Jan 5 (LBO) Sri Lanka will set up a welfare insurance scheme to insure the health risk of public servants and pensioners and the losses of farmers and fishermen. The National Insurance Trust Fund, proposed in the 2006 budget will payout claims for health bills, revenue loss due to disasters among others. more..

Jan 5 (ISL) Dilan Perera, Deputy Minister of Justice slammed the JVP-sponsored no-confidence motion against the Deputy Chairman of Committees in parliament and CWC parliamentarian K. Satchithanandan claiming the JVP-sponsored no confidence motion violates the democratic rights of K. Satchithanandan. more..

Jan 5 (ISL) The leader of Dalit Panthers of India (DPI) Thol Thirumavalavan warned Indian government not to welcome Sri Lankan leaders claiming Sri Lanka a country responsible of killing Tamils. The Dalit organization while selectively ignoring the hundreds of killings done by the LTTE blasted government for “killing Tamils even during the peacetime” more..

Jan 5 (LT) Students escorted by Wanni tigers marched to the Office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission this morning. They have handed over a letter to the Office. The SLMM, UN and other affiliated organizations have advised the Wanni tigers in several occasions earlier to abstain from using the students for similar purposes. more..

Jan 5 (LT) Cabinet at its meeting held yesterday (4th) had decided to enhance the minimum salary of Government servants up to Rs 11,630/-. This was disclosed by the Media Minister, Mr Anura Priyadarshana Yapa at a media briefing held today. He said with this increase several problems pertaining to salaries would be settled. more..

Jan 5 (AT) Senator Richard Lugar Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee assured that Sri Lanka has the full support of the US Congress as it seeks to move the peace process forward. Managala Samaraweera, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign Affairs yesterday met with the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator Richard Lugar when he visited the Capitol Hill. more..

Jan 5 (AT) The depositors and other stakeholders of the now defunct Pramuka Savings and Development Bank have placed high hopes on the assurance made by the government that Pramuka Bank would be made a State Bank. more..

Jan 5 (LM) The JVP yesterday rejected Norway's offer for talks about Oslo's role in the peace process and the criticism levelled at Minister Eric Solheim. JVP Propaganda Secretary Wimal Weerawansa said his party would discuss any issue with Norway apart from the peace process until Norway stepped-down from its present role as facilitator in the country's peace process. more..

Jan 5 (LeN) President Mahinda Rajapaksa emphasized the need for speedy resumption of the peace process at last night's (4) Cabinet meeting claiming that escalating violence in the Northeast has placed the government in a tight corner. more..

Jan 5 (ANN) First it was a battle between the (milk food) corporates. We were told (and made to believe) that it was free trade and market competition. We were told that market competition is a good thing, and will make goods cheaper with time. more..

Jan 5 (SAMN) Heeding Kilinochchi’s summons for all families supporting or connected to the LTTE to return to rebel territory in the Wanni, residents and sources in the Jaffna peninsula confirmed yesterday that over 250 families had abandoned their homes in the area. more..

Jan 5 (SAMN) Education and university authorities yesterday discussed the possibilities of enrolling both sets of students who qualified for university entrance before the Advanced Level results scandal cropped up and others who qualified following the release of re-scrutinised marks. more..

Jan 5 (SAMN) Recent developments in the North point to the LTTE preparing for war, Tamil political sources said. They said that the LTTE has not only stepped up its recruitment drive but was also acquiring sophisticated weaponry. "We believe that the LTTE may have acquired surface to air missiles. more..

Jan 5 (LNP) The deadly dengue disease accounted for 25 deaths last year of which 19 were in the Western province. National Dengue Project Director Dr. Lakshmi de Silva said that during their awareness campaign they found that 5,613 persons had contacted dengue and the majority of the victims, numbering 3,453 were from the Western Province. more..

Jan 5 (LNP) One of the three policemen, attached to the Child Protection Authority, detained by the LTTE in the North, was admitted to a hospital after he had fallen sick. The policeman has been identified as Constable Hemantha. more..

Jan 5 (LNP) Provincial Council and Local government minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon has told the Commissioner of Elections Dayananda Dissanayake to hold the elections for all local bodies on the same day under the preferential system. more..

Jan 5 (DN) Four people including two children were killed when a van travelling on the Galle road fell into a canal in Wadduwa in the wee hours of yesterday. The accident took place around 3.30 am yesterday when the van heading to Kalutara skidded off the road near the Thalpitiya bridge and fell into the canal knocking out a hoarding on the roadside, more..

