Apr 29 (TN) President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s Senior Economic Advisor, Mano Tittawella, who is also the head of the Presidential Task Force For Rebuilding the Nation (TAFREN) said Thursday that the establishment of a Joint Mechanism was necessary to "equitably distribute the tsunami relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction" more..

Apr 29 (TN) A large number of Tamil civilians including men, women and children Thursday morning held a protest march from Ganeshapuram junction in the LTTE held Muttur east villages to the Sri Lanka Army held Kaddaiparichchan area in the Trincomalee district demanding that the ban imposed on the transportation of cement more..

Apr 29 (TN) Under the Tsunami Boat Rehabilitation Project funded by the Kystaksjonen of Norway, a boat repairing yard was opened Thursday morning in Salli, a fishing hamlet about eleven km north of Trincomalee under the auspices of Trincomalee Division Fisheries Co-operative Societies Union (TDFCSU). more..

Apr 29 (TN) Mr. Sivaram Dharmeratnam, 46, a senior editorial board member of TamilNet was abducted at around 10.30 PM by a group of unidentified men in front of a restaurant in Bambalapitiya, Colombo, according to reliable media persons in Colombo. more..

Apr 29 (CI) The International Cricket Council has waded into Sri Lanka's serious cricket administration crisis, declaring that it would recognising the government-appointed Interim Committee as the rightful body empowered to run cricket in the country after taking legal advice. more..

Apr 29 (ARC) It has been four months since the tsunami, and the International Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement continues to provide invaluable assistance to vulnerable families – notably it began an anti-malaria campaign. more..

Apr 29 (AT) Informed sources in the Sri Lankan community in Australia believe that the latest drug-running suspects caught in Indonesia, with dodgy Australian passports, carry all the hallmarks of a drug operation masterminded by the LTTE. more..

Apr 29 (AT) Tamil militants have killed a policeman attached to the Counter Subversive Unit (CSU) yesterday in what the police described as a well planned strategy to subvert the anti-terrorism investigations. This came on the heels of abduction ad possible murder of a police inspector of the same unit by suspected cadres of LTTE. more..

Apr 29 (AT) The National Transportation Commission of Sri Lanka has appointed a committee to investigate the railroad tragedy that occurred at Alawwa on Wednesday which caused the death of 35 people. more..

Apr 29 (AT) The Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) of Sri Lanka has embarked on an ambitious program to purify wells in the tsunami affected areas in order to provide clean drinking water for domestic purposes. more..

Apr 29 (BBC) The authorities are also responsible for the accident involving the bus and the train at Alawwa on Wednesday that killed 35 says the National Transport Commission. "But it would not be appropriate for them to resign,"says the National Transport Commission Chairman Amal Kumarage. more..

Apr 29 (BBC) There are reports from Sri Lanka saying the editor of Tamilnet, Dharmaratnam Sivaram, who is also a popular columnist under the name of Tharaki has been abducted by an unknown group in Colombo. The family members had expressed fear as Sivaram had been recieving death threats. more..

Apr 29 (LT) A development summit in which several donor countries to Sri Lanka will participate will be held from the 16th to 17th of next month in Kandy. World Bank, ADB, IMF and many other donor organizations will take part in this summit. more..

Apr 29 (LBO) Treasury Secretary Dr. P B Jayasundera Thursday said Sri Lanka was expecting some US$ 1.5 billion annually in donor commitments over the next three to five years. The international community has so far pledged support at the rate of US$ 1 billion annually prior to the tsunami, more..

Apr 29 (AT) A parliamentarian of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress who joined the government urged the Tamil militant leader Velupillai Prabhakaran to assist the return of Muslim residents of the North who were forcefully evicted by the rebels. more..

Apr 29 (ADRA) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksha and President Chandrika Kumratunga attended the opening ceremony for a building project in Sri Lanka for which the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is providing water. more..

Apr 29 (ANN) Sri Lanka’s exports increased further in February 2005, by 28.6 per cent to US dollars 502 million. Expenditure on imports grew by 29.3 per cent, recording US dollars 621 million in February 2005 with a petroleum component of US dollars 105 million. more..

