Mar 26 (WS) Companies doing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) offer starting salaries from Rs. 10-15,000 a month for school leavers with at least 5,000 jobs available in the next two years, the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) said. more..

Mar 26 (LT) The Alliance government has failed to solve people’s problems says Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe, Leader of the UNP. Addressing a propaganda meeting at Homagama Mr. Wickremasinghe said the President had promised at the presidential election an honourable peace for the country, to bring down the cost of living and to solve the unemployment problem. more..

Mar 26 (LT) The country could be developed without corruption and fraud only by the JVP said Mr. Somawansa Amarasinghe, Leader of the JVP addressing a rally held at Kurunegala. Speaking further Mr. Amarasinghe said this example was amply displayed by the JVP at Tissamaharama Pradeshiya Sabha. more..

Mar 26 (LT) If it is possible to stop fraud and corruption money could be found for the development of the country says President Mahinda Rajapakse. President Rajapakse made this observation participating at a ceremony to lay the foundation for the ‘Nilwala’ bridge which is 100 meters long on the new rail track from Matara to Kataragama. more..

Mar 26 (ISL) Dushy Ranetunge writing in The Island has analysed effectively how the LTTE propagandists work using modern means of communications but little realising that not all the people can be fooled all the time. Websites like Nitharsanam and a host of others indulge in outright lies achieving a momentary impact only - and they are only hoodwinking the Tamil community. more..

Mar 26 (ISL) A civil petition for defamation filed by the International Head of Peoples Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) Sivaranjan in the Zurich High Court was heard on 23 March 2006. The judge Mrs M Dagiton following preliminary hearing referred the case to the Swiss Supreme Court for a full hearing. more..

Mar 26 (ANN) Reports reaching Colombo yesterday March 25) suggested India’s Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project has hit a funding snag in the Netherlands—a leading ecologist claiming that a Dutch agency has decided not to approve an application for export credit insurance submitted by the Tuticorin Port Trust. more..

Mar 26 (ANN) SriLankan Airlines' chief commercial officer said yesterday that Bangkok is now the third biggest hub of the airline, after Colombo and Dubai. At the airline's Asia-Pacific regional meeting in Bangkok, Barry Brown said SriLankan currently operates 15 flights weekly from Bangkok. There are seven to Colombo, four to Beijing and four to Hong Kong. more..

Mar 26 (LNP) Some of the victims of the forged visa racket to Anchorage in the United States have claimed they paid moneys ranging from Rs 500,000 to Rs 900,000 after meetings with Sports and Youth Affairs Minister, Jeevan Kumaratunga. However, Mr. Kumaratunga was not available for comment yesterday. more..

Mar 26 (LNP) More than 3,500 delegates from ever 60 countries in Asia and the Pacific are expected to participate in the 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific to be held at the BMICH from August 19 ' 23, 2007. This four-day congress, which will bring together politicians, government officials, medical experts, academics, people living with HIV/AIDS, community workers and the media will more..

Mar 26 (LNP) There will be no March 30 election for the Colombo, Gampaha and Galle Municipal Councils and several other local bodies where court proceedings are continuing, a senior Elections Department official confirmed yesterday. All legal issues must be sorted out and consideration given to the forthcoming Sinhala and Tamil New Year period before new dates are set for these elections, more..

Mar 26 (SAMN) The government laid down a series of conditions for the LTTE to re-open its political offices in government-controlled areas, forcing the Tigers to indefinitely put off the idea, officials said. The 28 conditions were communicated to the LTTE Jaffna leader Ilamparidi in a letter from the SLMM following a separate meeting with the security forces in the area on Tuesday, more..

Mar 26 (SAMN) The CID probing one of Sri Lanka's and probably South Asia’s biggest ever tax fraud believes the sum involved in the VAT refund scam may turn out to be as much as ten billion rupees. Detectives said evidence found so far indicated that both the Inland Revenue senior staff and businessmen allegedly involved in the racket had carried out fraudulent transaction to the tune of Rs. 3.5 billion but, but believed it could be 10 billion rupees. more..

Mar 26 (SAMN) As the government and the LTTE levelled accusations at each other on the quantum of ceasefire violations, the Head of the Scandinavian Truce Monitors Hagrup Haukland said Saturday that the two parties appeared to be at a "competition" on this issue. more..

Mar 26 (SAMN) Propaganda activities for next Thursday’s local government elections will come to an end at midnight Monday. In the fray are some 23,000 candidates but only 4,442 will be elected to 330 local councils. These figures also include 67 councils, where elections have been put off because of court cases and security situation. more..

Mar 26 (TP) Tamil rebels who didn’t change the clock in areas they control when the rest of Sri Lanka resorted to daylight savings time in 1996, said today the group will continue with the same time. “We didn’t change the clock then. We don’t intend changing it now,” laughed Daya Master, media spokesman for the group, when asked whether they would change the clock now that the “government was following the LTTE.” more..

