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JR-style satyagraha to topple government: Ranil Tuesday, 18 September 2007 - 4:22 AM SL Time Opposition UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinge yesterday called on all parties including the JVP and the LSSP to join hands with the UNP in its struggle to establish the sovereignty of the people.
Speaking at a ceremony held at party headquarters to mark the 101st birth anniversary of late President J.R. Jayewardene, Mr. Wickremesinghe said the UNP would launch a J.R. Jayewardene-style sathyagraha to topple the government. `Any party can join in the struggle to force the government to resign and then campaign on their own at a future general election,` he said. Mr. Wickremesinghe said an organized struggle could force a government out of power any time. Citing examples, he said the people`s struggle in Ukraine compelled the government to hold an election and Philippines former President Ferdinand Marcos had to run away during the uprising of the people in that country. 
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Rajapaksa revises stand on unit of devolution Monday, 17 September 2007 - 10:47 PM SL Time Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had earlier favoured the `district` as the unit of devolution, is now understood to favour the `province` as the unit, to accord with the wishes of the minority Tamils and the international community, particularly India.
According to informed sources, Rajapaksa told leaders of the ruling alliance recently, that he wanted the `province` to be the `unit of devolution`, and the `district` to be the `unit of administration.` In other words, power will be devolved to the provinces, but it will be exercised through the district level administrative mechanism. The Tamils have been fighting for provincial autonomy for decades, first peacefully, and later violently. The 13 constitutional amendment, enacted in the late 1980s under Indian pressure, had given a modicum of autonomy to the provinces. But the Tamils rejected it saying that it was too little too late. The majority Sinhalas also found the system to be unsatisfactory as they equated provincial autonomy with virtual secession.
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US Senate turns against Lanka Monday, 17 September 2007 - 1:53 AM SL Time It is a week where security considerations overshadowed political events. That is both in Sri Lanka and abroad. Main among them was the hitherto unpublicised vote in the United States Senate on September 6 approving the State Department Appropriations. Section 690 of the document said:
`None of the funds appropriated by this Act under the heading `Foreign Military Financing Programme` may be made available for assistance for Sri Lanka, no defence export license may be issued, and no military equipment or technology shall be sold or transferred to Sri Lanka pursuant to the authorities contained in this Act or any other Act, unless the Secretary of State certifies and reports to the Committees on Appropriations that - (1) the Sri Lankan military is suspending and the Sri Lankan Government is bringing to justice members of the military who have been credibly alleged to have committed gross violations of human rights, including extrajudicial executions and the recruitment of child soldiers
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| Security
Security Forum
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Monk killed by robbers Tuesday, 18 September 2007 - 4:44 AM SL Time An 84-year-old Buddhist monk was found dead in his temple at Ihala Morawatte in Ruwanwella on Saturday (15). OIC Ruwanwella police Sanjaya Irasinghe told The Island yesterday (17) that investigations revealed the monk, Ven. Ganegoda Janananda Thera, the chief incumbent of the Sri Wickrama Rajasingharamya, had been murdered. It was suspected that two men had broken into his temple and killed him in the process. The monk had lived a secluded life and was known to have been practicing medicine and the occult art, the OIC said. The monk was found fallen by the side of his bed and the postmortem examination revealed that he had died of asphyxiation. Police dogs sent on the trail of a scent of a slipper found outside the room had traced one suspect who had been arrested. His accomplices had fled the area police said.
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Total destruction of LTTE a must before political solution - Gotabhaya Tuesday, 18 September 2007 - 4:43 AM SL Time A total defeat of the LTTE is necessary before a political solution to the ethnic crisis can be implemented. The military campaign against the terrorist outfit is now two thirds completed and the Tigers have been forced to hole up in the Wanni jungles where they will be completely destroyed, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said yesterday (17). He was speaking at a special ceremony in Trincomalee attended by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Navy Commander Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda and other service commanders, to felicitate the crew of the four Navy vessels that destroyed three LTTE arms smuggling ships.
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Power Ministry: Workers Demand Brib.. Monday, 17 September 2007 - 10:49 AM SL Time The Power and Energy Ministry has decided to seek the Bribery Commission`s help to nab some employees attached to CEB Regional Electrical Engineer Offices soliciting bribes from would-be electricity consumers to expedite the process. CEB employees including clerks and peons attached to offices at Dehiwala, Mount Lavinia, Kirulapona, Kataragama, Moneragala and Badulla are alleged to have solicited bribes. They are also accused of deliberately delaying electricity connections to pressure people, Power and Energy Ministry sources said. The people in affected areas had complained to the respective officials, but as there had been no response to their complaints they had made complained to the Energy Ministry.
