Sep 3 (DN) The Government should give priority to the people in the country to reap all benefits from the war victory. If not the entire social fabric will disintegrate, NFF President Wimal Weerawansa, MP said. “The main challenge for this country now is to strengthen the social, cultural and economic aspects of the people, Weerawansa said at a book launch of Aledida Guevara’s Chavez, more..

Sep 3 (DM) The government said yesterday that the monthly pay hike of Rs. 7,500 demanded by the UNP for public servants was an unrealistic one since it would cost at least eight billion rupees for the state. Deputy Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya told journalists yesterday that the government would not be able to find money for such a massive pay hike even by curtailing all the expenses of the Cabinet of Ministers as demanded by the UNP. more..

Sep 3 (DM) The Ceylon National Workers’ Alliance led by S. Sathasivam, the National Union of Workers led by S. Siddambaram and the Democratic Workers’ Congress led by led by Mano Ganeshan have also decided to join in the go-slow launched by the CWC and the UNP-led National Estate Workers’ Union. Ceylon National Workers’ Union Alliance General Secretary S. Sathasivam said that they had decided, at a meeting held last evening, to join in the go-slow which was launched yesterday. more..

Sep 3 (LBO) A 30-kilometer fourth stage of a 126-kilometre expressway from Sri Lanka's capital Colombo to the southern city of Matara will go to a Chinese contractor but the supervision consultancy will be open for international bids. The second par to of the road which was originally to be a two-lane highway was expanded to four lanes, requiring additional finance. more..

Sep 3 (LBO) Sri Lanka will upgrade 150 kilometres of provincial roads in the east of the country and 220 kilometres in the north central province with a 70 million US dollar credit from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), a senior minister said. Information minister Anura Yapa said the total cost of the project will be 78 million US dollars. The Sri Lanka government will put in 8.0 million US dollars to meet taxes and duties. more..

Sep 3 (G&M) The jailing of an ethnic Tamil journalist in Sri Lanka is more than a violation of reporters' rights to do their jobs. It is a missed opportunity for the Sri Lankan government to prove its commitment to building a lasting peace in the country. J.S. Tissainayagam was sentenced this week to 20 years in prison for supposedly inciting "racial hatred" and promoting terrorism in his reporting. more..

Sep 3 (MoD) The Governments of Sri Lanka and India entered into a MOU on Thursday the 3rd September for setting up an India - Sri Centre for English Language Training (ISLCELT) at Peradeniya. The MOU was signed by the Indian High Commissioner H.E Alok Prasad, the Minister of Education Hon. Susil Premajayantha and the Secretary to the President Mr. Lalith Weeratunga at a ceremony held at more..

Sep 3 (Reuters) Sri Lanka plans to open a second gate in the island nation's main Colombo port for the first time in a decade, aiming to boost traffic after the end of a 25-year war, a top port official said on Thursday. "We will be opening the north gate in a couple of days," Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Priyath B. Wickrama told Reuters. "This will help to improve our vessel turnaround time and we can accommodate more ships." more..

Sep 3 (IPS) It is a walk that no one has taken in the last quarter of a century. The nation having been beset by a bloody sectarian war, who would have thought of travelling the length of Sri Lanka south to north, let alone walk the distance, in the name of peace? On Aug. 25, three men from the deep south of the country, all from the majority Sinhala community, began their 600-kilometre walk from the southern end of the island. more..

Sep 3 (EB) President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that his country will develop its own model of economic development based on a strong agricultural sector and not follow the existing Western models in which industrial growth gets precedence. “We must have a Sri Lankan model. I prefer it to be agriculturally based. If you can be self-sufficient in food, then the industries will come,” more..

Sep 3 (Hindu) President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that with the end of the war, it is time to stay focused on development. In an extensive interview with the Forbes magazine, Mr. Rajapaksa said: “Without development, there won’t be peace; we must develop the economy, I don’t want to just be the liberator, I want to be the leader who brings permanent peace and development to this country and reconciliation with Tamil communities in the North and the East. more..

Sep 4 (GDI) Enterprise Development, Investment Promotion, Media and Information Minister, Anura Priyadharshana Yapa today claimed that the country was still getting the GSP+ concession and there was no intimation of halting it. Minister Yapa explained that such concessions were granted with the Tsunami disaster and any type of concession could not be eternal as expected by some. more..

