Norwegian embassy did not exceed its privilege - PM (Sudar Oli - T)
The Norwegian Embassy had not exceeded its diplomatic privilege in helping to import the communication equipment Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in Parliament, in reply to a question raised by JVP MP Vijitha Hearth yesterday.

Mr. Herath had charged in his question that the Norwegian Ambassador had misused his diplomatic privilege to import for the LTTE, high powered radio equipment and that such action was a threat to the sovereignty of the country. He also wanted to know details of the equipment that the Norwegian Embassy had imported.The Prime Minister further said that the Norwegian Ambassador had not acted in such a manner in this instance to be considered a persona non grata. A detailed statement of the equipment imported for the Tigers was made by him in December, 2002, Mr. Wickremesinghe added.  

Stateless persons to get citizenship (Virakesari-T)
A Bill to grant citizenship to all stateless persons among persons of Indian origin, including those who hold Indian passports and their descendants, is to be presented in Parliament next month, Arumugan Thondaman, CWC leader and Minister of Housing and Estate Infrastructure, said yesterday. The Minister, speaking at a press briefing held at the Ministry of Housing, said that the CWC has been struggling to solve the problem of the stateless persons since the time of late Saumyamoorthy Thondaman and it is about to succeed at last.

He further said that this Bill will be taken for debate in Parliament within the next two weeks and that the CWC hopes that it will be passed with the support of all parties, including the JVP and the PA. About 300,000 persons will be granted citizenship through this Act, he added

Tamils are asking for their land - PonghuThamil co-ordinator (Lankadeepa - S)
The Tamil people aspire for the grant of their land and they are not asking for someone else's land, said Ganeshamoorthy Sridaran, Co-ordinator of the Ponghu Thamil programme, at a press conference held in Hotel Nippon yesterday (23).

He added that Ponghu Thamil was a peaceful, non-violent but forceful awakening of the Tamil people, who had been suppressed for the past 20 years, due to the war.

Relatives of missing persons appeal (Sudar Oli - T)
The Association of Relatives of Missing Parents in the North have decided to seek the help of TNA MPs to trace the missing persons. At a meeting held on Sunday (20) it was decided to request Tamil MPs to exert their influence on the Government in this connection.

It was also announced at the meeting that in the North about 600 persons were arrested by the forces and so far their whereabouts are not known.

North-East Muslim MPs appoint committee (Virakesari-T)
The Muslim MPs representing the North-East met yesterday (23) at the Parliamentary complex and appointed a committee consisting of six persons to draw up proposals embodying the political aspirations of Muslims in the proposed interim administration for the North-East.

At this meeting the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), NUA and the SLMC (Athaulla group) participated. Two members from each party have been appointed to the committee. They are Rauff Hakeem, Anwar Ismail, Noordeen Mazoor, Hafrath, M.L.A.M. Hisbulla and Segu Izadeen.

Eastern province should be separated (Thinakaran - T)
It is essential that the Eastern province be separated from the Northern Province and that he is prepared to enter into a debate on this, said Minister A.L.M. Athaulla in Parliament yesterday (03).

He further said that many former leaders including Thanthai Chelva had not wanted the North and East merged and that Karikalan has stated that the economy of the East lies in the hands of the Muslims, in an interview to a foreign newspaper. 

President's address to the nation only after clarification of interim administration issue (Thinakkural - T)
There are contradictions between accounts of the Government's proposals to the LTTE on interim administration as reported in newspapers and de facto proposals of the Government, the Presidential Secretariat has said.

The President will not address the nation as scheduled until this issue is clarified.  The President wanted to speak about the Government's proposals and the impact of such proposals on the people.

Sri Lanka - Australia national resources management pilot projects office opened (Lankadeepa-S)
The main office of the Sri Lanka Australia National Resources Management Pilot Project was opened recently at Gepallawa, Kurunegala. The pilot project will be carried out jointly by the Forest Conservation Department and the Australian Government. 

The Australian Government has given a grant of 94 million Australian dollars. The main aim of this project is to find ways to eliminate the poverty of people in the dry zone. The author of this project is Australian National Stephen Hint.