Aug 20 (LP) Shashindra Rajapaksa, took oaths as the new Chief Minister of the Uva province before President Mahinda Rajapaksa this morning (20th). He has also been appointed as the Minister of the Finance and Plannig, Law and Order, Education, Provincial Administration, Cultural Affairs, Transport, Land, Economic Promotion, Rural Infrastructure Development, Construction in the Uva Province. more..

Aug 20 (LP) Senior SP Vass Gunewardena’s wife who was involved in the alleged abduction and assault of an IT student has surrendered herself to the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) today (20). Speaking to Lankapuvath Police Spokesman SSP Ranjith Gunesekara said that she is under interrogation. Meanwhile Ravindu Gunewardena her son was remanded till the 31st of this month. He was earlier admitted to the Kalubowila hospital and more..

Aug 20 (LNP) The Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club which has been in existence since 1899 has been inextricably linked with the heritage of cricket in Sri Lanka. On 23 August the club plans to make this link even stronger with the presentation of the 1st Golden Oval award to Muthiah Muralidaran for his achievements and contribution towards Sri Lankan cricket. The event is scheduled to be held at the Oak Room of the Cinnamon Grand Hotel and more..

Aug 20 (LBO) Textured Jersey Lanka (TJL), a joint venture between Pacific Textiles and Sri Lankan apparel export group Brandix, said it plans to produce fleece fabric for Victoria’s Secret Pink loungewear brand. TJL's 650,000 square-foot facility at Avissawella, south of Colombo, has acquired specialised machinery for the production of fleece fabric, which is a fabric with a thick, heavy surface resembling sheep’s wool. more..

Aug 20 (LT) The CGR has lost nearly Rs.500 million in 2008 despite the income of the CGR going up by Rs.367 million due to increase in fares. The Minister revealed that despite income going up the Railways has lost nearly Rs.500 million. The CGR which had an income of Rs.2999.15 million in 2007 increased its income to Rs.3671.28 in 2008 but the operating loss of Rs.4297 million in 2007 increased to Rs.4553 million in 2008 more..

Aug 20 (LT) A complaint made by the employees of a restaurant at Wellawatta against a cabinet minister of the Rajapakse government and a brother of a non-cabinet minister had to be withdrawn when the police had pressurized the employees of the restaurant. The minister and the sibling of the non-cabinet minister have been drunk and had been violent in the restaurant. They had been in the company of an OIC of a police station in Mirihana area and several other police officers. more..

Aug 20 (DN) Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said the business community has to play a vital role to revitalize and sustain the country’s economy. We need to have a clear aim and dedication. A leader should know how to guide his team well and get the maximum of their capabilities. He was speaking at the Business Today Top 10 awards ceremony in Colombo on Tuesday. more..

Aug 20 (LT) ‘Triad Advertising Agency,’ an advertising agency has got agitated when a press release by the ‘Movement for the Protection of the Rights and Property of CGR’ stating that Rs.10 million was being spent for a TV advertisement to advertise the northern railways appeared in newspapers. It is learnt that the relevant advertising agency has issued a statement attempting to free the government and the Minister of Transport from the accusation. more..

Aug 20 (GDI) DIG Nimal Mediwake has been appointed as the new Police Media Spokesperson, Director General of the Media Center for National Security, Lakshman Hulugalle told www.news.lk. The IGP has made the appointment with effect from today (20). At present senior DIG Mediwake holds two key positions as the DIG in charge of the Western and North-Western Provinces and the DIG of Traffic Control and Planning. more..

Aug 20 (MoD) Parliament yesterday approved a supplementary estimate for Rs. 2,400 million to start electricity projects as parts of the "Uthuru Wasanthaya" program and for the Norochcholai coal power project. Power and Energy Minister John Seneviratne said that plans are afoot to provide electricity for everyone in the North. Therefore, we need funds to implement these projects," he said. more..

Aug 20 (CT) Sri Lankan intelligence units have arrested Anandan, who is said to be the assistant to Kumaran Padmanathan alias KP, ‘Divaina’ reports. The newspaper says in a report that Anandan has revealed information regarding the assassination of foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, interventions during the ceasefire period and activities of pro-LTTE figures Charles Gnanakoon and Jayantha Gnanakoon. more..

Aug 20 (Island) Nihal Sri Amaresekera, former chairman, PERC has challenged a move by former Treasury chief Dr. P. B. Jayasundera to amend his fundamental rights application which sought to revoke a pledge given by him to the Supreme Court that he would not hold public office hereafter. Amaresekere, who is widely believed to be the man behind legal action against privatization of public enterprises, more..

