May 1 (TN) "India is committed to assisting in the development of Sri Lanka's NorthEast through economic and technical assistance. The welfare and well-being of the people living in the NorthEast is very close to India's heart," Mr.Shyam Saran, Indian Foreign Secretary said Saturday more..

May 1 (AFP) Observing that it had an "abiding interest" in Sri Lanka's security, India today said it was ready to assist the island nation as it moved "resolutely" on the path towards peace and accelerated economic development. more..

May 1 (Hindu) Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran on Saturday said India was committed to the development of Sri Lanka's north-east through "economic and technical assistance." Mr. Saran, who arrived here on a four-day official visit, made these remarks at a function in the eastern Trincomalee district. more..

May 1 (AP) Tamil Tiger rebels have blamed the military for the killing of a prominent ethnic Tamil journalist who they say exposed the duplicity of the government in Sri Lanka’s faltering peace process. more..

May 1 (LT) An assassination plot exists behind the attempt to connect him and his party for the murder of media person Dharmaratnam Sivaram alias Tharaki says Wimal Weerawansa, Information Secretary of the JVP in a letter to IGP. more..

May 1 (LT) International Workers Day is celebrated today. Eleven May Day processions and rallies will be held in Colombo to mark this day which has special relevance to the workers’ struggles to win their demands. more..

May 1 (AT) Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim and the Japanese special envoy Yasushi Akashi are expected to arrive in Sri lanka next week to make another attempt to get the government and the Tamil militant to agree on the proposed tsunami joint mechanism before donors meeting scheduled to be held later this month. more..

May 1 (AT) D Sivaram used hispen in defence of one of the most violent organisations in the world. He should not have been responded to with a gun. He had a right to his opinion and to express that opinion, irrespective of the nature of that opinion. more..

May 1 (AT) President Kumaratunga has revealed the significant measures her Government have been put in place for the benefit of the working community, furthermore of the measures taken to put an end to political victimization and also about guaranteeing the rights and safety of expatriate workers. more..

May 1 (AT) Members of the Sydney Tamil community have categorically denied the Asian Tribune report (Sri Lankan Tamil caught running a drug trafficking ring in Australia) that Myuran Sukumaran, suspected drug smuggler held in detention in Denpasar in Indonesia, was acting on behalf of the Sri Lankan rebel group LTTE. more..

May 1 (AT) "For many Tamils it is a stark choice between civilized values and survival as a community; between surviving as a community with nasty values and not surviving at all" "Sadly those left behind live in a society made all the more grotesque by the choices it made" more..

May 1 (BBC) The Director, Colombo Crime Division, Senior Superintendent of Police Sarath Lugoda says up to now there are no hints revealed with regard to the murder of journalist Dharmaratnam Sivaram. He said that investigations are being carried out to find out the motives behind the murder. more..

May 1 (SAMN) The LTTE, in an effort to endear itself with the United Nations, has written a second letter requesting a meeting with Under-Secretary-General Olara Otunnu, the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, but the request has not been granted. more..

May 1 (PE) A Sri Lankan scientist claimed that he was racially abused at the French embassy in Colombo last week before being denied a visa to Europe. Dr. Thrishantha Nanayakkara, the world renowned robotics scientist and the inventor of the landmine removal robot MURALI made this allegation after he was refused a visa more..

May 1 (SAMN) The family members of slain journalist Dharmaretnam Sivaram who often wrote under the pen-name Taraki, have turned down a request from the LTTE to bring the body to the guerrilla-controlled Kilinochchi before the funeral in Batticaloa tomorrow. more..

May 1 (SAMN) Former Minister Milinda Moragoda is to meet President Chandrika Kumaratunga tomorrow or within days to secure the release of ex-cabinet colleague S. B. Dissanayake who is serving a two-year jail term for contempt of court. more..

May 1 (LNP) Police investigating journalist Dharmalingam Sivaram's killing are baffled as to why he was shot dead on the banks of the Diyawanna Oya near parliament. Sivaram, also known by his journalistic pseudonym, Taraki had been shot once through his head killing him instantaneously. more..

