Apr 6 (BBC) It is now more than 100 days since the tsunami devastated the countries around the Indian ocean. In Sri Lanka, it left more than 30,000 dead and half a million homeless. Since then the government has been working to rebuild people's lives. more..

Apr 6 (CI) A classical hundred from Marvan Atapattu, his first against New Zealand, and a serene unbeaten 118 from Mahela Jayawardene helped Sri Lanka stroll within touching distance of the 362 follow-on target to ensure that a draw remains the likeliest result to the opening Test despite New Zealand's massive first-innings score. more..

Apr 6 (LM) Due to the United National Party's lack of consultation with the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress in decision making, the SLMC will oppose the proposed no confidence motion against the Chief minister of the Western Provincial Council, according to sources. more..

Apr 6 (LNP) The Presidential Investigations Unit (PIU) has revealed that some of the admissions of children for Year 1 of Ananda College, Colombo and Kingswood College, Kandy have been carried out with fraudulently prepared documents and by violating the Education Department Circular No. 2004/18. more..

Apr 6 (DN) The Samurdhi Movement through its Jana Pubuduwa project will implement a massive development drive to liberate 100,000 low income families from poverty during this year, Samurdhi and Poverty Alleviation Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said yesterday. more..

Apr 6 (CI) Sri Lanka's sports minister has successfully modified a court order that had effectively closed down the operations of the cricket board. The interim committee appointed by the government is now expected to be able to takeover the administration of the game. more..

Apr 6 (Xinhua) One policeman died and another injured after attacks from a group of gunmen when they were on duty guarding a tsunami relief store in eastern Sri Lanka, police said Wednesday. The attacks occurred around 4 a.m. local time at Kalmunai, more..

Apr 6 (LM) The Powerful Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers Union (CEBEU) today warned the Government not to push them towards replicating another 1996 nationwide Blackout. Addressing a news conference in Colombo today morning the Union President Ananda Piyatilake also threw a challenge at the Government more..

Apr 7 (TN) In message of condolence on the death of Pope John Paul II sent to the Head of Cardinal Congregation in Vatican, Rome, Leader of LTTE, Mr. V. Pirapaharan, said: "The extra-ordinary life , work and preaching of the Holy Father will be cherished in the hearts of all human beings who believe int the noble values of freedom, liberty and equality." more..

Apr 7 (TN) Fisheries societies sources said that even after elapse of three years from the signing of a ceasefire agreement (CFA) between the Government and the LTTE, the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stationed in the Jaffna district have yet to allow fishermen of Ariyalai area, a suburb of Jaffna town, to use fishing crafts fitted with outboard engines. more..

Apr 7 (TN) ‘A federal system as a political solution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict would not even get twenty percent support from the people at a referendum’, said Mr. Somawansa Amarasingha, leader of the JVP, addressing a meeting Tuesday in Anuradhapura to commemorate the thousands of party activists who were killed in April 1971 more..

Apr 7 (RW) The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) has called on Sri Lanka to enact domestic legislation and procedures for carrying out its international obligations to protect human rights in the country. more..

Apr 7 (LM) A delegation lead by Hon. Bob Rae, accompanied by Dr. David Cameron- Board Member, Ms. Priya Sood- Programme Manager and Jean-Philippe Linteau- Political Officer of the Canadian High Commission in Colombo, met with officials of the Muslim Peace Secretariat lead by its Secretary General Javed Yusuf, more..

Apr 7 (LM) Addressing the SLMC's Kurunegala District convention, SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem said ‘ever since the President took office for her second term as President, we have faced three parliamentary elections. If she calls for another election, she will have a record of having held four general elections in 5 years. more..

Apr 7 (LBO) Switzerland on Wednesday gave Sri Lanka US$ 7 mn as aid for cash grants to rebuild houses outside the coastal buffer zone in tsunami affected areas. The grant funds will be used to provide cash grants to reconstruct fully or partly damaged houses, under the state housing reconstruction programme. more..

Apr 7 (BBC) The Electricity Board Engineers say restructuring is not going to solve any of the problems faced by the board. The main reason for the massive loss incurred is the use of fuel generated electricity says Ananda Piyathilaka, President of the Engineers Association. more..

