Apr 16 (AT) The United States is continuing its policy of maintaining close coordination with the Sri Lankan security forces. Commander of the United States Pacific Command, Admiral William J. Fallon, is currently visiting Sri Lanka. more..

Apr 16 (AT) The Sri Lanka Sama Samaja Party in a clarion call to defeat the UNP in the forthcoming Presidential election said that all progressive and anti-UNP political parties and the masses must rally-round under one roof in the forthcoming presidential election. more..

Apr 16 (AT) The Janatha Vimukthi Perumuna(JVP), the leading partner of the present UPFA Government will vote against the Western Province Chief Minister Reginald Cooray when the no confidence motion is presented at the next session scheduled for on the 28 April. more..

Apr 16 (TN) Kinniya Muslim Theologian Council (Jamiethul Ulama Sabah- JUS) and Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) are jointly building 207 temporary shelters in the Muslim dominated Kinniya division for the tsunami affected families, civil sources said. more..

Apr 16 (SLA) Two civilians have received injuries in a hand grenade explosion in the general area of KAITHADI on 15 April 2005 around 9.30 p.m. The explosion had occurred when two groups of civilians clashed each other over an internal issue with in their community. more..

Apr 16 (SLA) Troops on duty in the general area of KILALY have heard several explosion similar to artillery /mortar firings from an unknown location behind the LTTE Defence Line on 15 April 2005 between 7.15 a.m. to 08.30 a.m. more..

Apr 16 (SLA) Another incident of firing by LTTE towards the Security Forces (SF) roadblock have reported in the general area of MEHINDAPURA, TRINCOMALEE on 15 April 2005 around 9.15 p.m. more..

Apr 16 (AT) British newspapers published locally in Harrow and Edgware narrate the heart-rending story that Rajasingham Jeyadevan and A.K.Vivekanandan were duped into to visit Vanni in Sri Lanka the stronghold of the Tamil terrorists outfit and the detail of their arrest, incarceration, torture and captivity and held incommunicado for 62 and 42 torturous days respectively. more..

Apr 16 (HT) The United States and Norway, the two most important pillars of the Sri Lankan peace process, will be giving special attention to the problems of the long-neglected Muslim minority in the coming week. more..

Apr 16 (LM) The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission denied a tamilnet report that the SLMM had accused the Sri Lankan army forces of aiding and abetting the reneged Karuna faction of the LTTE. Tamilnet, a pro LTTE web site claimed that the Nordic truce monitors had said last week that Karuna's group operates with the backing of the Sri Lankan armed forces. more..

Apr 16 (LBO) A senior US official is due in Sri Lanka next week to assess tsunami clean up operations and give tools to local tradespeople affected by the unprecedented natural disaster, the US embassy said Friday. more..

Apr 16 (AFP) A Sri Lankan soldier enraged over not being given home leave for the traditional New Year shot dead his superior officer and two colleagues, officials said. The soldier was overpowered after he killed a major and two soldiers in the northern peninsula of Jaffna, more..

Apr 17 (TN) Current LTTE mission to Europe is to communicate to the international community ground realities of the humanitarian crisis created by the tsunami and to expose the lack of progress towards establishing a Joint Mechanism to undertake post-tsunami reconstruction in an equitable manner, more..

Apr 17 (TN) The Colombo High Court last week acquitted Tamil youth John Mariyaseelan, indicted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) with the possession of a suicide jacket and a hand grenade, due to lack of evidence against the accused, legal sources said. more..

Apr 17 (TN) "Canadian Government has signalled the Sri Lanka Government that it will not be able to accept Mr. [Chandrananda] de Silva as Sri Lanka's next High Commissioner to Ottawa because under the provisions of the Immigration Act of that country, Mr. de Silva as the one-time holder of office as Secretary of Defence is a person, more..

Apr 17 (AT) Under a pre-planned operation to hoodwink Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Jeyaram Jayalalitha, and strengthen the hand of the LTTE, A. X. Alexander, the new Director General of Police (DGP) in Tamil Nadu, has detained Rajan Gnanasekaran, the leader of the ENDLF) and ten others under the Foreigners Act for overstaying. more..