May 1 (LNP) The visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran yesterday visited Sri Lanka`s largest Navy base at Trincomalee. A highly placed official termed the visit as unprecedented. He was hosted by Eastern Naval Commander Vice Admiral Sarath Weerasekera. more..

May 1 (LNP) Officials exploring fresh nominations to the Constitutional Council are tossing around the names of several prominent personalities, including that of Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka, Jathika Hela Urumaya's parliamentary monk. more..

May 1 (GI) Relatives of slain Sri Lankan journalist Sivaram Dharmeratnam grieve before his body in Colombo,30 April 2005. more..

May 1 (LBO) Government subsidized petroleum based products by up to Rs. 16 billion last year and face a similar subsidy this year if fuel prices continue at current levels. Central Bank’s one off inflation due to a fuel price adjustment is better than a subsidy that will compound economic issues. more..

May 1 (LBO) The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has started probing unusual price changes in some stocks for possible securities fraud involving price manipulation. Prices of some stocks have started to jump suddenly, for no apparent fundamental reason. more..

May 1 (SLA) A group of about 30 civilians including members of Eelam People’s revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) have staged a protest in front of the SLMM office in the general area of BATTICALOA on 29 April 2005 around 3.00 p.m. against the continuous political killings by the LTTE. more..

May 1 (SLA) Another vehicle traveling towards the general un-cleared areain the east has returned after the LTTE blocked its passage through their MAHINDAPURA roadblock on 29 April 2005 around 9.35 a.m. more..

May 1 (SLA) Troops on duty at the OMANTHAI entry/exit point on 29 April 2005 have denied the passage of an LTTE cadre to the un-cleared areas since he failed to prove his identity and produce valid documents of his vehicle. more..

May 1 (ST) Three leading Norwegian newspapers have published a report on the illegal fund collections by the LTTE in Norway. This is the first time the Norwegian newspapers have exposed the fund raising by the LTTE amidst growing concerns that the funds are being used to purchase weapons. more..

May 1 (ANN) Sri Lanka’s first-ever organic fertilizer manufacturing plant based on the time-tested Japanese ‘M.Rin’ cultivation technology will be constructed under a Rs. 500 million BOI investment. more..

May 1 (AP) Commandos and 4,000 police deployed across Sri Lanka's capital Sunday to protect Labor Day rallies, which were marred 12 years ago by the assassination of a president. In 1993, a suspected Tamil Tiger rebel blew up himself and then President Ranasinghe Premadasa. more..

May 1 (AP) The U.N. children's agency UNICEF said Sunday it has teamed up with Sri Lanka's government to give vitamin A to 450,000 children living in coastal areas hit by the December tsunami. more..

May 1 (IANS) Even as Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran visits here, he will perhaps be told by his officials here of an increasing involvement of Pakistan in Sri Lanka with clear signs that Islamabad is courting Colombo like never before. more..

May 1 (IANS) Tamil Tiger guerrillas were not invited to a function organised in the eastern town of Trincomalee attended by Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran. At the start of a four-day visit to Sri Lanka, Saran Saturday visited the Government Technical College at Mihindupura, a Trincomalee suburb. more..

May 1 (KT) Lop sided it may seem but the Indian Masters led by Sairaj Bahutule remain resolute against their stronger Sri Lankan and Pakistani counterparts in the tsunami relief cricket tournament for the Zayed Cup here at the Zayed stadium. more..

May 1 (SO) The Incorporated Council of Legal Education (ICLE) has come up with a new set of proposals which if implemented will restrict underprivileged students entering Sri Lanka Law College (SLLC). more..

May 1 (PTI) India and Sri Lanka will hold the first foreign office-level consultations in three years tomorrow, when visiting Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran leads a delegation to discuss a range of regional, security and commercial issues as also post-tsunami rehabilitation, officials here said. more..

