Apr 2 (AP) Many women who were made homeless by the 2004 tsunami continue to live in poverty and face violence at relief camps in South Asian nations, including India and Sri Lanka, according to a new report. Conducted by the Alliance Of Women Effected By Tsunami, the report covers India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. It was released in New Delhi on Saturday ahead of a summit of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation, or SAARC. more..

Apr 2 (AT) The HNB Stockbrokers in their weekly review indicated that the share market took a downward trend this week, in contrast to last week, where the market somewhat rebounded. The major fall in the market this week came on Monday, as a reaction to the LTTE attack on an air force base camp at Katunayake due to this factor the market fell by 38.9 points. more..

Apr 2 (ISL) The clampdown by the Charity Commission on Sivayogam Trust and its Chairman Nagaratnam Seevaratnam is welcome news. At last some light can be seen that authorities are taking matters seriously in the United Kingdom against the anti-social terror elements. Nagendram Seevaratnam earned the name Emdon Seevaratnam for his ruthless behaviours since his emergence in the United Kingdom in 1998. more..

Apr 2 (BBC) A former Chief Minister of Ontario, Canada, has called on the international community to exert more pressure on Sri Lanka to stop human rights violations. Bob Rae told activists in London on Saturday that countries like India and United States should 'clealy state' that the current situation cannot be continued. The former Chief Minister spoke to the BBC after delivering the Kethesh Loganathan memorial lecture in London. more..

Apr 2 (AFP) A little brown mouse dressed in bright orange and blue is the mascot of a Sri Lankan family business successfully resisting the rat race of mass production and carving a lucrative niche overseas. In sharp contrast to Sri Lanka's 2.6-billion-dollar textile and apparel export industry which depends on mass assembly line manufacture, the toys and handloom fabrics earn a tiny fraction of that amount. more..

Apr 2 (AFP) Sri Lanka protested Sunday against an Amnesty International campaign at the cricket World Cup drawing attention to human rights abuses on the island. The London-based rights group has been calling for Sri Lanka to 'Play by the Rules' in its conflict with Tamil rebels by persuading thousands of fans to sign special cricket balls and join in activities at the tournament in the Caribbean. more..

Apr 2 (AFP) Seventeen suspected members of the Tamil Tigers rebel group were detained on Sunday in Paris during an investigation into terrorist financing activities, sources close to the case said. Police made the arrests under the direction of anti-terrorist judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, the sources said. The suspects are alleged to be involved in extortion, violence and detentions as part of fundraising activities for the rebel LTTE, who are fighting a separatist war in Sri Lanka. more..

Apr 2 (AP) Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels gunned down six ethnic Sinhalese laborers at a construction site in eastern Sri Lanka on Sunday, the military said amid reports the government was looking for public support to formally back out of a cease-fire deal with the rebels. The victims were from Sri Lanka's ethnic majority Sinhalese community employed in the construction of an orphanage in Mylambaveli village in eastern Batticaloa district, more..

Apr 2 (AT) Informed Tamil sources revealed that 54-year-old Australian Thillainadarajah Jeyakumar who passed away on March 29, 2007, was responsible for shipping the light aircraft that dropped the bombs on the Katunayakae air base. Tamil Week in its latest edition (March 31, 2007) said that Jeyakumar "hatched the plan to send the plane with the international arms procurement man of the LTTE K Pathmanathan, known as "KP". more..

Apr 2 (AT) In an e-mail interview with Janasakthi, the official daily of the Tamil Nadu branch of the Indian Communist Party, S. Tamilselvan, Head of the Political division of the Tamil Tigers, said that the Tigers air force will only attack the Sri Lankan security forces and not to India, or to any other country. Given below the excerpts of the interview “Janasakthi” conducted through e-mail. more..

Apr 2 (TW) Since crossing over to the government, with monotonous regularity you have painstakingly attempted to justify your crossing over at various forums and press briefings attributing the following reasons for your decision. 1. The undemocratic and dictatorial attitude of the UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. 2. Desire to preserve and zealously safeguard democracy. more..

Apr 2 (TW) A staggering 10,000 new placements are needed to be found in Batticaloa to accommodate students who recently fled Tiger held areas, education authorities said. Schools within the Batticaloa area are stretching their capabilities to accommodate the recently displaced children. However as more children are moving away from their original homes the school system in the district is being over burdened as a result. more..

