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Top Govt. officials spied
for Tigers
Some top government officials serving in the north are now
facing arrest over their active feeding of intelligence to the
LTTE after regularly visiting Colombo for official meetings.
Sources said their active role in the LTTE had been revealed by
Tiger top level cadres recently captured by the security
establishment.
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Namal to contest general election
Denying rumours that the President’s eldest son, Namal Rajapaksa
will contest as the Chief Ministerial candidate in the upcoming
Southern Provincial Council UPFA General Secretary Susil
Premajayanth claimed that Namal Rajapaksa will most probably...
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End of the road for Kohona as Foreign Secretary?
There are fresh attempts to send off Foreign Secretary Dr
Palitha Kohona by offering him a post overseas, while several
previous attempts ended in failure. But, sources said this time
it might succeed as the offer is coming from a place...
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Joining hands to symbolise unity
UPFA Chief Ministerial
Candidate for Uva Provincial Council Election Sashindra
Rajapaksa with former Uva Chief Ministers Vijith Vijithamuni de
Soyza and Samaraweera Weerawanni (former UNP) at an election
meeting early this week |
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Justin Galappatti quits UNP
UNP’s Matara district leader and Opposition leader of the
Southern Provincial Council (SPC) Justin Galappatti, yesterday
announced his decision to cross over to the Government.
Galapatti, who is also a former Provincial Minister, told a
large gathering of supporters and well-wishers at his
Pamburana...
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NCPA to set up guidelines on
dealing with teenagers
The National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) has said it
planned to set up indicators on how to deal with teenagers, and
that they were already in the process of collecting opinions
from various sectors of the society including teenagers as well
as parents and teachers, in this regard.
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Slain Galle opposition leader had murder charges against him
Police teams investigating the broad daylight murder of Galle
Municipal Council Opposition Leader Deshabandu Dushyantha
Seneviratne are yet to make a breakthrough into the killing.
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NEWS |
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New deadline for Muslim extremists
Authorities are contemplating a further grace period for
extremist Muslim groups in the East to surrender their illegal
arms stockpile.
On July 4 at the conclusion of the first grace period a small
quantity of weapons in their possession was handed over to
authorities through the Kattankudy mosque.
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Census in North after 30 years
The Census and Statistics Department is to carry out an
islandwide census enumeration programme in 2011 which
will include statistics of people and houses in the
North and the East for the first time in 30 years.
“This census programme is being held every 10 years and
for the first time since 1981. We will be collecting
data of the people and houses in the Northern and
Eastern provinces,” said G.Y.L Fernando, the Director
for Census and Statistics.
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Lokuge proposes to bring elephant mothers to Maligawa as solution
Minister Gamini Lokuge Friday proposed that if the baby tuskers
who were brought from Pinnawela Orphanage are crying for their
mothers, then they could bring the she-elephants to the Maligawa
to be with their offspring.
The controversy erupted when it was alleged that two baby
tuskers were abducted from Pinnawela Orphanage in the dead of
night.
SEE INSIDE New pools for Yala
The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has commenced
the construction of of a new water pools inside the Yala
National Park to respond to the water shortage caused as a
result of the drying out of Kumbukkan Oya, said Minister in
charge, Patali Champika Ranawaka.
“We already have several water pools inside Yala and we
are now working on constructing five to 10 new water
pools with the participation of the private sector.
SEE INSIDE Lack of midwives a problem
The All Ceylon Health Service Union (ACHSU) yesterday charged
that the lack of Family Health Workers (Midwives) in the country
has resulted in zeroing in one midwife to 20,000 citizens in the
country.
President of ACHSU, Gamini Kumarasinghe told The Nation, that
even though the top officials in the Health Ministry could not
understand even an ordinary man can understand that it is not
possible for a single midwife to take care of 20,000 people
alone.
SEE INSIDE Automatic weather forecasting in six months
An Automatic Weather Forecasting System set up under the
financial aid of Japan will come into force in six months time.
Denying various media reports that the system is malfunctioning
and giving inaccurate predictions from the date of installation,
Deputy Director of the Department of Meteorology S.H.
Kariyawasam told The Nation that it is still being tested and
will only be used for weather forecasting from January 2010.
SEE INSIDE Massive vaccination campaign for IDP children begins today
More than 36,000
internally displaced children in camps will be vaccinated
against Measles in a special ‘child health campaign’ launched
today. In a joint effort with the Ministry of Health, UNICEF,
WHO and a coalition of other partners, the campaign aims to
counter the sporadic cases of measles which have occurred in the
past months and prevent risk of further outbreak.
SEE INSIDE Minister vows to probe test paper blunder
Education Minister Susil Premajayantha assured that Provincial
Education Ministers have been advised to conduct inquiries into
the blunders made while preparing the second term test papers
and added that necessary disciplinary action will be taken
against the officials responsible for the situation.
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POLITICS |
Uva : A dress rehearsal for the
bigger contests
 With only days to go for campaigning to end for the Uva Provincial
Council elections, there is hardly any uncertainty about the outcome of
the poll; nevertheless, the election would be significant for both the
Government and the Opposition for a variety of reasons.
