July 1 (LT) There is only one government in the country but there are ten or fifteen other governments within the government says convener of SLFP People’s wing Mr. Mangala Samaraweera. One doesn’t know what the other does and the President and his brothers lock themselves in a room to take decisions said Mr. Samaraweera. Mr. Samaraweera said this addressing a meeting in Matara today. more..

July 1 (LT) Though the government has announced that international airport at Katunayake would be opened throughout 24 hours from 1st July the necessary announcement for such opening has not been issued by the Civil Aviation Authority say Airport sources. An official in Sri Lankan Airlines, who preferred to remain anonymous, told ‘Lankatruth’ even if the airport was opened for 24 hours their aircrafts would not fly during night. more..

July 1 (AT) Latest reports in the Eastern Front reveal that there are about 100 Tamil Tiger cadres holed up in the jungles of Yala with limited supplies of food other and other items. Eastern sources have confirmed that their needs are supplied by an underground group Sinhala political activists in the region linked to the opposition political party; UNP. Military analysts say that it is in the interest of the UNP to keep the Tiger forces going in the east to discredit the Government’s claims of victories. more..

July 1 (AT) It is a pity that Mangala Samaraweera quit the ranks of the government he worked so hard to establish. As long as he was with his leader, Mahinda Rajapakse, he was steering a steady course. But after he quit he seems to have lost his way. First, he rushes to Horagolla and pledges his loyalty to the founder of the SLFP, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike and his principles. His next stop after Horagolla is Cambridge Terrace, the residence of Ranil Wickremesinghe – the den of all the political vices rejected by Bandaranaike. more..

July 1 (AT) Crises do not spring forth, out of the blue, fully formed; nor do they happen without any forewarning. The Lankan financial crisis was in the making for many months, and the pre-warnings were there in plain sight. In fact the first intimation of a fatally flawed approach to matters economic and financial came early in the tenure of President Rajapakse. His extra large cabinet may have been a political imperative but the Presidential proclivity to overspend, on himself and his pet projects, was not. more..

July 1 (AT) Canada, which has increasingly become a fertile ground for supplying funds for the LTTE has just announced new laws to combat money laundering and financing terrorist activities. “Canada’s government will be relentless in its efforts to prevent money laundering and terrorist” funding, said Jim Flaherty, the country’s Finance Minister announcing new regulations to fight terrorism. more..

July 1 (TW) President George Bush has been urged in writing by 35 US Congressmen to step up US efforts in Sri Lanka to end the extra judicial killings in government controlled areas and promote strong human rights protection for civilians. The Congressmen have also called on President Bush to enhance Treasury Department efforts to disrupt LTTE financing and work towards a strengthened mandate for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to engage in human rights field monitoring. more..

July 1 (AT) Nagendra Seevaratnam, a Tamil accountant, was suspended by the British Charity Commissioner on March 28, 2007 from acting as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sivayogam Trust run mainly on the funds collected from the Sivayogam Temple in Tooting. The Charity Commissioner also placed restrictions on the bank accounts. According to the Charity Commissioner this charity was suspended because it was linked to the LTTE, more..

July 1 (LBO) Sri Lanka's Ministry of Tourism is kicking off a new drew to promote high spending niche tourism to the country with the appointment of a new advisory council led by the private sector. “These tourists they do not travel in groups, they travel either individually or as couples but they spend three to four times a day than a normal ‘package’ tourist,” says additional secretary to the Ministry of Tourism George Michael. more..

July 1 (SMH) Kamalajasi Ketheeswaran sits in a small, white air-conditioned office in the port area of Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, cradling her 18-month-old daughter. Her other daughter, 7, sits beside her with four in-laws. Despite the family support, as she describes the abduction of her husband four months ago the seemingly stoic woman suddenly dissolves into tears. "We married for love, and now only I am here. Every day I long for his return, thinking that he will come," she says. more..

July 1 (CO) Almost all of the 100 odd boats seized by the Sri Lankan Navy at various points of time for crossing the International Maritime Border Line, were found to be totally damaged, Coast Guard officials said. The officials said the team of fishermen which had gone to the island nation to get back the boats could only retrieve one boat and four engines. The fishermen who returned this afternoon said the boats were so damaged that they could not bring them. more..

July 1 (TW) Indian High Commissioner Shri Alok Prasad, handed over books to the value of nearly Rs. 1 million on June 14 at the Indian Cultural Centre at Bambalapitiya. These books are in the Tamil and English languages and will be available at the re-constructed Jaffna Public Library. Dean, Faculty of Medicine Jaffna University Dr. K. Sivapalan, accepting a further consignment of books on Medicine for the Medical Faculty of the University, said his faculty also felt the lack of sufficient books and educational material. more..

