Feb 9 (TN) Four computers with accessories at a cost of about 300,000 rupees were handed over to four schools in Muttur east, Pallikudiruppu Kalaimagal Hindu College, Killiveddy Maha Vidiyalayam, Kattaiparichchan Vipulananda Vidiyalayam and Sampoor Maha Vidiyalayam, more..

Feb 9 (SLA) Two men on a push bicycle riding towards KIRAN had been abducted by some LTTE men on 01 February 2004 for reasons best known to the LTTE while these victims were in the general area of KALKUDAH. more..

Feb 9 (SLA) LTTE cadres on a van had forcibly taken away two Home Guards and a civilian from the general area of KOVALI, MAHAOYA on 07 February 2004 after they entered the un-cleared areas in order to buy some cattle. more..

Feb 9 (SLA) An LTTE political leader for JAFFNA has hoisted the LTTE flag at the 25th anniversary celebrations of the JAFFNA based Higher Education Institute, held at WEERASINGHAM hall on 04 February 2004. more..

Feb 9 (SLA) Police arrested two LTTE men from the general area of UDUVIL, about 7.5 km north of JAFFNA city on 05 February 2004, who tried to remove the Sri Lankan National flag, raised to commemorate the Independence Day celebrations on 04 February. more..

Feb 9 (TOI) Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee may talk of a common currency for the South Asian region. But the warmth of Saarc solidarity evaporates when it comes to opening up doors to business houses from across the borders. more..

Feb 9 (Gulf) Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's United National Front (UNP) yesterday said that it was better to go in for fresh elections than rule the country amid uncertainty with unpredictable actions by President Chandrika Kumaratunga. more..

Feb 9 (AT) Norway had begun to entertain the formula of two independent governmental entities existing within one country called Sri Lanka. From day one, this policy had been put to force, effectively practiced and implemented secretly and publicly. more..

Feb 9 (Reuters) Stocks plunged more than eight percent in opening trade on Monday, the first trading day since a snap election was called at the weekend, causing uncertainty over the future of peace talks with Tamil rebels. more..

Feb 9 (Bloomberg) Sri Lankan stocks declined, led by John Keells Holdings Ltd., after the nation's President Chandrika Kumaratunga on the weekend dissolved parliament and called a general election for April. more..

Feb 9 (IANS) Reported plans by South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) to use Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers to woo Indian voters in the forthcoming elections have been rejected by an indigenous Tamil leader. more..

Feb 9 (AT) Almost 15 years after it accused India of meddling in Sri Lankan affairs and backed it up with a bloody campaign to remove Indian security forces from the island, the JVP, a radical Sinhalese nationalist group, has expressed support for strengthening relations with India. more..

Feb 9 (IL) Minority political parties also dubbed as the 'king makers' currently supporting the UNP began contemplating whether they should continue extending their support to the UNP or to the newly formed Sri Lanka Freedom Party-Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Alliance. more..

Feb 9 (Xinhua) Sri Lanka's caretaker government on Monday strongly criticized President Kumaratunga for herdissolution of parliament as "undemocratic" and said they will seek resounding mandate of the people in the forthcoming electionsto continue with peace process and economic development. more..

Feb 9 (DN) The dissolution of Parliament and the calling of a general election by President Kumaratunga was to stop the sell out of the country by the UNF government in the name of peace and safeguard it for the younger generation enabling them to live, keeping their heads high, more..

Feb 9 (DM) More Cabinet Ministers are to lose their portfolios soon, SLFP general secretary Maithripala Sirisena told a gathering at Minneriya yesterday. The meeting had been organised by former Polonnaruwa district parliamentarian Ananda Sarath Kumara for the establishment of SLFP Farmers organisation and a Fisheries organisation in the Minneriya electorate. more..

Feb 9 (IL) The Muslim political scene has taken a new turn with plans underway to forge a new alliance among all Muslim political parties to contest the forthcoming general election scheduled for April 2 under one banner. more..

