Mar 18 (TN) "People In Need (PIN)," a non-governmental organization from Czech Republic, Wednesday donated three tractors with trailers worth Rs 2.6m to the Trincomalee Urban Council for garbage and tsunami debris removal, at an event held Wednesday evening in the UC premises, sources said. more..

Mar 18 (LM) One thousand new houses will be building for the tsunami displaced in the Southern province. The funding for the project will be provided by the Saudi Government. Most of these houses will be constructed in Kirinda. more..

Mar 18 (AFP) Seismologists say there is a heightened risk that a major earthquake may soon strike the western coast of Sumatra as a result of the monster quake that generated the December 26 tsunami. more..

Mar 18 (RW) The first big wave left fish stranded on the beach of this bustling town on Sri Lanka's west coast. Survivors of the first tsunami, including children, rushed to the shore to scoop up the unexpected bonanza. more..

Mar 18 (ANN) The Ministry of Health revealed that there were over 10,00,000 babies and mothers registered with the clinics of Provincial Health Service Directors Office to receive ‘Three Posha’. more..

Mar 18 (WHO) The Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka, has reported that suspected cases of myocarditis of unknown aetiology in Badulla and Monaragala districts, Uva province, continue to be detected, although there appears to be a decline in the number of cases recorded in recent weeks. more..

Mar 18 (Reuters) Sri Lanka have called up uncapped opener Shantha Kalavitigoda in a 14-man squad for their rescheduled tour to New Zealand. Kalavitigoda's selection was a surprise as he was not selected in a preliminary 18-man training pool. more..

Mar 18 (AFP) At least three Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in factional fighting in Sri Lanka's restive east as peace broker Norway tried to finalise a deal on tsunami aid, the Sri Lankan military said Wednesday. more..

Mar 18 (Yahoo) A Sri Lankan seller displays his locally made wooden masks to sell to tourists in a temporary shop in the tsunami-hit Unawatuna village, southern Sri Lanka, more..

Mar 18 (RW) The Mid-term Review of the Flash Appeal was approved by the Country Team and the final draft was submitted to Geneva on 16 March. Several further killings have recently occurred among the LTTE and rival Tamil factions, as well as attacks on Muslims in the east. more..

Mar 18 (AFP) Tonnes of drinking water and used clothes are clogging Sri Lanka's main sea port and slowing the distribution of other tsunami relief aid, a government official said Thursday. more..

Mar 18 (Hindu) Sri Lanka's historic mansion — the private residence of the Bandaranaikes — will soon become a boutique hotel. 'Tintagel' in the heart of Colombo, which Sri Lanka's first family called home for decades, will join a list of handsome European and Indian castles and palaces that are now elegant hotels. more..

Mar 18 (LBO) Prima Ceylon’s flour distributors are taking a voluntary 20 percent price cut to keep their market share as the government moves to import flour form lower costs international sources. more..

Mar 18 (Xinhua) A Japanese team of natural hazardmanagement experts called on Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga Thursday to discuss the establishment of an early warning system (EWS) for the region. more..

Mar 18 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's government and rebel Tamil Tigers are moving closer to an agreement on tsunami aid, a government official hinted on Thursday, a deal negotiators hope will help revive a stalled peace process. more..

Mar 18 (TN) The Canadian parliamentary delegation, which is currently visiting Sri Lanka, held discussions with Mr.R.Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of the TNA Thursday afternoon at Hotel Club Oceanic located three km off north of Trincomalee town, sources said. more..

Mar 18 (BBC) Lot of the aid which had been coming in latterly is not very useful said Laxman Kadirgamar, in an interview with the BBC. He said, although they were given with good will, they are useless. The minister is in London meeting British government officials and aid organisations. more..

Mar 18 (Hindu) The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, will be accorded a rare honour when his portrait is unveiled at Oxford University on Friday in recognition of his long association with it. more..

