July 9 (GDI) The Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare has refuted a recent newspaper item published in English daily that the minimum age limit for foreign jobs hereafter will be 30 years. The Ministry informs that there is no truth in this news item and it has been quoted out of context despite the Sinhala daily of the same Group of News published the correct position. The Ministry explains that this incorrect news item has been written based on the speech made by more..

July 9 (ENS) Prof Karthigesu Sivathamby, who unlike many Sri Lankan Tamil intellectuals and litterateurs, did not flee from the war-torn country but stayed to serve Tamil literature and the Tamil people through his writings, lectures and cultural campaigns, died here on Wednesday after a prolonged illness. He was 79. An internationally recognised scholar, Sivathamby went beyond literature to make seminal contributions to the revival of Lankan Tamil drama and folk arts of the Tamils of the North and East. more..

July 9 (BBC) Police in Sri Lanka say they arrested a Tamil man on suspicion of providing video footage to British Channel 4 television to be included in a documentary on alleged war crimes committed during the last stages of the war. Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in a secret report to Colombo magistrate court said that Nandavanam Jegatheeswaran was arrested in Kandy on 30 June. more..

July 9 (NN) Galle District MP Nishantha Muttuhettigama raised a privilege issue in parliament today and asked for more security. The MP claimed that recently when he was heading to parliament he was checked by Ministerial Security officials. He also recalled an incident which took place in Galle saying that during an altercation he had with three-wheel drivers he was almost assaulted. He charged that while opposition MPs who had crossed over to the govt were given tight security, more..

July 9 (CBC) A Toronto man of Tamil descent is asking the federal government to rescue his wife and children in Sri Lanka, claiming they are being harassed by the govt there because of things he told a Canadian newspaper. Roy Samathanam told the National Post his story of detention and torture by Sri Lankan authorities over a period of three years. A few hours after the story appeared, he said Thursday, military police went looking for his wife in Colombo. more..

July 9 (AFP) Only three months ago, Sri Lanka were battling it out with India in the World Cup final but they have since gone from controversy to scandal to full-blown crisis in an astounding fall from grace. After losing the Mumbai showpiece, Sri Lanka have unravelled in spectacular fashion, hit by resignations, match-fixing claims and a doping scandal, plus financial woes and a rocky start for their new Twenty20 league. more..

July 9 (CI) It was overcast and damp in Manchester on Friday, the sort of conditions that make England a force to be reckoned with in one-day cricket, but the forecast for match-day is more sunshine and less cloud. If the series to date is any guide that will give Sri Lanka a good chance of bouncing straight back from their Trent Bridge thrashing to take the one-day series even though the momentum is with the hosts. The four matches which have left the series tied more..

July 9 (HS) Kumar Sangakkara has long been one of Sri Lanka's, and the world's, best cricketers. He became one of the bravest this week, too. The former captain's scathing criticism of the way the game has been run in the island nation - thereby pointing an accusing finger at its government - has been applauded as one of the most important speeches delivered on cricket. Now he awaits the consequences. The Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has ordered an more..

July 9 (PTI) CPI questioned India's "studied silence" on allegations that thousands of Tamil civilians were killed by the Sri Lankan army during the final phase of the civil war and said it would raise the issue in Parliament during the Monsoon session. "Thousands of Tamil civilians were massacred in Sri Lanka during the civil war. While British and French foreign ministers and the UN General Secretary have expressed their solidarity, why has India maintained a studied silence?" more..

July 9 (MoD) The latest batch of Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) Cadets commenced their District Training in Jaffna district for the first time. It is customary for SLAS Cadets to obtain their District Training at various District Secretariats around the island and as a result of dialogue of Mrs. Emelda Sukumar with the Civil Administrative authorities in Colombo, all members of this batch got opportunity to have their training in Jaffna. more..

July 9 (IPS) His father named him after the famous Indian cricket star Sachin Tendulkar, one of the best sportsmen of his generation. But little Sachin Tendulkar from the northern Sri Lankan town of Vavuniya harbours no ambition of following in the footsteps of his illustrious namesake. "I want to be a teacher," six-year-old Tendulkar told IPS, smiling broadly as he sat among four dozen classmates at the Vipulananda School, more..

July 9 (GN) Kumara Sangakkara's emotional speech at the recent MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey lecture will rank among the best speeches by any cricketer. Available both in audio and printable format on different websites, it is a moving speech on the spirit of Sri Lankan cricket. For me personally, Sri Lankan cricket and cricketers have always been role models. The rise of this nation to the pinnacle of cricketing glory is admirable. From my birthplace Trivandrum, more..

July 9 (GDI) Development work is underway in the Anuradhapura district where the 2012 Deyata Kirula exhibition will be held. Several massive development projects centering the Oyamaduwa area in Anuradhapura were launched yesterday under the patronage of Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya in view of the exhibition. Earlier the representatives of the Government led by the Minister paid homage to the Sri Maha Bodhi to invoke its blessings. more..

