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Govt. says no room for UN monitors Tuesday, 7 August 2007 - 4:03 AM SL Time The Government yesterday said there was no room for inviting a UN human rights monitoring mission to Sri Lanka as such a move would be an infringement on the sovereignty of the country and would also throw in doubt the ability of the Sri Lankan authorities to carry out their own inquires.
Government Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwelle, responding to the damning report released by the Human Rights Watch (HRW), stressed the government was doing its best to deal with the allegations of human rights violations. `We are taking every possible step to maintain human rights. We don`t have any doubt in our process. To have an international monitoring mission will be an infringement on our sovereignty,` Minister Rambukwelle said at the weekly defence media briefing yesterday. 
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Para Demala Monday, 6 August 2007 - 10:04 PM SL Time `Para Demala` might have offended the Ceylond Workers Congress (CWC), but `Paraiyars, a prestigious ancestors of the Tamil social formation, would definitely laugh at Basil Rajapaksa for his stupid choice of words,` Tamil parliamentarian P. Ariyanenthiran told media Monday. The resignation of five ministers of the CWC from the ruling Rajapaksa government Thursday was triggered by a clash with Mr. Basil Rajapaksa, SL president`s brother and presidential advisor, who, in the height of the argument, reportedly chose to call a seinor CWC leader as `Para Demala,` (the Tamil of the drummer-caste), which the Sinhalese think is a derogatory way of calling a Tamil.
A Colombo newspaper, The Sunday Leader, a popular weekly, has come out with an inside story on the CWC withdrawal from the Sri Lankan government.
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CWC insists it divorced Govt. permanently Monday, 6 August 2007 - 6:01 AM SL Time CWC heavyweight R. Yogarajan yesterday indicated that the split with the ruling coalition was permanent.
`We have no intention to return,` the former MP told The Island, rejecting reports that the party politburo had demanded a public apology from President Mahinda Rajapaksa to facilitate a re-marriage. `In fact, we have no right to demand an apology,` he said. CWC leader Arumugam Thondaman and Deputy Ministers Muttu Sivalingam, Jegadeswaran, Sachithanandan and M.S. Sellasamy quit last Thursday Yogarajan said that they had no dispute with the President. `We decided to quit the government and that decision remains,` he emphasized. They had already returned government vehicles. Accusing senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa of causing the break-up, he recalled that Basil Rajapaksa was responsible for the government-CWC marriage. Fielding questions, he said that they did not even want a public apology from Basil Rajapaksa.
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| Security
Security Forum
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Tigers pressure INGOs to channel funds through them Thursday, 9 August 2007 - 4:49 AM SL Time The LTTE is said to be pressurizing International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) operating in rebel controlled areas of the Wanni to channel funds to be used for development purposes in the area through the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), the Daily Mirror has learnt. Well informed sources also said two local staffers attached to an INGO operating in Kilinochchi were abducted by the LTTE some two weeks ago and subsequently released following pressure by the charity group which carried out large scale assistance programmes in the area. The name of the INGO is however being withheld by the Daily Mirror as, when contacted, the organization said it was not aware if such an incident had taken place so it could not deny or confirm it. However, observers noted that a few months ago the LTTE had abducted two local UN employees as well but later released them following negotiations. The incident was kept under wraps until it was leaked to the media.
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Police Recover 106 Communication Se.. Thursday, 9 August 2007 - 4:47 AM SL Time Chilaw police on Tuesday recovered 106 communication sets and six Global Positioning Systems hidden inside a travelling bag of a commuter travelling from Colombo to Puttalam. Chilaw police held the traveller who they suspect to be an LTTE cadre, a spokesman said adding that they believe the suspect was transporting the contraband to Vauniya. He said the suspect had boarded the bus from Wattala and another commuter had alerted the police about the suspect. Following the tip off, the Chilaw police barricaded the route and checked all the passengers. The suspect might have planned to transport the communication sets and GPS sets to Kurunegala from there to Vauniya by rail, police said.
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Tiger Kills Himself Thursday, 9 August 2007 - 4:46 AM SL Time An LTTE cadre committed suicide when he failed to escape from a group of army men at Poomankulam in Vavuniya on Tuesday, security sources said. A group of soldiers, on a tip off, had raided the area to capture two LTTE cadres. The two cadres had hurled grenades at the soldiers as they approached them injuring two. One LTTE cadre was killed when the army retaliated. The other had tried to escape, but triggered an explosion and died on the spot, security sources said.
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| Politics
Political News Forum
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UNP`s wild behaviour during Gnanakone expose sign of guilt - Rajitha Thursday, 9 August 2007 - 4:51 AM SL Time UNP democratic group member Minister Rajitha Senaratne yesterday said the UNP MPs` wild behaviour in Parliament during Minister Karu Jayasuriya`s `Gnanakone expose`, bared the party`s downright guilt in the affair. `Neither the UNP nor the name of the Opposition Leader was mentioned in that statement. But the UNP MPs made a big fuss throughout his entire speech, leaving us to wonder as to why they got so disturbed.` Senaratne said Gnanakone claimed the SLFP M-group and the UNP was firmly behind his plan to topple the Government and they needed 20 MPs from the Government side.
