Jan 29 (Gulf) Plans by President Chandrika Kumaratunga's party and the Marxist JVP to expand their newly established alliance has suffered a set back with one of the traditional leftist political parties refusing to join them on the grounds that the alliance has strengthened the hands of 'chauvinists and racists'. more..

Jan 29 (Reuters) Sri Lanka will reduce customs duties on a range of essential goods to offset rising import prices and keep the cost of living in check, Finance Minister KN Choksy said on Thursday. more..

Jan 29 (IPS) The results of a five-year research project that Sri Lanka has been selected for could help reduce the nation's rate of suicide by poisoning with pesticides, scientists here say. more..

Jan 29 (wsws) The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) will be holding a public meeting in Colombo on January 31 to commemorate the 16th anniversary of the death of Keerthi Balasuriya, the founding general secretary of the Revolutionary Communist League (RCL), the SEP’s forerunner. more..

Jan 29 (BBC) Bhikuni Kusuma has a shaven head and wears the robes of a Buddhist monk - but she's a woman. Many of her male counterparts call her misguided, but for her followers, she's a teacher who studied the ancient texts and revived the third century BC practice of ordaining women as Buddhist nuns, or Bhikuni as they're called. more..

Jan 29 (CI) Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) will hold fresh cricket board elections on March 28 to elect a president and executive committee for the year. Thilanga Sumathipala, currently remanded in custody after becoming embroiled in a passport scandal, has confirmed that he will not be standing for re-election. more..

Jan 29 (SUN) Visiting Sri Lankan foreign minister Tyronne Fernanado, has sought India’s moral support for moving ahead in the Norwegian brokered peace process. Speaking in New Delhi, Fernando said, the Sri Lankan government will not give in to the LTTE’s demand for a separate state. more..

Jan 29 (DM) The Supreme Court yesterday (28) granted leave to proceed with the fundamental rights violation petition filed by three officials who are members of a UNP trade union against their interdictions by the newly appointed Chairman of ITN, Newton Gunaratna. more..

Jan 29 (DN) The UNP warned yesterday that Sri Lanka can expect turmoil if no agreement is reached on power between the JVP-SLFP alliance. In a release issued by Lands Minister Rajitha Senaratne the party notes that the JVP and SLFP MOU showed many discrepancies and raised questions that have to be answered. more..

Jan 29 (Reuters) Sri Lanka stocks fell on Thursday as political concerns over delayed peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels returned to the fore, and investors took profit after the index gained 10 percent earlier in the week. more..

Jan 29 (TN) Arumugam Thondaman, Leader of Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), responding to Minister Chandrasekaran's call to form a national alliance with NorthEast Tamil parties, said that there are fundamental questions related to the need for such alliance, more..

Jan 29 (AT) The Eastern Muslims are on the verge of taking up arms in the face of increasing harassment by the LTTE and the divided Muslim political leadership, a group of Muslim intellectuals warned yesterday. more..

Jan 29 (TN) Leader of the JVP, Mr. Somawnsa Amarasingha, said Thursday his party is for holding general election in Sri Lanka soon, addressing a massive public meeting of the new alliance between the JVP and President Kumaratunga's Sri Lanka Freedom Party in Colombo. more..

Jan 29 (Reuters) Somawansa Amarasingha (L), leader of the Sri Lanka Liberation Front, addresses a rally of the newly formed United People Freedom Alliance, an alliance with President Chandrika Kumaratunga's party, in the capital Colombo January 29, 2004. more..

Jan 30 (TN) The Phase II of the World Bank funded of the North East Irrigated Agricultural Project (NEIAP) would commence from October 2004 with an investment of S $70 million for a period of six years, NEIAP sources said. The preliminary preparatory work of the Phase II has been already started, more..

Jan 30 (TN) "The formation of United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) is a great victory for democracy in Sri Lanka," said President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge in her message to the maiden rally of the UPFA held Thursday evening in Colombo. Mr.Maithiripala Sirisena, general secretary of the SLFP, which is a constituent of the UPFA, read out president's message at the rally, more..