May 1 (Reuters) Growing opposition to a much-delayed tsunami aid-sharing deal between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels has sparked fears that the pact may not come through before a key donor meeting this month. more..

May 2 (TN) Tamil speaking trade unions under one wing held May rallies followed by processions in Jaffna and Trincomalee Sunday with large number of trade union activists participating. Marchers carried photograph of journalist Mr.D.Sivaram who was brutally killed in Colombo last Thursday. more..

May 2 (TN) Sri Lanka is to buy several powerful warships from Britain, Serbia and Uruguay, the Sunday Times reported this week. From Britain, the SLN is keen to buy warships to support major amphibious assaults on coastal targets. more..

May 2 (TN) Twenty houses constructed in Thiriyai, a predominantly Tamil village, about 42 km north of Trincomalee district were handed to resettled families at an event held Friday evening. more..

May 2 (TN) The body of murdered Tamil journalist Sivaram Dharmeratnam was taken from his residence in Colombo at 10pm local time to Batticaloa where his funeral will take place on Monday. The skies opened up momentarily around No.15/4 Mahindarama Road, Ratmalana from where the cortege left with Police escort. more..

May 2 (LM) Colombo city was a riot of red, green and blue today, as crowds from the PA, JVP and the UNP came into the capital in their thousands, shouting slogans, carrying placards,figures of prominent people etc. An otherwise sleepy city on a Sunday exploded into life with song, jokes etc, typical of the Sri Lankan sense of humour. more..

May 2 (Xinhua) The government has allowed top Tamil Tiger leaders to attend the funeral of the slain journalist Dhramaratnam Sivaram. Military officials here said Sunday that LTTE members will be provided protection to travel from the Northern Province to the eastern Batticaloa district where the funeral is to be held on Monday. more..

May 2 (LT) The May Day rally of the JVP being held at the BRC ground with the participation of more than one hundred thousand people. BRC ground is filled with people wearing red caps and shirts and discipline and determine by guiding principle of Marxism. more..

May 2 (BBC) Murdered journalist Dhrmeratnam Sivaram was honoured with the highest ever award to a civilian by the Tamil Tigers. A statement from the LTTE said that leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has conferred the late journalist with “Maamanithar (Great man)” award. more..

May 2 (BBC) Implementing a Joint Mechanism between the Sri Lankan Government and the Tamil Tigers for tsunami rehabilitation work in the North and East was the primary demand of the May Day celebrations in the North. The killing of TamilNet editor Dharmeratnam Sivaram was denounced in every rally and demonstration. more..

May 2 (BBC) Establishing peace is necessary to uplift living conditions of workers, Sri Lankan government said. There should also be a better understanding between workers and employers, Labour minister Athauda Senevirathne said. more..

May 2 (AT) More than 20 different rallies and meetings were held in Sri Lanka to commemorate the May day, but not only the workers but also the ruling alliance showed their divergent policies by marching separately. more..

May 2 (AT) Tamil Centre for Human Rights, a pro LTTE human rights organization based in Paris, has alleged that Killing is a sport for every Sri Lankan government. Victims can be journalists, lawyers, academics, teachers or others but what is important for the Sri Lankan government, is that it practices its sport. more..

May 2 (JT) "I am sorry, Miss," the bus driver chuckled, showing me the exit, "but you are on the wrong bus. This bus is for the Japanese tour group." "I'm with the Japanese group," I insisted as I found a seat. It was my first day in Sri Lanka more..

May 2 (TN) Murdered Tamil journalist Mr D Sivaram's funeral rites began at his family home in Lady Manning Drive, Batticaloa Monday afternoon after his body was taken to LTTE controlled Karadiyan Aaru earlier in the day. more..

May 2 (SLA) Police on duty at the UYLANKULAM Entry/Exit point have arrested two men on suspicion who tried to enter the cleared area in a vehicle with a large sum of money and some electronic items on 01 May 2005 around 2.30 p.m. more..