July 9 (LT) 'Today the players are being sold and being bought by various trade agencies as their marketing agents which has been established by now' said 'Socialist Youth Union Committee Member and Western Provincial Council Member Mr Waruna Rajapaksa at a media briefing today. 'If a person exposes certain corruption an investigation on the particular person is carried out instead of investigating the facts divulged. more..

July 9 (AFP) Sri Lanka's Suranga Lakmal will miss the fifth and final one-day international against England at Old Trafford on Saturday. The seamer suffered a side strain bowling his first over in Sri Lanka's 10-wicket defeat by England at Trent Bridge on Wednesday, a result that left the series all square at 2-2 heading into this weekend's decider. "He is out for three or four weeks," Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan told reporters at Old Trafford on Friday. more..

July 9 (GDI) Only 10,956 IDPs remain to be settled. This number includes 10, 860 IDPs in Menik Farm Relief Village and 96 IDPs in Jaffna Ramavil transit camp. The Chief Coordinating Officer of the Competent Office for the IDPs, Colonel Wadugodapitiya said. The Government has resettled 258,446 IDPs in their places of origin so far. Accordingly, 220,875 IDPs from Vavuniya, Mannar, Trincomalee and other districts have been resettled in their places of origin. more..

July 9 (LT) Nuwan Hettiarachchi, the rugby player who had been abducted by the SL Navy and had been detained, has been pardoned by the President today. Nuwan Hettiarachchi, a national player had played for the Navy team for some time despite not being a member of the SL Navy. After his contract with the Navy rugby team ended in March this year he had joined Kandy Sports Club, the most successful Sri Lankan rugby club. more..

July 9 (DM) Two leading actresses who were reportedly part of a prostitution ring were arrested by the Mirihana police. The police who used a decoy, in the form a businessman who arrived from Italy had contacted a number which was provided to them by an informant stating that prostitutes could be arranged by contacting the said number. The two actresses who had appeared in several leading television series had been taken into custody with a male suspect. more..

July 9 (LBO) Regional firms are expressing interest in listing Sri Lanka, and at least two firms with operations in the Maldives may be listed before the end of the year, director general of the island's Securities Exchange Commission Malik Cader said. Sri Lanka is now allowing foreign firms to list in the country by incorporating a holding company in the island with at least two resident directors. "Two or three firms may come through that route this year," more..

July 9 (DM) The Colombo Fort Magistrate today ordered the Colombo Fraud Investigations Bureau to conduct a speedy investigation against the ITN journalist Sudharman Radaliyagoda in a case where two scrap iron traders had been remanded for allegedly tendering a forged document to the Sri Lanka Telecom that was alleged to have been given to them by Mr. Radaliyagoda to obtain 1828 tonnes of scrap iron. Making a complaint at the Fort police, more..

July 9 (LG) Once again President Mahinda Rajapakse stretches our credibility by announcing boldly in public that there are no secrets in Sri Lanka. In a meeting with a group of media persons and editors Rajapakse said that any attempt to pass a bill protecting the peoples' right to information was unnecessary as he could personally ensure access to information. All we have to do is ask him. The next thing you know he'll be telling us that pigs can fly and the earth is flat. more..

July 9 (LG) In Plato�s Republic Glaucon narrates a story about a ring of invisibility. The man who found the ring used his power to enter the palace, rape the queen, kill the king and to take over the throne. 'They'd have the scope I'm talking about especially if they acquired the kind of power which, we hear, an ancestor of Gyges of Lydia* once acquired. He was a shepherd in the service of the Lydian ruler of the time, when a heavy rainstorm occurred and more..

July 9 (Cimic) Army Engineer troops this week started cleaning and renovating the Atchuveli-Point Pedro road via Thondamanaru which is to be released for the public use after more than 20 years. Commander Security Forces - Jaffna (SF-J) Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe on Thursday observed renovation work presently in progress and gave necessary instructions to responsible officers. Soldiers of 1 Field Engineer Regiment serving under more..

July 9 (LG) His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, This is my brief letter to you. �The Official Government News Portal of Sri Lanka� and the state run �Daily News� reported that you made your observation when you received a group of media personnel at your House on Tuesday (5/7) that �Sri Lanka must rise with one voice before the international community to take the country forward for the benefit of our younger generation�. Without going into specifics, more..

July 9 (LG) Campaign for Free and fair Election (CaFFE) has identified that laws regarding election propaganda is been greatly violated in many parts of the island and that this would lead to increased violence in the coming weeks. In Mawathagama, Kuliyapitiya and Giribewa Pradeesheeya Sabhas in Kurunegala election propaganda material of the opposition parties, especially United National Party�s and JVP�s, are being removed by the Police while more..

July 9 (Island) We are obviously very proud of the choice of Sri Lanka as the venue of these deliberations, especially because, as President Mahinda Rajapaksa pointed out this morning in his inaugural remarks, these discussions represent a milestone in the development of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organisation. It represents a half century of development and a rich and varied contribution to the jurisprudence of the world. more..

