Dec 27 (Reuters) Sri Lanka have postponed an under-19 cricket tour to Pakistan following the devastating tsunami that has killed more than 21,000 people across southern Asia. Tidal waves triggered by the world's biggest earthquake in 40 years ravaged Sri Lanka more..

Dec 27 (SM) LIKE several thousand others in Sri Lanka, I spent Christmas Day on the beach - swimming with turtles, snorkelling and windsurfing. Some were wearing Santa hats and sarongs; others were reading novels or dozing in the sunshine. more..

Dec 27 (AP) Some 25,000 soldiers and 10 helicopters rushed Monday to coastal Sri Lanka to deliver aid and rescue teams and deter looting in areas lashed by massive tidal waves. At least 4,500 people were killed and a million others displaced, government and Tamil rebel reports said. more..

Dec 27 (AFP) The United States told Americans to leave parts of Sri Lanka, the Maldives islands and Thailand hit by the tsunami disaster as the authorities battle with the devastation caused. more..

Dec 27 (IHT) Disaster crept up on them deceptively, the villagers said, and then pounced. "We were just relaxing here after finishing our morning work," said J.W. Kanti, whose work consists of cooking, washing and caring for her children. "All of a sudden the water from the sea rose up close to our houses. Then it went out again. We all stood and watched." more..

Dec 27 (LBO) The government says it will give Rs10,000 for the burial of every local person killed by the tidal wave on Sunday. “We are giving Rs 10,000 for each body so that they can be buried or cremated properly,” said Minister of Power Susil Premajayantha at a Cabinet press briefing on Monday. more..

Dec 27 (LBO) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Director General Palitha Silva Gunawardana are among the missing in the aftermath of Sunday’s tidal wave. The SEC chief was reportedly holidaying with his wife near the Yala National Park when the tidal wave hit the south and east coasts of Sri Lanka. more..

Dec 27 (LBO) Local authorities have started mass burials of tsunami victims in Southern Sri Lanka which are piling up unclaimed in hospital in coastal areas as the death toll continues to mount. Official death counts are now topping 10,000 with many more still listed as missing. more..

Dec 27 (LBO) Sri Lanka's opposition United National Party has pledged support to the government and expressed confidence that the country can emerge from the disaster by remaining resolute and moving forward with the support of the international community. more..

Dec 27 (LBO) Sri Lanka's booming tourism industry and its markets are likely to take an initial beating from Sunday's devastating tsunami, which killed an estimated 11,500 and left more than a million homeless in the island nation of 19 million. more..

Dec 27 (LBO) The International Monetary Fund has said that it is ready to provide support for South Asian nations that have been hit by the tidal wave. The IMF does not support direct fiscal support to governments as the World Bank does, but provides balance of payments support to boost Central Bank reserves. more..

Dec 27 (LBO) Sri Lanka's Central Bank has put together a top level team to assess the economic impact following a tidal wave that left over 14,000 dead and displaced millions of people. Headed by Assistant to the Governor, A G Jayatissa, the taskforce will look at the short and long term impact on the war torn island nation. more..

Dec 27 (UNHCR) The UN refugee agency, supported by its Dutch partner, is set to distribute emergency aid to victims of Sunday's tidal waves in Sri Lanka while awaiting news of refugees possibly affected elsewhere in the region. more..

Dec 27 (AFP) American tourist Matthew O'Connell started laughing when he awoke to find his hotel room filling with water. But when a raging wall of tidal wave water ripped him and Israeli friend Sue Mor apart, the laughter turned to sheer terror. more..

Dec 27 (Reuters) Wailing relatives scrambled over hundreds of bodies piled in a Sri Lankan hospital on Monday, searching for loved ones as the toll from a tsunami that smashed into the Indian Ocean paradise soared above 10,000. more..

Dec 27 (AFP) A British plane was to fly to Colombo with tents and plastic sheets for Sri Lankans who lost homes when giant tidal waves swept over their coastline and other parts of Asia, an official said. more..

Dec 27 (HT) The year 2004, already full of turmoil, instability and uncertainty for Sri Lanka, is ending on a tragic note. A year of man-made political quakes is winding up with a natural disaster. more..

Dec 27 (AFP) Sri Lanka mounted a massive humanitarian operation after tsunamis devastated much of the island's coastline, killing almost 11,000 people of whom 70 were foreign tourists. The military said 10,029 people killed were civilians and 48 were security personnel throughout the island, more..

