Aug 3 (DN) The Government has decided to allocate Rs. 360 million to provide hostel facilities to undergraduates of the Rajarata University. Accordingly, two hostel buildings capable of providing accommodation to 800 students will be constructed for the university. “A proposal submitted by Higher Education Minister Prof. Wishwa Warnapala to this effect received the nod of the Cabinet on Wednesday,” more..

Aug 3 (DN) The Supreme Court yesterday granted Leave to proceed with a Fundamental Rights application filed by former Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) Deputy Mayor Azath Salley who sought to remove illegal hoarding in the Colombo City limits. The Bench comprised Justice Dr. (Mrs.) Shirani Bandaranayake, Justice Saleem Marsoof PC and Justice Andrew Somawansa. Counsel for petitioner Salley submitted that there were large number of unauthorised hoardings erected in the municipal area in violation of the by-laws and more..

Aug 3 (DM) The government yesterday said no future administration would be able to reduce the present size of the Cabinet or the number of ministries. “In reality having a small Cabinet is not practical in the current scenario as there are so many political parties within the government,” Cabinet Spokesman Anura Priyadharsana Yapa told journalists. more..

Aug 3 (DM) A police officer at the Kollupitiya Police on condition of anonymity told Daily Mirror that the permission to do filming on 1 August on the middle of Galle road in the rush hour afternoon came from the Presidential Security Division. Traffic on Galle road between Kollupitiya and Bambalapitiya was held up for hours due to filming carried out on the middle of the highway which greatly inconvenienced thousands of passengers and pedestrians. more..

Aug 3 (Hindu) India and Sri Lanka are now engaged in “a hand-in-glove operation” to prevent arms smuggling by the LTTE, according to Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama. This was now the state of play, despite the “technical” time-lag for the formalisation of any accord on coordinated patrolling along the Palk Strait, he said here. “What we need are results more than the methodology,” he said. more..

Aug 3 (AFP) A Dutch couple has been detained in custody for another two weeks following their arrest nine days ago for trying to illegally adopt an infant, officials said Friday. The couple, who appeared before the Colombo Chief Magistrate Kusala Sarojini Weerawardena on Friday, were to be questioned later in the day by police, court officials said. The judge ordered that the couple be held on remand until August 16 giving more..

Aug 3 (IPS) Sri Lanka's job market is getting more informal but trade unions have lost sight of globalisation-triggered changes where workers scurry to do two or more jobs at a time. "Traditionally our labour market was about fulltime jobs and sometimes people had one job for life. This is not the case anymore," notes Dr Athula Ranasinghe, from the University of Colombo's Social Policy Analysis and Research Centre (SPARC). more..

Aug 3 (IANS) A leading Sri Lankan rights group has called for international pressure on the government and the Tamil Tigers to check what it says is a 'human rights crisis' in the island nation. In a scathing indictment of the government's rights abuses in the troubled country, in particular the defence ministry, the University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR) has sought intervention by the UN Human Rights Council. more..

Aug 3 (HT) The strength of ruling coalition headed by the SLFP hit a dangerous low on Thursday, when the Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC), a party of Indian Origin Tamils (IOT), said that it had quit the government in protest against being "insulted and taken for granted." When the five CWC MPs left, the coalition government's strength came down to 112 in a house of 225 making it a "minority" government, a senior leader of the CWC, Yogarajan, told Hindustan Times. more..

Aug 3 (Reuters) Reports of hundreds of disappearances in Sri Lanka are overhyped and they can be explained by poor record-keeping rather than sinister activities, the country's foreign minister said on Friday. Rohitha Bogollagama also told Reuters that the tropical island needed no external help to investigate cases of civilians who have disappeared amid renewed civil war between the state and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels. more..

Aug 4 (MG) Thousands of Muslims in Sri Lanka have gathered today in Kathankudy to commemorate 17th anniversary of massacre of 140 innocent Muslims by the LTTE in 1990. On August 3, 1990, 140 innocent people were murdered and about 66 were injured while at prayers in the Meera Jumma and Hussainya Mosques in Kathankudy in the automatic gunfire and grenade attacks by the LTTE, who arrived in several vehicles. more..

Aug 4 (AN) Members of the Church of Sri Lanka are waiting with trepidation to see whether the government will keep its promise to open the main road leading to the famous shrine of Our Lady of Madhu, to allow pilgrims to go there for the imminent feast of the Assumption. But the situation in the diocese of Mannar, where the shrine is situated, does not leave much room for hope. more..

