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LTTE to remain on EU blacklist, gets 30 days to appeal Tuesday, 24 April 2007 - 4:23 AM SL Time The LTTE will remain on the EU blacklist together with 29 other international rebel groups and more than 30 individuals, EU foreign ministers at a two day meeting in Luxembourg said in a statement yesterday. The European Union however agreed to inform groups and people why they were put on its list of terrorist organisations, a move aimed at avoiding decisions being overturned in court. The EU`s reasoning will be officially published for the groups and individuals for whom it has no address. Those listed will then have 30 days `to present their arguments` against the decision. `The persons, groups and entities concerned will be informed via a statement of reason of the specific information that form the basis of the Council`s decision,` it said, adding the groups would be allowed to comment on the decisions. 
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Norwegian envoy must cancel trip to rebel territory for security reasons Monday, 23 April 2007 - 8:09 PM SL Time Sri Lanka has ordered Norway`s ambassador to cancel a routine trip to the rebel-held north for security reasons, an embassy spokesman said Monday, raising fears that a military offensive against the insurgents is imminent. The decision to keep Norway`s envoy ? the mediator of the country`s all-but-defunct peace process ? away from the Tamil Tiger`s northern strongholds came as the military kept up its pressure on the insurgents with air raids against what the defense ministry said were a rebel base and a moving column of guerrillas. Western diplomats said they found the cancellation of the trip alarming and were alerting their respective capitals. The diplomats spoke on the condition of anonymity because they didn`t want to harm their relationships with Sri Lankan officials.
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Sri Lanka`s Civil War Spares Economy, Industrial Base in West Monday, 23 April 2007 - 11:08 AM SL Time Sri Lanka, facing a return to civil war between the army and Tamil separatists, is maintaining its fastest growth in 30 years because the fighting is taking place far from industries driving the $26 billion economy. ``This is a conflict that the country has learnt to live with,`` said Agost Benard, credit analyst at Standard & Poor`s in Singapore. ``Businesses still invest, factories still produce. The main reason is because the conflict is localized.`` The worst fighting since a cease-fire was declared in 2002 erupted a year ago in the north and east, halting efforts to end the two-decade struggle by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for a separate homeland in areas it controls. Sri Lanka, which is also recovering from the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami, saw its gross domestic product grow 7.4 percent last year, buoyed by a 10 percent expansion in Western province, the home of the textile and clothing industries, the biggest export earners. Two rounds of peace talks last year in Geneva failed to make any progress toward ending the conflict in the South Asian island nation of 20 million people.
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| Security
Security Forum
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SLAF conducts aerial attacks on two major LTTE bases Tuesday, 24 April 2007 - 5:05 AM SL Time Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has launched an aerial attack on two major LTTE bases. The first aerial attack was launched at the THALAI ADI sea tiger base which is in south of Nagarkovil. The attack was carried out at about 12.00 p.m today (23). The second attack was also launched by the SLAF on a LTTE movement in west of Thoppigala in Batticaloa area today (23) around 1.00 p.m. According to the sources of the Air Force, it is confirmed that the attacks were successful.
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Police powers for Military? Tuesday, 24 April 2007 - 4:24 AM SL Time The government is to vest Police powers with the security forces in view of what it sees as a growing terrorist threat, a top government official said yesterday. `The decision has been taken as it is difficult to collaborate with the police at all times,` he said. Though emergency regulations are in force, the security forces usually seek Police assistance, to enforce the law when dealing with civilians. If the new regulations are implemented security forces will not require police assistance when carrying out search operations. `The new move requires the military to follow legal proceedings, which will not harm the public security,` he explained. The official said the initiative was taken to streamline public security in the face of terrorism. `The police alone cannot protect peace and security, as such the government decided to vest police powers in the security forces,` he said.
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Govt. will fully support UK credit scam probe Monday, 23 April 2007 - 10:58 AM SL Time The Foreign Ministry yesterday said it would extend its fullest cooperation to the ongoing investigations by the British authorities into a multimillion-pound British credit card scam which may be funding the LTTE. `On our part we will extend our fullest support to the ongoing investigations by the British authorities into the scam,` Foreign Ministry, Public Communications Director General Ravinatha Aryasingha told the Daily Mirror yesterday. However he refused to give any details about what `kind` of support the Sri Lankan authorities would extend. Mr. Aryasingha also said this was the first tangible direct action by British authorities against LTTE activities in the UK, since the banning of the terrorists group in 2001.
