May 21 (FL) ON April 28, one of Sri Lanka's widely read columnists, Dharmeratnam Sivaram (46), was abducted around 10-30 p.m. by an "unidentified gang" as he was leaving a restaurant-bar at Bambalapitiya in Colombo's main Galle Road. He was probably killed a couple of hours later. more..

May 21 (ID) Sri Lanka is satisfied with India’s offer to look into any "new" environmental concerns that the island country may have, in regard to the Sethusamudram project to dig a shipping canal in the narrow strait between the two countries. more..

May 21 (IANS) Sri Lanka's national carrier will begin tri-weekly services to China from June 15 eyeing the rapidly expanding Chinese market for air travel, Xinhua reports. The Sri Lankan Airlines flights Wednesday, Friday and Sunday will operate from Colombo to Beijing via Bangkok. more..

May 21 (LT) The ministry of agriculture says that the national paddy purchasing programme implemented by the ministry of agriculture has been successful. The tonnage purchased at a cost of Rs.1.14 billion and 2 million exceeds 70,000 tons. The government has allocated Rs. 1.28 billion for this purposed is from polonnaruwa. more..

May 21 (LT) Many remarks expressed by the President an interview about the JVP and UPFA programme are not true and accurate. Some of them are scathing and several others can be challenged before the law, the General Secretary of the JVP, Tilvin Silva says in a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation. more..

May 21 (LT) A media release issued by the political bureau of the JVP says that rebuilding the North and East in conjunction with a weapon bearing lethal terrorist organization in the world, which does not hold any public authority, does not comply with the accepted democratic norms. more..

May 21 (AT) The money is there for reconstruction and rebuilding. But can the Sri Lankan government provide plans, estimates and revised laws to construct 100,000 house destroyed by the tsunami? more..

May 21 (AT) The brief post-independent history of Indo-Sri Lanka relations can be summed up as an adventure that began with mothering the Tamil terrorists who grew up under the protection and care of India until they turned the Indian guns on Indian sons, including Rajiv Gandhi. It is a disaster from which India has not fully recovered. more..

May 21 (TOI) While the global attention was focused on al-Qaeda, the world's best-organised terrorist outfit, the LTTE, made a quantum leap in acquiring a force multiplier by building an airstrip and acquiring fledgling but enviable air capability. more..