May 28 (AFP) The European Union is expected to put Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers on its list of terrorist groups next week, a spokesman for the EU's Austrian presidency said Saturday. The EU move, agreed in principle on May 18, is an item on the agenda of a meeting of the 25-member bloc's ministers in Brussels, he said. more..

May 28 (WS) One of Sri Lanka’s techno wizards, an Information Security Consultant Chaminda Rajamanthri, who was described by his immediate boss as ‘the best in the country’, perished under tragic circumstances along with his childhood friend Roshan Ratnayaka. more..

May 28 (WS) The LTTE members in Colombo are largely using trains for commuting as they are seldom inspected by security forces, an intelligence source said. He said that dozens of LTTErs who had infiltrated the city are operating undercover ready to spring as suicide bombers or hit men. more..

May 28 (WS) Local government polls ended last week with five victories to the government party and four to the United National Party. The much debated Colombo municipal council was won by the Independent group contested with the support of the United National Party. These were the results expected by many even prior to the holding of the mini polls. more..

May 28 (WS) The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) continue to be defunct, since the new Parliamentary session began following the November 17th Presidential Election, highly placed sources told the Weekend Standard. more..

May 28 (WS) Sri Lanka faces the prospect of massive insurance surcharges being imposed on merchant vessels calling at her ports following the declaration of the island as a war risk area by Lloyd’s of London insurers. Sri Lanka along with Yemen has been included by Lloyd’s of London’s Joint War Committee on its list of “areas of perceived enhanced risks”, more..

May 28 (WS) As politics continued to cripple the already crisis ridden Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), a top notch CEB union is going to the extent of taking up this issue with President Mahinda Rajapakse in the coming days, in the fervent hope that maybe he could intervene and put a stop to the current state of affairs at this institution. more..

May 28 (BBC) At least eight people, including a guide gone on a safari tour in the Wilpattu national park on Friday are missing after a suspected blast in the jungle military sources said. Military Spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said another group of people visiting the same area have reported to the nearby police that they have spotted the scene. more..

May 28 (CI) Michael Vandort and Tillakaratne Dilshan formed a resolute fifth-wicket stand of 125 as Sri Lanka moved into the lead on a truncated third day at Edgbaston, but Matthew Hoggard struck a vital late blow after a frustrating session for the bowlers. Play had been delayed for nearly six hours by steady rain, leaving just 34 overs in the evening, and the overnight Sri Lankan pair battled until the brink of the close. more..

May 28 (LeN) The constitutional amendment of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party that will oust Chandrika Kumaratunga from the party presidency has already been drafted. Article 12 of the amendment which refers to the presidency of the party has been amended as following. more..

May 28 (LeN) Villagers of Kalyanipura, Gomarankadawala spend the night in jungle after the LTTE brutally gunned down some villagers including school children while working in a paddy field. The picture shows a youth trained by security forces with an old fashioned gun providing security to women and elderly men who spend the night in a nearby jungle. more..

May 28 (LeN) Military intelligence sources have uncovered that the LTTE has sent 4 suicide cadres to President's home town of Tangalle to assassinate the President. The same sources said that two suicide cadres have also been sent to Batticaloa after the killing of senior tiger leader Ramanan to assassinate a senior defence officer. more..

May 28 (INM) The general consensus about the first Test series of the summer was that England would win with plenty to spare. This suggestion is expected to appear in the next volume of Poppycock of Our Time. Despite Sri Lanka's intermittently obliging efforts to co-operate, the comfortable scenario has stubbornly refused to emerge. more..

May 28 (LT) Ministers of the Government instead of answering question posed to them try to avoid or postpone answering them accused Mr. Anura Dissanayake, Parliamentarian of the JVP. The questions forwarded by the JVP for the ministers have not been answered and during the few days Parliament was in session last week more..

May 28 (AT) The Tigers need Tamil refugees, as recruits, as service providers, as propaganda props, as justification. But an exodus of Tamils either to the Tiger territory or to India cannot happen without the full cooperation of the Lankan Armed Forces, Sinhala mobs and anti-Tiger Tamil parties. more..

May 28 (AT) The long-awaited ban of the EU proves, among other things, that the internationalization of the separatist claim in Sri Lanka, which was first mooted by S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, has boomeranged on the Tamil separatists just at the time they need international support to get over their hurdles. more..

May 28 (UNI) Bihar government today categorically turned down the Lankan government's proposal for sending relics of Buddha to that country for public display next month. "The relics are auspicious and should not be treated like goods which can be transported anywhere in the world," Tourism Minister Nand Kishore Yadav told UNI here. more..

May 28 (LNP) The controversy over substituting the winning independent group candidates with UNP members in the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) is likely to end up in a legal battle as a 22-year-old trishaw driver was set to be sworn in as Colombo`s new mayor. more..

May 28 (LNP) It seems likely that the JVP is preparing to join President Mahinda Rajapakse`s government shortly. Although no final decision has been taken, a section of the parliamentary group is believed to be favouring the move against the backdrop of Rajapakse increasingly seeking the Marxist party`s return to government. more..

May 28 (LNP) UNP Western Province Councillor Duminda Silva and his friends have been accused of attacking foreign guests, including US embassy staff, and smashing up property on Friday night at one of Colombo`s trendy night clubs, 'Clansys'. The incident followed an argument between the politician and the night club staff. more..