Australia is a humane nation, a compassionate nation. We take many refugees, but this must be through the proper processes; through application in other countries and then Australia agreeing to accept those claims. We do not agree or encourage, in any way, people coming to Australia by boat, says Chris Bowen, Minister of Immigration and Citizenship.

"We have faced some hurdles and some roadblocks, but we�ve broken through those now. We�ve got the legislation through the Parliament - it has been passed through both houses of parliament, it is now the law of Australia and we're implementing that law", he said in an interview with Shameer Rasooldeen of News First Sri Lanka, released by the Australian High Commission in Colombo.

He said that Australia has a process for assessing those who are genuine refugees and who are not. "We do that very rigorously and we treat everybody humanely. But what we're not doing is providing an advantage to people who come by boat, as opposed to those many hundreds of thousands of people who apply to come to Australia as refugees in refugee camps around the world".

"I think everybody, of course across the world, obviously needs to keep a focus on people smuggling issues, and I know the Sri Lankan Government is doing that. So I do appreciate the efforts they've taken, yes. We assess everybody�s claim on an individual case-by-case basis, and if they can establish that they are refugees then they will not be returned. If they are not refugees they will be returned", the Minister noted.

Bowen said those who had arrived before last Monday will be processed and their claims assessed. If they are refugees they will be granted visas, if they are not refugees we will take steps to return them to their country. "We are not processing people in Australia at the moment. Anybody who arrives in Australia from last Monday runs the risk of being transferred to Papua New Guinea or Nauru".

Asked what is his message was to the potential illegal immigrant, the Minister replied, "That coming to Australia by boat not only risks your life, but is a complete waste of money. You will not get the product that you are after. I understand the wish of many people to live in Australia, but coming by boat is not a way that the Australian Government will tolerate. It is a way that risks your life and we will ensure that you are processed elsewhere and you receive no advantage in coming to Australia by boat.

Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Parliamentarian, Athuraliye Rathana Thera said, yesterday the government must be compelled to change its stand on the 13th Amendment to the Constitution through public mobilization. Referring to the announcement made by Cabinet Spokesperson, Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, who confirmed on Wednesday (22) that the government would not be abolishing the 13th Amendment, and the strongly expressed views of the JHU calling for the abolishment of the same, Rathana Thera said, "We must mobilize the public to push the government toward changing their stand on the matter." JHU National Organizer, Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe, responding to the inquiries pertaining to his party's alliance with the government, considering the current differences of opinion regarding the 13th Amendment, said, "What Minister Yapa expressed was the stand of the government. It is our view the amendment should be abolished. This isn't a government-JHU problem."

A fire has broken down in a tire refilling center near Vidyananda Piriwena in Ampara today (25) morning around 1.30am. The fire has been put out with the help of Walachchena Police and air force Fire brigades. Many equipment used for refilling tires have been completely destroyed and the loss is not yet estimated. Luckily no lives have been hurt from the fire and Police say that an exact reason for the fire has not yet been discovered. Ampara police is holding further investigations.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) yesterday urged the government to resolve the issues pertaining to the Northern Provincial Council elections and power devolution because of the contrasting views expressed by some of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) allies. TNA parliamentarian Suresh Premachanadran said it was up to the government to resolve the issue among its allies because it was the present regime, which appointed the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) to propose ways of resolving the national question. He said several constituent parties of the ruling UPFA Government were coming out with various views on the provincial councils and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Mr. Premachandra said contrasting views were even being expressed by public servants who had no right to do so.

Criminal Investigation Department of Sri Lanka police has begun an investigation into the fire that gutted a cargo warehouse in the main Colombo Port yesterday. The early morning fire broke out Friday in the Container Freight Station (CFS) -1 warehouse at the JCT terminal inside the Port of Colombo completely destroyed the warehouse and its contents. The firefighting units of the Port Authority, the Army assisted the Colombo Fire Brigade to douse the fire which took about four hours to bring under control, according to the Port Authority sources. Project Minister of Ports and Highways Rohitha Abeygunawardena visited the sites and ordered an immediate inquiry to ascertain the cause of the fire.

