Apr 13 (Jang) Sri Lanka football team is ready to make a tour to Pakistan next month to play few test matches, confirmed an official on Monday. Manilal Fernando, Senior Vice President of FFSL, said that their team was ready to play matches everywhere during their tour to Pakistan in May. more..

Apr 13 (IANS) Velupillai Prabhakaran has just proved, yet again, why he is considered the lord and master of all that he surveys in Sri Lanka's north and east. Less than a week after ordering a Good Friday blitzkrieg against his former regional commander Karuna, Prabhakaran's men have taken control of both Batticaloa and Amparai districts more..

Apr 13 (IANS) Sri Lanka could be readying for war while pursuing peace, reports OneWorld. Amid rumours of renewed talks between Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the LTTE, the government has launched an army recruitment drive. more..

Apr 13 (AFP) Sri Lanka is set to mark its traditional New Year today amid a deepening political crisis in the minority government as factional fighting between Tamil Tigers appeared to peter out, officials said. more..

Apr 13 (TP) Sports minister Jeewan Kumaratunga pledged to put an end to the foreign tour mania by officials and treat all sportsmen and women without discrimination — specifically referring to the case of controversial sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe. more..

Apr 13 (TP) Sixty of the 66 People’s Alliance parliamentarians in the ruling UPFA have been appointed ministers or deputy ministers in the new Cabinet. Accordingly the PA has received 31 ministerial posts and 31 deputy ministerial posts, with Ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Dinesh Gunwardene getting two additional deputy ministerial portfolios apart from being ministers. more..

Apr 13 (TP) Early cracks began to emerge in the new government, forcing President Kumaratunga to summon an urgent meeting of the ruling coalition’s executive committee after its key partner, the JVP threatened to pull out of the Cabinet if its demands were not met, more..

Apr 13 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers freed more than 100 child soldiers on Tuesday after vanquishing a breakaway rebel faction in weekend clashes that threatened the island's fragile peace bid. more..

Apr 13 (HT) As on date, the UPFA is running a minority government in Sri Lanka, seven MPs short of a majority. But even before it has secured majority support in parliament, it has taken up the highly controversial issue of changing the constitution of the country drastically. more..

Apr 13 (HT) Unable to look after them anymore, the defeated renegade LTTE Commander, Col.Karuna, forced his cadres to flee by bursting bombs in their midst, informed sources in Batticaloa told Hindustan Times on Tuesday. more..

Apr 13 (TN) The All Ceylon Hindu Congress (ACHC) Tuesday in its New Year Day message appealed to the Government and the opposition to evolve a lasting political solution that would satisfy the aspirations of the Tamil-speaking people to work towards a ensuring permanent peace in Sri Lanka. more..

Apr 13 (TN) The Mahanayake Thera of Asgiriya Chapter the Most Venerable Buddharakita said Tuesday that the country is at risk facing another general election within a short time if the leaders of the two major political parties which have not obtained majority in the recent poll failed to arrive at a consensus to find solutions to burning problems of the country. more..

Apr 13 (TN) President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge is seriously considering a proposal to hold elections to six provincial councils (excluding northwest) in the south of the country on one day. She is to begin talks next week with leaders and secretaries of various political parties in this regard. more..

Apr 13 (TN) President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge has appointed a five-member committee with the Prime Minister Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse at the helm in a bid to resolve the crisis within the recently formed UPFA government following differences between the major constituents, the JVP and the SLFP, more..

Apr 13 (AFP) Thousands of Tamil refugees began returning home as Sri Lanka's government considered granting asylum to a Tamil Tiger commander after he called off a fierce factional war. more..

Apr 13 (AFP) Tamil Tiger rebels freed nearly 150 child soldiers on Tuesday in their biggest single release of underage combatants, the United Nations children's agency said. UNICEF said it was taking custody of the children at the rebel-held town of Vakarai, more..

Apr 14 (TN) Five armored personnel vehicles (APV) manufactured locally by the Sri Lanka Army's Regiment of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Unit in Sri Lanka are to be handed over to the Special Task Force (STF) fleet of the Sri Lanka Police Thursday. more..

