Feb 1 (ET) SURVIVORS of the Asian tsunami today thanked staff and customers at a Glasgow restaurant by pledging to name their first new fishing boat after it. Fishermen from Hikkaduwa in Sri Lanka used cash raised from the award-winning Stravaigin restaurants to repair boats salvaged from the wreckage of the disaster. more..

Feb 1 (NIP) It may sound morbid, even bizarre, but Sri Lankan scientists are going ahead anyway. In a bid to unravel the mystery behind Lanka's soaring suicide rate highest in South East Asia anatomists will soon start picking the brains of the dead. more..

Feb 1 (AP) Tamil Tiger rebels walked out of a meeting with Sri Lankan officials on the distribution of tsunami aid on Tuesday after a strident opponent of the guerrillas showed up uninvited for the talks, a news report said. more..

Feb 1 (BBC) Government will introduce new legislation setting out revised criteria to issue death certificates to thousands missing after the tsunami, a senior minister said. The cabinet of ministers instructed justice minister to prepare the legislation as soon as possible, minister of public administration Amarasiri Dadangoda told BBC Sandeshaya. more..

Feb 1 (GI) Sri Lankan fishermen unload their morning's catch onto the shore at Beruwala, some 60kms south of Colombo, 30 January 2005. more..

Feb 1 (SC) Scientology Volunteer Minister Christine Renna recently returned to her home in Los Angeles, California, after spending the last two weeks training Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka on the procedures of Dianetics. more..

Feb 1 (AT) Sri Lanka's coastlines were overwhelmed by the tsunami that followed the undersea earthquake in an area close to Sumatra on December 26. The ICRC has been coordinating the response of Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement in the north and east, more..

Feb 1 (AT) Chances of Sri Lanka’s ruling UPFA government collapsing becomes more and more a reality, as the rift widens between Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the Janatha Vimukthi Perumuna - the two major constituents of the ruling alliance. more..

Feb 1 (LT) When asked about the extent of damage caused to the North and East by tsunami and the ability to overcome the crisis the leader of the TULF, V. Anandasangaree said that the world community has come forward to help us in plenty with no bounds, but even after a lapse of one month after the tsunami essential drugs have not reached the affected in Jaffna more..

Feb 1 (LT) As the restoration work of the Central bus stand in Galle had been continuously neglected, though the Chief Minister of Southern Provincial Council had undertaken it from the GA, the Relief Services Force of the JVP including Mr. Ajith Kumara, Member of Parliament had started the work yesterday (31st). more..

Feb 1 (LT) The government informed the Supreme Court that land for cultivation will be given to those who were earlier resident in the Palali high security zone in Jaffna and are presently displaced. more..

Feb 1 (LT) A lengthy discussion took place yesterday (31st) in the Ministry of Aviation between Mr. Mangala Samaraweera, Minister of Information and Media and the representatives of the JVP regarding inadequacy that exists in state media. more..

Feb 1 (SAMN) The main opposition United National Party (UNP) Monday expressed outrage over a Justice Ministry ruling regarding prison visits to the party's jailed national organiser S.B. Dissanayake. more..

Feb 1 (ZNS) A government plan for the post-tsunami replacement of houses that were close to the coast might cause serious difficulties for fishing communities and for the local Church, say observers. Fishermen make up the sector hardest-hit by the Dec. 26 tsunami that struck in Asia and Africa. more..

Feb 1 (SAMN) Relations between the two main constituent parties of the UPFA government took another turn for the worse with the JVP expressing its displeasure over the government's failure to involve the party in the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in the North and East. more..

Feb 1 (Yahoo) Two-year-old girls, Hirushi (L) and Sayuni, talk outside their tent in a tsunami refugee camp near Galle in southern Sri Lanka January 31, more..

Feb 1 (SAMN) A consignment of high-tech equipment including police range walkie-talkies were allegedly released by the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) police Monday under mysterious circumstances. more..

Feb 1 (TN) About 2862 children have been orphaned in the northeast province due to December 26 tsunami, states Ms N.R.Ranjini, Director, Provincial Department of Social Services and Child Care, in a report sent to the Chairman of the National Child Protection Authority Tuesday, sources said. more..

