Mar 26 (ANN) Professor Charles Dahanayake BSc. (Ceylon), PhD (Bristol) is an eminent academic and physicist. He was born on 8th February, 1928 in Hiyare, a village a few miles off Galle. more..

Mar 26 (LT) A bomb explosion at the police checkpoint at Pawanella on Ratnapura- Sri Pada Road has killed one person and wounded a police officer and an environmentalist. The explosion occurred at 2.00 p.m. yesterday. more..

Mar 26 (LT) The decision taken by Rauff Hakeem to remove them from Sri Lanka Muslim Congress is unfair say the four Parliamentarians who have joined the Alliance Government. They emphasized that they joined the Alliance Government on the request of the people who voted for them. more..

Mar 26 (LT) A group of Sri Lankans who have attempted to enter Egypt illegally are stranded at Red Sea say the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The number of peopled stranded is 137. Egyptian authorities have informed the Sri Lankan embassy and two officials from the Embassy have left to the place where the Sri Lankans are staying at the moment. more..

Mar 26 (LT) One person was killed when a bus went off the road at Puliyankulama in Vaunia which is an uncleared area. 17 people are reported to have wounded in the incident. This bus was on its way to Muhamale from Omanthe and 97 passengers were in the bus when the incident occurred. more..

Mar 26 (AT) Minister Mahinda Rajapakse spent three days in Northern Ireland trying to make sense of the territory's roll-coaster politics. Invited by the University of Ulster provide an overall understanding of political developments there, more..

Mar 26 (PIS) LTTE’s commitment to maintain the Cease Fire Agreement with integrity and exercising flexibility in the matter of formulating proposals for a joint mechanism, remains undiluted, its political wing leader S. P. Thamilselvan has assured Austria. more..

Mar 26 (PIS) President Chandrika Kumaratunga addressing a workshop of SLFP organisers, MPs and Ministers on Thursday said the joint mechanism with the LTTE should be set up first to attend to reconstruction of North East areas destroyed by the tsunami and through that the background for peace talks should be prepared. more..

Mar 26 (SAMN) A Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian warned Friday that the government's delays in setting up a joint mechanism with the LTTE for tsunami rebuilding in the North-East could create a crisis whereby the Tigers may withdraw even from the ceasefire agreement. more..

Mar 26 (SAMN) The media will be summoned before the Parliament Select Committee on Natural Disasters next week to engage in an 'extensive' dialogue on the recent tsunami and future matters. more..

Mar 26 (SAMN) A key Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) union has threatened to take stern action and place the entire country in darkness if the proposed restructuring process of the Board is not withdrawn at Monday's crucial special Cabinet meeting. more..

Mar 26 (LNP) It is three months since the tsunami and the regrettable truth is that the government has failed to deliver the goods. A further cause for concern is that the details of funds received and how such funds have been spent are shrouded in secrecy. more..

Mar 26 (LNP) Since the former Eastern province LTTE leader of Karuna Amman left the LTTE, in March 3, 2004 around 284 people have bene killed in clashes between the Wanni LTTE and the Karuna Amman group called the Eastern Tigers Organisation. more..

Mar 26 (LNP) Galle High Court Judge Chandresena Rajapakse sentenced to death all seven accused in a murder case. The accused are H. W. Priyamane of Takkalamulle, G. Premasiri of Thabiliyagoda, V. Shantha of Kongale, H. W. Ananda, G. G. Thilak of Themiliyagoda, K. M. Chandanatileke, K. W. Chandrapola and G. Premasiri of Mallalgoda. more..

Mar 26 (LT) Reports say that there is a Wanni Tigers’ torture chamber at Pulipanchikal, Weppuwattuwan about 500m away from Mariamman Kovil. It has been revealed that about 350 to 500 inmates are housed in this torture chamber where a large number of dissidents and political opponents have been tortured to death. more..

Mar 26 (SLA) Two underage children who were being abducted by four LTTE cadres for conscription have managed to escape from the LTTE and surrendered to the Special Task Force (STF) personnel on duty in the general area of AKKARAIPATTU on 25 March 2005 around 4.30 p.m. more..

