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Crucial JHU-Govt. meeting
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) will meet the President tomorrow
to discuss about the 13th Amendment claimed inside party
sources. The party has decided not to make any statements about
the 13th Amendment until they meet the President.
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Surprise recall
Eyebrows are being raised in the Foreign Ministry over the
sudden recall of a senior diplomat serving in London.
The career diplomat with more than 20 years of service...
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INSIDE
Security clearance holds up campaigning
The United National Party (UNP) and election monitors claim
that there is not enough time to campaign in Jaffna for the
Municipal Council elections because of the delay taken by the
Government to give the opposition parties clearance to visit the
area.
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INSIDE
Severe drug shortage
in Govt. hospitals
Medical care services at Kurunegala General Hospital, Matara
Base Hospital and Karapitiya Teaching Hospital are hampered...
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Handing over of weapons
A haul of weapons in the possession of Muslim extremist youth in
the East were surrendered to DIG Edison Gunatileka at the Meera
Jummah Mosque in Kattankudy yesterday.
President of Suhada Foundation T.U.L.M. Thowfeek handing over
the weapons to D.I.G. Gunatileka, while Provincial Health
Minister M.A.L.M. Hisbullah (Centre) and Brig.Hashan Tilekaratne
and Kattankudy Muslims are looking on.
Weapons handed over are: seventeen T-56 assault rifles, Four
..303 rifles, one SMG, 16 hand grenades, two 9mm Pistols, 1075
rounds of ammunition, one Shot Gun and 25 magazines ( Pic by
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President to attend 15th Non
Aligned Summit
President Mahinda Rajapaksa and
Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama are expected to attend the
15th Non Alligned Summit to be held in Cairo later this month.
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Vasu wants cmc held responsible
Opposition Leader of the suspended Colombo Municipal Council
(CMC) Vasudeva Nanayakkara said that the CMC authorities should
be held responsible for the failure to dispose garbage in the
city on a regular basis for the past many months.
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Suspect evading arrest
Keselwatte Police conducting investigations into the theft of
two expensive side-mirrors belonging to the vehicle Toyota
Corolla 141, of a woman High Court Judge is on the trail of the
suspect whom they had already identified.
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Polling booths in IDP camps
The Elections Department will set up polling booths in IDP camps
if they receive a sufficient number of applications from
eligible voters seeking to cast their vote...
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INSIDE
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NEWS |
Two Killings in Vavuniya
Election campaign in the Vavuniya Urban Council took a bloody
turn yesterday as two people were shot dead at 1:00 pm at
Barathypuram within Vavuniya Urban Council area. TNA MP
Srikantha Nallathamby claimed that unidentified gunmen shot the
Principal of Barathypuram Viduhala, M Ramesh Kandha and well
known businessman, Gunarathnam Peter Ruben.
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LIOC demands further hike in fuel prices
Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC) complains that the fuel price
revision announced this week by the government is not sufficient
to cover the losses incurred by them and added that they are
expecting a further hike.
LIOC points out that they have currently reached a state
where they have run out of cash and added that they may
not be able to import the next consignment of oil.
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AEA launches new projects
Unknown to most of us the Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) of Sri
Lanka is the silent and unseen watchdog behind many of the daily
activities that we take for granted.
“The AEA regulates the use of nuclear material and nuclear
technology and promotes the safe use of nuclear material and
nuclear technology. This technology is currently applied in the
health sector, industrial sector and agricultural sector as well
as for the development and promotion of scientific research on
the environment science and other life sciences,” said Dr. W.
Abeyewickreme,
Chairman Atomic Energy Authority of Sri Lanka.
SEE INSIDE Swarnam’s wife arrested from relief camp
Wife of the LTTE’s military leader for
Trincomalee District Colonel Swarnam and another woman LTTE
suspect were arrested by Police from a relief camp for IDPs at
Settikulam in Vavuniya on information given by another woman
arrested at Kekirawa while carrying a parcel of C-4 explosives
earlier in the week.
The woman with 1.9 kilogrammes of C4 explosives in her
possession was arrested at Kekirawa by a special police team
attached to the
Colombo Crime Division (CCD) on Tuesday.
SEE INSIDE Five more Majors General
Army Headquarters has recommended the promotion of five
brigadiers to the rank of Major General, The Nation reliably
learns. The letter of recommendation has been sent to the
President early this week.
“Head of the President’s Security Division, Brig. Jagath
Alwis, Director Military Planning, Brig. Mahesh
Senanayake, Commander of the 22 GOC, Brig. Janaka
Walgama, Brig. A. L. R Wijethunga and Brig. H.L.
Weeratunga are the five brigadiers who have been
recommended,” a reliable source told The Nation.
SEE INSIDE Minister Warnapala to attend Higher Education Conference in Paris
Higher
Education Minister Prof. Wiswa Warnapala left for Paris on
Friday to attend the 4-day World Conference on Higher Education
to be held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris beginning today.
The Sri Lankan delegation will include Ministry Secretary Ms.
Malani Peiris, University Grants Commission Chairman Prof.
Gamini Samaranayake and Prof. Janaka de Silva.
“This conference will be attended by eminent
educationists from all over the world to discuss matters
relating to new dynamics...