Jan 30 (BBC) Finance Minister has announced populist tax cuts to try to ease the cost of living ahead of provincial council elections and possible general elections. KN Choksy said a number of factors - including the president's decision to take over three ministries in November - had had disastrous effects on the economy. more..

Jan 30 (AP) A delegation of Tamil Tigers from Sri Lanka kicked off a European tour Thursday seeking support with a stop in Norway, the country that brokered a cease-fire for the island nation. more..

Jan 30 (AT) The ruling UNF Government, in addition to its numerous problems during what is believed to be an election year may have raised another hornet’s nest by refusing to allow erecting a statue of the late Venerable Gangodawila Soma Thero, one Sri Lanka’s most popular religious leaders these days. more..

Jan 30 (Reuters) Major aid donors to Sri Lanka will meet in Washington next month to work out how to prop up a truce between Tamil Tiger rebels and government troops even though formal peace talks have stalled, Norway said on Thursday. more..

Jan 30 (LBO) Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) diversified its business interests further, opening an internet data center (IDC) in Colombo. The SLTiDC will offer a range of data housing facilities including web sites and services, mailing systems for retail customers and reselling opportunities. more..

Jan 30 (LBO) Janashakthi Insurance is counting on the motor market, the fastest growing insurance sector, to expand its share of the local insurance market. Motor insurance saw a spurt of growth of 25 percent to 30 percent last year and is expected to continue to lead insurance market growth during 2004, although at a lower projected growth rate. more..

Jan 30 (LBO) A consortium of six commercial banks agreed to pump in Rs. 3.6 bn to start off Sri Lanka’s second floor mill project. The Rs. 5.2 bn Serendib Floor Mill project, which is promoted by UAE giant the Al Ghurair Group, plans to start operations next year offering consumers up to 42 varieties of floor. more..

Jan 30 (LBO) Domestic and commercial electricity customers will be slapped with a Rs. 1.00 per unit surcharge, if they use over 100 units a month. “As a temporary measure to curtail consumption, we will be imposing a surcharge of Rs.1.00 a unit on domestic and general consumption, from February”, Finance Minister K N Choksy said more..

Jan 30 (TN) Describing the recent spate of attacks on Catholic churches as "anti-minority terrorism," Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda, in a column that appeared in Friday edition of Daily Mirror, said that "Sinhalese nationalist fringe have seized religious bigotry for [political] mobilization through violence." more..

Jan 30 (TN) Fishermen in Jaffna will fly black flags on their boats, homes and union offices on Sri Lanka’s Independence Day next week, the spokesman for the Federation of Jaffna District Co-operative Fishermen’s Unions told TamilNet, Friday. more..

Jan 30 (PSL) In a message for the inaugural UPFA rally President Kumaratunga said the Alliance has been “successful in building up a progressive consensus that will usher in peace and harmony, economic uplift and social justice in all spheres of life, in a broad sense.” more..

Jan 30 (SLA) An LTTE cadre, who threatened and tried to rob a house demanding a ransom of Rs. 500,000 (US $ 5208) from its Tamil occupant was arrested by two alert Policemen on duty in the general area of PUNCHI BORELLA, COLOMBO 8 on 28 January 2004. more..

Jan 30 (SLA) Police authorities, accompanied by the Magistrate and the SLMM on 30 January 2004 visited a location in the general area close to SILAVATTURAI in KALLARU after information was received that three dead bodies were found lying wayside. more..

Jan 30 (SLA) Troops on duty in the general area of AGBOPURA arrested the tractor (36 Sri 2921) carrying illicit timber towards SHANTHASOLAI village, about 4 km. northeast of VAVUNIYA town on 28 January 2004 around 9.45 p.m. more..

Jan 30 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's Asian Hotels Corp , reaping profits after a ceasefire in the island, has merged with a wholly owned subsidiary and will cease to be a listed company next month, it said on Friday. more..

Jan 30 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's inflation rate measured on a 12-month moving average fell to 5.2 percent in January, from 6.3 percent the previous month, the government's Census and Statistics Department said on Friday. more..

