Mar 15 (BT) The Government is to strengthen the local textile manufacturers by giving them the opportunity to supply the textile requirement for the security forces and government institutes shortly. This has come to effect following the successful completion of the supply of 9.5 metres school uniform materials last year. more..

Mar 15 (TT) Sri Lanka's capital has been the start and end point of my many happy adventures on this beautiful island over recent years. Sri Lanka needs tourists more than ever now and I long to go back and check on all my friends and the many people I've met on my travels. more..

Mar 15 (LM) Questions have arisen over the happenings at the Divisional Secretariat in Arayampathi after enraged residents and tsunami victims raided it and unearthed a large amounts of relief items which had been buried in a five-foot deep pit under the pretext that the expiry date had lapsed. more..

Mar 15 (LM) Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) dissident MP, Mr Hussain Bhaila has been expelled from the party on March 13, following an unanimous decision of the party High Command. The High Command met at Earl’s Court, Trans Asia Hotel, Colombo for deliberations on SLMC dissident MPs. more..

Mar 15 (LM) The Australian High Commissioner, Dr. Greg French, visited the eastern districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara on March 1-3 to inspect the tsunami assistance projects being funded by the Australian Government. more..

Mar 15 (CI) Sri Lanka A tied the unofficial two-match Test series 1-1 despite a heroic fightback from Matthew Prior, England's Sussex-based wicketkeeper, who cracked 104 from just 106 balls to revitalise a run-chase that had been in terminal decline. more..

Mar 15 (LNP) The Students Council of Open University accused the Administration of the University of making unwise decisions regarding the 23,000 student population, by getting the CID to shadow the student leaders, who had led the protests against the administration. more..

Mar 15 (LNP) A website will be launched by the family members of jailed former Minister S.B. Dissanayake to mark the completion of his 100 days in prison. Tamara Dissanayake wife of S.B. Dissanayake in the invitation for the launching ceremony stated that her husband completes 100 days in prison on March 17 more..

Mar 15 (Reuters) Central Bank is expected to hold benchmark policy rates unchanged in March, despite rising inflation. Five of the six economists and analysts surveyed by Reuters expected the Central Bank to keep its benchmark repurchase and reverse repurchase rates unchanged at 7.5 percent and 9.0 percent, respectively, more..

Mar 15 (KT) PRESIDENT Chandrika Kumaratunga this week carried forward the debate on federalism as a political solution to the ethnic conflict. Last week her Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said if India suggested federalism as a solution, then all parties would accept it. more..

Mar 15 (DN) The Government has allocated Rs.519 million to implement the second phase of the Gam Pubuduwa (Village Re-awakening) project formulated by the Samurdhi and Poverty Alleviation Ministry to upgrade infrastructure facilities of over 13,540 villages during 2005. more..

Mar 15 (HT) An alleged offer of a sophisticated radar system by Pakistan to Sri Lanka has irked a section of the Tamils in the island country. Tamil daily Sudar Oli said that in the context of Sri Lanka's concern over the acquisition of an aircraft by the LTTE, Pakistan had offered Sri Lanka a sophisticated radar defence system. more..

Mar 15 (HT) President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, on Monday appointed two judges to a panel meant to probe alleged attacks on LTTE cadres in the eastern districts. The judges named are J Visvanathan of the Vavuniya district High Court and WTMPB Warawewa of the Amparai district High Court. more..

Mar 15 (AP) Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels kidnapped two young supporters of a breakaway insurgent faction from their homes and killed them, Sri Lanka's military said Tuesday. The deaths are the latest in a string of killings between the rival factions, which split a year ago. more..

Mar 16 (TN) Sri Lanka Customs on recommendation from Sri Lanka security forces have refused to release a container with fire fighting equipment sent to the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) from Switzerland. more..

Mar 16 (TN) The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS) and the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) have undertaken to reconstruct, renovate, repair and equip General Hospitals, Base Hospitals, District Hospitals, Rural Hospitals, Peripheral Units and Central Dispensaries in the tsunami affected areas throughout the island. more..

Mar 16 (SM) Local government representatives from Sri Lanka today thanked the international community for their support in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster. A M Chandrapala, told the Commonwealth Local Government Conference in Aberdeen it could take his country a decade to recover from the Boxing Day tragedy. more..

