May 4 (BBC) The courts in Sri Lanka have ordered the mother of a child actor to produce him before courts to question whether he was abused while shooting a Sinhala film. Colombo magistrate Sarojinee Kusala Weerawardhana issued notice to Siththi Sangitha Samsudeen to produce 14 year old Mohamed Samsudeen on 10 May. more..

May 4 (LBO) The World Bank has not taken a decision to end concessionary lending to Sri Lanka despite the tsunami-hit island reporting more than 1,000 dollar per capita income for the third-straight year, a top official said Wednesday. Sri Lanka's 24 billion dollar economy boasted a 1,250 dollar per capita income for 19.5 million people last year, more..

May 4 (TN) Mr.S.Iniyavan, Mannar District Political Head of the LTTE complained to the SLMM at a discussion held at LTTE district political secretariat located in Karukkaikulam Wednesday of escaling attacks by the deep penetration unit (DPU) of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the LTTE held territory in Mannar district, sources said. more..

May 4 (TN) Amid propaganda by Sri Lanka Defense Ministry and the Sri Lanka Security forces that they have arrested four suspects in the killings at the Uthayan offices Tuesday, civil society members registered complaints with the the Jaffna Human Rights Commission (JHRC) offices that the four arrested are innocent students from the east, more..

May 4 (LeN) It is reported that gunmen attacked the and killed two employees of the office of the Udayan newspaper, located in Jaffna's high security zone for carrying photos showing the damages caused to LTTE's Sampur camp following the security force offensive. The armed men had fired indiscriminately looking for senior journalist Kuganathan who is said to have taken the photos. more..

May 4 (LeN) A wastage of public funds amounting to millions of rupees due to low quality carpets and furniture has been reported from the Foreign Employment Bureau. A tender was called to supply furniture and carpets and two supplies were chosen by the technical evaluation committee. more..

May 4 (LeN) Two of the headless bodies found on the 27th from the Awissawella Police area have been identified. One of them was a resident of Telangapatha, Wattala and the other was of three wheeler driver of Armor Street. Senior Superintendent of Police Wilfred Mahanama said both were Tamil persons. more..

May 4 (AA) A silver lining to the otherwise dark clouds of the Sri Lanka conflict is that both parties to the shaky four-year-old ceasefire have made their points, the Tamil Tigers by making an audacious attempt on the life of the Army chief, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, and the government by launching two days of air strikes on Tiger positions in the north-east. more..

May 4 (HM) Trincomalee, called Thrikanaamale in Sinhala and Thirukonamalai in Tamil, is once again very much in the news. A cycle of violence in mid-April resulted in more than 35 deaths and 60 injuries. The seriousness of the situation saw Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressing concern to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse over the telephone, more..

May 4 (MOJU) Delon Weerasinghe and I had a brief chat a few weeks ago that led to this email interview where I asked him details about his Gratiaen Award winning script, Thicker Than Blood and his thoughts on theatre in general. Delon went to S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia. He has provided his services as a fixer / filmmaker to many foreign film / documentary projects filmed in Sri Lanka. more..

May 4 (MOJU) The escalating violence in the Eastern Province is ongoing amidst fresh attacks by the SL forces in LTTE controlled areas in the East that have displaced hundreds of civilians. While the violence and ethnic tensions between communities in Trincomalee have been centre stage in the last few weeks, this violence is integrally connected to the ongoing, overall violence in the Eastern Province as a whole. more..

May 4 (LT) The Special Task Force appointed by the President to provide relief for the displaced in the Muthur area as a result of the security forces action on 25th April has completed its assessment of the immediate relief requirements as well as future rehabilitation tasks. more..

May 4 (LT) In functioning democracies, the people are the masters and the elected governments are their servants or trustees. An important function of the media is to ensure that the servants don't try to become masters and transform the masters into servants. more..

May 4 (AT) The Srilankan Airlines has agreed to allocate cargo space to the local live tropical fish and the floriculture exporters within their destinations. Srilankan Airlines also came forward to reduce the cargo transportation charges. Earlier, local fish and floricultural producers and the exporters complaint that, they do not have enough cargo spaces for their exports in the international airlines. more..

May 4 (LS) Despite the fact that abortion is officially illegal in Sri Lanka, Marie Stopes clinics perform abortions. The Cultura Vitae pro-life group held a demonstration yesterday outside the Marie Stopes clinic in Colombo which is situated a mere 200 meters form the local Cathedral. more..

May 4 (TW) In what appears “prima facie” to be a flagrant travesty of justice all Police Special task force members,detained as suspects in the murder of five innocent Tamil youths in Trincomalee on Jan 2nd this year, are to be released next week. Eleven STF members and two Policemen were arrested as suspects in the incident more..

May 4 (ANN) According to Greek mythology,Icarus, the son of Daedalus, flew too near the sun and had his wings melted and fell into the sea. Ambition, brought the destruction of the prodigal. In this conflict with the LTTE, the ambition for power made the Ranil W government to consciously lose sight of the tremendous opportunities that fell to its lap after the twin-tower bombing by Al-Qaeda on September 11th 2001. more..

