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| Saturday, 26 October 2002 |
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Inter religious service to bless peace talks A meditation and inter religious service to invoke blessings for the success of the second round of peace talks in Thailand will be held from October 29th to 31st in Jaffna. The meditation is organised by the Savumia Youth Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of Hindu Cultural Affairs, Sri Lanka Caritas Jaffna and LIONAIR, according to P. Anthonymutoo chairman of SYM and North-South Peace Exchange programme organiser. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thieves who robbed bus passengers held Two thieves who robbed passengers in a private bus travelling from Colombo to Omanthai were apprehended by Chilaw Police yesterday. The bus left the Colombo main stand around 12.30 am yesterday and was travelling to Omanthai. There had been 43 passengers including four army personnel in the bus. The robbers armed with knives had stormed the bus while passing Bangadeniya and forced the passengers to hand over their money and jewellery. The value of the stolen goods were around Rs. 75,000, Chilaw Police said. The robbers were apprehended by a special unit of the Chilaw Police at the Deduru Oya Police check point while they were travelling in another bus to Colombo. The duo were from Ratmalana. Chilaw Police are investigating under the direction of SSP Upali Ranasinghe. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 40th suspect in Udatalawinna massacre remanded Wijesinghe Arachchilage Mahinda of Udathalawinna, the 40th suspect in the Udatalawinna massacre at the last general election, surrendered to Court yesterday through his lawyer Ashley Herat, who moved for bail on behalf of his client. Teldeniya Magistrate P. Inoka Ranasinghe refused bail and remanded him till November 8. Forty suspects, including former Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte and his two sons are charged with conspiracy and murder of 10 youths at Udatalawinna in the Pahatadumbara division on December 5 last year. All the other 39 suspects have been enlarged on bail. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Snag halts freeing of foreign hostages MOSCOW, Friday (Reuters) A last-minute snag in hostage talks delayed the release of scores of foreigners held captive along with hundreds of Russians in a Moscow theatre by a Chechen "suicide squad" since Wednesday, a U.S. diplomat said on Friday. The Chechen separatists, demanding Russian troops quit their homeland in southern Russia, earlier freed seven captives and said they would release all foreigners in the theatre, which is rigged with explosives. "Negotiations broke down. We are aiming at the release of all foreign hostages at 11 a.m. (0700 GMT)," U.S. Consul General James Warlick told Reuters. He gave no details on why the negotiations had broken down.A British envoy had expressed optimism on the release of his country's nationals. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tea production up The production of black tea during September had increased by 44 per cent compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, the Sri Lanka Tea Board (SLTB) announced. The total reported back tea production in Sri Lanka during September amounted to 24,764,366 kg as against 17,17,229,312 kg produced during September 2001, which is an increase of 7,535,054 kg. According to the SLTB statistics the black tea production from January to September 2002 amounted to 227,343,545 kg as against 216,327,599 kg produced in 2001 showing an increase of 11,015,946 kg. The increase during that period is five per cent. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two Independent Commissions this year The Government has decided to set up the Independent Election and Police Commissions before the end of this year, Cabinet spokesman Minister Prof. G.L.Peiris said yesterday. The nominees for the commissions will be submitted to the President for approval by the Constitutional Council within the next few weeks. |
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