Jan 5 (HT) Fans of matinee idol of yesteryears and AIADMK founder, the late MG Ramachandran (MGR) in an LTTE-held part of Sri Lanka, have appealed to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to support the LTTE. In a memorandum sent to the AIADMK Supremo, the Kilinochchi MGR Munnetra Kazhagam (KMGRMK) has said that she should realise that the Tamil people of Sri Lanka are living in fear of losing their lives. more..

Jan 5 (wsws) Less than two months after the presidential election, Sri Lanka is slipping towards civil war. Escalating violence has been accompanied by widespread repression by the Sri Lankan security forces against the country’s Tamil minority, as well as Sinhala chauvinist agitation by President Mahinda Rajapakse’s allies—the JVP and JHU. more..

Jan 5 (AP) A lone gunman shot and killed an Indian national in the Sri Lankan capital, police said Thursday. Arun Prasad was shot in the head in Colombo's Dehiwala district Wednesday night and he died early Thursday, police spokesman Rienzie Perera said. The gunman fled the scene of the attack and remains at large. more..

Jan 5 (AP) Sri Lankan troops exchanged gunfire with suspected Tamil Tiger rebels following a grenade attack on an army checkpoint in the country's northeast, a Defense Ministry official said Thursday. more..

Jan 5 (DJ) Sri Lanka has received an offer from India's state-owned National Thermal Power Corp. to build a 500-megawatt thermal power plant in the island-nation's eastern Trincomalee city, Daily News reported Thursday. more..

Jan 5 (AFP) Sri Lanka said it wants a Norwegian peace envoy due later this month to put pressure on Tamil Tiger rebels to resume talks with the government on saving their troubled truce. Health Minister Nimal Siriplala de Silva said Thursday they expect Norway's International Development Minister Erik Solheim, due here on January 23, more..

Jan 5 (Reuters) Relatives cry in front of the coffin of a dead Sri Lankan youth during a funeral ceremony in Trincomalee, eastern Sri Lanka, January 5, 2006. Sri Lanka on Wednesday ordered a probe into the deaths of five youths more..

Jan 6 (CI) Anura Tennekoon, the former Sri Lanka captain and prolific middle-order batsman, has been entrusted with the task of improving the batting skills of Sri Lanka's cricketers. Adel Hashim, Sri Lanka Cricket interim committee secretary, announced Tennekoon's appointment as an immediate measure to address batting worries. more..

Jan 6 (CI) New Zealand and Sri Lanka have an eye on future targets going into the fourth one-day international at Wellington on Friday, with New Zealand having already wrapped up the five-match series. more..

Jan 6 (PTI) Describing the LTTE as a "ruthless killing machine more dangerous than al-Qaeda", visiting Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera has asked the US to get tough with the Tiger rebels and take measures against Tamil exile groups financing them. more..

Jan 6 (AT) Large quantity of wastewater contaminated with oil, grease and other substances are discharged by the vehicle service stations throughout the country polluting the environment. more..

Jan 6 (AT) First time in the political world of Sri Lanka, Maha Sangha attached to the Vidyaratne Pirivena, Panadura has decided to present “Vishwa Keerthi Sri Lanka Abhimani,” honorary title to the Member of European Parliament Niranjan Devadithya (Nirj Deva). Nirj Deva will receive this award on Sunday 8th January. more..

Jan 6 (AT) One of Sri Lanka’s leading financial groups –Capital Reach Holdings entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with UK’s largest independent business rescue and turnaround firm Begbies Traynor UK, establishing BT CAPREACH, Sri Lanka’s first business rescue and turnaround service. more..

Jan 6 (ISL) While many Sri Lankan luminaries especially from the legal field have left their mark on the UN and international law none have suggested how the United Nations can assist in permanently ending the curse of terrorism that has afflicted Sri Lanka for nearly 30 years. more..

Jan 6 (LeN) The LTTE has condemned the killing of six students at Trincomalee and warned that the security forces would face serious repercussions of these killings. This has been stated in a press release issued in Tamil by the LTTE political wing last night. more..

Jan 6 (LeN) Two Army posts were set on fire and another two were attacked while bodies of students assassinated in Trincomalee on Tuesday were being taken to the cemetery. Bodies of the students were placed in a special podium built at the Koneshwara Hindu College grounds for the public to pay last respect. more..

