Sep 26 (BL) President Mahinda Rajapaksa has admitted that his government has failed to control the skyrocketing inflation during recent past. He pointed out that although the government attempted to control the cost of living by exempting more than 10 essential items from taxation, still they failed in this endeavour, as the government could not control the prices of milk powder, oil, gas and wheat flour. more..

Sep 26 (BL) The country�s main opposition, the United National Party (UNP) yesterday lashed out at the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) as two parties merely pumping oxygen and helping the government continue with its misdeeds. �The JVP and the JHU are continuing to pump oxygen into the government by supporting them and helping them in continuing their misdeeds,� UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake told a media briefing yesterday morning. more..

Sep 26 (BL) Controversial diplomatic assignments are on the cards in the near future with three Sri Lankan Ambassadors being recalled to Colombo, before the end of their tenure. Ambassador to Brussels, K.J. Weerasinghe, Ambassador to Germany Jayantha Palipane and Ambassador to France C. Wagiswara have been issued letters requesting them to return to Sri Lanka, most likely to make way for several political appointments in the offing. more..

Sep 26 (HT) Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has asked the international community not to use human rights issues to victimize countries afflicted by terrorism. Addressing the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Rajapaksa appealed to the world to understand the dangers posed by terrorism and help the affected countries fight this global scourge instead of taking up human rights issues to gain petty political advantage over them. more..

Sep 26 (BL) Founded as the carrier for the poor, the state owned controversial Mihin Air is fast flying the rich and the newly rich at the expenses of public funds. The growing allegation regarding Mihin Air is fuelled by some of its latest destinations as well as what industry analysts describe as �suicidal pricing.� This week Mihin Air began flying to shoppers� paradise Singapore hot on the heels of a flight to another shopping and tourist destination Thailand. more..

Sep 26 (DN) President Mahinda Rajapaksa made a fervent appeal on Monday to Lankan expatriates all over the world to help protect the country's good name in the international arena. Addressing a gathering of Lankans domiciled in New York and other parts of the US at the Buddhist Vihara in New York, President Rajapaksa said all Lankans living abroad were 'ambassadors' who could play a yeoman service in protecting the country's global image. more..

Sep 26 (DN) Norway's International Development Minister Erik Solheim is due to call on President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the sidelines of the UN deliberations. President Rajapaksa and Solheim, who was the special envoy for the Sri Lankan Peace Process prior to the appointment of Jon-Hanssen Bauer, are expected to discuss the current developments in Sri Lanka including the All Party Representative Committee Process, which is on the threshold of presenting a finalised set of proposals. more..

Sep 26 (HT) The opposition United National Party (UNP) which had pledged to make Sri Lanka a federal state to resolve the long standing ethnic conflict in the island, is now thinking of backing out of it. The media quoted senior UNP MP and former cabinet minister Ravi Karunanayake as saying that his party was "seriously considering the idea of repositioning itself" in regard to the concept of federalism. more..

Sep 26 (DM) The European Union has decided to defer a resolution against Sri Lanka, an EU diplomat in Geneva told the Daily Mirror even as human rights groups, on Monday asserted that the situation in Sri Lanka had deteriorated to serious levels. Diplomat said the EU, which under the presidency of Portugal, was contemplating putting forward a resolution against Sri Lanka both at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and the EU Parliament in Brussels had decided to defer the move until the upcoming Lankan visit of Human Rights High Commissioner Louise Arbour. more..

Sep 26 (DM) An owner of a house in Athurigiriya completely demolished her house after failing to chase a cobra that entered it two weeks ago. Nalini Attanayake who owned the house with several rooms said they had to kill a young cobra which entered the house about two weeks ago. Two days later another cobra about five foot long had entered the house and all attempts to chase the reptile had failed, she said. more..

Sep 26 (HC) A Sri Lankan tsunami victim who came to Israel to work as a caregiver last year recently complained she suffered abuse at the hand of her wheelchair-bound employer. The home that Rasika Galagedarage shared with her husband and daughter in Sri Lanka was destroyed in the tsunami that struck Asia in 2004. Last year they decided that if they were ever to be able to build another home, Galagedarage would have to find work abroad. more..

Sep 26 (IDMC) Almost half a million civilians are still displaced by Sri Lanka�s civil war between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and the warring parties continue to disregard their rights and those of other civilians in the country�s conflict areas, according to a report released today by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). more..

Sep 26 (PTI) Undeterred by the raging ethnic conflict here, the Scandinavian truce monitors have expressed optimism about the relevance of the ceasefire agreement between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels. However, the SLMM admitted that the number of violations of the truce had increased substantially. "I don't think it (the ceasefire agreement) is a dead letter. I think it's a valid document that hasn't been abrogated by either of the parties. The continuing existence of the SLMM is proof that it has been surviving", more..