Aug 4 (F2F) Jacqueline Fernandez, Miss Sri Lanka 2006, will be the first Sri Lankan ever to walk the ramp of an India Fashion Week event which will be held from September 5 to 9 in New Delhi. In an exclusive interview with Fibre2fashion, Jacqueline said that Indian fashion has had a lasting impression around the globe. Highly creative designs and use of vibrant colours has made it possible for the Indian designers to carve a niche in international fashion arena. more..

Aug 4 (UTHR) If the two contending nationalisms celebrating recurrently their fleeting moments of military glory have proved anything in 25 years, it is that they have nothing to offer except unending futility and misery. The LTTE uses celebrations of heroism to chain the disillusioned and unwilling into military ranks. more..

Aug 4 (LD) The poor hamlet of Karawgahamada in Werapitiya, Teldeniya has been threatened with landslides. Many cracks and depressions have developed in the area, damaging four houses and sending around 20 families to safer locations, area residents say. This small village houses mostly Samurdhi recipient families, and the latest peril from the nature has left them helpless further. more..

Aug 4 (BBC) A Sri Lankan woman who tried to cross over to Greece in a boat was found dead on a beach in Samos island in Aegean sea, authorities said. A spokesman for Greek Ports Authority told BBC Sandeshaya that the woman whose body found on Thursday was identified as 30-year old Sri Lankan national Rathnasingham Janaki. Twelve Afghan nationals, including two children, were rescued on Thursday after their boat capsized, the spokesman said. more..

Aug 4 (BBC) The main opposition in Sri Lanka has accused Buddhist-monk led political party of abducting a person and illegally selling tax-free motor vehicles. UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told BBC Sandeshaya that security guards of a powerful minister has abducted the person who bought a luxury car from a parliamentarian monk. UNP leader Ranil Wickramsinghe has borrowed the Mercedes Benz car from Uplai Bandula Liyanage who bought it from Ellawala Medhananada thero, he added. more..

Aug 4 (LeN) An unidentified group abducted Hemantha Nishantha, the owner of the Benz car imported through the duty free permit of Jathika Hela Urumaya leader Ellawala MedhanandaThero's duty free license, in the wee hours today (03). Opposition Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe said at a press briefing held in his office that Hemantha Nishantha, the owner of the vehicle is a friend of him and an ardent supporter of the UNP. more..

Aug 4 (LBO) India has called on Sri Lanka to 'speed up' talks on the enhanced free trade pact between the two countries during talks with a delegation from the island seeking more Indian investments. Indian Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said the two countries should seek to sign the bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), an improved version of the existing free trade deal, by October. more..

Aug 4 (AFP) Sri Lanka on Friday rejected charges that it had tampered with evidence in the investigations into the massacre of 17 workers employed by a French charity. The government said that an Australian expert who raised doubts about the probe had withdrawn his initial report which alleged that two types of bullets were found lodged in victims of the August 2006 massacre. more..

Aug 4 (AT) Addressing the National Anti Corruption Conference in Colombo, Judge Christy Weeeramantry said that “the laws are like cobwebs which catch small flies but let wasps and hornets break through. “It is a general complaint that the network of anti corruption laws across the world functions in much the same way. If power, influence and position can buy exemptions from the operation of the law that would be the total negation of democracy and the democratic ideal,” he added. more..

Aug 4 (AT) Minister of Ports and Aviation and Irrigation and Water Management Chamal Rajapaksa participating as the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony of the Refurbished Water Supply Scheme at the Walasmulla Hospital commended the efforts of the Chamber of Construction Industry Sri Lanka and Bioforce Development Institute of France for facilitating the completion of the project within a short span of four months. more..

Aug 4 (AT) Gareth Evans, President and CEO of the International Crisis Group delivering the Eighth Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lecture in Colombo, spoke at length on the ‘Limits of State Sovereignty: The Responsibility To Protection In The 21st Century’ on July 29, 2007. In analysing the substance of his speech, we find he is ‘wishy, washy and iffy’ in his attempt to make a case for international intervention in Sri Lanka, more..

Aug 4 (Hindu) The Gopalan Trophy, the annual first class match between Tamil Nadu and a representative side from Sri Lanka, is being revived again. Speaking to The Hindu, K. Viswanathan, secretary Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), s aid the State team would tour Sri Lanka between September 23 and October 3 this year. more..