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Teachers to boycott A/L marking duties Thursday, 9 August 2007 - 4:50 AM SL Time Teachers are threatening to boycott Advanced Level paper marking duties unless the Government rectifies their salary anomalies by August 20. `We now know the Government wants to go back on its promise to rectify the salary anomalies in the teacher service. This problem has been prevailing for years and every government, instead of finding answers, tries to evade solving it. We have to resort to trade union action and to begin with, we`ll abstain from participating in GCE Advanced Level paper marking duties scheduled to commence from August 20,` General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers Service Union, Mahinda Jayasinghe told a press conference at the National Library Auditorium in Colombo yesterday. Earlier in the day, the CTSU attended a meeting with the Secretary to the Ministry of Education and top brass of the National Salaries and Cadres Commission at the Commission`s office at the BMICH. At this meeting, the Commission had rejected proposals by the Education Ministry to resolve the salary anomaly problem in the teacher service. `Earlier the Commission told us that the ministry had not sent them their proposals.
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The United States sees no need for a peace envoy to Sri Lanka Tuesday, 7 August 2007 - 4:03 AM SL Time A top State Department official has said that the United States government continue to see no role for a special US peace envoy to Sri Lanka at this time. Addressing the House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, Steven R. Mann, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs said that the United States` interest is in keeping the political process on devolution moving forward, rather than prescribing particular solutions to the Sri Lankans. `We therefore continue to see no role for a Special Envoy to Sri Lanka at this time,` he said. Speaking on the topic `Political Crises in South Asia: Recent Developments in Nepal and Sri Lanka` Mann said the United States is committed to help foster a lasting peace in Sri Lanka and to improve human rights conditions for all Sri Lankans. Ultimately, however, it is the Sri Lankan Government`s responsibility to the Sri Lankan people to provide the conditions of safety and security that will lead to a more peaceful and prosperous future, he noted.
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| Business / Economy News
Business News Forum
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Sri Lankan rupee pulls off life low, shares firmer Thursday, 9 August 2007 - 4:54 AM SL Time Sri Lanka`s rupee ended firmer on Wednesday, pulling back from new life lows in quiet trade, while stocks ended firmer in thin trade as retail investors bought select shares, dealers said. The rupee ended at 111.85/111.90 per dollar, firming from Tuesday`s close of 111.90/111.92 -- which in turn equalled new life lows hit at 111.88/111.94 per dollar on Monday. The rupee has hit a series of new all time lows in recent months. `Some selling presure was seen in the market. Some exporters were selling dollars in the market,` said one currency dealer. Some analysts expect the rupee to weaken to as much as 118-120 per dollar by the end of the year. The rupee has depreciated around 4.2 percent so far this year, after weakening by around 5 percent in 2006. The rupee is steadily depreciating mainly due to trade-related moves in an economy that runs a hefty trade deficit because of costly fuel imports and the impact of inflation.
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Huge response for $ 500 m bond offer Thursday, 9 August 2007 - 4:53 AM SL Time There has been a tremendous response from banks to the Government`s bond offer of US $ 500 million which will be channelled for the development of the Eastern Province, Highways Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle said yesterday. Several foreign banks including HSBC have indicated a positive response to this, he told the weekly briefing at the Government Information Department. He said the LTTE was also campaigning at international level not to grant the US $ 500 million to the Government. Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said it has come to light that, the UNP has informed a foreign bank that if it comes into power, this money will not be paid back. `This proves that a part of the UNP conspiracy is creating economic problems in the country and toppling the Government and they are now working according to this agenda,` he said
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Unity Plaza increases profits Wednesday, 8 August 2007 - 5:57 AM SL Time On` ally Holdings Ltd, owners of the Unity Plaza, has posted a profit of Rs. 24.72 million after taxation and profit before taxation was Rs. 37.14 million for the 2006/2007 financial year, as against Rs.25.20 million and Rs. 35.85 million respectively in the previous year. `Turnover increased from Rs.51.35 million to Rs.55.44 million whilst the operating profit decreased marginally from Rs. 31.97 million to Rs. 31.69 million,` stated the Chairman of the company W. N. Gamunu Silva in the recently released Annual Report. According to Silva, the main reasons for the increased turnover were the revision of rentals of the existing tenants and maintaining moderate rate of occupancy during the year. The average occupancy based on floor area was 90.97 % as at March 31, 2007 as compared to 95.57 % as at March 31, 2006.