Aug 20 (KBC) Kenya will borrow from Sri Lanka's Food Security Policies which has seen the country become a major exporter of food, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has said. He lauded the warm relations that have existed between the two countries, adding that cooperation between the relevant ministries should be developed. Mr. Musyoka made the remarks when he received the Sri Lanka Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Rohitha Bogollagama more..

Aug 20 (DN) I am privileged to pen a few words on the life and works of Sir Razik Fareed. A.R.A. Razik (then known as) the laird of Layards Broadway was born on December 29, 1893 at Layards Broadway, Grandpass, Colombo. His father was Abdul Rahman who represented the Ceylon Moors in the Legislative Council in 1900 to 1916. His grandfather was Wapche Marikar who was a philanthropist and a great builder. more..

Aug 20 (LP) Threats are aimed at Sri Lanka Customs Bio Diversity Protection Unit , after arresting a shipment of 1500kgs of endemic “Keketiya” plants, known as “Aponogeton Crispus” which were said to have been brought for exportation under the name of a similar plant, specie of the same family called Aponogeton Ulvaceus. This was revealed to Lankapuvath by the Head of Bio-Diversity Protection Unit ,Samantha Gunasekara of Sri Lanka Customs. more..

Aug 20 (LBO) Sri Lanka's listed plantations companies are getting into spice cultivation, drawn by the opportunities offered by their vast land holdings and the reputation for the island's crops, officials said. As many as 12 of the 18 plantation companies listed on the Colombo bourse have diversified and gone into the production of spices, said Chris Fernando, vice chairman of the Spices & Allied Products Producers’ & Traders’ Association (SAPPTA). more..

Aug 20 (Island) Hard-nosed bureaucrats and middlemen are driving up costs making the exports of fruits and vegetables uncompetitive and unless changes take place the sector could be seeing its last days, President of the Lanka Fruit and Vegetable Producers, Processors and Exporters Association, Ismeth Mohamed said. Sri Lankan fruits and vegetables held a monopoly in the Maldives and had a firm hold on the markets in the Middle East and Europe. more..

Aug 20 (LT) Bandula Padmakumara, Chairman of Lake House, the print media unit of the government, has launched a repression within the institution against ‘Lanka Irida Sangrahaya’, ‘Rawaya’ and web sites that publish news and articles against the government. The reason for Padmakumara’s indignation against the media is said to be an article published in ‘Lanka Irida Sangrahaya’ last Sunday exposing an attempt to privatize Lake House. more..

Aug 20 (DM) Foreign Secretary and newly appointed Permanent Representative to the UN Dr. Palitha Kohona speaks to Hard Talk about the new challenges facing the country following the defeat of the LTTE. There’s now evidence that KP not only procured arms for the LTTE but for other illegal and terrorist organizations in the world. more..

Aug 20 (Reuters) Central bank on Thursday said a U.S. asset manager bought more than $875 million in treasury bonds this week, the island nation's first big foreign investment since the end of a 25-year war in May. With the investment, Sri Lanka's foreign exchange reserves have grown by more than a third to over $3 billion. Currency traders said the influx put upward pressure on the rupee, but more..

Aug 20 (DM) Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) officials had undertaken foreign tours with air tickets provided by Citi Bank and Deutsche Bank -- two foreign banks involved in the controversial oil hedging deal-- the report of the COPE presented in Parliament yesterday stated. With regard to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, the COPE had recommended that it should submit another report about its loss of US $ 12 million in oil refining. more..

Aug 20 (DM) Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardane yesterday said that the government would take a decision on former Head of the Colombo Crimes Division SSP Vas Gunawardena after a thorough investigation. The Minister said that the recent alleged abduction and assault of a student of the Malabe Information Technology Institute by SSP Vas Gunawardena’s son Ravindu Gunawardena was unacceptable at so many levels. more..

Aug 20 (DM) LTTE sympathizers from the expatriate community funded the LTTE activities and that money should be used to help the Internally Displaced People, Minister Rishard Bathiudeen said yesterday. “Tamil diaspora money used to fund LTTE activities should be used to support the IDP situation in Vavuniya,” Minister Bathiudeen said. According to him there are 300,000 people in the IDP camps in Vavuniya that more..

Aug 20 (DN) Basil Rajapaksa yesterday reiterated that the full machinery was now in place to speed up the de-mining in the North to resettle the displaced civilians as it is a prerequisite for the resettlement of the displaced civilians safely. He refuted allegations by the Opposition that the Government was deliberately delaying the resettlement of IDPs saying that the delay was only to ensure that the land is safe for resettlement through an intense de-mining operation. more..