Mar 26 (SO) The necessity of an enforceable code of ethics for all vehicles, which ensures road safety and discipline was stressed by the DIG Pujith Jayasundera at a seminar for three wheel drivers held at Institute of Personnel Management (IPM) recently. The seminar was organised by the IPM to educate three wheel drivers on road discipline and the value of human lives. more..

Mar 26 (LBO) Government auditors are threatening industrial action against chronic inaction by authorities and the parliament to crackdown on corruption and other shortcomings highlighted by them. The angry tones follows a statement attributed to the treasury secretary, which appeared in a Sunday weekly, criticising the audit report for having brought disrepute the public sector. more..

Mar 26 (CI) The first day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan at the SSC ground in Colombo has been called off by umpires Rudi Koertzen and Steve Davis. Although the rain had stopped by the time the umpires arrived to inspect the ground at 1.00pm local time, parts of the outfield, though covered, were submerged due to the heavy nature of the earlier showers. more..

Mar 26 (NDTV) Sri Lanka will relax its import tariff on a host of Indian goods from next month as part of a bilateral trade deal. Over 2,000 Indian goods are covered under the new tariff structure. The tariff rate for Indian finished goods will fall from 28.0 per cent to 8.40 per cent and from 2.5 per cent to 0.75 per cent for industrial raw materials and machinery. more..

Mar 26 (SLBC) The government says that all arrangements has been made to distribute fertilizer to farmers for the Yala season. The Commissioner General of the Agricultural Services D.D. Waniganayake says that the fertilizers have already been distributed in several districts. more..

Mar 26 (SLBC) The government says that all arrangements has been made to distribute fertilizer to farmers for the Yala season. The Commissioner General of the Agricultural Services D.D. Waniganayake says that the fertilizers have already been distributed in several districts. more..

Mar 26 (TN) Head of Vavuniya LTTE Political Wing, Mr Gnanam, TNA parliamentarians, and several Vavuniya civil society representatives held discussions with members of the SLMM on escalating violence in Vavuniya targetted against businesspersons, at the LTTE political office in Puliyankulam at 10.30 a.m. Saturday, sources from Vavuniya said. more..

Mar 26 (SLRC) The construction work on the Matara – Kataragama railway line extension project commenced this morning at a ceremony held under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksha. The first phase of the project which seeks to extend the coastal railway line up to Kataragama has been launched. more..

Mar 26 (AFP) Sri Lanka's cricket authorities are hopeful the tsunami-hit Galle International Stadium will be ready to host a Test match against South Africa in August. "We have received a clearance from the government to rebuild the stadium," said K Mathivanan, a member of Sri Lanka Cricket's interim committee. more..

Mar 26 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's military and the Tamil Tigers both lack commitment to a 2002 ceasefire that halted two decades of civil war and further provocation could rekindle a rash of deadly attacks, Nordic truce monitors said on Sunday. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said it had not ruled out rebel involvement in an attack on Saturday, more..

Mar 26 (AP) Sri Lanka's navy searched for eight missing sailors on Sunday whose vessel was destroyed in an explosion that the military blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels. Suspected rebels blew up their fishing boat late Saturday to avoid capture by the navy patrol vessel off the west coast, leaving six rebels dead and eight government sailors missing, more..

Mar 26 (AFP) Sri Lanka could slide back to war following the suicide bombing of a navy gunboat that killed eight sailors, foreign ceasefire monitors warned, as the military launched a probe into the incident. The Norwegian-led SLMM said Sunday they could not accept a denial by the rebel LTTE of involvement in Saturday's attack against the gunboat. more..

Mar 27 (TN) "Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) must capture the administration of the Trincomalee Urban Council in the local poll to scuttle the campaign by chauvinist elements for a de-merger of the NorthEast province. Tamil speaking people in the Trincomalee district must unequivocally demonstrate that they will not allow such moves to materialize," more..

Mar 27 (TN) The construction work on the 246 permanent houses for tsunami affected Muslim and Tamil families in Iqbal Nagar on Trincomalee-Nilaveli road under the Japan-Sri Lanka Friendship Village Project funded by the people and Government of Japan has begun with the ceremonial foundation-laying event held Saturday morning. more..

Mar 27 (BBC) The LTTE do not fight in the areas controlled by the Sri Lanka Government, a senior LTTE leader said. Rejecting any involvement in the clash off Kalpitiya with the Sri Lanka Navy vessel, head of LTTE peace Secretariat S Pulithevan said their naval wing leaders assured that they had no connection with Saturday's clash. more..

Mar 27 (AT) The Ranaviru Seva Authority [RVSA] has planned to set up a prosthetic device manufacturing plant in close proximity of the city of Colombo to assist local disabled people to purchase prosthetic devices under concessionary rates. The proposed factory will also provide job opportunities to disabled soldiers and will be administered by disabled officials of the security forces. more..

Mar 27 (AT) The topic of eco tourism has received much debate over the past few years. The exhaustive nature of the mass tourism market made inroads to much more modest less consumerist tourist trade. Whilst most westerners prefer basic living styles tailored to their tour programs, more..

