July 7 (Reuters) Police investigators look at the scene of suicide bomb blast at a police station in Colombo July 7, 2004. At least five people were killed and 11 wounded when a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber blew herself up inside a police station more..

July 8 (AN) Christian Churches in Sri Lanka are launching an awareness campaign concerning two anti-conversion bills, either of which, if enacted, will seriously erode the freedom of thought, conscience and religion guaranteed in the country's constitution, diminish religious rights and negatively impact socio-pastoral work. more..

July 8 (BBC) Sri Lankan cricket authorities have said the Asia Cup will still go ahead despite a suicide bombing in the capital Colombo. The Cup involving six countries is set to start next week but a bomb blast on Wednesday killed five people. more..

July 8 (BBC) Sri Lankans are now wondering what the suicide bomb blast in the heart of the capital means for the country's fragile peace process. It is the first such incident since a Tamil Tiger blew himself up in 2001 when being questioned by police guarding the then Prime Minister, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake. more..

July 8 (TN) The SLFP, a major constituent in the ruling UPFA government said in a statement issued Wednesday evening that the suicide bomb blast in the Kollupitya police station will not cause any adverse impact on the peace process and the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, more..

July 8 (LBO) The Securities watchdog has unveiled a new code for mutual funds which paves the way for close ended unit trusts. This code also includes several measurers meant to improve the regulatory structure of the unit trusts. more..

July 8 (LBO) The Electricity Board has run to the Treasury for Rs. 3 bn, urgently needed to prop up its borrowing capacity and pay off private thermal power purchase costs. “The immediate need is for Rs 3 bn and we have asked the Treasury for it and are waiting for a response,” a CEB official said. more..

July 8 (BT) SriLankan Airlines had a record profit last year after it flew more passengers to neighbouring India and brought more tourists to the South Asian island nation. 'The return of peace is a big factor in this,' Peter Hill, SriLankan Airlines chief executive, said in New Delhi. more..

July 8 (CO) Indian cricketers will be accorded high-level security during the July 16-August 1 Asia Cup tournament in Sri Lanka in the wake of the suicide bombing attack in the Sri Lankan capital today. more..

July 8 (CI) Saman Jayantha marched to a magnificent unbeaten 147, as Sri Lanka A beat Worcestershire by six wickets to record their fourth consecutive victory since arriving in England ten days ago. more..

July 8 (AT) Fresh after the celebrations of the Black Tigers anniversary, followed up with two ugly shooting incidents in the East, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Jaffna district Member of Parliament of the TNA met on Tuesday Christina Rocca, US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, at the State department to plead for deproscription of the LTTE. more..

July 8 (TN) Mr.B.Uthayashankar, an Accountant by profession was appointed President of the Lions Club of Trincomalee Town recently for the ensuing year 2004-2005 at an event held at Silver Beach Hotel, Allesgarden, and Trincomalee. Vice District Governor Professor Luxhmen Wijeweera was the chief guest. more..

July 8 (AI) The Tamil Tigers are increasingly turning to threats and violence in a recruitment drive for child soldiers. Families who resist have been beaten with wooden sticks, or had their houses set on fire. more..

July 8 (IL) Sri Lanka's tea exports during the first five months of this year have increased by 12.5% to Rs. 28.billion. Quoting Customs data, Asia Siyaka Commodities said that volume of exports had increased by 5% to 119 million kilos. more..

July 8 (NW) The Colombo stock market panicked and lost almost Rs. 5 billion in value in the last hour of its trading following the explosion of a suicide bomber in Colpetty killing five persons including four policemen and injuring 10. more..

July 8 (NW) Local NGOs expressed concerned over the safety of the alleged police torture victim who had acquired tuberculosis and complained that police had pressurized him to withdraw his Fundamental Rights Violation Petition. more..

July 8 (NW) The LTTE is alleged to have forced civilians living in the North to contribute exorbitant sums of money ranging from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 15,000 so that they could lavishly spend on the Black Tigers Day Commemoration, which fell on Monday, sources claimed yesterday. more..