Aug 20 (PSM) The government has asked the people who fled due to terrorism and waiting to return to their villages to apply either to the Secretary, Ministry of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services or to the Secretary, Presidential Task Force for Resettlement, Development and Security before the end of September. Public notice is issued in all three languages by newspapers this week to this effect. more..

Aug 20 (LT) A sum of Rs.268,650.00 from ministry allocations have been paid for a Mitsubishi Montero vehicle Piyasiri Wijenayake has obtained after he was appointed as the Non-Cabinet Minister of Cultural Affairs. This money has been spent for using the vehicle for 31 days between 09.07.2009 and 08.08.2009. The monthly rent for the vehicle is Rs.165,000.00 and Rs.103,650.00 has been spent for extra mileage of 2073 km the vehicle had been used for. more..

Aug 20 (CI) After heavy morning rain had caused a 90-minute delay, Sri Lanka's bowlers chipped away relentlessly at the New Zealand batting order, whittling out four wickets in the two sessions before tea. Thilan Thushara dismissed Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum, while Muttiah Muralitharan's marathon spell yielded the wickets of Jeetan Patel, the nightwatchman, and Tim McIntosh, who had seen off 226 balls for his 69. more..

Aug 20 (LNP) All these years we have had governments of politicians by politicians for politicians. They are busy feathering their nests, to hell with the public. On Tuesday, Parliament was told that three million rupees had been allocated for repairs to the Speaker's official car. Although this is a colossal amount of money, we do not intend to make an issue of it, because the Speaker cannot move about in an ordinary automobile and the kind of vehicles politicians use in this country involve heavy maintenance costs. more..

Aug 20 (Island) The first report of the fourth session of sixth Parliament’s watchdog committee on public institutions, ‘Committee on Public Enterprises’ (COPE) presented to Parliament yesterday exposed massive financial irregularities and other shortcomings in 20 public sector organisations. Chairman of the committee, Minister and John Seneviratne, presenting the report in Parliament said the period concerned was from July 08, 2008 to December 31, 2008. more..

Aug 20 (Island) The ruling SLFP-led coalition and the UNP are now planning to extend a scheme to pay Rs. 5 million as compensation to families of MPs killed due to terrorism to those who die of natural causes. They are also pushing for a new housing scheme for MPs with additional housing units for three senior officials of the Parliament. Responding to our queries, Minister M. H. Mohammed yesterday said that he could not remember the exact number of MPs’ families benefited by this scheme. more..

Aug 20 (BBC) Sri Lanka's new army chief says the 250,000 people displaced by the recent conflict - currently in government camps - should be rapidly resettled. Lieutenant-General Jagath Jayasuriya, admitted there were obstacles in the way of this. The new army chief said the country was entering a new post-war era and that even if the military increased slightly in size, it would have to retrain. more..

Aug 21 (BBC) One of Sri Lanka's most eminent academics has received an anonymous death threat, officials say. The threat in a letter was sent to the home of Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA). He is the latest in a long line of prominent people, mostly journalists, who have received death threats. They have in recent months been threatened, beaten up and in some cases murdered. more..

Aug 21 (BTN) The inaugural 2009 Lanka Challenge, Sri Lanka’s first official Tuk-Tuk rally will take place from 5 to 15 September, 2009. Twenty five teams of intrepid competitors from around the world will navigate the 1200km route in auto-rickshaws taking them through mountains, rainforests, tea plantations, coastal villages and busy towns. The Lanka Challenge will set out to test the participants racing skills in their three-wheeled mean machines and more..

Aug 21 (CI) Muttiah Muralitharan has said New Zealand are unlikely to collapse the way Pakistan did last month in Galle because they were fighting hard and also because the pitch, covered for long hours because of rain, was yet to dry and break up. "What happened against Pakistan, we can't expect New Zealand also to collapse," Murali said. "Pakistan collapsed in three innings. Any international side won't collapse suddenly. more..

Aug 21 (SLW) In an exclusive interview conducted by our Co-Editor Lallth Ganhewa, Dr Palitha Kohona the newly appointed Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, freely responded to us on the key issues that have been very much discussed and contented in Sri Lanka disagreed, denied and even twisted among the pro-LTTE Diaspora and welcomed widely as offering of new hope for Sri Lanka more..

Aug 21 (LT) President Mahinda Rajapakse on 27th January, 2009 promised India that a devolution package that goes beyond the 13th amendment to the Constitution would be implemented says Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hussein Bhaila. Minister Bahaila said this answering a question posed by JVP Parliamentarian Anura Dissanayake in Parliament today (20th). more..

Aug 21 (Xinhua) The government Thursday hailed the smooth progress of the island's largest coal-fired power plant which is being built by a Chinese company in the northwest of the island. Basil Rajapakse, the senior advisor to President Mahinda Rajapakse stated at the power house sealing ceremony of the Norochchole Power Plant that he is satisfied that the first phase of the project can be completed 13 months ahead of schedule. more..

