The British High Commissioner, John Rankin, urged the government to investigate disappearances and resolve the "complex" land issues that remain.

In a statement released on Friday, Rankin said,

Citing a "challenge [to] the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India", the Indian government extended its ban on the LTTE for another two years. In a statement, the home ministry added that the LTTE held a strong anti-India stance and pro-LTTE groups 'continued to foster a separatist tendency' among the Indian masses.

In her continuing campaign to expel Sri Lankan Air Force personnel from India, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has attacked both the Indian government for being meek and DMK president M Karunanidhi's duplicity on the issue.

In a statement made on Friday she had said of Delhi:

"It is regrettable that India, instead of leaping like a tiger is cowering like a mouse before the Sri Lankan government."

Sri Lanka’s second International Defence Seminar will be held from August 8-10 in Colombo, Army Commander Brigadier Jagath Jayasuriya announced on Wednesday.

The conference has been themed ‘Towards Lasting Peace and Stability’ and will focus on ‘post-war 5Rs’ – rehabilitation, re-integration, re-construction, resettlement and reconciliation.

The keynote speaker will be none other than Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who has very recently been in the media spotlight for his rhetoric skills.

Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella has announced the imposition of registration fees for news websites in Sri Lanka.

News websites will now be charged Rs 100,000 ($750) for registering and an annual fee of Rs 50,000 ($ 375).

Rambukwella said the new measures are designed to control ‘filth’ that was being published by some websites.

"This is the first step in the process of regulating those who were engaged in publishing filth.

Extracts from a report by the Washington Post on Friday:

The Jaffna magistrate has banned a demonstration protesting against the military’s appropriation of Tamil residents' lands – even though he has no jurisdiction to do so.

According to the magistrate, the demonstration would threaten national security, create dissension among communities and would be risking the normalisation of armed culture.

The TNPF (Tamil National People’s Front) has applied to the Jaffna High Court to overturn the ban.

Journalists, activists and opposition lawmakers have staged a protest against media suppression and intimidation by the Sri Lankan state.

Dozens of protesters gathered in Colombo on Thursday to condemn the recent police raids of websites critical of the government, the alleged attempted abduction of a journalist and the alleged secret police gathering journalists’’ personal information.

Dozens of unemployed graduates protested in Jaffna today at the lack of opportunity for employment in the public sector due to the dominance of UPFA supporters, reported TamilNet on Thursday.