July 1 (Hindu) Reiterating its support to the Sri Lankan Tamils’ struggle, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Saturday urged the Centre to stop supplying arms and ammunition to the Sri Lankan Government and get back sophisticated radars supplied to the island nation. The regional meeting of the MDMK held here with general secretary Vaiko in the chair, in a resolution said the Sri Lankan Government was bent upon decimating the Tamils by bombing civilian areas. more..

July 1 (HT) The satellite TV channel The Buddhist, inaugurated by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo on Friday, would be a celebration of the ancient cultural and religious ties between Sri Lanka and India. "The coming into existence of this channel on the 2315th anniversary of the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka from India, is symbolic of the inalienable and irreversible ties between the peoples of the two countries," more..

July 1 (RN) The establishment of diplomatic relations between Nepal and Sri Lanka has reached 50 years today. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajpaksa have exchanged greetings by sending messages of best wishes to one another. more..

July 1 (KT) SriLankan Airlines expects further growth from its Qatar operations, after a year of higher than budgeted revenue growth. Total revenues for the 2007 March financial year rose 28 per cent from a year before, with passenger number moving up 27 per cent. SriLankan Airlines' Manager Qatar Lakshman Weerasooriya said: "We had an excellent year as a result of the increased demand for our flights to Colombo and other Asian destinations." more..

July 1 (AFP) Britney Spears, Paul McCartney, Sting and Paul Simon have all travelled to Sri Lanka for a big-bucks taste of tropical luxury. But an escalating war with Tamil Tiger rebels and increasingly gruesome headlines on the human rights situation means that the rich or famous are now staying away -- and rooms in the island's boutique hotels are going for a song. more..

July 1 (LBO) Sri Lanka's pioneer leasing firm, Lanka Orix Leasing Company (LOLC), is looking to spread its wings under a new brand, officials said. The financial services group which has already branched into related areas such as factoring and stock brokering is looking to expand under its newly appointed chief executive Kapila Jayawardena, the former head of Citibank in Sri Lanka. more..

July 1 (LNP) Contrary to the initial belief that a refrigerated truck laden with over 1,000 kgs of explosives seized on Friday evening in Trincomalee was to be used to target Colombo, the military believes that the intended target would have been a political gathering in the eastern port city. They were probably planning to target President Mahinda Rajapakse or Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapakse,` a senior official said. more..

July 1 (LNP) Bus fares will go up by at least 15 per cent from Tuesday as Friday night`s shock increase in fuel prices set off a chain reaction on prices of several items with the government claiming it is helpless. Private bus operators said they met the National Transport Commission (NTC) on Friday and obtained its approval for the hike in fares while the Shell gas company demanded that it be allowed to increase the price of 12. kg cylinder by Rs. 174 though the Consumer Affairs Authority approved a hike of Rs. 87. more..

July 1 (LNP) The United Nations is accusing the Sri Lankan government of starving its humanitarian agencies of much-needed fuel to operate vehicles and also generators which power freezers storing life-saving vaccines and other medicines. The continued power shortages, caused by lack of fuel, will soon affect the preservation of vaccines and essential medicines, the UN warned in a letter to Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa. more..

July 1 (LNP) Unidentified gunmen shot dead two civilians Saturday in Jaffna peninsula in two separate shootings, one at Mudakkaadu junction in Nelliyadi in Vadamaraadchi, and the other at Thirunelveali Kalladdi junction, sources in Jaffna said. The killings bring the total number of killed in Jaffna district in the last 72 hours to five. more..

July 1 (SAMN) Sri Lanka's major aid donors who met in Oslo this week to review developments in Sri Lanka have set a four-point agenda to end the ongoing fighting and will deliver strong messages both to the Government and the LTTE to get the peace process back on track. The main message from the Donor Co-chairs is that there is no military solution to the ethnic conflict. more..

July 1 (SAMN) The Governor of the Eastern Province, Rear Admiral Mohan Wijewickrema said that the LTTE has been driven out from all its strategic bases and camps in the Eastern Province and with the fall of Thoppigala, the entire region would be cleared of LTTE presence. "The armed forces are going ahead with their operations in the Thoppigala jungles in a remarkable manner. With the LTTE struggling to get the logistic support the fall of Thoppigala is imminent," Admiral Wijewickrema said. more..