Aug 21 (GV) Banyan News Reporters learns that Sri Lanka will hold the world’s first barbed wire exhibition for 180 days beginning 1st September at the Bandaranaike Memorial Hall under the auspices of the Ministry of Human Rights Disaster Management. Titled ‘The Beauty of Barbed Wire’ the exhibition will showcase cultural uses and relevance of barded wire in Sri Lanka. “Barbed wire is such a misunderstood medium. more..

Aug 21 (GV) Authors note: The following is the text of a talk before a forum on minority rights organized by the CPA in July. It should, ideally, have been edited for publication. But, given the recent death threat against CPA Director, Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, is offered here as a gesture of solidarity. Saravanamuttu is one of Sri Lanka’s most consistent, courageous, anti-racist voices. more..

Aug 21 (AT) Foreign investments in Sri Lanka’s treasury bills have amounted to nearly 900 million US dollars over the last three days and it has proved the firm confidence which the international community has kept on Sri Lanka, said Minister Professor G.L. Peiris. He said that this investment is an ample proof for international confidence on the country’s leadership and the ruling Freedom Alliance government. more..

Aug 21 (AT) A former diplomat, Nanda Godage has been appointed to head the Board of Prison Visitors by Milinda Moragoda Minister of Justice and Law Reforms. The other members to the Board appointed are: Rajan Asiriwatham, Arjun Deraniyagala, H.G. Dharmadasa, and Imtiyas Ismail were also appointed to the Board as members by the Minister. According to the Prisons Act, the Board of Prison Visitors has full powers to visit prisons at any time and more..

Aug 21 (AT) The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Sri Lanka and Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding On a Loan Scheme for students doing accounting in higher studies in the country. The loan at a competitive interest rate is available from entry to final level which could be utilized to pay for examination, tuition, annual subscription and registration fees. more..

Aug 21 (LG) The only reason for this further response to Rajpal is because this is a public debate and there are readers who read both sides. For the reader, what is important is as to whether something of public interest is being debated. The issue as to whether there has been an improvement of human rights under the present regime is an issue of enormous public interest. While Rajpal claims that there is such an improvement, and blames others like Pinto Jayawardena for not recognizing that, more..

Aug 21 (LG) The Sri Lankan defence secretary has called on foreign countries to hand over Tamil Tiger rebels and their assets, worth of millions of dollars. The demand by Gotabaya Rajapaksa came weeks after the arrest of the new Tamil Tiger leader, Selvarasa Pathmanathan. Mr Pathmanathan was arrested in a South East Asian nation earlier this month and brought to Colombo in a swift and secretive operation. more..

Aug 21 (LG) Since I am not ordinarily in the habit of reading Mr Rajpal Abeynayake’s column in the Lakbima newspaper and since I was also out of Colombo until mid this week, I did not see the most extraordinary article entitled ‘Rice-fed rascality’ in the LakbimaNews of 16th August 2009. Since I do not intend wasting space in my regular Sunday Times column by responding to such manifest rubbish, I am now sending a right of reply which Abeynayake may or may not carry in his newspaper. more..

Aug 21 (FC) Rahul Chittyana had planned a holiday to Sri Lanka with his wife Rachna in January. Tickets were almost booked and reservations were made online. But given the precarious army versus LTTE situation at that point in time, the 30-something couple cancelled their vacation. When LTTE chief Prabhakaran was found dead in May, Chittyana waited for all the buzz around the news to die down. And in July, made all his bookings and took off by month-end. more..

Aug 21 (TN) The powers of the international community, especially India, recognising the nation of Eezham Tamils, spelling out its right to self-determination and immediately stepping in guaranteeing its security and territorial integrity are more important for producing positive political results than mooting proxy draft solutions, says Roy Gardiner Wignarajah, a spokesman of the Canadian Tamil activist group, International Human Cultural Union (IHCU). more..

Aug 21 (UCAN) As heavy rain worsens the already poor conditions in Sri Lanka's refugee camps, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (Cafod) in the UK, has added its voice to calls for Tamils displaced by the civil war to be allowed to return home. It is now three months since the fighting ended but "like many of these situations, the dilemma is that the issue has faded from the headlines but the problem has not gone away," more..

Aug 21 (UCAN) As Tamil people languish in refugee camps after the end of the civil war, widows and children appear to be the ones hardest hit by the situation. One Tamil widow who spoke to UCA News on the condition of anonymity said that her greatest concern is sexual violence against young women such as her 17-year-old daughter. The death of her husband last year has left her with three children at the age of 39. more..