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Interview With Sri Lanka`s President Mahinda Rajapakse Tuesday, 19 February 2008 - 8:35 AM SL Time In the past few months, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse seems to have come into his own. His defence forces are notching up successes against the LTTE, he has fended off attempts to have his Government defeated in Parliament and is one step ahead of his rivals by announcing a devolution package for the Tamils. In an exclusive interview in his Temple Trees office in the heart of Colombo, a confident Rajapakse spoke to India Today Managing Editor Raj Chengappa about what he sees as the challenges ahead. Excerpts:
Q. Do you want to get Prabhakaran dead or alive? 
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SLA blocked in three fronts in Mannaar - LTTE Tuesday, 19 February 2008 - 5:14 AM SL Time Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam on Monday confronted Sri Lanka Army on three fronts in Maanaar from 4:00 a.m. Heavy fighting lasted till 7:30 p.m. when SLA movement was successfully blocked by the Tigers at Paalaikkuzhi, Kaddukkarai and Ka`rukkaayk-ku`lam according to LTTE`s Operations Command in Mannaar. The SLA has suffered heavy casualties, the Tigers said. Atleast 10 SLA soldiers were killed by Tiger snipers. Sri Lanka Air Force Kfir fighter jets and MI-24 gunships were also engaged, providing support fire to the SLA forces. Meanwhile, sources in Mannaar city said tension prevailed in Tha`l`laadi as LTTE fired artillery shells fell inside the military garrison.
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Sri Lankan military: Soldiers capture a rebel bunker line Monday, 18 February 2008 - 10:51 PM SL Time Sri Lankan soldiers captured a line of strategic rebel bunkers after a battle Monday that killed 10 rebels and one soldier, the military said.
Backed by mortar and artillery fire, army troops captured a 650-yard line of bunkers in northern Mannar district following a two-hour battle that also injured four soldiers, said Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara, the military`s spokesman. Though small, the stretch will help the military in its push to take rebel-held territories in Mannar district, Nanayakkara said. Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan did not answer calls seeking comment.
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| Security
Security Forum
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Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Meets Wi.. Wednesday, 20 February 2008 - 12:51 PM SL Time Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, who is leading the Sri Lanka delegation to the Singapore Airshow 2008 met with Teo Chee Hean, Minister for Defence of Singapore on 18th February 2008. Outlining the recent developments in Sri Lanka, Foreign Minister Bogollagama apprised his counterpart of the successes of the Sri Lankan Security Forces due to enhanced capability and sophistication. He also made mention of regional co-operation in the area of countering terrorism. The Minister provided the Minister with an overview of the peace process and stated that after terminating the Ceasefire Agreement on 3rd January 2008, the Government of Sri Lanka on 23rd January decided to fully implement the 13th Amendment to the constitution. He added that the Government wanted to give leadership to the Tamil people. The Minister said that local government elections will be held in the East on 10th March 2008.
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Sangaree Appeals P`karan To Surrend.. Wednesday, 20 February 2008 - 5:16 AM SL Time In an appeal which he named an eleventh hour one Tamil United Liberation Front President V. Ananda Sangaree appealed to V. Prabhakaran to surrender arms, give up the concept of separation and sit down for talks on the resolution of the Sri Lankan conflict. In a cordial letter addressed to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) supremo by his pet name and addressing him as `My Dear Thamby` the elder Tamil leader Sangaree told Prabhakaran, `I have written a number of letters to you with good intentions but there had been no response for anyone of them either from you or from anybody else on your behalf. It is very unfortunate that without taking any of my advice or warnings seriously you and your cadre continue with your atrocious activities without realizing the immense harm and the damage you cause to the Tamil People whom you claim to be solely represented by you and to the poor innocent Sinhala village folks who mind their own business without coming into any confrontation with you and your cadre.`
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Two arrested over Sri Lanla`s transformer blast Wednesday, 20 February 2008 - 5:13 AM SL Time A transformer blast, in the early hours of Tuesday, in Mangala Eliya in Puttalam plunged 1,500 households into darkness. SSP Puttalam Roshan Fernando said that an explosive devise had been used to blast the transformer. Two men who were on guard duty at the place had been arrested.