Aug 4 (Hindu) The Sri Lanka Army has claimed that at least 20 cadres of the Tamil Tigers were killed and five others injured in the past 24 hours as the fighting spread to the north. A statement by the Defence Ministry said the Tiger cadres were killed while “attempting to breach the forward defences” in different locations in the Wanni area on Wednesday. more..

Aug 4 (BBC) The ministers who resigned on Thursday from the government will soon be joined back, a senior Sri Lankan minister said. Highways minister Jeyaraj Fernadopullai told BBC Sandeshaya that he expects the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) leaders to rejoin by Monday. CWC ministers walked out of Sri Lanka's governing coalition on Thursday, dealing a blow to President Mahinda Rajapaksa's administration. more..

Aug 4 (BS) Out of sight doesn’t mean out of danger for Sri Lanka’s orphans. Even though the world’s interest in the Indian Ocean island country waned rapidly after the December 2004 tsunami, many survivors of that disaster still are caught in the decades-old civil war that pockmarks the northeastern part of the nation. The tsunami caused 35,000 deaths in Sri Lanka on Dec. 26, 2004, while the civil war is believed to have resulted in 70,000 casualties in 20 years—including 5,000 in the last 20 months. more..

Aug 4 (LeN) The UNP dissidents sans one who crossed over to the government to accept ministerial portfolios are reportedly seeking ways through various individuals to return to the party, after CWC leader Thondaman and four parliamentarians of his party resigned from the positions and government yesterday. UNP sources said that one Minister, said to be Milinda Moragoda, yesterday telephoned to an individual close to the UNP leadership to enquire the possibility to return. more..

Aug 4 (FI) This interview was conducted in July 1993 in Japan and published in the Tamil Times. The views expressed by Sulak Sivaraksa on the Sri Lankan conflict are still worthy of consideration and reflection. Sulak Sivaraksa is a well-known Thai social thinker and activist. A nominee for the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize, Sulak is being tried by the Thai Supreme Court on a charge of defaming the King of Thailand. more..

Aug 4 (LBO) Sri Lanka’s government has significantly altered its budget halfway through the year slashing public investment and bringing down a planned deficit, despite spending more money on salaries and interest. Public investment, earlier budgeted at 303 billion rupees or equal to 9.4 percent of GDP, has been slashed by 65 billion rupees or 25 percent. more..

Aug 4 (AT) There is no light at the end of the tunnel - Sri Lankans held in the Immigration in the Bangkok notorious Detention Centre, has urged the United Nations Refugees Organization in Bangkok to exercise its mandate to ensure the protection and security of refugees and asylum seekers in Thailand. more..

Aug 4 (AT) Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle said that the five Ceylon Workers Congress parliamentarians have not tendered their resignations from the government but only from their ministerial positions and the resignation crisis will be resolved very soon. He said Minister Arumugam Thondaman and Muththu Sivalingam are his personal friends and he is trying to resolve this problem by negotiations. more..

Aug 4 (ISL) The Batticotta Seminary was a unique educational institute founded by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) at Vaddukodai, north Sri Lanka in 1823. Unfortunately, much against the wishes of the people of the Jaffna District it was closed in 1855. The reason for such a decision being that it was not successful in the mission of its founding namely, conversion of Hindus to Christianity. more..

Aug 4 (AT) The head of state and government in Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa, as this writer is aware up close and personal, is a great communicator from the grass-root remote village he hails to the highest echelons of political power not forgetting his dealings with the diplomatic community stationed in Colombo in yester year. He knew when to make his submissions, when to adjust them and when to retreat to silence to make his own judgment and analyses for future use. more..

Aug 5 (AT) One of the most powerful, wealthy and influential Kandyan aristocrats during the recent past from the gem province of Sabaragamuwa Anton Lincoln Wijewardena Tennekoon was sentenced to death by Colombo High Court Judge Upali Abeyratne for the murder of one of his mistresses Tharanga Kalyani Gankanda. more..

Aug 4 (FI) The Indo-Lanka Peace Accord was signed on July 29th 1987 between the then Sri Lankan President Late J.R.Jeyawardene and then Indian Prime Minister Late Rajiv Gandhi. It drew a lot of attention locally and globally. It marks the 20th anniversary this year. Number of events has been organized by various institutions to mark the 20 th Anniversary of signing the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord. more..

Aug 4 (LD) Top level sources reveal that the true reason for the prevailing fuel price hike is not the price increases in the world market; but rather the inability of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) to cover its’ losses- thanks to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). The CPC supplies the CEB a litre of diesel at Rs. 55, a litre of naphtha at Rs.40, and a litre of burns oil at Rs. 30 and undergoes a loss of Rs.20, Rs.19 and Rs.18 respectively, per litre. more..

