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Third budget since defeat of terrorism:

President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as the Finance Minister will present the budget for the financial year 2012, which is also the third in the seventh Parliament as well as the third after the elimination of terrorism, at 1.30 pm today. The International Monetary Fund has said that the monetary conditions in Sri Lanka are conducive to support economic recovery.

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Over Rs 50m collected from power pirates

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Special Investigations Unit has collected over Rs. 50 million as fines from power pirates during operations throughout the island in the last few months. A number of raids were also carried out in the Northern and Eastern provinces, said Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka.

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‘Gota was confident LTTE could be militarily defeated’

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was the only exception to those who argued that the LTTE could not be defeated militarily, Eric Solheim said. “No one, may be with exception of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, but he’s the only person I can mention who thought LTTE could be defeated militarily,” Eric Solheim was quoted as saying in the Norwegian analysis report – ‘Pawns of Peace’.

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Domestic aide dupes SLBFE

Falsely accuses employer of torture:

The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) has paid monetary compensation to a Bahraini national to obtain the release of a Sri Lankan female domestic aide who had falsely accused her employer of torture.

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