Apr 2 (TW) “The extremes of both sides are trapped in a pathology of a fanatical nationalism that will ensure only one thing - a spiral of death and destruction.” said Bob Rae, the former Premier of Ontario who flew down from Canada to give the keynote address at the Kethesh Loganathan memorial meeting held on Saturday, 31 March 2007, at the Conway Hall, London. UK. more..

Apr 2 (CI) West Indies lurched a step closer to leaving their own World Cup as Sanath Jayasuriya's 115 condemned them to a 113-run defeat in front of a rare full house in Guyana. He and Mahela Jayawardene added 183 then early wickets buried West Indies' chase before it had barely begun, Jayasuriya adding three to his outstanding innings. more..

Apr 2 (CI) It was a measure of Sri Lanka's overwhelming superiority in this game that Muttiah Muralitharan could afford to have a mediocre outing. Having suffered a bit of a mauling at Brian Lara's hands in 2001, Murali ran into another left-hander determined to assert himself. Shivnarine Chanderpaul might have struggled to work Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando off the square, but he pummelled four sixes off Murali while taking him for 38 from just 31 balls. more..

Apr 2 (CI) Tipped over the bar: When the usually accurate Ian Bradshaw strayed a little down the leg side, Sanath Jayasuriya teed off in trademark fashion. As the ball dipped down towards deep square leg, there was a buzz of anticipation in the crowd. Shivnarine Chanderpaul threw himself off the ground and palmed the ball over the rope. Had it been a game of football, it was a save that Gordon Banks would have been proud of. As it was, it was six more. more..

Apr 2 (CI) At the end of the day, Jayasuriya's century - 115 off 101 balls with four sixes - could give you the impression that it was a typical blast from the start. It wasn't. The bowlers ended up being carted all over Providence as the strike-rate indicates but the beginning was very different. Jayasuriya was deprived of much of the strike during the Powerplays and it wasn't until the seventh over that he hit his first boundary. more..

Apr 2 (TW) Thanks to the work of two LSSP stalwarts, the publication of ‘Selected Speeches and Writings of CRdeS was made possible. This publication was released at a launch at the N.M. Perera Centre on March 6, 2007 by another stalwart Batty Weerakoon (BW) with Tissa Vitharana (TV) chairing the launch. Seated there listening to BW and TV in the context of my own study of CRdeS and the LSSP I was able to see the history of our Island Home in a new perspective. more..

Apr 2 (AP) Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya celebrates his century against West Indies during the Super Eight Cricket World Cup match in Georgetown, Guyana, Sunday April 1, 2007. Jayasuriya scored 115 runs in his innings , with Sri Lanka scoring a total of 303 runs. more..

Apr 2 (Hindu) India is receptive to the idea of coordinated patrolling of the Palk Strait, Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said after a meeting with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday. Talking to The Hindu, he, however, said it was up to India to articulate its position on Colombo's proposal presented to it on March 19. more..

Apr 2 (AT) Over Rs 1.4 million was handed over to P Sirisena, President, Ruhunu Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture by President Mahinda Rajapakse for Capacity Building and uplift the chamber network in Hambantota. Ruhunu Chamber is affiliated and supported by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and it was initiated by the President three years ago to more..

Apr 2 (TN) Asked for the United States’ reaction to the LTTE airstrike on the military airbase at Katunayake last Monday, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert O’ Blake said: “The LTTE’s successful deployment of an offensive air capability is a matter of great concern.” He told Sri Lanka’s state-owned Daily News: “We do not believe there can be a military solution to this conflict. more..

Apr 2 (LBO) Hot water currents in a bathtub are a smooth tension reliever, but not so for the delicate living organisms on the coral reefs lining Sri Lanka’s beaches. Coral reefs are bio diversity hotspots and their destruction by changing weather has also increased sea erosion. The reefs are also second to only rainforests in their biological diversity. more..

Apr 2 (GDI) President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who arrived in New Delhi yesterday will attend the 14th Heads of State of Meeting of 14th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) scheduled to begin tomorrow. President was received at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at Palam by Social and Justice Minister Meena Kumari, daughter of former Deputy Prime Minister Jagjivan Ram. more..

Apr 2 (PISL) The Sri Lanka Muslim Peace Secretariat is briefing Colombo based diplomatic community on the current status of its efforts bring about a consensus among the Muslim community on the Oslo-led peace process and a range of connected contentious issues including the devolution of power and the LTTE’s Internal Self Governing Authority (ISGA). more..

Apr 2 (ANN) Sri Lankan Buddhism was revitalised by Bhikku Upali more than 250 years ago, but only in the past decade have relations between Colombo and Bangkok been given the serious attention they deserved. In the late 1990s, relations between Thailand and Sri Lanka rose from obscurity and mistrust to blossom into a dynamic relationship. Official exchanges, both civilian and military, increased at a meteoric rate. more..