Mar 26 (SLA) Naval troops on duty in the general sea area between THALAIMANNAR and KACHCHATHIVU have observed 300 – 500 Indian fishing trawlers poaching in the Sri Lankan water on 23 and 24 March 2005. more..

Mar 26 (SLA) One thousand six hundred and sixty two lorry loads of food and other essential items had been dispatched to un-cleared areas in the northern province during the period between 18 March 2005 and 24 March 2005. more..

Mar 26 (LBO) Government hiked charges for pipe-borne water last month as part of a string of subsidy reversals. However pipe borne water accounts for a fraction of the water consumed in Sri Lanka. Subsidies continue for most of the other water that is channeled through government maintained infrastructure for free. more..

Mar 26 (TP) The principal and vice principal of the Pannala National School in northcentral Sri Lanka was interdicted on Thursday by the Education Ministry for allegedly obtaining bribes to admit children to Grade 1 classes, the Daily Mirror reported. more..

Mar 26 (BBC) A weak batting performance from England A saw them crash to a 59-run defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka A at Colombo's Colts Cricket Club ground. The defeat leaves them needing to win against Pakistan on Sunday to deprive Sri Lanka of a place in the final, which is certain to feature Pakistan. more..

Mar 26 (GM) Females account for the overwhelming majority of victims in the Dec. 26 tsunamis, according to a report released yesterday that says in some of the hardest-hit villages, three or four women were killed for every man. more..

Mar 26 (Hindu) The proposed joint mechanism between Colombo and the LTTE would have no legislative, judicial or executive powers and would be "wholly dissimilar" from a rebel plan for limited self-rule in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, said here on Thursday. more..

Mar 26 (TI) The two elderly ladies, with their blue rinses and bubble-perms, were explaining how they ended up going on holiday to Sri Lanka. "I have trouble sleeping at night," said one, gathering her bags as she prepared to leave the aircraft. more..

Mar 26 (GU) Everyone has their tsunami story. This is the first thing I learn on my visit to Sri Lanka. Everyone has a story to tell, often of near-miraculous escape - but what characterises all these stories is the modesty with which they are related. more..

Mar 26 (LBO) Sri Lankans are adept at reading the future – they see what's coming, but sadly, being stuck on an island, have little room to run. Three months after the tsunami its difficult to find anyone feeling any happier in the paradise isle. more..

Mar 26 (DN) A Colombo Police Division survey has found that 706 children, 205 Sinhala, 222 Tamil and 279 Muslim, are not attending school. Colombo DIG Sirisena Herath has arranged several educational programs for these children, some who are orphans. more..

Mar 26 (AFP) Thousands of tsunami survivors lined up at a make-shift soup kitchen here as the country staged religious services to mark the third month anniversary of the natural disaster. This coastal resort town which is known for its coral reefs staged a series of Buddhist ceremonies to invoke blessings more..

Mar 27 (TN) Mr.Nimal Sripala de Silva, Health Minister in the UPFA government said Saturday that the Kantalai base hospital should be developed on par with the Trincomalee general hospital. "Please do not forget about the development of Kantalai hospital," said the Minister more..

Mar 27 (TN) The Greek floating hospital OCEAN MONARCH that arrived in the east port and berthed in Ashraff Jetty since February 05, has completed its humanitarian mission in Trincomalee. About two thousand patients from Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Jaffna and Matale obtained treatment from the floating hospital. more..

Mar 27 (BBC) The Burghers are descendants of the Dutch and Portuguese who colonised Sri Lanka in the 16th Century. Before the tsunami they preferred to remain in their own enclaves - hardly making any contacts with their brethren in others parts of Sri Lanka and abroad. more..

Mar 27 (Yahoo) A young Buddhist monk lights oil lamps in memory of victims of the Asian tsunami-triggered train accident which killed up to 2,000 people on Dec. 26, during a Buddhist ceremony at the site in Peraliya, more..

Mar 27 (LT) There isn’t any need for a separate joint mechanism to manage tsunami relief work in the North and the East as the government mechanism has been active for a long period and took over tsunami relief work and continues to do so said Dr. K. Vigneshvaran, Senior Advisor to Mr. Douglas Devananda, more..