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| Politics
Political News Forum
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Anti-Indian Tiger operating in S. Africa to undermine Tamil leaders Monday, 23 April 2007 - 11:11 AM SL Time On the invitation of the S. Africa government, two Tamil leaders -- Douglas Devananda, Sri Lanka`s Minister for Social Services and Social Welfare, who is also the leader of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party and V. Anandasangaree, Leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front ? are touring S. Africa right now. This is the first time that two prominent Tamil political leaders from Sri Lanka on a state visit to South Africa. While in South Africa the two Tamil leaders are expected meet a cross-section of the Tamils of Indian origin living in South Africa. They constitute nearly 2 % of the population is people of Indian origins, mainly Tamils, out of the total population of 44 million.
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UN agency OCHA to be booted out Sunday, 22 April 2007 - 8:44 AM SL Time The government will shortly give marching orders to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) asking its representatives to pack up their bags and leave the politically-troubled northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. A letter, to be sent to the UN office in Colombo, says that OCHA is `overstaying` its mandate. The UN`s Office of Humanitarian Affairs came to Sri Lanka primarily for post-tsunami rehabilitation but has continued to stay `under various new guises way outside their mandate`. The government, which is also livid that OCHA wants to play the role of a human rights monitor, has told the UN humanitarian body that this is not acceptable as there are other more appropriate agencies to do this. Stephanie Bunker, a spokeswoman in New York, told the Sunday Times that OCHA originally went to deal with coordinating the response to the tsunami. It is now also involved in helping coordinate humanitarian assistance to people in need as a result of the internal conflict.
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Sri Lanka, fast becoming a Zimbabwe in Asia: Tissa Saturday, 21 April 2007 - 7:27 AM SL Time Sri Lanka is fast becoming a Zimbabwe in Asia with all types of anti-democratic elements firmly taking root in the country, says General Secretary of the United National Party, Tissa Attanayake, MP. Condemning the pressure exerted by Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on the independent media he said, `The government hierarchy has a habit of inviting media personnel to the Temple Trees, treating them and then telling them in a subtle way not to write anything critical of the government. Now they have the audacity to warn the independent media with bodily harm`. Referring to what he described as the Government`s propaganda campaign against foreign diplomats and Amnesty International he said, it was Nimal Siripala de Silva the incumbent Leader of the House and Minister of Healthcare and Nutrition who raised a huge cry of protest in Parliament in 1991 at the then government saying it had not allowed AI to come to Sri Lanka.
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| Business / Economy News
Business News Forum
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CTB conductors in racket running into millions Tuesday, 24 April 2007 - 5:02 AM SL Time More than 100 bus conductors have been interdicted during the first quarter of this year for defrauding the Central Transport Board of millions through a racket involving bus fares. CTB chairman Tudor Dayaratne said a large number of employees had been detected defrauding the Board of bus fares and according to the provisions in the CTB Act, the suspected conductors had been immediately interdicted and their salaries held back till inquiries are completed. According to CTB sources, millions of rupees have been pilfered out every month by a racket operated by drivers and conductors with the blessings of some depot managers, by issuing under valued or fake tickets to passengers. The debt ridden board is heavily dependent on Treasury handouts for survival and its salaries haven`t been increased to be on par with the rest of the public sector, thus making the board one of the worst paymasters in the State sector. This is believed to be one of the main causes behind rampant corruptions.
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Al Jazeera Television now on DTV Tuesday, 24 April 2007 - 4:29 AM SL Time Dialog Satellite TV has added Al Jazeera Television to its lineup of channels with immediate effect. The new addition, which is on Channel three, has been activated for all DTV subscribers without any additional charge. Al Jazeera is a television network headquartered in Doha, Qatar. Initially launched as an Arabic language news and current affairs satellite TV channel of the same name, it has since expanded into a network of several specialty TV channels. Dialog Satellite TV features over 30 international channels including BBC, CNN, A1, AXN, Star Sports and Cartoon Network. It is operated and managed by Asset Media Pvt Ltd., a subsidiary of Dialog Telekom Ltd. DTV uses state of the art Digital Video Broadcasting through Satellite (DVB-S) technology, and aims to be a trend-setter in Digital Satellite Television Broadcasting in Sri Lanka.
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Chevron`s Sri Lanka unit reveals interest in offshore oil exploration Saturday, 21 April 2007 - 7:22 AM SL Time US oil giant Chevron-Texaco is interested in bidding for offshore oil exploration blocks off Sri Lanka waters, a top official of its local unit, Caltex Lubricants said. `Chevron is interested in the exploration opportunity,` Kishu Gomes, Managing Director Caltex in Sri Lanka told reporters. `There is a delegation going to Houston, Texas to talk to prospective investors on first of May.` Gomes is on the delegation and will talk about the private sector perspective of operating in Sri Lanka`s lubricant market at a breakfast meeting at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) to be held in Houston, Texas USA during 30 April - 3 May. The conference, billed as one of the world`s largest events for the development of offshore resources, will be where Sri Lanka will make a formal announcement to the international community on its offshore petroleum prospects.
