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Talks on change in SLFP leadership
Saturday, 11 February 2006 - 2:10 AM SL Time
A possible change in the SLFP leadership was discussed when President Mahinda Rajapaksa and former President Chandrika Kumaratunga met at Temple Trees for a marathon discussion, party sources disclosed yesterday.
The discussion went on for nearly four and half hours forcing President Rajapaksa to even skip the Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Secretariat.
The party leadership, now held by Ms. Kumaratunga has become a controversial issue with local council elections on the cards and with Ministers pulling in different directions.
The sources said Ms. Kumaratunga had clearly asked President Rajapaksa whether he really aspired for the party leadership and an apparently surprised President replied that he had not yet thought about it seriously.
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Tourism benefits in real terms do not flow to the local community
Saturday, 11 February 2006 - 2:07 AM SL Time
Tourism Minister Anura Bandaranaike said that cultural tourism promotes sharing the aspects of cultural diversity across national boundaries.
Addressing the International Conference on Cultural Tourism and Local Communities in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Minister Bandaranaike said that `in whatever way we promote cultural tourism, we must ensure reasonable benefits to flow freely to the local community who are the custodians of a country`s heritage.`
`It has been ascertained that the community is exploited by the middle layers and as a result tourism benefits in real terms do not flow to the local community,` he said.
The following is the full text of Minister Bandaranaike`s speech:
`Firstly, let me on behalf of the President of Sri Lanka, the Government and its people bring you greetings and wish this conference and its deliberations all success.
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LTTE free child soldiers ahead of peace talks
Friday, 10 February 2006 - 8:52 PM SL Time
Sri Lanka`s Tamil Tiger rebels announced the release of 28 child soldiers ahead of face-to-face peace talks with the Colombo government.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said eight children were released directly to their parents while the others left to join a `skills development` program last month.
`Twenty-eight under-aged youth who volunteered to join with the LTTE have been returned either to their parents or are joined at the Education and Skill Development Centre during January,` the Tigers said in a statement on Friday.
The rebels said that children who volunteered and hid their true age were handed over once they were identified.
According to the United Nations Children`s Fund ( UNICEF), the LTTE recruited 137 children in the first four months of last year while freeing 37.
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Politics
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Lots of heat over hot seats in councils
Sunday, 12 February 2006 - 2:50 AM SL Time
Lots of heat over hot seats in councils
As nominations for the local elections opened this week, the tussle for top slots in the list of candidates for municipal and urban councils and pradeshiya sabhas is heating up.
Both the People`s Alliance and the UNP are facing a crisis in finalising the nomination lists with two or more people battling it out for the mayoral and chairmanship posts.
In some previous elections, political parties had sorted out this problem by announcing that the candidate who got the highest number of preference votes would be the automatic choice for the top slot.
With nominations scheduled to close on February 16, The Sunday Times learns that the nomination boards of political parties were under pressure to consider some names over others.
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Iran unhappy over Lanka`s pro-US vote
Sunday, 12 February 2006 - 2:48 AM SL Time
Iran has expressed its `displeasure` to the Sri Lankan government about its decision to vote in favour of a resolution against it at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency last week in Vienna, amidst intense pressure from the US on Colombo.
The Sunday Times learns that the Iranian government`s message had been conveyed through its mission in Colombo to the government this week.
The resolution presented by the US and its European allies before the 35-member board of governors of the IAEA sought to refer Iran to the UN Security Council.
Sri Lanka along with 27 other countries including India voted in favour of the resolution while only three countries ' Cuba, Syria and Venezuela voted against the resolution. South Africa was among five African nations which abstained.
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International Conference on Geneva Talks
Saturday, 11 February 2006 - 2:03 AM SL Time
An international Conference jointly sponsored by the World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka (WAPS), The National Joint Committee and Sansadaya is scheduled to be held on Saturday, February 18, at the BMICH Committee Room A.
It will discuss the stand to be taken by the negotiators representing the Government of Sri Lank and will provide a forum to discuss in detail the rights of the people and the nation which have fallen prey to scheming politicians, foreign funded NGOs and the International Community.
Past negotiation have proven that the LTTE made use of the talks to strengthen their standing both locally and internationally. This conference will take up specific themes likely to come up in Geneva, indicating the appropriate negotiating posture in respect of each.
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Editorial News
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Opening more prisons?
Saturday, 11 February 2006 - 2:08 AM SL Time
More and more rural schools are being earmarked for closure and a large number of them have already been closed down. The lack of concern on the part of the education authorities is such that the exact number of the ill-fated schools is not available. It is said to be between 500 and 1,000, as pointed out in the article, `SOS: Save Our Schools` by David Bandara, on this page yesterday. He has presented startling facts:
In 2004, he says 505 schools had no Grade One admissions; 131 schools only a single admission; 213 schools two admissions and 208 schools three admissions. About 1,600 schools had less than five admissions.
