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Sunday November 29th, 2009
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China rescues new Colombo South Harbour
China Merchant Holdings has virtually by-passed its
local partner the Aitken Spence for the first terminal
of the new Colombo South Harbour and has unilaterally
enhanced its financial bid all round...
Full Story |
Lanka to host C’wealth summit
Sri Lanka received the support of 45 countries out of
the total of 51 member states that participated in the
Commonwealth Ministers’ Meeting on Wednesday held in
Trinidad & Tobago...
Full Story |
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Minorities to rise against SF
Former Deputy Mayor of Colombo Azath Salley, who was
sacked from the UNP’s Working Committee this week by the
Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe for criticising Gen. Sarath
Fonseka’s candidacy, is to spearhead...
Full Story |
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Getting ready for Presidential race |
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| One former Commander may be out to
unseat him, but the President has not
lost any of his humour with his loyal
forces commanders as seen from his
sharing laughter with Navy Commander
Vice Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe and
Air Force Commander Air Chief Marshal
Roshan Goonethilake soon after launching
the construction of the country’s second
international airport at Mattala,
Hambantota on Friday morning. This has
been a long felt need and yet another
massive development project during his
current tenure |
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(Pic by Rukshan Abeywansha)
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Four Tamil parties back President
Three key one time Tamil militant parties yesterday
pledged their support to President Rajapaksa at the
forthcoming Presidential election, while the leading
estate sector party, the Ceylon Workers’ Congress said
they were already...
Full Story |
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CPC in a fix over dirty fuel issue
Troubled state oil utility – Ceylon Petroleum
Corporation (CPC) is faced with a major crisis and a
loss of nearly Rs. 1 billion with the Attorney
General ruling out litigation against alleged
contaminated fuel oil supplier – Vitol Asia Ltd of
Singapore.
Full Story |
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President to go beyond Chinthana
President Mahinda Rajapaksa said his election
campaign for the Presidential election 2010 will be
based on enhancing his initial manifesto, Mahinda
Chinthana Programme.
Full Story |
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NEWS |
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Army continues to take over private buses: Bus owners
Continuous commandeering of private buses by the
Army, despite the war being over now, is crippling
public transport services, Lanka Private Bus Owners’
Association President Gemunu Wijeratne said
yesterday.
“The Army commandeered private buses during the war
for the purpose of moving troops and the Association
then extended full co-operation. Now that the war is
over, we cannot understand why the Army continues to
take over the buses,” he said.
The incidence of Army taking over private buses is
on the increase in Kurunegala, Negombo, Giriulla and
Nittambuwa areas.
Full Story |
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Disillusioned with party
Following
is a Sinhala translation of the text of the letter
of resignation from the JVP membership sent to party
leader Somawansa Amarasinghe by former JVP WPC
member Priyanga Kotelawala, who is also a Central
Committee member and National Organiser of the
Samajawadi Kantha Sangamaya affiliated to the party.
“Dear comrade,
“It is with much pain of mind that I decided to write
this letter to you. Having worked as a full- time member
of the JVP for several years, I found...
Full Story |
“DEIYO SAKKI”
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ordered the Cultural
Affairs Ministry to inspect the Kandy Pattini Devale
reproofing work alleged to have been done
haphazardly and submit a report on remaining
shortcomings
Sources said the Cultural Ministry Secretary who was
proceeding to Mahiyangana on some other mission had to
come to the Devale following the presidential directive
and discussed...
Full Story |
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Pathmini, first TNA MP to be driven from Colombo to Jaffna
Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian for the Jaffna
District Pathmini Sithamparanathan last Sunday became
the first Tamil MP to be driven from Colombo to Jaffna
since opening the A-9 to normal traffic the previous
week.
Sithamparanathan told The Nation yesterday that she
completed the journey with Ministry of Defence
permission...
Full Story |
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Ayurveda graduates to fast unto death
Nearly 500 unemployed Ayurveda doctors, graduated
since 2004, are to launch a fast unto death campaign
from Wednesday (2) until they are granted
appointments by the Ministry of Indigenous Medicine.
President of All Ceylon Health Service Union
(ACHSU), Gamini Kumarasinghe told The Nation, even
though they have requested the Ministry...
Full Story |
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Protest to support a separate state for Lankan Tamils
Coimbatore, TN (ANI) – The Police here on Friday
arrested more than 20 Tamil activists, who were
protesting for a separate state for the Tamils
displaced by the war in Sri Lanka.
Holding photographs and banners of slain LTTE Chief
V. Prabhakaran, scores...
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Kandy Hospital Renal Unit running out of medicine
Kidney Protection Society (KPS) claims that they
are running out of funds to purchase more medicines
for Kidney patients at the Nephrology and Renal Unit
of the Kandy Teaching Hospital.
According to an officer of the Kidney Protection
Society, it has spent every single rupee they have to
purchase the essential...
Full Story |
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POLITICS |
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A battle of
titanic proportions
 Last
week saw two landmark decisions being arrived at on
the local political landscape. President Mahinda
Rajapaksa officially called for an early
Presidential election, and General Sarath Fonseka
was formally invited by major opposition parties to
contest for the Presidency at the upcoming poll.
The President’s decision though widely expected, was
not without its anxious moments. With speculation
spiralling about General Fonseka’s imminent entry
into the contest, President Rajapaksa was under
pressure from some sections of his government to
reconsider his decision and have a general election
first instead.