Mar 16 (HS) A MELBOURNE car park attendant is trying to help his tsunami-devastated Sri Lankan homeland get back on bikes. Andrew Balfour, who left Sri Lanka 35 years ago, has decided the most practical way to help his former homeland to get back on its feet is to give the people bicycles. more..

Mar 16 (RW) Discontent among 125 families hit by the tsunami in Moratuwa in Sri Lanka is growing as they are stranded in destitution and despair without any help to solve their livelihood and housing problems, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) said on Monday. more..

Mar 16 (TN) None of the forty four relief co-ordinators hired by the Commissioner of General Essential Services and Chairman of the Task Force for Relief (TAFOR), Mr Tilak Ranaviraja, is Tamil speaking, attendees to a meeting called by the Commissioner held at the Ministry of Defense 14 March, said. more..

Mar 16 (AP) Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan visited the island-nation’s tsunami-ravaged eastern province on Monday to distribute scholarships to hundreds of children who became orphans in the December 26 disaster. more..

Mar 16 (IFRC) Its 8.00am and the International Federation relief team in Galle, southern Sri Lanka, has already been on the road for two hours. They are leading a convoy of trucks loaded with relief goods, heading for one of the many temporary camps that have sprung up around the coastline to accommodate the 500,000 people who lost their homes more..

Mar 16 (BBC) Police near the central Sri Lankan town of Welikanda say they are investigating the killing of two youths in the area late on Monday night. They say unidentified gunmen wearing combat fatigues took the youths from their homes and shot them dead. more..

Mar 16 (AT) If Prabhakaran agrees to a joint mechanism on tsunami relief, it is for one purpose alone: to sucker President Kumaratunga into tilting as she did on Good Friday last year, against Karuna, thereby creating the battlefield conditions for Balraj to liquidate the rebellion. more..

Mar 16 (AT) The National Patriotic Movement says the government of Sri Lanka should look into the financial and other forms of contributions received by NGOs as tsunami relief aid and make a clear statement on the issue. more..

Mar 16 (IANS) Modernisation of the police force was instrumental in curbing the activities of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Jayalalitha told the state assembly Tuesday. more..

Mar 16 (BBC) In its annual report on attacks on the world press in 2004, Committee to Protect Journalists [CPJ], claims the journalists in Sri Lanka still lives in fear in a situation where violence still prevails. more..

Mar 16 (BBC) The National Patriotic Movement (NPM) say that they are not against the World Bank (WB). Calling the Country Director of the WB Peter Harrold to leave the country, Co Chair Ven. Elle Gunawansa said that the NPM will intensify its battle against the director and requested the WB take swift action against Harrold. more..

Mar 16 (RW) Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, pledged Sri Lanka Government's commitment to work with the NGOs closely in the enormous task of post-tsunami reconstruction, when he met some of the humanitarian organizations of the Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) in London more..

Mar 16 (LT) Britain has acknowledged that the Tigers developing aircraft capability is a matter of grave concern. British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw told Lakshman Kadirgamar that the British government understood the danger of an unauthorised aircraft in the possession of a non state party in the dangerous context of terrorism today. more..

Mar 16 (NST) SORREL Wilby had never been to Sri Lanka. Her friends had described how beautiful the island was, and she longed to visit. Her wish was granted this year. But never in the way she imagined it. Just 14 days after the Boxing Day tsunami ravaged 11 countries in the Indian Ocean, Wilby found herself on the teardrop-shaped isle. more..

Mar 16 (LNP) An international warrant for the arrest of fugitive banker Rohan Perera -- former chairman of the now defunct Pramuka Bank -- was issued by the Colombo High Court yesterday, through Interpol. more..

Mar 16 (LNP) With conflicting reports and confusion as to whether some functions of the Media Ministy have been brought under the purview of a committee headed by President Kumaratunga, questions have arisen as to how Rupavahini Deputy Director Kulasiri Kariyawasam, brother of the editor of a JVP journal, was sent on a week-long trip to Japan. more..

Mar 16 (IL) Ambassador C.S.Poolokasingham, Consul General of Sri Lanka in Toronto, on Saturday, March 12th, patronized the inauguration ceremony of the Sri Lankan Chamber of Commerce in Canada, federally incorporated, first ever Sri Lankan Chamber outside of Sri Lanka in the presence of a well attended gathering. more..