This is undoubtedly a frightening proposition. The closure of these schools is only a matter of time. Our forebears likened the opening of a school to the closing of a prison. Similarly, the closure of schools is tantamount to opening of prisons. Are we doing that'
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Translating `Chintana` into reality
Friday, 10 February 2006 - 5:51 AM SL Time
The efforts being made by the Plan Implementation Ministry and the Treasury as indicated in recent statements by officials to improve the country`s level of governance are indeed impressive.
While Plan Implementation Ministry Secretary Ajith Nivard Cabraal explains his plans to implement a three-month crash programme for all line ministries to put implementation on top gear, Secretary to the Treasury Dr. D.B. Jayasundera promises to give all information on 'who, what, where and at what cost' about post-tsunami relief and reconstruction activities. `Daily Mirror, Financial Times` readers would undoubtedly have read about these programmes with great interest.
One full year has elapsed after tsunami devastation and much relief and reconstruction work was reported to have been done by the government, foreign donors and local NGOs. And billions of money has reached the country by way of assistance to overcome the crisis. Allegations about misuse of these funds have also reverberated round the country. But apart from bits and pieces of information about them, full and reliable details have not been disclosed to the public. According to information given by the Central Bank Rs. 25.48 billion has been received up to the end of last year as private foreign and local donations.
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A question of will
Thursday, 9 February 2006 - 2:20 AM SL Time
UNP MP Dr. Jayalath Jayawardana has, speaking on behalf of his party, called upon President Mahinda Rajapakse to set up the Elections Commission in a hurry before the upcoming mini polls. It was only the other day that we commented on the last minute rush of Sri Lankan politicians. They have the habit of rising from their slumber all of a sudden and running hell for leather to protest against or demand something.
Where was he when the UNF was in power for two years' We don`t remember him having demanded the Elections Commission when he was a minister. Politicians evince a love for free and fair elections, only when they are relegated to the political limbo (read the Opposition.) After they win and are ensconced in power, they conveniently abandon their mission and leave it to the vanquished to campaign for free and fair polls. It is only in the Opposition that we find good politicians.
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| Security |
Britain expresses concern over TRO`s links with LTTE
Sunday, 12 February 2006 - 2:49 AM SL Time
Britain`s Charity Commission -- the state body monitoring charities ' has expressed concern that the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) had consulted the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in determining allocations of funds.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Charity Commission spokesperson Sarah Jones said investigations had revealed that the TRO in Sri Lanka might have liaised with the LTTE in allocating funds. She said the commission had made its finding after some of its accountants probed the work of the TRO in Sri Lanka and in Britain, tracing specific transactions.
A report on the findings states that in September 2000, the commission received complaints that the TRO in Britain was supporting terrorist activity by transferring funds to Sri Lanka in support of the LTTE, which is proscribed in Britain under its Terrorism Act of 2000.
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Geneva talks must focus on SLMM rulings on violations ? Military
Sunday, 12 February 2006 - 2:42 AM SL Time
The military Friday said that the forthcoming talks on the Oslo-arranged Cease-Fire Agreement should focus on the Nordic monitoring mission`s reports dealing with the four-year-old truce.
The Oslo-led mission comprising representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden has ruled that the LTTE violated the CFA on 3,471 occasions during the past four years.
The mission`s head Hagrup Haukland (Norway) is scheduled to take part in the two-day talks, the first direct contact after the LTTE quit negotiations in April, 2003. Mission spokesperson Helen Olafsdottir said that they were yet to decide on the agenda for talks. Declaring that the mission would not reveal what it intended to take up in Geneva, she said that they have identified certain problems and the relevant parties have been made aware of them.
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LTTE, monitors, don`t see eye to eye
Sunday, 12 February 2006 - 2:38 AM SL Time
The monitoring mission spokesperson Helen Olafsdottir yesterday said that the mission and the LTTE sharply differ on child recruitment.
Acknowledging that child recruitment was a contentious issue, she said that the mission acts promptly on complaints received from parents and relatives of missing children. `We ask for information and sometimes they don`t cooperate,` she said adding that the `LTTE does not share our view on this issue.`
Fielding questions, she said that the LTTE always denies the charge claiming that orphaned children are accommodated in welfare centres run by them. The LTTE also says that these children aren`t trained for combat.
`Of course we aren`t satisfied with their response,` she said. Inquiries conducted in Trincomalee revealed that a large number of missing children have returned to their families. According to her, the mission works closely with the UNICEF to tackle the problem.
