Mar 22 (ANN) What is necessary for evil to flourish, it is said, is the silence of good men. We are not short of such good people who can see Sri Lanka’s problem for what it really is. But, unfortunately, the vast majority of them have chosen to remain mum either through fear of the gun or on their volition for reasons best known to them. more..

Mar 22 (LNP) The JVP General Secretary, in a strongly worded letter to the President, stated that if the objective of advertisements published by PERC was to privatise the relevant state institutions, it was a violation of the Alliance election manifesto. more..

Mar 22 (SAMN) The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has decided not to attend any discussion on re-building of areas affected by the tsunami, until the joint mechanism between the LTTE and the government is finalised. more..

Mar 22 (PIS) A two-hour battle between LTTE cadres and the Karuna faction in the Nelichivil jungles in Welikande left at least two dead and several injured while the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission moved in to defuse the crisis. more..

Mar 22 (Reuters) Sri Lankan tavern owner Samuel Appuhamy's business survived the immediate impact of Asia's tsunami, but its after-effects may force him to call it a day anyway and switch to selling antiques. more..

Mar 22 (HT) Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe will be meeting the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on April 8. An informed source in the UNP told Hindustan Times that the meeting would take place on the sidelines of a function at Singh's official residence to commemorate a well-known Sri Lankan left-wing economist Dr Lal Jayawardene. more..

Mar 22 (RI) The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE, have long been known for recruiting children to take up arms in their 22-year independence struggle against the Government of Sri Lanka. With a truce in early 2002, many hoped the illegal conscription of minors as child combatants would cease. more..

Mar 22 (Yahoo) American humour therapist Patch Adams plays with a tsunami orphan in Hikkaduwa, southern Sri Lanka March 22. Patch Adams and his group of 30 clowns are on a week-long tour more..

Mar 23 (TN) A refugee woman abandoned on a sandbank in the seas off Mannar with her two children was reported missing Tuesday. Fishermen from Thalaimannar who had given food to the woman and her children informed the parish priest of the area about her plight. more..

Mar 23 (TN) Mr. N.M.M.Abdullah Tuesday decided not to hold an identification parade into the allegation of rape and assault on refugees by unidentified men on the sandbank in Mannar Sea during the first week of March. more..

Mar 23 (CP) The government has decided to introduce a new law restricting religious conversion, news agencies and religious persecution watchdogs reported Monday. Although the immediate aftermath of the devastating tsunami that battered Sri Lanka saw a decrease in the acts of religious violence, the Mar. more..

Mar 23 (LBO) Stiff political opposition stops key local body from raising taxes by four percent, for the first time in 15 years. The Western Provincial Council – which controls over 50 percent of Sri Lanka's economic growth – met on Tuesday and opted to set up a special committee to study the impact of raising business turnover tax or BTT to five percent from the present one percent. more..

Mar 23 (AT) A new Buddhist International Relief Organization will come into effect, early next year, Dr. Hema Goonatilake, Coordinator, Buddhist Resource Centre, Sri Lanka, told the Asian Tribune on Tuesday. more..

Mar 23 (AT) It’s a rare case of morality meeting the monetary. The Tigers can afford a Sri Lankan government failure to set up a joint mechanism on tsunami relief. Sri Lanka on the other hand cannot afford to be seen by the world to reject one. A refusal would damn us morally and ethically. more..

Mar 23 (AT) The United National Party, the Chief opposition political party in Sri Lanka has decided to launch a nationwide signature campaign for the release of jailed UNP parliamentarian and a leader S.B.Dissanayaka. more..

Mar 23 (AT) This is a tale of woe by a wife of one Sri Lankan Mr. Ediris Singhe who is presently languishing in a dead row in Saudi Arabia, and is to be served with dead sentence according to Islamic law, though he is a Buddhist, within a week. more..

Mar 23 (AT) A number of political leaders in Sri Lanka have condemned the recent move of the Marxist party to make use of school children to stage their protest campaign against the government's decision of setting up private universities. more..

Mar 23 (BBC) UN should pay $ 50,000 as compensation to the Sri Lankan peace keeping soldier killed in Haiti on Sunday, says Colonel Amal Karunasekera, Commander of the Sri Lankan Batallion. His body will be flown back to Sri Lanka in a week's time, he said. more..