Mar 16 (SAMN) President Chandrika Kumaratunga said Tuesday that the governmetn had not recieved even five cents in cash as tsunami aid from foreign donor agencies though millions of dollars had been pledged. more..

Mar 16 (SAMN) With the recruitment of 42,000 graduates running into serious problems, a spokesman for them said Tuesday they expected a ministerial committee to be appointed Wednesday to sort out the issues. more..

Mar 16 (SAMN) The Cultural Affairs and National Heritage Ministry will shortly take action to prevent the illegal import and screening of foreign films in Sri Lanka under the direction of Cultural Affairs and National Heritage Minister Vijitha Herath, a Ministry spokesman said. more..

Mar 16 (SAMN) The UNP has requested the President to initiate an inquiry into the funds received for the tsunami victims and find out what happened to the large amount received, since it has not been given to the victims of the tsunami, said UNP parliamentarian Bandula Gunawardana more..

Mar 16 (TN) Although the proposed joint mechanism for post-tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction did not fully meet the requirements necessary to facilitate recovery efforts in NorthEast to proceed unhindered, the LTTE accepted the proposal in view of the urgency demanded by the situation in NorthEast, more..

Mar 16 (TN) The Candian Government will provide assistance to the people of NorthEast to recover from the tsunami disaster, said Hon Ms Maria Minna, Member of Parliament from Canada, when a delegation of Canadian Parliamentarian met with Liberation Tigers officials more..

Mar 16 (SLA) LTTE gunmen on three motorbikes, in what was seen as an act of revenge, have shot and killed a youngster whose relatives work for TELO and EPRLF and robbed his motorbike when he was in the general area of KALUDAWALI, MANKERNY on 15 March 2005 around 8.30 p.m. more..

Mar 16 (SLA) An LTTE attack craft, engaged in maneuvering in the general sea areas of MULLAITTIVU shipwrecks and firing towards the South was observed by a Sri Lankan Naval craft while it was escorting a passenger ferry across MULLAITTIVU seas at about 4.30 p.m. on 15 March 2005. more..

Mar 16 (LM) A high level Canadian Parliamentary Delegation recently queried the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress sentiments as to should Canada ban the LTTE. However the Congress's Director - International Affairs A.M. Faaiz had pointed out that his party has right through out only articulated the Muslim aspirations and did not want to comment on sensitive matters concerning other communities. more..

Mar 16 (LM) "The SLMC relief programme which is under my purview is partly hampered due to ten 40-foot Containers lying idle in the Colombo Port" said Mr Shafeek Rajabdeen, WPC. In elaborating this further, he said that there was no transparency in government bureaucracy because for over 2 months the Colombo Port authorities had not cleared these Containers consisting of used clothes and foodstuffs. more..

Mar 16 (AT) The United National Party has alleged that the Government is trying to abolish the Executive Presidency, in order to bring their leaders back to the Parliament. The party, which forms the main opposition in Parliament, believes that the Presidency is ideal for the development as well as the management of the country. more..

Mar 16 (AT) The regional trade chambers in Sri Lanka alleged that political bickering has stalled the much publicized reconstruction process in the tsunami affected areas. more..

Mar 16 (PIS) “We have not yet received any counter proposal to the government proposal on the joint mechanism to reconstruct the North and East- the LTTE and the Norwegians remain silent’ says the Deputy Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat. more..

Mar 16 (CI) The Sri Lankan under-19 team, led by Harsha Vithana, is all set to embark on a three-week tour of Pakistan. The squad, which represents the cream of the country's cricketers at this level, will play two four-day Tests and three one-day matches. more..

Mar 16 (AP) Authorities in Sri Lanka are still finding the bodies of victims of the tsunami that swept coastal regions almost three months ago, pushing the island nation's death toll higher, officials said Wednesday. more..

Mar 16 (DFP) Mangala Jayasuriya tries to keep his composure as he talks about his impending trip to Peraliya, Sri Lanka. Late last year, all but 20 of the 462 homes in his childhood village were destroyed when the tsunami hit south Asia. more..