Aug 24 (LBO) Sri Lanka could have lost an opportunity to develop its fisheries sector in to a modern industry after the tsunami, as the island lacked a policy for the industry. Over 70 percent of Sri Lanka’s fishing industry was affected by the tsunami with damages estimated at US$ 100 million without factoring livelihood losses into it. more..

Aug 24 (CT) Justice and judicial reforms minister W.D.J.Senevirathna presented a Computer crime bill to the parliament today. The Minister stated that there had been many threats from computers to the national and public security as well as the economy of the country. more..

Aug 24 (BBC) Media watch dogs have criticised the refusal of the Kurunegala Police to provide information over the arrest of a Tamil journalist. In a statement on Tuesday, International Federation of Journalists said that police arrested Subramanium Ramesh, a correspondent with the Tamil daily Veerakesari on 19th August 2005. more..

Aug 24 (BBC) Ports minister Mangala Samaraweera says that the government is not going for discussions with Tamil Tigers from a weakened position. In a gathering of ruling coalition partners on Tuesday to support the presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa, Minister Samaraweera said that it is "totally wrong" to say that going to discussions with the LTTE is a "cowardly move". more..

Aug 24 (LM) Opposition UNP's stance that the Muslim community should be given independent representative status in the peace talks remained unchanged, party stalwart Dr.Rajitha Senaratne MP told us. They insisted on it during preliminary discussions with the LTTE in Novermber 2004 when their party was in power and the LTTE agreed to it, he said. more..

Aug 24 (LM) Fishermen of Puttlam who go for fishing in their traditional fishing areas in the Vanathavillu coastal sea about 15 kms North of Puttlam were being attacked by members of the majority community since recently , Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) parliamentarian K.A.Baiz said more..

Aug 24 (LM) Activities in Katthankudy came to a standstill this morning after a hartal launched by the residents in protest against the inaction by the Police on to the shooting that took place last Saturday (20). Shops, government and private establishments remained closed and public transport was also seen disturbed in the area. more..

Aug 24 (LM) President Chandrika Kumaratunga, intervening into a potential disastrous health crisis, appointed a two member committee yesterday to inquire into the recent deaths caused by Meningitis. Several such incidents of death were reported have occurred at the De Zoysa Maternity Hospital more..

Aug 24 (AT) Political circles in Colombo are now doubtful whether the talks between the Government and the LTTE will take place shortly as assured by the Norwegian embassy earlier. Minister Mangala Samaraweeera told the media yesterday that the story of the LTTE coming to talks was “mere speculation”. more..

Aug 24 (AT) In his latest statement addressed to President Chandrika Kumaratunga, the Tamil United Liberation Front Leader, V. Anandasangaree has warned against resuming talks with the LTTE without proper guarantees to end violations of human rights, killings and child conscription. more..

Aug 24 (AT) Sri Lankans living in Toronto are expected to stage a protest demonstration on 27th August, against the LTTE terrorism in Sri Lanka also to condemn their killing spree, and to caution the Sri Lanka government against the duplicity of the Tamil rebel outfit. more..

Aug 24 (AT) By all accounts the assassination of Lakshman Kadirgamar is a great tragedy for Sri Lanka and its consequences can be far-reaching and serious, threatening recall of a full-blown war between the LTTE rebels and the Sri Lanka army. more..

Aug 24 (AT) For the first time Qatar Airways is sponsoring house construction for the Tsunami affected Sri Lankans and it has commenced work on building 25 houses at Jambuwatte, Balapitiya one of the worst affected areas. more..

Aug 24 (AFP) Top Sri Lankan politicians, including the prime minister, have had their security stepped up and public appearances curtailed after the assassination of the foreign minister, officials said on Tuesday. more..

Aug 24 (PIS) Tom Knappskog, spokesman of the Norwegian Embassy said yesterday that they are presently only focused on getting the government and the LTTE for highlevel talks, and that it was up to the two parties to decide a time and place for the talks. more..

Aug 24 (SAMN) Investigations are being conducted to track down nearly 70 LTTE spies, hitmen and suicide bombers, who are said to have arrived in Colombo recently with specific instructions from the Wanni leadership to target high ranking political and defence personnel, Military sources said yesterday. more..