Sep 26 (AFP) High taxes and red tape are eroding confidence in Sri Lanka, one of the worst places to do business in South Asia, a study by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) showed Wednesday. The research which ranked 178 countries around the world on trade, taxation, business start-up costs, labour laws and legal procedures placed Sri Lanka at 101, a worsening of its position from 89th in the past two years. more..

Sep 26 (Reuters) Under fire amid a rash of civil war human rights abuses, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has turned the tables on the United Nations, questioning its efficiency, and ability to help tackle terrorism. Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York overnight Rajapaksa, whose administration has vilified UN envoys for criticism, said solutions to armed conflicts must be homegrown and rights should not be used as a tool to victimise countries. more..

Sep 27 (BBC) Senior police officers in Sri Lanka have denied accusations of harassing Muslim civilians at a Colombo suburb by police officers in a narcotic-related raid. Police spokesman, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Jayantha Wickramaratne admitted that officers had to open fire when residents in Maligawatta protested a raid by the police. "The officers have used minimum use to control the unruly mob," DIG Wickramaratne told BBC Sandeshaya. more..

Sep 27 (BBC) A leading Buddhist Mahanayake thero has called on Sri Lanka authorities to support the struggle for democracy in Myanmar led by Buddhist monks. The Mahanayake of Dambulla chapter of the Siyam Sect told BBC Sandeshaya that it is the 'duty' of Sri Lankan Budhhsits to help monks in Myanmar (Burma). Inamaluwe Sumangala Mahanayake thero said the monks should always be pro-people not pro-authorities. more..

Sep 27 (LG) On the eve of President Mahinda Rajapakse�s address to the UN�s 62nd General Assembly, Sri Lanka has been accused of 'a spate of extra-judicial executions' by the �military, paramilitary forces and insurgent groups in Sri Lanka� by Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on Summary and Arbitrary Executions. The Australian-born Legal Expert has bitten more than he can chew. more..

Sep 27 (LG) The Federal System is not a monster that separates, divides and wrenches asunder peoples and nations. In Sri Lanka, partly due to the Federal Party�s visionless and unfortunate Tamil version of the name Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi when it split from the All Ceylon Tamil Congress and mostly due to mischievous racists elements who actively promoted discrimination against the Tamils, the term federal system became synonymous with separation and a symbol of threat to the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. more..

Sep 27 (LG) I am shocked at the UNP�s decision to �re-position� itself and among many others, to drop the Federal Concept. I hasten to protest against this move and plead with the UNP Leadership not to drop the� Federal Concept. I genuinely feel that it will prove disastrous to the country that is already bleeding profusely. The UNP too as the main opposition party which, when in power, committed to the Oslo Agreement lose its credibility in the International Community. more..

Sep 27 (LBO) Sri Lanka has slipped ten places in a global ranking of public sector corruption, the latest study by anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International shows. The island was placed the 94th least transparent country among 180 nations in 2007, down from 84th place a year earlier in a corruption perceptions index which surveys the views of business people and economic analysts. more..

Sep 27 (AT) There is no doubt that the current regime is extremely successful in militarily weakening the LTTE. The present government has also declared that they will pursue the complete annihilation of the LTTE, and then offer a political solution to the ethnic question. And with the way things are going right now, that day doesn�t seem too far off. There is also no doubt that a majority of the average Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim and other communities in Sri Lanka firmly believe that Sri Lanka is too small an Island to divide into 2 states. more..

Sep 27 (FI) The insistent demand by certain �activists, academics, writers and clergy� that there should be no reference to or description of the Constitution as being unitary, appears to me, to arise from a mistaken understanding as to its meaning and significance, having regard to constitutional developments over the years, especially in regard to the concept of sovereignty. more..

Sep 27 (TC) Cinema has become one of the most popular and important forms of mass entertainment throughout Asia. It has also, over the years, become a valuable site in which negotiation of meaning related to a complex web of issues such as modernity, nationhood, Westernization, feminism, colonialism, urbanisation, civil society, cultural citizenship get purposefully articulated. more..

Sep 27 (Xinhua) Sri Lanka's Army Commander Sarath Fonseka said Wednesday that Tamil Tiger rebels have lost 60percent of the territory they controlled in the island's Northern and Eastern provinces during the last two years. The Army Commander told reporters that the LTTE have also faced severe internal problems according to intelligence sources. "We have killed over 3000 of their cadres in our humanitarian operations while another 1000 of them had been injured," Fonseka said. more..

Sep 27 (HT) The controversial LTTE dissident, Col Karuna, is believed to have left Sri Lanka recently, following trenchant international criticism of the activities of his group, the Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP), in the Eastern Tamil-speaking district of Batticaloa. Media reports said on Wednesday that Karuna had left for the UK. But independent sources could only confirm that he had left the country temporarily. more..