Feb 9 (HT) The decision to dissolve parliament, just two years after it was elected, must have been one of the most agonising political decisions that President Kumaratunga has taken so far. It is clear that her heart was not in it. And if she did finally send the 225-member House packing on February 7, it was due to compelling circumstances and forces beyond her control. more..

Feb 9 (AFP) Tamil Tiger rebels said the calling of polls nearly four years ahead of schedule was a "grave setback" to Sri Lanka's peace process but pledged to uphold a truce reached with the sacked government. more..

Feb 9 (wsws) In what amounts to a constitutional coup, Sri Lanka�s president Chandrika Kumaratunga used her autocratic executive powers late Saturday night to dissolve parliament and call fresh general elections�four years ahead of schedule. more..

Feb 9 (Reuters) A snap election called by Sri Lanka's president could jeopardise economic growth fuelled by peace moves between the government and Tamil rebels, and traders fear financial markets could take a hit as early as this week. more..

Feb 9 (AFP) At least nine people, including three Buddhist monks, were arrested in north-central Sri Lanka in connection with a bomb attack yesterday against a Christian charity, police said. more..

Feb 9 (AP) A street performer makes a joke about the power struggle between Sri Lankan politicians at the main bus station in Colombo, Sri Lanka, early Sunday, Feb. 8, 2004. more..

Feb 9 (TN) Trincomalee district leaders of the TULF, ACTC, TELO, and EPRLF-Suresh Win), all constituents of the TNA, met Monday in the eastern port town and unanimously decided to face the general election without any division among them and to ensure victory for the TNA. more..

Feb 9 (BBC) Sri Lanka is heading for parliamentary elections on 2 April - the third in four years. The peace process with Tamil Tiger rebels and the country's economy are likely to dominate the campaign, which kicks off after nominations close on 24 February. more..

Feb 9 (HT) The LTTE has given an assurance that it will not disturb the forthcoming elections to the parliament. Its ideologue and chief negotiator Anton Balasingham has been quoted in the friendly website Tamilnet as saying that the organisation will "rigidly" observe the ceasefire and maintain peace during the elections. more..

Feb 10 (TN) The Trincomalee-Batticaloa Bishop, the Rt.Rev.Dr.Joseph Kingsely Swampillai, Sunday said a dangerous situation has arisen in the country when one speaks about his or her language and religion, and lamented that all human values, which are needed for moulding a nation with healthy mind, are being destroyed in the name of language and religion. more..

Feb 10 (TN) The SLMM head, Major General (retd.) Trond Furuhovde, began his tour of the Northeast province Monday, having assumed office for the second time on February 1st. He arrived in Trincomalee Monday. The aim of his visit is to evaluate the implementation and the functions of the SLMM, sources said. more..

Feb 10 (NZH) Associate Immigration Minister Damien O'Connor will today consider stopping the expulsion of a sexually abused Sri Lankan girl after his officials received an independent psychiatric report. more..

Feb 10 (TN) Leaders of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) are scheduled to meet Tuesday evening at the Colombo office of the TULF to work out a common election agenda to field candidates at the forthcoming general election. more..

Feb 10 (LP) The LTTE had tested a new short range missile from LTTE held Kilinochchi 328 Kilometers away from capital Colombo base on 30 January. The missile had been exploded in Kent Farm, Nedunkeni, forty miles away from the launching pad with a loud blast making a crater of about 25 meters in circumference. more..

Feb 10 (Rediff) A 44-year-old Sri Lankan businessman, Bukary Syed Abu Tahir, with ties to Malaysia's business elite may know a lot about Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's nuclear dealings, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. more..

Feb 10 (Hindu) As Sri Lanka moves towards its third general election in four years, one serious outcome of the imminent phase of electioneering is the possible re-emergence of hardline opinion on both sides of the island's ethnic divide. more..

Feb 10 (TT) The first piece I wrote for The Telegraph was about Sri Lanka, hereafter referred to as Ceylon. I visited it again last month. The first thing I noticed was that Colombo is much smaller than comparable Indian cities. Middle-level Indian cities contain more than a million people, some going on to two, three and four million. more..