Aug 24 (SAMN) Sharp differences seem to have arisen between the army and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) over reports that the LTTE had advanced its Forward Defence Line (FDL) at Nagarkovil, in violation the Cease Fire Agreement. more..

Aug 24 (LNP) Minister Mangala Samaraweera yesterday said the information that talks between the government and the LTTE would be held shortly was mere speculation. more..

Aug 24 (LNP) An armed man stormed into the Station Master`s office at the Wadduwa railway station yesterday and at gunpoint made off, with the salaries of the Way and Works department of the railway, amounting to approximately Rs780,000. more..

Aug 24 (LNP) Opposition UNP leader and presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday his party would definitely form a government by the end of this year. more..

Aug 24 (WP) Plunged into despair after the tsunami killed his wife and two of his four children, Ruknadhan Nahamani passed the first months after the disaster in an alcoholic fog, drowning his sorrows in the potent local liquor known as arrack . But grief was only part of the problem, he said. more..

Aug 24 (DN) Investigators probing the assassination of former Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar complain that they are being hampered in their work due to pressure by certain human rights organisations. more..

Aug 24 (SJ) Sri Lanka is again in the throes of unrest. The foreign minister and two popular radio announcers were assassinated recently, ending a week that saw half a dozen people killed on the nation's east coast. This island nation near India has been here before. Who knows if there will be the courage or will to find peace? more..

Aug 24 (Hindu) Protesters in the Sri Lankan capital on Tuesday extended their "solidarity" and "support" to counterparts in India who were opposed to the Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project (SSCP) and demanded its withdrawal. more..

Aug 24 (LBO) Sri Lankan trade bodies gain access to international trade data base with EU funding. Public and private sector trade organisations in Sri Lanka gained access this week to one of the world’s largest and most detailed trade data bases. more..

Aug 24 (GT) Leader of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), minister Douglas Devananda said the Norwegians were trying to only please the LTTE. He said the Norwegians think they can bring the LTTE to democracy by appeasing them but, they would not be able to do that. more..

Aug 24 (HT) Prof Vishva Warnapala is no longer Sri Lanka's Deputy Foreign Minister. A Presidential press release said on Tuesday that President Chandrika Kumaratunga had appointed Warnapala as cabinet minister in charge of Parliamentary Affairs and that he was previously Deputy Foreign Minister. more..

Aug 24 (Xinhua) Sri Lanka's all Buddhist monks party--JHU or the Heritage Party, has urged the government to make its stand known about the proposed talks with the Tamil Tigers by making a statement in the Parliament. more..

Aug 24 (AFP) Sri Lanka's new foreign minister will travel to India on his first official visit after being sworn in this week to replace slain predecessor Lakshman Kadirgamar, a spokesman said. more..

Aug 24 (AFP) Norway is still trying to get agreement between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels on the timing and venue for talks aimed at bolstering their truce, a Norwegian spokesman said Wednesday. more..

Aug 24 (PTI) Sri Lanka's government has rejected the Tamil Tiger rebels' offer to hold peace talks in Norway, arguing that the guerillas would use a foreign venue to promote their autonomy bid, officials said on Wednesday. more..

Aug 25 (TN) A Tamil National Alliance parliamentary delegation Wednesday morning met with Mr. Stephen Evans, British High Commissioner in Colombo and exchanged views on the proposed talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE regarding the implementation of the ceasefire agreement to its word, more..

Aug 25 (TN) Protestors at Manatkadu in Vadamaradchi East threw stones and burning-tires on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) vehicles Wednesday night. Violent protests erupted in the area following reports that the two fishermen, who went missing on Sunday in the northern seas, and later said to be in the custody of the Sri Lanka Navy, more..

Aug 25 (TN) World University Service of Canada (WUSC) donated twenty sewing machines to the first batch of girls and boys who have completed six months' sewing training course in the Government Technical College in Trincomalee. The course was conducted under the Project for Rehabilitation through Education and Training (PRET) of the WUSC. more..

Aug 25 (TN) Mr.Karu Jayasuriya, Deputy Leader of the Sri Lanka's main oppostion United National Party, handed over a memorandum to Sri Lanka's Commissioner of Elections Mr.Dayananda Dissanayake Wednesday evening with more than one million signatures demanding that the next presidential election should be held before the end of this year. more..

