July 6 (AT) A Tamil Tiger cadre was arrested yesterday, alleged as the person responsible for the shooting and critically injuring during the last parliamentary general election, T.Maheswaran, a former Tamil Minister in the UNF Government and at present the Member of Parliament from the Colombo district. more..

July 6 (AT) The leader of the Sarvodaya Movement Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne has been awarded a international award in recognition of the services rendered by him during the last five decades. The award is presented by the Notes Foundation of Switzerland. more..

July 6 (LT) Tamil National Alliance says it will not participate at the series of campaigns the UNP is to organize against the UPFA Government. TNA also emphasizes that the series of campaigns is not organized by the united opposition but by the UNP and minor political groups sympathetic to the UNP. more..

July 6 (LT) Inter University Student Federation says that the UNP is directly responsible for the assassination of the Jayawardanapura University student, Sampath Bandara. I.U.S.F. disclosed this at a press conference held in Colombo yesterday. more..

July 6 (DN) SAARC countries in the 21st century are faced with the challenge of conservation of the changing environmental, social, economical and political conditions and to adopt policies and projects to conserve the changing environment, Environment and Natural Resources Minister A. H. M. Fowzie said in Colombo yesterday. more..

July 6 (PTI) India has made no fresh request for the extradition of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and his intelligence chief Pottu Amman, the Indian High Commission in Colombo said on Tuesday. more..

July 6 (Gulf) President Chandrika Kumaratunga's ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) is set to face the first acid test after winning parliamentary elections three months back when it fights a crucial provincial election over the weekend. more..

July 6 (KT) The split in the Tamil rebel organisation took another dramatic turn with the Tigers alleging that at least two frontline ministers of the former United National Front and the party's General Secretary had met a renegade leader of the rebels who fled to Colombo. more..

July 6 (AT) The Fort Magistrate this morning ordered the release on bail of former minister Ravi Karunanayake who is facing charges under the Public Property Law. The Magistrate in his judgment on an anticipatory bail application, ordered Karunanayake released on two personal bonds of five million rupees each. more..

July 6 (AFP) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas have accused government forces of preparing for war in the island's volatile east after the killing of a rebel political activist. more..

July 6 (IANS) It may sound ironical, but Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas swore allegiance to peace even as they marked yet another anniversary of their highly feared suicide squads known as the Black Tigers. more..

July 6 (Reuters) A Sri Lankan soldier stands guards a street as students cycle back to homes in the eastern Sri Lanka city of Batticaloa, July 6, 2004. Gunmen shot dead one man and wounded three others in Batticaloa on Monday, police said, more..

July 6 (IL) Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Western Provincial Council candidate M.P.M. Sheriff yesterday withdrew his candidature with immediate effect claiming that leader Rauff Hakeem has pawned and mortgaged the SLMC to the United National Party (UNP). more..

July 7 (TN) The Hingurakgoda magistrate Tuesday released fourteen Tamil youth who were arrested with assault rifles and bombs by Sri Lanka Police in a village Buddhist temple in Hingurakgoda Monday evening. They were enlarged on personal surety bail, Police said. more..

July 7 (AFR) Sri Lanka's two biggest hotel operators are seeking overseas expansion, concerned the hold-up in peace talks may prompt fewer than the 650,000 tourists expected this year to visit the island's palm-fringed beaches. more..

July 7 (PTI) With the help of an Indian doctor, Test cricket's highest wicket-taker Muttiah Muralitharan is out to prove experts wrong that flexion plays a part in imparting spin while he bowls his 'doosra' or the ball that moves away from the right-handers. more..

July 7 (TA) SHANE WARNE believes Australia's pace attack will create carnage on a fast-bowler friendly Cairns pitch, ending any chance the leg-spinner has of claiming the world wicket-taking record. more..

July 7 (LBO) A drop in rice production in the current Yala season could see Sri Lanka going hungry for rice after November. The Agriculture Minister Anura Kumara Dissanayake told LBO that the Government is expecting a shortage in local rice supply, with the current Yala harvest falling behind 2003’s record levels. more..