Mar 27 (LT) A national policy should bed created about employing graduates in state service says ‘Union of Employed Graduates of 2004’. The union emphasizes that the Government should take immediate steps to resolve the issues that have come up in employing graduates. more..

Mar 27 (LT) The leader of the breakaway group Karuna Amman says that Norway, which wants Wanni Tigers strengthened and dominant over the other Tamil Organisations, has no right whatsoever to dictate terms in an internal conflict in Sri Lanka. more..

Mar 27 (AT) Mr. Vernon Abeyesekera was the Government Agent of Jaffna for about three years from January 1966. He was very popular with the people of Jaffna, as he developed a good rapport of with them by going beyond his duties as a government servant and taking part in many cultural activities. more..

Mar 27 (AT) In Hokandara, not far from Colombo, every day a group European Buddhist monks and nuns do pindapata or alms-rounds in the vicinity of their hermitage. The rest of the day they meditate, teach meditation and recite pirith (Buddhist blessings) in Pali. Some of them give meditation instructions in simple Sinhala. more..

Mar 27 (AT) The hidden meaning in Velupillai Prabhakaran’s claim that he is the “sole representative of the Tamils” is that he could rule them without their consent. He is claiming that he is vested with executive, judicial and legal powers to make all decisions on behalf of the Tamil people, whether they like or not. more..

Mar 27 (AT) Chencholai’ - Red Blossom Gardens - Tiger orphanages - breeding grounds for the next generation of Tiger cadres, where the child inmates are taught to venerate and obey the God-Leader. more..

Mar 27 (AT) Touching on a wide range of issue, Col Karuna, the breakaway leader of the east, has urged the Sri Lankan government to invite them for talks without sticking to false notion of the LTTE being “the sole representative of the Tamils”. more..

Mar 27 (TN) A satellite TV station called National Television of Thamil Eelam (NTT) will begin beaming news to Europe from an undisclosed location in Sri Lanka’s northeast from Saturday night, an official of the NTT said. more..

Mar 27 (Xinhua) President Chandrika Kumaratunga has said that a joint tsunami relief mechanism with the Tamil Tiger rebels should lead to the resumption of the stalled peace negotiations, political sources said Saturday. more..

Mar 27 (CP) The government will cast a deciding vote on anti-conversion legislation in April despite sharp criticism, news agencies and persecution watchdogs reported this week. The “Act for the Protection of Religious Freedom,” approved in principle by the Sri Lankan cabinet in June 2004, more..

Mar 27 (Hindu) Sri Lanka's tsunami wreckage that dotted the coastline three months ago has largely been cleared. The scars, however, continue to remain and are spread across the tent-cities that have lined up along the shattered coastline. more..

Mar 27 (Hindu) Three months after its worst recorded natural disaster, a warm "thank you" note welcomes guests to a hotel in this southern corner of Sri Lanka. "We remember those that came forward so spontaneously and gave generously to those in need. more..

Mar 27 (DT) Sri Lanka’s outgoing cricket chief defended his board’s performance Saturday in the wake of its suspension by the government’s sports ministry on allegation of mismanagement. The administration of Sri Lanka Cricket was taken over Friday by a committee appointed by the sports ministry, more..

Mar 27 (LNP) The Ministry of Power and Energy has sought cabinet approval to increase tariffs on electricity yet again. If approval is granted, consumers will see their electricity bills go up by twenty percent. On an average a consumer paying a monthly bill of Rs. 1000 would have to pay Rs. 200 more, if approval is granted. more..

Mar 27 (LNP) Jailed political heavyweight S.B. Dissanayake has now spent a month at the Merchant's Ward of the National Hospital in Colombo where he is undergoing treatment. These facilities made available to the former minister has fuelled speculation of the possibility that a deal is being attempted. more..

Mar 27 (LNP) Forty young men and schoolboys have been arrested this month in a crackdown by the Vavuniya magistrate on teasing and harassment of girls and women. Magistrate M. Elancheleyan has also ordered action against schoolboy gangs named after Tamil movies. Sixteen persons were arrested in this regard. more..

Mar 27 (BBC) Three months in to the Tsunami crisis, little has changed in Mulaithive observes Dinasena Rathugamage who visited the area. He says “Only the dead and the wounded are not to be seen and debris are scattered all around”. more..