The Government yesterday stressed that the U.S embassy as any other foreign mission based in Colombo should get prior approval to engage with local government authorities. According to External Affairs Ministry Secretary Dr. Karunathilake Amunugama, foreign missions should either inform or get prior approval to implement any project in agreement with the local government authorities. "This is an international norm," he said. The Secretary's comments came in the wake of the U.S. embassy move to set up a public information and activity centre known as the American Corner in agreement with the Trincomalee Urban Council.

The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a coalition party of Sri Lanka' ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), said it will take measures to mobilize the public to urge the government to abolish the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. JHU parliamentarian Ven. Athuraliye Ratana Thero said the public must be mobilized to urge the government to change its stance on the 13th Amendment. The Thero's call to abolish the 13th Amendment came in response to the statement by Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa that the government would not abolish the 13th Amendment. At the cabinet press briefing Thursday Minister Yapa said the government has no intention whatsoever to postpone the Northern Provincial Cunicl polls, repeal the 13th Amendment or introduce amendments to the Constitution to remove police and land powers to the provinces.

An armed squad that came in a white van on Tuesday abducted a 68-year-old activist, Thangathurai Veluppillai, a supporter of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Ampaa'rai district. The victim was blindfolded while he was at Kalmunai public market and was taken away by the squad that tortured him to obtain the names of the TNA activists in Ampaa'rai district. The abduction comes a few days after the intelligence of the occupying SL military 'investigated' him following a meeting against the land grab by the SL military in his division. After 3 days of interrogations in Batticaloa, Mr Thangathurai was taken back to Kalmunai and released there, the sources further said. Informed civil sources in Ampaa'rai told TamilNet that the abducted victim, who hails from Malvaththai in Chamman-thu'rai division of Ampaarai district, was taken to Batticaloa for interrogation.

The Q branch of the Tamil Nadu police, with the assistance of the Ernakulam North police, arrested 21 Sri Lankans who were about to sail to Australia in a fishing boat from Kochi. The operation was carried out after information about the same was passed on by the Intelligence Bureau. According to officials, seven men, six women and eight children were nabbed from the New Cochin Residency, a hotel situated near the Ernakulam North Railway station, in the early hours of Thursday. The Sri Lankans came from Chennai by train and according to a statement issued by them, an agent named Subash took '1 lakh from each of them on Tuesday evening. 'These people are from four refugee camps located near Chennai. They were planning to sail to Australia in a fishing vessel. The agent escaped during the raid.

A Buddhist monk set himself on fire this morning outside the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, Kandy in protest over the slaughter of cattle, police said. Sources said the monk poured petrol over his body and then lit himself. He was rushed to the Kandy hospital with severe injuries and later transferred to General Hospital, Colombo, the police added.

Dominican Republic authorities have arrested four men from Sri Lanka accused of smuggling at least 60 migrants from India and the Middle East into the U.S. and Canada using fake passports. Officials with the National Investigations Department say the alleged leader of the group is a Canadian citizen identified as 42-year-old Karunhanithy Nallathamby. Director Fidel Calcagno said late Wednesday that Nallathamby was in charge of obtaining passports in Canada that would later be altered and given to migrants once they reached the Dominican Republic. He said the majority of migrants had criminal backgrounds and would stay in Nallathamby's house for up to two months before traveling to the U.S. or Canada.

Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor has granted lawyers access to two Tamil asylum seekers who feared they would be removed to Sri Lanka. The asylum seekers - who cannot be named - emailed refugee lawyer David Manne from Christmas Island on Wednesday seeking his help to apply for refugee protection. The email came after 31 Tamil asylum seekers were flown from Christmas Island to Sri Lanka after they were determined to be not genuine refugees. Daniel Webb, from the Human Rights Law Centre, said that such people were typically interviewed without legal advice.

A massive pre-dawn fire has gutted the inbound cargo warehouse in Sri Lanka's Colombo Port, port officials said. The early morning fire had broken out in the CFS-1 warehouse at JCT terminal inside the Port of Colombo, the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, Dr. Priyath Bandu Wickrama told the media. The Colombo Fire Brigade with the assistance of Navy and Army has managed to douse the fire. There were no injuries reported due to the fire. The Port Authority Chairman has said that the authority will immediately take necessary measures to evaluate the cargo that was destroyed in the fire. Project Minister of Ports and Highways Rohitha Abeygunawardena said that an immediate inquiry has been launched to ascertain the cause of the fire.