July 7 (LBO) International tourist traffic could dip to 900 mn tourists from earlier targets of 1 bn in 2010, as global events radically alter the dynamics of future travel. Travel dictated by global terrorism, disease and weak economies have cut back on long haul travel with as much as 80 percent visiting ‘close-to-home’. more..

July 7 (LBO) Houses stuck together like a long stretch of sliced sandwich bread is a common sight in most parts of Colombo, but despite the increasing housing density in urban areas Sri Lanka lacks any standards on building them. more..

July 7 (Rupavahini) The government has abolished the value added tax (VAT) on fertilizer and agricultural implements with retrospective effect from the first of this month. Minister of agriculture, Anura Kumara Dissanayake told a news conference held at the ministry in Colombo that this move would bring down the cost of fertilizer further. more..

July 7 (G2L) The police have arrested 14 ex-LTTE cadres belonging to the Karuna faction on the run to escape from Prabhakaran’s death squads. They were taken in by the Hingurakgoda police on Monday while they were breaking journey at a Buddhist temple at Hingurakkgoda on their way to a secret location in the east. more..

July 7 (NW) The contradictory scenario over the Karuna issue deepened to an explosive level yesterday when police arrested 14 suspected Karuna faction youths with automatic weapons in a Buddhist temple run by a JHU monk. more..

July 7 (NW) President Kumaratunga yesterday claimed former Minister Ravi Karunanayake could be sent to jail ten times over as she had all the evidence against him. Addressing an election rally in Mulleriyawa yesterday, the President however was cautious not to remark further saying the matter was now before courts. more..

July 7 (ST) Few champions of cricket have divided opinion like Muttiah Muralitharan. To some, he is blessed by genius and is a worthy holder of the world record number of Test match wickets. To others, he is a cheat. more..

July 7 (TN) Fishermen in the garrisoned coast of Jaffna's Thenmaradchi division Tuesday complained to Jaffna Sri Lankan security forces commander that his soldiers were stealing valuable lobsters and cuttlefish from traps they lay near the shore in the shallow waters of the lagoon. more..

July 7 (TN) Leaders of joint opposition parties are scheduled to meet the Prime Minister Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse of the minority ruling UPFA government Thursday to discuss the possibility of advancing the date of next session of the parliament, which is scheduled for 20 July, more..

July 7 (TP) Police inspectors in Sri Lanka are furious over recent promotions. Newspapers yesterday quoted president of the Police Inspectors’ Association Dale Gunaratne as saying that recent promotions to the force were rife with injustice and irregularities. more..

July 7 (TP) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse has called for a common national policy on education that would be followed by all governments, noting that it is “a crime to change policies with the change of government, ministers and political leadership.” more..

July 7 (TP) Two ruling party parliamentarians including a former prime minister have been asked to present themselves in Sri Lanka’s Appeal Court next month in connection with a petition challenging their appointment to the legislature. more..

July 7 (TP) A former Tamil rebel group-turned political party has extended an invitation to LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran to give up his military struggle and join the democratic stream. more..

July 7 (NW) Colombo Fort Magistrate and Additional District Judge Sarath C. Karunaratne yesterday directed former Trade and Commerce Minister Ravi Karunanayake to surrender his passport to court and granted his application for anticipatory bail in Rs. 10 million with two sureties. more..

July 7 (TN) A soldier of the Sri Lanka Army who surrendered to the Liberation Tigers in Jaffna on Tuesday was handed back to the SLA by the LTTE through the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and the Human Rights Commission, reports from Jaffna said. more..

July 7 (TN) "Because of the sacrifice by the Black Tigers, the LTTE has emerged as a strong liberation force in the world and even now we prepared to face a war if it is thrusted on us. However we do not want to be responsible for the outbreak of the fourth Eelam War," said Mr.S.Elilan, more..

