Dec 24 (LBO) So long used to lopping branches off the closest Cyprus for that Christmas tree, if Sri Lankans want the real thing, some enterprising soul will just have to grow it himself. Unlike in the West, where that traditional ‘must-have’ is farmed for the season, the Sri Lankan Christmas tree isn’t really a tree in the true sense. more..

Dec 24 (AT) While the LTTE is rejecting the Government's agenda for the resumption of peace talks the JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva has demanded to know from the government why his party was not consulted before the document was given to the Tigers. Silva has asked Acting Defence Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake to explain matters. more..

Dec 24 (DN) The Presidential Crime Investigation Unit has stepped on a series of acts of massive misappropriation of public funds by the two brothers of former Samurdhi Minister S. B. Dissanayake. more..

Dec 24 (SAMN) The fears and concerns over an nexus between police and the underworld intensified Thursday, when the CID arrested a police officer and a suspect with underworld connections over last month's killing of police torture victim Gerald Mervin Perera in Welisara. more..

Dec 24 (SAMN) Sri Lanka has a 400,000 population of Government pensioners, a staggering 400 per cent increase over its figure a decade ago, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs. more..

Dec 24 (SAMN) The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Thursday questioned the involvement of the Tourism Ministry in the Shahrukh Khan concert held on December 11 and questioned as to why the government was refusing to admit responsibility to a concert with which it was directly involved. more..

Dec 24 (CO) Twenty-six Indian fishermen, arrested by the Sri Lankan navy on charges of crossing the International Border Line, were released today by the island government and they arrived here this afternoon by air. more..

Dec 24 (PIS) As the year 2004 comes to an end, Sri Lanka's conflict and peace process appear to have already begun to move in a new direction. Its defining characteristic is the enduring inability of both the UPFA government and the LTTE to resume negotiations. more..

Dec 24 (HT) President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, has said that she learnt of the death of former Indian Prime Minister, PV Narasimha Rao, with "much personal sadness" and praised him for his "bold, decisive and visionary" reforms, which contributed a "great deal" to the "spectacular success" of the Indian economy on Friday. more..

Dec 24 (PTI) Sri Lanka today ordered all foreigners illegally employed in the country, numbering some 10,000, to leave before January 10 or face arrest, a move that would affect a large number of Indian craftsmen employed in the island's jewellery industry. more..

Dec 24 (HT) The Prelate of the Amarapura Buddhist sect has said that there is no need for foreign mediation or facilitation to solve the ethnic problem in Sri Lanka. more..

Dec 25 (TN) "Peace talks based on the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals should start first and both sides should try to resolve their differences across the negotiating table," said Mr.D.E.W.Gunasekara, Constitutional Affairs and National Integration Minister in the UPFA government more..

Dec 25 (BBC) President Chandrika Kumaratunga expressed hope that the permanent peace is “closer than ever” to the island nation. In a Christmas message issued on Friday by the presidential secretariat, the president said almost all the groundwork directed towards the fulfilment of peace has been done. more..

Dec 25 (AT) The “Portuguese Encounter", a group of technocrats intellectuals and historians are seeking an apology from the Portuguese for their 16th century occupation of the island of Sri Lanka. more..

Dec 25 (AT) The murder of Gerald Mervyn Perera who won a Fundamental Rights case against the police has turned some thing out of a gangster movie. Suspected police officers not only provided weapon to a gunman to shoot Perera but also supervised the killing, investigations have revealed. more..

Dec 25 (AT) Sri Lankan Government sources said today that so far the LTTE had neither rejected nor accepted officially the government's proposed agenda for the resumption of peace talks. Even the Tigers' official website had not carried any news on it, the sources added. more..

Dec 25 (TN) Bishops of Jaffna, Trincomalee-Batticaloa and Mannar Dioceses Bishop Dr.Thomas Soundaranayagam, Bishop Dr. Kingsely Swampillai and Bishop Rayappu Joseph in their Christmas Messages appealed to all communities, the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers to work hard to sustain the ceasefire agreement and to ensure permanent peace. more..