Dec 27 A German tourist embraces her child outside a hotel destroyed by tsunamis in Galle, Sri Lanka. Shocked European sunseekers began to trickle home from Asian resorts hit by massive tidal waves, more..

Dec 27 (Reuters) Distraught Sri Lankans have wandered through debris-strewn streets, desperately looking for any sign of relatives swept away by a deadly tsunami that has killed at least 10,200 people in the country. In the ravaged southern port town of Galle, a trail of devastation emerged as flood waters receded. more..

Dec 27 (CNA) Sri Lankan Airlines is appealing to generous Singaporeans to donate useful items for victims of the deadly tsunami that hit Sri Lanka. Items like clothes, blankets, food, medicine, tents and even water purification tablets. more..

Dec 27 (PIS) Drinking water, food and security from looting are among the most urgent requirements of the people of Colombo North and Wattala, amidst the chaos, confusion and despair following the devastating impact of the tidal wave that struck the country's coastal areas yesterday. more..

Dec 27 (AT) Troops of the Sri Lanka Army, rising to the occasion were able to clear several main roads including road stretches between Moratuwa – Bentota and Nonagama – Hambantota on the main Colombo – Kataragama road (Galle road) and facilitated transportation by late Monday (27) afternoon more..

Dec 27 (AT) Government of Sri Lanka has informed to all the Embassies in the country that all necessary steps are taken by the Government of Sri Lanka to safeguard and protect tourists/foreign nationals in the aftermath of to the tragedy. more..

Dec 27 (BBC) About fifty villages lined from northern Kadiraweli to Kalladi in the Batticaloa district have been washed out by the tidal waves that swept the eastern coast. Shanthi Selvadurai reporting from Batticaloa says that by Sunday evening the death toll was around 750, another 1000 are missing. more..

Dec 27 (CI) The Sri Lankan board (SLC) has announced that all matches, international and domestic, will be postponed in recognition of the five-day period of national mourning following the disaster on Sunday. The series in New Zealand will continue, although Wednesday's one-dayer at Napier has been postponed until January 11. more..

Dec 27 (Reuters) At first, American tourist Matthew O'Connell thought the rising sea was the sign of a good day's surfing ahead. Staying at a beach cottage with his Israeli girlfriend Sue, O'Connell joined hundreds of other tourists and Sri Lankans walking along the beach, more..

Dec 27 (AP) The death toll from massive tidal waves that struck Sri Lanka's coastline leapt to more than 12,000 on Monday as thousands of soldiers and families kept up the search for bodies. Military spokesman, Brig. Daya Ratnayake said Monday that 10,029 bodies had been recovered more..

Dec 27 (TS) HELEN UTHAYAKUMAR got the tragic news of her mom's death in the northern Sri Lanka city of Muliteeu when she was wakened early yesterday by a relative's phone call. "My wife is crying," Anthon Uthayakumar said from their Mississauga home, hours after learning his mother-in-law was killed and his father-in-law hurt in the tsunami. more..

Dec 27 (AP) Shocked by deadly tidal waves that killed more than 22,000 people in south Asia, members of New Jersey's Sri Lankan and Indian communities are rounding up medical supplies and cash donations for victims. more..

Dec 28 (TN) No external aid was received until Monday afternoon to assist thousands of people injured and rendered homeless by the Tsunami in the coastal parts of the Vanni region and Southern Jaffna, a spokesman for the Tamils’ Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) said. more..

Dec 28 (TN) Mr.Tyronne Fernando, North East Provincial Governor Monday issued directive empowering all Deputy Provincial Directors of Health Services (DPDHS) in the districts of Northeastern Province to purchase medicines urgently needed to treat Tsunami victims without waiting for the drugs from central supply store of the Health Ministry, more..

Dec 28 (TN) More than 5700 people were killed by the Tsunami waves along the Amparai coast, officials at the Department of Social Services said Monday. However, Dr. Murugesapillai Baghavan, surgeon at the Kalmunai Base Hospital said that at least five thousand bodies of people killed by the Tsunami have been buried in Paandiruppu, Kalmunaikudi, Maalikaikaddu and Karaithivu alone. more..