Mar 23 (BBC) Trade Union Centre for the Right of Rebuilding the Country(TUCRRC) on its inauguration says it is now time for trade unions to get together for the country's rebuilding process. Already centre is joined by 60 trade unions. more..

Mar 23 (LT) The JVP in a communique emphasises that all Sri Lankan soldiers deployed in Haiti should be recalled back to the motherland as they have been made victims of an internal conflict in an unknown country. more..

Mar 23 (LT) A lawsuit filed by UNP Parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake against Minister of Tourism Anura Bandaranayke was put off as Mr. Ravi Karunanayake was not present in court. The case has been fixed on the 5th July. more..

Mar 23 (LT) The body of the Sri Lankan soldier, killed in Haiti, will be flown to Sri Lanka this week says Brig. Daya Ratnayake, Military spokesman. In a confrontation with a terrorist group in Haiti on the 20th Lance Corp. H.M. Wijesinghe was killed and three other Sri Lankan soldiers were injured. more..

Mar 23 (LT) Patriotic National Movement in a communiqué says that certain western countries have begun to exert much influence on the UPFA Government to set up a joint mechanism with the Wanni Tigers Organisation for the North and East of Sri Lanka. more..

Mar 23 (LM) The Council of Muslim Theologians of the Eastern Province yesterday urged the Norwegian peace facilitators to clarify whether they accepted the North-East as the homeland of the Muslims. more..

Mar 23 (IHT) Sri Lanka's benchmark stock index is headed for a record-setting fifth consecutive quarterly gain as the country rebuilds from the December tsunami disaster. Companies including ACL Cables and Ceylon Oxygen are leading the rally. more..

Mar 23 (LNP) Posts and Telecommunications Deputy Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardana said that the authorities will take tough action against postal workers who participated in the recent sick leave campaign. more..

Mar 23 (ANN) There are 715,000 people on the waiting list for telephones of the Sri Lanka Telecom. This has been the case over the past 6 years and the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications has decided to get involved in the activities of Sri Lanka Telecom to rectify the many problems in its administration, more..

Mar 23 (SAMN) A bill to impose an income tax on non-governmental organsiations was taken up by the Supreme Court (SC) Tuesday to determine whether it is in line with the Constitution. more..

Mar 23 (SAMN) Taking blood samples of suspects for DNA tests, the extension of the period of detention without a warrant and expediting High Court trials are among the stiff provisions presented in Parliament Tuesday as part of the government's latest moves to crack down on crime. more..

Mar 23 (SAMN) The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) said Tuesday that the Government must seriously consider its Consultant Cadre Services Requirement Projection upto 2010 and take measures to increase the number of specialists or risk a breakdown in the healthcare system. more..

Mar 23 (LNP) 'Push the child out, I must catch my train,' midwife allegedly told pregnant woman Court summons entire staff of De Soysa hospital Ward 16. In a shocking case of alleged negligence at Sri Lanka's main maternity hospital, a child died within 24 hours of birth after a midwife allegedly told the mother to push the baby out fast because she had to catch a train. more..

Mar 23 (AT) In a polished and an unruffled performance Lakshman Kadiragamar, told the BBC Hard Talk interviewer, Zeinab Bedawi, yesterday that the LTTE has climbed down from its extremist demands and the stage is now almost set for a joint mechanism to advance, leading possibly even to “a platform on the big scene.” more..

Mar 23 (TN) Hundreds of women mainly from Sinhala community Tuesday held a demonstration in front of the Clock Tower junction in the heart of Trincomalee town demanding that the 200 meter buffer zone should be removed and to expedite the rehabilitation of tsunami hit fishing industry, sources said. more..

Mar 23 (TN) Tension prevailed in Akkaraipattu Wednesday after a Muslim youth was shot by Sri Lanka Police in the town around 2 in the afternoon. The youth was riding a motorbike with a colleague when Police opened fire on him at Fiscal Junction in Akkaraipattu town, 64 kilometres south of Batticaloa. more..