Apr 29 (ANN) ‘Save the Children’ has made a startling revelation in its latest report. There are nearly 51,000 children involved in war in Sri Lanka and girls constitute about 43 per cent of them. Around the world over 300,000 children, some as young as eight years, have been forced into war. And one sixth of them are in Sri Lanka! more..

Apr 29 (TN) The Centre for Health Care (CHC), a Non Governmental Organization head quartered in Kilinochchi, that offers medical services, is conducting eye clinics in the refugee camps along the coastal areas of Amparai and Batticaloa districts, and dental clinics in Tsunami affected areas and underprivileged distant villages in Amparai district, more..

Apr 29 (DJ) The Colombo Stock Exchange said Friday that trading hours at the bourse will be extended by one hour effective next week. The stock market will operate between 0330 GMT and 0830 GMT, effective May 3, the exchange said in a statement. It didn't give a reason for the move. more..

Apr 29 (SN) Yesterday, Thursday 28th April, the National Bhikkhu Front launched a signature campaign, to a petition against the signing the proposed Joint Mechanism with the Terrorist LTTE's Wanni Faction. The campaign commenced at the Boodhi Raaja Viharaya Temple Premises in Colombo Fort, more..

Apr 29 (TN) The body of abducted journalist Mr Dharmaretnam Sivaram was found with severe head injuries in Himbulala, a Sinhala suburb between Jayawardhenapura hospital and the Parliament building in Colombo Friday morning. The location is about 500 meters behind the parliamentary complex and lies inside a high security zone. more..

Apr 29 (PRIU) NINETY per cent of the permanent houses for tsunami affected families will be completed by the fourth quarter of this year, the Government asserted yesterday. "The bulk of the permanent housing project is to get off the ground by May and June and 80 to 90 per cent of the housing units are expected to be completed by the last quarter," more..

Apr 29 (PIS) Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera yesterday de-linked the proposed and widely debated joint mechanism with the mid-May development forum and its outcome saying the two were separate issues. more..

Apr 29 (AT) The abduction and murder of D Sivaram alias Taraki, is a crime and a stupidity. It is a crime not only in the simple legal sense but in an ethical and moral sense too. And if it were conducted in the anti-Tiger cause, it is a tactical and strategic stupidity, more..

Apr 29 (LM) District Secretary Jaffna, K. Ganesh says to ensure smooth implementation of rehabilitation projects in Tsunami affected area, the conflict areas too should be considered with equal importance. more..

Apr 29 (AT) Sri Lankan journalists have condemned the killing of Dharmarathnam Sivaram, editor of Tamilnet website. All the associations of journalists, Free Media Movement, the Editors Guild and Sri Lanka Journalists Forums have deplored the killing describing it as a cowardly and despicable act and an attempt to suppress freedom of expression. more..

Apr 29 (AT) The Government unreservedly condemns the reprehensible and dastardly abduction and killing of well known Journalist, Mr. D Sivaram. The communiqué released by the Presidential secretariat further adds: more..

Apr 29 (LM) The relatives of the victims of the Bus-Train collision surrounded the Kurunegala hospital yesterday (28) in search of the callous bus crew, according to sources. "Private bus drivers are the most irresponsible drivers, they always play with the lives of passengers and other vehicle in the roads" more..

Apr 29 (SAMN) Ceylon Electricity Board unionists say that there is a plot to oust Power and Energy Minister Susil Premajayantha. They said the plot against the Minister was being hatched by a group of UPFA Parliamentarians, including certain Ministers, led by a deputy Minister who was eyeing the power and energy portfolio, as he was hell bent on privatising the CEB. more..

Apr 29 (SAMN) The country was today being governed by not one government but by two or three governments, charged the UNP's Assistant Secretary General. The Prime Minister says he knows nothing about the Joint Mechanism, while the JVP was totally against it but the President was for the Joint Mechanism, more..

Apr 29 (SAMN) President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse were embroiled in an aggressive 30-minute argument over the interdiction of National school principals when the issue came up at the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, government sources said Thursday. more..

Apr 29 (SLBC) The Textile Training and Services Centre has implemented a programme to provide locally manufactured clothing to government institutions. Accordingly, armed forces, police and will have to use local materials for uniforms and other needs of them. more..