Feb 10 (ST) THE Sri Lankan peace process has lost so much valuable time over personal feuds in government that any intervention would be welcome. President Chandrika Kumaratunga has provided that by calling for parliamentary elections in April, three years before time. more..

Feb 10 (LT) The �death fast� carried out by All Ceylon Farmers� Federation was suspended as the leaders of United People�s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) gave an assurance that the government they would establish after the General Election on the 2nd of April would find just solutions to all difficulties of the farmer community. more..

Feb 10 (TN) The Sri Lanka army vacated seventy nine houses in two suburbs on the outskirts of Chavakachcheri town in Jaffna this weekend. The military pulled back its forward defense line 400 meters to free the houses it has been occupying since 2000. more..

Feb 10 (LBO) The tourist industry will see its most lucrative season in many years through to the end, barely scratched by the political unbundling. Industry watchers say with the season ending in March, the tourist industry has already enjoyed the bulk of the arrivals, leaving a little over a month exposed to Sri Lanka�s political power struggle. more..

Feb 10 (LBO) Sri Lanka's financial markets are likely to remain rudderless as election campaigning starts putting the budding economic recovery on ice. The stockmarket plunged 124 points wiping off Rs. 30 bn of its value on Monday, as President Kumaratunga opted for a snap poll to ease the current political deadlock. more..

Feb 10 (TN) One hundred and fifty thousand worth of sports gear and other related equipment were distributed to forty one youth service and sports clubs in the Liberation Tigers-held villages in the Muttur east in Trincomalee district during the past weekend. more..

Feb 10 (SLA) An armed gang, suspected to be from LTTE has hijacked two hand tractors with seven Muslim civilians onboard from the general area of KADAWATHMADU, about 04 km west of VALACHCHENAI on 07 February 2004 around 3.30 p.m. more..

Feb 10 (SLA) Troops on duty in the general area close to the JETTY POST, VALAICHCHENAI immediately jumped into action and rescued a group of fifteen people who were about to drown after their pleasure-boat capsized in the sea off VALAICHCHENAI jetty on 08 February 2004 around 11.15 a.m. more..

Feb 10 (SLA) A twenty-six year old man, who was abducted and subsequently released by LTTE, has been ordered to pay a monthly instalment of Rs 2500/= (US$ 26) to his ex-wife following a ruling given by LTTE, states a complaint made to the AKKARAIPATTU Police station by the victim on 10 February 2004. more..

Feb 10 (PSL) Senior dignitaries of the Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Islamic clergy were invited to a special meeting with President Kumaratunga, to discuss the current wave of Religious Intolerance in the island. more..

Feb 10 (SLA) Seventeen dilapidated houses, of which 14 belong to Urban Council labourers and four plots of land in the outskirts of Chavakachcheri were released back to their legitimate civil owners on 07 February 2004 following an initiative taken by 52 Division troops. more..

Feb 10 (AFP) Sri Lanka's president and prime minister are childhood playmates and scions of ruling dynasties, but their feuding is costing the country a king's ransom. more..

Feb 10 (CT) If you thought the British report on the need to invade Iraq was "sexed up", you obviously hadn't seen nothin' yet of South Africa's 2004 election campaign. With still two months to polling day, we are already sexed up to the eyeballs. more..

Feb 10 (SMH) Michael Bevan and Brad Haddin were today added to the Australian one-day squad for this month's five-match tour of Sri Lanka. Bevan and Haddin are the only additions to the 13-man squad which whitewashed India 2-0 in the tri-series finals that concluded yesterday with a 208-run thrashing at the SCG. more..

Feb 10 (IANS) US Deputy Under Secretary for International Labour Affairs Arnold L. Levine will visit Sri Lanka this week. Levine will discuss labour issues, including the importance of labour in international trade with Sri Lankan officials, the US embassy here said. more..

Feb 10 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's central bank does not intend to revise its six percent growth forecast for the economy for 2004, despite snap elections called by the president that have rattled financial markets. more..