‘Skipping summit would be counter-productive’:
Australia rejects calls to boycott CHOGM
SYDNEY, Saturday (AFP): Australia has vowed not
to boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in
Sri Lanka despite mounting calls not to attend. Foreign Minister Bob
Carr said it would be counter-productive to skip the summit in
Hambantota in November. “Any suggestion of a boycott would be
counter-productive. It would simply isolate the country and render
it defiant of international opinion,” he told ABC television late
Friday.
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UNP leadership resorting to media gimmicks in North
Jaffna District parliamentarian Shashikala
Maheshwaran has accused the UNP leadership of conducting media
gimmicks in the North while keeping her in the dark. Accusing senior
UNP leaders of resorting to low level tactics to woo the Northern
voters, the only UNP MP in the North said that she could have got
people in Jaffna to protest against their visits while bypassing
her.
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No member of Govt wants change in venue - Kamalesh Sharma
Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma
said no member of Government has indicated any wish to change the
CHOGM venue from Sri Lanka, reaffirming that the Heads of meeting
will go ahead as planned in Hambantota in November this year. Sharma
told a press conference dominated by critics of Sri Lanka, such as
Channel 4,
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Sri Lanka’s HR record improved in 2012 - Dr. Mahanama Hewa
Commenting on the American State Department’s
Human Rights Report 2012 on Sri Lanka, Dean/Faculty of Law,
Kotelawala Defence University Dr. Prathibha Mahanama Hewa said far
from human rights violations, it is clear that Sri Lanka has
improved its human rights. Individual cases such as one Dassanayake
who died whilst in police custody are being dealt with according to
the provisions of the Penal Code.
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Quacks to be flushed out
A mobile tracking system will soon come into
force for the first time, as Health Ministry officials tighten their
net around medical quacks, as it is claimed there are over 40,000
islandwide. “We are collaborating with the police and a mobile
network system to develop an ‘SMS tracking system’.
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Massive crowds expected in Colombo for May Day
The main Opposition UNP opting to hold three
separate May Day rallies, Colombo will be a sea of blue and red on
Wednesday with hundreds of thousands attending the UPFA rally.”We
hope to have a mammoth rally presided over by President Mahinda
Rajapaksa,” UPFA General Secretary and Minister Susil Premajayantha
said. The SLFP would focus on a membership drive, this time around,
he said.
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