July 8 (NW) Police have tear-gassed a crowd of over 3000 led by former Provincial Council member and UPFA candidate for the Uva Provincial Council elections, Manel Ratnayake, who were engaged in election campaigning at about 11 a.m. last morning. more..

July 8 (NW) Responding to an allegation by a police officer that he had been seen in some kind of compromising position with a young woman in a parked car around 9.00 pm on Tuesday near the parliamentary grounds, Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva yesterday dismissed it as absurd and baseless. more..

July 8 (NW) As the Colombo city was rocked by the news of a suicide bomb blast just after noon yesterday, the LTTE-backed Tamil National Allaiance was making preparations to meet foreign diplomats to urge them to pressurise the Government and the Opposition to seriously consider establishing the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) soon. more..

July 8 (IPS) It is difficult to imagine Kumudini Ramalingam as a female Tamil Tiger cadre fighting the Sri Lankan army if one observes her working at the Vocational Training Institute for Women in northern Sri Lanka. more..

July 8 (wsws) The Sri Lankan ceasefire agreement is increasingly under threat following revelations that the army provided assistance to a breakaway faction of the LTTE headed by its former eastern commander, V. Muralitharan, better known as Karuna. more..

July 8 (AT) Sri Lanka has called for fresh bids from three short-listed firms vying to become the island's third petroleum retailer after the government changed the sale structure. The three companies in the running are Indian refiners Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and China's oil major Sinopec, more..

July 8 (TN) Three fishermen Mr.S.Ruban and Mr.T.Sriskandarajah of Inbaruty and Mr.T.Subramaniam of Viyaparimoolai in Vadamarachchi division who were reported missing since Sunday returned safely Tuesday around midnight, fisheries sources said. more..

July 8 (AFPN) A decades-long war has claimed tens of thousands of Sri Lankan lives, and land mines continue to maim an untold number of civilians caught up in the aftermath of the war. A team of 20 military medical specialists began a weeklong humanitarian surgical training mission here more..

July 8 (AFP) Canada's Foreign Minister Bill Graham condemned a bomb attack by a suspected Tamil Tiger rebel which killed four police officers and shattered a truce in Colombo. "No person or group has claimed responsibility for this deplorable act," Graham said in a statement. more..

July 8 (LBO) The owners of Liberty Plaza Colombo Land and Development Company, will spin off a joint venture with the Urban Development Authority (UDA) for a new shopping mall project in Nugegoda. The mall on a three and half acre plot in Nawala Road, Nugegoda will house a shopping area and an entertainment facility. more..

July 8 (LBO) Plantation wage talks will start late this year as estate Unions take time to woo support for local Government polls. Wage talks were due in July, two years since the last collective agreement between the unions and the plantation companies that spread out the wage increase over the period and embargoed negotiations. more..

July 8 (SLA) Condition of the seven Police personnel and three civilians, who received injuries at Wednesday’s suicidal attack inside the KOLLUPITIYA Police station, is out of danger and fast improving, National Hospital sources confirmed on 08th July 2004. more..

July 8 (SLA) A combined Police and Army cricket tournament got underway at Jaffna Central College grounds recently with the participation of all Jaffna-based Police divisions and Army Brigades/Units. more..

July 8 (LT) By trying to assassinate him again, the tiger organization has revealed its murderous and Fascist nature to the whole world says Mr. Douglas Devananda, Minister of Hindu Affairs. more..

July 8 (LT) Journalists’ awards celebrations organized by Sri Lanka Editors Guild has not been attended by its chairman Mr. Siri Ranasinghe, edior of ‘Lankadeepa’. Mr. Ranasinghe has kept away from participating at the ceremony stating that SLEG acts according to an agenda of the UNP more..

July 8 (LT) The ministry of agriculture says that the price of a bag of urea will be 63 rupees down as the government has decided take VAT off fertilizer from 15th of next month. Therefore the price if a bag urea will come down to Rs.537/= from Rs.600/=. more..

July 8 (LT) A multitude of corrupt practices and frauds of serious nature in several institutions of the fisheries ministry taken place during the UNP regime have come to surface, says the minister of fisheries and aquatic resources, Chandrasena Wijesinghe. more..

