July 1 (TN) The office of the Business Development Centre (BDC) for eastern region was declared open in Trincomalee Tuesday. The BDC Network supports capacity building for the business development services market serving the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector in Sri Lanka. more..

July 1 (TN) When Norwegian Special Envoy Erik Solheim flew into Sri Lanka this week, he was well aware that the problems that have bedeviled his government’s peace process thus far have now been eclipsed by new and far more severe one: a weak link in the formal ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE has finally snapped. more..

July 1 (TN) The Sri Lanka Navy boarded and searched a fishing vessel off the LTTE controlled coast in southeastern Jaffna in the early hours of the morning Wednesday, fishermen in Sembianpattu said. more..

July 1 (Telegraph) Sri Lanka A heeded the stern words of their manager to open their month-long tour with a clinical dissection of an outclassed student side. Michael Tissera, who played for Sri Lanka in the inaugural World Cup in 1975, warned: "This is no joy ride for the players. more..

July 1 (CT) Local Tea Research giant TRI said that low grown tea plantations face declining of skilled labour force. The workers migration is higher, said a spokesman of the TRI. more..

July 1 (CT) The local IT academics propose that IT authorities must setup an E-Trading system for Sri Lankan farmers to end the present unsuccessful trading systems. more..

July 1 (MM) Kamala Sundari, 25, is pregnant and wonders what she'll do once the baby arrives. She was hired a year ago as a casual worker in a garment washing plant. Although she works hard, she knows that once she walks out the door to deliver the baby, she will lose her job. more..

July 1 (IPS) As tourism begins to overtake traditional sources of employment in Sri Lanka, children and young people are encouraged to migrate to tourist areas, in hopes they can earn an income for themselves and their families. more..

July 1 (AT) The two-hour meeting between Norway’s Special Envoy Erik Solheim and LTTE political head S. Paramu Thamilselvan in the Tiger stronghold of Kilinochchi, ended producing no results in restoring the Sri Lanka’s stalled peace talks. more..

July 1 (NW) Eleven super luxury vehicles, used by nine ministers during the UNP regime and currently with the Agriculture ministry will be handed over to the Presidential Secretariat today. more..

July 1 (NW) The Army is duty bound to give protection to anyone who faces a death threat from the LTTE, Presidential sources said yesterday adding, that however, the government is yet to arrive at a decision regarding the allegation levelled at the Armys involvement in providing security for Karuna. more..

July 1 (NW) The Jathika Sangha Sabha had taken action to introduce a Bill in Parliament to protect the Buddhasasana and when it was about to be handed over to the relevant minister, suddenly Parliament was dissolved said Jathika Hela Urumaya Leader Ven. Ellawela Madhananda Nayake Thera. more..

July 1 (NW) Several CWE Trade Unions have requested Trade, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle to hold a discussion regarding the possibility of buying back the privatized section of Sathosa Retail. more..

July 1 (NW) The Treasury during the transitionary first four months of 2004 had increased tax collection but the new Finance Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama wants a higher increase in line with the current per capita income. more..

July 1 (NW) Tourism, Industry and Investment Promotion Minister Anura Bandaranaike at the London Heathrow Airport, on his way to Colombo yesterday, was informed of a proposed trip to Singapore by 10 Tourist Board officials who were to go to Singapore on a familiarisation tour. more..

July 1 (LT) Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, the President says the salaries of all government employees and police officers will be increased by the UPFA Government’s first budget. The President made this announcement at a ceremony held in President’s House, Colombo yesterday to award promotions to 3000 police officers. more..

July 1 (LT) A massive protest movement against the Government will be launched from next week says the UNP. Mr. Tissa Attanayake, Deputy Secretary of the UNP says the protest movement will be launched on the 4th Sunday and continue till the 9th in many towns in the island. more..

July 1 (TP) Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf is due to visit Sri Lanka on July 31 and during this visit a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will be signed with Sri Lanka, reports from Islamabad said. The reports said the proposed FTA would provide a level-playing field to Pakistan’s exports in competition with India. more..

