WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Senate voted Wednesday night in favor of the $700 billion rescue package for financial companies.
The final tally was 74 to 25. Kansas Senators Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback both voted against it. Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama and vice presidential candidate Joe Biden all voted for it.
Democrats and Republicans teamed to approve the bill after sweetening it with tax breaks. The government would use most of the money to take over bad mortgages from tottering financial companies and investors.
The House plans to vote on it Friday. Its future there is uncertain. The House voted down a bailout plan Monday.
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Thursday, October 2, 2008
LTTE 'DPU' under attack
On Binara Full Moon Poya day on the 14th of September, an LRRP team from Squadron 4 Special Forces was on the hunt for an LTTE Recce Team Leader in Mulaitivu. The group was lying in wait for the target near the Nedunkerni-Mulaitivu road.Although it is customary for LTTE senior leaders to travel in double cabs, Pajeros and Land Cruisers, no such vehicle was in sight. On occasion, they would also travel on motorcycles, vintage cars and sometimes even in ambulances. As time passed, the team was wondering whether their target was going to show-up or whether the intelligence they had received was accurate.Finally their patience paid-off. A man riding a motorcycle was heading towards them. He was clearly in disguise, but the LRRP team were fully briefed of his appearance. The LRRP team swung into action detonating a roadside bomb killing the man on the spot. Immediately, LTTE communication sets started crackling, inquiring what the explosion was. But by then the LRRP team was long gone.This is how Ratha Regiment Deep Penetration Unit leader for Mulaitivu, 'Lt. Colonel' Ilamparuthi was killed. 11 days later, one of his deputies, 'Lt. Col' Nadesan was gunned down while attempting to breach the SLA FDL at Andankulam North. Ilamparuthi and Nadesan were exposed when an elaborate plan to infiltrate SLA areas from Weli Oya was foiled. Since then, the Special Forces have been on their trail.
Sri Lankan town to relive Gandhian moments
Both the place and the event had fallen off the history pages. But the discovery of a sepia-coloured photograph has led to the unearthing of the chronicles of Swarajyapura where Mahatma Gandhi had stopped to address a gathering in 1927 while on his way to Kandy.
On Thursday, Swarajyapura, a small locality about 50 km from Colombo, will reclaim its place in history when a plaque of Gandhi would be inaugurated in the presence of academicians, Gandhians and diplomats from India and Sri Lanka.
Naveen Gunaratne of the Colombo-based Mahatma Gandhi Centre (MGC) was candid enough to admit that the Centre had no clue about Gandhi’s visit to the place till two months ago. “I had no clue till I was shown a photograph of Gandhi with a six-year-old girl and the father of a church. We were told that it was taken by an amateur photographer on the day Gandhi stopped to give a speech on peace and independence at this place.”
Soon, teams from the MGC visited Sawarajyapura and learnt about the historical context behind the name. “The meeting was organised by citizens who had been fired by Gandhi’s call for an independent India; hence the name Swarajyapura. But even those living in the area had forgotten why it was called so,” Gunaratne said.
The name was given in 1941 at a meeting of the Ceylon National Congress to remember Gandhi’s visit. But over the years, only the name remained and not the history.
Present among the guests on Thursday would be Bertha Fernando and the “little girl” in the photo. All of 86 now.
The man behind the rediscovery was Merryll Fernando, a local who unearthed the forgotten photograph from the house of one of the organisers of Gandhi’s meeting. Fernando knows the photo is a “national treasure” but has anyway willed it to his son and daughter. “Each will keep it every alternate year till it passes on to the next generation. The message of peace from Gandhi has to be kept alive,” he said. Many here would agree with him.
On Thursday, Swarajyapura, a small locality about 50 km from Colombo, will reclaim its place in history when a plaque of Gandhi would be inaugurated in the presence of academicians, Gandhians and diplomats from India and Sri Lanka.
Naveen Gunaratne of the Colombo-based Mahatma Gandhi Centre (MGC) was candid enough to admit that the Centre had no clue about Gandhi’s visit to the place till two months ago. “I had no clue till I was shown a photograph of Gandhi with a six-year-old girl and the father of a church. We were told that it was taken by an amateur photographer on the day Gandhi stopped to give a speech on peace and independence at this place.”
Soon, teams from the MGC visited Sawarajyapura and learnt about the historical context behind the name. “The meeting was organised by citizens who had been fired by Gandhi’s call for an independent India; hence the name Swarajyapura. But even those living in the area had forgotten why it was called so,” Gunaratne said.
The name was given in 1941 at a meeting of the Ceylon National Congress to remember Gandhi’s visit. But over the years, only the name remained and not the history.
Present among the guests on Thursday would be Bertha Fernando and the “little girl” in the photo. All of 86 now.
The man behind the rediscovery was Merryll Fernando, a local who unearthed the forgotten photograph from the house of one of the organisers of Gandhi’s meeting. Fernando knows the photo is a “national treasure” but has anyway willed it to his son and daughter. “Each will keep it every alternate year till it passes on to the next generation. The message of peace from Gandhi has to be kept alive,” he said. Many here would agree with him.
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