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| Politics
Political News Forum
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Sri Lanka government to open an escape route for civilians fleeing from Wanni Wednesday, 20 February 2008 - 5:18 AM SL Time As heavy fighting continue to escalate in the northern region, the Sri Lankan government said that it would open a `gateway` for trapped civilians in the Wanni area to crossover to the government controlled areas, media reports said. We would open an escape rout for civilians in the Wanni area and would give necessary accommodation, government Defence Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukkwella told media. He said that the government would create a no war zone to facilitate the civilian movements. We will drop leaflets to educate the public on our strategy which includes escape routes for them like we did when liberating Sampur, the Minister has said. Defence spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said some 100 civilians had already crossed over to cleared areas in Mannar and Vavuniya and they have been provided with food and shelter.
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Mervin not qualified for CC appointment Jeyaraj Wednesday, 20 February 2008 - 5:14 AM SL Time The Government yesterday denied reports that Labour Minister Mervin Silva was to be appointed to the Constitutional Council. The Government said that no member of a political party could be appointed to the CC under the provisions of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution that stipulated that only persons of eminence who are not members of political parties could be appointed, said Chief Government Whip Jeyaraj Fernandopulle to a question by JVP group leader Wimal Weerawansa. He said though Minister Mervin Silva could be described as an eminent person he was a member of a political party.
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Animal rights group protests LTTE attack on zoo in Sri Lanka Tuesday, 19 February 2008 - 5:15 AM SL Time An international animal rights organisation has protested the bombing of a zoo in Dehiwela in Sri Lanka, allegedly by Tamil Tiger rebels earlier this month. `In addition to injuring several human beings - which was no doubt its intent - the explosive device that was set off near the zoo`s birds enclosure terrified many animals in the zoo,` said Ingrid E. Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in a letter to the Tamil Tiger leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran. At least seven people, including two children, were injured, when a grenade kept near the birds` enclosure went off Feb 3. Newkirk said that animals got caught in the cross fire of wars all over the world and countless animals were being killed either intentionally or accidentally in bomb attacks worldwide.
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| Business / Economy News
Business News Forum
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Policemen refuse to pay Rs. 15,000 bill Wednesday, 20 February 2008 - 5:15 AM SL Time Two police officers had allegedly refused to pay a Rs. 15,000 bill for liquor and food they had consumed at a restaurant in Colombo on Monday night and had instead arrested one of the waiters on the pretext that the restaurant did not have a licence to operate during late hours. According to an employee of Hotel Venus Lanka, a Tourist Board approved restaurant in Kollupitiya, they have a licence to sell liquor until 2.00 am and the incident involving the police officers had taken place around midnight. Two police officers, including an IP in plainclothes, came to our restaurant at around 10.00 pm and had food and drinks. When we gave them the bill they came up with a story that we had no licence to sell liquor at late hours, and called in the special branch of the Bambalapitiya
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JVP to ask Sri Lankans to boycott Indian products Wednesday, 20 February 2008 - 5:12 AM SL Time If India fails to stop interfering in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka, the JVP would request the public to boycott Indian products, JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe told a rally in Anuradhapura. This was the first of a series of meetings to be held island wide requesting the Government to stop forthwith any idea of devolving power to the North and East and also give up any plan to stop the war against the LTTE. `The JVP has spoken so much against separation and has always opposed any move to devolve power. We stand for a unitary State,` Somawansa said.
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Tamil homeland fantasy Monday, 18 February 2008 - 10:18 AM SL Time The conflict in Sri Lanka is inextricably linked with the demand for secession, deceptively designed to wrench the sympathy of the international community. Last month, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), urged the United Nations to recognize `Tamil sovereignty` and end the conflict in Sri Lanka. The international community must be told that, beneath a plausible veneer, the demand for a separate state for Tamils of Sri Lanka is rooted in fiction. There never was at any time in Sri Lankan history `a traditional Tamil homeland` in the north and east of Sri Lanka, as claimed by the LTTE. If historically, the LTTE demand for a separate state is a downright fabrication, what is the case they can make to justify a separate state? The claim of discrimination is made in relation to language, standardization in education, justice, etc., for Tamils.
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| Editorial News
Editorial News Forum
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Child recruitment: Flogging a lame ass Wednesday, 20 February 2008 - 5:17 AM SL Time A government-appointed committee which toured the Eastern Province recently on a fact finding mission has reiterated that the offence of child abduction/recruitment carries a penalty of 30 years in prison. Now we know why it is said the law is an ass! In fact, it is a lame ass! That is too lenient a punishment for so serious a crime. A snake that harms a child is crushed before you could say Jack Robinson but the ogres that prey on children in their hundreds are accommodated in the government boarding at the expense of tax payers. We are puzzled by this kind of logic. Of a child abductor and a snake, the latter is the less evil as its spontaneous action is only in self-defence. So, why crush snakes and spare ogres? The punishment for anyone who harms children must be death by hanging in public. Today is Navam Full Moon Poya Day and perhaps we shouldn t be advocating such action on a day like this. But, desperate problems need desperate solutions. We are without anyone blessed with super human powers to deal with the modern day Devadattas, Angulimalas and Alawakas, through non-violent means.
