Sep 20 (NN) The 16 member International Committee for the Development of Lumbini (ICDL) has decided to reactivate the almost defunct body in order to develop Lumbini as a World Peace City. more..

Sep 20 (TN) Mr.M.Remedius, human rights lawyer said Monday that Ms Ehambaram Wijakala, one of the two women complainants in the Mannar rape incident is reported to be missing and the other victim Ms Sinnathamby Sivamani has received threats that she will be killed if she gives evidence in Anuradhapura High Court where the case is listed for hearing on Wednesday September 21, more..

Sep 20 (AT) Arrangements are underway to hold the Tamil National Resurgence Jaffna district level conference on 30 September in Jaffna, while “Pongu Tamil Ganesh” a former leader of the Jaffna campus student organization, the disgraced professor K. T. Ganeshalingam more..

Sep 20 (AT) The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has established the National Bio-safety Framework for Sri Lanka (NBFSL) to regulate and control the importation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and food (GMF), as well as genetically modified feed and processed products into Sri Lanka. more..

Sep 20 (BBC) The Kuwaiti government is considering proposals to improve the lives of nearly a million expatriate workers, most of them from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Minister of Social Affairs and Labour, Faisal al Hajji, has submitted recommendations that include a minimum wage for private sector workers and days off for domestic workers. more..

Sep 20 (BBC) Fishermen in Sri Lanka have launched a petition against the proposed Sethusamudram canal project off Palk Strait. The National Fishermen’s’ Solidarity Movement (NFSM) has launched an awareness campaign in Mannar on Monday. more..

Sep 20 (LT) UNP Parliamentarian Dr. Jayalath Jaayawardene has met Y. Gopalasamy, President of MDMK party which is active in South India. The meeting had taken place in MDMK headquarters in Chennai. MDMK party and Mr. ‘Vaiko’ Gopalasamy have close links with wanni tiger organization. more..

Sep 20 (LT) Four police teams have been deployed to hunt down the gang of armed robbers that robbed a house of a billionaire gem merchant at Atalla at Nivithigala and murdered two police officers when they tried to apprehend them. more..

Sep 20 (LT) JHU has agreed to refrain from presenting the highly controversial anti-conversion bill to the Parliament. JHU has taken this decision responding to a request made by the Prime Minister Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse. more..

Sep 20 (TT) The prospects of the peace talks in Sri Lanka resuming in the near future have receded further with the political head of the LTTE, SP Thamilchelvan, ruling out Katunayake international airport in Colombo as a venue. more..

Sep 20 (TCO) While the nation is still getting back to normal after Hurricane Katrina, one UM-St. Louis professor is helping others in Southeast Asia get back to normal from the tsunami last December. more..

Sep 20 (TN) After the announcement of the date for the Presidential polls on the 17th November, the polls chief has ordered the police Monday to remove all cutouts, and posters which arr illegal according to the election laws in Sri Lanka, sources in Colombo said. more..

Sep 20 (TN) As Sinhala nationalist forces opposed to a negotiated federal solution, Norwegian facilitation and the western influence, were gaining momentum in the South and a shadow war was being waged in the NorthEast, the Co-Chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference, who met in New York Monday reaffirmed their strong support to Norway as facilitator more..

Sep 20 (TN) Tamil civil groups in Trincomalee have called for a general shut down ('Hartal') on Wednesday, 21 September, putting forward 8 demands, including the removal of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) sentries and mini-camps which are located in the vicinity of schools and places of worship in the eastern port town. more..

Sep 20 (SLA) Terror tactics of Tamil Tigers were once again repeated in TRINCOMALEE Monday (19) night at about 8.00 p.m. when unidentified Tamil Tigers inflicted injuries on two soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army by throwing a hand grenade while on duty. more..

Sep 20 (SLA) An unidentified pistol man of the Tamil Tigers shot and killed an ex-Tamil Tiger in the general area of VELLAVELI, about 8 km west of KALAVANCHIKUDY on Monday (19) evening at about 5.30 p.m.. The victim, MALASURIN WIMALESHVARAN (23) was working at the construction site of MANDOOR Medical Officer of Health (MOH) office more..

