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Miss Universe 2005 contestants (from left) Miss Belize Andrea Elrington, Miss Paraguay Karina Butther, Miss Singapore Cheryl Tay, Miss Sri Lanka Rozanne Diasz and Miss Cyprus Helen Hatjidimetriuo on arrival at a hotel in Bangkok yesterday. Contestants for the Miss Universe 2005 pageant started arriving in Thailand to participate in related events before the contest final May 31.

Congratulations from President to Blair

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has sent a message of congratulation to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The message: "I am pleased to convey my best wishes and warm congratulations on the victory the Labour Party has gained in the General Elections and your election as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for a historic third term.

Relations between Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom are characterised by a long tradition of friendship and close cooperation, sharing common democratic values and perspectives on a broad range of global issues.

While reiterating the great importance Sri Lanka attaches to its relations with the United Kingdom.

It is my sincere desire to work closely with you to further consolidate this relationship and intensify our cooperation during your new tenure of office for the benefit of our two countries.

Please accept, Excellency, my warm personal greetings for your good health, happiness and continued success".

Khalid

FEATURE-Politics frustrate Sri Lanka tsunami victims

araprakasam Anesteen, a Sri Lankan fisherman, survived the Indian Ocean tsunami but lost his one-year-old son in the waves that engulfed a beach on the northern tip of the island. Five months later, after an outpouring of global aid, the 27-year-old from Sri Lanka's Tamil ethnic minority is convinced victims in the predominantly ethnic Sinhalese south are getting a better deal. "They say they have started building permanent houses in the south. Here they have not even laid a foundation stone," he said near a beach in Manalkadu village -- his home until the Dec. 26. tsunami struck, triggered by a powerful earthquake off Indonesia. "The Sinhalas are getting aid faster than us. I am not angry but we should also be helped, we are also humans, we are also poor. We should all be treated equally." "We've heard it on the radio and read it in the papers," said Anesteen, whose wife was badly injured by the tsunami. In truth, aid is trickling into both areas but the pace is slowing and the poor quality of the projects is breeding frustration. Although Sinhalese areas in the south received faster and better aid in the immediate aftermath of the disaster -- partly because they were closest to the capital Colombo -- the north and the east eventually caught up, aid workers said. But in a country as volatile as Sri Lanka, the perception that minority Tamils are losing out to the south in aid has dangerous implications. It's a perception of bias held by thousands of Tamils in the north and east of a country torn by decades of ethnic unrest in which tens of thousands have been killed. As reconstruction begins, any sign -- real or rumoured -- of an uneven distribution of aid could worsen ethnic rivalries just as the government is struggling to maintain a three-year-old ceasefire between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels. HOPES BELIED The tsunami killed nearly 40,000 people in Sri Lanka. Another 500,000 lost their homes and are either living in tents and shacks or with relatives and friends. Aid agencies and donors pledged $2 billion for relief and reconstruction, although about $500 million has yet to be signed and sealed. The tragedy raised hopes that the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels -- who fought a brutal war for two decades seeking a separate homeland for minority Tamils until a 2002 ceasefire -- would work together to reconstruct the coast including vast swathes under rebel control in the north and east. The two sides agreed to draft a deal to share aid. But the pact, called the joint mechanism, has failed to materialise and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) accuse President Chandrika Kumaratunga of not being serious about it. "There was a hope after the tsunami that there would be a national consensus over tackling the tragedy," said a western diplomat who has closely tracked the aid effort. "But, unfortunately, it hasn't turned out that way and things have gone back to their old ways. People are getting impatient while leaders are playing politics with a disaster," the diplomat said. The delay also reflects strong opposition to the Tamil Tigers from within the coalition government, where a junior partner, the anti-LTTE People's Liberation Front (JVP), has rejected the plan and threatened to leave the coalition -- a move that would lead to the collapse of the government. TOUGH CONDITIONS While politicians squabble, the flow of aid has slowed in the devastated regions. Only $130 million, or a little over 5 percent of the pledged $2 billion, has been channeled into projects. New homes have not been built -- in the north and south. The key parties -- the government, Tiger rebels, the JVP and other groups -- have all launched propaganda drives, only adding to the confusion and sparking charges of bias by the minority Tamils, according to volunteers and political analysts. Today, most tsunami survivors are living in temporary shelters built from palm trees, tarpaulins and tin sheets, which bake in the summer heat. Floors are cracked and rainwater flows inside. Water shortages are frequent. Some survivors complain about the poor quality of rations. All want permanent homes built soon but construction has not begun anywhere, although the government said in March houses would be built in 6-to-9 months. "We recognise that there are great difficulties in undertaking a reconstruction process of this magnitude," said Sanaka Samarasinha, a senior United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) official involved in rehabilitation. "Having said that, several months after the tsunami we think that at a minimum the people ought to know what they are entitled to and when they are entitled to it," he said. Ravi Anthony Fernando, a fisherman who lost his wife and three children, said he was fed up. "I wish I had died too," said the villager from Kallapadu in Mullaittivu district on the LTTE-controlled northern coast. "We don't know how long we have to live in these shacks. We are like slaves, depending on others for everything."

Khalid

Late News

Special exemptions for tsunami hit A/L students

GCE Advanced Level candidates in tsunami affected districts will receive certain exemptions on school project work to compensate for the circumstances under which they have to face the examination in June.

Additional Secretary M.G.T. Navaratne said they have proposed maximum benefits for the disadvantaged students in the tsunami districts but there was no plan to postpone the exam further.