Apr 2 (BBC) Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene insists his team still need to improve, starting with Wednesday's Super 8 match against England in Antigua. The Sri Lankans thrashed West Indies by 113 runs in Guyana on Sunday to move up to second in the group table. "There's a lot of work to do because we can't start where we left off against West Indies," Jayawardene cautioned. more..

Apr 2 (LNP) Controversy surrounds a Police Headquarters decision to transfer SSP K. Udayapala, in charge of the Nugegoda Division, to the Police Training College (PTC) in Kalutara, after Colombo Additional Magistrate Ms. Manjula Tillekeratne ordered his immediate arrest in connection with the recent disappearance of hoodlum Nawala Nihal and the killing of his brother Maurice. more..

Apr 2 (LNP) Sri Lanka Air Force`s (SLAF) fighter jets carried out night air raids on identified LTTE targets in Omanthai and Mannar yesterday, the military said. A senior Air Force official said that soon after midnight on Saturday, MI-24 helicopters pounded several LTTE mortar locations close to the Forward Defence Lines in Omanthai. `There locations are used by the Tigers to launch mortars at the Security Forces,` he said. more..

Apr 2 (LNP) Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said yesterday that Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will visit Sri Lanka soon. Responding to a question by the Daily News during a media briefing here in connection with the 14th SAARC summit as to why an Indian Prime Minister had not undertaken a state visit to Sri Lanka since 1987 (twenty years) the Foreign Secretary Menon, one time India`s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka said `Certainly we are looking at it. It will happen soon`. more..

Apr 2 (LNP) A 28 year old technical officer was cut with a sharp weapon and burnt to death inside his house by a gang alleged to be relatives of a girl he refused to marry due to a dispute over the dowry. R. A. D. Upul Samanpriya (28) of Akmeemana who had refused to marry his girl friend due to a dispute over the dowry was sleeping alone in his house while the family members had gone to Bandaragama for a bana preaching. more..

Apr 2 (SAMN) CMC Deputy Leader Vasudeva Nanayakkaya wants President Mahinda Rajapaksa to offer an immediate unconditional ceasefire as a prelude to direct negotiations with the LTTE. Nanayakkara, Secretary to the Democratic Left Front, which supports Rajapaksa’s administration, emphasised the pivotal importance of the resumption of talks. He said that the LTTE' strike on the Katunayake air base was an extremely serious escalation of the war. more..

Apr 2 (SAMN) Following information received on possible LTTE infiltration of estates in the Uva Province security in the estates have been tightened. DIG Uva Province T. M. Mishkin said a decision was taken to deploy foot patrols in the area while no one would be allowed to enter the estates after 6 pm. He said this decision was taken after a meeting with security forces chiefs, civil society organisation and heads of trade unions in the area. more..

Apr 2 (SAMN) Although nearly 28 days have lapsed since the eight fishermen who set sail on board their multi-day fishing craft from the Kalpitiya fisheries harbour disappeared in the Indian waters, there has been no information on them. The owner of the multi day craft says that the fishermen who left the harbour on March 2 were hijacked by an armed gang in deep seas the following day. more..

Apr 2 (SAMN) A major water supply scheme connecting 60 farmer families in tsunami-affected Tissamaharama and Perumpanmulla in Kirinda was declared open recently by the Damrivi Foundation together with United Nations’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Dialog GSM. The project includes deepening of the Perumpanmulla irrigation tank, construction of three 260cm overhead tanks, two pump houses, anicut, intake well, more..

Apr 2 (DN) On the instructions of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Dickman’s Road, Colombo 04 will be renamed as Dr. Lester James Peries Mawatha as from April 05 this year. The President has given this instruction in recognition of the unparalleled service rendered by the internationally acclaimed cinema doyen Dr. Lester James Peries who has already been honoured with the title of “Sri Lankabhimani”. more..

Apr 2 (AT) Even though some of India's vital defense and nuclear installations are within range of the nascent "air force" of the LTTE of Sri Lanka, New Delhi refuses to supply lethal military equipment to help Colombo. Two fixed-wing aircraft carried out an air raid on Katunayake military air base near Sri Lanka's main city and commercial capital Colombo last Monday. more..

