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Sport  BBC Weather  Wednesday, 2 January, 2002, 12:05 GMT
Profile: Ranil Wickramasinghe Ranil Wickremesinghe has his
sights set on the presidency Ranil Wickramasinghe: Hoping to get
his chance Ranil Wickramasinghe who became Sri Lanka's Prime
Minister last month, has pledged to pursue efforts to start
peace talks to end the country's long-running ethnic conflict.
He first became known as the nephew of Sri Lanka's first
executive president, Junius Jayewardene.  A lawyer by
profession, Mr Wickramasinghe comes from an affluent family.  He
was first elected to parliament in 1977 and quickly moved up the
party ladder after Ranasinghe Pramadasa was elected President in
1989.  He was made the minister of industries and leader of the
house, and then went on to be prime minister for 16 months until
Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's Al