Sep 29 (AP) A 15-member Sri Lankan cricket squad will leave for Pakistan on Sunday for a triangular one-day series. The tournament starts on Thursday with a match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe. more..

Sep 29 (Rupavahini) Sri Lanka has acceded to the convention on certain conventional weapons and the inter-governmental agreement on Asian highway network. Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar signed these agreements in New York. more..

Sep 29 (Rupavahini) Government has decided to free the farmers from the burden of rising fertilizer prices in accordance with the world market price and to bare the loss incurred owing to this action. The Freedom Alliance administration had to increase the price of a 50 kilogram bag of fertilizer by 300 rupees. more..

Sep 29 (LT) Local business community is to meet the Minister of Finance to present their proposals on the forthcoming budget of the UPFA. Problems faced by the local entrepreneurs are to be discussed and a document consisting of the proposals by local business community is to be presented to the Minister of Finance at this meeting. more..

Sep 29 (AT) LTTE yesterday suffered one of worst defeat in the hands of National Tamil Force when six of the LTTE cadres who manned the Panichankerni sentry point, succumbed to by the RPG fire. Panichankerni sentry point, described as road block, came under RPG fire of the National Tamil Force around 10 am yesterday morning. more..

Sep 29 (AT) The massive demonstration by pro-Tiger Tamils in Canada and the coming Tiger conclave in Switzerland are political and diplomatic triumphs for the LTTE, especially at a time that they are mocking the Ceasefire Agreement by murdering political opponents. more..

Sep 29 (NW) Panadura Magistrate Jagath P. Kahandagamage was shocked to find last week that a theft case before court had been referred by Panadura South Police to the Mediation Board. The Magistrate asked the police whether they were following a new concept to settle cases. more..

Sep 29 (NW) An allegedly secret deal between Transport Minister Felix Perera and a Chinese company to bring 500 buses or engines and upgrade the railways on credit basis has surfaced, though a senior Transport Ministry official says he is not aware of the move. more..

Sep 29 (NW) The main opposition party yesterday accused the government of trying to disenfranchise 30 percent of Sri Lankas voters by rushing through the bill making identity cards compulsory for voting at any election. more..

Sep 29 (NW) The Norwegian government yesterday condemned all factional killings in Sri Lanka and said such acts were a danger to the peace process and the Ceasefire Agreement. more..

Sep 29 (TN) Mr.T. Semmanan, LTTE Jaffna district deputy political head, in a press note released Tuesday, dismissed as baseless the allegation of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) that LTTE is behind the killing of EPDP members in Jaffna district. more..

Sep 29 (SLA) An attack on an LTTE camp in un-cleared areas of PANICHCHANKERNI, BATTICALOA by an alleged LTTE breakaway group on 28 September 2004 around 11.30 a.m. had caused death to several LTTE cadres and a woman, unconfirmed reports that reached troops revealed. more..

Sep 29 (SLA) A nineteen-year old youth was fired upon by an unidentified gunman late at night around 11.45 p.m. on 28 September 2004 while he was in a house in the general area of VISHNU KOVIL Rd, KIRAN. more..

Sep 29 (SLA) The sub-post office at SITTANDY on BATTICALOA-VALAICHCHENAI road came under grenade attack late at night on Tuesday. An unidentified man, reports said, had hurled a hand grenade at the building before he vanished in darkness. more..

Sep 29 (SLA) An LTTE cadre from the KALMUNAI LTTE office has threatened a Muslim civilian with death on 28 September 2004 around 4.45p.m. for reasons best known only to the LTTE. The victim, M. S. RAHULDEEN of No. 21, RESTAURANT Rd, ISLAMBAD, KALMUNAI has made a complaint to the KALMUNAI Police station. more..

Sep 29 (SLA) Indian trawlers continue to poach inside Sri Lankan waters during 27th & 28th September 2004 in the general sea areas of DELFT ISLAND and KACHCHATIVU and north of PESALAI, TALAIMANNAR. more..