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POLITICS |
Test firing of
political missiles?
There appears to be never a dull moment in the Sri Lankan political
theatre. Just when campaigning began in earnest for the Uva Provincial
polls, where one would have believed that interest would remain focussd
there, events in distant Colombo began to take centre stage yet again.
The first tremors of the impending quake came in the form of
announcements from the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), that it would, using
all means at its disposal, oppose the 13th Amendment as a means of
Devolving Power.
This obviously sent alarm bells ringing, because the JHU was a staunch
ally of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his ruling United Peoples’
Freedom Alliance (UPFA). The question that was being asked was whether
the announcement was a means by which the Alliance was, in fact,
communicating its unwillingness to pursue the 13th Amendment.
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President ‘de-mines’ alliance thinking
The
statement made by Environment Minister Patali ChampIka Ranawaka, a JHU
front-liner, at a media briefing in Colombo on July 2, that his party
would quit the government, if it made a move to fully implement the 13th
Amendment, created a sensation in political circles last week.
Minister Ranawaka’s statement immediately drew critical responses
from Minister Mervyn Silva and Western Province Chief Minister Prasanna
Ranatunga.
Meanwhile, the Minister, who had spoken to President Mahinda
Rajapaksa over the phone, was taken to task for having made the
statement, by an angry President. “I have taken a firm stand to fully
implement the 13th Amendment. You may quit the Government now itself, if
that is your wish,” he told the Minister, Temple Trees sources revealed.
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NEWS FEATURES |
Visiting the Vavuniya IDP camps: An uplifting experience
Colombo: The last phase of Sri Lanka’s low-intensity military
conflict saw the elimination of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam as a military force. It simultaneously witnessed a
poignant human drama in which some 300,000 Tamil civilians were
rescued by force of arms from a terrorist organisation that,
claiming to fight for their freedom, had no compunction in using
them as a human shield.
Most of these internally displaced Sri Lankans are now housed
and cared for by the government in transitional relief camps
located in five demarcated zones of the 1,500-acre Menik Farm on
the outskirts of the town of Vavuniya in the mainland North.
International concern has been expressed over the present
condition and the future of these Tamil civilians, who include a
large number of children, women, and senior citizens.
SEE
INSIDEAnti-dengue Cuban Bti - Not a magic wand
It is a misconception that the biochemical Bacillus
thuringiensis israelensis (Bti), yet to be received from Cuba is
a ‘magic wand’ that will eliminate the dengue menace across the
country. In Cuba’s fight against dengue- an ecological,
environmental and a medical problem, Bti has only complemented
many other means adopted. The Nation learns that the active Cuban youth force, constant
medical research activities and the strong legal, public heath
and surveillance system, keep dengue outbreaks regulated within
Cuban borders.
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An absorbing first day at Galle
 What an eventful first day it was in the first Test of
the series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan turned out to be at
the Galle International Stadium yesterday. Initially the weather
which was questionable in the past week cleared giving way to
bright sunshine and the cricket that was dished out lived up to
the glorious uncertainties only a sport of this nature can
produce.
Sri Lanka invited to bat first on a damp pitch soaked
underneath by the continuous rains that had lashed the
ground for more than a week did extremely well to total
a respectable 292.
SEE INSIDEHerath gets off to a flying start
 The Sri Lankan athletic arena had always been blessed with a
fair amount of international level middle-distance runners. In
the recent past the sport was blessed with athletes in the
calibre of Sugath Thilakarathene, Rohan Pradeepa Kumara and
Prasanna Amarasekara. In the near future, the name of Indunil
Madushan Herath will also be added to that list. His performance
at the 1st Asian Youth Games, which is currently underway at
Bishan Stadium in Singapore, can be called a timely one as he
went on to renew his personnel best timing by two seconds in the
800m heats.
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Don’t dilute Test cricket
 Four-day
Tests, night Tests and two-tier Tests what else will the
International Cricket Council (ICC), the world governing body
for cricket come up with next in this their Centenary Year?
In the last few years the ICC has been trying its best
to divert from traditional Test cricket and to try and
dilute the game. The statement made by ICC chief David
Morgan that Test matches be made four days to compete
with Twenty20 cricket is pure baloney. Test cricket
should not be sacrificed at any cost whatever the
threat.
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INTERVIEWS |
We’re not racists, we are socialists –
Anura Kumara
 Last
week the JVP participated in the Development and Reconciliation
Committee (DRC) summoned by the President and many speculated
that they might be changing their stance on devolution and the
implementation of the 13th Amendment like some of the other
early opponents of the Amendment. The Nation met JVP
Parliamentary group leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake to learn if
the party stands by their original claims…
Q: Last Thursday the President held an all party
meeting...
SEE INSIDEJudges must act within parameters of
law - CJ
The judges have to act according to the law. They cannot do what
they want or wish when they are making any judicial
determination declared newly appointed Chief Justice J. H. Asoka
Nihal de Silva in an interview with The Nation. Following are
excerpts from the interview:
Q: What made you turn to a career in law?
A: Our parents did their best to give us a higher education
for us to obtain respectable high positions in society. My elder
brother entered the Medical College and became a doctor. Now, he
is practising in America.
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