Mar 1 (LBO) Getting its campaign on the road, on Monday the UNF asked voters to decide between clarity and chaos at the April polls. Citing the lack of consensus within the UPFA on peace process fundamentals, the UNF called on voters to decide between the stability of clearly mapped out UNF policy and chaos from ad-hoc UPFA decisions. more..

Mar 1 (LBO) Dubai based Emirates Airlines said Monday, that it was adding five new services to Colombo in March, substantially increasing seat and cargo capacity to and from the Indian Ocean island. more..

Mar 1 (LBO) Free trade zone employees, at the end of the supply chain are under increasing pressure to keep costs down as retailers and brand owners offload costs and risks to the supply chain. more..

Mar 1 (TN) The TNA leader and the lead candidate of the party in the Trincomalee electoral district, Mr.R.Sampanthan, said that southern political forces are jittery that the TNA would be returned with about twenty seats to the new parliament in the April polls as a kingmaker, more..

Mar 1 (TN) The Trincomalee Children Welfare Fund (TCWF), with the financial assistance from a group of Trincomalee Tamils domiciled in Canada, has launched a special education development project for students of displaced Tamil families who have been resettled in Tamil villages in the district. more..

Mar 1 (TN) The TNA began a house to house campaign in Valigamam North and in Vadamaradchi in Jaffna. “We wanted to start on a quiet note, going directly to the people to understand their problems and attitudes”, said Mr. Selvarajah Gajendran, a TNA candidate more..

Mar 1 (TN) Sri Lanka army refused to allow the paramilitary EPDP to take a group of refugees inside the Palaly military base to see their homes during the weekend. “We already had a problem in Chavakachcheri where the group claimed that it was responsible for persuading us to vacate a sector of our high security zone there. more..

Mar 1 (TN) A political solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka should be based on the recognition of the Tamil speaking people’s homeland, the Tamils’ identity as a distinct nation, and their right to self-determination, according to the manifesto of the TNA, more..

Mar 1 (PSL) As Sri Lanka heads towards its third parliamentary elections in four years, the President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, says her party has "learnt lessons from our own experience" and that it has a "clear strategy" for talks. more..

Mar 1 (SLA) A candidate contesting the forthcoming General Election, who was lying in hospital due to an injury he received earlier, was gunned down early this morning (01 March 2004) inside the BATTICALOA hospital premises by some unidentified pistol men. more..

Mar 1 (SLA) A twenty-one year old man, who gave up LTTE some time back and was leading a normal life in KALAWANCHIKUDI, about 19 km south of BATTICALOA town, was kidnapped by LTTE men attached to KALAWANCHIKUDI LTTE office but the victim escaped from LTTE detention and reached the VALAICHCHENAI Police station on 26 February 2004 seeking protection. more..

Mar 1 (SLA) A temporary shelter of cadjans and polythene erected for the use of soldiers on duty in KARUWANKERNY, about 18 km northwest of BATTICALOA on VALAICHCHENAI-BATTICALOA road has been gutted by fire on 27 February 2004. more..

Mar 1 (SLA) A supplier of liquor bottles to the general area of AKKARAIPATTU in a complaint made to the AKKARAIPATTU Police station on 27 February 2004 claims that LTTE men are regularly used to snatch bottles of liquor from his vehicle that carries his consignments to the area. more..

Mar 1 (SLA) An LTTE female cadre has hoisted the LTTE flag during an ongoing sports event held inside the Urban Council ground at VAVUNIYA on 29 February 2004 and today (01). The event has been organized allegedly by VAVUNIYA Women’s Sports Club where the LTTE female cadre WASANTHI raised the LTTE flag more..

Mar 1 (SLA) Five men aboard a fibre glass dinghy were arrested by Naval troops on suspicion from the general sea area of PESALAI north on 29 February 2004 while they were moving towards PESALAI. more..

Mar 1 (SLA) A complaint made by a civilian in the general area of THALAIMANNAR on 28 February 2004 claims that her son, W. T. ROSHAN has been wrongfully detained at the LTTE camp at THALAIMANNAR for reasons best known only to the LTTE. more..