Sep 20 (SLA) Suspected Tamil Tigers on a motorbike on Monday (19) night at about 9.15 p.m. threw a hand grenade at the house of an ex-Air Force officer residing in the general area of KALLADY, KATTANKUDY. Those two motorbike-riding Tamil Tigers for reasons best known only to them threw the hand grenade at the house of P.D.L.RAJAH of more..

Sep 20 (LT) We note with deep sympathy the demise of Dr S Panibharatha who was a great master in Sri Lanka’s cultural dancing arena. Dr Panibharatha was one of the first lecturers at the Government College of Dancing and Ballet. He was the first faculty head of Dancing of the Aesthetics Institution. more..

Sep 20 (LT) At an identifying parade conducted within the Prison premises 10 police officers including an Assistant Superintendent of Police were unable to identify Gopi, the suspect on the murder of Jaffna Police Superintendent Charles Wijewardena. more..

Sep 20 (LT) The two main candidates in the fray have made arrangements to expedite their propaganda activities with the announcement of the date of the presidential election. more..

Sep 20 (AT) The Co-Chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference while commending the Government of Sri Lanka for its restraint in face of provocative behavior of the Tamil rebel outfit LTTE faulted the Tigers for rejecting the proposed venue to review the Ceasefire Agreement more..

Sep 20 (LBO) SriLankan Airlines group net profits slumped 75 percent last year, dragged down by hefty oil bill and a fall in passenger numbers following the Dec. 26 tsunami, the airline said Monday. SriLankan reported Rs. 1.34 billion net profits for the financial year ending March 31, 2004/5 over Rs. 5.63 billion reported over the previous year. more..

Sep 20 (LBO) India will focus on investment expansion in Sri Lanka, at on going trade talks to expand the current free trade agreement, says Indian High Commissioner for Sri Lanka, Nirupama Rao. more..

Sep 20 (CT) The award winning film Sulanga Enu Pinisa or the Forsaken Land has received wide condemnation by some media and the political spectrum in the country. It has been reported the Director Vimukthi Jayasundera has also received threats requesting him to leave the country. more..

Sep 20 (CT) Cheap politics, strikes, heavy protests, thuggery and ragging are present symptoms in the local university system giving least preference to education. These symptoms are commonly visible in all universities including Jaffana. more..

Sep 20 (ANN) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse has put his finger on one of the crucial matters aggravating youth unrest. Although over 100,000 students qualify for university entrance, he has said, less than 20 per cent of them gain admission. more..

Sep 20 (TP) Two Sri Lankan workers employed in a garage in the Industrial Area yesterday approached their country's embassy complaining that they were physically assaulted by their sponsor. The mission referred them to the police as they had suffered minor injuries. more..

Sep 20 (ABC) Nations supporting the peace process in Sri Lanka are calling on the government and Tamil Tiger rebels to refrain from violence and reinvigorate the 2002 truce. The United States, European Union, Britain and Japan are supporting peace broker Norway. more..

Sep 20 (SAMN) US Ambassador Jeffrey Lunstead said they will take appropriate action against the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation if they found it to be breaching the law in the US. In response to a question by the media at a press conference at the American Centre yesterday, more..

Sep 20 (SAMN) The Ruhunu Janatha Party which has pledged support to UNP Presidential Candidate Ranil Wickeremesighe is to field a candidate at the upcoming presidential elections as a tactical move. more..

Sep 20 (SAMN) The Jatika Hela Urumaya (JHU) yesterday called upon President Chandrika Kumaratunga to reassess Norway’s position in the peace process before she retires from the Presidency. more..

Sep 20 (LT) Wanni tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has sent warm greetings to the new Prime Minister of Norway, Mr Jens Stoltenberg through its chief negotiator Mr Anton Balasingham. He has urged the negotiations on peace process should be started soon and requested Norway to continue as a facilitator in Sri Lanka’s peace process, more..

