Feb 5 (AFP) Hundreds of Sri Lankan youths marched through the capital Colombo, saying the world had already started to forget the tsunami tragedy six weeks after it struck the region. more..

Feb 5 (LSJ) The Rev. Bennett Constantine thought he was mentally prepared when he went to Sri Lanka. But even as he visited survivors of the Dec. 26 tsunami, the devastation was too much to comprehend. Rough wooden crosses in the sand marked the location of mass graves. more..

Feb 5 (SMH) Australian leg spinner Shane Warne will leave for Sri Lanka tomorrow, delivering on a pledge made to spin rival Muttiah Muralitharan to assist victims of the tsunami. Warne, accompanied by a representative of his charity, will assess methods of building housing more..

Feb 5 (Reuters) Norway's ambassador to Sri Lanka met Tamil Tiger officials on Saturday to find common ground between the rebels and the government about distribution of post-tsunami aid over which the two sides have been bickering. more..

Feb 5 (Reuters) The International Cricket Council (ICC) has agreed to relax its rules on suspect bowling actions in the hope of ending one of the most divisive issues in the game. The ICC, determined to make the rules of cricket fairer and easier to apply, more..

Feb 5 (BT) FIVE houses are to be re-built in the tsunami-stricken village of Thalaramba in Sri Lanka thanks to the generosity of the Banbridge public, it emerged today. A street collection held in the town centre last month raised an impressive £7,750 more..

Feb 5 (PIS) One month after the devastating tsunami disaster of December 26, two things have become crystallized as crucial for a successful recovery process in Sri Lanka. Firstly, the UPFA government and the LTTE should find a framework of cooperation in the re-building process. more..

Feb 5 (PTI) Sri Lanka's Parliament will on Tuesday debate the tsunami disaster that hit the country leaving more than 30,000 dead, officials said. The decision was taken at a meeting of parliamentary party leaders chaired by Speaker WMJ Lokubandara, they said. more..

Feb 5 (BBC) Scottish teacher Janette Smith has given up her job to help the Sri Lankan victims of the Asian tsunami. Janette, who previously worked for 10 years as a volunteer in Sri Lanka, felt a strong calling to return to the country after the disaster. more..

Feb 5 (AP) President Bush on Friday announced he is sending a second delegation to visit the Indian Ocean region ravaged by tsunamis, this one made up of two former presidents — his father and Bill Clinton. Former President George H.W. Bush and former President Clinton will visit tsunami-affected countries Feb. 19-21. more..

Feb 6 (TN) Noting that from 1950s Sri Lanka's politicians resorted to ethnic outbidding to attain power and in doing so systematically marginalised the country's minority Tamils, Dr Neil Devotta from Hartwick College New York, in an article published in Nations and Nationalism, argues that "institutional decay. more..

Feb 6 (TN) Pointing out the recent efforts by the Sri Lanka Government to strengthen its military apparatus, and the failure to demonstrate political will and capacity to setup a joint institutional mechanism with the Liberation Tigers to obtain aid to assist the tsunami devastated people, the popular daily Uthayan in Saturday's editiorial said, more..

Feb 6 (TN) A Greek passenger ship converted into a floating hospital arrived in Trincomalee harbour around 9 a.m., Saturday morning with a 70 member medical team. The ship will remain in the eastern port town till 31 March, said Mr.Efstathios Lozos, Ambassador of Greece to Sri Lanka, addressing journalists on board. more..

Feb 6 (TN) A little girl in a welfare camp in Thampattai in Eastern Sri Lanka sitting in front of a pot of rice being cooked at 3pm in the afternoon. more..

Feb 6 (TN) Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has undertaken the rebuilding of 65 schools of 122, which have been destroyed or badly damaged in the tsunami disaster in the northeast province. 16 schools in Batticaloa, 20 in Amparai, 17 in Trincomalee, 9 in Mullaitivu and 3 in Jaffna is the district-wise breakdown more..

Feb 6 (BBC) The Co-ordinating Centre for Relief & Rehabilitation (CCRR), an umbrella body of over 50 Muslim organizations, has called for wider representation of the Muslim community within the relief process. more..

Feb 6 (AFP) The Belgian wife of a Sri Lankan artist who fled Singapore after being charged for cocaine possession now also faces jail for allegedly covering up his movements, a report said Friday. more..