Apr 7 (BBC) The electricity board has to bail itself out of huge deficit by restructuring its loans says Minister of Power and Energy Susil Premjayanth. The Minister called for trade unions' co-operation rather than confrontation to tackle the problem. He said that the restructuring will be done with the 14,000 strong work force. more..

Apr 7 (LT) Security Intelligence Units have detected that Tigers Organisation is intercepting telephone lines to the Army camps and government offices in the North and East and tapping their telephone conversations by means of transmission equipment given to the Wanni Tigers by the Norwegian Embassy during the UNP regime. more..

Apr 7 (LT) In an interview at the Norwegian ministry of foreign affairs special envoy Eric Solheim accepted that India had warned him that India would never give any legitimacy or recognition to Tiger supreme Velupillai Prabhakaran or his group for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. more..

Apr 7 (LT) Asian Development Bank has offered another thirty million rupees for restructuring the Ceylon Electricity Board. The resident representative of the bank for Sri Lanka at a media briefing held in Colombo yesterday said that this money should be spent to make restructuring process feasible. more..

Apr 7 (AT) As the death threats to judges who try terrorist suspects, drug mafia members and politicians charged with criminal acts mounted, the government decided to expand the security blanket provided to selected judges. more..

Apr 7 (AT) The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) trade union representatives met the Minister of Finance Dr Sarath Amunugama yesterday, regarding the re-structuring of the CEB. "We had a fruitful discussion but no final decision was taken," said the CEB union leader Rajan Jayalal. more..

Apr 7 (AT) The Sri Jayewardenepura University has been indefinitely shut down and the university authorities have informed the hostellers to vacate the premises before Wednesday 12 noon, as the senior students have disregarded an earlier directive to not enter the university premises until further notice. more..

Apr 7 (CI) Ian Daniel took 2 for 12 from six overs with his part-time offcutters to redress the balance on the third day of the rain-affected Test between Sri Lanka A and Pakistan A in Kandy, as Pakistan reached 105 for 4 at the close, in reply to Sri Lanka's first-innings 237. more..

Apr 7 (ETB) Passengers of SriLankan Airlines, the country's national carrier, can now look forward to making their own airline reservations with the newly introduced internet booking engine from the privacy of their home, office or wherever an internet connection is available. more..

Apr 7 (TN) “We should spit on NGOs and stop them from walking on our streets. Donor countries and their NGO agents are holding this country to ransom, telling the government to set up a joint Tsunami relief mechanism with the LTTE. It is something that can be done through the Sri Lankan state machinery. more..

Apr 7 (LNP) Two principals of the Colombo Ananda College and Kingswood College in Kandy had been interdicted with immediate effect on the findings by a Presidential investigations unit that both principals had admitted children to Year One on false documents violating the Education Department Circular No.2004/18, more..

Apr 7 (LNP) The apparent tug of war between Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama took a new turn yesterday with both ministers calling state media bosses for a meeting at the same time this morning, sources said. more..

Apr 7 (TN) Large number of Tamil civilians participated in a protest march held in Jaffna town Wednesday demanding the withdrawal of State armed forces enabling the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced families in their own lands and houses now being occupied by Sri Lanka government soldiers and restore normalcy in the peninsula, sources said. more..

Apr 7 (TN) The All Ceylon Hindu Congress (ACHC) Wednesday started distributing relief materials worth five hundred thousand rupees to tsunami affected families in the coastal areas of the Trincomalee district. The inaugural event of the distribution was held at Thirukadaloor Namagal Vidiyalayam, a suburb in the east port town Wednesday morning. more..

Apr 7 (SLA) A middle-aged LTTE cadre has reportedly committed suicide at his residence in the general area of MANNAR on 6 April 2005. The senior LTTE cadre, FRANCIS JUDE XAVIOUR DE LIMA, who has worked for LTTE for a long time after he joined the LTTE in December 1989, has actively taken part in a number of major LTTE offensives against the Sri Lanka Army, more..

Apr 7 (SLA) An unidentified group of persons have hurled six hand grenades at a house of a civilian in the general area of CHENKALADY on 06 April 2005 around 9.45 p.m. causing damages to property. Five hand grenades out of those six have exploded in front of the house of THAMBI RASA MAHESHWARAJA of No. 44, MAIN ROAD, CHENKALADY, more..

