya District Judge M. Illancheliyan has, as we reported on Wednesday, warned of stern action again the People`s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) if the outfit fails to rein in its members who are said to be extorting money from the business community. The Judge has told a PLOTE leader, produced before him, that the concessions his organisation had got from the government for self defence must not be abused. We couldn`t agree with the learned judge more. The Tamil politico-military groups that have obtained weapons from the state to defend themselves against the LTTE must be made to realise they wield no license to unleash terror with impunity. Many Tamil businessmen in Vavuniya as well as other areas, where those Tamil groups are active, have to part with large sums of their hard earned money monthly for their safety. Some of them are reportedly moving out of those areas, unable to pay protection money to both the LTTE and the state assisted armed groups.
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The mandate, stupid Thursday, 12 October 2006 - 4:26 AM SL Time UNP parliamentarian Lakshman Kirielle has said the UNP does not have a popular mandate to join the government and accept cabinet portfolios. He is trying to have us believe that in this blessed land politicians consider mandates sacred and abide by them come what may. If so, one may wonder whether the people have mandated politicians, irrespective of their party affiliations, to be so corrupt, violent and traitorous. On the other hand, one may ask whether any political party is mandated to be in the Opposition. When a party seeks a mandate from the people at an election, those who subscribe to its policies, as outlined in its manifesto, vote for it in the hope that it will form a government to implement its programme. That another party gets more votes and forms the government doesn`t technically mean that the party in the Opposition is debarred from taking part in governance, if an opportunity is granted. The argument that an Opposition party is not mandated to be a partner in governance is tenable only if it has sought a mandate from the people to be in the Opposition. We are yet to hear of a party that goes before the people seeking such a mandate.
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| Sports News
Sports News Forum
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Sri Lanka for blind World Cup tourney Monday, 16 October 2006 - 4:47 AM SL Time Sri Lanka will participate in the Third World Cup cricket tournament for the blind to be held in Islamabad, Pakistan from December 1 to 16 2006. Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and West Indies are the other teams making their appearance. In view of this tournament the National Cricket Association for the Blind in Sri Lanka (NCABSL) has been conducting trial matches and coaching since early this year. Sri Lanka Cricket has been rendering tremendous assistance and has extended their coaches in Kumar Ramanathan and Hemal Mendis to handle the coaching. Efforts are being made to raise a sum of Rs. 1.5 million to purchase air tickets for the team, cricket equipment and other minor details. Rienzie Benedict, Secretary of the NCABSL appeals for assistance from benefactors and donors to make generous contributions. Benedict can be contacted on Telephone numbers, 2437768, 2305256 or 2231224 at 74, Church Street, Colombo 2.
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Sri Lanka turn on the heat Monday, 16 October 2006 - 4:46 AM SL Time Sri Lanka believes it has overcome its dependance on individual players and turned a new leaf where the team can contest matches under less pressure following the stunning nine-wicket victory over the West Indies in the ICC Champions Trophy on Saturday. The Sri Lankans now consider themselves playing as a collective force and the days of looking up to Muttiah Muralitheran to run through sides are over. `Things have changed and Muralitheran is no more under pressure`, said skipper Mahela Jayawardena. `We now have some youngsters coming through and the story is now about a group of players trying to do something and there is no pressure on individuals`.Paceman Pervez Maharoof joined the potential band of Sri Lankan match winners when he captured six wickets for 14 runs against the West Indies on Saturday to wipe out Pakistani Saheed Afridi`s previous best figures of 5 for 11 against Kenya in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy match at Edgebaston.
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Maharoof shines in Sri Lanka win Monday, 16 October 2006 - 4:41 AM SL Time Seam bowler Farveez Maharoof claimed a career-best haul of six for 14 Saturday and spurred Sri Lanka to a nine-wicket victory over the West Indies in the final ICC Champions Trophy limited-overs cricket qualifier. Maharoof ripped through the middle order as the West Indies was bundled out for 80 in 30.4 overs before Sri Lanka took just 13.2 overs post a winning total of 83 and take the top spot in the four-nation qualifying competition with three successive victories. Sri Lanka lost opener Upul Tharanga for a golden duck before Sanath Jayasuriya (45 not out) and skipper Mahela Jayawardene (34 not out) put on an unbroken 83-run partnership. The West Indies and Sri Lanka had already secured passage into the limited-overs Champions Trophy that begins Sunday in Jaipur, but now the lineups for the two groups have been finalized.
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