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Business / Economy News
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Honest Anura turns wheel on fortune
Sunday, 12 February 2006 - 2:48 AM SL Time
In a day and age when one may not be able to trust even one`s nearest and dearest, one might just have the good fortune of running into a perfectly honest stranger.
In this instance, it was someone who did a good deed for no particular reason, but due to his humanness. For Anura Jayalath, a forty-four year-old three-wheeler driver, last Friday was just another day in his hectic job, but for a particular family, it will surely be one memorable day. 'I was at my usual parking place when a lady approached me and asked to be taken to the Apollo Hospital. I took her and two others to their destination,' Anura said.
Returning after dropping his passengers, Anura found a lady`s handbag on the passenger seat. 'I needed to know what was inside, and so carefully checked everything. There was a large sum of money, both American and Canadian dollars, Sri Lankan rupees, a box containing jewellery, two passports and a number of credit cards,' he said.
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Jaffna Technical College to be upgraded
Saturday, 11 February 2006 - 2:30 AM SL Time
The Jaffna Technical College managed by the Department of Technical Education will be upgraded as a Technological University by the Vocational and Technical Training Ministry.
The Government of the Republic of Korea will provide Rs. 230 million under an MoU signed with the Government, the Vocational and Technical Training Ministry said in a release yesterday.
Rs. 90 million will be utilised to construct the new building complex of the university and the balance will be used to obtain machinery and equipment and train managers and lecturers in Korea.
The release said Vocational and Technical Training Minister Piyasena Gamage discussed with Korean Ambassador Lim J. Hong at the ministry to devise ways to accelerate this project. The Minister and the Ambassador directed officials to complete initial work on the project within the next two months.
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Plantation workers to benefit immensely under President ? Dy Minister
Saturday, 11 February 2006 - 2:08 AM SL Time
`The infrastructure in estates would be extended to all planting districts and would not be confined to the Hill Country alone, said Deputy Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, speaking to `The Island.`
He said under the `Mahinda Chinthanaya` all programmes of development will apply to the entire country and not to a particular district or electorate.
The President, he said, is aware of the problems faced by plantation Workers due to long neglect. Proposals to be implemented by the UPFA Government will consist of those that will uplift the conditions of the plantation workers, whose sweat and toil have enriched the country`s coffers as a mainstay contributor for generations, he added.
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| Sports News
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Peacemaking
Sunday, 12 February 2006 - 2:52 AM SL Time
Peacemaking goes by the misnomer of ``process``. A new peace process by the time it is packaged, incorporates the peculiarities of a new government. This government has almost overtaken the Liberation Tigers in terms of strategising for a lasting truce.
Going to the table with good strategy has a negative ring to it often times and peace strategists are thought of as sharp dealmakers and backroom boys. But, the government has strategised transparently, and the week`s newspaper stories show the coaching has been rigorous, with nothing being taken for granted.
This attracts respect for the government`s peace agenda and it would be possible to imagine Prabhakaran wiping a bead of sweat from his brow on the prospect of facing down an adversary who knows his onions.
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History of VB Series and Sri Lanka`s participation
Sunday, 12 February 2006 - 2:47 AM SL Time
The VB Series in Australia is an attraction that the cricket world waits for eagerly. The annual three-nation competition was started in 1979 and to date has gone on without any interruption to celebrate the 27th anniversary. VB is a popular beer in Australia and stands for Victoria Bitter. However, the tournament`s first sponsor was Benson & Hedges and the brand continued to patronise the competition for 16 long years before Carlton & United took over in 1996 and it was only in 2001 VB came into picture.
The tournament came into being as a result of a settlement between Kerry Packer and the Australian Cricket Board after the latter agreed to offer television rights of Australian cricket to the business tycoon and to date Channel Nine has had a monopoly, telecasting cricket matches in that country.
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Sri Lanka beat world champs Australia by 22 runs
Saturday, 11 February 2006 - 2:09 AM SL Time
Sri Lanka beat Australia by 22 runs in the first VB Series limited-overs cricket final, at Adelaide, on Friday.
Sri Lanka scored 274 for eight in their 50 overs and bowled out Australia for 252 in the last over of the day.
Sri Lanka go one up in the best of three finals.
Sangakkara cracks 83 as Sri Lanka score 274 for eight
Wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara cracked 83 as Sri Lanka set Australia a testing total with their 274 for eight in their opening triangular one-day series cricket final at Adelaide Oval Friday.
Sangakkara hit just three fours and a six in his 106-ball knock to give Sri Lanka a solid foundation with a 65-run second wicket stand with skipper Marvan Atapattu (53 off 77 balls) and 67 for the fourth wicket with Russel Arnold (24).
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