Apr 14 (TN) Special Forces commanders of the LTTE in Batticaloa told TamilNet Tuesday that all the LTTE military camps in the district’s interior have been completely checked and cleared. “We have recovered the Batticaloa-Amparai district armoury fully, except for a heavy mortar and some rifles. more..

Apr 14 (TN) The residents of the Batticaloa-Amparai district have expressed happiness over the end of the tensions caused by the renegade Karuna group in the region. The people are celebrating the Tamil New Year with relief, sources in Batticaloa said. more..

Apr 14 (TN) The political head of the LTTE for the Batticaloa-Amparai region, Mr. Kausalyan, speaking to press persons in Vakarai Tuesday, said that the retrieval of the region from the renegade Karuna group was made according to the plans of the LTTE leader, Mr. V. Pirapaharan, more..

Apr 14 (SLA) Two unidentified LTTE men threatened a civilian at gunpoint in the general area of BATTICALOA on 01 April 2004 and forcibly took him to an LTTE camp and retained his motorbike worth Rs.112,000 (about US $ 1166). more..

Apr 14 (SLA) A civilian alleged to have been beaten by two LTTE cadres in the general area of SAVUKUDE in ERAVUR on 07 April 2004 was admitted to BATTICALOA hospital for treatment. more..

Apr 14 (SLA) Naval troops on duty in the general area north of URUMALAI during the night on 12 April 2004 saw a flotilla of about 25-35 Indian fishing trawlers poaching inside Sri Lankan waters.

Apr 14 (TN) The Thirukoneswaram (Trinco) Lions Club has donated a consignment of mosquito nets to Tamil students who come from poor families and are being assisted by the Trincomalee Students Welfare Fund to pursue their education from Grade one to university level. more..

Apr 14 (KT) The violent clash between rival factions of separatist Tamil guerrillas was a big step backward on the road to peace, made even bumpier by cracks in the island-nation's new government. Sri Lankans have enjoyed relative calm during a two-year cease-fire between the military and LTTE. more..

Apr 14 (AFP) Sri Lanka marked the traditional New Year with calls for peace yesterday, but the government’s offer to consider safe haven for a renegade rebel leader could complicate the already troubled peace push, diplomats here said. more..

Apr 14 (Rupavahini) The deputy leader of the SLMM Hagrap Hawkland says that they held talks with the LTTE Batticalao leader Ramesh on the fractional fighting in the East. He told to Rupavahini that they will discuss this matter with the military commander of the East tomorrow or day after. more..

Apr 14 (TT) The worst fears about the peace process in Sri Lanka have come true rather too soon. The eruption of violence between rival factions of the LTTE may not be directly linked to the recent elections in the country, but it surely makes the new government’s task so much more difficult. more..

Apr 14 (SO) Sri Lanka has appointed Mr Radley Giles Weber as its Honorary Consul in the Republic of Seychelles. A communiqué from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Government of Seychelles has approved the appointment, which is already effective. more..

Apr 14 (TS) An Australian biomechanical expert has defended the testing procedures involved in examining spinner Muttiah Muralitharan's controversial "doosra" delivery. more..

Apr 14 (BBC) Sri Lanka Cricket has appointed a special panel to review the findings of a report on Muttiah Muralitharan's bowling action. The spinner recently underwent tests in Australia after his action was queried by International Cricket Council match referee Chris Broad. more..

Apr 14 (Gulf) The fragile ceasefire between Sri Lanka's government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE, now two months into its third year, shows every sign of holding despite the scare that a breakaway faction might imperil the peace process. more..

Apr 14 (DJ) New Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama said Wednesday that the administration which ousted a pro-business government at polls earlier this month won't adopt economic policies that will widen the disparity between the rich and the poor. more..

Apr 14 (AFP) Tamil Tiger rebels are hunting routed renegade regional commander Karuna amid an offer of sanctuary from government security forces, rebel and military sources have said. The LTTE forced Karuna to flee after seizing territory held by him in a four-day offensive that ended Monday, more..

