srilanka1998
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S.Lanka budget favours poor and small businesses Sri Lankan budget fulfills promise
[ Financial Times ] [ 02:02 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
Mahinda Rajapakse, Sri Lanka's new president and finance minister, fulfilled his electoral promises with a budget containing fertiliser subsidies and other spending promises that analysts say will strain deteriorating public finances. Before the budget was announced, Sri Lanka received its first sovereign credit rating as the country prepares for a debut bond issue of about $500m early next year that will partly pay for yesterday's 'consumption promises'. According to government forecasts, the fiscal deficit will climb from 8.5 per cent in the current financial year to 9.1 per cent in 2006, partly fuelled by subsidies for the poor and 40 per cent salary rises for civil servants.
On the train tracks in Sri Lanka, life does move on
[ USA Today ] [ 02:06 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
The sea shimmers to the west as the train rattles north toward Colombo. It passes a Christian cemetery, fields where grazing cattle listlessly watch boys in white uniforms play cricket, and crumpled shacks unrepaired nearly a year after the waves came. This is the same track that carried more than 1,000 passengers and railway workers to their deaths when the Dec. 26 tsunami hit a stopped eight-car commuter train here ' one tragedy among many on a day when more than 216,000 people are believed to have died across southern Asia. Now, vendors walk the aisles offering their wares in singsong voices. Namal Paranavithana, 35, settles back in his seat. He's on his way from his home in Matara, about 40 miles south of here, to his job as a criminal investigator in a government office in Colombo, a trip he makes every two days.
Student protests escalate in Jaffna
[ TamilNet ] [ 03:46 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
University students protest at Kaladdy in Jaffna turned violent when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers fired at the air and tried to disperse the protestors. The Scandinavian ceasefire monitors who tried to calm the situation had to withdraw from the site at 12:30 p.m. as they were unable to persuade SLA commanders and student leaders. The students protested in support of the demands put forward by the Hartley College and Methodist Girls College students, Point Pedro, against the expansion of Sri Lankan checkposts close to the colleges premises.
A day in the life of a Sri Lankan tea worker
[ WSWS ] [ 13:12 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
Five days after Sri Lanka's new government was installed on November 23, the state-owned Daily News carried a front-page headline, 'Urgent action to uplift estate workers.' The article pompously announced that President Mahinda Rajapakse had instructed Milroy Fernando, the new plantation minister, to give priority to 'uplifting the estate sector workers who have been perennially suffering abject poverty and misery'. A ministerial project report will supposedly 'detail a wide range of shortcomings confronting the estate population, covering health, education, economic conditions, unemployment among estate youth, drinking water, land erosion, access road and passenger transport.
S.Lanka budget favours poor and small businesses
[ Reuters ] [ 13:14 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse gave subsidies to the poor and tax breaks to small business in a revamped 2006 budget on Thursday, which analysts said would ultimately be paid for by larger corporates. Rajapakse, who made himself finance minister after winning last month's presidential election, announced a hefty fertiliser subsidy and pledged to implement 100,000 small-scale infrastructure projects during each year of his tenure. He removed a 15 percent tax on income from some agricultural exports and cut tax on small and medium firms to 15 percent from 20 percent. High-earning companies meanwhile will be taxed at 35 percent.
'Civilian unrest due to military violence' - Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan
[ LTTE Peace Secretariat ] [ 13:16 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
'Civilian unrest and accelerating violence is due to intensified military violence against the people and sabotage activities of armed groups that work on a political agenda alongside the SL military' said Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan, Head of the LTTE Political Wing in a meeting with H.E The Norwegian Ambassador Mr.Hans Bratskar today 9 December 2005 at the Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi. The Ambassador briefed Mr. Tamilselvan on the current political situation, his meetings with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the official invitation of the government for continuation of Norway's role as facilitator, his visit to New Delhi with former peace envoy and Norway's Minister for Development, Mr. Erik Solheim, the concern relative to the tense situation in the Jaffna peninsula and the urgent necessity for the parties to meet and find ways of effectively implementing the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA).
Sri Lanka army prepares for war and hopes for peace
[ AFP ] [ 13:22 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
Sri Lanka's combat aircraft and ground troops are ready to be deployed at short notice in the aftermath of a wave of violence that killed 31 people, the military top brass has announced. Chief of defence staff Daya Sandagiri said Friday the government forces were prepared to meet "any terrorist challenge" after the latest bloodshed, which the government blamed on the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). However, Sandagiri said the military did not expect the country to slip back to full-scale war and played down two claymore mine attacks that killed 16 soldiers in the northern peninsula of Jaffna as "small incidents."