Full Story |
Tamil, Muslim parties
bury differences at Zurich
Leaders of 16 Tamil-speaking political parties of Sri
Lanka participated in a confab held from November 19-22, to
discuss common political issues concerning them at a 5-star
hotel Unterhof Am Rhein overlooking the river Rhine, and
situated about 40 kilometres from Zurich in Switzerland.
A
highlight of this meeting was that certain Tamil political
leaders, known to have been bitter rivals and holding
diametrically opposed political views for long, appeared to
have buried the hatchet judging from the goodwill and
cordiality that pervaded among them at the deliberations.
Full Story |
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NEWS FEATURES |
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President officially opens Hambantota Airport Project
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, on Friday officially
opened the Hambantota International Airport Project
at Mattala in Hambantota District in the south of
the island, which will create Sri Lanka’s second
international airport.
The airport, which was
designed according to recommendations of the
International Airports and Aviation Organisation, is
expected to facilitate over 800 foreign passengers
at peak hours.
Full Story |
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21st Century FOX clears the way
Ranil
Wickremesinghe was not described as the 21st Century
fox by the late Balasingham for nothing. RW perhaps
cannot help himself because he is a born
practitioner of duplicity. The conditions he has
laid down for supporting the General, in case he
enters the fray are, to say the least, quite
unbelievable because they are not only transparent,
but also diabolical. What is incidentally most
amazing is that he has spoken not to one of the
major newspapers but to a Tamil newspaper Sudaroli,
not a leading Tamil paper either.
Full Story |
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Race for presidency
In the past few weeks newspapers were rife with
speculations of a possible presidential or
parliamentary election that was ‘coming soon’.
Confirming most of these speculations, President
Mahinda Rajapaksa announced the presidential
elections and sent directives to the Election
Commissioner to do the needful in this regard.
Ending the long speculation of the common candidate,
the UNF and the JVP also announced that they will
field General Sarath Fonseka as their common
candidate in the upcoming presidential election.
Political analysts are already busy with their
predictions on the outcomes of the most awaited
hustings.
Full Story |
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IMF endorsement of economic policies and performance
The recent IMF statement endorsing the policies and
performance of the country is indeed a relief to all
those who were concerned about the future of the
economy. Last week we expressed a concern that the IMF
may withdraw the facility owing to the looming fiscal
deficit. There was some anxiety that the government may
not be able to meet the conditions laid down by the IMF.
This was especially so with respect to keeping the
fiscal deficit within 7 percent of GDP.
Full Story |
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Murali may retire before World Cup
 The world’s greatest spin bowler Muthiah
Muralitharan may quit international cricket
altogether even before the 2011 World Cup scheduled
to be held in the subcontinent.
Muralitharan who is on his fourth tour to India and
his final overseas tour is certainly struggling to
come to terms with the placid Indian pitches and a
strong Indian batting line-up which has treated him
quite harshly in the series so far.
Full Story |
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Prasanna helps Army place Ragama under siege"
Ragama CC are at the gates of a possible defeat at the
hands of bottom-seeded Army SC who are just 153 runs
away from a win at stumps on the second day of their
3-day Inter-Club Premier Tier A match at Panagoda
yesterday. Ragama CC who bowled out Army SC for 152 in
reply to their 229 managed to gain first innings honours
but their joy was short-lived when Army’s leg-spinners
Seekkuge Prasanna (5/26) who pocketed a five wicket...
Full Story |
ICC’s double standards
 The
working of the International Cricket Council (ICC) never
ceases to amaze the cricket world. There are three Test
series currently taking place and another due to begin
next month in South Africa. The big question here is why
one of the Test series taking place in India is not
adapting to the ICC’s decision and implementing the
Umpires Decision Review System (UDRS). The explanation
given for the system not being used in the on-going
series between Sri Lanka and India is that “Due to the
non-settlement...
Full Story |
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Dilshan’s second innings
Behind the success
of every man there is a woman. So it is in the case
of Sri Lanka’s opening batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan
who is presently making waves in the international
cricket sphere with his stupendous batting talent.
Not a day passes without Dilshan figuring in the
news headlines whether it be the runs he’s scored, a
brilliant display on the field or an injury which he
has become quite commonly prone to on the current
tour of India.
Full Story |
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INTERVIEWS |
Ranil will
never become the caretaker PM: Tilvin
 While
stressing that they chose to back General Sarath Fonseka at
the forthcoming presidential election Tilvin Silva, General
Secretary of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna insisted that
they will never let UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe become
the Prime Minister of the caretaker government as reported
in the media. Following are the excerpts from an interview
with The Nation
Q: The JVP has decided to support former Army Commander
General Sarath Fonseka at the forthcoming presidential
election. On what basis you decided to support him?
A: The President called a Presidential election
two years in advance with the intention....
Full Story |
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We’ll ensure the General
won’t win – Azath Salley
 The foray into the forthcoming Presidential Election,
scheduled for January 26, 2010, has aggravated with the
United National Party leadership endorsing the candidacy of
Gen. Sarath Fonseka while a significant number of its
elected members and membership have come forward to
criticise it. The Nation interviewed former Deputy Mayor of
Colombo, Azath Sally, who was sacked from the UNP’s Working
Committee, by Ranil Wickremesinghe for critisising the
Fonseka’s candidacy.
Q: What made the UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to
sack you from the Working Committee?
Full Story |
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