Jun 10 (GDI) A sum of 3.75 billion rupees has been allocated for the electrification facilities for the resettled families in the north under the “Uthuru Wasanthaya” programme, a press release issued by the Ministry of Power and Energy stated. The money will be spent on constructing transmitting stations grid, sub-stations and on rural electrification schemes which have been destroyed by the LTTE terrorists. more..

Jun 10 (GDI) Although the Government has totally wiped out terrorism, it is revealed that small terrorist groups are planning to engage in subversive activities. Therefore, IGP Jayantha Wickremarathne requests the public for the continuous support for the national security programme to be vigilant on such activities in the country. Public should immediately inform the police about suspected incidents and persons in their vicinity. more..

Jun 10 (LT) About 2000 people who have been recruited as sub inspectors (SI) for the Police Department have not been given any promotions say reports from that department. These sub-inspectors have been in service for 12 to 20 years and most of them have served in operational areas. Despite the government stating that they would be given promotions under ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya’ from 01.02.2006, nothing has taken place yet. more..

Jun 10 (LT) Explorations carried out in jungles of Galle District by the Bio-diversity Secretariat and the Association to preserve Fauna and Flora in Galle have unearthed 8 new species endemic to Sri Lanka. Mr. Anusha de Silva, the President of Association to preserve Fauna and Flora in Galle said the new species were found in explorations carried out for six months in several jungles areas in the district. more..

Jun 10 (CT) The UNP has strongly condemned what it calls the use of the "law of the jungle to mete out barbaric punishment" to silence proponents of people?s rights. Speaking to the media in Colombo, party MP Johnston Fernando said his party would no longer allow the government to continue with such acts, which it had done under the cover of the war. more..

Jun 10 (CT) Tamil National Alliance MP S. Kishore has requested the release of colleague Sathasivam Kanagaratnam who remained with civilians in the former 'no fire zone' during final stages of the military offensives in the North. Speaking in Parliament yesterday (June 09), MP Kishore said Kanagaratnam was not a terrorist and requested his release after investigations. more..

Jun 10 (CT) Several media groups are organizing a sit-down protest in Colombo, Sri Lanka this afternoon (June 10) against the abduction and assault of secretary of the Working Journalists Association Poddala Jayantha. The Platform for Freedom, Movement Against Media Suppression and several other organizations are taking part in the ‘Satyagraha’ opposite Viharamaha Devi Park, starting at 3.00 pm. more..

Jun 10 (CT) UNP MP, Palith Range Bandara yesterday requested the government to appoint a parliamentary select committee to probe the murders and assaults targeting journalists. He said that the government would appoint a committee if it does not have a hand in such incidents. He said that if the government took measures to appoint a parliamentary committee, it would have the full support of the UNP on the matter.

Jun 10 (CT) Prime minister Rathnasiri Wickremanayake yesterday (June 09) presented a bill in Parliament that would provide for the appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff. According to the bill, the CDS will be responsible for the coordination of activities between the armed forces and the Defence Ministry. The CDS shall, subject to the discretion of the President, hold office for a term of two years. more..

Jun 10 (AT) Following representations made to the Government through respective Government Agents in the North and Divisional Secretaries on the desire of displaced families, now in welfare centres to return home, a high level government team will meet in Colombo tomorrow (11), to discuss modalities of resettling those persons as family units at the earliest, well informed sources disclosed. more..

Jun 10 (LT) The government has no intention of shelving the APRC proposals and it would take measures to definitely implement them said Minister of Media Luxman Yapa Abeywardene. He said Minister Tissa Vitharana is due to present the final draft of the APRC proposals and once it is presented the government would take measures to act according to what has been proposed said the Minister. more..

Jun 10 (MoD) Ministry of Health (MoH) has mobilized its resources to a maximum to provide medical facilities to the civilians in welfare centers in Vavuniya. Additional 232 Medical officers have been permanently posted to the Northern Province and Padaviya hospitals. With this reinforcement, 304 medical officers (doctors) and the nurses to 986 are now working in hospitals and welfare centers in the North and Padaviya. more..