"We will conduct the exam as planned from June 6 to July 1," he said adding that there has been no requests to the Ministry or the Examinations Department to postpone the exam. The individual and group project work as well the school based assessment grades which have made compulsory from 2005, go on record in a special booklet provided by the Examinations Department along with their final exam results.

"The project grades are basically meant to give some insight to the special talents and skills of students and is career related. These grades will have no bearing on university admission," Examinations Commissioner Mahinda Wijayasiri said.

There were about 30 schools with GCE A/L classes out of the 174 schools destroyed in the tsunami. The Ministry launched a special programme with the help of Western province schools, headed by Nalanda College, to help affected AL students to cover the syllabus before June.

The program involved distribution of notes and special classes while the Ministry enroled some of the students in other non-affected chools in the area. At the time of the tsunami on December 26, these students had completed three terms of the first academic year.

The examination was postponed from April to June, changing the initial arrangement to hold two exams, one in April for all students and another later for tsunami candidates. The examinations commissioner said the number of candidates registered for this year's exam has increased slightly over 2004. This year the Department has received 245,657 applications, a little over 5000 as against 240,653 in 2004. The number of school candidates this year is 197,088.

The Department has increased the number of Exam centres to 1785, with 35 new ones.

'Housemaids in Saudi deserve enhanced wage'

Lanka will negotiate with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for an increased salary of SR 600 for its housemaids from June.

"These maids are receiving SR 400 at present deserve an enhanced wage in the present circumstances," the Lankan Consul General in Saudi Arabia, A.M.J. Sadiq told the Daily News.

Sadiq who will assume duties as Lankan ambassador in Riyadh early next month, said Lanka would supply skilled domestic aides and in return expect an enhanced salary for the benefit of the maids who come there for employment.

Referring to the relocation of the counsalate from Al Salama district, Sadiq said that it was done to offer better services in a cosy environment.

"The new place is strategically located in the heart of the town, in the vicinity of the community school, and in proximity to Sri Lankan settlements in the city, he said. Around 150,000 of Lankan population in the Kingdom live in the Western province.

The diplomat said that the construction of the labour wing of the new consulate costing Rs. 1.6 million was financed by a Lankan expatriate Shahul Hameed Salih, while Dr. Mohideen Mahroof spent Rs one million for the safehouse of the distressed housemaids who seek the mission's help when they are in trouble.

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President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga visited the Sripura and Padaviya areas after participating in the inaugural ceremony of the Dahask Maha Wew program on Sunday. Here President Kumaratunga engaged in a discussion with villagers.

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Tamils protest firing on demonstrators by Sri Lankan security forces

Residents of the northern Tamil-majority city of Jaffna shut businesses, schools and public transportation on Tuesday in a protest over government forces who earlier fired on ethnic Tamil demonstrators in eastern Sri Lanka.

One Tamil man was killed and another wounded on Monday when security forces fired on a crowd of about 300 demonstrators, including some schoolchildren, who demanded that a security checkpoint be removed.

Security officials had blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels for organizing the rally.

The Tiger rebels condemned the shooting on Tuesday blaming Sri Lanka's security forces, and warned the government against banning demonstrations by ethnic Tamils.

``Blocking peaceful protest by the people using arms and violence ... will affect the validity of the cease-fire agreement,'' a rebel statement said. ``We fear that incidents like this will ... create anger among the people and will lead to increased tension in the prevailing fragile situation.''

A 2002 Norwegian-brokered truce has been under increased strain recently with scores killed in violence since a split in the main guerrilla group a year ago.

The strike in the Tamil-dominated city of Jaffna, 300 kilometers (190 miles) north of the capital Colombo, was called by pro-rebel Tamil groups. Reports of similar strikes also came from the predominantly Tamil cities of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and parts of Ampara districts.

The rebels have been fighting since 1983 to carve out an independent homeland for the island's minority Tamils, who claim discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. Nearly 65,000 people were killed before the truce, however, peace talks have been stalled for the past two years.

Powerful Marxists vow to block tsunami aid deal with rebels, say it could divide Sri Lanka

Thousands of supporters of Sri Lanka's Marxist party - a key partner in the ruling coalition - demonstrated Tuesday against a government plan to set up a joint group with Tamil Tiger rebels to distribute foreign aid to tsunami victims in areas under rebel control.

``It will be the beginning of the division of this country if this joint mechanism is signed, so we will not allow it,'' Somawansa Amarasinghe, leader of the Marxist People's Liberation Front, told the rally at a square in Colombo.

Thousands of party members shouted slogans against the proposed deal.

The Marxist party has threatened to withdraw from the coalition government if it sets up the joint aid-distribution group with the guerrillas, saying it would help the rebels attain their goal of a separate Tamil state.

The party has 39 seats in the country's 225-member Parliament, and President Chandrika Kumaratunga's government could collapse without its support.

``As long as this coalition government is in force there will be no joint mechanism,'' party senior politburo member Tilvin Silva said. ``If it does take place that would mean the coalition no longer exists.''

Sri Lanka was the second-worst affected country after Indonesia by the December tsunami, with more than 31,000 people killed and nearly 1 million made homeless. The country's northeast, some of which is under rebel control, was hardest-hit by the powerful waves.

Little aid has reached victims of the tsunami in rebel-held areas. International donors are reluctant to give aid funds directly to the guerrillas, who are listed as terrorists by the United States and other nations.

The rebels have sought to receive foreign aid directly as a step toward self-rule.

The Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a separate state in the Tamil-majority north and east, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. The conflict left 65,000 people dead before a cease-fire was signed three years ago. Subsequent peace talks broke down a year later.

Khalid