Sri Lanka police use tear gas to quell student demonstration

Sri Lankan police in the capital Colombo on Monday used water cannon and tear gas to quell a demonstration by university students highlighting student grievances.

Danushka Kumarasinghe, the spokesman for the students said that they were planning to hand over a communique outlining six grievances to the authorities. One of the demands was to restore drinking water supply to the university building. Protesting students claimed that four of them were injured while one of them was arrested by the police.

The students of the Rajarata University in the north central town of Anuradhapura arrived in the capital Colombo to walk to the offices of the University Grants Commission in Ward Place in Central Colombo.

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LTTE Calls for Blood Donations in the Wanni

The defence ministry said yesterday (29) that the LTTE had ordered each family in the Wanni to donate two pints of blood to the outfit, following a recent air raid on their ‘Senkadeer’ Sea Tiger base in Alampil, Mullativu.

The ministry in a statement said that the LTTE’s intercepted radio communications revealed that the Sea Tiger base had been almost destroyed due to the air raids and that it rarely ordered every family to give blood on a single occasion and that this indicated a large number of casualties due to the air raid.

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Postal service paralyzed in Sri Lanka as postal workers report sick

A section of the Sri Lanka postal department workers stayed away from work from early morning today reporting sick leave. The operations of many post offices were paralyzed as a result of the trade union action.

A spokesperson of the Postal Service Union said that the postal workers around the country have joined this strike against privatization and alleged corruption in the postal department and the the aim of the trade union action is to urge the authorities to pay attention to the malpractices in the department.

The spokesman said the government had granted permission to private companies to deliver mail, in what amounted to a de facto privatization campaign. The government however has said it has no plans to privatize any state institution.

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http://www.colombopage.com/archive_07/July30134559SL.html

Missing homeguard returns but police doubt his tale

One of the homeguards from Tantirimale who went missing after they went to pick herbs from the Wilapattu reserve forest on Thursday, returned home yesterday and had related a tale of how the two homeguards were captured by the LTTE from whom he escaped later.

However Tantirimale police OIC Chief Inspector Dhammika Bandara Hapugoda said that the police had doubts about his statement and is further questioning him.

The two homeguards - 50 year old Chulapadma and 46 year old Jayaweera were residents of the Kosbewa hamlet in Tantirimale. Jayaweera returned home yesterday afternoon

According to police the two homeguards had gone to the forest to pick herbs while they were off duty and therefore did not carry any firearms. The two who went to the forest at round 5 p.m. on Thursday had not returned to their homes even by next morning and the family members had alerted the police.

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http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/07/30/front/06.asp

Malwatte Mahanayake Thero snubs –storm is gathering for Ranil in his political horizon

Sri Lanka’s foremost Buddhist monk, the Head of the Malwatte Chapter of the Siamese Sect, regretted the recent statement made by Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the United National Party, calling Buddhist monks ‘a corrupt company or “Dussila Samagama” and said no service could be expected out of such leaders to the country, the religion and the Buddhist monks in the future.’

“Some leaders who do not know the value of Buddhist monks over a simple matter, publicly call Buddhist monks a “Dussila Samagama” and I regret such words being used against the Buddhist monks,” said the most Venerable Thibbotuwawe Sri Sumangala, head of the Malwatte Chapter of the Siyam Nikaya in an obvious reference to Ranil Wickremesinghe.

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Live telecast of Kandy perahera to 17 countries

Sri Lanka’s biggest Cultural pageant, the World renowned Kandy Esela Perahera is to be telecast live in 17 countries through Satellite, Intel sat-60.

The Ministry of Tourism has taken this initiative in a bid to boost tourism and to portray the rich cultural heritage of Sri Lanka to the world.

The live telecast would be shown in Japan, Italy, Australia, Taiwan, Tailand, South Korea, India etc. In addition Ministry sources said that there was a possibility of live coverage being carried out in the UK and USA too.

Deputy Minister of Tourism Faizer Musthapa undertook a tour of Kandy recently to discuss many developments and ideas to promote foreign and domestic tourism in the hill capital where he met all relevant sectors and vowed to make Kandy a happening place during the festive season.

The Deputy Minister said that he intended to promote Kandy as a viable destination for both local and foreign tourists.

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http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/07/30/news21.asp