Jun 10 (LNP) It is heartening that a project has been launched to rehabilitate street children living in appalling conditions. Ven. Elle Gunawansa Thera yesterday spelt out measures to be adopted to deliver those unfortunate ones from their suffering. This noble cause deserves public support and State assistance. IGP Jayantha Wickrameratna flanking Ven. Gunawansa at a media briefing yesterday viewed the rehabilitation of street children as an effective way of starving the underworld of recruitment in the future. more..

Jun 10 (LNP) To get West Indies batting juggernaut Chrys Gayle early would be the orders that captain Kumar Sangakkara would have given his troops when they play the cricketers from the Caribbean in a Group C match here today. Both West Indies and Sri Lanka have entered the Super Eight and the teams would now be wanting to win to go top of the group. Also they would want to remain unbeaten and gain the psychological advantage. more..

Jun 10 (DN) The Government has allocated Rs. 800 million for the development of Musali Divisional Secretariat Division on the directive of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and 90 percent of resettlement process in the division was completed by the Government, said Presidential Senior Advisor and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Northern Development Basil Rajapaksa. more..

Jun 10 (DN) The first school for street children will be opened in Gothamipura, Borella by First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa and IGP Jayantha Wickramaratne tomorrow. Chief incumbent of Dharmayathanaya Colombo Ven. Elle Gunawansa Thera said the country has successfully eradicated terrorism and it’s now time to unite to fight against crime. “Considering future security of the Colombo city and the country, more..

Jun 10 (DN) It took a long time coming but finally it is now available on the shelves of book stores. Sri Lanka's leading figure in literature Martin Wickramasinghe's most profound work, Gamperaliya had finally been translated into English for the English speaking public to meet a timely need. Though more than 65 years have passed since the landmark novel had been penned by the veteran writer, the pictures, idioms and characteristics he paints more..

Jun 10 (BT) The Humanitarian Operations have been completed and the LTTE, the most ruthless terrorist organisation in the world has been destroyed. The strength behind the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police and the Civil Defence Force has been none other than Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. His planning has been immaculate and precise. President Mahinda Rajapaksa had the will and confidence to more..

Jun 10 (Island) The Lanka Private Bus Owners Association (LPBOA) chief Gemunu Wijeratne yesterday rejected the annual 4 per cent increase in bus fares effective July 1. Addressing a press conference at the Women’s Bureau, Narahenpita, he said that the association had unanimously decided to refuse the proposed increase. He warned of trade union action unless the government implemented at least 7 per cent increase. more..

Jun 10 (DN) Going back to the genre of the ancient 'Purana' literature in Thamil, one finds Kachchiappa Sivachariar's Kanthapuranam holding a prestigious place particularly among the Thamilians of Yaalpaanam. In fact a scholar from that region the late Pandithamani Kanapathillai eluded that "Kanthapurana Kalasaram" (The Culture of Kantha Puranam) is the Culture of the people in the North. more..

Jun 10 (Island) Like the majority of people in Sri Lanka, I felt genuinely happy when Prabhakaran’s death was announced. This wasn’t because I am the bloodthirsty type. I was pleased because of what I perceived to be the implications. Sri Lankans could look forward to a brighter future now that such a ruthless and uncompromising group had been decapitated, I thought to myself. This is what made last week’s attack on Poddala Jayantha so depressing. more..

Jun 10 (Island) Work on the Fish Market Complex at Peliyagoda is being accelerated in order to shift the present St. John’s Market there at the end of 2009 instead of December 2010, Secretary to the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources G. Piyasena said. He said that the new fish market complex was scheduled to be completed by December 2010 but on advise of President Mahinda Rajapaksa construction has been expedited. more..

Jun 10 (Island) JVP Colombo District MP Lakshman Nipunarachchi yesterday (9) told Parliament that the portraits of the last king of Sri Lanka Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe and his queen had been removed from the Colombo National Museum and replaced with an advertisement of a private bank. He demanded that the government take remedial action. more..

Jun 10 (DM) A major fire broke out in an ammunition dump at the Wanni Army Headquarters in Vavuniya last evening, destroying a large quantity of outdated ammunition, the army said. “A stock of unserviceable artillery ammunition, kept aside in one corner of the Wanni Security Forces Headquarters in Vavuniya, caught fire yesterday evening at about 5.45 pm while soldiers were removing them to be taken to a more secured area before disposal,” more..