For the past two-and-half months, Sri Lankans have been rejoicing in
the aftermath of the annihilation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) and justifiably, President Mahinda Rajapaksa deserves much
of the credit for this, in taking an unwavering stand with regard to
military operations against the Tigers, in the face of fierce opposition
and intimidation from the international community.
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SLFP to announce National
Plan to rebuild nation
SLFP
General Secretary Maitripala Sirisena told a Press briefing in Colombo
last Tuesday, that several political decisions taken for the good of the
entire country, which underline the concept of rebuilding the nation,
would be announced at the SLFP’s 19th anniversary national convention to
be held in Colombo on September 1.
About 6000 delegates from party branches countrywide are expected to
participate in this convention, which will be held at the Sugathadasa
Indoor Stadium.
Arrangements are also underway to adopt at the convention, a national
political agenda carrying among other things a National Plan for the
country’s future.
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NEWS FEATURES |
Nipped in the bud
Suicide, although not a favourable topic of discussion, is noted
today as one of the leading causes of death among teenagers and
adults under 35. The World Health Organisation reported that
over one million people commit suicide every year, and some 10
to 20 million non-fatal attempted suicides are reported
worldwide annually.
Last week, a student from Musaeus College, a leading girls’
school, committed suicide, while another student attempted
suicide, and is in danger of losing hers. Who is to be blamed,
who is responsible? Could the entire blame be set upon the
students for breaking rules or is it time that the parents and
teachers became more sensitive and responsive towards dealing
with teen psychology?
SEE
INSIDEPersonal experiences of police brass
On April 4, in addition to my duties as the Director, Police
Planning and Research I was acting for P. L. Munidasa SP as the
Personal Assistant to Stanley Senanayake the IGP. At about 4
p.m. an urgent radio message addressed to the IGP was opened by
me. The message was alarming. The Wellawaya Police station had
been attacked and the OIC Inspector Jayasekera too had been
injured. He had received gunshot injuries, a PC had been killed
and several injured. However, the Police had fought back bravely
and not abandoned the station.
As soon as the IGP was informed, he reacted calmly.
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Mobile phones, not a toy?
Is the use of mobile phones for the safety of school children,
or does it compromise their safety? This is the talk of the town
in Colombo following the suicide of a 14-year-old girl at a
popular girls’ school, whose death is presumed to be connected
with the mobile phone she was carrying. The Nation spoke to a
cross-section of Colombo’s public as to what they feel about
students carrying mobile phones. The majority opinion was that
students should not be given mobile phones while some opined
that intelligent students are able to discern what is good...
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The Dambulla drag
Sri Lanka capitalised once again on a feeble batting display by
Pakistan to win the second one-day international by six wickets
and go 2-up in the five-match series at the Rangiri Dambulla
Stadium yesterday.
Put into bat on a fresh wicket Pakistan could make no more than
168 off 47 overs. Sri Lanka also struggled in their run chase
losing 74-4 in 23 overs before Chamara Kapugedera and Thilan
Samaraweera put things right for Sri Lanka sharing an unfinished
95-run partnership off 129 balls to see them through with 6.2
overs to spare.
Kapugedera dropped from the ICC World Twenty20 in
England this year returned...
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Battle of the two Abeys
 Sad
but it’s true that a battle of two cricket commentators
is what is taking place at present in the on-going Sri
Lanka-Pakistan series. It was rather an unpleasant
surprise to see a news item appearing in one of the
morning dailies accusing Roshan Abeysinghe of using his
position as an international cricket commentator to
promote the players he is managing. The Sports Minister
directed Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) which picks the
commentators for the commentary team to inquire and take
necessary action. SLC found that there was absolutely no
fault in Abeysinghe’s commentary after previewing the
tapes and concluded that he had done no wrong.
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Herath in the right place at the wrong time
 It is unfortunate in some ways that Rangana Herath’s career
should run parallel with that of world record holder Muthiah
Muralitharan. Of course Herath came into the Test scene seven
years after Muralitharan had broken into the Test ranks, but by
that time he had not only to compete with Muralitharan but also
Kumar Dharmasena, Upul Chandana and Sanath Jayasuriya for a
spinner’s berth in the national team. Although Jayasuriya played
as a batsman he was quite a useful left-arm spinner capturing 98
Test wickets, the highest tally after Muralitharan and Chaminda
Vaas for his country.
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INTERVIEWS |
“Prabhakaran closed the door on me. I
wanted peace”
 This
year’s stunning and decisive military annihilation of the LTTE
by Sri Lankan forces has created, in its wake, a humanitarian
crisis of colossal dimensions. Some 300,000 displaced persons,
most of them Tamils who were forced to flee their homes, are
living in government refugee camps awaiting rehabilitation. The
architect of this victory, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is
hailed as a national...
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INSIDEThe right to survive
 Among
the concerns that govern global relations today, environment
enjoys a pivotal position. According to Environment Minister
Patali Champika Ranawaka, the concern for environment and the
consequences of climate change constitutes the main political
conflict brewing across the entire world. He also says that
climate change is a worse disaster than colonialism for the
developing world, because it has the capability to wipe out
entire civilisations, unlike in the case of colonialism, where
only political freedoms were subjugated for selfish gains.
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