July 27 (Rupavahini) Visiting Norwegian deputy foreign minister Widaar Helgesen says neither the government nor the LTTE had moved away from the peace process. He said that therefore he believed that both parties were committed to maintaining the ceasefire agreement. more..

July 27 (Rupavahini) Each and every tourist arriving in the island will be presented with a free gift. The ministry of small and rural industries and the tourist board will jointly present the memorabilia at the airport itself. more..

July 27 (TN) Villagers of Usan area in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district are to launch a picketing campaign from August 5 demanding the return of their houses and school grounds. Currently the Sri Lanka Army soldiers occupy these houses and school playground since the SLA captured the peninsula in 1996. more..

July 27 (TN) An outbreak of typhoid fever has been reported from Karainagar in Jaffna district. About three hundred residents have been affected with the fever, medical sources in Karainagar said. The cause for the outbreak of the disease is due to non-availability of pure drinking water in the village. more..

July 27 (AT) Visiting Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister told the media personnel in Kilinochchi that he has nothing to report about the meeting he just had with the leaders of the LTTE. Yesterday, Vidar Helgesen was in Kilinochchi and met S.Paramu Thamilselvan and his delegation at the LTTE’s Political Headquarters. more..

July 27 (PNS) Pakistan and Sri Lanka need to Work more vigorously in the field of trade and commerce, Pakistan's new envoy to Colombo, Bashir Wali Mohmand said in an interview published on Monday. more..

July 27 (LT) Kandy Esala Perahara, the traditional cultural pageant of Kandy began its procession along the streets in Kandy on the 22nd. The processions of Nathe, Vishnu, Paththini and Katharagama, the four devales too have commenced with the procession of Sri Dalada Maligawa, the Temple of the Tooth. more..

July 27 (TP) The United Nations is in the process of selecting a Sri Lankan police contingent of about 100 officers for overseas deployment with salaries that would be even more than what Sri Lanka’s police chief gets, newspapers said. More than 100 officers were expected to be picked for the forthcoming overseas assignment. more..

July 27 (TP) President Chandrika Kumaratunga has reassigned certain subjects coming under the Water Resources Board now handled by the irrigation ministry to the Mahawali and River Basin Development Ministry, the Daily Mirror reported. more..

July 27 (TP) The National Heritage Party (JHU), which comprises Buddhist monks, yesterday denied media reports that the party has decided to join the government. JHU general secretary Rev Uduwe Dhammaloka Thera reiterated that his party would never become a tool of either the government or the opposition. more..

July 27 (TP) Opposition and government parliamentarians in Sri Lanka last week supported a proposal for an electronic voting system, like what is available in India, for Sri Lankan polls. Opposition MP Ravi Karunanayake, making the proposal said electronic voting would minimise the human error factor, reduce the time factor and minimise impersonation of voters. more..

July 27 (TP) “Quisling (betrayer) Thabo” - as described to “Asian Tribune,” heavily drugged the eight slain Karuna’s cadres in the night before they were being killed by a special six member LTTE’s hit squad, said one of Karuna’s field commanders speaking from the jungle area in the Amparai district, more..

July 27 (AFP) Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels called for self rule during talks with a top Norwegian envoy yesterday, a day after the guerrillas killed eight rivals from a breakaway group, officials said. more..

July 27 (TN) In media release distributed in Colombo today the Free Media Movement (FMM) said that it viewed with concern "the police search of the residence of journalist Dharmaratnam Sivaram for the second time in a short period of time," more..

July 27 (Hindu) The Sri Lankan Government today condemned Sunday's pre-dawn massacre in which seven supporters of the LTTE's former military commander, `Col.' Karuna, and a Sinhalese person were gunned down near Colombo as an "undisguised act of terror." more..

July 27 (PRIU) Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan chairman and CEO, Osamu Suzuki will arrive in Sri Lanka tomorrow, July 28. Suzuki chairman will be the chief guest of the opening of the Motor Marvels-24 hour service Centre at Colombo 5, which will be the first of its kind in the region. more..