Feb 6 (CC) Just one letter of the alphabet separates the verb 'to savage' from 'to salvage'. The tsunami-shattered countries have been inserting that 'l' with grit and global intervention. Take Sri Lanka. Expecting to find a Paradise in mourning, we discovered a paradise in prefab housing. more..

Feb 6 (SLA) Information received from civilians, troops recovered three decomposed female dead bodies suspected to be Tsunami victims in the general area of UPPUVELI, TRINCOMALEE on 04 February 2005. The dead bodies are at TRINCOMALEE hospital for postmortem. The TRINCOMALEE Police are conducting investigations.

Feb 6 (SLA) Naval troops on duty on 05 February 2005 around 10.15 p.m. observed the presence of about 15 Indian fishing trawlers poaching in the general sea area off PESALAI. Similarly naval troops have once again observed approximately 20 Indian fishing trawlers in the general area North of THALAIMANNAR around 11.45 same day.

Feb 6 (ANN) Faced with a critical shortage of skilled carpenters and masons to handle massive post-tsunami construction efforts, the government has launched an urgent but overdue drive to encourage more men and women to start training in these fields. more..

Feb 6 (SO) President Chandrika Kumaratunga has decided to appoint a one-man Presidential Commission to inquire into whether there were any lapses on the part of various institutions and departments that are responsible for warning the people on natural disasters. more..

Feb 6 (WSJ) The grateful people of Sri Lanka would like to make a humble request to all those who have offered succor to its devastated tsunami victims: Please, no more ski jackets, moisturizing gel or Viagra. more..

Feb 6 (TP) Sri Lankan Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, now touring Europe, on Thursday assured the European Union that his United National Party would provide all the support and assistance required by the government in the tsunami rehabilitation process. more..

Feb 6 (SAMN) The UNP is studying a far-reaching amendment to the Constitution to set up provincial appeal courts as a part of the efforts to overcome laws’ delays. Chief Opposition Whip Mahinda Samarasinghe, MP, yesterday said that the 18th Amendment would be debated in the third week of February. more..

Feb 6 (SAMN) One of the main reasons why arguments in favour of restricting trade continue to find devoted adherents is that they hold out the promise of something for nothing – which of course is an illusion. Another reason is that there are always interested parties that stand to profit directly from protectionist restrictions on imports. more..

Feb 6 (Yahoo) Fishermen fish at sunrise in the bay near Matora, south of Colombo. more..

Feb 6 (SAMN) The JVP is mulling over boycotting a two-day parliamentary debate on tsunami catastrophe this week. The Marxist party, furious over what a party official termed as unilateral and short-sighted decisions, may stay away from the debate scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. more..

Feb 6 (SAMN) Shell Gas last week announced that it has sought another price revision from the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA), but the multi-national LPG giant’s Managing Director/Country Chairman Hassan Madani declined to divulge the quantum saying "it’s a matter still under review". more..

Feb 6 (LT) Finance minister Sarath Amunugama will visit Japan tomorrow to thank the Japanese government for their massive support given to Sri Lanka after the Tsunami disaster. Japanese government donated U$ dollars 81 million soon after the disaster and sources. more..

Feb 6 (LT) The CID and the Thalangama police have started investigation to find duplicate Lal Kantha following a political programmed telecast last Thursday on ITN. An unidentified person who introduced him self as the Small and Rural Industries minister Lal Kantha criticized JVP general sectary Tilvin Silva for prejudicing decision taken in the party’s polite burro. more..

Feb 6 (LT) Indian government expressed its serious concerns over the alleged U.S. efforts to provide more chances to high ranked official of the Sri Lanka security forces, despite the local defense authorities are turning blind eye over the fact. more..

Feb 6 (AT) TNA Parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj in an all out attack against the JVP alleged them of blocking peace. He asked the JVP – the coalition ally of the government - to come clean and say if they are for war or not. “If so, join the army and get the training”, he said in an interview with the “Asian Tribune.” more..

Feb 6 (AT) Instability is natural to most political alliances. The United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) is no exception to this generality. In the last few weeks there has been much speculation about the possibility of an immediate breakdown of the UPFA. more..