Mar 27 (AT) Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) acquiesces in a statement, the involvement of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the attack on the Sri Lankan Navy Vessel which killed 8 Navy sailors on Saturday. The SLMM also strongly condemned the attack on the Sri Lanka Navy sailors. more..

Mar 27 (LeN) At the final of the Super Star competition conducted in Sri Lanka for the first time by private television channel 'Sirasa' to select the most popular singer from SMS votes of TV viewers, 29 year old Ajith Bandara, a youth from a remote village in Mawathagama was elected the winner. more..

Mar 27 (LeN) Former Deputy Finance Minister Banduala Gumawardane points out that prices of commodities are sky rocketing due to the printing of currency notes, the increase in money supply from 13% to 25%, the high interest rates on credit and the continuing depreciation of the rupee. more..

Mar 27 (LeN) A research by a group close to the President has revealed that the JVP will not secure power in any of the local authorities at the local government polls. The research report has been handed over to the President recently. According to the report the JVP will suffer defeat at the only local government body under its control, the Tissamaharama Pradeshiya Sabha. more..

Mar 27 (ISL) Information revealed by sources close to the LTTE circle in Zurich, Switzerland confirm that LTTE’s head there Chelliah Kularajasingam alias Kulam has been recalled by the LTTE leadership to Vanni. Kulam is the respondent to the libel case filed by the International Head of PLOTE Ranjan on various charges previously reported. more..

Mar 27 (ISL) In a desperate attempt the LTTE officials in the Canada and UK are running around to crystallise the pledges they obtained from people. Relentless efforts are being made to contact people to pay the money they promised. In Scarborough, Canada a family was contacted by phone and told to keep the money ready for collection. more..

Mar 27 (SC) Prime Minister Helen Clark today defended the Government's treatment of a young Sri Lankan woman who has been granted refugee status by the United Nations, despite being refused asylum here. The woman, who claimed to have been sexually abused by family members in her home country, was deported from New Zealand two years ago in handcuffs and under sedation. more..

Mar 27 (TN) Educational activities in Jaffna peninsula came to stansdstill Monday in a boycott called by Student oragnisations in protest against the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intervention inside the Advanced Technological Institute (ATI) and the attack on the students of the ATI last Friday. more..

Mar 27 (TN) Former Swedish Brigadier and the new Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Mr. Ulf Henricsson, met Head of the LTTE Political Wing, S. P. Tamilchelvan, Monday at 11.45 a.m. at the LTTE Peace Secretariet in Kilinochchi, LTTE sources said. more..

Mar 27 (SLA) FOUR TAMIL TIGER (LTTE) SUSPECTS including two female cadres in possession of two T-56 weapons and a stock of ammunition have been arrested in a combined Cordon and search operation conducted by the troops and police at POONTHODDAM, VAVUNIYA on 26 March 2006 around 7.30 p.m. more..

Mar 27 (SLA) LTTE MEN IN THE UN-CLEARED AREAS have fired two T-56 rounds towards a group of workers attending to some work near the 64th Mile Post at TOPPUR in TRINCOMALEE on Sunday (26) around 9.15 a.m. However, no one was injured in this incident since the rounds fired by the LTTE have gone over the heads of those civilians. more..

Mar 27 (AT) Denmark National Television, (DR 1) in its "Sunday Magazine Program" broadcast yesterday at 9.15 p.m. exposed (1) the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization’s (TRO) connection with the Sri Lanka’s Tamil rebel outfit LTTE and (2) its failure to account for the money collected in Denmark for Tsunami relief and rehabilitation work in the affected areas in Sri Lanka. more..

Mar 27 (AT) Erik Solheim, Norway’s Minister for International Development is expected to meet Anton Balasingham, Chief Negotiator of the Sri Lanka rebel outfit - LTTE, on Wednesday in London, to confirm the participation of the LTTE in the next round of talks scheduled for 19 – 21 April, in Geneva. more..

Mar 27 (LeN) World Bank Country Director Peter Harrold asserted that Sri Lanka needs improvement on becoming environmentally sustainable with lessons from the past as the country's economic growth is not environmentally sustainable. "Sri Lanka does not lack in a sustainable development plan, but needs to improve urgently its record of implementation of its sustainable development policies and plans" more..

Mar 27 (TW) The last thing Sri Lanka needs is an Islamic Jihad. With a death toll of over 60,000 in a decades-long civil war, allegations of an Islamic Jihad paramilitary group operating against the LTTE, is causing further fractures in an already tenuous peace. Now, next month's peace talks are in doubt. While the government denies allegations of Islamic paramilitaries, Tamil Tiger leaders say they have the proof. more..

Mar 27 (SLBC) The use of sea sand for construction purposes is to be popularized. The Land Reclamation and Development Corporation will appoint agents in this regard islandwide. At present sea sand is sold at the premises of the Department's office in Narahenpita. more..

Mar 27 (Dawn) Pakistan and Sri Lanka are expected to sign four memoranda of understanding during President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit here this week that also promises to bolster defence cooperation between the two countries. The MoUs will cover tourism, cultural exchanges, cooperation in railways and visa abolition for official and diplomatic passport holders, it is learnt. more..