Dec 31 (TW) Sri Lanka looks set to enter a period of escalated violence in the New Year that is to dawn. Instead of waking to the good news of Christmas, which celebrates the belief that divinity mingles with human beings, the early morning news was as tragic as could be. more..

Dec 31 (TW) At that time Rev. Fr. E. Crowther was the Rector. He was a Sri Lankan, although his name sounded alien. Readers might remember him as the Thomian cricket captain. His brother, S. J. K. Crowther, a novelist was also the editor of the then Ceylon Daily News. more..

Dec 31 (TN) Military troopers and the Colombo Police have arrested 920 Tamils, including 105 Tamil women, in a joint cordon and search operation in Colombo between Friday midnight and Saturday noon, police said. The arrested were taken in busses to 8 different police stations and were being photographed, finger-printed and videoed by the Intelligence agencies, more..

Dec 31 (TN) Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers cordoned off and conducted a house-to-house search Mailankudal area in Illavalai 12km north of Jaffna town Saturday for nearly four hours from 7 a.m, sources from Jaffna said. The search area included Mareesankudal where two vehicles belonging to Halo Trust, robbed Tuesday from the Organization's offices in Nallur Jaffna, were later found abandoned. more..

Dec 31 (SLA) A POLICE POST in the general area of IRUDIYAPURAM in BATTICALOA came under a Tamil Tiger hand grenade attack Saturday (31) around 12.10 p.m. However, the explosion of the hand grenade cause no injuries. Tamil Tiger who hurled the hand grenade at the policemen have fled the area soon after the attack. more..

Dec 31 (SLA) AN ARMY SENTRY POINT in the general area of POINT PEDRO road, VARANI in JAFFNA came under a Tamil Tigers hand grenade attack Friday (30) around 7.45 p.m. Corporal D.M. SOMANANDA (S/401487), Lance Corporal R.M.M. ANURUDDHA KUMARA (S/414690), Private D.M.M.S. SANJEEWA HERATH (S/415569), more..

Dec 31 (LBO) Shipping industry watchers say donors could be more receptive to fund the South Port project, with private port operator SAGT loosing its first right of refusal. A 75 month deadline, from the day the govt., proposed to build the breakwater for the South Port ended Dec. 5, ending SAGT’s first right of refusal. more..

Dec 31 (SAN) THE Asian Tsunami struck with devastating force on Boxing Day 2004. Bob Johns, a freelance photographer from Bedford, visited Sri Lanka as part of a Christian charity Hope Outreach to see how the country was coping. more..

Dec 31 (KT) Sri Lankan national suspected of murdering an Egyptian inside a store in Abu Dhabi, has fled to his homeland. Emmad Israfil Michael was found slain with his ear severed inside a shop he was running in the capital on Wednesday evening. His body was found by his wife who came looking for him after he did not come home. more..

Dec 31 (ANN) The spectacular sunset, against which Sri Lanka’s famous stilt fishermen are silhouetted, closes yet another beautiful day on this tropical island. But once the fishermen get off their poles, their downcast faces tell of another story. “We have to depend on visitors giving us money now, about Rs300 (US$2.94) to pose for photographs,” more..

Dec 31 (ANN) "Simply drive from the east to the west coast; then you will see the difference and understand why we are angry,” a shopkeeper at Batticaloa told us. With those words ringing in our ears, we set off on our six-day journey from the east coast district of Batticaloa along the coastline to Arugam Bay, more..

Dec 31 (BBC) The Vectone Sinhala television programmes have been severely interrupted due to the resignation of the London-based news and production team. Viewers say the British based Vectone Sinhala channel has stopped its live news bulletins and entertainment programmes since Tuesday. more..

Dec 31 (BBC) Early morning in the heart of the southern Sri Lankan town of Galle, it's business as usual in the main fish market. Fish sellers call out to prospective customers to take a close look at the fresh catch laid out on stone blocks - lobster, jumbo prawns, kingfish and tuna. more..