Sep 4 (GDI) Media and Information Minister, Anura Priyadharshana Yapa today said that the judgment on journalist Tissainayagam tried under the Prevention of Terrorism Act was in no way an obstacle towards media freedom. The minister made that observation during the weekly cabinet press briefing when he responded to queries by journalists during the post cabinet decision announcement period. more..

Sep 4 (GDI) Cabinet granted approval to a memorandum submitted by President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Minister of Finance and Planning to enter into a Financing Agreement with the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank to borrow Special Drawing Rights 70.6 million. The International Development Association of the World Bank has agreed to provide the above sum for the implementation of the Provincial Roads Projects. more..

Sep 4 (Economist) Sri Lanka was always a hard place for hacks; but by any standards, 20 years’ jail is a harsh penalty for a newsman doing his job. That term was meted out this week to J.S. Tissainayagam on terrorism charges, after he criticised the army’s treatment of Tamil civilians. The government says he stoked ethnic discord with false reports; human-rights groups say the state is cracking down harder in an already dire environment. more..

Sep 4 (Economist) Rarely has a government soiled its reputation as dramatically as Sri Lanka’s. In recent months President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime has won a war and lost the love of many allies. Its alleged wartime and other abuses make a grim catalogue: thousands of Tamil civilians allegedly killed by army shelling during the rebels’ last stand; scores of Tamils disappeared; nearly 300,000 Tamil war-displaced callously interned; more..

Sep 4 (DPA) The 250,000 Tamils displaced in Sri Lanka face a deteriorating humanitarian situation as the monsoon season approaches, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday. 'What I am concerned (about is) that conditions have not improved,' Ban said, speaking about the camps where the displaced were being held. more..

Sep 4 (AFP) A group of former child soldiers from Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have won jobs on construction sites in Malaysia after undergoing re-training, the government here said on Thursday. The seven men were among hundreds of former child soldiers who surrendered in the months before government troops finally defeated the Tigers in May at the end of decades of ethnic warfare. more..

Sep 4 (LT) Nipuna Ramanayaka, the SLIIT student who was abducted and brutally assaulted by officers attached to the CCD while SSP Gunawardena’s wife Shyamali Priyadarshani Perera and his son Ravindu were also allegedly involved in the incident, has filed a fundamental rights violation application in the Supreme court claiming Rs. 100 million as compensation. more..

Sep 4 (LT) The whole Nation should rally against the media repression that exists in the country at present says the JVP. This is stated in an announcement released by the party. The announcement states: It has been reported that three journalists of ‘Lanka’ weekend newspaper have been arrested by Deniyaya Police. Until now the police has not offered an acceptable reason for arresting and detaining the three journalists. more..

Sep 4 (LBO) Sri Lanka opened an international gem and jewellery exhibition aimed at attracting buyers from new markets as traditional Western markets decline, with some exporters reporting strong demand despite recession. "We're now focusing on new emerging economies like China, Russia and India," Chanaka Ellawala, chairman of the organizing committee for the FACETS 2009 gem and jewellery exhibition, said. more..

Sep 4 (LBO Central Bank said it has issued new instructions to banks to put assets unclaimed by customers for a long period to an account in the Central Bank. All licensed commercial banks holding any abandoned property are required to inform the banking regulator each year and transfer such monies maintained in Sri Lanka rupees to a special account in the Central Bank. The Central Bank did not say whether what interest would be paid on the property of that is transfered out of banks. more..

Sep 4 (CI) The last statement Daniel Vettori made after New Zealand snapped their winless streak on tour with a tense victory on Wednesday was that there was still a game to go to clinch the short series. Vettori knows how much confidence his side can take from anything they win on tour. It was refreshing to see his face light up as he ran towards hat-trick hero Jacob Oram when New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by three runs. more..

Sep 4 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's main opposition urged Sri Lanka's government to release nearly two-thirds of Tamil war refugees in military-run camps. More than 280,000 Tamils are being held in camps in the Indian Ocean island's north, after government forces defeated Tamil Tiger separatists and ended a 25-year civil war in May. Rights activists accuse authorities of illegally holding the displaced in the heavily guarded camps, but more..

Sep 4 (Hindu) Sri Lanka on Thursday characterised the video footage aired by Channel 4 U.K. Television on August 25, showing alleged execution in January of civilians by persons in military uniform, as “fake” and expressed concern over an “increasing number of comments” from some sections of the international community on the video. In a statement here, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said his government reiterated its strong and unequivocal rejection of more..

