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TODAY'S
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Tiger fire kills six soldiers
cleaning Thallady church
The LTTE yesterday fired artillery at St.
Sebastian Church, Thallady killing six soldiers and wounding
ten, army headquarters said.The soldiers had been sent there to clear the
Church premises after the church requested army assistance,
military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.According to him, the LTTE had fired about 15
rounds of 130 mm artillery from Vidathalthivu, North of Mannar
for about two hours after the soldiers entered the Church
premises. The Church had been badly damaged in the attack, he
said.
Full story |
President Mahinda Rajapaksa greets visiting Maldivian
President Abdul Gayoom at the Bandaranaike International
Airport on Tuesday.
Pic
Kamal Bogoda |
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| NEWS |
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TMVP to lay down arms to ensure
free elections
 The Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) has
agreed to lay down arms in response to a request made by
election observers to ensure free and fair elections in the
March 10 mini polls in Batticaloa."The TVMP responded positively to our request.
They promised to lay down arms and our monitors have observed
that they did not carry arms in their campaigns for the last two
weeks, Chairman of the People’s Action for Free and fair
Elections, Kingsley Rodrigo told ‘The Island’ yesterday.
- CEB
tax scam
Officials used fraudulently
obtained documents
CEB employees who have received payments from
the Inland Revenue Department on the false pretext of being
overtaxed are alleged to have submitted fraudulently obtained
documents to the IR, well informed sources said.Twenty one senior employees found guilty by the
Auditor General had been issued with T 10 forms, the sources
said, asserting that this particular document could be issued
only to an employee who had paid PAYE tax. In this case, the CEB
employees didn’t have a right to seek reimbursement as their
PAYE tax had been paid by the CEB, the sources said.
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| FEATURES |
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Mind your language
 Unfair
criticism must be met with fair counter-criticism. If the
criticism is private, so too should be the counter-criticism.
Insofar as the criticism is public, so too should be the defence,
and the counter-criticism. No self respecting state can respond
in private, to criticism of it in public.The British Foreign Secretary David Miliband was
gracious enough to issue a statement on Sri Lanka’s 60th
anniversary of Independence. He said:‘The 60th
anniversary of Sri Lankan independence is a time to reflect on
the health and welfare of the nation and its people as it
moves forward in the 21st century.
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| BUSINESS |
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Oil exploration
bids under evaluation
Awarding of tenders by end
April
- Fowzie
Bids submitted by three global petroleum
companies to explore oil in the Mannar Basin will be evaluated
within three months, Petroleum Resources Minister A. H. M.
Fowzie sai."We are in the process of appraising the
proposals", he told the The Island."This is an investment which demands billions of
rupees", he noted. "It’s an enormous task".Bids for the Sri Lanka Mannar Basin Bid Round
2007, as it was officially termed, closed at 12 noon on January
31, 2008.
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Mahindra &
Mahindra to set up BOI IT Park
The BOI has entered into an agreement with the
Indian Infrastructure development giant Mahindra & Mahindra for
a new IT Park at Katunayake. The Agreement was signed by Dr
Sarath Amunugama, Minister of Enterprise Development and
Investment Promotion, whose Ministry oversees the Board of
Investment of Sri Lanka, and Arun Nanda, Vice Chairman of
Mahindra & Mahindra.
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| SPORTS |
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Opener Dilshan stars as SL win by eight wickets
Once again, the tried and tested formula for Sri
Lanka over the last 13 years paid rich dividends. Sanath Jayasuriya got off to a flier making 27
in 13 balls and added 45 runs for the first wicket in just 23
balls, which set the tone for the Sri Lankans as the top order
cruised through the middle overs chasing the revised target of
154 in their Commonwealth Bank Series tri-nation game against
India here at the Manuka Oval on Tuesday.
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Sri Lankan cricket fan cheers his team during their One Day
cricket international win over India in Canberra, Australia,
Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008.
(AP
Photo/Mark Baker)
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England hammered!
England suffered another humiliating defeat in
New Zealand as the hosts cruised to a 10 wicket victory in a
rain affected match in Hamilton.The defeat, only the fourth time in England's
one-day history that they have lost by a 10 wicket margin,
represents a new low after they had capitulated in abject
fashion in the opening match of the five match one-day series
when a batting collapse gave the hosts a six wicket victory with
20 overs to spare in Wellington.
More
Sports
 Sri
Lankan batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan right, is
congratulated by india's Irfan Pathan after their One Day
cricket international against India in Canberra,
Australia, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008.
(AP Photo/Mark Baker)
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INSIDE