July 1 (IL) A powerful trade union of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) yesterday alleged that powerful oil based power plant lobbies supplying electricity to the CEB were trying to block the Government’s move to implement the long due Norochcholai coal power plant and the Upper Kotmale Hydro Power Project (UKHP). more..

July 1 (BL) "It is most improbable that a bird entirely new to science could now exist in Ceylon," a foremost authority on Sri Lankan birdlife wrote in 1951. Just over half a century later, a new Scops-owl – a bird totally overlooked by collectors and field naturalists – has been added to the list of Sri Lanka's endemics. more..

July 1 (TS) An 11-member team comprising doctors, paramedics and humanitarian volunteers will provide medical services to 600 internally displaced persons (IDPs), who are in dire need of aid in Sri Lanka. more..

July 1 (CT) The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment says that it has decided not to send Sri Lankan workers to Iraq as the ground situation there has still not returned to normal. Chairman of the Bureau of Foreign employment Karunasena Hettiarchchi said that there are some Sri Lankans still in iraq, but that he has no information regarding them. more..

July 1 (CT) A group of local IT specialists will forward their technical proposals for new concepts at a common platform on 8th and 9th of July this year. Chairman of the Computer Society of Sri Lanka Lionel Perera said that these IT specialists would focus their experiences on IT related activities. more..

July 1 (SLA) An explosion of a hand grenade killed a Muslim woman while she was at her residence in the general area of PUTTALAM town on 29 June 2004 around 9.30 p.m. According to the Police, the victim, AHUMUJITH SITHTHI REENA (34) of NO 54/32, VAANA ROAD, PUTTALAM, had received injuries in her head and died on admission to the PUTTALAM hospital. more..

July 1 (SLA) A van proceeding to the MADHU CHURCH with disparities in its documents had been arrested by troops on duty at the Entry/Exit point at the MADHU ROAD JUNCTION on 30 June 2004 around 2.45 p.m. Eighteen passengers, including women and children were traveling in the van (58-8825) when it was arrested. more..

July 1 (LBO) After a shortage peak, sand prices in Sri Lanka are stabilising with government imposed supply restrictions coming off. Sand prices are on the way down, say construction industry sources, after the government lifted a stopper on sand transportation last Friday. more..

July 1 (LBO) Sri Lanka will call its first bidding round for oil exploration in the first quarter of 2005, with committed interest from US and UK based oil firms and two of the biggest in China. more..

July 1 (Hindu) Outlining the obstacles to the peace process in Sri Lanka, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has said that international and domestic facilitators must ensure that negotiations take place in a climate of equality, transparency and security. more..

July 1 (G2L) The LTTE has pressurised Grama Niladaris to help them track down Karuna loyalists and security forces informants in the Batticaloa region, authoritative military sources said. Grama Niladaris had been summoned in batches to the Tiger-held areas where they were ordered to co-operate or face the consequences, more..

July 1 (EPDP) The visiting Norwegian facilitator had yesterday informed the Prime Minister that the LTTE was insisting on sorting out the Karuna issue prior to resuming the stalled peace talks with the government. more..

July 1 (TC) The first major British surf contest to be held in foreign waters was declared a resounding success as the Sri Lankan Airlines Champion of Champions event closed in Arugam Bay. more..

July 1 (CI) The wonder of Jeff Thomson's twisting, frenetic, slingshot bowling action was never so much how Thommo did it. The wonder was why almost nobody else did. Well, the world need wonder no longer. more..

July 1 (DN) A breakaway faction of the Sihala Urumaya (SU) yesterday banded themselves as a pressure group to urge the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) to join hands with the Government. Former SU organiser for Colombo district, Kithsiri Wickremesinghe yesterday announced the launch of this alternative body to the JHU in Colombo. more..