Sep 27 (ECB) England have been struck down by a stomach virus that has affected four members of their one-day squad as they build up to the start of the five-match series against Sri Lanka. Captain Paul Collingwood, fast bowler Stuart Broad, Luke Wright and Alastair Cook have all contracted the virus and could all be doubtful for England�s only warm-up match in Colombo against a Sri Lanka President's XI. more..

Sep 27 (RW) Briefing the press at United Nations Headquarters in New York this morning, Rohitha Bogollagama, Sri Lanka's Minister for Foreign Affairs, highlighted the main points of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's statements to the General Assembly yesterday and Monday's high-level event on climate change. The Minister said that, as a developing island nation that had borne the brunt of the 2005 tsunami, Sri Lanka had a very special perspective on climate change. more..

Sep 27 (LBO) Exporters of 'vanaspathi' vegetable oil to India have called on Sri Lanka to remove a 25 dollar per tonne levy on raw material imports, if the industry is to survive. India has already imposed a quota for the product, to protect a domestic industry. Vanaspathi a type of hydrogenated vegetable stated to be made in Sri Lanka after an Indo-Lanka free trade deal. more..

Sep 27 (LBO) A new Sri Lankan apartment developer says there is unmet demand in niche markets, though high interest rates from an expanding budget deficit have started to affect the overall property market. "There is a demand for quality apartments. One should stick to niche markets," Gishanka De Silva, director DGS Holdings Ceylinco said. Some buyers do not buy apartments merely to have a home but look for quality and class in the property. more..

Sep 27 (FI) Minister Ferial Ashroff, leader of the National Unity Alliance, speaks to C.A.Chandraprema on the current state of Muslim politics in Sri Lanka, the three cornered conflicts between the Sinhalese and the Muslims , the Muslims and the Tamils and the Tamils and the Sinhalese in the east, and the present policy of the Rajapakse government on the ethnic conflict. more..

Sep 27 (LeN) Dr. Ariyarathna Athugala, the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) has sent four trade union activists including one chairman of a union for submitting a letter against actions that damaged the rights and the professional respect of the producers. SLRC Producers' Union Chairman Kanchana Marasinghe, Organizer Herbert Kumara Alagiyawanna, Athula Peiris and Ravi Abewickrama are the four individuals sent compulsory leave while all 72 producers of the SLRC signed the petition. more..

Sep 27 (LBO) Sri Lanka's new company law has made it easier to start new ventures but winding up procedures are still cumbersome, a new World Bank study has said. In countries where bankruptcy is inefficient, unviable businesses linger for years, keeping assets and human capital from being reallocated to more productive uses, said the study on 'Doing Business' by the International Finance Corporation, the bank's private sector lending arm. more..

Sep 27 (LBO) Sri Lanka's government has announced the resumption of a loan program that was previously scrapped as the country developed its debt markets and tried to limit abuse of a non-state workers' pension fund. The government's debt office said it was issuing six billion rupees of rupee loans ranging in 4 to 10-year maturities. The 4-year loans would pay 18.40 percent interest, 6-year loans 18.60 percent, 7-year loans 18.70 percent and 10-year loans 19.00 percent. more..

Sep 27 (AT) President Mahinda Rajapaksa assured Sri Lankan expatriates living in the US that their request for lower rates on obtaining dual citizenship would be considered favorably by the Government. Lankans domiciled in New York and the Tri State area made this appeal to President Rajapaksa at a gathering at the New York Buddhist Vihara. The expatriates pointed out that they were keen to respond to the President's earlier call to Lankans living abroad to assist the country's development process. more..

Sep 27 (GDI) Another LTTE claymore explosion in Jaffna kills two innocent civilians while injuring 15 others. Two Police officers were also injured in the attack. The incident took place at Chunnaham in the northern peninsula this morning around 10 O�clock. The Police officers were rushed to the hospital in Kankasanthurai. Also it is reported that the injured 15 civilians were admitted to Thilippalai hospital for treatment. more..

Sep 27 (GDI) Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Minister of State Revenue and Finance said that the expenditure for 2008 could amount to Rs.1516.3 Billion. He stated this at a news conference held today (27) at the Treasury. He added that this year�s expenditure rose over 15% from that of 2007. The recurrent expenditure for 2008 would be Rs.725 billion. Government hopes to cover this expenditure totally by state funds. more..

Sep 27 (GDI) The �World Tourism Organization� has given Sri Lanka the privilege of hosting this year�s tourism day. The official ceremony will be held in Benthota this evening. Issuing a statement Minister of Tourism Milinda Moragoda declares that Tourism Industry in Sri Lanka has become more sophisticated with time and steadily progresses inspite of certain set backs and challenges and to meet the ever changing demands and trends Sri Lanka continues to move forward and innovate. more..

