August 18-25

Sri Lanka government delegations including Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunge left to India on a two-day official tour.

The group is scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other high ranking members of the Indian government.

Discussions between India and Sri Lanka are to be focused on the present development trends in the Sri Lanka and the recent developments in the north and east.

August 04-11

Sri Lanka government announced that Deputy Minister Mervyn Silva has been removed from his post in the government following a disciplinary inquiry held this evening over his recent conduct.

Government sources further added that Silva has also been removed from the membership of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).

Silva tied a Samurdhi officer to a mango tree last week over the failure by the officer to attend a dengue prevention programme in Kelaniya.

Glance at Weekly News: August 2-9

Sri Lankan Prime Minister D. M. Jayratne told in Parliament while motion extending emergency regulations that the Government has taken measures to confiscate all assets of the defeated terror outfit the LTTE in the future.

He further said that these assets included houses, plots of land and business establishments that were run by the LTTE in Colombo and the suburbs. Information about the assets of the LTTE in Colombo and the suburbs are being divulged by LTTE cadres who have been arrested.