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| Politics
Political News Forum
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SC halts driving licence for 5 monks Tuesday, 18 September 2007 - 4:47 AM SL Time The Supreme Court yesterday halted five petitions filed by Buddhist monks seeking permission to obtain driving licence. The Bench comprising Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva and Justices Shirani Thilakawardena and Saleem Marsoof made the order following an application filed by the Commissioner of Motor Traffic. Earlier Ven. Paragoda Wimalawansa Thera filed a writ application in the Court of Appeal asking that the Commissioner of Motor Traffic be given an order to issue him an application for a driving licence. The Commissioner of Motor Traffic filed a counter affidavit against it. Court having gone through the submission filed by both parties rejected the counter affidavit of the Commissioner and allowed the application by the Ven. Wimalawansa Thera.
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143rd Anagarika Dharmapala anniversary Monday, 17 September 2007 - 10:51 AM SL Time Ceremonies to mark the 143rd birth anniversary of Srimath Anagarika Dharmapala will be held in several parts of the country today. The main function will be held at 9 a.m. at Dharmapala Vidyalaya in Eheliyagoda. A function organised by the Galle YMBA will also be held at 2 p.m. at the Mallika Navodaya School in Hiniduma. Ven. Habarakada Indrarathana Thera will be the chief guest at this function while J.R. Suriyapperuma will deliver a lecture on the `Dharmapala Chinthanaya`. Commemorative meetings are also scheduled in Colombo, Kandy, Kurunegala, Matara, Pannipitiya, Bombuwala and Menikhinna .
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Special programme to promote Ceylon Tea Saturday, 15 September 2007 - 8:58 AM SL Time An international programme to promote Sri Lankan tea across the world would be implemented shortly. The promotional work would be done methodically with the participation of Sri Lankan embassy network. Under this programme, an agent from each Sri Lankan embassy will be trained in tea promotion aspects and deployed. The promotions would be categorised in to three aspects as Generic promotion, Uni-national promotion and Brand promotion. Promoting the sales of Ceylon tea in some foreign markets, organizing Sri Lanka participation in international trade fairs in the regions, disseminating Sri Lanka tea market information to the trade, gathering economic, social, marketing strategies of other competitive countries and statistical data on the region in general and analysing the tea market trends are some of the responsibilities of these agents. They should send the progress reports once in every three months to the Sri Lankan Ambassador in that country, to the Foreign Minister and to Plantation Industries Minister.
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| Business / Economy News
Business News Forum
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Upgrading rooms to get priority in $ 2 mn. refurbishing at Hilton Sunday, 16 September 2007 - 12:05 PM SL Time The Colombo Hilton Hotel is undertaking a US$ 2 million refurbishment utilizing accumulated funds held in the furniture, fittings and equipment reserve of Hotel Developers (Lanka) Limited, the Hilton`s owning company. Hotel Developers have told the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) that in terms of the management agreement between itself and Hilton International which manages the Colombo Hilton, a sum equivalent to US$ 700,000, is annually transferred from the operational profits of the hotel to the furniture, fittings and equipment reserve. `The funds in this account is solely maintained by the hotel for the purpose of additions and replacements of the furniture, fittings and equipment which is required for the operation of the hotel,` Hotel Developers said in its statement.
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CID grills reporter on Aston Martin Saturday, 15 September 2007 - 8:53 AM SL Time The CID yesterday questioned Nation newspaper reporter Indika Sakalasooriya over a news item relating to an Aston Martin vehicle, sources from the weekly newspaper said. The news item which carried pictures of the luxury vehicle indicated that it was brought down to Sri Lanka for the son of a VVIP. The CID questioned the reporter for several hours on how he had obtained the information and pictures of the vehicle when it was at the Colombo port.
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Lanka weathers drought, conflict Friday, 14 September 2007 - 4:21 AM SL Time Economic growth in Sri Lanka has accelerated despite a drought and an upsurge in the tropical island`s bloody ethnic conflict, according to data out Thursday. The country`s economy grew by 6.4 percent between April and June compared with the same period last year, official figures showed. The corresponding figure in the first quarter was 6.1 percent. `It`s a bit of a surprise, we were expecting 5.8 percent growth in the second quarter,` said Vajira Premawardhana, a research director at Lanka Orix Securities. He expects economic expansion of 6.0 percent this year. However, annual growth in the second quarter of 2006 was higher at 7.7 percent. `The drought affected the paddy harvest. We also used more thermal power to generate electricity, because the rainfall was not enough to use the cheaper hydro power,` said Suranjana Vidyaratne, the census director general.