Feb 1 (TN) Braving inclement weather, a group of expatriate Tamils in Washington Metropolitan area sent a 3200 cubic foot container with medicines, tents, toys and clothings to the warehouse at the Norfolk, Virginia shipyard, destined for TRO's Colombo office for distribution to disaster victims in Sri Lanka. more..

Feb 1 (TN) North East Provincial Education, Cultural Affairs, Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry is to conduct a drawing competition and hold an exhibition on Tsunami disaster on February 26 to mark the second month remembrance of the natural disaster. The exhibition will be held in Batticaloa, Provincial Education Ministry Mr.Thiagalinkam said. more..

Feb 1 (PRIU) When the Hollywood movie The Day After Tomorrow was showing in Colombo last summer, many asked me if such a calamity could befall Sri Lanka. Without debating the scientific merits of the movie, I said that Nature always had a few tricks up her sleeve. more..

Feb 1 (LBO) Central Bank says it’s concessionary loan scheme has received 674 applications by tsunami affected business. The applications call for some Rs. 775 million in concessionary loans, the bank said on Tuesday. more..

Feb 1 (LBO) Sri Lanka’s fishing fleets will get Rs. 40,000 in fuel from the government, as start up capital to get back their livelihood. The Fisheries Ministry on Monday said the industry has been stranded on shore since the December 26 tsunami due to a lack of funds for fuel and other supplies. more..

Feb 1 (LBO) Sri Lanka plans to reward good taxpayers with a lottery scheme this year, as the government pulls out the stops to raise Rs. 351 bn in tax revenue this year, Treasury Secretary said. The usually starved Treasury was rather well fed by end last year, thanks to a string of new taxes, more..

Feb 1 (SLA) Tsunamis are among the rarest of natural disasters as they are hard to predict. Needless to say, even watching their seismographs or any other data available, geologists could not have predicted with any certainty that the sea would rise up in Sri Lanka, more..

Feb 1 (ST) Church leaders at the Scots Kirk in Sri Lanka are appealing for long term help for the victims of the tsunami. Eighty one per cent of UK adults have already made donations to the emergency fund, but religious leaders are stressing financial aid is still needed. more..

Feb 1 (Reuters) The Sri Lanka rupee weakened on Tuesday on heavy importer demand for dollars to settle trade bills and in the absence of dollar sales by state banks, dealers said. The rupee closed at 99.30 against the dollar. The currency has gained almost 5.0 percent so far this year on hopes of dollar aid inflows to rebuild tsunami-affected areas. more..

Feb 1 (PIS) When the full extent of the tsunami destruction became apparent the need for both medium and long-term recovery measures to deal with it also emerged. Immediate relief flowed to the affected areas without pre-planning. more..

Feb 1 (Yahoo) Sakina, 7, a tsunami survivor, walks past her destroyed home in Kalmunai, 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of Colombo, Sri Lanka. more..

Feb 1 (AFP) Foreign troops were scaling down their tsunami relief operations in Sri Lanka with most of the ships and aircraft leaving the island, the Sri Lankan defence ministry said. India pulled out its last ship from the northeastern port of Trincomalee Monday reducing its strength to 80, defence ministry officials said on Tuesday. more..

Feb 1 (RW) With more than 500,000 people still homeless in Sri Lanka after the December 2004 tsunami, IOM Director General, Brunson McKinley, has stressed the need for villages and communities to be re-built quickly if people are to recover both physically and psychologically from the disaster. more..

Feb 1 (Reuters) Most of Sri Lanka's golden beaches battered by the Asian tsunami are expected to take up to six months to return to normal but their fragile coral reefs will take longer, a global environment group said on Tuesday. more..

Feb 1 (WVI) World Vision is setting up temporary offices in the northern districts of Jaffna and Mullativu, and the northeastern district of Trincomalee, to help facilitate the next phase of the tsunami relief effort. more..