July 1 (SAMN) The President’s Office on Friday sent an urgent letter to Justice P. N. Bhagwati, Chairman of the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) monitoring the probe on human rights investigations in Sri Lanka clarifying the Government’s position on the ongoing exchange of accusations between the Group and the Attorney General. more..

July 1 (SAMN) President Mahinda Rajapaksa has come under pressure by a section of cabinet of ministers to implement the Criminal Defamation Law (CDL). Last week the government announced that there was no need to reintroduce the law in the country. This announcement came in the wake of severe opposition mounted by some senior cabinet ministers at last week’s cabinet meeting who opposed the idea of reintroducing the CDL. more..

July 1 (LN) Retired parliamentarians - many of who quit the assembly after being defeated at the elections - will cost the country nearly Rs170 million this year by way of pensions and arrears due to them after the recent salary revisions of MPs LAKBIMAnEWS learnt. In order to meet this obligation, the Treasury has instructed Parliament to move for a supplementary estimate of Rs107,000,000. more..

July 1 (LN) Drums are throbbing down the grapevines that the UNP at the head of the ‘Broad Alliance’ is planning to axe the Rajapaksa Government off its pedestal. If this is to happen, what can the people expect from the conquerors? Another mess? Tissa Attanayaka, General Secretary of the United National Party, Attanayake said, that there could be a change of power in the Government during the coming months. more..

July 1 (LN) As the drums beat, 12-year-old Niroshi Ravichandran steps through the towering white doors, her face masked by a translucent white veil, body wrapped in a pink-and-gold sari. With white flowers pinned to black hair and brown cheeks reddened with blush, Niroshi walks silently up the aisle, through a guard of more than 24 flower girls, to a garland-draped platform. more..

July 1 (LN) Presidential Advisor, Basil Rajapaksa was reported to have announced in Batticaloa last week of the government’s intention to hold local government elections in the Eastern province in the near future “in order to bring back democracy from the bottom level in the recaptured region”. Mr.Rajapaksa said that the Sri Lankan military had been able to successfully regain most parts of the Eastern territory from the LTTE. more..

July 1 (NS) A high powered government delegation will visit India shortly to invite the Indian government to actively participate in the Sri Lankan peace process alongside the Co-Chairs, US, EU, Japan and Norway. President Mahinda Rajapaksa is due to make a special statement on July 26, which marks the anniversary of the Mavil Aru operation. The President will speak about the government’s plan for a negotiated settlement to the ethnic problem. more..

July 1 (NS) The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) is sharply divided over a decision to invite former head of state Chandrika Kumaratunga for the forthcoming national convention scheduled for July 22. The convention will be chaired by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and around 2,500 participants are expected to be present. President Kumaratunga, who is the patron of SLFP, is not expected to receive and invitation according to some senior party sources. more..

July 1 (NS) If the Thondamans and Hakeems made political crossovers routine, the Amunugamas and Bogollagamas made it a fact of life. But the crossovers of the likes of Milinda Moragoda and Karu Jayasuriya-both protégés of Ranil Wickremesinghe-made the average citizen puke and hold their noses in disgust. To be fair by Mangala Samaraweera however, his cross over was to the Opposition and thus he cannot be accused of selling himself for the privileges of office. more..

July 1 (NS) Defence Spokesman, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella admitted to The Nation that human rights violations were taking place and said the government was well aware of this phenomenon. However, he asserted the government was taking every step to arrest the situation. He pointed out that the prevailing situation could have been averted if not for the north east war. more..

July 1 (SO) Minister of Livestock Development R. M. C. B. Rathnayaka had a discussion with Minister of Trade, Marketing Development, Cooperative Services and Consumer Affairs and agreed not to import chicken or any other product produced by local livestock farmers. Minister Rathnayaka said that about 300,000 livestock farmers in this country are contributing Rs. 30,000 million to the national income and more..

July 1 (SO) The Government has proposed the setting up of a digital forensic lab in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to investigate computer crimes that are spreading rapidly in the country, a spokesman for the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) told the Sunday Observer. The spokesman said ICTA was developing the methodology to be adopted to investigate Computer Crime. more..

July 1 (ST) Last Sunday, ahead of the meeting of the Donor Co-chairs in Oslo, Norway's International Development Minister Erik Solheim, the key player in the Sri Lankan peace process, received a telephone call from Colombo. Basil Rajapaksa, Senior Advisor to the President, was conveying an important message. He told Mr. Solheim that the Government of Sri Lanka was now willing to facilitate a visit to Colombo by Norway's Special Envoy Jon Hanssen Bauer. more..