Sep 4 (AT) Ministry of Foreign Affairs has cautioned all concerned that there is an outbreak of swine flu in Kuwait that has caused infections of over 1200 people including 5 deaths as of 2nd September. However, the statement by Sri Lanka Ministry further said, It is reported by the Kuwaiti health authorities that over 99% of those infected have recovered and that they are well equipped to handle any emergency situation. more..

Sep 4 (AT) The international community had criticized the verdict given in Tissainayagam's case by the Colombo High Court on 31 August. He had been indicted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. It was alleged that he caused racial disharmony by his writings, website and Magazine for which he was lavishly funded by the LTTE. Other accusations against him were, collecting and obtaining information for the purpose of terrorism, strong links with the LTTE and more..

Sep 4 (LG) No one is born into this world carrying any racial, religious, political, caste or class identity but accumulates these one by one due to outside influence. These are all conceptual creations of the mind purely for personal benefit and Sri Lanka has an abundance of these divisions. By changing one’s name and the political party he supports merely for convenience, one can achieve a different status in society. more..

Sep 4 (LG) The Sri Lanka Army consists of professionals who always respect human rights and ethics. Sri Lanka Army maintains the quality of a professional army. We have seen hundreds of incidents where human rights were violated by foreign forces in the world. As the Sri Lanka Army maintains such high qualities, foreign countries have been asking Sri Lanka to train their own army in accordance with the way the Sri Lanka Army is trained. more..

Sep 4 (ET) The short answer is “yes”, but that doesn’t express the Sri Lankan reality that is found in the details. Sri Lanka is best characterised as a nation facing a death struggle between a hegemonic majority (the Sinhalas) and a hapless minority (the Tamils) tied by a double-edged fear to a nasty terrorist movement (of the LTTE). Tamils find themselves between the devil (the LTTE) and the deep sea (the oppressive Sinhala majority). more..

Sep 4 (Times) Professor Sunitha Wickramasinghe, an academic haematologist, was one of the leading authorities on congenital dyserythropoietic anaemias who set benchmarks for their diagnosis and management. His other areas of expertise included the pathophysiology of thalassaemias, megaloblastic anaemias and the effects of alcohol toxicity on the bone marrow. more..

Sep 4 (UCAN) Rights activists, including priests, have criticized the decision by a Colombo high court to sentence a Tamil journalist to 20 years' imprisonment. "This unexpected verdict comes at a time when our country needs determined journalists who can present all sides of the truth," said Father Marimuthupillai Sathivel. Jayaprakash Sittampalam Tissanayagam, a Christian, was arrested on March 7, 2008 but only charged and sentenced on Aug. 31. more..

Sep 4 (BN) Sri Lanka plans to sell $500 million dollar-denominated sovereign bonds in the overseas markets in October, the South Asian island’s central bank said. The Colombo-based monetary authority has received seven bids from international banks and investment houses to manage the debt sale, it said in an e-mailed statement today, without providing details. Banks that will help manage the offering will be selected by mid-September, more..

Sep 4 (SLE) Ambassador Jaliya Wickramasuriya recently urged a mix of Sri Lanka expatriates here -- including Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims -- to support peaceful reconciliation and reconstruction in the country’s war-damaged Northern Province. At a meeting organized by the Sri Lankan Diaspora, Ambassador Wickramasuriya offered a detailed explanation of the situation in Sri Lanka, more..

Sep 4 (TC) We are gathered here today to remember, pay tribute and bid farewell to our friend, colleague and comrade, Upali Cooray, whose untimely death on 21st August 2009 has grieved us all. Upali’s professional qualifications included a BSc (Hons) in Economics (London), LLB Hons (London) and MA in Business Law at London Guildhall University. Called to the Bar in 1974, Upali practised as a Barrister. more..

Sep 4 (AFP) The European Union joined Thursday the international outcry over the sentencing to 20 years in jail of a journalist in Sri Lanka for his alleged links to Tamil Tiger rebels. "The European Union is troubled by the severe sentence of 20 years hard labour in prison passed by the Colombo High Court on journalist Mr J.S. Tissainayagam," the EU's Swedish presidency said in a statement. more..

Sep 4 (Dawn) The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has clarified on a media report that appeared in newspapers regarding the development of three international standard turf pitches in one of Sri Lankas famous 135-year-old schools. ‘The board wishes to clarify that the delay has not been made on the part of the PCB. The PCB has been constantly in contact with Sri Lanka Cricket. more..