May 4 (ISL) Report reaching from well connected sources in Vanni confirms that the LTTE is looking out for the family members of their most hated breakaway leader Muralitharan alias Col. Karuna. The LTTE had already carried out violent attacks against the family members of Karuna and have caused destruction to their properties. more..

May 4 (ISL) "We wish to bring to the notice of the public that the LTTE media barged on Uthayan newspaper for publishing the interview with President Mahinda Rajapakse and unable to give reasons for the murder of Uthayan staff, twisted the story and put the blame on the EPDP. We salute the staff of Uthayan for their boldness to publish at least some of our statements. more..

May 4 (ISL) Countries with stable governments particularly those dedicated to democratic forms zealously protect their Law and Order mechanism. This is crucial to a nation’s commitment to the fundamental rights of all its citizens. Canada has enshrined this in a unique way under its Charter of Rights and Freedom and nurtures a multicultural nation. more..

May 4 (ISL) It is easily the worst incident in the two decades of separatist war and interludes of peace with the LTTE. A female suicide bomber infiltrated the heavily-fortified Army Headquarters in Colombo. She threw herself before Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka's motorcade. If not for motorcycle outrider Corporal Ruwan Yakandawala, who kicked her, faced the full brunt of the explosion and died on the spot, Lt. Gen. Fonseka would be no more. more..

May 4 (SLA) A Police Constable on duty at the Clock Tower in VAVUNIYA was injured when a terrorist hurled a Hand Grenade at him Thursday (04) at 12.15 p.m.The injured was admitted to VAVUNIYA hospital for treatment. The incident which is a violation of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) was reported to Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).

May 4 (SLA) TROOPS AT AN ARMY POINT in NALLUR, JAFFNA opened retaliatory fire towards a group of LTTE terrorists who fired at troops on Wednesday (03) around 7.15 p.m. using small arms. However, the Tamil Tigers failed to injure troops. Later, troops conducted a search in the area and recovered six T – 56 empty rounds. more..

May 4 (SLA) The Police station at KOPAI in JAFFNA came under LTTE fire on Wednesday (04) around 6.50 p.m. One Tamil Tiger (LTTE) terrorist opened fire at the Police Station from a nearby location. However, the Tamil Tiger has retreated when the Policemen started firing in retaliation. The KOPAI Police are conducting investigations. more..

May 4 (LBO) Sri Lanka's state-owned railway is trying to find money to make urgent repairs to dilapidated tracks, which is forcing trains to run slow. "Trains are getting delayed because of the bad rail track conditions," General Manager of Railways, K A Pemasiri said. "We need to replace sleepers and carry out urgent repairs." more..

May 4 (DJ) Sri Lanka's Colombo Dockyard Ltd. expects net profit to more than triple this year helped by growth in the company's shipbuilding division, the company's chief executive said. "We have already secured a couple of foreign contracts, which will help boost profits," Mangala Yapa told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview. more..

May 4 (LBO) Sri Lanka is setting up an upstream oil company as the country gets ready to auction several off-shore oil exploration blocks, Petroleum Minister A H M Fowzie said. An upstream petroleum company engages in exploration and production of oil. more..

May 4 (LeN) These days, the focus of all media and public attention is on the war, the north and east, the future of the peace process. In the meanwhile, the undermining of democratic space in the south proceeds at high speed. I will cite only several cases: The murder of Police officer Douglas Nimal and his wife, it seems, will be attributed to the underworld. more..

May 4 (LT) The Government plans to recruit 5000 home guards. They will be given full arms training. It is the intention of the Government to appoint these trained home guards to the Tiger threatened areas in the border villages. The Defence Ministry sources indicate it is the objective of the Government to protect the civilians in these areas who are facing threats from the Wanni Tigers. more..

May 4 (AT) As the peace talks neared the LTTE has been trying to make vital changes in its military hierarchy and command structure. Banu, a resident of Ariyalai in the north of Jaffna has been the military commander of Ampara/Batticaloa. Now the LTTE has made a move to appoint Ramesh a resident of Batticaloa as a special military commander to Ampara/ Batticaloa. more..

May 4 (AT) Sri Lanka's peace process remains entangled in a seemingly incurable predicament. Thousands of innocent civilians, as usual, keep paying a heavy price for their leaders' failure to break the vicious circle of conflict. Even the signals of an impending social catastrophe and the spectre of an economic nightmare have yet to produce the necessary wisdom to transcend existing prejudices. more..

May 4 (IFJ) The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is concerned over the decision by Sri Lankan authorities to arrest and remand a female journalist on suspicion of association with terrorist activities at a UNESCO conference on World Press Freedom Day, Colombo, Sri Lanka. more..