Dec 28 (TN) Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, Head of the LTTE Political Wing in an urgent meeting with the International NGOs, District Secretaries, TRO officials and local NGOs requested to set up a North-East Disaster Management Steering Committee and Special Task Force Units consisting of the District Secretaries, INGO’s, TRO,local NGO’s and representatives of the Planning and Development Secretariat of the LTTE. more..

Dec 28 (TN) The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Monday slammed the Sri Lankan government and Sinhala parties in Parliament for "callously ignoring the plight of thousands in the northeast hit by Saturday's Tsunami. more..

Dec 28 (TN) "8000 dead and 500,000 displaced in northeast of the Island of Sri Lanka", said The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) in an urgent appeal to Tamil diaspora Monday evening. "Beaches are strewn with debris and waste. Whole villages have been turned into cemeteries. more..

Dec 28 (NBC) An Ohio State University professor and his wife were reportedly among those who died after a tsunami crashed into the coast of Sri Lanka, NBC 4's Holly Hollingsworth reported. The tsunamis, or massive tidal waves, killed at least 22,000 people in 10 countries, including Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia. more..

Dec 28 (CBS) Millions of people are homeless and the Red Cross says more than 23,000 people are dead in south Asia where massive waves followed an earthquake in the region. Some of the worst affects from the quake were felt in Sri Lanka more than 1,000 miles from the epicenter. more..

Dec 28 (AP) The extraordinary loss of life from Sunday's earthquake and tsunami waves is prompting Asian governments to consider developing a more comprehensive and effective warning system. more..

Dec 28 (IO) Walking past what had once been Galle's bus station, I found Nilina among the people sifting through the remains of their homes. "When the water came I should have been at my seafront stall selling coconuts and betel but I was on holiday at a house inland," the elderly woman said, her frail voice barely audible. more..

Dec 28 (AN) A Sri Lankan expatriate lost 13 members of his family in the wake of Sunday’s giant tidal waves that devastated the coastal areas of the island. “I lost 13 members of my family — my sisters, their children, uncle and aunts in minutes of the tidal attack,” Mohamed Ariff told Arab News. more..

Dec 28 (GU) The path to several thousand private hells is all too public. In this small town 20 miles south of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, it leads down the open-sided corridors of the district hospital to a garden at the back, and the mortuary beyond. more..

Dec 28 (ND) The tsunami that surged across Asia Sunday split into two mighty rivers when it crashed into this port city's landmark, a massive 17th-century Dutch fortress. The rivers enveloped its 40-foot-high walls and then met again on the other side, at Galle's bus station. more..

Dec 28 (TP) The Deputy Emir and Heir Apparent, H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has assured that his country will extend all assistance to Sri Lanka to help recover from the devastation wrought by the killer tsunami that struck its shores on Sunday morning, the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Qatar, ALM Yousuf, said here yesterday. more..

Dec 28 (BBC) At least 13,000 people died after sea surges struck long stretches of the Sri Lankan coast on Sunday, government officials say. The Tamil Tigers (LTTE) peace secretariat head S Puleedevan says that 6000 people have died in the North and East alone. more..

Dec 28 (BBC) From around the coastal line our reporters in Sri Lanka tell the story of dead thousands and displaced tens of thousands. Kanthalai: Relief only to town centres. R.G Dharmadasa reporting from Kanthalai says that a number of dead bodies were buried without identification. more..

Dec 28 (Reuters) Thousands of anguished Sri Lankans, weary from searching for relatives swept away in a tsunami that killed more than 10,200 people, said on Tuesday cleaning up could take years. The death toll on the island may surge as high as 20,000, more..

Dec 28 (Reuters) Indian Ocean states from Indonesia to Sri Lanka scrambled on Tuesday to cope with the widespread devastation of a tsunami that killed over 23,000 people and could claim more lives through disease and privation. more..

Dec 28 (AAP) WORLD Vision aid workers in Sri Lanka remain missing following the tsunami disaster that swept southern Asia. World Vision Australia chief executive Tim Costello will today fly to Sri Lanka to offer staff comfort and support. more..

Dec 28 (UPI) Israel is flying three aircraft with doctors, nurses and medical supplies to Sri Lanka, which suffered thousands of fatalities from a weekend earthquake. The army spokesman said the delegation comprises 150 rescue and medical personnel -- specialist doctors, nurses and paramedics. more..