Sep 4 (AFP) UN chief Ban Ki-moon met with a Sri Lankan minister in Geneva Thursday to discuss the plight of civilians displaced by the government defeat of the Tamil separatist insurgency earlier this year, his press office said. UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said Ban and Mahinda Samarasinghe, Sri Lanka's minister for disaster management and human rights, exchanged views on conditions in the camps more..

Sep 4 (LG) The Buddha has declared, as recorded in the Anguttara Nikaya that two kinds of individuals are very rare in the world. They are those who volunteer to help others in need (Pubbakari) and those who are grateful (Katavedi). Generally by nature people are not grateful. So it is a noble quality to be cultivated. It is stated in the Dhamma that one should not help others expecting gratitude but it should be undertaken because it is a good and wholesome action. more..

Sep 4 (GDI) Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau’s (SLTPB) Middle East office has announced official support for the forthcoming" Lanka Challenge 2009", a ten-day charity adventure rickshaw race taking place in Sri Lanka during September. Lanka Challenge 2009 will see adventurous travellers from around the world navigate through the beautiful terrains of Sri Lanka from 5th to 15th September 2009, in an auto rickshaw. more..

Sep 4 (GDI) Sri Lanka's law enforcement officers (Police) are to offer their services to other countries, IGP Jayantha Wickremeratne states. The IGP pointed out that the activities of the Police Department are not confined to this land. The Police Officers are imparting an exemplary service in countries such as East Timor, Libya and Sudan. It is expected to rotate these teams so that the Police Officers can gain experience in working in other institutions in the world. more..

Sep 4 (AHRC) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the bodies of two teenage Tamil girls were recently found in a Colombo canal. Police promptly filed the case as one of suicide, despite finding a suicide note with handwriting--according to the parents--of neither girl. There is also reason to suspect that their employers were breaking the law by hiring them to do domestic work while underage. more..

Sep 4 (PSM) All ACMC and EPDP have signed a MOU to share position of Deputy Mayor with nominee of ACMC after one year. Accordingly, a Muslim Deputy Mayor will take over in 2010. Thus, the dispute between the constituent parties of the UPFA has come to amicable settlement. Both parties contested the election to the Jaffna Municipal Council under the betel leaf symbol of the UPFA. more..

Sep 4 (GV) Weeks before coming to Sri Lanka, I shared with some friends; a desire to help war affected Sri Lankans in whatever capacity possible while I am home. I had a vague grasp of the fact that refugees were just one fraction of the victims of war. Combatants constituted another fraction. I have never heard gunshots or seen bombs going off. However, growing up in an impoverished country which spent hundreds of billions of rupees to buy armaments and more..

Sep 4 (GV) The strap of my bag unbuckled under the strain as I squeezed out of the bus in Kurunegala. The clock tower read an unrushed 6.40 am on its weary face. It was quite possibly a relic from the Premadasa era, bearing testament to a President who erected large clocks in many city centres and villages, subtle messages about punctuality woven into a fabric of ageless and often useful, chaos. more..

Sep 4 (MoD) The defeat of the un-civilized LTTE terrorists is the greatest victory achieved by the war heroes. It is therefore duty of the nation to look after the interest of the soldiers. The "Rana Viru Seva" authority organized a special ceremony today(September 03) to donate funds under the "Ranaviru Housing Scheme" for families of soldiers who sacrificed their lives, were disabled or went missing during active service. more..

Sep 4 (MoD) The Government will implement a surveillance project to control and prevent Non Communicable Diseases (NCD) among Internally Displaced People in welfare centers in Vavuniya. Sri Lanka Medical Association President Prof. Rezvi Sheriff said this system is in addition to a number of communicable diseases surveillance programs undertaken by the Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry to ensure good healthcare of IDPs. more..

Sep 4 (MoD) Yet another batch of recruits Join the SLAF Cadre A total number of 394 recruits from the 137th Regular and 95th Volunteer Course passed out yesterday at Air Force Base Hingurakgoda after completing 17 weeks of challenging training. The training focused on drill, weapon training, tactics, field craft, map reading, fire fighting, explosive handling, Humanitarian Law, Air Force Law and Combat First Aid. more..

Sep 4 (LT) An attempt to abduct a student of SLIIT at Malabe was reported last night. A group of people who had come near the gate of SLIIT in a jeep had attempted to abduct a student but the attempt had been thwarted by residents in the area and students of SLIIT. The group that had come to abduct the student late in the evening had attempted to drag the student into the jeep and drive away when residents and other students intervened. more..