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| Editorial News
Editorial News Forum
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Not smiles but tears! Thursday, 9 August 2007 - 4:49 AM SL Time `Enna sinasenna? negenahiru dekaganna ?` goes the sweet melody repeated regularly over the state media that invite people to smile and come to view the liberated East! However, it is not smiles that would come to any one`s lips on seeing the conditions prevailing there, but tears to their eyes. The report this newspaper carried on Monday Under the heading ` `Liberation` and the human tragedy of the East` is sufficient proof that the hapless people in that area, far from being liberated and their normal life restored, they seem condemned to languish longer under trying conditions. The people there have rightly refused, as our report says, to be interviewed or photographed saying that it would be another story for the newspaper but their condition would remain unchanged. This attitude demonstrates the depths of their frustration and hopelessness. One may recall that we in these columns commended the work done by the authorities to resettle some 95,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) following government reports on the matter. But our present report is clear about the pathetic condition of their existence, even their most essential and basic needs such as potable water denied to them.
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Prabhakaran`s luck Wednesday, 8 August 2007 - 5:52 AM SL Time Prabhakaran has always been lucky. Whenever he fights his way into a cul-de-sac and is about to be done for, someone rushes to his rescue. In 1987, when he was trapped in Vadamarachchi, where he would definitely have perished, India intervened, dropped parippu and whisked him away in a chopper thus ensuring the protraction of her neighbour`s conflict, which has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths ever since. Then the late President Premadasa saved him from the IPKF, which had reduced the LTTE to about six hundred cadres. Prabhakaran showed gratitude to Rajiv Gandhi and President Premadasa for the services rendered in his inimitable style. Both were blown to smithereens!
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Duty-free vehicle drama Tuesday, 7 August 2007 - 4:09 AM SL Time Explanations, charges and counter charges, challenges and counter challenges, condemnations and vilifications are galore over the subject of duty-free vehicles. Despite all these demonstrations before the media the subject is becoming murkier by the hour. This issue has now come to the fore submerging all other burning public problems thus providing further proof of mixed priorities in this country. The issue took a dramatic turn when Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe sprang a surprise by arriving at Sambodhi Viharaya on Thursday using the luxury Mercedes Benz car that Ven Ellawala Medananda Thera had purchased with the duty-free entiltlement permit issued to him and which had later allegedly been bought by businessman Hemantha Nishantha.
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| Sports News
Sports News Forum
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Bedi labels Murali a `Monster` Thursday, 9 August 2007 - 4:56 AM SL Time Lashing out at the ICC for bending rules to aid `chuckers` like Muttiah Muralitharan, former Indian spin legend Bishan Singh Bedi said the Sri Lankan off-spinner is a `monster` who is killing the game by setting a wrong precedent for youngsters. `That man (Muralitharan) is the best shot-putter in the history of cricket. People like him are just killing the game and nobody is doing anything about it,` Bedi said at a function here. `The most worrying thing is that young boys are trying to emulate him. So the ICC have ended up creating a monster with all their technological nonsense to help him continue,` he added. Bedi, who has been quite vocal in his criticism of the Lankan bowler`s action in the past, said Muralitharan had been allowed to take advantage of a physical deformity which was unfair on the batsmen.
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Edge Grand Prix at Sugathadasa Thursday, 9 August 2007 - 4:55 AM SL Time National pole vault record holder S.S.M. de Silva bettered her own record for a second time in just months as she cleared a height of 2.65 meters in the fourth leg of the Edge Grand Prix held at Sugathadasa Stadium yesterday. She became the first to bag prize money of rupees hundred thousand offered to an athlete who establishes a new national record in the Grand Prix. While de Silva impressed with her record height, ever improving high jumper and women`s record holder Priyangika Madumanthi and shot putt record holder M.N.D. Muthunayake missed out on their opportunities to better their records by thin margins. Muthunayake missed her opportunity to better her own record of 14.45 metres when she crossed the line after throwing an impressive 14.73 meters in women`s shot putt.
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Now Tennis gets a touch of Benz Wednesday, 8 August 2007 - 5:53 AM SL Time The Sri Lanka National Tennis Championships moves up to the Mercedes Benz class ? with the 92nd edition this week being staged under the banner of the vehicle regarded as a symbol of distinction. The name-change to the country`s premier tennis championships is the consequence of Dimo Agencies, the Benz people in Sri Lanka, securing the event`s sponsorship rights. `As the local representative of a prestigious car, it is only logical that we should tie up with the country`s most prestigious local tennis event,`` said Ranjith Pandithage, Chairman of Dimo. `The two were meant for each other. And I am hopeful that the quality of the tennis will be as good as our product.`` Janaka Bogollagama, SLTA president, responded: `We are delighted to be associated with a high-class name such as Mercedes Benz, and I am confident the quality of tennis that will served up will be just as good as the name under which the event will be staged.``
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