July 1 (ST) Last Thursday, the leader of the newly-formed Sri Lanka Freedom Party M-Wing lived up to at least a good part of the well-known adage that there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics. He looked his one time arch enemy, Leader of the UNP, straight in the eye and shook his hands firmly. "Let us forget the past and look to the future," he declared in a voice choked with emotion. An equally emotion-charged Wickremesinghe said he welcomed Samaraweera and his colleague Sripathi Sooriyaratchchi with open arms. more..

July 1 (ST) The Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed last month to investigate into matters relating to failed finance companies, will summon for questioning Tourism Minister Milinda Moragoda, among others, Commission sources said. The Commission begins sittings in camera at the BMICH tomorrow. The probe is a direct result of revelations made by the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), more..

July 1 (ST) The IGP has issued fresh guidelines to all police stations in connection with the recovery of stolen jewellery pawned at pawnshops. The circular came after the Supreme Court ordered that a fresh set of guidelines should be strictly followed to stop the harassment by the police when they visit such shops. The petitioner SEW Gunasekera Pawn Brokers Private Ltd. cited IGP Chandra Fernando, officers-in-charge of Police stations at Gampaha, Ratnapura, Mount Lavinia and the Attorney General as respondents. more..

July 1 (NN) Visiting Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitta Bogollagama who arrived in Kathmandu on a 4 day official visit yesterday, has busied himself in high-level consultations with ministers and political party from Sunday. Bogollagama met his Nepalese counterpart Sahana Pradhan at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Shital Niwas, at 10 am Sunday. more..

July 1 (BT) As the shipping charges to Europe have increased the cost of exporting to Europe will go up over the next one year period. The Sri Lanka Freight Forwarders Association (SLFFA) has warned exporters that the Prices on the European trade line, including the Mediterranean, have increased by around US$ 800 for a 40 foot container within this year so far and we are expecting another price increase in September. more..

July 1 (HT) India has gifted computers, scanners and fax machines worth LKR 13 million ($1,16,906) million to 20 of the 377 Nayasalas or "Knowledge Centres" in rural Sri Lanka. Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the Sri Lankan President told Hindustan Times in Colombo on Saturday, that the Nayasalas (Gyanashalas in Sanskrit) were President Mahinda Rajapaksa's pet scheme which he had been working on since the time he was Prime Minister. more..

July 1 (DY) The Sri Lankan government plans to actively engage with the country's human rights problems through an independent organization established in November in response to international criticism, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama told The Yomiuri Shimbun on Thursday. The government's security forces have been accused of violating Tamil civilians' human rights in the civil war between the government and LTTE rebels. more..

July 1 (HT) Intervening in the ding-dong battle between the Sri Lankan Attorney General and the Chairman of the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), the Indian jurist PN Bhagwati, over the functioning of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into human rights violations in the country, the Sri Lankan government last week explained to Bhagwati its position on the contentious issues. more..

July 1 (AFP) Sri Lanka's government has asked Norway to help revive a moribund peace process amid an escalation of fighting between troops and Tamil Tiger rebels, a press report said Sunday. A top aide of President Mahinda Rajapakse asked Norway's peace facilitator Erik Solheim to send his envoy Jon Hannsen-Bauer for direct face-to-face talks with Tamil Tiger rebels and help resume peace negotiations, the Sunday Times said. more..

July 1 (AFP) Gunmen have shot dead two civilians in Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna peninsula, officials said Sunday as the government and Tamil Tigers blamed each other for the latest in a string of such killings. The men were murdered Saturday in two separate incidents on the government-controlled peninsula, situated at the northern tip of Sri Lanka but cut off from the rest of the island by LTTE territory. more..

July 2 (PTI) Canada has urged Sri Lanka to uphold human rights and work towards a political solution to the ethnic conflict that has claimed thousands of lives. Sri Lanka's battered peace process should start soon, and Colombo and the Tamil Tigers should resume talking again to end renewed bloodshed, MP Deepak Obhrai, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, told Sri Lanka's Minister of Export Development and International Trade Professor Gamini Lakshman Peiris more..

July 2 (IRIN) Fifteen-year-old Natasha Fonseka (not her real name) is once again a happy child. Orphaned by the December 2004 tsunami and a victim of subsequent child abuse, she now lives in a children's home where she receives emotional and psychological support. Natasha used to cry herself to sleep after her parents and younger brother were killed in the tsunami. more..