End war free, child soldiers

A demonstration was held opposite the Lipton Circus, Colombo yesterday (29) calling on the government and the LTTE to immediately end the war in the North and East and for the Tiger to immediately release all child soldiers from their ranks. Pictured are some of the novice Buddhist monks and children who were seen with placards in the demonstration.
Pic by Nihal Chandrakumar

• Balasingham out of next round
  The London based LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham will not participate in the second round of the peace talks, to be held in Geneva on June 8, according to LTTE spokesman Daya Master.
  
  
• Soldier killed
  Hours after it was announced that the Government and the Tigers had agreed to hold talks in Geneva on June 8, a soldier was killed in an LTTE attack on an Army foot patrol at Kalmaduwa, Kovil Puliyankulama in Vavuniya yesterday (29).
   
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• Invocation of Doctrine of Necessity should be justiciable
  Numerous views have been expressed in the recent past about the appointments made by the President to three Independent Commissions. A common argument being put forth is that the President could have appointed the Constitutional Council without the nominee of the minority parties as required by Article 41 A (f) of the 17th Amendment. 
  The basis of this argument is that the quorum is fixed at six members. A quorum is stipulated in any Act, as a conditional procedure for the conduct of meetings and I venture to suggest that a quorum provision cannot be misused for the appointing authority (in this instance the President) to appoint a fewer number of persons than that stipulated in the Act, unless of course, the particular legislation provides for an option to say for instance, ‘not more than a stipulated number.’ 
   
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• IT should target – SMEs
  The fast growing small and medium enterprises (SME) segment is getting more focus on government policy of driving GDP growth out of the Western province. If the sector is to be competitive in the Global market one has to embrace IT as a driver, than an information filing system.
   

• Tritel expands CDMA coverage with new technology
  Tritel Services (Pvt) Ltd, payphone operator expands CDMA coverage with Huawei Technologies Lanka Company (Pvt) Ltd.
  Tritel officially tied-up with Huawei Technologies Lanka Company (Pvt) Ltd, since January delegating them as the solution provider for Tritel CDMA 450 telecommunication infrastructure.

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• To provide live commentaries of matches in England
  Sri Lanka Cricket released Rs. 2.5m on forged documents?
  A Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) official, who has flown to England to provide live commentaries of the on-going cricket series, has been accused of producing forged documents and obtaining Rs. 2.5 million from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLBC).
  The said official has made use of official letterheads of the SLBC Chairman, placed the chairman’s signature and corresponded with SLC and obtained money, Police said.
   

• Jayawardene backs decision to bat
  Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene insisted that he was right to bat first in the second Test at Edgbaston, which England won by six wickets on day four.
  For the second match in succession, his team were bowled out cheaply first up but Jayawardene said: "It was the right thing but we just did not do the job.
  "They bowled really good areas but our batting lacked the fighting spirit.

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  Birmingham, West Midlands UNITED KINGDOM: England’s Andrew Flintoff (L) celebrates with Alastair Cook after hitting the winning run on the fourth day of the second cricket Test against Sri Lanka at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Sunday (May 28). - AFP photo by Paul Ellis.

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