Sep 27 (GDI) 24th Hector Kobbekaduwa memorial conference was held in Colombo with the participation of Minister Chamal Rajapakshe as the chief guest today (27). Speaking on this occasion Minister Chamal Rajapaksa proposed that students in the 8 Agricultural Schools in the island be awarded scholarships to meet their course expenses. At a time when Agricultural development was a necessity giving a hand to those interested in Agriculture was vital. more..

Sep 27 (GDI) The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) killed a Catholic Priest in Mannar yesterday. The priest Rev. Nicholaspillai Packiyaranjith was a popular humanitarian activist who helped the people living under the LTTE controlled area of Mannar. The priest was killed as he has cooperated with the government officials in distribution of relief material to the people. more..

Sep 27 (GDI) The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by Hon. Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka on the implementation of SAARC Social Charter in Sri Lanka. The SAARC Social Charter was signed in 2004 at the 12th SAARC Summit held in Islamabad. As required by the Charter, each member country was directed to prepare a National Plan of Action. more..

Sep 27 (BBC) Troops in Sri Lanka have killed at least 11 Tamil Tiger rebels in overnight and daylight battles in the north of the island, the military says. The army says that since Monday around 60 rebels have been killed, but there has no independent confirmation and no comment from the rebels. The military says that a soldier was killed during fighting on Wednesday. Government forces have made gains from the rebels in the east of the island and want to do the same in the north. more..

Sep 27 (Hindu) Yet another Sri Lankan national who was trying to illegally fly out of India was apprehended at the Bangalore airport in the early hours of Wednesday. The Immigration officials at the Bangalore airport arrested Thushyanthan (23), who was possessing fake passport and visa, when he was about to board a Lufthansa Airline flight to the U.K., sources in the police told The Hindu. more..

Sep 27 (ISL) The Lanka Guardian exclusively received a desperately urgent message pleading for help against marauding policemen from the Katunayake Police against women Free Trade Zone workers in the vicinity of the Bandaranaike International Airport last evening. In an area where more than 20,000 female workers live working in the Free Trade Zone, many of them in boarding houses, police personnel from the Katunayake Police appear to have found some reasons to raid their places under some pretext or other. more..

Sep 27 (LNP) Attempts to incorporate Tamils in the democratic process in Sri Lanka have been blocked by the intolerance of LTTE Tigers, Secretary general of the SCOPP, Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha said. Wijesinha speaking in a right of reply at the 6th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva said the Sri lankan government tried to be pluralistic, but the efforts of Tamil Tigers had reduced the participation of Tamils in the Government and in the army over recent years. more..

Sep 27 (LNP) Businessmen in the Kiribathgoda town complain that they are forced to make regular contributions towards the conduct of religious, social and sports events in the Kelaniya area. The scheme to collect funds was initiated by Labour Minister Dr. Mervin Silva, a local businessman told The Island yesterday (26). Due to this some businessmen are finding it difficult to run their businesses profitably. Some businessmen contribute voluntarily while others, who refuse, are `tactfully` forced to fork out, he said. more..

Sep 27 (LNP) Once upon a time, there lived a village bum who had the bad habit of feasting on stolen toddy. One day, having clambered up a kitul palm at dawn, he was about to taste the pot that cheers, when he was challenged by the owner cum tapper who demanded to know what he was doing up there. Caught in flagrante delicto as he was, our bum started climbing down calmly with the cool reply: `I was looking for some grass.` more..

Sep 27 (LNP) Malaysia is now Sri Lanka`s single largest source of foreign investment it was announced at the Sri Lanka Malaysia business council`s third annual awards on Friday. Bilateral trade now stands at almost $ 500 million, but the balance of trade is weighted heavily in Malaysia`s favour with the value of Sri Lanka`s exports estimated at a scant $ 30 million dollars while imports from Malaysia now stand at over $450 million. more..

Sep 27 (SAMN) President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the UN general Assembly Wednesday that the government had launched military operations against the LTTE as part of moves to exert pressure on the rebels and convince them that it would not be possible for them to obtain a military victory. Speaking in Sinhala in the presence of world leaders at the 62nd UN General Assembly in New York the President stressed the ultimate goal of the government remained to seek a negotiated and more..

Sep 27 (SAMN) The JVP said Wednesday that the UNP had dropped its stand for a federal structure to resolve the national question, as a step to muster their support for toppling the government under the present circumstances. JVP parliamentary group leader Wimal Weerawansa said that they would never help the UNP ascend to power come what may, citing they were well aware of its hidden agenda. more..