Sri Lanka troops 'ready to fight' [ BBC ] [ 17:34 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
Sri Lanka's military is ready for battle with the Tamil Tigers although it does not expect a return to full-scale war, a top official says. Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Daya Sandagiri says his troops are on alert but will not break the ceasefire. Fears of the three-year-old truce breaking has increased after the rebels were blamed for two mine attacks in which 14 soldiers died. The Tamil Tigers have denied having anything to do with the killings. "Civilian unrest and accelerating violence is due to intensified military violence against the people and sabotage activities of armed groups that work alongside the... military," rebel political head SP Thamilselvan is quoted as saying by Reuters.
IFT appeals for curbing of military violence in North-East of Sri Lanka
[ IFT ] [ 18:42 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
The International Federation of Tamils (IFT) wishes to draw the attention of the International Community (IC) to the escalation of violence and disturbance to orderly civilian life in the SL government-controlled areas of the North-East, and request the IC to exert its influence on the Govt. of Sri Lanka to refrain from disturbing the calm,peace and rule of Law in these areas.The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has expressed fear that the failure to address the deteriorating civil order condition in the North-East, is very likely to escalate into a war. It has appealed to the Sri Lanka government and the LTTE to resuscitate the peace process early, in order to avert impending war.The International Community that stood firmly behind the peace facilitator Norway, needs now to persuade the government of Sri Lanka to implement the CFA as a first step forward in the peace process.
LTTE Peace Secretariat releases its Monthly Bulletin
[ LTTE Peace Secretariat ] [ 18:54 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
The Peace Secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has released its Monthly Bulletin. The Peace Secretariat Bulletin contains peace related events of each month. This Bulletin contains the Heroes' Day statement of Tamil Eelam National Leader Veluppillai Prabaharan, summaries of the LTTE Political Head S P Thamilchelvan's meetings with various diplomats, ceasefire violations committed by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and editorial comments of the LTTE official newspapers 'Viduthalaippulikal and Sinhala Monthly Dedunna- which carry the political stand of the LTTE.
[ Financial Times ] [ 02:02 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
Mahinda Rajapakse, Sri Lanka's new president and finance minister, fulfilled his electoral promises with a budget containing fertiliser subsidies and other spending promises that analysts say will strain deteriorating public finances. Before the budget was announced, Sri Lanka received its first sovereign credit rating as the country prepares for a debut bond issue of about $500m early next year that will partly pay for yesterday's 'consumption promises'. According to government forecasts, the fiscal deficit will climb from 8.5 per cent in the current financial year to 9.1 per cent in 2006, partly fuelled by subsidies for the poor and 40 per cent salary rises for civil servants.
On the train tracks in Sri Lanka, life does move on
[ USA Today ] [ 02:06 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
The sea shimmers to the west as the train rattles north toward Colombo. It passes a Christian cemetery, fields where grazing cattle listlessly watch boys in white uniforms play cricket, and crumpled shacks unrepaired nearly a year after the waves came. This is the same track that carried more than 1,000 passengers and railway workers to their deaths when the Dec. 26 tsunami hit a stopped eight-car commuter train here ' one tragedy among many on a day when more than 216,000 people are believed to have died across southern Asia. Now, vendors walk the aisles offering their wares in singsong voices. Namal Paranavithana, 35, settles back in his seat. He's on his way from his home in Matara, about 40 miles south of here, to his job as a criminal investigator in a government office in Colombo, a trip he makes every two days.
Student protests escalate in Jaffna
[ TamilNet ] [ 03:46 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
University students protest at Kaladdy in Jaffna turned violent when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers fired at the air and tried to disperse the protestors. The Scandinavian ceasefire monitors who tried to calm the situation had to withdraw from the site at 12:30 p.m. as they were unable to persuade SLA commanders and student leaders. The students protested in support of the demands put forward by the Hartley College and Methodist Girls College students, Point Pedro, against the expansion of Sri Lankan checkposts close to the colleges premises.