Jun 10 (DM) Sri Lanka would never go after donor countries or agencies with a begging bowl for aid hereafter, despite the fact that the IMF could approve at any moment the first trance of the US$ 1.9 billion loan that Sri Lanka has negotiated, Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said. He said the World Bank, ADB and several other friendly countries had responded positively for assistance for the reconstruction and resettlement process, more..

Jun 10 (DM) The police yesterday shot at a man allegedly responsible for the abduction, abuse and killing of a six-year-old girl who went missing in Mihintale last week. The body of the victim Warshanika Lakshani Gunaratne, a resident of Kasamaduwa in Ihalagama, Mihintale was found in a forest last morning. The little girl was abducted from her home last Thursday night when she was asleep. more..

Jun 10 (DM) Sri Lanka is at a crucial juncture for overcoming conflict among ethnic groups and achieving national reconciliation, Japan told the United Nations Human Rights Council. The Japanese representative Osamu Yamanaka who spoke at the debate on promoting and protecting human rights -- civil, political, economic, social and cultural, including the right to development said the Sri Lankan government must take swift action to implement measures more..

Jun 10 (G&M) Canada is boosting its immigration screening in Sri Lanka – shifting overseas CSIS agents from New Delhi to Colombo in a bid to keep defeated Tamil Tiger terrorists from landing here. In addition to moving agents from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Canada Border Services Agency from their posts in India, the federal immigration department is adding staff to manage the growing backlog of Sri Lankan visa requests. more..

Jun 10 (AT) India is not happy with the important military role it says China and Pakistan played in the Sri Lanka's government decisive offensive against the LTTE. Top government officials in New Delhi have told Asia Times Online that India believes Colombo stockpiled arms and even sought help from military commanders from China and Pakistan before the offensive that decimated the LTTE and eventually killed Tiger chief Vellupillai Prabhakaran in May. more..

Jun 10 (Reuters) Sri Lanka on Wednesday deported a Canadian legislator it views as sympathetic to the Tamil Tiger separatists, the latest foreign official it has sent out of the country at the end of a 25-year war. Bob Rae, a Liberal party legislator, said Sri Lanka's government had reached "ill-conceived and defamatory conclusions about me," and said his record showed he had spoken out against the Tigers during his prior involvement in the peace process. more..

Jun 11 (AT) Sri Lanka has become an unfair pastime for some world leaders who are taking their condemnations against Sri Lanka a little too far. A country that has managed to eliminate the world’s worst terrorist outfit – its entire 3-tiered leadership deserves more respect than it is getting and it is a shame that even the UN and some of its heads are taking a personal vendetta against Sri Lanka and this needs to stop. more..

Jun 11 (AT) For the first time in the history of Sri Lankan Tourism industry, Sri Lanka and India have decided to launch a joint extensive tourism promotion programme to promote Chinese Tourist market attraction more and more tourists to Indian sub continent. Minister of Tourism, Milinda Moragoda and Nirupama Rao current Indian Ambassador in Beijing had a discussion on this proposal and more..

Jun 11 (AT) The Sri Lankan government today appreciated sentiments expressed by Indian Foreign Secretary, Shiv Shankar Menon who had claimed in New Delhi, that President Mahinda Rajapaksa was "in a way right", when the Sri Lankan President has said he had fought India's war since the LTTE killed Rajiv Gandhi. Menon has said that it was a welcome statement from the Sri Lankan President because the security of Sri Lanka was interlinked with that of India. more..

Jun 11 (LBO) AirAsia said it will launch daily flights from Sri Lanka from August 15 offering promotional all-in fares as low as 4,090 rupees one way between Colombo and Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysia-based carrier, known as Asia's largest low fare, no frills airline, said Colombo is an important destination for AirAsia to break into the south Asian market. "The low fares AirAsia is offering will create new demand and stimulate travel," more..

Jun 11 (LBO) WSO2, a Sri Lankan software firm, is starting a free 'summer school' this month on open source software and service oriented architecture (SOA), the company said. The eight week program will help at enterprise IT architects and developers to become more familiar with SOA concepts, technologies and best practices, the company said. WSO2 says the developer community has been hit by the global economic downturn. more..

Jun 11 (LBO) A regional Sri Lankan business chamber has won a top global award for its work after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, in a competition which had entries from 33 countries, the organization said. The Hambantota District Chamber of Commerce (HDCC) and Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, its UK partner had won the award for the best networking project at the sixth World Chamber Congress in Malaysia. more..