The National Investigations Department (DNI) in the Dominican Republic arrested members of a people trafficking network with possible links to international terrorist cells, who used Dominican Republic as a bridge from Cuba, France, Spain, Sri Lanka and Haiti, Dominican today.com reported. The website said that DNI chief operating officer Fidel Paulino identified the Sri Lankan- Canadian Karunanithy Nallathamby as the group's leader, arrested in Sosua, Puerto Plata, while Kanthaany Siresh or Sriram Kannan, and Ganesh Mahenderan, or David Kristen and Kohulan Selvarasa, were detained in a house where they had hidden during two months. The DNI said Nallathamby had stolen original passports from a passport office in Canada to alter them and sell to Indian nationals who entered Dominican territory along the border with Haiti.

The Sri Lanka government yesterday expressed concern over the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the US embassy in Colombo and the Trincomalee Urban Council to jointly establish a public information and activity centre known as the American Corner, without the knowledge or the authorisation of the Sri Lanka External Affairs Ministry. Government sources said that foreign missions based in Colombo should obtain prior approval or inform to the External Affairs Ministry of Sri Lanka whenever they need to engage with local authorities - which is the international norm. Currently there are two American Corners - in Kandy and Jaffna. The signatories to the MoU for establishing and American Corner were Christopher Teal, Director, Press, Cultural and Educational Affairs of the US embassy in Colombo and the chairman of the Trincomalee Urban Council, K. Selvarajah.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday warned the government of dire consequences in case the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won the first northern provincial council election. The Defence Secretary was responding to a statement attributed to Petroleum Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, at Wednesday's post-cabinet media briefing, that the election would be held in accordance with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Minister Yapa ruled out the possibility of diluting the 13th Amendment before the election. Asked whether he would publicly campaign against the decision, the Gajaba Regiment veteran said: "As the Secretary, Ministry of Defence, my responsibility is to warn the government of the grave repercussions of empowering a hostile provincial administration with land and police powers. Police powers in the hands of those still pursuing a separatist agenda can pose a severe threat to national security."

The Sri Lankan government has commenced a campaign to promote the country ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo this November. Secretary of the External Affairs Ministry Karunatilaka Amunugama said the government will also attend a meeting to be held at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London this week. He has explained that Media Ministry Secretary Charitha Herath would be heading the publicity team in Sri Lanka while Sri Lankan High Commission missions overseas are also carrying out separate campaigns ahead of the summit. External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris had also briefed his Ministry staff last week on the preparations for the summit in November.

China Development Bank Corporation will lend $580 million to Sri Lanka to help implement key infrastructure projects, a government document released on Wednesday showed. The loan will bring CDB's total lending to Sri Lanka to more than US$1.4 billion. China's increasing influence in the island nation has stoked concerns in neighboring India. According to the document, $300 million of the loan will be spent on developing roads and $200 million on water supply projects, with the rest going to the national business school. It said CDB had already extended $652 million for road development projects and $214 million for an irrigation project. The loan announcement comes ahead of a four-day official visit to China by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa has requested all MPs to be present in Parliament when Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra addresses the House on May 31. The request from the Speaker was read to the House by Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody yesterday. He said that PM Shinawatra would address the House at 2. 45 pm on May 31, on a special request by Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa. Security in and around Parliament had been increased and the MPs' rooms and lockers would be inspected by the members of the security forces on May 30 and 31 as a part of those security arrangements. On that day the public gallery would be open only for invitees.

Leader of the National Freedom Front - Minister Wimal Weerawansa, who was recently hospitalized, has been discharged last night (22). He was admitted to the Colombo Nawaloka Hospital four days ago. Doctors had said that the flu that the minister was suffering from had led to pneumonia. Doctors have advised him to rest for a few days, reports say.

A further 31 Sri Lankan irregular maritime arrivals are being returned to Colombo after failing to meet Australia's international obligations, Australia's Immigration and Citizenship Minister Brendan O'Connor said. The group departed Christmas Island on Wednesday to be flown back to the Sri Lankan capital. Their return takes the number of Sri Lankans sent home to 1161 - 950 of them involuntarily - since August last year. Mr O'Connor said returning the group to Sri Lankans sends a powerful message. 'The Gillard Government is making it crystal clear that those who pay smugglers are throwing their money away and risking their lives in the process,' Mr O'Connor said.