East Bengal recover to hold Mohammedan Sporting 2-2

March 1st, 2009 - 12:23 am ICT by IANS - Kolkata, Feb 28 (IANS) Three-time winners East Bengal staged a smart second-half rally to wipe out a double-goal deficit and finish with a 2-2 draw against Mohammedan Sporting in the second I-League …

Dacoits loot Rs.800,000 worth jewellery from Greater Noida house

February 28th, 2009 - 11:03 pm ICT by IANS - Greater Noida, Feb 28 (IANS) About 15 armed robbers looted jewellery worth Rs.800,000 from a businessman’s house in Greater Noida, the police said. The pistol-brandishing robbers barged into the house, and thrashed …

Businessman’s cash stolen from parked car in Ghaziabad

February 28th, 2009 - 10:57 pm ICT by IANS - Ghaziabad, Feb 28 (IANS) A businessman was robbed of Rs.3 lakh (Rs.300,000) by unidentified thieves in the busy Arjun Nagar area of Ghaziabad Saturday, police said. According to the police, Mayank Jain, an …

Modi announces package for diamond workers

Gandhinagar, Feb 28 (IANS) Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Saturday announced a skill enhancement training and aid package for the slowdown-hit diamond workers in the state. Under the package, unemployed diamond workers from …

Isolate Tendulkar, Dravid to win: Adam Parore

Wellington, Feb 28 (IANS) Former New Zealand skipper Adam Parore feels that the key for the Black Caps in the series against India will be to isolate batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar and …

One injured as protesters set Congress office on fire

Hyderabad, Feb 28 (IANS) One person was injured as activists of a group, protesting Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s visit to Andhra Pradesh, set fire to the party headquarters here Saturday. The incident took …

Nirmala Venkatesh was a flaw in the system: Renuka Chowdhury

New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS) Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhury Saturday said Nirmala Venkatesh, the sacked member of National Commission for Women (NCW), was a “flaw in the system”. Venkatesh …

Post-Sharif poll bar, Gilani appeals for calm

Islamabad, Feb 28 (IANS) Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Saturday appealed for calm and deplored the violent protests and ransacking of public property by supporters of opposition leader Nawaz Sharif in …

‘Slumdog…’ kid slapped by father for interview snub

Mumbai/New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS) For the “Slumdog Millionaire” Oscar-fame kid Azharuddin, it was like a bolt from the blue - a slap from his father for refusing interview to a foreign …

Advani not prepared to become PM: Govindacharya

Chandigarh, Feb 28 (IANS) Former Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary K.N. Govindacharya Saturday said BJP’s prime ministerial hopeful L.K. Advani is “not prepared” to hold the responsibility. “It is not the right time …

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ID cards to be issued to Indian coastal villagers

New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS) In a bid to strengthen the security in coastal areas in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, a high-level official meeting here Saturday decided to issue …

Advani condemns pub attack, Congress says Advani wooing voters (Second Lead)

New Delhi/Bangalore, Feb 28 (IANS) Over a month after activists of a fringe rightwing Hindu group brutally beat up women at a Mangalore pub in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Karnataka, senior …

Is India Turning Into A Surveillance Society?

- A recent request by Perry4Law to the Government of India, including Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, for reformulating Cyber Law of India has once again raised a very pertinent question. Is India …

China and the United States began their second day of sensitive defence talks Saturday after warnings from Beijing that US arms sales to Taiwan were a major obstacle to easing tensions. The defence contacts — the first between the world powers for five months after China cut military exchanges over a proposed US arms package to Taiwan — raised hopes of an easing of lingering tensions. But the head of the Chinese delegation signalled from the start of the talks that Beijing would be taking a tough stance, saying there were problems between the two sides and it was up to the United States to fix them.

“China-US military relations remain in a difficult period. We expect the US side to take concrete measures for the resumption and development of our military ties,” Qian Lihua, co-chair of the talks and defence ministry press director, said Friday in comments quoted by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence David Sedney — the head of the US delegation — was due to brief reporters later Saturday.

One issue that was expected to be raised was whether the suspended military exchanges would officially resume, after Qian warned Friday they might not.

He emphasised that the two days of talks in Beijing did not mean that regular exchanges — such as talks at a more senior level and disaster relief coordination efforts — would automatically start again.

“Frankly speaking, it will take a long time to restore our military exchanges as not a single obstacle in military ties has been removed so far,” Qian said, specifically mentioning arms sales to Taiwan.

The situation of Taiwan, a democratically-ruled island claimed by China, has long been one of the most sensitive issues in Sino-US relations.

The planned 6.5-billion-dollar US arms package that derailed military exchanges could still go ahead, and if it does, Taiwan would receive advanced weaponry including 30 Apache attack helicopters and 330 Patriot missiles.

Sedney, who was also due to meet with Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of general staff of the Chinese army, said Friday he was looking to improve dialogue between the two sides, according to Xinhua.

“We must increase communications to reduce the chance of strategic misunderstanding,” Xinhua quoted Sedney as saying.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday that talks to reconcile Palestinian factions will only produce results if Hamas agrees to recognize Israel and other international terms. Clinton made the remarks as she prepared to travel to the region after Fatah and Hamas agreed Thursday to work together to set up a unity government during Egyptian-sponsored talks aimed at ending factional feuding.

In an interview with Voice of America radio that was distributed by the State Department, Clinton backed the idea of Palestinian unity. With Arab backing, the diplomatic quartet of the United States, the European Union, United Nations and Russia have laid out three conditions that any Palestinian partners in peace talks with Israel must meet.

Clinton reiterated those conditions, saying: “They must renounce violence, recognize Israel, and abide by previous commitments,” such as the Oslo peace accords.