Jun 11 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's request for a $1.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan is expected to be approved by the end of June, the central bank governor said on Wednesday. "The indication that we have received overall is, before the end of this month, it will happen,"Ajith Nivard Cabraal told Reuters. more..

Jun 11 (LBO) Sri Lanka's James Finlay group said tea exports to Iraq did well in 2008 despite the strife and that it expanded its marketing and launched a new product with higher profit margins. Chairman Kumar Jayasuriya said that Finlays Colombo made big investments on marketing in Iraq last year. " . . . Iraq was once again our single largest market, in spite of the difficulties faced by marketers due to the conditions prevailing there," more..

Jun 11 (TC) We appeal to all concerned to attend to the pressing needs of the time. We appeal to the government of Sri Lanka and all other concerned parties to allay the fears of the Tamil people and to address the dire needs of all those affected by the recent onslaught of war. The end of the war is most welcome, but the enormous death toll is a cause for great concern, as also the condition of very many survivors. more..

Jun 11 (CI) Sanath Jayasuriya may be turning 40 at the end of the month but his demolition of the West Indian attack, which paved the way for Sri Lanka's 15-run victory at Trent Bridge, was as violent as any innings played during his heydays. In the absence of Chris Gayle, Jayasuriya ensured that the crowd had its fill of massive hits, blitzing 81 off only 47 balls, and his occupation of centre stage was so complete that Tillakaratne Dilshan's second half-century of the tournament more..

Jun 11 (Economist) With the government's defeat of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, or Tamil Tigers) and the end of the civil war, attention in Sri Lanka is turning to the future. Beyond the need for economic development in former war zones, and humanitarian support for civilians displaced by the conflict, the peacetime political role of the country's large Tamil minority is of key importance. more..

Jun 11 (Hindu) The A9 Highway, the only land route linking Jaffna peninsula to the rest of Sri Lanka, is to be opened shortly for commercial use by private traders. The peninsula is home to an estimated six lakh people. The A9 Highway was closed at the Omanthai checkpoint in the second week of August 2006,within days of the commencement of Eelam War IV, by the government on the ground that it had become a cash cow for the LTTE to sustain its war machinery. more..

Jun 11 (GDI) The government has no intention to control media freedom by enforcing such laws and no regulation has been implemented to control media in the country.The Government has given full freedom for media personnel to express their views for and against the government,the Minister of Mass Media and Information Anura Priyadarshana Yapa told Parliament today (10). more..

Jun 11 (AT) For the AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa the Sri Lankan Tamils issue is "only at the time of elections" affair. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi slammed his arch rival so on Wednesday. In his usual letter to his party cadre in Murasoli, he alleged Jayalalithaa had justified killings of Tamils in Sri Lanka during the armed conflict by saying civilian deaths were common in a conflict zone. more..

Jun 11 (AT) The territorial battle between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE is at an end. The entire leadership is no more, killed or has taken their lives. Over two hundred and eighty thousand people have come into government controlled areas with fear and anxiety in their eyes, some maimed and injured and some separated from their kith and kin. The mass exodus of the people held by the LTTE is a humanitarian catastrophe. more..

Jun 11 (AT) A local plastic recycling company –Kalhari Enterprises Heiyanthuduwa which accepted government offer to remove plastic waste from the IDP camps in Manikfarm, Vauniya says the plastic collection project was launched last week to provide better environment for the IDPs. The Solid Waste Management Unit of the Western provincial council made this offer which was accepted by more..

Jun 11 (WSJ) After routing the Tamil Tigers at home, the Sri Lankan government has set its sights on destroying the group's network overseas -- an effort that involves working closely with countries that were critical of Sri Lanka's tough tactics during the war. In recent weeks, Sri Lankan officials have been sifting through computer files, business cards and daily schedules taken from Tamil Tiger offices in the country's north more..

Jun 11 (ABC) The Sri Lankan government wants Australia to follow through with secret plans made last year to declare the Tamil Tigers a terrorist group. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation understands the Australian government planned in secret to declare the Tamil Tiger rebels a banned terrorist group in November last year. This was despite opposition from the local Tamil community. more..