Jun 2 (LBO) Sri Lanka stressed on the need for greater government ownership of aid utilization and for capacity building, at an international aid harmonization conference between Colombo and Tokyo, on Tuesday. more..

Jun 2 (LBO) Market analysts estimate that the current dependency on thermal electricity, in a climate of increasing oil prices, will cause serious damage to the country’s economy. During 2002, when the country had a power crisis, Sri Lanka imported 16.8 mn barrels of crude oil at an average price of US $ 25.13 per barrel. more..

June 2 (SLA) A sound of a huge explosion was heard by the police from the general area of MANDOOR, about 26 km south of BATTICALOA town on 01 June 2004 around 2.30 a.m. During investigations troops revealed that the explosion had taken place inside an LTTE office located in the general area of MANDOOR. more..

June 2 (TN) The leaders of SLFP and the JVP, the two major constituents of ruling UPFA, Tuesday night agreed at a discussion to appoint a committee to sort out the differences that have arisen in implementing the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two parties, sources said. more..

June 2 (TN) The Paris based world media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders Tuesday condemned the murder of Tamil journalist Aiyathurai Nadesan in Batticaloa and voiced concern that "dissension within the Tamil separatist movement and existing tensions with the security forces could lead to an escalation of violation against the news media". more..

June 2 (TN) Media associations in the North-East province Tuesday called for a general shut down (Hartal) on Wednesday to condemn the slaying of a leading Tamil journalist, Mr. Aiyathurai Nadesan, who was shot dead by unknown gunmen on Monday in Batticaloa town, sources said. more..

June 2 (PRIU) Veteran UN diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala today assumed duties as the Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat and as Senior Adviser to President Kumaratunga. Mr.Dhanapala will function directly under the President in these posts and will serve in an honorary capacity. more..

June 2 (Hindu) India will take forward defence cooperation with Sri Lanka and the alliance partners from Tamil Nadu in the Congress-led Government will be kept informed of "all these matters, including defence," the External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh, said today after talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart, Lakshman Kadirgamar. more..

June 2 (Jang) Sri Lanka’s cricket board said on Tuesday that off-spinner Muthiah Muralitharan’s chances of touring Australia in the upcoming two-Test series were 50-50. Sri Lankan Cricket officials will decide later this week whether Muralitharan would join the tour more..

June 2 (LN) Sri Lankans have expressed serious concerns with a February 2004 draft Bill on Women's Rights. The bill, introduced by the Sri Lankan National Committee on Women, employs ambiguous and misleading terminology that allows for the promotion of contraception and abortion. more..

June 2 (KH) Korea and Sri Lanka yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding regarding Seoul's new rules on employing foreigners. The bilateral agreement includes a set of provisions on qualifications and legal status of Sri Lankan workers to be employed under Seoul's new foreign work-permit system. more..

June 2 (WP) The ceremony's organizers will not worry about honorary doctorates or valedictorian visionaries, but scent and sensibility. For Wyoming, Hannah, Trusty, Lehigh, CC and Galleon, the six-pack of German shepherds and Belgian Malinois undergoing training at the Sri Lanka Army School of Military Engineering, it is graduation time. more..

June 2 (OW) The Sri Lankan government's move to end the monopoly of the country's sole flour miller, a Singaporean firm Prima, and take away pricing controls from the company has gladdened citizens but left investors worried. more..

June 2 (TP) Trade Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle — in a running conflict with the Singapore-based Prima Flour milling company over a price hike in flour — said on Monday that Prima’s local subsidiary wouldn’t be able to contest the issue in an international court to protect its monopoly since it had signed the agreement in Sri Lanka. more..

June 2 (TP) Sri Lankan health authorities launched a weeklong campaign yesterday to destroy breeding grounds of mosquitoes as dengue fever claimed 18 lives this year while another 3,300 people have been infected, the Daily Mirror reported. more..

June 2 (NW) Despite protests from the relatives of the slain Tamil journalist, the LTTE draped the coffin with its flag yesterday before the body was taken to Jaffna for the last rites to be held today. more..