A day in the life of a Sri Lankan tea worker
[ WSWS ] [ 13:12 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
Five days after Sri Lanka's new government was installed on November 23, the state-owned Daily News carried a front-page headline, 'Urgent action to uplift estate workers.' The article pompously announced that President Mahinda Rajapakse had instructed Milroy Fernando, the new plantation minister, to give priority to 'uplifting the estate sector workers who have been perennially suffering abject poverty and misery'. A ministerial project report will supposedly 'detail a wide range of shortcomings confronting the estate population, covering health, education, economic conditions, unemployment among estate youth, drinking water, land erosion, access road and passenger transport.
S.Lanka budget favours poor and small businesses
[ Reuters ] [ 13:14 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse gave subsidies to the poor and tax breaks to small business in a revamped 2006 budget on Thursday, which analysts said would ultimately be paid for by larger corporates. Rajapakse, who made himself finance minister after winning last month's presidential election, announced a hefty fertiliser subsidy and pledged to implement 100,000 small-scale infrastructure projects during each year of his tenure. He removed a 15 percent tax on income from some agricultural exports and cut tax on small and medium firms to 15 percent from 20 percent. High-earning companies meanwhile will be taxed at 35 percent.
'Civilian unrest due to military violence' - Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan
[ LTTE Peace Secretariat ] [ 13:16 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
'Civilian unrest and accelerating violence is due to intensified military violence against the people and sabotage activities of armed groups that work on a political agenda alongside the SL military' said Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan, Head of the LTTE Political Wing in a meeting with H.E The Norwegian Ambassador Mr.Hans Bratskar today 9 December 2005 at the Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi. The Ambassador briefed Mr. Tamilselvan on the current political situation, his meetings with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the official invitation of the government for continuation of Norway's role as facilitator, his visit to New Delhi with former peace envoy and Norway's Minister for Development, Mr. Erik Solheim, the concern relative to the tense situation in the Jaffna peninsula and the urgent necessity for the parties to meet and find ways of effectively implementing the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA).
Sri Lanka army prepares for war and hopes for peace
[ AFP ] [ 13:22 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
Sri Lanka's combat aircraft and ground troops are ready to be deployed at short notice in the aftermath of a wave of violence that killed 31 people, the military top brass has announced. Chief of defence staff Daya Sandagiri said Friday the government forces were prepared to meet "any terrorist challenge" after the latest bloodshed, which the government blamed on the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). However, Sandagiri said the military did not expect the country to slip back to full-scale war and played down two claymore mine attacks that killed 16 soldiers in the northern peninsula of Jaffna as "small incidents."
Sri Lanka troops 'ready to fight' [ BBC ] [ 17:34 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
Sri Lanka's military is ready for battle with the Tamil Tigers although it does not expect a return to full-scale war, a top official says. Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Daya Sandagiri says his troops are on alert but will not break the ceasefire. Fears of the three-year-old truce breaking has increased after the rebels were blamed for two mine attacks in which 14 soldiers died. The Tamil Tigers have denied having anything to do with the killings. "Civilian unrest and accelerating violence is due to intensified military violence against the people and sabotage activities of armed groups that work alongside the... military," rebel political head SP Thamilselvan is quoted as saying by Reuters.
IFT appeals for curbing of military violence in North-East of Sri Lanka
[ IFT ] [ 18:42 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
The International Federation of Tamils (IFT) wishes to draw the attention of the International Community (IC) to the escalation of violence and disturbance to orderly civilian life in the SL government-controlled areas of the North-East, and request the IC to exert its influence on the Govt. of Sri Lanka to refrain from disturbing the calm,peace and rule of Law in these areas.The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has expressed fear that the failure to address the deteriorating civil order condition in the North-East, is very likely to escalate into a war. It has appealed to the Sri Lanka government and the LTTE to resuscitate the peace process early, in order to avert impending war.The International Community that stood firmly behind the peace facilitator Norway, needs now to persuade the government of Sri Lanka to implement the CFA as a first step forward in the peace process.
LTTE Peace Secretariat releases its Monthly Bulletin
[ LTTE Peace Secretariat ] [ 18:54 GMT, Dec. 9, 2005 ]
The Peace Secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has released its Monthly Bulletin. The Peace Secretariat Bulletin contains peace related events of each month. This Bulletin contains the Heroes' Day statement of Tamil Eelam National Leader Veluppillai Prabaharan, summaries of the LTTE Political Head S P Thamilchelvan's meetings with various diplomats, ceasefire violations committed by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and editorial comments of the LTTE official newspapers 'Viduthalaippulikal and Sinhala Monthly Dedunna- which carry the political stand of the LTTE.