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| Editorial News
Editorial News Forum
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Negotiating from a position of strength Tuesday, 24 April 2007 - 5:02 AM SL Time Talks about peace talks are being heard again. The LTTE is reported to have offered to talk and the government, too, keeps on saying it is amenable to talks without preconditions. The international community is urging both parties to talk. The Opposition is also calling for talks. But, unfortunately, the war is on in all but name, churning out, as it does, death and devastation. Opposition and UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has made an interesting observation. He says unless the government is strong at the negotiating table, it will have to give in to the LTTE. The government, he claims, has not succeeded in weakening the LTTE in spite of its claims to that effect and, therefore, it will be in a weak position at talks. One cannot but agree with him on the need to bargain from a position of strength at peace negotiations.
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Enlightening public opinion Sunday, 22 April 2007 - 8:49 AM SL Time Nearly two decades or more ago, Mr. A.S. Jayawardene, a former Governor of the Central Bank, persuaded the editor of an English morning daily to publish weekly economic indicators which he said the bank would provide on a timely basis. Previously this data was available in the Central Bank`s monthly Bulletin which was invariably several months late. At that point of time, economic statistics were not `sexy` reading matter from a newspaper`s point of view and a full page once a week was a lot of space to devote to material considered to be of marginal interest to readers. Nevertheless, the experiment was begun and now, several years later, its success is self-evident. People are much more aware today than ever before of economic factors like inflation that erode real incomes and painfully accumulated savings, and affect the quality of their lives.
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Is the LTTE Weak? Saturday, 21 April 2007 - 7:23 AM SL Time `Is the LTTE weak?` This is the question very often raised by those who are interested in the Sri Lankan conflict. The answer could be both `Yes` and `No.` Many people in Sri Lanka are of the view that the LTTE is on the run. Many are eagerly looking forward for capturing of the leader of the LTTE to be tried and hung for the heinous crimes he has committed. They expect it to happen very soon since the media reports emanating from the Sri Lankan press have suggested that the ultimate defeat of the LTTE is eminent. In this context, no one can save the LTTE from the present predicament. Are all these propositions are true? Yes, the LTTE is in crisis and it is on the verge of collapse. No, it is still strong and it has not lost its military capabilities.
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| Sports News
Sports News Forum
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Tamil Tigers plan a break to watch Sri Lanka in World cup semi Tuesday, 24 April 2007 - 8:58 PM SL Time Sri Lanka`s Tamil Tiger rebels are to take a brief break from battle later Tuesday to watch the national cricket team play New Zealand in the World Cup semi-finals. `There may not be any attacks tonight because we are also watching the match,` Tiger spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiriyan told AFP by telephone from the rebel-held north of the island. Tamil Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran is believed to be a cricket fan. The comments came the morning after the Tigers staged an air strike against the military`s main facility in the northern peninsula of Jaffna -- the latest violence in a bloody civil war. Sri Lanka`s national team consists of two members of the minority Tamil community. Religious leaders have said the multi-ethnic side could be an example of unity to fractured nation.
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Woolmer murder suspect identified Monday, 23 April 2007 - 11:02 AM SL Time Jamaican Police, assisted by Scotland Yard, have identified a suspect in the Bob Woolmer murder case, according to a report in The Independent. The report further states that digital enhancement of CCTV footage from cameras on the 12th floor of the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica, where Woolmer was staying, has identified at least one suspect in the killing. The cleaned up images from London show at least one individual of considerable interest. However, Jamaican Police declined to comment on the identity of the suspect, said to be a male.
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If Lanka enters final, President will be there Sunday, 22 April 2007 - 8:42 AM SL Time President Mahinda Rajapaksa is set to travel to Kensington Oval in Barbados in the event of Sri Lanka cricket team entering the finals in the ongoing cricket World Cup in the Caribbean. The President yesterday wrapped up a four-day visit to Italy and was due in Colombo and will be travelling to the Caribbean for the finals depending on the outcome of Tuesday`s semi final between Sri Lanka and New Zealand at Sabina Park in Jamaica. Sports and Public Recreation Minister Gamini Lokuge has already left for the Caribbean Islands to witness the semi finals and will be staying on there if the Sri Lankan team enters the finals. President Rajapaksa earlier shot down an attempt by some 60 politicians and sports authorities to go to the Caribbean on state expense to watch the Sri Lankan cricket team playing.
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