July 14 (AT) Tahera Patel, Company Secretary of the Thamil Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) had protested to the British Broadcasting Corporation for its efforts to distort the facts about the London base Tamil radio station. more..

July 14 (AT) Deputy Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, when he visited Jaffna yesterday assured that all facilities required by the members of the security forces in the Jaffna peninsula will be supplied speedily. more..

July 14 (BBC) Sri Lanka is to become the latest destination for British companies outsourcing their operations overseas. India's leading provider of third party business process services, is opening an office in Colombo. more..

July 14 (LT) Tiger organization says it will not take the responsibility of the bomb attacks in the South which jeopardizes the peace process. This was stated in a meeting held between tiger leaders of Wanni, members of SLMM and members of SL security services. more..

July 14 (TP) President Chandrika Kumaratunga has said the verdict by the people in Saturday’s provincial polls is a clear endorsement of the government’s policies including maintaining the ceasefire agreement and resuming peace negotiations with the LTTE. more..

July 14 (TP) The number of rooms in Colombo hotels will be increased by at least another 1,000 in the near future to meet the increasing number of tourist arrivals, said Udaya Nanayakkara, Chairman of the Ceylon Tourist Board. more..

July 14 (TP) Fearing possible death threats due to escalating violence between factions representing Tamil Tiger guerrillas, 10 senior lecturers of the Eastern University at Batticaloa are planning to leave the country on sabbatical, the Daily Mirror said. more..

July 14 (LBO) Donors warn Sri Lanka to adopt the anti-landmine Ottawa Treaty if it wants future support, as Netherlands holds back mine action funds for 2004. Since the peace process of 2002 that ended two decades of war, some US$ 20 mn has been spent over the past 18 months to clear anti-personnel mines in the North and East. more..

July 14 (LBO) Sri Lanka on Tuesday agreed to sign up to a United Nations treaty to discipline its use of landmines, booby traps and certain other conventional weapons. The Cabinet has given the go ahead to Sri Lanka’s accession to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons, more..

July 14 (LBO) A US$ 6 mn government-ADB joint loan scheme to pep up private investment in Sri Lanka’s inland fisheries was launched on Tuesday. The loan scheme is open to both SMEs and micro enterprises with credit limits ranging from Rs 100,000 to Rs 10 mn. more..

July 14 (TN) Chief Justice Mr.Sarath N.Silva laid the foundation stone for a modern court complex in Jaffna Wednesday. The complex is to be constructed at a cost of 160 million rupees with financial assistance from the International Development Agency (IDA) of the World Bank under the Legal and Judicial Reforms Project, sources said. more..

July 14 (TN) Sri Lanka Army's public liason officier, Mr.S.Sriwardene, in Manipay Jaffna told a Valigamam West co-operative club meeting that the SLA will soon start paying rents for all public building and houses it occupies in Vali West Pradeshya sabha, more..

July 14 (TN) More than six thousand persons including catholic priests marched and demonstrated in Mannar town Wednesday against senior Sri Lankan government officials. A memorandum stating that senior officials in Mannar are neglecting development work in the district, giving preference to outsiders in settlement schemes and are discriminating on the basis of religion. more..

July 14 (Reuters) The Central Bank of Sri Lanka left its overnight repurchase and reverse repurchase rates unchanged on Wednesday after its monthly monetary policy meeting, saying the macroeconomic outlook remained positive. more..

July 14 (SAR) A married businessman and a retired professor, whose family manages a 100-year-old Victoria Hotel Heritage in Bangalore, has been ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of Colombo, Sri Lanka. more..

July 14 (DN) Secretary General of the Liberal Party Kamal Nissanka in a press release states that the anti conversion legislation is an equivalent to the Prevention of Terrorism Act and urges the parliamentarians not to support the bill. more..

July 14 (Gulf) Pushpa Malakanti's body still lies in the Sharjah Police morgue – cold and unclaimed. Over three weeks have elapsed since the Sri Lankan was brutally murdered – her body parts dumped to several garbage bins. No one has come forward to claim the remains of the 40-year-old. more..