Aug 25 (TN) Mr.Arthur Tveiten, Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee, on receipt of information his counterparts in Jaffna, met with the Sri Lanka Navy officials in Trincomalee regarding the release of the two fishermen in the custody of Sri Lanka Navy. more..

Aug 25 (TN) Journalists of all Tamil dailies in the Jaffna district and representatives of media associations held a picketing in front of the Denmark funded Media Training Institute (MTI) of the Jaffna University Thursday demanding the implementation of four demands put forward by the North Sri Lanka Journalists' Association (NSJA). more..

Aug 25 (SLA) Naval troops on duty in the general sea area of TRINCOMALEE have rescued two fishermen who were aimlessly floating in the deep sea due to exhaustion of fuel in their boat on 24 August 2005 around 9.00 am.. more..

Aug 25 (SLA) Troops on duty at the roadblock in the general area of SERUNUWARA in TRINCOMALEE have arrested a suspected Tamil person on 24 August 2005 around 5.35 p.m. The suspect has attempted to run away from troops leaving his bicycle and other belongings behind when they wanted to search him on suspicion. more..

Aug 25 (SLA) Two unidentified motorbike riding gunmen, suspected to be from LTTE, have shot and killed a member of the People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) in the general area of KOVIL KULAM, VAVUNIYA, on 24 August 2005 around 9.15 p.m. more..

Aug 25 (SLA) Security Forces Forward Defence Line (FDL) in the general area of NAGARKOVIL came under a hail of stones pelted by a group of LTTE cadres on 24 August 2005 around 8.25 p.m. LTTE men have started throwing stones continuously from an LTTE hideout in the un-cleared areas pointing flashlights towards the FDL. more..

Aug 25 (LM) Under the State of Emergency political parties could be denied their legitimate right to conduct democratic struggles and further more innocent civilians could be kept in detention indefinitely, said SLMC national leader Rauff Hakeem MP speaking in a TV debate last Sunday. more..

Aug 25 (LM) The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) has expressed shock and concern over the JVP attack on Tamil journalist Yadhurshan Premachandren attached to the Tamil-language daily ‘Sudaroli'. In a press release, the SLMC has said that it was all the more perturbing because this incident followed a grenade attack two days earlier more..

Aug 25 (LT) High level intelligence sources have revealed that two female Wanni Tiger cadres have been sent to target EPDP leader, Minister Douglas Devananda. According to these sources Bhavani, one suicide bomber from Mulathivu and the other Rohini, from Wadukkodai have arrived at Colombo. more..

Aug 25 (LT) President Chandrika Bandaranaike is expected to sign agreements for 8 important bipartisan projects during her scheduled tour in People’s Republic of China. Three of the projects are for the railway transport sector and the foremost of them is the express railway project from Katunayake airport to Colombo city. more..

Aug 25 (LT) Yesterday the parliament debated the issue of the statement by the International Democrats' Union regarding the presidential election. Deputy Minister Sripathi Sooriyarachchi tabling the debate proposal said that IDU has mediated into an internal political matter. more..

Aug 25 (LBO) The Italian government donates heavy machinery for road construction in tsunami damaged Sri Lanka. “Ministry of Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation has received Rs 380 million worth of heavy machinery from the Italian Civil Protection Department of the office of the President of the Council of Ministers of Italy,” more..

Aug 25 (LBO) The Sri Lankan government is planning to pass new legislation to re-instate the dismantled, centralised national bus transport system. To fast track the law the government sent it before the Supreme Court as an urgent Bill last week. more..

Aug 25 (AT) Whether ‘authorised’/ ‘somewhat authorised’, official or unofficial, the biography of President Chandrika Kumaratunga was ceremonially released last week. It is a biography written by a foreigner- a Scot after only two months research, and printed seemingly in haste, without adequate attention to technical details. more..

Aug 25 (AT) Dr P B Jayasundera, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and Planning and Secretary to the Treasury, has issued a detailed communiqué on the Preparation of Expenditure Estimates 2006 Budget and 2006 -2007 Medium Term to all Secretaries, Chief Secretaries, Heads of Departments, District Secretaries and Divisional Secretaries. more..