May 21 (AFP) Australia pledged 100,000 dollars (65,000 US) cash to help Sri Lanka cope with its worst floods in five decades and said it would commit more once the extent of the damage became clear. more..

May 21 (HT) The LTTE has cited a proposal made by the Government of India in 1987 to justify its demand for a "radically new" and powerful Interim Administration (IA) in the Tamil North Eastern Province (NEP) with a "dominant participatory role" for the LTTE in it. more..

May 21 (TN) The LTTE today called upon the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, to formally respond to proposals by its leader, Mr. Vellupillai Pirapaharan, for an interim administrative set-up in the Northeast. more..

May 21 (Reuters) Rescue workers picked through devastated villages on Wednesday looking for survivors after Sri Lanka's worst flooding in half a century killed more than 250 people and left hundreds more missing. more..

May 21 (OW) While some 500 people are feared to have been killed and 600,000 displaced in one of the worst floods in Sri Lanka's history, observers say skewed development programs and uncoordinated government efforts have exacerbated the disaster. more..

May 21 (AFP) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers have delayed by a day an announcement of their stand on stalled peace talks and participation in a crucial donors conference in Japan, rebel sources said. more..

May 21 (AFP) India lent military personnel and the United States pitched in cash yesterday for Sri Lanka's relief operation as waters began receding after floods left more than 200 feared dead. more..

May 21 (HT) Though the Sri Lankan government had sent a SOS to the international community for urgent help to fight the floods and provide relief, only India has sent personnel and relief material so far. India was also the first to respond. more..

May 21 (TN) “We settled here in 1954 to safeguard our homeland. Today there is nobody to save us”, says Mr. Kanapathipillai Poopalapillai, 79, former President of the Rural Development Society of Sinnawaththai, a destroyed border Tamil village in the east coast’s interior. more..

May 21 (HT) A delegation of the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which met Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday, found that he was keen on, and hopeful about, bridging the gap between his proposals and the demands of the LTTE. more..

May 22 (TN) Batticaloa town was tense Wednesday night as an operative of the Sri Lanka army’s military intelligence was shot dead while a grenade was also lobbed at the residence of Mr. Indrakumar Prasanna, secretary general of the TELO. The TELO is a constituent of the Tamil National Alliance. more..

May 22 (BS) The severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak in popular tourist destinations like Hong Kong and Singapore has led to a huge diversion of outbound Indian traffic to Nepal, Dubai, Sri Lanka and Mauritius. more..

May 22 (Island) The World Bank yesterday emphasised that the peace process cannot continue to "sit in limbo", warning also that the mood of the international community towards Sri Lanka had already changed due to uncertainty over the peace process and questions over the LTTE’s participation at the Tokyo conference. more..

May 22 (TN) The LTTE and Mutur Majlis Al Shura Council Wednesday agreed to appoint an eight-member committee to resolve differences that arise between Tamils and Muslims in the Mutur area in future, sources in Mutur said. more..

May 22 (TN) The government Wednesday tabled a Local Government Elections Special Provision Act bill in parliament empowering the Commissioner General of Elections to call for fresh nominations to the fifty-three local government institutions in the Tamil dominated Northeast province. more..

May 22 (AFP) Sri Lanka’s former World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga Wednesday refused to accept defeat as his bid for the top job in the country’s cricket administration looked doomed to failure. more..

May 22 (Kyodo) Japan decided Wednesday to provide tents, sheets, plastic canteens and electric generators as emergency aid to Sri Lanka, which is suffering from serious flood damage, the Foreign Ministry said. more..

May 22 (DM) A high powered committee comprising Government and Opposition members met in Parliament on Tuesday to discuss ways and means of setting up Oversight Committees in Parliament a proposal of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. more..

May 22 (Gulf) A formal appeal has been launched by the Sri Lankan mission in the UAE to all the expatriate community to assist in the rehabilitation of flood-hit victims back home. "We will be needing kitchen utensils, milk powder, rice, pluses, sugar, canned fish, and medicines. In the long term we will be needing roofing sheets," he said. more..

May 22 (LBO) The international call access code auction has run aground with regulators now eying a late June date for the event. Industry officials say despite a working model being in place, a number of other issues need to be resolved before the auction. more..

May 22 (SLA) An ex-member of People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), named MASTER has been shot at close range and killed by an unidentified gunman in the general area of PULIYANTIVU, about 1 km. south of BATTICALOA town on 21 May 2003 around 8.30 p.m. more..

May 22 (SLA) A civilian in a complaint made to the Army camp at BATTICALOA claimed that two LTTE cadres hurled a grenade at him on 21 May 2003 around 7.30 p.m. while he was in the general area of PULIYANTIVU, about 1 km. south of BATTICALOA town. more..

May 22 (SLA) Three Muslim firewood collectors, who have been abducted by LTTE on 21 May 2003 from the general jungle area of KIRIMICHCHIKULAM, about 12 km. northwest of VALACHCHENAI have managed to return home this morning (22 May 2003). more..

May 22 (SLA) The ex-member of the EPRLF, A. P. DEVARAJ who was shot and injured by two LTTE gunmen on 11 May 2003 at SORIKALMUNAI, succumbed to his injuries on 14 May 2003 while he was lying at the COLOMBO National Hospital. more..

May 22 (SLA) A tractor, which was robbed by three armed LTTE cadres at gunpoint has been found abandoned by the Police in the general area south of MANIRASAKULAM, about 21 km southwest of TRINCOMALEE town on 20 May 2003 around 8.00 p.m. more..