The Presidents of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Iraq, Jalal Talaban, advocated for the improvement of their bilateral relations Friday, in a clear rupture with a past that faced them each other for almost 10 years.

Talabani is heading an important delegation of his government and discussed with his Iranian counterpart the ways to give an impulse the links between Iran and Iraq, in the political, diplomatic, economic and commercial fields.

A diplomatic source of Iraq informed that President Talabani and his accompanying delegation met Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran to discuss the last political events in Iraq, and the way to foster bilateral relations.

Iranian state press agency IRNA assured Friday that in his three days visiting Iraq, the Iraqi President would be received by Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and Iranian Parliament (Majlis) president Ali Larijani.

Talabani will also be received by Ayatollahs Ali Hashemi Rafsanjani and Hashemi Shahroudi, presidents of the Council for System Convenience and of the Judicial Power of the Islamic Republic of Iran, respectively, among other officials.

Both nations are sharing 870 miles of ground border together, besides having coasts to the Arabian Gulf.

Besides causing more than 600,000 dead people in Iran, and 400,000 in Iraq, the conflict between the two nations threatened the crude oil flux in the zone, for the first time in history, and generated great economic losses in both countries, which are two of the world’s biggest oil exporters.

Ceylinco Golden Key Credit Card Company is yet to divulge actual position of their overseas depositors. With proper accounting, Company’s total liabilities to the depositors would pass the Rs. 30 billion mark. The capital debt by Golden Key Credit Card to their customers was earlier estimated to be Rs. 26 billion.

Unlike the Company’s local depositors, most of the foreign customers estimated to be over 2,000 do not collect their interest monthly and their interests were being accumulated to the capital. “We estimate that this would total up to over Rs. 2 billion,” said Convener and Treasurer of the Ceylinco Golden Key Depositors Committee, Dushanthi Hapugoda.

“This is an area that was not talked about before and we are now in the process of highlighting this and taking legal action so that this amount too would be added to the liabilities of the Company,” she said.

She also said that they are totally against the company policy of settling the depositors by deducting the interest paid to them. “If a person had deposited Rs. one million and Company had paid Rs. 100, 000 as interest, the Golden Key would be only refunding Rs. 900, 000 to that customer. We are totally against this as according to this calculation depositors will now have to pay the Golden Key Credit Card Company and not vice versa in some instances,”, she explained. She emphasised that the company Chairman, Lalith Kotalawela had earlier assured that their dues would be paid back with interest. “However, he has now gone back on his word,” she said. However, she said that the depositors are in agreement to accept their deposits minus the interests from November last year. “What we want is our capital,” they said.

The company settlement plan is to initially clear up customers with less than one million deposits and pay 75 percent of the dues to depositors between Rs. One to two million. Remaining customers would only be paid after selling Golden Key Credit Card Company assets.

She also disclosed that the company had many unwanted overheads which led to this scenario. “The Deputy Chairman, Mrs. Kotalawela while drawing a salary of Rs. 2,500, 000 was paid an allowance in the excess of Rs. 4.5 million according to papers forwarded to the courts. In addition many Charity funds, donations and other expenses each month accounted to over Rs. 3.5 million,” she disclosed.

She also said that they were threatened at the last Court hearing day in Mount Lavinia by security persons in uniform and they are now talking with their lawyers as to what could be done. Meanwhile another customer who had deposited Rs. 1.7 million in December said that her deposit has not been accounted for. It has not being included in the list that was forwarded to the court,” she said.

When contacted an official of the Golden Key Credit Card Company said that the dues to the customers would be settled soon. “There were 9,054 depositors and we have already settled 3, 000,” the company official said.

Humanitarian assistance to Vanni civilians:

United Nations Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Sir John Holmes who visited Sri Lanka recently has given a favourable report to the UN Security Council on February 27 in New York on the humanitarian assistance provided by the Government of Sri Lanka to the civilians who were earlier held captive by the LTTE as human shields as well as to those who have managed to escape and come into the Government controlled areas, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday.

The statement further said: “Sir John described the situation of trapped people as dire but acknowledged IDP in transit camps are reasonably well. He stated that he was not aware of major outbreak of diseases in the conflict area. He gave some description of his conversations with IDPs and commented on the fairly satisfactory physical conditions and the efforts made to have acceptable screening procedures.

“The remarks of Ambassadors of Security Council member states to the media following the briefing by Sir John reflected their appreciation of the sincere and commendable efforts of the Sri Lankan Government to render assistance to its citizens who are caught up in the conflict, amidst extremely difficult ground conditions”.

By Ananth PALAKIDNAR

Social Services Minister and the Jaffna district parliamentarian Douglas Devananda has taken the initiative to transport essential items like food, medicine and fuel to the Jaffna peninsula via A-9 highway which will be opened for military transportation from today. Minister Devananda told the Sunday Observer that he has already discussed the matter with the Advisor to the President Basil Rajapaksa MP who has taken up the issue positively.

“Discussions with the Defence Secretary and the Commissioner of Essential Services will also be held to expedite the process, “Minister Devananda said. He also pointed out that when the highway had remained open for civilian transport during the ceasefire period between 2002 and 2006, civilians travelling between North and South had to face severe hardship due to extortion activities of the LTTE.

“Following the closure of A-9 in 2006, the goods had to be transported by ship and there were inordinate delays. Even civilians had to travel between Jaffna and Colombo by air paying exorbitant fares.

However with the beginning of military transportation this week, the signs are positive to resume civilian transportation with essentials reaching the peninsula without delay,” Minister Devananda added.

Meanwhile the power supply to the entire Jaffna Peninsula will be made available twenty four hours of the day from this week, Electricity Department sources in the North said.

There has been regular power cuts for one hour in the region for the past few years as there were few shortcomings in generating electricity. However with three generators now in operation power supply will revert to normal according to informed sources.