Aug 4 (GDI) Under the instructions of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), measures have been taken to establish Citizen’s committees to assist the Police in recording complaints by the public in several districts of the Northern and Eastern Provinces, beginning with the Mannar district. The Presidential Secretariat states that additional public access to the Police for complaints is to be introduced in view of the shortage of police personnel competent in Tamil language, more..

Aug 4 (GDI) The UNDP pledged to render its fullest support and cooperation to the Government's efforts to develop the East, President's Media sources said. The new Resident Co-Ordinator for Humanitarian Assistance Neil Buhne made this pledge to President Rajapaksa when he called on him at Temple Trees yesterday. more..

Aug 4 (GDI) The Ministry of Education has taken steps to distribute school books to Government Schools Island wide before the beginning of next year's first term. Under the directions of the Minister of Higher Education Susil Premajayantha instructions have been given to the relevant officials including the Education Publication Commission to complete the distribution of school text books by January next year. more..

Aug 4 (GDI) A National Policy on Disaster Management (NPDM) will be established only after an indepth study of new dimensions following the establishment of new ministries and organisations, Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said on Thursday. The Act related to the establishment of Council for Disaster Management(CDM) was passed even before his Ministry was born. more..

Aug 4 (GDI) The South Asia Co-operative Environmental Programme (SACEP) launched the `South Asia Coral Reef Task Force' recently to promote and support the protection and enhancement of South Asia individually, collectively, co-operatively. It is also intended to encourage the judicious use of resources of the environment to alleviate poverty, reduce social economic disparities and improve the lives of the people. more..

Aug 4 (GDI) The Inspector General of Police has appointed a special team to probe the alleged, police assault on students of Rajarata Campus and University of the Visual and Performing Arts on July 30 and September 01 close to the National Hospital, Colombo. The Inspector General of Police appointed the team to ascertain whether police acted within the frame work of the law or whether they had exceeded their legitimate limits. more..

Aug 4 (ANN) The war in Sri Lanka is not going away. In a situation where the LTTE are armed with light aircraft, with no civilian international flights arriving overnight, Sri Lanka’s prospects look bleak. Compared to "emerging markets" like Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand – now influenced by the commercial might of China and also that of India, Sri Lanka is appearing like a poor relation despite an economic growth rate that exceeds that of Britain and a number of advantages over poorer countries such as a high degree of literacy. more..

Aug 4 (CI) Having kept the Sri Lankans down to 266 on the first day, thanks to Ranadeb Bose's best bowling performance on tour, the Indians have a chance to get some good batting practice ahead of the final Test at The Oval. It is another sunny day at Grace Road, with a cool breeze blowing across the ground, and conditions suggest the batsmen should enjoy themselves. more..

Aug 4 (Bernama) A Malaysian business group involved in the marketing of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has quit Sri Lanka over the political and economic uncertainties of doing business here, industry officials said. E-Gas is the third player in the LPG business in Sri Lanka after Shell, the multinational petroleum group, and Laugfs, a local company. more..

Aug 4 (RW) One year ago, on 6th August 2006, 17 Action Against Hunger humanitarian aid workers were found savagely assassinated in the organisation’s office in Muttur, located in northeast Sri Lanka. Commemorative ceremonies have been organised in Sri Lanka and all over the world to make sure this will never be forgotten. While the truth that will explain this massacre has not been found yet, more..

Aug 4 (CL) Hinduism is not only one of the world's major religions with approximately 900 million adherents, but in its roots also lie three other major religions of the world: Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. This column focuses on Buddhism. This faith has its beginnings in about 560 B.C.E. and gets its name from the person who established it, Gautama Buddha. more..

Aug 4 (LBO) Sri Lanka's state sector has to improve governance for the country to progress, at a time when private firms were coming under increasingly tight regulation and self regulation, a senior business executive said. Former chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange and current chairman of Hatton National Bank Rienzie Wijetilleke said firms set up under the Companies Act were asked to follow governance rules but enterprises formed under an Act of Parliament were exempt. more..

Aug 4 (LBO) Millers and Cargills (Ceylon) Ltd, two firms dating back from the British colonial era, said they were merging as part of a restructuring within the Ceylon Theatres group to which they now belong. Cargills (Ceylon) Ltd and Millers plc both own landmark buildings in Colombo Fort, and are Sri Lanka's first department stores, built during British colonial times. more..