Dec 25 (TN) North East Provincial Ministry of Education has introduced a new learning technique to Tamil medium GCE ordinary level students through Compact Disc (CD) prepared based on school syllabus in Electronics, Botany, Mathematics and Science. These CDs could be purchased by students from their schools and zonal education offices, education sources said. more..

Dec 25 (AP) Sri Lanka's government on Saturday pledged to adhere to a truce with the Tamil Tiger rebels, despite failed efforts to revive peace talks to end the island nation's two decade-long civil war. more..

Dec 25 (AFP) President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Saturday voiced confidence that peace was closer than ever in Sri Lanka even though Tamil Tiger rebels rejected her latest offer to revive stalled negotiations. more..

Dec 25 (UNI) Rejecting the government's fresh agenda for talks as "vague and ambiguous," the Tamil Tiger rebels in an official response today have called for "a clear, coherent and well defined agenda" from President Kumaratunga's Freedom Alliance government to resume the stalled peace talks. more..

Dec 25 (SAMN) A multi million swindle of public funds in intended for hostels for the Sri Jayewardenepura University has resulted in a severe shortage of accomodation and students agitation. The Jayewardenepura university lost Rs 90 million in a deal to purchase an abandoned weaving mill in Kohuwala several years ago. more..

Dec 25 (SAMN) The public servants' salary increase will be implemented in full once all salary anomalies in the public sector are rectified, the Government announced Friday. The pay hike will be based on an all-new salary structure, which will be effective from January 1, 2006. more..

Dec 25 (SAMN) It is with great joy and devotion that Sri Lankans join the people throughout the world in celebrating Christmas which reminds us of the true meaning and greatness of humanism, said Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse in a Christmas message issued yesterday. more..

Dec 25 (SAMN) The annual 'Sripada pilgrim season begins Sunday after the deposition of the 'Sacred Image' of God Saman in the Sacred Chamber atop the Mount Samanala. The Relics and Sacred Objects will be taken from the Galpottawela Viharaya, Pelmadulla at the auspicious time in a motor-cade. more..

Dec 26 (AFP) At least 160 people were killed and hundreds more missing after tidal waves triggered by a massive earthquake flooded Sri Lanka’s coastal areas and hit the capital Colombo on Sunday, police and rescuers said. more..

Dec 26 (PTI) Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse on Sunday urged India to provide urgent medical assistance to his country in the wake of massive casualties caused by tidal waves that lashed the island's easten and southern coasts following a powerful earthquake in Indonesia. more..

Dec 26 (AP) An extremely powerful earthquake rocked northern Indonesia Sunday, sparking massive tidal waves and potent aftershocks across the region, killing 160 in Sri Lanka. More than a dozen people were reported killed elsewhere and scores others were reported missing, officials and witnesses said. more..

Dec 26 (HT) The pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has said that it was PV Narasimha Rao's personal intervention, which stopped the anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka in 1983. more..

Dec 26 (CI) An innings of 77 off 92 balls from Stephen Fleming carried New Zealand to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the first one-dayer at Eden Park in Auckland. Having only 141 to defend, their fourth lowest total in one-day internationals against New Zealand, Sri Lanka found themselves well short of the required bowling firepower. more..

Dec 26 (Reuters) A huge has earthquake rocked Southeast Asia, setting off tsunami tidal waves that killed more than 150 people in Sri Lanka, sent residents rushing to high ground in Indonesia and washed into the Indian city of Chennai and the Thai tourist island of Phuket. more..

Dec 26 (BBC) I'm in a town called Unawatuna, which is on the south coast of Sri Lanka. It was about 1000 this morning our time and we were still in bed when we suddenly heard some shouts from outside. Then the water started coming under the door. Within a few seconds it was touching the window. more..

Dec 26 (TN) Initial reports from the east said that many coastal villages of the Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai districts were hit by powerful tidal waves causing extensive destruction and killing at least two hundred. Tidal waves of the Tsunami swept off coastal suburbs of Batticaloa town such as Navaladi, residents contacted on mobile phones said. more..

Dec 26 (LBO) A tidal wave had hit Sri Lanka coastal region putting broad swathes of low lying areas under water, eyewitness reports say. The southern city of Galle has gone under ten feet of water. A journalist attached to Lanka Business Online who barely escaped the tidal wave has reported seeing floating bodies. more..