Sep 29 (SLA) Naval troops searched a boat on suspicion in the general area of PALLIMUNAI on 28 September 2004 around 5.00 p.m. and recovered six kilograms of gelignite, 25 non-electric detonators, one two-foot safety fuse and one anchor. more..

Sep 29 (Reuters) Stocks closed lower on Wednesdayin thin volume trade as some investors sold select shares, brokers said. The key Colombo all-share index fell a provisional 0.45 percent, or 6.56 points, to 1,443.03. The bourse has however gained more than 35 percent so far this year. more..

Sep 29 (SLBC) The Government Medical Officials Association warns that it will engage in strong Trade Union action if the Ministry of Health takes measures to register Russian Medical Graduates at the Sri Lanka Medical Council. more..

Sep 29 (SLBC) Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government Janaka Bandara Thennakoon says elections for the North and East will be held after resolving the problems between Tamil Political Parties. more..

Sep 29 (ANN) Pakistan's new High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Bashir Wali Mohammed in a candid interview with "The Island" speaks on the progress made on finalising a Sri Lanka-Pakistan Free Trade agreement. more..

Sep 29 (Gulf) The government has decided to go ahead with plans to establish a National Advisory Council on Peace and Reconciliation to open a process of consultations with opposition parties and religious dignitaries, despite the country's main opposition party refusing to take part the deliberations. more..

Sep 29 (LNI) Poverty and social discrimination and high population growth have resulted in some over 533,000 children in Sri Lanka to become more or less labourers earning their living. These children are within the age limits between the ages of 10 to 19. more..

Sep 29 (TS) Truth Commissions have become a new instrument in ushering transitional justice in the recent past. More than 20 truth commissions have been constituted around the world in the last three decades, the most famous among them being the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. more..

Sep 29 (DJ) Singapore's South Asia Textiles will invest $68 million in its newly acquired Sri Lankan unit, Pugoda Textile Mills Ltd., over the next two years to upgrade its technology, a Pugoda official said Wednesday. more..

Sep 29 (PIS) How many of the 10,000 odd Tamil expatriates who gathered at Queens Park, Toronto last Saturday, carrying placards of Vellupillai Prabhakaran, will return to Sri Lanka if a final negotiated settlement is reached to the North and the East conflict? more..

Sep 29 (UNI) LTTE leaders met Norwegian ambassador Hans Brattskar and head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Maj Gen Trond Furuhovde on Tuesday. The LTTE leaders head to Europe on Wednesday to put pressure on the Lankan government to resume talks to establish peace in the country that has left 64,000 people dead in the last two decades. more..

Sep 29 (HT) More than 500,000 women and children are trafficked out of Nepal and Bangladesh into India and Pakistan annually, says Dr Sadig Rasheed, Regional Director of UNICEF. Dr Rasheed said that from Bangladesh, annually, 300,000 women and children go to India, and 200,000 go to Pakistan. more..

Sep 29 (INQ) Four people including the skipper were killed in an engine explosion aboard a South Korean container carrier off Sri Lanka, port officials said Wednesday. The bodies of two South Koreans and two Filipinos were handed over to the Colombo harbor police more..

Sep 29 (BBC) A delegation of Tamil Tiger rebels has left Sri Lanka for a three week tour of Europe aimed at putting pressure on the government to resume peace talks. The leader of the Tigers' political wing, SP Thamilselvan, says they will urge European governments to withhold aid until talks start again. more..

Sep 29 (TN) Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the party of ultra Sinhala nationalist Buddhist monks, launched a signature campaign Tuesday in Kandy vowing to collect five million signatures against the Norwegian facilitation in the Peace Process. more..

Sep 30 (FE) Bilateral trade between India and Sri Lanka has grown by 128% after the free trade agreement (FTA) became operational in March 2000. Indian exports to Sri Lanka increased from $618 million to $1,319 million while Sri Lankan exports to India increased from $44 million to $194 million during the last four years. more..

Sep 30 (RE) With its sun-bronzed beaches, tropical forests, lush green mountains and cascading waterfalls, Sri Lanka is often called the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. But Gayle Dawson will have little time to admire its natural beauty when she makes her first visit to the country Oct. 2-14. more..

