Aug 21 (SLA) One thousand six hundred and sixteen (1616) lorry loads of food and other essential items had been dispatched to un-cleared areas in the northern province during the period between 14 August 2004 and 20 August 2004. more..

Aug 21 (CO) When Sri Lanka was tumbling to a humiliating defeat at Adelaide Oval in early 2002 I buttonholed Tony Greig in order to pursue my favourite topic of verbal intimidation in cricket. But Tony indicated that he was more concerned about the quality of umpiring. It was not an issue that we discussed further. more..

Aug 21 (IT) Few airlines have seen such turmoil as SriLankan. For many years its domestic network was effectively closed down by the civil war, and in 2001 much of the airline's fleet was destroyed by guerrillas at its main base in Colombo. But following two years of relative stability, the airline has now re-started flights to destinations around the island. more..

Aug 21 (CI) For long now, Muttiah Muralitharan has been the dominant factor in Sri Lankan cricket. When he's around, and twirling those big-spinning offies, the team is usually doing fine. For long, though, Sri Lanka have struggled in his absence. Are they finally learning to cope with life without Murali? more..

Aug 21 (PIS) President Chandrika Kumaratunga left for the United Kingdom today on a brief private visit[Saturday 21st August]. Minister Rantansiri Wickremanayake will act as Minister of Defence during her absence. more..

Aug 21 (AT) Anura Kumara Dissanayake Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation yesterday revealed in the floor of the House that the Tamil rebel outfit, LTTE received Rs.18.7 million worth of fertilizer from the Fertilizer Corporation during the last UNP Government without paying for the consignment of the fertilizer. more..

Aug 21 (DN) A decision was taken to form a Security Division under the purview of the Police Department, similar to the Ministerial Security Division, to provide protection to Judicial Officers, said Minister of Justice and Judicial Reforms W.D.J. Senaviratne. more..

Aug 21 (Xinhua) The Sri Lankan military has accused the Tamil Tiger rebels of carrying out an attack on government troops, the state radio said Saturday. SLBC said the military believes that the LTTE rebels were responsible for attacking an army officer and a soldier at Kanyakerni, north of Batticaloa in early hours of Saturday. more..

Aug 22 (TS) Acting on a tip, an OPP tactical response unit was sent last night to intercept a bus headed for Northern Ontario carrying two men police believe are involved in a pair of fatal stabbings. more..

Aug 22 (SL) While the government continued to struggle for a majority in parliament, the rift between the President and JVP widened considerably last week even as the UNP planned to take the administration head on from mid October. more..

Aug 22 (SL) The LTTE have flatly denied claims by President Chandrika Kumaratunga that she has sent seven to eight different draft proposals for the Tigers' consideration and called on her to settle differences with the JVP and come before the LTTE with one voice. more..

Aug 22 (AT) The LTTE’s yearning to be recognized as the sole representatives of the Tamils of Sri Lanka stems from Veluppillai Prabhakaran dream to become an authoritarian ruler over an independent state carved out of the North and East of Sri Lanka. more..

Aug 22 (AT) Tracing the origins of any violent conflict can run in diverse directions with emphasis on one or the other cause that contributed to its growth and momentum. But of all the approaches to any crisis the most misleading path is to rely on any single cause. more..

Aug 22 (AT) Three suspects who were allegedly involved in the assassination of Kandaiah Yogarajha allias "Plote" Mohan have been taken into custody at a house at duplication road in Colombo, by the police on Friday. more..

Aug 22 (TN) Hundreds of people Saturday from four villages affected by a dump for disposing garbage from Vavuniya protested against the disposal of waste to near Rasenthirakulam eight kilometres west of the large northern border town. more..

Aug 22 (DN) The UPFA scheme to provide employment to unemployed graduates gets under way when 17,000 selectees commence training in State departments on September 1 in the first phase of the Graduate Employment Scheme of the UPFA Government, Finance Ministry sources said. more..

Aug 22 (TN) President Chandrika Kumaratunga was ranked 44th in a list of the world’s hundred most powerful women. The list, produced by the business magazine Forbes, is headed by US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. more..

Aug 22 (TN) Severe drought and scarcity of drinking water has affected 22,806 families in the Vavuniya district, relief officials said Sunday. Most water reservoirs have dried up. A few which retain water are drying up fast, according to them. more..