May 22 (TN) Institutional arrangements suggested by Colombo last week in response to concerns raised by the Liberation Tigers about establishing a legally viable and operable system to utilise donor aid for development and reconstruction of the war ravaged northeast are not valid in Sri Lankan law, legal experts said Thursday. more..

May 22 (TN) “The LTTE will participate in the Tokyo aid summit scheduled for next month only if the Sri Lankan government response to our suggestions is concrete, trustworthy, honest and not based on verbal pledges regarding our proposal for the establishment of an interim administration in the northeast province” said Mr. S.P. Thamilselvan, more..

May 22 (Reuters) Stocks slipped slightly on Thursday on worries the island's stalled peace process may take longer to get moving again. Brokers said they were watching for news from a news conference by the Tamil Tigers, who confirmed after the market closed that they would not be taking part in an aid-pledging conference in Tokyo next month. more..

May 22 (Gulf) Sri Lankan rescue workers searched through devastated villages yesterday looking for survivors from the island's worst flooding in half a century that killed 256 people and has left 500 missing. more..

May 22 (Gulf) Hopes of ending a month long deadlock in peace talks were dashed yesterday, when Tamil Tiger rebels rejected a set of government proposals and demanded more administrative and economic powers. more..

May 22 (BBC) Aid workers helping flood victims in southern Sri Lanka say they are increasingly concerned about the relief effort. More than 250 people are now known to have died and some three quarters of a million people affected in the country's worst floods in 50 years. more..

May 22 (DN) The international community and major donor agencies pledged their support to the government yesterday to rehabilitate flood-hit cities in the Southern, Sabaragamuwa and Western provinces. more..

May 22 (DJ) Fifteen months into a cease-fire, reconstructing Sri Lanka's war-torn northeast is struggling to get off the ground even though millions of dollars in loans are available for infrastructure projects. more..

May 22 (UN) With the death toll in Sri Lanka rising to more than 200, United Nations inter-agency teams are struggling alongside local relief workers to feed and shelter 171,000 survivors of the worst floods and landslides to hit the island in half a century. more..

May 22 (AFP) Sri Lanka's Tiger rebels demanded the immediate setting up of an interim administration to rule the island's war-ravaged regions in exchange for ending their boycott of peace talks. more..

May 22 (AFP) The European Union has sent a team to Sri Lanka to assess the damage from flash floods which left more than 250 people dead, the Greek presidency said in a statement. more..

May 22 (HT) Multilateral donors like the UN, WB and ADB have pandered to the "unrepresentative and non-transparent" LTTE, in their "Needs Assessment" document, which is to serve as a background paper at the mega "Aid Lanka" conference to be held in Tokyo on June 9 and 10, says a leading Tamil economist, Dr Muthukrishna Saravananthan. more..

May 22 (OW) Although the Sri Lankan government declared recently that it has saved U.S. $ 400 million -- 40 percent of its defense budget for 2002 -- thanks to the peace process, development programs for the underprivileged remain a pipedream. more..

May 22 (BBC) The head of the Tamil Tigers' political wing has branded six rounds of peace talks with the Sri Lankan Government a "waste of time". SP Thamilselvan said at a news conference on Thursday that the Tigers would only resume talks if their demand for an interim administration in the north-east was met. more..

May 22 (PTI) Vowing not to return to war, Tamil Tiger rebels today said they were committed to peace through a negotiated settlement but termed the six rounds of peace talks with the Sri Lankan government "a waste of time". more..

May 22 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on Thursday ruled themselves out of attending an aid donor conference next month, saying they wanted more done to return war-hit Tamil areas to normal. more..

May 22 (AP) A flood affected Sri Lankan man with his granddaughter on his shoulder shows the flood water level in Horana, 30 kilometers (19 miles) southeast of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, May 21, 2003. more..

May 22 (AT) With the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) refusing to return to the negotiating table, the Sri Lankan peace process is in crisis. While there is no immediate threat of war, the situation is unstable. more..

May 22 (CI) Despite acknowledging that he faces defeat in the forthcoming Sri Lanka cricket board elections, Arjuna Ranatunga has flatly rejected the suggestion that he join forces with Thilanga Sumathipala, the leading contender for the post of president. more..

May 22 (AFP) Russian Deputy Defence Minister Mikhail Dmitriev arrived Thursday for a three-day official visit to Sri Lanka, defence officials said. The minister is due to hold talks with Sri Lankan Defence Minister Tilak Marapana before leaving on Saturday, officials said. more..

May 22 (AFP) Sri Lanka's hopes of ending the peace talks deadlock dimmed as Tiger rebels issued fresh demands, but the authorities were giving them "active consideration," officials here said Thursday. more..

May 22 (CNW) The Honourable Susan Whelan, Minister for International Cooperation, today responded to the emergency appeal from the International Federation of Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies to assist flood and landslide victims in Sri Lanka. more..

May 22 (TN) A delegation of the Tamil National Alliance Thursday told the American Ambassador for Sri Lanka Mr.Ashely Wills the urgency in setting up of an interim administration to rebuild the war ravaged northeast province and to rehabilitate the displaced families in their villages, TNA sources said. more..

May 22 (HT) The Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has put the LTTE in a spot. He has made an offer which the LTTE cannot reject without badly antagonising the international donor community, without which it cannot rehabilitate and develop the war- ravaged Tamil North Eastern Province (NEP). more..

May 22 (AP) Thailand's navy chief will visit Sri Lanka to discuss how to strengthen military ties, days after his country cracked down on suspected Tamil Tiger rebel gunrunners, a top defense official said Thursday. more..