July 1 (AFP) Sri Lanka's new army chief has vowed to rebuild confidence with Tamil Tiger rebels after alleged military support to a renegade guerrilla raised fresh doubts about the island's peace process. more..

July 1 (HT) The government has said that the proposed legislation against 'unethical conversions' (mainly from Buddhism to Christianity) is aimed only at the new-fangled evangelical movements bent on converting people, and not the established churches (such as the Catholic or the Methodist church). more..

July 2 (APP) Pakistan and Sri Lanka Thursday pledged to share each other's experience and knowledge in telecommunication sector so as to benefit people of the two countries. more..

July 2 (HT) While the LTTE says that there can be no peace talks until the Sri Lankan government stops supporting the renegade commander, Karuna, President Kumaratunga is saying that the charge is baseless and that peace talks should begin without delay. more..

July 2 (GE) A spate of killings in the Batticaloa district of eastern Sri Lanka over the past month is threatening the ceasefire signed between the government and the LTTE in February 2002. more..

July 2 (BBC) President Chandrika Kumaratunga has denied the government authorised military help for breakaway Tamil Tiger rebel Colonel Karuna. Last week a government minister admitted that members of the army had given assistance to Colonel Karuna. more..

July 2 (IN) Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia-Pacific affairs Mohsen Aminzadeh on his last day of Sri Lankan visit delivered President Mohammad Khatami's written message to Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandranaike. more..

July 2 (TN) The three member bench of the Supreme Court chaired by Chief Justice Sarath N.Silva fixed the inquiry for August 25 into the appeal filed by the Secretary General and Senior Vice President of the TULF Messrs R.Sampanthan and Jospeh Pararajasingham more..

July 2 (TN) Six Indian fishermen remanded over poaching in the seas off Talaimannar escaped from prison in the early hours of Thursday morning, Police said. One of the escapees, Mr. Muniyasamy Murukesu was apprehended inside St. Lucia’s Church in Mannar town Thursday afternoon. more..

July 2 (TN) President Chandrika Kumaratunga Thursday told Norwegian facilitators of the the island’s peace process that peace talks between her government and the Liberation Tigers should be resumed without further delay. more..

July 2 (TV) Sri Lanka’s idyllic landscape and a mercurial mix of opportunities are the ultimate holiday destination. This garden of Eden, “the original paradise, amid scenes as beautiful as the hand of God ever created”. more..

July 2 (CI) Chaminda Vaas, who took 5 for 31 on the opening day of the first Test at the Marrara Oval, has said that Sri Lanka were confident of bowling Australia out, even without Muttiah Muralitharan. "We missed our champion bowler but we all planned that without him we can knock the Australians over," said Vaas. more..

July 2 (Rupavahini) All illegal land deals of government institutions affiliated to statutory boards between the first of January 2002 and 31st march 2004 are to be cancelled. more..

July 2 (SLA) Sri Lanka’s 17th Commander of the Army Lt. Gen. S. H. S Kottegoda assumed his duties this morning (01st July 2004) at his office in the Army Headquarters. On arrival at the main building of the Army Headquarters, he was accorded a ceremonial Guard Turnout and a Guard of Honour by soldiers of the Regiment of Sri Lanka Light Infantry. more..

July 2 (DJ) The government wants to implement pro-poor economic policies to try to alleviate poverty without widening the budget deficit, Finance Ministry officials said Thursday. "We are a socially oriented party, so we have to spend more," more..

July 2 (IL) The Ministry of Power and Energy yesterday admitted to paying US $ 1.2 billion in the past six months on oil imports. Addressing a news conference yesterday evening, Petroleum Resources Director General, Titus Jayawardena said that the country pays on average $ 750 million annually on oil imports, but the escalating oil prices globally has created this situation. more..

July 2 (NNI) Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Bashir Wali Muhammad met his Indian counterpart, Nirupam Sen here on Thursday and discussed with him the latest developments in the Pak-India relations especially in the context of recently concluded Foreign Secretaries level talks in New Delhi. more..