Dec 31 (ISL) The hijacking of the HALO trust vehicles by LTTE had led to the organization to cease all its demining activities in Jaffna peninsular. According to our Jaffna correspondent, more than three hundred Tamil workers had lost their jobs due to this. more..

Dec 31 (AT) Rehabilitated Colonel Thambirajah Ramesh is expected to be reappointed as the LTTE’s overall Special Commander of Amparai – Batticalao districts, replacing the incumbent Colonel Bahnu, who is from Jaffna, and according to sources close to LTTE leaderships, he has so far not proved as a success story in the East as he was from Jaffna. more..

Dec 31 (LT) Norwegian Embassy yesterday (30th) announced that Erik Solheim, special envoy and International Development Minister of Norway is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka on the 23rd of this month. However, Minister of Foreign of Affairs in Sri Lanka has not confirmed any meeting with him to date. more..

Dec 31 (LT) JVP has decided to create a political front against the terrorist and brutal acts carried out by tiger organization. The Political Bureau of the JVP has decided to hold a special discussion regarding this with several political parties and organizations. more..

Dec 31 (AFP) Hopes of reviving Sri Lanka's tsunami-hit tourism industry have been crushed by this month's violence that killed more than 80 people and fuelled fears of a return to war, officials say. more..

Dec 31 (CI) A year which went so poorly for New Zealand ended on a sparkling note as they notched up only their sixth victory in 19 one-day internationals with a convincing seven-wicket win against Sri Lanka at Queenstown. More than the victory itself, though, it was the manner in which it was achieved that should hearten New Zealand supporters. more..

Dec 31 (CI) Shsikala Siriwardene put in the match-winning performance with four wickets as Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 30 runs to seal their place in the final of the Asia Cup at Karachi. Sri Lanka struggled with the bat only managing 123 in 45.2 overs but they bowled Pakistan out for a paltry 93 in 40.4 overs with Siriwardene taking 4 for 11. more..

Dec 31 (HT) India, which kept off the Tamil-speaking North Eastern Province (NEP) of Sri Lanka after its seven-year politico-military intervention ended in disaster in 1990, is now renewing its interest in the area. The Indo-Lanka joint statement issued on Friday at the end of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit to India bears testimony to this. more..

Dec 31 (TA) Sri Lankan off spinner Muthiah Muralidaran has rubbished Shane Warne's claim that he takes wickets on the cheap. Muralidaran has revealed he was incensed by Warne's recent jibe that he was likely to break the Australian's world bowling record because he plays so often against Test minnows Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. more..

Dec 31 (SAMN) The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources is to facilitate a Solid Waste Management action plan for Municipal Councils as a first step towards the implementation of a National Strategy for Solid Waste Management at Provincial and Local Authority levels. more..

Dec 31 (SAMN) An LTTE front group, calling itself the Tamil Labour Organization, has ordered all government offices in the North to remain closed and public servants not to report for work from next week. Accordingly all government offices will put up shutters from the January 2, 2006, official sources in Vavuniya said. more..

Dec 31 (LNP) At a reception, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India Romesh Jayasinghe held in his honour tonight at the Maurya Sheraton, Rajapakse told this correspondent that he is aware of the sensitivities of Indian leadership and did not specifically tell Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh that New Delhi should play an active role in the peace process in Sri Lanka. more..

Dec 31 (LNP) Mt Lavinia police recently arrested two men and took into custody a car which had been stolen from one of their collegues. They had stolen the car the previous night when it was parked at a house in Mt. Lavinia. more..

Dec 31 (LNP) The Department of Motor Traffic is planning to set up electronic data processing centres in five districts for processing driving licence applications. Commissioner of Motor Traffic B. Wijeratne said that the data centres will be established at the department regional offices at Galle, Gampaha, Kandy, Kalutara, and Kurunegala districts, more..

Dec 31 (AP) Police backed by soldiers carrying automatic weapons cordoned off eight districts in the Sri Lankan capital and detained 920 people in door-to-door searches Saturday to track down Tamil Tiger rebels and criminals, police said. more..