Apr 17 (AT) The Venerable Medagama Dhammananda Thera of the Asgiriya Maha Vihara has called for strong legal measures to protect Buddhists and Hindus from dollar-waving ‘religious’ pied pipers. more..

Apr 17 (AT) A common front of organized Christian fundamentalists are rallying their forces internationally to block the Freedom of Religion Bill placed before the Sri Lankan parliament to prevent unethical conversions. more..

Apr 17 (AT) Tamil Eelam is stillborn, and unless this dead foetus is removed from the womb, its toxicity will kill the patient, the Tamil community. A state, or the idea of a state, has two major components. Territory and a coercive apparatus. For the idea of a state to become an actual state, the two components must converge. more..

Apr 17 (AT) In this land where conspiracy theories flourish like the proverbial bay tree it is tempting to assume that the JHU is either directly or indirectly carrying out a Tiger contract to isolate the Sinhalese in the East to enable the LTTE can regain that vital province for Tiger Eelam. more..

Apr 17 (AT) In the two recent articles titled Tamils : from Frying Pan into the Fire and A9- Road to nowhere, I tried to portray the continuing suffering of the Tamils and their sad plight viz-a-viz the Sri Lankan governments and the LTTE. more..

Apr 17 (Hindu) WHEN Deepa Mehta's "Water" is released, viewers won't make out that the film, set in 1930s Varanasi, was shot not by the Ganga, as originally planned, but by the side of a lake outside the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo. more..

Apr 17 (RC) The Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry yesterday commenced a special investigation into the twin deaths allegedly resulting from a heart disease known as myocarditis. Already, two teams have launched investigations into these two deaths which had occurred at the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital.... more..

Apr 17 (Xinhua) Sri Lankan government is to launch an international campaign against the acts of violence by the Tamil Tigers in spite of the ongoing cease-fire, a top minister was quoted by the state television as saying. more..

Apr 17 (BBC) A farmer’s wife from Medirigiriya in Polonaruwa is reported to have committed suicide after not being able to fulfil her expectations of buying a piece of land with the money earned by selling the season’s harvest. more..

Apr 17 (ANN) The Washington Post has taken up cudgels for child soldiers. Its editorial comments on the plight of these unfortunate children (reproduced on this page today) will, no doubt, awaken the policy makers and the political potentates of Capitol Hill who tend to gloss over this dastardly crime against children, to the pressing need to act. more..

Apr 17 (G&M) The very thought seems scandalous in its insensitivity, which is why you won't hear restaurant owners say it out loud. But it is true nonetheless: The Sri Lankan civil war that has claimed tens of thousands of casualties over the past two decades is the best thing that ever happened to the city's restaurant industry. more..

Apr 17 (LT) The latest UNICEF report reveals that Wanni Tiger organization has conscripted more than 1600 children out of the tsunami displaced camps. The continuous request by the world leaders and Human right pressure groups have not been successful in taming the Wanni Tiger's, more..

Apr 17 (LBO) The tsunami has affected the hotel trade in two ways. More than the physical damage to infrastructure, the sector was hit by cancellations. Tourism firms that managed to escape the worst effects had strategies to reduce cancellations. more..

Apr 17 (LBO) The Ceylon Electricity Board's restructuring is the hottest political and economic story these days. Though the tsunami destroyed more than 70,000 houses, Sri Lanka's power demand has been establishing new records. Last month Sri Lanka's electricity hit a new peak of 1604 megawatts. more..

Apr 17 (LBO) he Colombo stock market performed exceptionally well in the first quarter of 2004, boosted by low interest rates and high profits. Market activity surged all around defying continued worries about peace talks and rising oil prices. more..

Apr 17 (LBO) Sri Lanka's commercial capital of Colombo on Saturday asked residents to bury their own garbage as rubbish piled up along the city's most fashionable areas amid a legal battle over waste disposal. more..

Apr 17 (LBO) Shipping experts said the Ports Authority should give up owning and managing terminals and let port operators and shipping lines do that business. S. Premachandra, a former Ports Authority employee says the government should consider the landlord concept and make money by owning the port and letting the private sector run the terminals. more..