July 8 (Reuters) Stocks opened higher on Thursday, despite worries about the future of the island's peace process a day after a suicide bomb attack in the capital killed five people. The key Colombo all-share index was up 0.52 percent, or 7.02 points, at 1,346.51, by 0353 GMT. more..

July 8 (Rupavahini) The telecasting of advertisements on drugs without the approval of the perfume and drug authority of the ministry of health has been prohibited. The health ministry reiterates that stern legal action will be taken against institutions which telecast such advertisements. more..

July 8 (PSL) A three-member Presidential Committee to study and recommend relief to victims of political violence was appointed today. The committee comprises C. N. Saliya W. Mathew the present Governor of the Sabaragamuwa province, as its Chairman, President’s Counsel A. A. de Silva PC and retired civil servant K.M. Ariyaratne. more..

July 8 (PSL) President Chandrika Kumaratunga has appointed Mr. K. Viknarajah as a member of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption. Mr. K. Viknarajah is a former Appeal Court Judge and has served as Head of the Public Service Commission and was Governor of the Western Province. more..

July 8 (EPDP) Police suspect the female suicide bomber who blew herself up inside the Kollupitiya police station causing the death of four policemen and injuring ten others yesterday morning, had come to assassinate EPDP leader and Minister Douglas Devananda. more..

July 8 (CT) Minister of Plantations Anura Priyadarshana Yapa asks local scientists to provide their support to improve the productivity of the main plantation crops. He said if they develop new techniques for the local plantations the planters could produce high yield under the common environmental conditions. more..

July 8 (CT) The Sri Lanka Ceramics Symposium, organised by the Sri Lanka Ceramics Council (SLACC), will be held on July 17 and 18,in Colombo. SLACC, which was formerly known as the Ceramics Cluster, was initiated by The Competitiveness Initiative of USAID. more..

July 8 (CT) While, assuring that the country’s existing security measure will be fully monitored and all necessary steps will be taken against any future terrorist attacks in the country, the Government is reported to have said that they will not enforce any additional security to the existing plan. more..

July 8 (TP) The main opposition UNP on Tuesday requested Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake to instruct President Chandrika Kumaratunga to cancel a series of propaganda events scheduled to take place in the northeast Mahiyangana region today. more..

July 8 (CI) Ricky Ponting will attempt to follow in the footsteps of Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and Mark Taylor by winning his first Test as captain on Australian soil, when the second and final match against Sri Lanka begins at Cairns tomorrow. more..

July 8 (DN) Nelum Apsara Kumari Attapattu from Borella, said to have acted as a go-between in the alleged Rauff Hakeem-Kumari Cooray affair said yesterday she was being targeted by the former Minister's henchmen. more..

July 8 (AT) LTTE and Al Qaeda rebel outfit were well connected alleges Dr. Subramanian Swamy’ and he adds that both groups were involved in the business and dealing of arms and narcotics. Dr.Subramanian Swamy says that he came to know of the connections between the LTTE and Al Qaeda in the year 2002 through the Afghanistan ambassador in India. more..

July 8 (Hindu) After escaping yet another attempt on his life by a suspected LTTE suicide bomber, the Cabinet Minister, K.N. `Douglas' Devananda, has urged the LTTE leader, V. Prabakaran, to "abandon the wrong path, if he was keen on the interests of the Tamil people, and come into the political mainstream." more..

July 8 (HT) Former DGP of Punjab and India’s top anti-terror expert, KPS Gill, feels that Sri Lanka should have more Tamils in its police and army, if it is to tackle Tamil terrorism successfully. "When I went to Lanka in 2000, I saw that there were very few officers in the forces who knew Tamil. That was a disadvantage. To have terrorist inputs, you need to know the language," said Gill, more..

July 8 (AT) President Chandrika Kumaratunga has reiterated that the government would continue with its peace efforts without any interruption. She said that yesterday’s bomb blast in Colombo would in no way hamper this process. more..

July 8 (AT) LTTE has suddenly come up with a denial of the suicide attack that took place yesterday at the Colpetty police station, also stated strong condemnation as well as alleged that it must be the work of the armed group surreptiously operating with the Sri Lankan Army’s intelligence unit. more..