July 14 (DJ) Despite lingering political woes, Sri Lanka shares will likely sustain their uptrend this year, helped by a healthy economy and strong corporate earnings, say analysts. And if a couple of initial public offerings proceed as planned, the market's main index could hit a record high, they say. more..

July 14 (AFP) For Sri Lanka's President, three-wheel scooters are a sign of prosperity, but an invasion by the shaky contraptions is driving fear into the island's other motorists and is taking passengers and politicians for a ride. more..

July 14 (CNN) A heavy air of pessimism and despondency has descended in Sri Lanka amid ominous signs the country may be slipping back into war after two-and-a-half years of relative peace. The Norwegian-brokered peace process that had ushered in a period of relative peace is in tatters. more..

July 14 (UNI) Former LTTE Commander Karuna's defection was supported at the highest levels of the Sri Lankan government with tacit US approval, according to US geopolitical analysts. "The plan is to destabilize the Tigers, bait the group into confrontation and ultimately launch an offensive aimed at destroying the fractured Tamil movement once and for all," more..

July 14 (AP) International truce monitors ruled that a suicide bombing in Sri Lanka’s capital violated a two-year cease-fire and they urged both Tamil Tiger rebels and the government to take immediate steps to prevent the truce from collapsing, officials said on Wednesday. more..

July 14 (Reuters) Demining activists urged the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels on Wednesday to ban landmines and help speed clearing an estimated 1.5 million mines strew through the north and east of the war-torn country. more..

July 15 (TN) Former LTTE Commander Karuna's defection was supported at the highest levels of the Sri Lankan government with tacit US approval, press reports quoted US geopolitical analysts as saying this week. more..

July 15 (TN) The Liberation Tigers in Batticaloa said that a key associate of renegade commander 'Karuna' was killed in an ambush by one of their special jungle warfare units in Batticaloa Wednesday afternoon around 2.45 p.m. more..

July 15 (TN) Sri Lanka Police produced in the Mannar courts Wednesday two Myanmar nationals who had escaped from a detention centre for foreigners near Colombo. The two men were arrested while loitering in the shrub around the long abandoned Thalaimannar railway station on Tuesday morning. more..

July 15 (TN) "Statements made by the Government of Sri Lanka and chauvinist political parties on the question of finding a political solution to the Tamil national question are aimed to create disharmony among communities and to unleash violence in Sri Lanka," said Mr.S.Elilan, more..

July 15 (TN) A key associate of the renegade commander was assassinated inside the Batticaloa prison in the early hours of the morning Thursday. Police and army have surrounded the prison as the gunman who shot dead 'Satchi Master' and wounded another associate of Karuna climbed the jail roof with his handgun and a grenade. more..

July 15 (LBO) The Inland Revenue Dept has submitted a paper to overturn part of the tax amnesty bill presented by the previous government. Once parliamentary nod comes through, the amendment will give the taxman powers to recover the indirect tax component declared by taxpayers. more..

July 15 (LBO) The Central Bank on Wednesday warned the public against using foreign currency bank drafts or membership charges to invest in pyramid or similar referral marketing schemes. The notice, the fourth in a series of public warnings, comes as the bank steps up its awareness campaign to deter people from using their credit cards to invest in such schemes. more..

July 15 (LBO) Back in 1992, Ajith Perera was at the top of his game, a Chartered Chemist and at the time, one of the handful of cricket referees and scorers with British training. In 1992 a tree fell across his car near Reid Avenue, paralysing him below the waist and making Perera a statistic, joining the three million or so challenged people in Sri Lanka. more..

July 15 (SLA) Two prisoners of a rival faction of the LTTE were shot dead at point-blank range and another was injured this morning, 15th July 2004 inside the BATTICALOA prison after another prisoner, believed to be from LTTE, stormed their cell when prison officials opened it in the morning around 6.20. am.for routine ablutions. more..

July 15 (SLA) Troops on duty at the CEYNOR JETTY in JAFFNA on 14 July 2004 around 7.45 a.m. recovered one kilogram of high explosives and four detonators, hidden inside a fishing boat. Four fishermen onboard the vessel together with four containers of explosives, more..