Mar 18 (AT) The Joint Forum of Chambers of Comerce & Industry of Sri Lanka –JBIZ said that many entrepreneurs and NGOs are ready with plans and funds to build houses for those displaced as well as affected by the tsunami. However, the government of Sri Lanka is still unable to release the required land. more..

Mar 18 (BBC) Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) says that they have no faith in the UPFA government pledge of not privatising higher education. IUSF convener Duminda Nagomuwa said that the UGC has given permission to the Aquinas institution to award degrees. more..

Mar 18 (LNP) Several attempts made by the ceasefire monitors to inspect the LTTE`s airstrip at Iranamadu in Kilinochchi have failed as the LTTE is refusing access, Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission chief Hagrup Haukland said. more..

Mar 18 (CI) Sri Lanka have called up Russel Arnold for the forthcoming A team triangular series also involving Pakistan and England. Arnold is one of eight frontline batsmen picked in a 15-man squad captained by Jehan Mubarak. more..

Mar 18 (LNP) The statement made by President Kumaratunga that Sri Lanka has not received even five cents as assistance for tsunami victims is the most amazing statement to be made following of the visit of the Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadiragmar to the United Kingdom to personally thank the people and the government of Britain more..

Mar 18 (LNP) The Jathika Hela Urumaya has urged government leaders to get the Army involved in tsunami relief operations in the northeast, in a bid to ensure justice in the procedure. more..

Mar 18 (AT) Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights (SPUR) has exposed the shady deals of Mr. C. Pathmanathan, former Government Agent of Jaffna, who is now aspiring for a high post in a project sponsored by the World Bank. more..

Mar 18 (LT) The petitions submitted by the JVP, JHU and several other political parties and organizations requesting the judiciary to negate the MoU between GOSL and tiger organization was taken up for hearing yesterday (17th). more..

Mar 18 (LT) Already 36,000 metric tons of paddy harvested in Maha season has been bought by the Government spending Rs.57.50 billion says the Ministry of Agriculture. This paddy has been bought at 1332 centers throughout the island and more paddy will be bought in the future too says the ministry. more..

Mar 18 (LT) The Department of Inland Revenue will never be changed to an authority said Mr. P.B.Jayasundara, Secretary of the Ministry of Finance. He made this statement in a ceremony held in the department of Inland Revenue today (15th). more..

Mar 18 (LT) Devanayagam Shankar (25) who was affected by tsunami and a one-time Tiger cadre was not looked after by the TRO. He was disgusted with the Wanni Tigers as they held back a sizable portion of the tsunami relief aid meant for the tsunami victims for their own use. more..

Mar 18 (TN) The delegation led by Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, on Thursday, met with Mr. Hervé Jouanjean, the Deputy Director for External Relations for the European Union and discussed the post-tsunami joint mechanism and the current state of peace process. more..

Mar 18 (TN) Sri Lanka Police special riot squads Friday blocked more than a thousand Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) from forcibly entering the military high security zone (HSZ) in Thellipalai, Jaffna. The HSZ covers most of Jaffna’s northwestern sector. more..

Mar 18 (TN) After delaying two weeks in providing clearance to a container sent from North Carolina, the Sri Lanka customs confiscated 54 boxes of medical supplies and transferred the items for delivery through their own Social Services Ministry, and charged $1000 for the rest of the 168 boxes of other relief supplies, more..

Mar 18 (SLA) Naval troops have observed approximately 37 Indian fishing trawlers poaching inside Sri Lankan waters on 16 March 2005 and 17 March 2005 between 09.00 p.m. and 5.00 p.m. on duty in the general sea area south of TALAIMANNAR and areas leading towards DELFT ISLAND.

Mar 18 (LM) The National Unity Alliance (NUA) today declared that the Government was responsible for the recent slayings of Muslim civilians in the East which were allegedly carried out by the LTTE. However the party impressed that the law and order maintaining institution should be granted with more ‘power' to curtail such any future repetitions. more..