Mar 1 (TP) The JVP has earmarked four key ministries if a new Freedom Alliance government is installed in power at the April poll. Its electoral pact with President’s SLFP states that the JVP will have four key ministries including portfolios like Agriculture, Lands, Rural Economy and Fisheries.

Mar 1 (TP) A group of women has come together to become the first all-female set of candidates to submit nominations to contest a parliamentary election. The women, led by lawyer Sharmila Daluwatte, will contest under the National People’s Party banner only in the Colombo district. more..

Mar 1 (LT) Installing of polling booths in areas under tiger organization should be completely halted if they are not accessible to the police or the Security forces says the JVP. more..

Mar 1 (LT) Bhikkus directly entering into politics would devastate Buddha Sasana says Most Ven. Veveldeniye Medhanlankara Thero, Mahanayake of Ramanna Chapter in a communiqué. more..

Mar 1 (G2L) The TNA is contesting this general elections on the policy that LTTE should be accepted as the sole representative of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka. But latest reports from Tamil areas show the policy has led to more divisions in the area among the Tamils than ever before. more..

Mar 1 (DJ) Manila-based Asian Development Bank said Monday that it has awarded the Sri Lankan government a technical assistance grant of $800,000 to fund the second phase of a program promoting private sector development. more..

Mar 1 (Reuters) Sri Lanka Telecom posted a 16% slide in annual net profit on Friday, in line with expectations, after the company spent more than $7 million to fund a voluntary retirement scheme. The company said it was counting on Mobitel, its mobile unit, and a new link for calls to India to fuel future growth. more..

Mar 1 (IL) Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), the main anti-LTTE Tamil political party yesterday called upon the Tamil community to give them 'just ten seats' in parliament and watch the 'wonders' they could do for the betterment of the community. more..

Mar 1 (IL) Former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanaike has not been included in the National List owing to the pressure exerted by the J.V.P. at the last minute said Lands Minister Rajitha Senearatne at a rally held in Horana. more..

Mar 1 (IL) Hitting out at President Chandrika Kumaratunga's claim that the Oluvil harbour project's financial transaction was irregular and immoral, an angry Port Development Minister Rauff Hakeem said yesterday that her claim was 'entirely false' and he was going to lodge a complaint with the Elections Commissioner more..

Mar 1 (Gulf) Scandinavian monitors have turned down a request from the Tamil guerrillas to get involved in making arrangements for people in guerrilla-held areas to vote in the parliamentary elections without any hindrance. more..

Mar 1 (DN) Police are investigating a complaint by Western Provincial Council and UPFA Gampaha District candidate Sanjaya Siriwardena about Minister S. B. Dissanayake where he allegedly stated they would celebrate the Sinhala New Year with Ranil Wickremesinghe, not as the Prime Minister but as the President of the country. more..

Mar 1 (DM) Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that UPFA's decision to enter into talks with the LTTE without any conditions will lead the country to another war bloodier that what began in 1994. more..

Mar 1 (AP) Unidentified gunmen raided a hospital at dawn Monday and killed a candidate in coming parliamentary elections who was being treated for injuries received in an attempt on his life two days earlier, police said. more..

Mar 1 (HT) If one goes by campaign rhetoric, the electoral battle in Sri Lanka is between those who have gained from the two-year long peace process and are hence "feeling good", and those who feel that they have been by-passed and hence "not feeling good". more..

Mar 1 (AFP) President Chandrika Kumaratunga said she wants to renegotiate a truce with Tiger rebels, but would keep up the Norwegian-led peace process if her party was returned to power in April. more..

Mar 1 (AFP) Moderate Tamils warned they would declare independence from Sri Lanka unless the government that came to power after snap April elections revived peace talks with Tamil Tigers. The warning came as gunmen shot dead an ethnic Tamil candidate, the first to be killed in the run-up to the polls. more..

Mar 1 (USE) Mr. Jeffrey Allen, Director of Economic Growth Programs, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), inaugurated the Galle Business Academy today. USAID and the Galle District Chamber of Commerce and Industry partnered to create the first fully accredited business academy in the Southern Province. more..

