Back in Colombo after a five-day private visit to India, President Mahinda Rajapaksa was busy at Temple Trees last Friday morning. He was with his personal staff attending to correspondence and related matters. With that over he was looking forward to chairing an unscheduled meeting of the National Security Council.

My Dear Velu,
I thought I must write to you after seeing your much awaited annual speech which has become something similar to the Queen's Throne Speech of yesteryear. Needless to say, every word, every sentence is analysed but I must admit I was rather disappointed with the latest edition.

The story did the rounds during a previous ceasefire and peace talks. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabhakaran held a meeting with his fighting cadres. He was asked whether the LTTE's acceptance of a ceasefire amounted to abandoning their armed struggle. It was not so, he replied.

The construction of an international airport at Weerawila has raised environmental concerns.