Aug 22 (TN) A parcel bomb is found in front of a shop in Eravur, 14 kilometres north of Batticaloa was defused by the Sri Lanka army Sunday morning around 8, Police said. A shopkeeper in Iyankerni, a large Tamil neighbourhood of Eravur town, had found a suspicious parcel lying in front of his shop early morning. more..

Aug 22 (Dawn) Pakistan's exports of three commodities to Sri Lanka have been on decline for the last four years. Official statistics available with Dawn showed the export of fish and fish preparation to Sri Lanka declined by 43 per cent during the year 2003-04 to $6.02 million from $10.591 million in the year 1999-2000. more..

Aug 22 (HP) Over a 100 under privileged children had fun for over a couple of hours at a function organized by a visiting Pakistani artist and social worker, Jimmy Engineer, at the Brown Beach Hotel here on Saturday. more..

Aug 22 (CM) A 29-year-old Sri Lankan man was yesterday recuperating in hospital after he and a friend were allegedly beaten by a group of 15 Greek Pontians the previous night, said police. According to police, the 29-year-old and his 27-year-old friend, also from Sri Lanka, had a misunderstanding with two men from Georgia in Limassol on Friday night. more..

Aug 22 (DR) Cold, sharp raindrops fell heavily on Gardner Field Saturday afternoon, but that didn't stop six Sri Lankans from playing their national sport -- cricket. Led by Shane Liyanage of Denville, the amateur team representing Sri Lanka practiced for almost two hours despite rainfall that made catching a ball or swinging a stick difficult. more..

Aug 22 (TS) Two Toronto men wanted in connection with a pair of fatal stabbings last week were arrested on a bus in Thunder Bay headed for western Canada. Police also issued country-wide arrest warrants for two other men wanted in connection with one of the killings. more..

Aug 22 (TP) The United States will install equipment at Colombo port to detect nuclear (radioactive) material, Central Environmental Authority (CEA) Chairman Tilak Ranaviraja said. He said this was finalised under a MoU between Sri Lanka and the US during Ports and Aviation Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s recent visit to Washington. more..

Aug 22 (TP) Parliamentarians on Friday agreed to donate half their salaries for drought victims. National Heritage Party MP Rev Kotapola Amarakirthi made the proposal in parliament and it was backed by government MP Mahinda Amaraweera. Speaker W J M Lokubandara told the House that he would convey the decision to the party leaders. more..

Aug 22 (TP) The law and order situation is getting out of control in Sri Lanka where a crime is committed every nine minutes, a study by the Police Headquarters has revealed. Every six hours a murder is committed while every six-and-a-half hours a woman is raped. more..

Aug 22 (LBO) The latest round of talks on the Indo-Lanka FTA ended in Colombo this week with a promise to come closer together under the textile sector umbrella. Delegations will meet in India again later this year, says the Commerce Department of Sri Lanka, to work out exactly how this is to be done. more..

Aug 22 (CI) Nuwan Zoysa celebrated the last day of his bachelorhood - he gets married tomorrow before the team's departure to Dambulla - with a stump-flying career-best five-wicket burst that decimated South Africa at the Premadasa Stadium. Chasing Sri Lanka's 213 for 9 on a bone dry pitch, they were bowled out for 176, to hand Sri Lanka a 2-0 series lead. more..

Aug 22 (AT) The need to take prompt action to combat crime wave in the island has been emphasized by Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle. He told parliament recently that all should extend their assistance to combat the criminal activities in the island. more..

Aug 22 (AT) The UNP has decided to introduce new posts under its re-organisation programme. Kandy district parliamentarian, Tissa Attanayaka who is the Deputy Secretary General of the UNP said that it has been planned to introduce District Managers and Electorate Manager posts under the new reforms of the party. more..

Aug 22 (AP) Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tiger rebels are unlikely to resume peace talks soon, as escalating violence revives fears that the country could slide back to war, officials said Sunday. more..

Aug 22 (IANS) Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) has offered conditional cooperation to President Chandrika Kumaratunga's coalition government in "national interest", a report said Sunday. more..