June 2 (NW) The government is to present three bills to parliament on prevention of unethical conversions, the introduction of Sangadikaranaya (judiciary) for monks and the Buddhist Chapter Convention, Buddhist Affairs Minister, Ratnasiri Wickremenayake said yesterday. more..

June 2 (NW) The SLFP and the JVP at five hours of intensive talks have agreed on an increase in the number of cabinet ministers and come to a consensus on other vital issues like the peace process, informed sources said yesterday. more..

June 2 (NW) Cultural and National Heritage Minister Vijitha Herath has instructed National Film Corporation (NFC) officials to investigate the screening of obscene films in cinemas. Minister Herath has given this order following several complaints received by the ministry from the public on screening lewd films in cinemas. more..

June 2 (AFP) Tamil Tiger rebels warned that Sri Lanka was headed for "a period of calamity and destruction" after the slaying of a Tamil journalist amid a wave of violence in the island's east. more..

June 2 (AT) In the interest of the ongoing peace process in Sri Lanka, India has decided not to press for the extradition of Velupillai Prabakaran, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. more..

June 2 (AT) The Supreme Court on Monday granted leave to proceed with the fundamental rights violation plea filed by V. Anandasangaree of Independent Group I, seeking to void the declared parliamentary election result of the Jaffna District, dated April 2004. more..

June 2 (AT) Killing in Sri Lanka is no more one-way traffic. Earlier it was considered as the exclusive domain of the LTTE. But now the exclusiveness has already petered out. In Sri Lanka, a very abhorring, dangerous condemnable political climate is developing fast, where revenge killing is becoming the order of the day. more..

June 2 (AT) An attempt by the LTTE to turn the funeral of Veerakesari journalist A. Nadeshan into a political event was foiled by his family members yesterday. They had, sources said, asked an LTTE group led by Daya Master and Senadiraja, a provincial leader, to leave their house when the latter tried to cover the journalist’s coffin with an LTTE flag claiming that they wanted to honor him. more..

June 2 (DN) Biodiversity Conservation for the future would become a reality only if bold and dedicated scientists could come forward and take up the challenge to work in a scientific manner said Prof. Sarath Kotagama at the 'National Workshop on Current Status of Vertebrate Fauna in Sri Lanka' more..

June 2 (AP) A Sri Lankan army general and Tamil Tiger rebel commanders held "fruitful" talks Wednesday aimed at ending a spate of killings that threaten the shaky truce between the two sides, a spokeswoman for the European cease-fire monitoring group said. more..

June 2 (TN) “Nadesan had been harassed and threatened before his death because he had criticized the government and security forces, according to CPJ research”, the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a statement condemning the murder of the veteran Tamil journalist in Batticaloa. more..

June 2 (TN) Following their meeting in Brussels Tuesday, the co-chairs of aid donors to Sri Lanka issued a statement warning the government that “the peace process and the development process are mutually reinforcing and interlinked” and insisting there is “no drift and no delay in resuming and taking forward the peace process.” more..

June 2 (Xinhua) The two major partners of Sri Lanka' s ruling freedom alliance have decided to meet once a week to sort out problems between them in a bid to strengthen ties, the official Daily News said on Tuesday. more..

June 2 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels agreed on Wednesday to boost cooperation in the restive east of the island, where a string of killings has hampered efforts to end 20 years of civil war. more..

June 3 (TN) The cremation of the body of assassinated Tamil journalist, Mr. Aiyathurai Nadesan, is to be held Thursday evening at the Alankattai cemetery in Vathiri, in the Vadamarachchi division in Jaffna district. more..

June 3 (TN) A 15-year-old girl from the Thalikulam settlement in Vavuniya, who went out to shepherd her goat at about 3:30 pm on Wednesday, was found strangled and dead, sources in Vavuniya said. more..

June 3 (TN) The Trincomalee district parliamentarian, Mr.R.Sampanthan, Wednesday complained to the Trincomalee Government Agent that the Sri Lanka Navy has intruded into a rectangular plot of land in the Manayaveli-Sandicove residential area, more..