Apr 29 (LNP) As the country tried to recover from its shock and agony over the horrifying bus-train disaster at Alawwa, top police officers added to the shock yesterday by revealing there was evidence that the driver and the conductor of the death-bus acted with criminal negligence because they had taken liquor with breakfast. more..

Apr 29 (LNP) The Colombo Chief Magistrate yesterday further remanded till May 12 the Wellawaya Provincial Engineer in connection with accepting a bribe from a contractor promising to expedite payment of his dues. more..

Apr 29 (Reuters) Stocks closed at an all-time high for the fifth straight day on Friday on small investor buying across the board, brokers said. The key Colombo all-share index gained by 0.18 percent, or 3.36 points to 1,829.62 points, surpassing the previous closing high of 1,823.64 on Thursday. more..

Apr 29 (HT) Dharamaretnam Sivaram (46), leading Sri Lankan Tamil columnist and editor of the widely read website Tamilnet was kidnapped and shot dead by unidentified men in Colombo late on Thursday. more..

Apr 29 (DN) THE first phase of the Tsunami Safety Model Villages, a project jointly launched by the Geology and Mines Bureau of the Environment and Natural Resources Ministry and the Moratuwa University was officially launched by Environment and Natural Resources Minister A. H. M. Fowzie at Balapitiya recently. more..

Apr 29 (AT) United States Department of State, in its annual terrorism report ‘Country Reports on Terrorism 2004’, released as an official document of the U.S. Government on Thursday, April 28, has identified 40 Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and Sri Lanka’s LTTE has been named one among them. more..

Apr 29 (LM) Dharamartnam Sivaram alias Tharaki was abducted last Thursday and found dead with gunshot injuries. His body was found near the Japan-Sri Lanka Friendship Bridge today (29). Sivaram was once a member of the armed wing of the People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE). more..

Apr 29 (LM) A close family friend of slain Tamilnet editor, D. Sivaram said that his funeral will be held in Batticaloa early next week. He said that the family is waiting for some relatives to return to Sri Lanka from overseas in time for the funeral. more..

Apr 29 (AP) A top Tamil journalist whose articles favored the mainstream Tamil Tiger rebels over a breakaway faction was fatally shot hours after being seized by attackers at a restaurant in the capital, police and colleagues said Friday. more..

Apr 29 (Xinhua) Police has launched an investigation into the Friday's abduction and killing of a prominent pro-Tamil Tiger journalist under mysterious circumstances. Police chief Chandra Fernando said that he had ordered an investigation under the command of a senior deputy inspector general more..

Apr 29 (RSF) Reporters Without Borders is revolted at the murder of Dharmeratnam Sivaram "Taraki", editor of the news website TamilNet and Daily Mirror columnist. Four men abducted the well known journalist on 28 April and he was found dead the following morning. more..

Apr 30 (TN) The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the murder on Friday of leading military analyst and political commentator, Dharmeratnam Sivaram, saying “the brazen abduction and execution of a veteran journalist sends a chilling message to others in the Tamil media.” more..

Apr 30 (LM) The abduction and murder of Tamil Net editor D. Sivaram (Taraki) which came at a time when Sri Lankan media personnel were lobbying for media reforms aimed at greater media freedom, is strongly condemned by the SLMC as an act of cowardice and one that would leave an indelible black mark in media freedom of Sri Lanka. more..

Apr 30 (APP) Pakistan’s first ever, single country exhibition “Pride of Pakistan” was formally inaugurated by Jeyaraj Fernan-dopulla, Sri Lanka’s minister of trade, commerce and consumers affairs, according to a press release issued on Friday. more..

Apr 30 (BBC) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse strongly condemned the killing of senior Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram. “The government which is committed to safeguard the democracy strongly condemn the brutal killing of Sivaram.” more..

Apr 30 (BBC) International organisations andm media rights groups worldwide condemned the killing of senior Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram in Colombo on Friday. “We demand the government of Chandrika Kumaratunga to investigate the killing and bring the killers and the masterminds to justice,” more..

Apr 30 (BBC) Sri Lanka’s economy grew slower than expected in 2004, Central Bank said. “The growth rate which was 6% in 2003 went down to 5.4% in 2004”, Deputy Governor WA Wijewardhana told BBC. “However, for the first time in Sri Lanka, per capita income went over US$1000. In 2004, it was US$ 1025.” more..