June 30 (Rupavahini) President Kumaratunge pledges to introduce a practical change in the national education system to improve moral values of students’ generation. A new programme to achieve this objective was launched at Jinaraja Maha Vidyalaya in Gampola on a concept of the president. more..

June 30 (LT) 24,000 tons of urea ordered by the Ministry of Agriculture during UNP period is in a decomposed state in their stores says Lanka Fertilizer Company. The Lanka Fertilizer Company has received this stock of fertilizer packed in substandard packing on the 21st of last month. more..

June 30 (NW) The Catholic Church and mainline Christian churches in Sri Lanka yesterday issued a tough joint statement, warning that the proposed bill to ban conversions would destroy the freedom of choice and the character of pluralism - essential pillars of a modern democracy. more..

June 30 (NW) Renegade LTTE leader Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan alias Karuna will register his new political party with the Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake next week, informed sources said yesterday. more..

June 30 (NW) Senior State Counsel Wasantha Navaratne Bandara representing the Attorney General before Colombo Fort Magistrate and Additional District Judge Sarath C. Karunaratne, yesterday requested court to refuse the anticipatory bail application filed on behalf of former UNP Minister and MP Ravi Karunanayake. more..

June 30 (TN) Batticaloa-Amparai district secretariat of the LTTE said today that they have arrested seven cadres belonging to renegade Karuna group who were working with the Sri Lanka Army Intelligence, media sources said. more..

June 30 (TN) Secretary General of TNA and Parliamentary Group leader, R.Sampanthan, is scheduled to address the Annual Convention of the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America (FeTNA) at the Carl J. Murphy Fine Arts Center, Morgan State University, in Baltimore during the 4th July weekend, sources said. more..

June 30 (TN) Eighty two students completed computer training conducted by the Social Economic Development Organization (SEDO), a sub-unit of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), and were awarded with certificates at an event held during the weekend in Trincomalee Vipulananda College in Anpuvallipuram, more..

June 30 (AT) Erik SolheimNorwegian Special Envoy for Peace, will visit Kilinochchi today,to meet the leadership of the LTTE with an unenviable mission to tame, ease them from their hostile stance and to bring them to the negotiation table to square off things with the Government of Sri Lanka. more..

June 30 (AT) In its entire history the UNP has produced four great leaders: 1) D. S. Senanayake, 2) Dudley Senanayake, 3) Ranasinghe Premadasa – all of whom were people-oriented leaders. The people and the UNPers are still looking for the fourth one. more..

June 30 (LBO) Human rights groups in Sri Lanka are drumming up support to lobby political leaders to veto anti-conversion legislation proposed by the government. “The proposed legislation is a violation of human rights,” Head of the Legal Division, Centre For Policy Alternatives (CPA), Rohan Edrisinha says. more..

June 30 (LBO) Central Bank is to take action against 4000 pyramid promoters who had fraudulently helped send nearly US$ 7 million out of the country in the in the first quarter of this year. "We can impose fines up to three times the value of the foreign exchange transaction involved," more..

June 30 (Reuters) Stock srose on Wednesday as foreign activity boosted retail interest, a day after the central bank announced surprisingly strong first quarter economic growth, brokers said. The key Colombo all-share index ended up 1.42 percent, or 19.06 points, at 1,358.50. more..

June 30 (SLA) Over 150 school children were among some civilians, who were made to attend an LTTE death commemoration ceremony, held on 29 June 2004 inside the VELVETTITURAI VALVAI MAHALIYA COLLEGE grounds. Uniform-clad students, about fifty civilians and some LTTE cadres were seen attending the event. more..

June 30 (SLA) A farmer had reported to the troops that he saw some LTTE cadres roaming in the general areas of ANICUT & ANNIPULAI in GOMARANKADAWALA and East of MEDAWACHCHIYA on 28 June 2004 for reasons best known only to the LTTE. Those uniform-clad LTTE men had approached some farmers protecting their cultivations. more..