Mar 23 (SLA) A passenger on a three-wheeler has suddenly tried to fire on a wayside person in the general area of MAMANGAMA, BATTICALOA on 22 March 2005 around 6.30 p.m. but the victim escaped unhurt and disappeared into a safe place, a complaint made to BATTICALOA Police by the three-wheeler driver alleged. more..

Mar 23 (SLA) An unidentified person has thrown a hand grenade towards a bare land in the general area of KARUWAPPANKERNI in BATTICALOA on 22 March 2005 around 7.00 p.m., the BATTICALOA Police were told by civilians who heard the explosion. No casualties were reported due to the incident.

Mar 23 (SLA) Indian fishing trawlers in large numbers continued their poaching inside Sri Lankan waters in the general sea areas of JAFFNA on both 21 and 22 March 2005. On 21 March 2005, naval troops have observed a large flotilla of about 500 Indian fishing trawlers in the general sea area between DELFT and KACHCHTIVU around 3.00 p.m. more..

Mar 23 (LT) UNP says arrangements are being made to bring up a no confidence motion against the UPFA Government. According to UNP sources the no-confidence motion is brought to protest against the failure of the Government to fulfill the pledges made to the people during General Election, not taking any action to redevelop the areas affected by tsunami and several other matters. more..

Mar 23 (SLBC) A significant reduction in the number of complaints received by the Commission Inquiring into Charges on Bribery or Corruption has been reported. In the first three months of last year, the Commission has received more than six hundred complaints. more..

Mar 23 (VNA) A memorandum of understanding on Viet Nam-Sri Lanka bilateral cooperation in fisheries and aquaculture has been signed in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The signatories were Vietnamese Minister of Fisheries Ta Quang Ngoc and Sri Lanka Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Chandrasena Wijesinghe. more..

Mar 23 (BBC) In a HARDtalk interview on Tuesday 22nd March Zeinab Badawi talks to Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar. Sri Lanka suffered the second highest number of casualties in the Indian Ocean tsunami. Thirty thousand people died and one million were left homeless. more..

Mar 23 (Hindu) ARMED GROUPS FIGHTING political battles must not be allowed to get away with criminal violence by legitimising it in the name of the cause. This is the strong message from the mess in which the Irish Republican Army now finds itself following the murder of Robert McCartney, a Catholic, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. more..

Mar 23 (PTI) Rain spoilt India's chances against Sri Lanka, who were skittled out for 116 in 46.5 overs, in their first round match of the eighth Women's Cricket World Cup at the Laudium Oval, in Pretoria. more..

Mar 23 (RW) Immediately after the December 26 tsunami, the International Organization for Migration responded to the humanitarian crisis with emergency aid and assistance to thousands affected by the tragedy. Today, IOM's remains committed to relief and rebuilding in Sri Lanka. more..

Mar 23 (KT) The Council of Muslim Theologians in eastern Sri Lanka has accused the Norwegian peace facilitators of step-motherly treatment towards the Muslims in the North and East and sought a clarification on the position of their community in the region. more..

Mar 23 (LM) Mr. Segulebbe Razeek (43) of Oddamavadi was killed by unidentified gunmen in Meeravodai. His daughter was critically injured in the shooting incident on the night of the 21'st March. more..

Mar 23 (LM) In a live television debate, "Kinihira" on Swarnavahini, member of SLMC High Command, Constitutional Council and veteran lawyer, Mr. Nizam Kariyapper was well prepared and highly professional in his approach. more..

Mar 23 (LNP) Sports Minister Jeevan Kumaranatunga told `Daily Mirror` that he would not hesitate to dissolve Sri Lanka Cricket and appoint an interim committee if the need arises though he has no immediate idea of dissolving it at the moment. more..

Mar 23 (Xinhua) Former US President Bill Clinton,the United Nations' special envoy for tsunami recovery, will visitSri Lanka again shortly, the official Daily News reported on Wednesday. Clinton's visit is aimed at reviewing the progress of tsunami recovery measures in Sri Lanka and exploring further avenues for UN participation in such activities. more..

Mar 23 (DN) The EPRLF has made a strong appeal to all local and international organisations to protect human rights and approach this difficult issue of the LTTE's regardless behaviour. We also would appeal to all the human rights Organisations to intervene for the benefit of the peace loving people of Lanka and the World. more..