Aug 22 (AFP) Tiger rebels have stepped up attacks against rivals and government forces despite a truce, amid growing international concern for Sri Lanka's faltering peace process, officials and diplomats said. more..

Aug 23 (AT) The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has learned that the Parliament of Sri Lanka is considering two proposed laws, both of which would, among other things, criminalize speech or conduct that could lead to conversions. more..

Aug 23 (CI) Eric Simons, South Africa's coach, is seriously considering giving up his job. Upset with the performance of his team in the recent Test series against Sri Lanka, Simons has decided to assess his position at the end of the ICC Champions Trophy in England. more..

Aug 23 (ATT) SriLankan Airlines has said it is evaluating flights to Australia as part of a new long-term growth plan. As well as a range of other destinations, the carrier is considering non-stop flights between Colombo and both Sydney and Melbourne, which have strong Sri Lankan communities and considerable prospects for tourist traffic. more..

Aug 23 (PTI) New members of the parliament have declined to accept India-made four-wheel drive vehicles as they preferred Japanese ones, a report said here today. “Majority of the members are insisting that they be allowed to import vehicles from Japan as the vehicles imported from India had less market value,” more..

Aug 23 (AT) The purpose of this short essay is to point out the fictitiousness of the LTTE claim that they are the “sole representatives” of Tamils. This “sole representative” cry was deliberately raised by the LTTE in the aftermath of the MOU signed by former Prime Minister of Ranil Wickremasinghe and LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran. more..

Aug 23 (TN) The Internet connection to Sri Lanka crashed completey from late Saturday night following major damage to the submarine cable that connects the island to the global network. Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) sources said that the damage was caused by a ship and that it may take more than 24 hours to repair the cable. more..

Aug 23 (G2L) UNP MP Rohitha Bogollagama is against ongoing efforts to take advantage of a growing dispute between UPFA partners over the Oslo-brokered peace process, particularly the LTTE’s demand to institutionalise its ISGA (Interim Self-Governing Authority) proposal. more..

Aug 23 (LBO) The opposition is blaming bad economic policies for rapid price rises. The Treasury has made several attempts to correct macro-economic imbalances, but it has been thwarted by its own coalition partners in some cases. The Treasury has at last corrected fuel prices, preventing the build up of further imbalances in the economy. more..

Aug 23 (LBO) Government is reviving plans to use a controversial United States offer to find money for forest conservation. The Tropical Rainforest Act allows countries, which owe money to the US treasury to channel a part of it to a conservation fund. more..

Aug 23 (TN) Muslim towns and villages in the Amparai district observed a total shut down Monday in mourning for 'Bawa', the senior Liberation Tiger who was killed in an ambush north of Batticaloa last Friday. Traffic on the coastal main road of the district was completely blocked beyond Kalmunai for the shut down (Hartal). more..

Aug 23 (TN) Manufacturers and resellers of agricultural tools using latest technology, and agricultural, livestock producers will be showcasing their products in an exhibition at the Model Farm premises in Vattakachchi organized by the TEEDOR during the first week of September, more..

Aug 23 (TN) Deputy Minister of Defence, Mr. Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka, said Monday that his government is thinking of either enhancing the powers of the Nordic truce monitoring mission in the island or finding a more effective alternative to it. more..

Aug 23 (TN) In a letter to the SLMM regarding the recent killings of two LTTE members in Batticaloa, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan accused the Sri Lanka Army of accommodating and encouraging the activities of armed groups and warned that it is a serious threat to normalcy and maintaining the integrity of the CFA. more..

Aug 23 (SLA) A few hundreds of civilians in TRINCOMALEE staged an agitation campaign on Monday (23) morning near the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) office demanding the release of two LTTE detained Home Guards who were abducted from KONABENDIWEVA on 10 August 2004. more..

Aug 23 (SLA) An Army picket duty point in the general area of KAYANKERNY, about 10 km north of VALAICHCHENAI came under gunfire attack Monday (23) afternoon around 12.10 by three unidentified gunmen, causing injuries to an Army soldier. more..

Aug 23 (SLA) Three LTTE members from a rival faction reached the UPPODAI roadblock in the general area of VANTHARAMOOLAI on 20 August 2004 around 12.50 p.m. seeking protection from the Security Forces. more..