Apr 2 (BP) This is in reference to the Sethusamudram Channel Project (SSCP) inaugurated by you and UPA chairperson on July 2, 2005 at Madurai, Tamil Nadu. “I have to report to you the results of the fact-finding team which I led between March 19 to 22, to Chennai and Rameshwaram region. There is serious apprehension among the people all over Bharatam at the impending destruction of a sacred monument, the bridge which is revered by millions of people as Sethu Mandir. more..

Apr 2 (TS) The family of the kidnapped man gathered in a home on Loggerhead Grove, on the furthest edge of Scarborough. The children were shy and polite and the adults were tired and sore of heart. They are the kin of Sivasubramaniam Ravindranath. He is an internationally respected academic who was kidnapped in Sri Lanka on Dec. 15 of last year. He has not been heard from since. more..

Apr 2 (DN) The Human Rights Commission did not go ahead with planned resolutions against Sri Lanka on alleged human rights violations at the just concluded fourth Council sessions in Geneva and instead deferred any decision on the matter. The Council sessions which commenced on March 13 in Geneva were to see certain resolutions critical of Sri Lanka’s human rights record tabled. more..

Apr 2 (DM) Victims of the Kebitigollewa bus bomb attack are yet to see their livelihoods restored despite the lapse of nearly a year after the ill-fated incident which claimed the lives of 97 persons on the spot and a few others later. The claymore blast targeting the Yakawewa-Kebitigollewa bus took place on June 15, 2006. more..

Apr 2 (DM) President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday afternoon left for New Delhi on a Mihin Lanka special flight to attend the 14th SAARC Summit. The summit is being held at a time when the region is facing various threats from terrorists. A President’s office media statement said, foreign secretaries of SAARC countries had focused on how to face terrorism in the region. more..

Apr 2 (AP) A bomb ripped through a bus as it stopped at a military checkpoint in eastern Sri Lanka on Monday, killing at least 16 civilians and wounding 25 others, the military said, blaming separatist Tamil rebels. The bomb, which tore through the bus, shattered windows and left a bloody trail of debris and flesh, raised the death toll from the last 24 hours of violence in this war-ravaged island to at least 36. more..

Apr 2 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers bombed a civilian bus in the island's restive east on Monday, killing 15 people, mostly women and children, military officials said, but the rebels denied involvement. The latest attack took place in the eastern district of Ampara, taking the death toll from a rash of incidents overnight in the north and east to 32. more..

Apr 2 (AFP) At least 16 people, including three children, were killed and 25 wounded when a bomb ripped through a crowded bus in eastern Sri Lanka Monday, officials said. The defence ministry immediately accused Tamil Tiger rebels of setting off the parcel bomb attack, which coincided with a key Buddhist holiday, while the guerrillas denied they were responsible for the attack. more..

Apr 3 (HT) Any visitor to Batticaloa at this time would be struck by the incessant thud or boom of guns being fired from the Weber stadium and other army camps on the coast, towards targets in the LTTE-controlled areas across the lagoon. The shelling goes on, morning, noon and night. "It's 24x7" remarked a fellow journalist familiar with Indian television. more..

Apr 3 (HT) Sri Lanka would press for an emphasis on terrorism financing in the declaration to be adopted by the summit of the SAARC to be held in New Delhi on April 3 and 4, the state-owned Daily News said on Monday. The paper quoted Foreign Secretary Dr Palitha Kohona as saying that SAARC countries had not been "proactive" in giving effect to existing laws to curb terror financing through front organisations, money laundering, narcotics and arms smuggling. more..

Apr 3 (HT) There are a variety of reasons for Sri Lankan cricket's excellent health. The players, selectors, administrators, coaches, and above all, the fans, have contributed to it. But there is an unseen factor which needs recognition, namely, Sri Lankan culture, especially the culture of the majority community, the Sinhalese. more..

Apr 3 (GDI) Opening of the newly constructed granite ‘Bodhi Prakaraya’ (protective wall) around the ‘Sri Maha Bodhi’ by Premier Rathnasiri Wickramanayake took place this morning (02 April) at the Sacred City Anuradhapura. The head reverent priest of the most sacred ‘Atamasthana’ Ven. Pallegama Sirinivasa Thero, Urban Development and Sacred Area Development Minister Dinesh Gunawardane, more..

Apr 3 (RW) The Government strongly condemns the atrocious and inhuman massacre of innocent civilians by the LTTE in Konduwattuvan, Ampara today (April 2nd) and Mailambaveli, Eravur yesterday (April1st). The LTTE's bomb attack on a passenger bus in Konduwattuvan, Ampara this afternoon (April 2nd) killed 16 people and injured another 25 innocent civilians. more..