May 4 (PIS) The Secretariat for Coordinating Peace process (SCOPP) yesterday declared that every effort was being made to achieve a breakthrough in the stalled peace process. "We are maintaining contacts with the LTTE through the facilitator," said SCOPP Deputy Head Kethesh Loganathan adding they were trying to sort out transport arrangements for the top Eastern LTTE cadres more..

May 4 (PIS) The Jatika Hela Urumaya yesterday suggested the inclusion of Karuna Amman in the peace process and the ceasefire agreement as a means of neutralising LTTE accusations against paramilitary groups. JHU media secretary Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe said Karuna should be included in the peace process and the areas controlled by Karuna Amman should be marked out and registered. more..

May 4 (PIS) It is the duty and the responsibility of the free world press to expose the true nature of terrorist groups and to rally freedom loving people of the world against their real objectives and their activities, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said yesterday. more..

May 4 (LNP) Jaffna Additional Magistrate, Mrs.Srinithi Nanthasekaran, who visited the crime site at the Jaffna daily `Uthayan` office, ordered police protection to the `Uthayan` office, and directed the Police to investigate into the armed attack on office Tuesday night. Police said they have recovered a gun from the attack site. more..

May 4 (LNP) There has been very good response from Sri Lankan expats resident in UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle Eastern countries to invest in the Government`s International issue of Sri Lanka Nation Building bonds to the value of US $25 million, said Head of Sri Lankan Central Bank, Foreign Investment Unit ' S. Ranasinghe on Tuesday. more..

May 4 (AFP) A Sri Lankan police sergeant measures the height of an applicant who came to enlist in the Sri Lankan police force at a police station in Colombo, 03 May 2006. more..

May 4 (LNP) Six persons who were convicted of a number of charges including the importation of heroin worth over thirty million rupees from India were sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday by Negombo High Court Judge Tudor Gunaratne. The accused were charged with conspiring to import the substance illicitly, importing 14,071 grams heroin to Sri Lanka on or around 21 April, 2001 more..

May 4 (SAMN) The main Opposition UNP yesterday alleged the majority of Sri Lankan ambassadors were not doing their job properly in countering false LTTE propaganda and welcomed President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s idea of an aggressive international campaign against the LTTE. “In fact it is a job the Sri Lankan ambassadors abroad should have done. more..

May 4 (SAMN) The LTTE has called on the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission to be “truthful in its judgments and statements, and refrain from allowing room for different interpretations” after the monitors released a clarification of an earlier statement which condemned Government air strikes over LTTE targets in Trincomalee. In a letter to SLMM head Ulf Henriccson LTTE political head S.P. more..

May 4 (SAMN) Indian police Thursday cracked down on a massive protest march and arrested more than 500 protesters including an Indian politician as they attempted to make their way to the Sri Lankan Consulate in Chennai. The protestors were showing support for the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka and more..

May 4 (DN) When the Rs. 3.5 billion VAT scam case was taken up before the Colombo Fort Magistrate Namal Bandara Balalle yesterday, the Senior State Counsel Haripriya Jayasundera informed Court that investigations in respect of all the suspects who are in custody will be conducted in due form. more..

May 4 (Dawn) Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva who headed the government delegation to peace talks in Geneva in February is proving to be a staunch optimist. A week after an LTTE suicide bomber exploded herself at the army headquarters in Colombo, killing 11 and plunging the country onto the brink of war, Mr de Silva still believes that peace talks will prevail. more..

May 4 (IPS) It speaks for the state of press freedom in this strife-torn country that even as journalists were holding a candlelight vigil for dozens of colleagues killed in two decades of ethnic conflict, two more were shot dead at the offices of the newspaper they worked for, this week. more..

May 4 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's government said on Thursday it was moving closer to an agreement over the transport of Tamil Tiger commanders, a rebel pre-condition for peace talks, as two people were killed in fresh violence in the north. International truce monitors say around 200 people have died since early April more..

May 4 (AP) A police officer shoots at a claymore mine placed on a tree in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, Thursday, May 4, 2006. The claymore was spotted by patrolling soldiers and blasted without causing any injury. more..

May 4 (AP) Shops, offices and banks were shut and transportation came to a standstill in a northern Sri Lankan town Thursday to protest an attack on a Tamil rebel-linked newspaper in which two employees were killed. Unknown gunmen stormed into the office of the Tamil-language newspaper Uthayan in the town of Jaffna on Tuesday and opened fire, killing a manager and another employee. more..

May 4 (AP) Twin explosions in a northern town killed two neighborhood guards and wounded 12 others Thursday as officials announced a visit by a Japanese peace envoy aimed at easing tensions that have pushed Sri Lanka to the brink of civil war. In the first blast in the garrison town of Vavuniya, two guards were killed and two wounded when the group of four guards were cycling home after night duty, more..

May 4 (AP) At least five suspected Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in northern Sri Lanka Thursday when military fired in retaliation when attacked with hand grenades, a policeman said. The attack took place in Nelliady in northern Jaffna Peninsula, a local policeman said on condition of anonymity, because he is not authorized to speak to the media. more..