Feb 1 (AP) Japan will send experts to Sri Lanka to help set up a tsunami warning system, a Japanese official said Tuesday. Shuzen Tanigawa, Japan's senior vice minister for foreign affairs, said at a news conference that installing a warning system isn't difficult, but warned that such a system needs to be used. more..

Feb 1 (AFP) A baby rescued from under a garbage pile after Sri Lanka's devastating tsunami is likely to be reunited with his parents but could still face a DNA test, officials said. The district court in Kalmunai ordered two weeks ago that the four-month-old baby be handed over to the only woman who claimed him as her son. more..

Feb 1 (Reuters) Vijayasiri Chelvanaygam has food, clothes and a tent to live in, but confusion over Sri Lanka's land laws means he doesn't know when and where he will rebuild his home, washed away by the Asian tsunami. more..

Feb 1 (DN) Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry has taken urgent measures to improve the facilities and healthcare provided to cancer stricken victims with the number of patients in the country showing an alarming rise. more..

Feb 1 (Yahoo) Sri Lankan men build a house beside camps for tsunami refugees in the village of Telvatta in southern Sri Lanka January 31, 2005. more..

Feb 1 (AFX) Japan has urged Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels to use the tsunami to unite and push the Norwegian-backed peace process forward. Japan, the island's largest foreign aid donor, said it expects the two parties who are currently observing a truce to revive peace talks which have remain deadlocked since April 2003. more..

Feb 1 (HT) Muthiah Muralitharan (32), the famous Sri Lankan cricketer, is to wed an Indian girl Mathimalar (24), in Chennai on March 21, his family has said. Murali’s father, Muthiah, told Hindustan Times on Tuesday, that the bride was a relative, as per the ancient Tamil custom of seeking brides from among cousins. more..

Feb 1 (AFP) Sri Lanka's main Marxist party, which is part of the government, demanded a probe into foreigners involved in tsunami relief and accused Tiger rebels of importing war-machinery under the guise of aid. more..

Feb 1 (AP) The government began investigating complaints Tuesday that food aid intended for tsunami victims in eastern Sri Lanka was going astray and that some of the homeless living in camps were being fed rotten supplies. more..

Feb 2 (CWS) "This is not a regular flood--this is a long journey," CWS Afghanistan/Pakistan Director Marvin Parvez told CWS staff in New York today, reflecting on the response efforts of his office in Sri Lanka following the Dec. 26 tsunami. more..

Feb 2 (TN) Relief and rehabilitation work in tsunami hit coastal areas in Jaffna district have been affected due to shortage of public servants in divisional offices, civil society sources said. more..

Feb 2 (Reuters) A main ally of Sri Lanka's ruling coalition accused Tamil Tiger rebels on Tuesday of collaborating with foreign relief teams to smuggle in war material in the guise of tsunami aid. more..

Feb 2 (BBC) Burghers, descendants of the Dutch colonialists from the 16 century, are one of the worst tsunami affected communities in the east. More than 150 were killed and 290 families were affected, a statement issued by the Batticaloa district's Burgher Society said. more..

Feb 2 (LBO) The tsunami may have its effects on migration a year from now, as it leaves behind people – some displaced into cities, taking a keen look at work abroad. “This happens after major disasters, where displaced people or those who have lost their livelihoods sometimes move into neighboring towns, and soon start thinking of work opportunities maybe in the Gulf and other places,” more..

Feb 2 (LBO) Tsunami rebuilding costs will surge, if construction industry capacity is not expanded to absorb the demand spurt, warn local companies. Local construction companies say that existing industry capacity needs to expand in all aspects, for smooth tsunami rebuilding. more..

Feb 2 (SLT) Janaki and Bandula Guruge of Clayton had planned a peaceful drive along the palm-fringed coast of Sri Lanka to see cousins in Matara and take care of family responsibilities in Galle. Instead, it turned into a harrowing road trip, leading straight into the path of December's tidal wave. more..

Feb 2 (AIN) Sri Lankan Prime Minister Lanka Mahinda Rajapakse thanked the Cuban government for sending doctors and medicines to the Asian country shortly after extensive areas were destroyed and over 40,000 killed in the December 26 tsunami. more..