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When gift bearing mudalalis stand at the door Tuesday, 19 February 2008 - 5:12 AM SL Time The government has fallen flat on its face much to the amusement of a bunch of lads and lasses working for drug companies that make a killing at the expense of the sick. The hoity-toity government worthies bellowing empty rhetoric have been made to bite the bullet and suspend the much advertised ban on medical sales representatives visiting hospitals to lobby doctors to promote their sales. What a sorry spectacle! Big businesses work in mysterious ways! The imposition of the ban was consequent on the new scheme of prescribing drugs by generic names. Notwithstanding the real motives of the government, the ban was a real godsend for the public waiting in winding queues, as it prevented doctors from wasting time to entertain smartly clad girls and boys just out of school imparting pharmaceutical lessons to the medical fraternity. Predictably, following the ban doctors developed withdrawal symptoms of sorts and the pharmaceutical Mafia flew into a fit of rage. Easy money like narcotics is habit forming!
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A better bus service for Sri Lanka Monday, 18 February 2008 - 10:16 AM SL Time The decision by the Transport Ministry to stop issuing new permits for the operation of private buses is a prudent move, which will be received with a sigh of relief by commuters, motorists and the public in general. While having the effect of not adding to the already chaotic highway scene and easing congestion of vehicular traffic, the snowballing air pollution not to mention the dangers posed by the speeding merchants of death on our highways, the new move would also reduce the need for supplementing the existing fuel bill of the Government which is already burdened on many fronts due to rising oil prices in the world market. Private bus service came into being in a big way in 1977 for the first time after nationalisation of the service in the late 50s. The public welcomed the move with jubilation since the service provided by the Central Transport Board (CTB/now known as the Sri Lanka Transport Board) then referred to as a sick giant- was woefully inadequate to meet the public demand and was one of the factors which brought down the United Front Government.
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| Sports News
Sports News Forum
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Sri Lanka lose a thriller in Adelaide Wednesday, 20 February 2008 - 5:10 AM SL Time Sri Lanka took their Commonwealth Bank Series day-night encounter against India to the wire and were beaten by the narrowest of margins, but time certainly is running out for them in this tri-nation competition. They certainly don`t look the team they were a year ago during the Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean. The batsmen aren`t firing and the fielding looks awful while for the first time in this series their bowling too looked out of depth. With yesterday`s two wicket defeat, the runners-up of the World Cup are getting closer to an early elimination and their task of making it to the best of three finals looks extremely slim. However, unlike against the Australians in Sydney and Perth, the tourists went down fighting this time and another ten or 15 runs could have made all the difference.
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Aussie coach wants Mahela to mind his own business Tuesday, 19 February 2008 - 5:09 AM SL Time Australian coach Tim Nielsen told the touring Indians and Sri Lankans here Monday to worry about their own form instead of concerning themselves with the home side`s performances. Nielsen was responding to claims from both that the Australians were struggling, despite being the clear leader on the tri-series ladder. Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene once again said here Monday that he believed cracks were appearing in Australia`s game, while Indian opener Virender Sehwag claimed twice in recent weeks the home side was running scared of his team. At the moment I`m quite interested to hear how much the opposition are talking about us, to be honest, Nielsen said.
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India slump hands Australia win Monday, 18 February 2008 - 10:07 AM SL Time Australia produced a superb bowling display to beat India by 50 runs and take a big lead in the one-day series. The Aussies needed Michael Clarke (79) and Brad Hogg (32) to help them to 203-9 as Irfan Pathan (4-41) and Ishant Sharma (2-32) shone for the tourists. Sachin Tendulkar fell for only five as India slumped to 59-4 in reply before Yuvraj Singh (26) and Mahendra Dhoni (37) rallied them with a stand of 56. Once they went the Indians were out for 153, with Mitchell Johnson taking 3-42. It was quite a turnaround after the Australian top order, which has struggled in the series, misfired again on a decent batting wicket.
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