Mar 18 (LM) This month marks the first year anniversary of the famous breakaway of LTTE Eastern commander Col V Muralitharan alias Col.Karuna Amman. In a surprise attack, LTTE vanni factions captured the Karuna held territory a few weeks after the rebellion. more..

Mar 18 (LM) The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) in a letter to North Eastern Province Governor Tyrone Fernando today emphasised the need for the establishment of a new Divisional Secretariat for the Pulmoddai division. more..

Mar 18 (PIS) Deputy Secretary General of the Government’s Peace Secretariat John Gooneratne told Thinakaran that they would take measures on the next stage after receiving the formal agreement of the LTTE on the common structure. more..

Mar 18 (KT) The Sri Lankan computer engineer, J.S.B., who was arrested by Sharjah Police on Tuesday for attacking four women, was referred to Sharjah Public Prosecution yesterday on charges of assault, an official from the Sharjah Police Department told Khaleej Times. more..

Mar 18 (Bloomberg) India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives still need $1.2 billion for reconstruction after the December tsunami that killed more than 270,000 people in 12 Indian Ocean countries, the Asian Development Bank said. more..

Mar 18 (SAMN) The Cabinet has decided to grant permission to government MPs to vote according to their conscience when the anti-conversion Bill is presented in Parliament next month. The main objective of the Bill is to guarantee religious worship and to prohibit conversion to other religions. more..

Mar 18 (DN) The Ministry of Education has commenced a monitoring system to supervise the Reconstruction and Relief Program of the tsunami affected school education sector. A special Project Monitoring Unit has been established, chaired by Additional Secretary P.D. Amarasinghe. more..

Mar 19 (HT) THE COLOMBO Dockyard Ltd (CDL) has completed a $14 million contract to refit a floating dockyard of the Indian Navy. The Floating Dockyard Navy I began its return journey to its base in the Andamans on Wednesday. more..

Mar 19 (CH) The mobile Czech hospital in Sri Lanka will end earlier than planned mainly over a negative media campaign, and the personnel should return to the Czech Republic at the end of April, hospital director Jaromir Dolansky said. more..

Mar 19 (LBO) The ICT Agency on Friday said it has suspended its regional telecom network licensing process as per Tuesday’s court injunction taken out by the seven network operators. more..

Mar 19 (BBC) Vikram Solanki and Ian Bell made half centuries as England A warmed up for a triangular one-day tournament in Sri Lanka with an 84-run win in Colombo. Solanki (61) and Bell (58) were the mainstays of England A's 258-7 and they then bowled out a Sri Lanka Academy XI for 174 in 40.4 overs. more..

Mar 19 (CP) As the post-Tsunami rehabilitation phase begins Northern Sri Lanka, there are plans both small and massive by aid organizations, which include Christian groups, to rebuild the war torn and hardest hit district of Mullaittivu. more..

Mar 19 (BBC) Foreign journalists visiting the country can obtain visa “without any condition or agreement of any kind” Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry said. In a statement issued on Friday referring to a release by the Free Media Movement (FMM) stating that a Canadian journalist has been asked “to provide a ‘letter of agreement’ as a Sri Lanka visa condition”, the ministry said “foreign media personnel are welcome to Sri Lanka at any time”. more..

Mar 19 (CI) Sri Lanka's official representation at the ongoing ICC Executive meeting in Delhi has descended into confusion as their Minister of Sports opted to send a ministry representative to the meeting in place of Thilanga Sumathipala, Sri Lanka Cricket's international envoy. more..

Mar 19 (DT) Sri Lanka junior team got off to a splendid start on the opening day of their four-day first Test against Pakistan at Quaid-e-Azam Park Pakistan Steel Township ground here on Friday. more..

Mar 19 (TN) A group of about one hundred medical officers and volunteers from United Kingdom comprising Indian, Sri Lankan and European nationals belonging to Satya Sai Samithi Society, arrived this week in Sri Lanka to conduct medical camps in the NorthEast, more..