Apr 14 (AFP) Sri Lanka marked the traditional New Year with calls for peace, but the government's offer to consider safe haven for a renegade rebel leader could complicate the already troubled peace push, diplomats here said. more..

Apr 14 (HT) The rebel LTTE commander, Colonel Karuna, has killed Neelan, one of those intelligence operatives of the LTTE who plotted the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, in 1991. Informed sources in Batticaloa told HT on Wednesday that Karuna shot dead Neelan on Monday, April 12, more..

Apr 14 (KN) A Tamil Tiger intelligence operative shot dead by renegade commander Karuna in Sri Lanka had escaped from India three months after the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. more..

Apr 14 (ICRC) Thousands of civilians fled their homes following the fierce fighting that erupted between the LTTE and the LTTE-Karuna faction in the eastern part of Sri Lanka on 9 April. Around 2,600 people took refuge in a school in Mankerni, more..

Apr 14 (BBC) Life is changing in Sri Lanka as the trappings of modern life intrude after years of war. "Jaffna connected!," screams a mobile phone company billboard on a main road in this war-weary town in northern Sri Lanka. For once, this doesn't sound like advertising spiel. more..

Apr 14 (PTI) Scandinavian truce monitors today resumed their regular patrols in areas once occupied by renegade LTTE commander V Muralitharan in embattled eastern Sri Lanka. "We are once again setting up our communication lines and we have started the regular patrols," more..

Apr 14 (ST) AFTER a two-year lull, the sounds of booming guns are echoing across Sri Lanka once again. This time, and for the first time since the ethnic violence broke out in 1983, the fighting is not between the Tamil Tiger separatists and the Sri Lankan government forces. It is a factional war among the Tigers themselves. more..

Apr 14 (TN) The Batticalo Magistrate, Mr. H.H.M. Ajmeer, on Wednesday ordered further remand until April 27 to the four cadres of the renegade Karuna group who were arrested by Sri Lanka police on March 31 with weapons on the Kalmunai-Batticaloa road, more..

Apr 14 (BBC) Australian star Shane Warne believes fellow spinner Muttiah Muralitharan will beat him to the Test record and could even claim 1,000 wickets. West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh currently holds the record with 519, with Warne on 517 and Murali on 513. more..

Apr 14 (UN) In the single biggest formal release of child soldiers by Sri Lanka’s main rebel LTTE, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has facilitated the return of nearly 150 children out of the hundreds and possibly thousands still in rebel ranks. more..

Apr 15 (TN) The LTTE Wednesday officially announced that their deputy head of the Batticaloa intelligence unit, Lt.Colonel Neelan (Sinnathamby), was shot dead by the "traitorous" Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan alias Karuna on April 12 before he fled his jungle hideouts in the Batticaloa district, more..

Apr 15 (TN) Mr.Visu (Sinnathamby Gopalan), who was appointed as the political head of the Karuna group in Batticaloa and Amparai districts by the renegade commander Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan when he broke away from the LTTE, rejoined the LTTE Wednesday afternoon in Batticaloa town, more..

Apr 15 (TN) All the twenty-two TNA parliamentarians are expected to meet the political head of the LTTE, Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, Friday in Kilinochchi, sources in the Vanni said Wednesday. The TNA has 20 MPs elected directly and an additional two national list MPs. more..

Apr 15 (TN) The four Cabinet rank ministers and other four deputy ministers of the JVP are likely to be sworn in on Thursday or Friday as all disputes between the JVP and the SLFP, regarding the allocation of subjects under the ministries designated for them have been patched up for now, more..

Apr 15 (TN) Violence is on the increase in the islets of Jaffna district after the general election held on April 2. Several people were injured in clashes that took place on the Tamil-Sinhala New Year Day (April 13) at Thambatti area in Kayts between members of public and the EPDP, more..

Apr 15 (TN) The Liberation Tigers said Wednesday that they have released all underage (under 18) cadres in the Batticaloa-Amparai districts to their parents, including all those the UNICEF had reported in its list as under-aged recruits. more..