Jan 6 (LeN) President Mahinda Rajapaksa has asked Tourism Minister Anura Bandaranaike to expel Tourist Board Chairman Udaya Nanayakkara or be prepared to leave the portfolio and if he is unable to do so, 'Lanka e News' has reliably learnt. more..

Jan 6 (LT) Certain police officers keep in tough with media institutions in order to get popular. Hereafter, only the IGP or a media spokesperson appointed by him could exchange information regarding the police service says a direction by the President. more..

Jan 6 (LT) Minister of Information and Media Mr. Anura Priyadharshana Yapa denied the UNP’s claim that the Government had neglected appointing the Constitutional Council. The Government had requested different parties to name members for the Constitutional Council and all other parties except the UNP have already sent names of their representatives more..

Jan 6 (LT) A leader of the wanni tiger intelligence unit and about 100 tiger cadres have infiltrated the estate sector say reports. This has been revealed by a member of wanni tiger organization apprehended in the estate sector. There target is to enlist youth in the estates to the tiger organization. more..

Jan 6 (LT) Wanni tiger organization is faced with a dilemma as the ‘Mahaweera’ families they had settled in the vicinity of High Security Zones (HSZ) have started coming back to Kilinochchi. Immediately after the signing of the ceasefire agreement the tiger organization got ‘Mahaweera’ families from elsewhere to settle down near HSZs and in Jaffna peninsular. more..

Jan 6 (Hindu) DECEMBER WAS eventful in Sri Lanka, particularly in the North-East. In the Jaffna peninsula, the Sri Lankan Army has been facing a spate of attacks from cadres of the LTTE operating in small numbers in the High Security Zones — key points essential from a military operational point of view. more..

Jan 6 (AP) Sri Lankan troops Thursday shot dead a Tamil Tiger rebel suspect, the military said, but pro-rebel reports claimed the victim is a civilian who was not carrying his identification papers. more..

Jan 6 (ISL) Contrary to the speculations spread by the pro-JVP media that Norwegian Special Peace Envoy Erik Solhiem will not be welcome to the country, the government officials and the President had been in the forefront of welcoming his arrival, according to inside political sources. more..

Jan 6 (AP) Sri Lanka's new foreign minister says he told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that his country urgently needs international help to spur rebels back to peace negotiations and to stop a resurgence of civil war. more..

Jan 6 (Reuters) Sri Lankan soldiers guard the street as an armed personal carrier drives past in Jaffna. Attacks have escalated after the Tigers helped sink the chances of the candidate seen as most likely to reach a peace deal in a November election. more..

Jan 6 (Xinhua) Sri Lanka is launching a fresh publicity blitz to entice more tourists to spend their vacation in the island country following an outbreak of fresh violence in the northeast of the country, Daily News reported Friday. more..

Jan 6 (ISL) According to reliable sources, the JVP media including several internet news sites are on a intense mission to link up the CWC leader Thondaman to the LTTE. The reports had been concocted by JVP media that CWC leader had been engaged in talks with the LTTE leadership on “enlisting” estate youth to the LTTE. more..

Jan 6 (ISL) The leading politicians in the UPFA government are having links with various underworld leaders in Colombo and Southern areas, according to sources. This is contrary to the policy taken by the President Rajapakse to uproot the underworld in Colombo with in few months. more..

Jan 6 (PIS) The Government yesterday expressed hope that the forthcoming visit of Norwegian International Development Minister and Special Peace Envoy Erik Solheim will end the debate over Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) talks venue. more..

Jan 6 (PIS) Jaffna LTTE political leader Illamparathi has assured they have no intention of reverting to war, and were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Norwegian facilitators to lay the groundwork for the early resumption of peace talks. more..

Jan 6 (TN) Hundreds of protesters demonstrated Friday afternoon 3 p.m.at the Grandpass junction in Colombo city against indiscriminate arrests and harassment of Tamil people in Colombo under the Emergency Regulations. Several organizations and Sinhala and Tamil political party leaders participated in this jointly organized event, sources said. more..

Jan 6 (TN) Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers Friday 2.45 p.m. cordoned off and searched the offices of Jaffna daily Yarl Thinakkural amidst escalating incidents of harassment of Jaffna media by the SLA soldiers, sources said. SLA conducted searches inside the building including editorial section, press section, administrative section and advertisement section, more..