July 7 (TN) Three fishermen Mr.S.Ruban (21), Mr.S.Sriskandarajah (20) and Mr.T.Subramaniam (52) of Inbaruty and Viyaparimoolai who went for fishing in the Vadamarachchi Sea in the Jaffna district are reported missing since Sunday night. The missing persons were displaced from Myliddy village in the Valigamam north division more..

July 7 (SLA) Deputy Chief of Staff and Colonel Commandant Sri Lanka Signal Corps, Major General A. M. C.W.B Seneviratne has been appointed the new Chief of Staff with effect from 01st July 2004. The office of the Chief of Staff fell vacant after Lt. Gen S. H. S Kottegoda took over as Commander of the Army on 01st July 2004. more..

July 7 (LT) JVP parliamentarian Wimal Weeransa says that the alliance government has reversed the betrayal of the motherland and the selling national resources pursued by the UNP for the past two years and instead moved to safeguard the country and to protect the national resources. more..

July 7 (LT) Three People including the chairman and a member of the Higurakgoda Pradeshiya Sabha were arrested by the Higurakgoda Police yesterday in connection with the attack on the UPFA rally held at Higurakgoda town. more..

July 7 (LT) The minister of culture and national heritage Vijitha Herath has instructed the relevant officials to take back to the film corporation the main office block of the film corporation, which had been leased to a private company by the minister of culture of the UNP regime, Karunasena Kodituwakku, with immediate effect. more..

July 7 (PTI) Nirupama Rao, Additional Secretary in the External Affairs Ministry, was today appointed as India's next High Commissioner to Sri Lanka succeeding Nirupam Sen. Rao is expected to take up her assignment shortly, an official announcement said. more..

July 7 (TP) Sri Lankan financial circles in Doha are concerned over the way their country’s currency has been weakening against the dollar over the past months and attribute the unprecedented trend to rising oil prices in the international markets. more..

July 7 (BBC) Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya has urged his team to remain positive ahead of the second Test against Australia. Sri Lanka were dismissed for 96 and 162 in the first Test on a bowlers wicket as Australia won by 149 runs. more..

July 7 (AME) Capitalising on its central location between Europe, Asia and Africa, SriLankan Airlines is focusing on the enhancement of its services to existing destinations, as well as looking at new options, as part of its current five-year expansion plan. more..

July 7 (CT) Minister of Science and Technology Prof.Tissa Witharana requests the assistance of the local academics to provide the technical support for the rural masses. He said that his Ministry would setup 320 resources centers covering the AGA’s divisions to implement the technical support programme with the assistance of the Science graduates. more..

July 7 (AT) Cho Ramaswamy said in case the LTTE is desirous of establishing any relationship with India then the first and foremost thing Prabakaran should do is that he and his associate Pottu Amman should come to India and face the legal action against them and get themselves honorably acquitted. more..

July 7 (G2L) The LTTE had requested tight security from the Sri Lanka police at the Black Tiger day celebrations in Trincomalee ,from Sri Lanka Police for the first time in history for fear of attack by Karuna Amman forces in the East. more..

July 7 (HT) The grant of bail to 14 gunmen belonging to the breakaway Karuna group of the LTTE by the Hingurangoda magistrate on Tuesday, has incensed the mainstream LTTE led by Velupillai Prabhakaran, which has been accusing the Sri Lankan state of propping up the renegade. more..

July 7 (Xinhua) President Kumaratunga has appealed to the public to assist her government in its bid to minimize corruption, the official Daily News said on Wednesday. Kumratunga said that her government will soon set up public committees at local government level to supervise development projects to minimize corruption at local level. more..

July 7 (DN) The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed a leave-to-appeal application filed by the Public Interest Law Foundation against the Court of Appeal verdict that turned down the petition on the grounds that the President had blanket immunity. more..

July 7 (Reuters) At least five people were killed and 11 wounded when a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber blew herself up inside a police station in the Sri Lankan capital on Wednesday, shattering more than two years of relative peace. more..