July 27 (LBO) Sri Lanka’s Anglican Church is seeking divine intervention through the Supreme Court to prevent an anti-conversion bill mooted by the Buddhist clergy led Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) from becoming law. more..

July 27 (LBO) “We want to do counselling for families where mothers have gone abroad,” said Labour & Foreign Employment Minister, Athauda Seneviratne, on Monday. Cabinet, said Seneviratne, sanctioned this move a few days ago. more..

July 27 (LBO) Devotees attending this August’s Nallur Temple’s annual festival will be endowed with God's blessings and good investment advice. A joint booth by the securities watchdog and the Colombo Stock Exchange is in the works for the annual festival, ahead of an investment centre opening in the peninsula in September, more..

July 27 (MD) The Indian cricket team participating in the Indian Oil Asia Cup tournament here has been slammed by a leading newspaper for allegedly being “poor losers.” Under a bold headline on top of the sports page, The Daily News, Sri Lanka’s oldest and leading English newspaper, writes in today’s issue: more..

July 27 (Gulf) The increasingly bellicose threats from the Tamil Tigers, warning of all-out war, should not be ignored. The Tigers' footprints were all over the July 7 suicide bombing in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo that shattered a three-year truce. more..

July 27 (Gulf) The Sri Lankan government yesterday condemned the killing of eight associates of a renegade Tamil guerrilla leader on Sunday and declared that it could affect the recommencement of direct negotiations between the government and the rebels. more..

July 27 (DN) A survey by a team of Daily News reporters which visited several retail outlets throughout the city last week found that consumers were being taken for a ride. It was also found that there was no effective machinery in place by the authorities to examine products on sale at these outlets or whether they are what they claim to be. more..

July 27 (PIS) The LTTE yesterday reiterated that the basis of any new peace talks should be the proposals for the setting up of an Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) leaving other subjects to be discussed later. more..

July 27 (AFP) Anything on wheels in Sri Lanka is a virtual shrine, but such devotion has done little to improve driving, with the mounting road toll overtaking the island's previous number one killer -- warfare. more..

July 27 (ANN) The special police strike force set up on June 17 to combat crime in Colombo has been disbanded on orders of a police high ranker who has been angered by the arrest the outfit made of the brother of an underworld kingpin, The Island learns. more..

July 27 (SUN) Tamil Tiger rebels on Tuesday accused the government of having a "hidden agenda" to weaken them, as a Norwegian envoy prepared to meet with Sri Lanka's president in hopes of getting derailed truce talks back on track. more..

July 27 (Xinhua) Sri Lankan government is to review its security plan for the capital Colombo following Sunday's massacre of a rival group of the Tamil Tiger rebels, a top government official said Tuesday. more..

July 27 (AT) Government in its reaction to the killing of 8 persons at Kottawa had expressed its official condemnation for the brutal murders. Also the Government statement expressed that even before the killing was notified to the Police, news about the killing was disclosed in the LTTE website Tamilnet. more..

July 28 (Reuters) The government denied on Tuesday that a military officer was killed along with seven supporters of a breakaway Tamil rebel faction in a weekend attack. The eight were killed on Sunday as they slept in a house in a Colombo suburb, in an attack related to the rebel split more..

July 28 (TN) Mr. Vidar Helgessen, Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister is reported to have told Mr.Rauff Hakim, Leader of the SLMC, Tuesday that renegade Karuna's affair has become a stumbling block in taking forward the stalled peace talks between the Government and LTTE, more..

July 28 (TN) Vanni District Tamil National Parliamentarian Mr.Selvam Adaikalanathan Tuesday brought to the notice of the Sri Lanka's Inspector General of Police the injustice in transferring four Tamil police officers out of eight without any replacement, sources in Mannar said. more..

July 28 (CI) ARY Digital, a Dubai-based multi-channel cable television operator, has bid a record US$48 million for Sri Lanka's broadcasting and sponsorship rights for the next four years. more..

July 28 (CI) There are days when a team imposes its will over another one simply because it is more desperate to win. Today was one of those days, when India held their nerve and overcame a rampant Sanath Jayasuriya in a heart-stopping match that ended with India squeaking through by four runs under the bright lights of the Premadasa Stadium. more..