Feb 6 (AT) Writing in the Asian Tribune and the Sunday Island (Colombo) of January 09th, I concluded by suggesting that former US President Bill Clinton should be invited to take Sri Lanka’s peace process forward in the post-tsunami conjuncture. more..

Feb 6 (AT)The LTTE's worst enemy in Sri Lanka, Lakshaman Kadirgamar's acknowledged love affair with the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna coalition partner of the government has deepened to such an extent that its in Kadirgamar's hands that Sri Lanka's future now seems to depend. more..

Feb 6 (AT) Norwegian Ambassador Hans Bratskar visited Kilinochchi yesterday, the stronghold of the LTTE, to meet with Tamilselvan, head of LTTE’s political division to explore a common ground between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan Government regarding the distribution of post-tsunami aid and reconstruction efforts. more..

Feb 6 (Reuters) Norway's ambassador to Sri Lanka met Tamil Tiger officials on Saturday to find common ground between the rebels and the government about distribution of post-tsunami aid over which the two sides have been bickering. more..

Feb 6 (AFP) Tamil Tiger rebels have accused the government of dragging its feet on forming a joint panel to distribute tsunami aid, a move backed by peacebroker Norway. The accusation came just hours after Norway made a fresh bid to set up such a mechanism to distribute aid in rebel-held areas. more..

Feb 6 (HT) The LTTE on Saturday rejected the government's proposal for a joint mechanism to receive aid and conduct post-tsunami rehabilitation work in the Tamil-speaking North Eastern Province (NEP). "The Government's proposals are impractical and not worthy of our consideration," more..

Feb 6 (CG) A man walks through a roofless house stripped bare of its furnishings. In one room, he’s piled salvaged tiles in tidy stacks. In another, he’s propped unbroken beams against a wall. Whether he knows how to roof a home, or whether there are enough tiles or beams to do the job, is almost irrelevant. more..

Feb 6 (AP) If only Tilek Pushpakumara had held on tighter, maybe the wave wouldn't have been able to tear his wife from his grip. If he keeps drinking the way he has since the tsunami hit more than a month ago, maybe he will be able to forget her scream. more..

Feb 6 (CI) Nuwan Zoysa took six wickets for 12 runs as Western Province slumped to 43 all out on the first day of the Inter-Provincial Tournament at Colombo. Ruchira Perera took the other four wickets as only one batsman, Chaminda Vaas (15), reached double figures in a miserable first innings for the home side. more..

Feb 6 (HT) A Free Trade Agreement between Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be signed in Islamabad on Monday in the presence of the Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf and the Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga. more..

Feb 6 (ANI) Motor sport racers from Sri Lanka are now getting trained in India to upgrade their skills on the racing track. Around 30 Sri Lankan sports drivers are participating in a three- day training programme in Coimbatore. The drivers feel that though motor sport is much popular in Sri Lanka the island nation lacks infrastructure. more..

Feb 7 (TN) Fishermen who setout out for fishing on 15 traditional "catamaran" fishing boats without outboard engines from the affected coastal villages from Thondamanaru to Point Pedro Munai in the Northen sea on Saturday, upon their return expressed fear that the coral reefs have been severely damaged by the tsunami devastation and the debris. more..

Feb 7 (GI) Picture taken 03 February 2005 shows Canadian military Corparal Laroqve filling a tanker with purified water, in Sri Lanka's eastern town of Kalmunai. more..

Feb 7 (TN) Sea waves are daily carrying logs of wood and coconuts, which are said to be tsunami debris from other countries to the shore of Trincomalee coastal villages, from Manaiyaweli to Salli north of east port town. Two decomposed bodies of women were also washed ashore in the Trincomalee beach near Pallathoddam Saturday evening. more..

Feb 7 (LT) As long as he exists he will not allow the UPFA which he pioneered to create to crash emphasizes Minister Anura Bandaranayke. Mr. Bandaranayke points out that his party, the SLFP has not taken care to give the due place to the JVP and as a result complications have arisen. more..

Feb 7 (LT) A discussion between JVP Leader Mr. Somawansha Amarasinghe and representatives of Great Britain and Commonwealth office took place on the 3rd. The representatives of the office were Mr. James Dauris, the acting Director and Mr. Simon Bond, officer in charge of affairs in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives. more..