Sep 20 (LNP) `Nowhere in the world in there a system known as the third way. Economics are either open or closed. However, there is no situation where an economy is 100 percent open or 100 percent closed. Every economy is managed with certain modifications whereby its care interests are safeguarded,` said UNP Parliamentarian Bandula Gunawardena. more..

Sep 20 (LNP) The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission said yesterday it was prepared to position its monitors at check points dividing government and LTTE territory, at the upcoming presidential elections, if such a request was put forward by the government. more..

Sep 20 (DN) The Liberal Party of Sri Lanka at the meeting of its Executive Committee last week, decided that of the two main candidates for the Presidential election, the preferable choice from a Modern Liberal perspective was likely to be Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. more..

Sep 20 (AFP) Jaffna was the scene of the bloodiest fighting in Sri Lanka's drawn-out ethnic conflict, but war has given way to business after three years of ceasefire and locals hope it continues. more..

Sep 20 (IANS) The time has come for India to crush the naval wing of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas, says a new book. The book, 'Conflict Over Fisheries in the Palk Bay Region', urges New Delhi to develop the political will to pursue courses of action that are in India's national interest. more..

Sep 20 (Xinhua) The co-chairs of Sri Lanka's international donors have called on the Tamil Tigers to immediately end political assassinations and to end recruitment of child soldiers. more..

Sep 20 (Xinhua) Government will provide permanent housing to all Sri Lankans displaced by the tsunami by April 2006. Tsunami Housing Reconstruction Unit (THRU) was quoted as saying that the government was confident of completing all tsunami reconstruction by the next Sinhala and Tamil New Year, April 2006. more..

Sep 20 (LBO) The Co-Chairs of Sri Lanka’s peace process says the government is responsible to disarm armed factions and makes no commitments of international pressure against the LTTE. more..

Sep 20 (Kyodo) The main international players supporting Sri Lanka's peace process have warned that it faces "its most serious challenge" since a 2002 cease-fire brought a halt to fighting between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels. more..

Sep 20 (CI) Tilakeratne Dilshan (168) and Thilan Samaraweera (138) put on a 280-run partnership to put Sri Lanka firmly in control of the second Test at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo. Sri Lanka finished with 449 for 7 on the first day after having been reduced to 48 for 4 at one stage. more..

Sep 20 (AFP) Top foreign aid donors warned Sri Lankan political parties against undermining a fragile peace process and accused Tamil Tiger rebels of carrying out political assassinations to undermine a truce. more..

Sep 21 (TN) More than one thousand Buddhist monks representing National Buddhist Convention, including monks from Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), attended a meeting held Tuesday evening to urge the Government to bring to parliament the anti-conversion bill before the Presidential elections scheduled for 17 November, more..

Sep 21 (TN) Sri Lanka's premier Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse nominated as the SLFP presidential candidate vowed Tuesday to thwart all attempts by opposing parties with "vested interest" to defeat him in the forthcoming SL presidential polls on November 17. more..

Sep 21 (TN) Three checkpoints and road blocks established by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the heart of Mannar town were removed Tuesday by soldiers of SLA following protests by the Mannar Citizens' Committee (MCC) to Brigadier S.M.D.Rajapakse. more..

Sep 21 (AT) Music lovers in Sri Lanka will have a great opportunity to witness and listen to one of the most famous World Music Festival WOMAD from today in the island. WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance, UK) was created by ex-Genesis frontman Peter Gebriel in 1982. more..

Sep 21 (BBC) Veteran traditional Dancer Kalasoori Panibharatha has passed away. He was 86. He died this morning. The funeral will take place at Borella Kanatta on Thursday, 22nd. The body will lie at the University of Aesthetic Studies in Colombo until noon on Thursday. more..

Sep 21 (LBO) There may be a temporary truce on 'bra wars' between European Union and China, but the side-effects are benefiting Sri Lankan apparel industry, with order books filling up, as buyers look for alternate suppliers. more..

Sep 21 (LBO) China based PC maker the Lenovo Group says Sri Lanka’s early stage IT market offered high growth potential for hardware manufacturers. The Lenovo Group’s take over of IBM’s PC division making it the third largest PC maker could also mean lower prices for emerging markets like Sri Lanka. more..