July 15 (SLA) A group of unidentified persons have assaulted an EPDP member while he was travelling in the general area of NALLUR to sell newspapers on his motorbike on 14 July 2004 before they forcibly took away his motorbike and bundle of newspapers. more..

July 15 (DS) The peace process for a negotiated settlement of the long running civil war in the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka seems to have suffered setbacks in recent times. more..

July 15 (LT) CWC sources have confirmed that their leader Mr. Thandaman will dfinitely crossover to the UPFA govt before 20th. The CWC has given power to take the decision on the crossover to Mr. Thondaman. more..

July 15 (LT) Yesterdya a specila UPFA leaders meeting was held at president house participated by the leaders of SLFP, JVP, MEP, CP, LSSP, NUA and Mr. Jayantha Danapala the Head of Peace secretariat. more..

July 15 (CI) The Asia Cup is back: the latest incarnation starts in Sri Lanka on Friday (July 16). In contrast to the past, when first India then Pakistan contrived to avoid taking part for one reason or another, all four of Asia's Test nations will be there. more..

July 15 (CO) The Asia Cup starting in Sri Lanka on Friday provides the last opportunity for sides to improve their position in the ICC One-Day International table before the ratings are updated at the start of August. Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan are fourth, fifth and sixth in the official table going into the tournament. more..

July 15 (OW) Attacks on journalists have soared in conflict-torn eastern Sri Lanka, with around a dozen media persons attempting to flee the country, even as international media group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released a report urging immediate action. more..

July 15 (PSL) The new Pakistani High Commissioner in Colombo Col. (Rtd.) Bashir Wali Mohammad, today presented his credentials to President Kumaratunga at President’s House, Colombo. The new Ambassador for Federal Republic of Germany Jurgen Weerth also presented his letter of credence to President Kumaratunga today.

July 15 (IL) The ailing fisheries sector of the north and east of Sri Lanka is likely to receive a shot in the arm this week, when international experts meet in Colombo to discuss ways to rehabilitate the industry with an anticipated infusion of US$ 26 million over the next three years, more..

July 15 (AT) Jayantha Dhanapala, Secretary General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP), will visit the Batticaloa district Office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) tomorrow, Friday 16th July. more..

July 15 (AT) SLMM reported that it is monitoring the killing of the two men inside the Batticaloa prisons this morning, who were alleged to be members of the Karuna’s group. The SLMM is yet to determine the course of action to be taken regarding this killings. more..

July 15 (AT) Two detainees to be loyal to breakaway leader Karuna, whose split from the LTTE rebels, were killed in a shooting incident in the Batticaloa prisons today. It is reported that they were killed by another remand prisoner (Member of the LTTE leader Prabakaran faction) who then climbed the roof of the prison, but he was later arrested by the army. more..

July 15 (AT) Speculations are rife that Arumugan Thondaman is to settle for the Chief Ministership of the Central Province, whiles two of the Ceylon Workers Congress stalwarts to be offered with ministerial portfolio with cabinet status and one with deputy ministership, according to a reliable source. more..

July 15 (AT) The UPFA is to appoint an all-party committee to discuss the resumption of peace talks, if the LTTE insists on its interim administration proposal. This committee will also be entrusted with a supervision of the Constitutional Council once it comes into being. more..

July 15 (AT) Janataha Vimukthi Perumuna (JVP), the junior partner of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance Government said that they vehemently oppose the Interim Self Governing Authority Proposal put forward the LTTE. more..

July 15 (TP) Ruling alliance made a stunning demand on Tuesday, asking Parliamentary Speaker W J M Lokubandara to “step down like a gentleman or face the possibility of being removed.” The reason — because the opposition UNP which Lokubandara represents lost in his hometown of Haputale at last Saturday’s provincial polls. more..

July 15 (TP) Most of the cases before Sri Lanka’s Bribery and Corruption Commission are against former cabinet ministers, parliamentarians, police officers, senior government officials and affluent businessmen, the Island newspaper said quoting informed sources. more..