Apr 7 (LM) Member of Parliament and Co-Chairman of the National Patriotic Movement, Wimal Weerawansa says that Western International Non Governmental Organisations (INGOS) don't bother about the Muslims in the East and their sufferings because they are against Islam and the Muslims. more..

Apr 7 (PRIU) The Government of Sri Lanka condemned the attack on the Tourist Reception Centre in Srinagar yesterday. This was a day before the historic bus service commenced between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad in Kashmir. more..

Apr 7 (wsws) In the immediate aftermath of the December 26 tsunami, many ordinary working people in Sri Lankan—Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala—spontaneously came to the aid of victims, regardless of religion or ethnicity. more..

Apr 7 (AP) A 30-member Danish business delegation today began talks with Sri Lankan government and business officials to strengthen contacts and forge new partnerships, a Danish statement said. Possible Danish help for Sri Lanka's reconstruction after the December 26 tsunami was also on the agenda, it said. more..

Apr 7 (AP) The U.N. refugee agency will hand over the first batch of temporary houses to Sri Lankan families who lost their homes in the December tsunami disaster, an official said Thursday. Providing temporary houses has become more urgent because of the onset of monsoon rains, more..

Apr 7 (PIS) The ceasefire monitors yesterday totally rejected the LTTE allegation that the Navy had retaliated when the LTTE fired at the Navy boat on Tuesday morning in the sea off Upparu in Trincomalee. more..

Apr 7 (PIS) It is bad to lie. Everybody knows that lying is an abominable thing to do. But what is worse is to believe in one's lies and become a victim of it. Becoming a victim to one's own lies is the lot of chronic liars. Unfortunately, we are surrounded by them in our land and around the world. more..

Apr 7 (AT) Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga criticized her coalition government ally for its demand to ‘oust Norway.’ She said that Norway was essential for the peace process to solve the ethnic problem. more..

Apr 7 (SAMN) The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) urged the Minister of Health to summon an inter-ministerial discussion to address the growing crisis of medical interns. more..

Apr 7 (SAMN) President Chandrika Kumaratunga Wednesday called upon political leaders to forget party differences and work towards achieving peace as this was the last chance to rescue the country from anarchy. more..

Apr 7 (ANN) It often takes a rude shock to awaken one from the slumber of self deceit. The chocking clouds of dust, the fires that burn our hillsides and the increasing toxicity of the drinking water should serve to remind us that the suffering at hand is largely due to the smug complacency of our so called national planners and those bureaucrats responsible for the protection of the environment. more..

Apr 7 (LNP) The Prime Minister of the State Council of China will arrive in Sri Lanka on April 8. During his stay the Chinese Premier will hold discussions with President Chandrika Kumaratunga, to inaugurate the renovation of the fisheries harbour in Panadura and also visit the BMICH. more..

Apr 7 (LBO) The European Union’s delay in enforcing the special tariff concessions could work in Sri Lanka’s favour, says the Commerce Department. "The delay in Sri Lanka getting the GSP+ is because the EU is still debating the graduation for the GSP scheme," said K J Weerasinghe, Director General of Commerce. more..

Apr 7 (CI) The opening Test drifted towards stalemate during the fourth day as Sri Lanka's first innings ran out of steam in the afternoon and then New Zealand idled in the second innings, apprently content to gain a psychological advantage and rest their bowlers for the second and final Test, more..

Apr 7 (DN) GCE Ordinary Level students have excelled in English and Mathematics in 2004, according to the results released yesterday. There is a marked improvement over the previous year. The number of passes in English have increased by 13 per cent from 34.1% to 47.01% and in Mathematics by 3.3 per cent from 42.1% to 45.4%. more..

Apr 7 (AFP) Sri Lanka's warring parties have yet to agree on how to disburse millions of dollars in foreign aid for tsunami survivors more than three months after the disaster, a senior minister admitted. more..

Apr 7 (Reuters) Renegade rebels, who Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers say are helping the army kill its cadres, are operating in a government-held area, according to testimony by a Nordic ceasefire monitor obtained by Reuters. more..

Apr 7 (AP) Sri Lanka has received written commitments for 75 percent of the US$2 billion (€1.56 billion) pledged for post-tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction, the government said Thursday. more..