June 30 (SLA) The Sri Lanka Military Academy (SLMA) at Diyatalawa, the most renowned Army training establishment in the island on 25th June 2004, saw another batch of sixty six Officer Cadets of Regular Intake 55, five Officer Cadets of KDA 18 (Kotalawala Defence Academy) and thirty nine Officer Cadets of Volunteer Intake 39 passed out at the SLMA Parade Ground. more..

June 30 (wsws) At the last minute, health unions belonging to the Health Services Trade Union Alliance (HSTUA) postponed a two-day strike scheduled to start yesterday after Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse promised to take action over their demands within two weeks. more..

June 30 (TN) Leaders of the minority United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government Tuesday held talks with Mr.Arumugam Thondaman, leader of the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) in a fresh bid to secure majority in parliament when it is scheduled to meet on July 20, more..

June 30 (TN) Norwegian special envoy Mr.Erik Solheim is scheduled to meet President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge on his return from Killinochchi Wednesday evening after holding discussions with the LTTE political leadership in the morning, Presidential secretariat sources said. more..

June 30 (TN) The Foreign Correspondents’ Association (FCA) of Sri Lanka will hold an exhibition of photographs by five photojournalists starting Wednesday at the Barefoot Gallery in Colombo. more..

June 30 (PSL) President Kumaratunga today appointed Mr. Sunil Mendis as the Governor of the Central Bank for a six year term, with effect from tomorrow, July 1, 2004. Mr. Mendis retired recently as the Chairman of Hayley’s Group of companies, one of Sri Lanka’s oldest and largest conglomerates. more..

June 30 (EPDP) As Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solhiem began extensive talks yesterday in a bid to revive the peace process, diplomatic sources said President Chandrika Kumaratunga would basically agree to the LTTE demands that the proposal for an interim self-governing authority be taken up first. more..

June 30 (CI) Shane Warne's pursuit of Muttiah Muralitharan's world record for the most Test wickets is certain to grab the limelight as Australia take on Sri Lanka at the Marrara Oval in Darwin tomorrow, the first Test in the two-match Top End tour. more..

June 30 (Reuters) It is two years since the Sri Lankan government and separatist rebels agreed a ceasefire, and people want to go home even though the peace is fragile, but the country is littered with dangerous landmines. more..

June 30 (DJ) Sri Lankan banks have reduced some of their stock of bad loans due to an upturn in the economy and higher provisions but undercapitalization and rising interest rates pose risks for the sector, the head of a credit ratings agency in the country said Wednesday. more..

June 30 (TP) President Kumaratunga said on Monday she was ready, willing and able to take the country forward and didn’t care two hoots about any opposition bid to topple her minority government. “My government may be short of a couple of votes in parliament and the opposition is spending millions to topple my government. more..

June 30 (TP) The government is considering using a bacillus-type bacteria for the control of dengue like in Thailand and Cuba to combat the dengue menace that has gripped the country, newspapers said. more..

June 30 (AT) Prospects of resuming the stalled Sri Lankan peace process in the near future appear dim, despite the continuing efforts of the Norwegian facilitators, diplomatic sources said in Colombo. more..

June 30 (Reuters) Sri Lanka plans to outlaw pyramid schemes, which are reported to be luring a growing number of investors including employees of the financial sector, the central bank said on Tuesday. more..

June 30 (AFP) Norwegian peace brokers failed to reach a breakthrough in the latest bid to restart peace talks in Sri Lanka with Tamil Tiger rebels warning that the entire process was in jeopardy. more..

June 30 (TN) “If the President and government are serious about the cease-fire agreement and peace talks they should stop sheltering Karuna and backing the murder and mayhem in which some of his henchmen are indulging Batticaloa. This is what we told the Norwegian facilitators today”, said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, more..

June 30 (DN) Two development projects aimed at making Colombo the most beautiful city in South Asia started yesterday. A Marine Recreational Development project starting from the right end of Galle Face and extending up to the Lighthouse and phase two of the Beira Lake Restoration project were launched by Ports, more..