Apr 17 (PTI) Three Indian fishermen have been arrested by Sri Lankan Navy while ferrying Sri Lankans to the island nation from Rameswaram, about 150 km from here, officials said today. The three Sri Lankans were also arrested after the boat was intercepted by the Naval personnel in the mid-sea off Rameswaram island yesterday, more..

Apr 17 (MH) Disasters are always devastating, but the timing of the Indian Ocean tsunami for Sri Lanka was particularly cruel. For more than two years, a truce between the government and the rebel Tamil Tigers had brought an end to decades of violence and had finally started to make a real difference to the country. more..

Apr 17 (TP) Nearly 700 injured victims have sought treatment at the Colombo National Hospital Accident Service on April 12, 13 and 14 during the traditional Sinhala and Tamil New Year, slightly lower than last year’s number of 756. more..

Apr 17 (TP) Two magistrates are to be investigated by senior judges over alleged irregularities while on duty, the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) said. The case against former Muttur Magistrate A L A Gafoor, interdicted for allegedly being partial to a political party, would be handled by Supreme Court judge Nimal E Dissanayake. more..

Apr 17 (PIS) Officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) based in the Wanni were publicly castigated by a London-based Sri Lankan Tamil whose kidnapping and detention by the LTTE have led to investigations by Britain''s security services and also reached London''s High Court this month. more..

Apr 17 (PIS) The LTTE's new Political Wing Leader for the Batticaloa and Ampara district said that international recognition was given to the LTTE when world leaders condemned the killing of its Eastern leader Kaushalyan. more..

Apr 17 (PIS) Clashes between the LTTE and the Karuna faction in the Polonnaruwa district have prompted the District Secretary to demand more security for Sinhala villages. The latest incident took place on Friday when five members of the Karuna faction were killed and two injured in Soruvil close to Dimbulagala. more..

Apr 17 (SAMN) Bowing to opposition UNP demands, the government’s proposed 18th Amendment to the Constitution -- which provides for provincial Courts of Appeal -- will be presented in parliament next month minus key provisions that vest additional powers with the chief justice. more..

Apr 17 (SAMN) There has been a news report that the privatisation of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and the Ceylon Electricity Board will be subjected to the policies of the JVP, said Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, UNP Parliamentarian of the Kalutara District. more..

Apr 17 (LNP) Two Puttalam District UNP MPs are on a collision course over an alleged obstruction of a photojournalist while on duty at Tabbowa recently. Neomal Perera yesterday said that his colleague Ranga Bandara had obstructed Hiran Jayawardene from taking photographs of a building under construction at Tabbowa. more..

Apr 17 (LNP) The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) last week drew attention to the death of 36-year-old Nallawarige Sandasirilal Fernando, a father of three children following alleged assault by the Panadura police. more..

Apr 17 (LNP) Giving a new twist to the already 'messy' athleticS set up, the Colombo District Court on Friday, issued a restraining order preventing the newly elected athletics committee from functioning in their respective capacities. more..

Apr 17 (Xinhua) Sri Lankan government condemned Saturday the murder of a government official in its Eastern Province, coming close on the heels of the killing of another government official in the same province. more..

Apr 17 (SO) A group of Customs officers have allegedly taken Rs. 17 million in bribes to release a full shipload of 2690 metric tonnes of palm oil consignment for an undervalued price. The Department of Customs was inquiring as to why these officers have valued about Rs. 100 million worth of palm oil consignment for a price of Rs. 75 million. more..

Apr 17 (AP) Norway's top peace envoy, Erik Solheim, arrived in Sri Lanka on Sunday to mediate a deal between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels on the distribution of aid to areas devastated by the Dec. 26 tsunami. more..

Apr 17 (BBC) A case against film star Ranjan Ramanayake cannot be moved to another court as requested by the plaintiff, Sri Lanka’s law enforcement authorities said. Solicitor General CR de Silva told journalist KS Udayakumar that the request cannot be accommodated as the hearing has already begun. more..

Apr 17 (BBC) Norwegian facilitators expect a breakthrough in the impasse on the proposed joint mechanism for tsunami reconstruction in Sri Lanka's devastated North and East. “We are quite optimistic” Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim told Elmo Fernando at the Norochcholai Alamkudah Mullaitivu B refugee camp. more..