July 9 (DM) Human rights, war crimes, accountability, judicial intervention are the modern mittens in the post war ring after democracy, transparency, good Governance and Corruption was dumped as discarded gauntlets from the war phase. Why the change of gloves? An Opposition too feeble and splintered to pound on a gifted punching bag, left it to the foreign funded NGO set, reputed for aiming poison darts at spider targets. They naturally failed to score a bull�s eye, being too alienated and lacking in credibility. more..

July 9 (DM) The UNP has exposed the duplicity of the ruling coalition, UPFA in the right to information issue, by way of moving a Bill in Parliament on June 21, in granting the citizens the right to information that they deserve. The ruling coalition defeated the Bill that, if passed, would have been a milestone in good governance and granting of a basic right to the people, using the two thirds majority power in Parliament that had been granted by the same people some 14 months ago. more..

July 9 (DM) Sri Lanka has experienced a gruesome and horrendous war for a period of three decades, at a cost of over 80,000 lives and leaving several thousand disabled people, countless widows and children who have lost their parents. Terrorism was eliminated in May 2009 and the constant threat to life was ended. Throughout history there are examples of political abuses causing setbacks in every aspect of nation- building, including: the economy, more..

July 9 (Island) The govt and the UNP have once again locked horns over how to solve what is commonly known as the national question. Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva took on UNP MP Lakshman Kiriella in Parliament, when the latter demanded to know why the govt did not consider federalism as an option. The govt had ruled out a federal solution, shouted the minister, true to form, at the top of his voice for everybody to hear, claiming that MP Kiriella's question indicated that more..

July 9 (DM) Amid plans and projects to make Sri Lanka a model or wonder city of Asia the country faces the possibility of regular power cuts and water cuts because of a major drought in the aftermath of one of the worst ever floods earlier this year. For decades we have selfishly and recklessly polluted the environment, played havoc with nature and upset the delicate balance in the eco system. Today we are paying a heavy price for it. Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka on more..

July 9 (LB) �So far no one has stopped eating rice. We have not stopped using pesticides either. We do not use chemicals for paddy that we use for our home consumption. �But when you try to sell large quantities it is also difficult not to use chemicals for such bulks. We also hear different things regarding this subject. �However, so far the people have not stopped either consuming rice or using chemicals for paddy cultivation,� more..

July 9 (Island) "It�s not cricket", said the politico. "What�s not cricket?" "What Sanga has done?" "You mean his being the last man to get out in the last ODI we lost so badly". "No, what he did at Lords." "You mean his score of 25 at the Lords ODI? No, no, why must you be talking only about Sanga and cricket?" "I thought you said that what Sanga did was not cricket�..what else are you thinking about?" "What he said. I mean his batting at the podium, not at the crease. That was not cricket." more..

July 9 (SL) Each reference to Channel 4�s �expose� and Gordon Weiss� book, �The Cage� referring to the last days of Eelam War IV, seem to bring a new phalanx of defenders of the Rajapaksa Regime out of the woodwork. What is fascinating about this lot, collectively, is that they seem to have eschewed the �objectivity� that they claimed till relatively recently and have become most defensive of a largely indefensible position: that there were no or negligible civilian casualties at more..

July 9 (GV) The roads in Jaffna are long and unending. The day time is dusty and windy. If you listen to the air for a while, you will certainly hear some silent utterances and silent whispers. There are many mysteries hidden inside these silent whispers in Jaffna. There are mysteries about war, blood, devastation, destruction, death and many more. The eyes of its people portray many feelings. No one, as I believe, can dissect or classify those feelings, but more..

July 9 (LBO) HVA Foods, a Sri Lanka-based branded tea exporter is planning a blending unit in the Middle East to gain a bigger share in the global retail market by making use of trade liberties. "Discussions with our Middle East partner is at an advanced stage," HVA Foods chairman Rohan Fernando was quoted as saying on LBR, a sister online publication. "This is part of our expansion plan towards becoming a company with a foot-hold in every tea producing and consuming country." more..

July 9 (TC) A packed reception in the British Parliament on July 5th highlighted the level of support amongst MPs and key decision-makers for truth, accountability and justice in Sri Lanka. Hosted by Lee Scott MP and Siobhain McDonagh MP, Chair and Vice-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPG�T), and facilitated by the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), the event was attended by over 40 Members of Parliament including Govt Ministers, Shadow Ministers, MPs and Lords. more..

July 9 (BBC) Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) says it is considering appointing an interim coach to replace Stuart Law until a permanent successor is found. Secretary Prakash Shaffter told the BBC that, contrary to media reports, the SLC has not short-listed candidates to replace Law. "I am not aware of three short-listed names," said Shaffter. He refused to elaborate on the interim replacement - whether it could be a Sri Lankan or a coach from abroad. more..

July 9 (TN) While the Nazi-style registration of people in the north by the occupying SL military is challenged in the SL courts by Tamil politicians, the SL Army is now engaged in another way of registering people by a census it is conducting on its own, forcing Tamil school teachers and through them exploiting school students. Earlier the military tried the registration through village officers and in some instances military personnel directly conducted it. more..