Mar 1 (NZH) New Zealand lawyers for an expelled Sri Lankan teenager are concerned she is being questioned by police in a Colombo convent without having legal representation. But a Sri Lankan child rights lawyer turned away from the convent says the 16-year-old girl is now under the care of his country's pre-eminent paediatrician, more..

Mar 1 (FE) Two significant but unconnected events that happened last week set me recalling the course of the Indo-Sri Lanka relationship. February 23rd was the second anniversary of the ceasefire that halted two decades of armed conflict between the Tamil tigers and the Sri Lankan government. more..

Mar 2 (TN) The Mothers Front and Missing Persons Guardians’ Association of Jaffna Monday began a sit in protest at the entrance of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission demanding that Colombo should make a concrete response regarding the fate of their children, spouses and relatives who went missing after they were arrested by the Sri Lanka army in Jaffna in 1996-97. more..

Mar 2 (TN) The TNA held its first election rally in Trincomalee Sivan Kovil Veethi Monday evening. "The forthcoming general election has been thrusted on the country as chauvinist forces in the south could not digest the contents of the Interim Self Governing Authority proposal submitted by the LTTE to the UNF government,” more..

Mar 2 (TN) The leader of President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s main political ally, Mr. Somawansa Amarasinghe categorically rejected the concept and practice of devolution in an interview published in the latest issue of ‘Business Today’, a monthly magazine from Colombo. more..

Mar 2 (IL) A claim by former Sri Lanka Muslim Congress rebel leader A.L.M. Athaullah that parliamentary or ministerial portfolios has never been a issue for him, has been strongly refuted by Athaullah's former colleague and leader of the Ashraff Congress S. Subairdeen. more..

Mar 2 (IL) Cabinet spokesman Prof. G.L. Peiris challenged the JVP/SLFP Alliance to spell out where they will find the many jobs that will be needed in the next ten years. Prof. Peiris said, "In the next ten years the country will have to create 3 million jobs if we are to keep up with the rise in the population and school-leavers". more..

Mar 2 (IL) Amidst a declaration by the TULF General Secretary R. Sampanthan that the TNA's aim at the election is to prove to the International Community that the LTTE is the sole representative of the Tamils, his rival V. Anandasangaree, who is also the leader of the TULF said that he would continue to fight for the rights of his community without being intimidated by any force. more..

Mar 2 (Hindu) The political stand of the LTTE was reflected in the election manifesto of the four-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which declared that "self-determination" would be "inevitable" if the demands of the "Tamil-speaking people" were not met. more..

Mar 2 (SI) Two years after a ceasefire was declared in Sri Lanka, the Swiss government is facing calls to boost its peace efforts in the country. A parliamentary delegation said it was crucial to promote human rights and political reform in a country which is moving away from nearly two decades of civil war. more..

Mar 2 (Bloomberg) The U.S. government condemned the killing of a Tamil election candidate in Sri Lanka and called on Tamil rebels to act responsibly during and after the poll. more..

Mar 2 (LBO) Commercial Bank of Ceylon has started talks with its Unions to ask them to contribute part of their earnings towards a bank pension scheme. Initial discussions made some headway, with Unions agreeing not to include employees who join after January 1, 2004, from joining the Fund. more..

Mar 2 (LBO) Modeled on the likes of top branded resorts like Banyan Tree, Jetwing Hotels is revamping its hotels and spas into three core brands – Eco, Ayurveda and beach holidays. The group is making a determined shift up-market, in efforts to lure the discerning high spenders with more than just the best package deal. more..

Mar 2 (LBO) The JVP says it will re-negotiate the US$ 567 mn structural loan facility with the IMF, when it comes to power next month. The IMF’s concessionary loan package – the largest ever granted to Sri Lanka last April – was to be disbursed in equal tranches of US$ 81 mn over a three-year period. more..

Mar 2 (TN) A powerful bomb exploded in a school in Mannar Tuesday afternoon, Police in the island town on Sri Lanka's northeastern coast said. The explosion caused severe damage to the school's roof. But no one was hurt as the school had closed for the day, Police said. more..

Mar 2 (SN) A plot to murder leading Buddhist monks who contest the forthcoming general election has come to the light. Jatika Hela Urumaya charged that Mr Lalith Kotalawela, the chairman of Ceylinco Group is behind the move. more..