Dec 26 (LBO) A tidal wave had hit Sri Lanka's coastal areas killing hundreds and putting broad swathes of low lying densely populated areas under water. The Eastern Coast seems to be worst hit with authorities in Mutur reporting the recovery of over hundred bodies. more..

Dec 26 (LBO) Authorities are warning residents off coastal areas after a tidal wave hit Sri Lanka's coastal regions killing hundreds, leaving thousands homeless. Curious residents from inland have started flocking to beaches to see the damage, but authorities say the tidal waves can recur. more..

Dec 26 (LBO) Authorities are warning residents off coastal areas after a tidal wave hit Sri Lanka's coastal regions killing hundreds and leaving thousands homeless. Though the tide has receded in some areas in the South waters of the Kelani river, which cuts through the capital Colombo is still flowing inland. more..

Dec 26 (LBO) The Trincomale District Secretary told a local radio station that over 300 dead bodies had been recovered so far. A estimated 136 bodies have been recoverd in the Eastern Eastern coastal town of Kenya and over 200 dead in Muthur also in the east and thought to be the worst affected by the Sunday morning tidal wave. more..

Dec 26 (AFP) At least 300 prisoners escaped from a high-security jail in southern Sri Lanka Sunday after it was destroyed by tidal waves that killed more 400 people and left many more missing, police said. more..

Dec 26 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's first tsunami in 16 years has killed 500 people and the death toll is likely to exceed 1,000, the head of the Indian Ocean island's National Disaster Management Centre says. more..

Dec 26 (PTI) Five naval warships loaded with relief supplies have left for Sri Lanka as Indian Air Force despatched three AN-32 transport aircraft carrying relief and medical supplies to earthquake and tidal wave devastated Andaman and Nicobar group of Islands. more..

Dec 26 (Xinhua) Sri Lanka has called for international assistance in the face of the country's worst ever humanitarian disaster, the Sri Lankan president office said Sunday. The death toll of Sunday tidal wave devastation which hit the eastern and southern coasts had crossed 1,500 mark by mid afternoon. more..

Dec 26 (LBO) Indian news wire reports that five naval warships loaded with relief supplies have left for Sri Lanka as Indian Air Force despatched three AN-32 transport aircrafts carrying relief and medical supplies to earthquake and tidal wave devastated Andaman and Nicobar islands. more..

Dec 26 (LBO) Sri Lankan officials are warning coastal residents to stay inland overnight after fresh tremors were reported in the Indian Ocean late Sunday. Tidal waves hit Sri Lanka during late morning local time but the new warning comes after officials of the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau of Sri Lanka reported fresh quakes around 6 to 7 pm local time. more..

Dec 26 (LBO) Sri Lanka’s tourism authorities send rescue vehicles to the Southern parts of the island, to transport tourists from tidal wave zones to safety in Colombo. “We sent 20 vehicles to the South to pick up tourists from the Southern coastal areas and bring them to Colombo,” more..

Dec 26 (LBO) All rail services on the southern coastal belt and the upcountry service have been discontinued indefinitely after an early morning tidal wave wrecked havoc on Sri Lanka’s shore line. more..

Dec 26 (LBO) Regional police stations are slapping on overnight curfews, to stop sightseers from crowding disaster areas and worse yet, to prevent a wave of looting in the tidal wave ravaged areas in Sri Lanka. more..

Dec 26 (LBO) Sri Lanka has so far reported the highest loss of life from the tsunami that swept nations bordering the Indian Ocean on Sunday. The US Geological Survey says tidal waves or tsunamis resulting from the quake off Sumatra (8.9 points in the Richter Scale) in Indonesia has been felt as far as Cocos Islands and Somalia. more..

Dec 26 (LBO) Police warned residents around the Kelani river to stay clear of low lying areas as sea water continues to flow inland after a massive tidal waves flooded eastern and southern Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, it is reported that water levels in Galle are on the rise again. more..

Dec 26 (AT) Norway has come forward with an urgent assistance of Sri Lankan Rupees 160 million worth of relief measures in Sri Lanka. Royal Norwegian Embassy in Colombo in its press release has stated as follows: more..