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| Editorial News
Editorial News Forum
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When will teachers ever learn? Monday, 17 September 2007 - 10:53 AM SL Time The Supreme Court has hammered home the message to teachers that they should not protest at the expense of innocent children. They needn`t have gone all the way to the apex court to learn that lesson. They could have learnt it from the much maligned private bus crews, whom their employers once called thirisannu (or wild beasts) because of their callous disregard for the commuting public. But even those `thirisannu` had some consideration towards the school children who sat the GCE (A/L) examination after years of learning and suffering. They postponed a strike in view of that crucial examination. But, the good teachers chose to hold their own pupils to ransom. They launched a boycott of the evaluation of the A/L answer scripts and brought in the process their noble profession into disrepute. Their trade union action at the expense of children was tantamount to a mother refusing to breastfeed her crying baby over a family dispute.
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A case for closing down prisons Saturday, 15 September 2007 - 8:56 AM SL Time Our ancestors` love and thirst for learning were such that they likened the closing down of a seat of learning to the opening of a dungeon. (We don`t give two hoots about folk wisdom, do we? That`s why we are where we are?on the fast track to a failed state. In a country known for ancient engineering marvels and many other achievements that were made possible by a huge reservoir of knowledge and a work ethic that our forebears were blessed with, we have had to obtain foreign help to fix even a dilapidated sewage system!) We keep closing down schools at a rate and it is only natural that we are feeling the pressing need for more and more maximum security prisons. If the crime rate continues to rise, which is quite possible, then we are likely to have the biggest prison in Asia, if not in the world, before long! Worse, we may consider that an achievement, given our monumental weakness for anything big no matter what it is. Educational standards are falling so rapidly that the critics of free education might want the existing state run schools, too, closed down. The warring school teachers and their university counterparts are making their contribution to the ruination of the education sector in no small measure. They seem to think they deserve pay hikes for that! However, today`s comment in not about schools, universities or teachers. It is about prisons and politicians.
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When disaster management becomes a disaster Friday, 14 September 2007 - 4:14 AM SL Time We are a peculiar nation. We first learnt the word tsunami after thousands of lives were lost to the sea in 2004. It was a pity that despite millennia of learning, we lacked the basic knowledge of a forest-dwelling primitive Negritoid tribe of the Andaman Islands, called Jarawas, who escaped from the Boxing Day tsunami without losing a single life notwithstanding the proximity of their land to the epicentre of the killer seaquake. The naked Jarawas have been living in complete isolation for aeons but they understood the early warnings that Nature gave before wreaking havoc. Of how they managed to escape without sophisticated early warning systems, Director of the Anthropolitical Survey of India in Kolkata V. R. Rao has said, `[They] get the wind of impending danger from biological warning signals like the cry of birds and change in the behavioural patterns of marine animals.`
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| Sports News
Sports News Forum
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Sri Lanka crash-land Tuesday, 18 September 2007 - 4:51 AM SL Time JOHANNESBURG (AFP): Skipper Shoaib Malik helped Pakistan overcome an early wobble to post another intimidating score and held his team beat Sri Lanka by 33 runs in their World Twenty20 Super Eights match yesterday. Sri Lanka never recovered from the loss of openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga early in the innings as the Pakistani bowlers kept the proceedings under control until the end. Malik top-scored with 57 out of a total of 189 for six with support from their most experienced batsman Younis Khan (51) in a stand worth 101 from only 58 balls as both men made hay against Sanath Jayasuriya who conceded 64 off his four overs, the most expensive figures of the tournament so far. Pakistan were sent into bat in perfect night-time conditions after Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and chose to field.
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Bikini cricket for young farts Monday, 17 September 2007 - 10:52 AM SL Time The future of cricket flaunts a six-pack, camo pants, a bandanna and a bra-top, and she would surely be arrested if she swung her hips like that on a Sunday afternoon in Senekal. If she did so in the International Cricket Council (ICC) boardroom there would be pink gin splutters all over the plush carpeting. But not because the guardians of the grand old game would be shocked. Nothing much scares them after Hansie Cronje`s dance with the devil, Shoaib Akhtar`s one-man travelling circus and Bob Woolmer being murdered and then unmurdered. No, it`s the smell of money that spikes these denizens` blood pressure. And they can see profits aplenty in the shape of the six-packed, camo-clad dancers who began leaping about at stadiums in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town last week.
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Lanka creates Twenty20 record Saturday, 15 September 2007 - 8:52 AM SL Time Sri Lanka scored 260-6 yesterday - the highest ever score in a Twenty20 international - and Kenya replied with only 88 to lose by a record margin of 172 runs. Sri Lanka smashed the record previously held by Australia which scored 221-5 against England in January. Jehan Mubarak hit an undefeated 46 for Sri Lanka off only 13 balls - including three 4s and five 6s. Opener Sanath Jayasuriya scored 88 off 44 balls, and captain Mahela Jayawardene got 65 off 27. In reply, Kenya scored 88-9 with injured bowler Thomas Odoyo not batting. It struggled from the start, losing Maurice Ouma in the first over and then wickets at regular intervals. Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga and Tillekeratne Dilshan took two wickets each pushing Kenya out of the tournament.
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