Jan 30 (Stuff) A Sri Lankan girl is to be deported back to her homeland where she suffered years of rape and sexual abuse by her uncles – if she can be declared medically fit to fly. more..

Jan 30 (AN) Under a new regulation, Sri Lankans in the Kingdom can now renew their registration with the Sri Lankan Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) at the country’s embassy here or the consulate in Jeddah. more..

Jan 30 (GD) The Sri Lankan government yesterday announced cuts in customs taxes aimed at keeping down prices on oil, wheat and other basic commodities, ahead of local elections and amid speculation of an early parliamentary election. more..

Jan 30 (LT) It is revealed that a special group of Tamil Tiger women have been sent to Colombo to follow the movements of the key figures of newly formed SLFP-JVP Alliance. The two tigers arrested at an Tamil Tiger hideout in Wellawatte have revealed that a special group of Tiger Spies have been assigned within the Colombo City limits under the direct command of Tiger Intelligence Wing leader, Pottu Amman. more..

Jan 30 (LT) The Supreme Court decided that the raid on the Millennium City safe house violated the fundamental rights of those army Intelligence Officers who were stationed there at the time. more..

Jan 30 (BBC) Sri Lanka Cricket president Thilanga Sumathipala has pleaded not guilty to a charge of passport fraud. He appeared in court in Colombo on Friday, and was remanded in custody until 10 February. more..

Jan 30 (PRIU) Retired Major General Trond Furuhovde, Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) will arrive in Colombo Saturday, January 31, to assume command of the SLMM the next day, February 1. more..

Jan 30 (Hindu) Sri Lanka's newly-formed United Peoples' Freedom Alliance (UPFA) held its first public rally in Colombo today, with calls for support from leaders of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the left-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) "to save the motherland". more..

Jan 30 (Reuters) The church bells were silent last Christmas across Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka. After 20 years of civil war, Sri Lankans are no strangers to fear and violence, but as the island stumbles toward peace with the Tamil Tiger rebels it is grappling with a new problem -- a rise in anti-Christian sentiment. more..

Jan 30 (Reuters) Government revenue in the first 11 months of 2003 was 248.7 billion rupees, compared to 235.4 billion rupees in the same period in 2002, the central bank said on Friday. Total spending in the 11 months was 380.3 billion rupees, compared to 366.7 billion in the same period the previous year. more..

Jan 30 (DN) The Supreme Court yesterday awarded rupees four million as cost and compensation to five army personnel involved in the Athurugiriya Millennium City Safe House raid. The Court held that the respondent police officers had illegally arrested, detained and subjected the victims to inhuman and degrading treatment and treated them differently. more..

Jan 30 (TN) The TNA Friday requested the Commissioner General of Elections to postpone the elections to local authorities in the Amparai administrative district from 22 February 2004 to 24 October 2004 when the elections to the rest of the districts of the northeast province are to be held, more..

Jan 30 (DM) President Chandrika Kumaratunga's sister Sunethra Bandaranaike has reportedly lashed out at the main promoters of the SLFP-JVP alliance, warning that the kapuwas might soon find themselves kapothi. more..

Jan 30 (OW) Last week, an association of aggrieved families of disappeared persons in the north Sri Lankan district of Jaffna submitted a petition expressing their desire to field candidates for the next general elections, in a bid to fight for justice. more..

Jan 30 (Reuters) A political crisis that has rocked Sri Lanka since early November could cut into economic growth if it continues for too long, finance minister K.N. Choksy said on Friday. The government has forecast growth of six percent this year, after 5.6 percent in 2003, more..

Jan 30 (AFP) Norway, which plays a key role in the Sri Lankan peace process as mediator, urged donor countries to continue their economic aid to the war-torn country despite the current political instability. more..

Jan 30 (AT) After protecting SLMM chief and fellow Norwegian Tryggve Tellefsen since October 23, when he was first accused of aiding rebel Tamil Tigers by President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen finally announced Tellefsen's replacement with General Trond Furuhovde on January 16. more..

Jan 30 (FL) THE SLFP and the radical JVP formally announced on January 20 the formation of a joint front, the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), aimed at defeating the ruling UNF and establishing a government based on "five noble objectives". more..