Sep 30 (BT) A short message in the Methodist Newsletter has led to a personal mission by seven young Irish women to spend two weeks working in a Sri Lankan slum. Marlene Skuce received an invitation from a Sri Lankan woman Cynthia Devadasen to return to the island where she had spent four years with her husband, more..

Sep 30 (UN) As delegates gather in Sri Lanka to review efforts to halt the commercial sexual exploitation of South Asian children, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today called for better enforcement against traffickers and more cross-border cooperation by the region’s governments. more..

Sep 30 (LBO) The Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday said it is upping the fertiliser subsidy by Rs. 300.00, to keep retail market prices at Rs. 550.00. Wednesday’s addition, takes the fertiliser subsidy up to Rs. 1050.00 from Rs. 750.00 at present and notches up the government’s bill by Rs. 900 million. more..

Sep 30 (AT) Why you - the valued reader should contribute to uphold the independence of Asian Tribune? It has become important for us to bring to the kind notice of our readers that Asian Tribune - an online news daily does not have any political agenda more..

Sep 30 (AT) Leaders of Indian, Sri Lankan and Philippines communities in Europe deplored the Norwegian hypocrisy in condemning terrorism ‘only when it suits them'. more..

Sep 30 (AT) The LTTE instructed its legal and constitutional experts to see the possibility of recasting certain clauses of the proposed Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) in order to improve it and make it more acceptable as basis for negotiations. more..

Sep 30 (Rupavahini) She points out this initiative is essential to mould characters of the younger generation. The president made these observations at a three day conference convened to introduce South Asian strategies against the child trafficking in Colombo today. more..

Sep 30 (Rupavahini) Sri Lankan seamen have been given an opportunity to serve in Norwegian ships. It has been decided to sign a memorandum of understanding between the two countries towards this end. more..

Sep 30 (BBC) Ceasefire monitors in Sri Lanka said on Wednesday that they have been unable to find evidence to show that any militant has been killed in the attack on a Tamil Tiger check point. more..

Sep 30 (NW) While policemen in Sri Lanka have been notorious for alleged cases of torture of people held in custody,Mondays alleged assault on a regional commissioner of human rights in the presence of a UN volunteer in Jaffna is likely to create an uproar locally and internationally. more..

Sep 30 (NW) President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday implicitly accused the LTTE of using child soldiers charging that 90% of its combatants were children. President Kumaratunga stopped short of naming the LTTE directly but cautiously said there were two sides of the civil war, more..

Sep 30 (NW) The Presidential Commission appointed to inquire into the possession of illegal weapons by members of the public has reported that there are over 35,000 weapons, mostly in the hands of criminals. more..

Sep 30 (NW) The LTTE has rejected a request made by the government through the SLMM on Tuesday to dismantle several Tiger bunkers constructed in no-mans land in Nagar Kovil and also release the two home guards in LTTE captivity, defence sources said. more..

Sep 30 (TP) The main opposition United National Party on Tuesday accused the government of trying to disenfranchise 30 per cent of Sri Lanka’s voters by rushing through a parliamentary bill making national identity cards (NICs) compulsory for voting at any election. more..

Sep 30 (TP) opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has pledged to rebuild Sri Lanka’s economy and bring it to the level of a country like Japan when the people gave him full executive powers as the next president, according to a Daily Mirror report. more..

Sep 30 (AT) LTTE must be included in the terrorists list of the European Union and also banned in Denmark. Per Stig Møller - Foreign Minister of Denmark categorically stated this in an interview with Metroxpress and also urged for the inclusion of the Tamil rebel outfit in the proscribed lists of the foreign terrorist organization forthwith. more..

Sep 30 (TN) Mr.Ruwan Chandrasekara, Jaffna regional co-ordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lank, was summoned to Colombo Wednesday amid reports that IGP and the HRCSL high command are to hold high level discussion regarding the assault on Mr.Chandrasekara and his colleagues at the Jaffna police station Monday by several policemen, more..