July 28 (BNN) United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan Monday urged Asian broadcasters to work towards a media policy aimed at building open information societies that benefit all people in the region. more..

July 28 (Rupavahini) Veddha chieftan, Uru Varige Vannilaththo and 43 indigenous people attended the bees honey Pooja. It was an annual traditional event coming from the period of ancient kings. The ceremony is held on the first day of the Randoli Perahera. more..

July 28 (AT) Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga indicated that her Government is prepared to hold talks with the LTTE about Interim Authority within the framework of a united country. more..

July 28 (AT) “If the Tigers want to offer liberation seriously, then they must address the liberation of all people of the island. Do you think it is possible on our small island for the Tamils to be liberated and the others not or the Sinhalese to be liberated and the others not?” – writes Vimukthi Jayadeva. more..

July 28 (Hindu) The visiting Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister, Vidar Helgesen, today met the Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, as part of the ongoing efforts by Oslo to restart the stalled peace negotiations. more..

July 28 (CI) The empty seats at the Premadasa Stadium this afternoon said much about the dress-rehearsal mood that hung around the place. With Sri Lanka already in the final, and with Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas missing, even avid punters with Sri Lankan flags suggested that India were favourites to pull off the win that they needed to keep Pakistan out of Sunday's summit meeting. more..

July 28 (HT) The government has toned down its condition for holding peace talks with the LTTE, raising hopes of a speedy resumption of talks, which were stalled in April 2003. The government has abandoned its earlier stand that there can be no discussion on an Interim Administration for the Tamil dominated North Eastern Province until a final solution is in sight. more..

July 28 (TT) Sri Lanka’s top bowlers, Muttiah Muralidharan and Chaminda Vaas, will help promote their country as a tourist destination in parts of India. According to Arjuna Ranatunga, the deputy minister for industry, tourism and investment promotion, more..

July 28 (TN) Civil groups in Jaffna are concerned about the plight of thousands of internally displaced families in the Jaffna whose dry ration relief supply has been suspended by the Sri Lanka Government from February this year. Most of the families depended fully on the relief, according to the civil groups. more..

July 28 (TP) A 54-year-old English tuition teacher has been slapped a 20-year jail sentence for abusing a seven-year-old Sri Lankan girl. Colombo High Court Judge Eric Basnayake convicted Mohamed Anwer Mohamed Mubarak, a grandfather, on two counts of grave abuse of an underage girl during the period January 1 to September 12, 2002. more..

July 28 (TP) The Sri Lankan government will seek more protection for its expatriate workers, especially vulnerable groups such as domestic workers in the Middle East, newspapers said. more..

July 28 (LT) Four subject areas of water management have been transferred to the ministry of Rajarata river development by a special gazette notification. The government says that this transfer was made using the special powers vested in the president by the constitution of Sri Lanka. more..

July 28 (AT) Sadacharalingham Kamalathasan (25), a freelance journalist attached to Thinamurusu a weekly Tamil political journal belonging to EPDP was shot in both the legs and injured. The injured journalist has been admitted at the Kattankudy hospital for treatment. more..

July 28 (LBO) If you plan to shoot off someone in Sri Lanka, please make a note to leave behind indisputable proof - like an identity card - to help local law enforcement authorities track you down. On Sunday, seven men were shot dead in a bungalow in Kottawa in the outskirts of Colombo. more..

July 28 (LBO) Central Bank has asked the Consumer Affairs Ministry to explore how it can use the Consumer Protection Authority Law to protect consumers from mushrooming network marketing pyramid scams. Officials say the Bank has directed its letter to the Secretary to Ministry of Consumer Affairs. more..

July 28 (LBO) Gas prices could go up by as much as Rs. 70 a cylinder, as the state withdraws its subsidy and Shell battles it out with the Consumer Affairs Authority. A 12.5-kilo cylinder of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) could shoot up from Rs. 620 to Rs. 690, after a state subsidy of Rs. 67 a cylinder lapsed earlier this month. more..