June 3 (TA) CRICKET'S Top End tour could be set for an explosive confrontation, with English match referee Chris Broad set to adjudicate Australia's two-Test series against Sri Lanka. more..

June 3 (IANS) The delay in resuming Sri Lankan government's peace process with the Tamil Tiger rebels has hampered reconstruction in the war-torn north and east of the country, Xinhua reports. more..

June 3 (TN) The LTTE Tuesday opened a new Trincomalee town political office located in Main Street in the heart of Trincomalee town. Trincomalee town political head Mr.Sivakumar said that the new office was opened with the objective of expanding the political activities of the LTTE in the Trincomalee district. more..

June 3 (SLA) A Naval patrol with SLMM aboard has been fired upon by LTTE men while the patrol was in the general sea area of SAMPOOR, TRINCOMALEE on 01 June 2004 around 10.20 a.m. Naval troops were on an observation tour in the area when troops came under fire. more..

June 3 (SLA) Naval troops on duty in the general area of SAMPOOR, TRINCOMALEE have observed a newly constructed LTTE bunker, about 100 -150 meter south of the old bunkers on 01 June 2004 around 11.30 a.m. The matter has been reported to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.

June 3 (CT) Thursday will see the opening of a new container terminal at the Colombo Port. Estimated to have cost Rs.2.18 billion, it will be officially launched by Mangala Samaraweera, The Ports and Aviation Minister. This new, unity container terminal has been designed to improve container handling by 350,000 TEUs per annum. more..

June 3 (CT) A concert pianist who tried to lure Sri Lankan boys over the Internet during a tour of Asia was jailed for two years on Wednesday under British sex tourism laws. Brian Parnell, 66, from London, had posted a graphic advert in a Web chatroom appealing for teenage boys to contact him during a 2002 tour through South Asia with an opera company. more..

June 3 (Hindu) The international donors backing Sri Lanka's peace process have urged Colombo and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to "rapidly resume negotiations," failing which "donor attention and funding might go elsewhere." more..

June 3 (CT) Delegates from 100 European companies are expected to arrive here next week to participate in the EU-Sri Lanka partenariat, a two-day business matchmaking event providing a unique opportunity for Sri Lankan and European companies to explore the possibility of establishing long-term business partnership. more..

June 3 (CT) Local small Hydro power sector could produce 180 megawatt of energy , says a recently concluded study. This sector needs Rs.4050 million investment to achive higher energy production, said Sunith Fernando, a resercher attached to the Intermediate Technology Development Group. more..

June 3 (LT) Several projects aimed at improving the economic, social and living conditions of farmers in Sri Lanka will be launched soon said Mr. Anura Dissanayake, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation, Livestock and land. more..

June 3 (AFP) Cricket officials have begun eyeing a 17-year-old schoolboy who has the potential to replace Sri Lanka's spin wizard and top world Test wicket-taker Muttiah Muralitharan, it was reported. more..

June 3 (wsws) Just two months after April 2 general election, Sri Lanka’s new minority government is confronting serious financial difficulties. To defeat the previous UNF government, the UPFA made a series of populist promises to provide jobs, lift wages and reinstate subsidies for farmers. more..

June 3 (Rupavahini) The government decides to provide alternate lands to people who are living in landslide prone areas. The minister of environment; A.H.M. Fowzie said that several such areas have been identified in Uva, central and Sabaragamuwa provinces. more..

June 3 (Gulf) Government forces yesterday drew up new security arrangements in the eastern part of the country where a string of killings of pro-guerrilla civilians have taken place. more..

June 3 (DJ) Sri Lanka's government has received 52,000 job applications after a decision to hire unemployed university graduates into the public service, a Finance Ministry official said Thursday. more..

June 3 (Rediff) Indian-made motorcycles have overtaken Japanese models and are zooming ahead in Sri Lanka with impressive sales figures, but cheaper Chinese makes are slowly catching up. The Indian manufacturers sold 63,583 motorcycles in Sri Lanka last year, up from 32,738 in 2002 and 8,243 in 2001, more..