Sep 10 (NW) Cabinet Spokesman Mangala Samaraweera said yesterday there would be a cabinet 'realignment' soon but he would not call it a cabinet reshuffle. Mr. Samaraweera said there would be a realignment of ministries and subjects once the CWC formally became part of the UPFA government. more..

Sep 10 (LBO) Traffic at the High Level and Kohuwala junctions in Nugegoda will fly over from 2007, with the Cabinet approving a Rs. 600 mn project. The three year fly over project is one of six others on the cards to ease traffic jams on Colombo roads. more..

Sep 10 (LBO) Human rights groups in Sri Lanka want national budgetary allocations to improve law and order in the island. Clear budgetary allocations are needed, says the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), in a statement Thursday, to contain the increase in crime in the island and to enforce police and army discipline. more..

Sep 10 (LBO) The Tourist Board says July�s arrivals are the best ever recorded for the month, with 50,525 visitors, run up by Indian cricket enthusiast following their team here. �The good news is, this July we had the best arrivals recorded for the month of July,� more..

Sep 10 (LBO) Banks are putting millions on the government�s water-tank-horse that is expected to bear the island into an era of prosperity. The government wants Rs. 2 bn to rehabilitate 10,000 ancient water tanks to bring back the golden age of agriculture centred on the village and the village water tanks - and the banks are buying it. more..

Sep 10 (Reuters) Stocks roseon Friday after the government won over an opposition party, strengthening hopes for political stability and revival of a stalled peace process with Tamil rebels. The government offered on Friday a ministerial berth to CWC, whose 8 seats would take the government's strength to 115 in the 225-seat parliament. more..

Sep 10 (TN) Mr. Arunasalam Muthiah, 75-year-old farmer and father of five children was shot dead Thursday evening when he was working in his agricultural plot by two unidentified men who came in a motorbike with helmets. more..

Sep 10 (TN) The Norwegian Special Envoy, Mr. Erik Solheim, will on Monday 13 September arrive in Sri Lanka on a routine visit and have meetings with President Chandrika Kumaratunga, members of the Government, representatives for the opposition as well as with civil society. more..

Sep 10 (PRIU) Hundred and sixty-two street children were given Presidential Scholarships yesterday to mark the International Literacy Day. At the launch of this scheme, 'Nena Sarana�, for children the President said, �Literacy is not something that exists on its own, but something that is related to education. more..

Sep 10 (GD) Sri Lanka's new law restoring a 100 per cent tax on foreigners buying land will not affect overseas investments in the Indian Ocean island republic, Lands Minister Anura Dissanayake said yesterday. more..

Sep 10 (Reuters) The Asian Development bank said on Friday it will continue development assistance for Sri Lanka, despite the lack of progress in the peace process, providing economic growth and reforms stay on track. more..

Sep 10 (DN) The Inland Revenue (Regulation of Amnesty) Bill was presented in Parliament, seeking to withdraw amnesties granted with regard to indirect taxes. Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle said this tax amnesty given by the previous UNF regime had caused an enormous loss of revenue to the State. more..

Sep 10 (HT) J Cofer Black, US State Department Coordinator for Counter-terrorism, says that the LTTE has trained other terrorist groups in the world and is in the "exalted" company of the Al-Qaeda. "I am disturbed at the LTTE's history as a terrorist organisation. more..

Sep 10 (PSL) Two Parliamentarians of the Ceylon Workers� Congress (CWC) were sworn in as Minister and Deputy Minister this morning. Muttu Sivalingam and Muttu Sangaralingam Sellasami were sworn-in before President Kumaratunga as the Minister and the Deputy Minister of Estate Housing, Infrastructure and Community Development. more..

Sep 10 (Xinhua) The international truce monitors overseeing ceasefire between Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels have asked both sides to pull back Forward Defense Line (FDL) positions in the northern Jaffna Peninsula. more..

Sep 10 (Xinhua) A summit meeting between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the main opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was a delaying tactic employed by the government, a Tamil legislator said on Friday. more..

Sep 10 (AFP) Lawmakers were shown how to take basic precautions to counter the risk of assassination amid fears that the country is on the brink of war, officials said. Explosive experts from the state forensic laboratory lectured the members of parliament, showing them suicide bomb kits and other explosives commonly used by Tamil rebels, more..

Sep 10 (Reuters) A former Tamil Tiger rebel, who renounced the armed struggle and now backs Sri Lanka's government, said on Thursday there would be no peace while Tamil leader Velupillai Prabhakaran remained at the helm. more..

Sep 10 (KT) The Sri Lankan maid, Riezwana Kapar, who is under treatment at the Central Hospital after her fall from a fifth floor apartment in the capital is almost back to normal , according to the Sri Lankan embassy. "She has recovered from the brain damage that she sustained after the fall in February. more..

Sep 10 (PTI) A political party of Indian origin today received a berth in the cabinet after pledging crucial support to the minority government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga. The Ceylon Worker's Congress (CWC) accepted a cabinet ministry and a junior ministry as part of its deal more..

Sep 10 (AFP) Sri Lanka's peacebroker Norway is sending an envoy here next week to try to revive peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels on the second anniversary of Oslo-brokered negotiations stalled since last year, diplomats said. Envoy Erik Solheim arrives here Monday. more..

Sep 11 (LN) There is a scheme of small scale hydro power stations to be built within the areas of small waterfalls to cater to the increasing power consumption in Sri Lanka. Already more than 50 such projects have been started and half of them are in the construction stage, reports reveal. more..

Sep 11 (SLA) An LTTE camp in the general un-cleared area of PILLUMALAI, about 35 km southwest of BATTICALOA had allegedly come under attack believed to be from a breakaway group of the LTTE on 07 September 2004 around 10.30 p.m. more..

Sep 11 (SLA) LTTE pistol group shot and killed a sixty-four year old father of four children in the general area of PONNALAIKKADDUVAN, JAFFNA on 09 September 2004 around 07.00 p.m. more..

Sep 11 (SLA) The Police were compelled to interrogate two LTTE men found in the general area of PULLEYAR Kovil, POTTUVIL on 09 September 2004 around 9.30 p.m. after the general public alerted the Police about an alleged LTTE abduction of children from PULLEYAR Kovil area. more..

Sep 11 (SLA) Members of the public attending a Shramadana (community) work in the general area of ISURUMUNIYA, ANURADHAPURA on 09 September 2004 around 9.00 a.m. recovered a buried stock of ammunition while they were cleaning a canal at ELAKATTUWA. more..

Sep 11 (TN) Internally displaced people (IDPs) living on relief assistance provided by the Sri Lankan government are planning to launch a protest campaign if the authorities failed to suspend their decision to cut down the number of recipients by half, more..

Sep 11 (TN) 25 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees stranded in Kachchathivu, an islet in Indian Ocean, were rescued and transported to Nedunthivu, one of the islets in Jaffna peninsula by a co-operative passenger boat Friday evening, Jaffna district secretariat sources said. more..

Sep 11 (TN) Noting that the "evidence of MAG personnel, proximity of the Tampaddi SLA camp vis-�-vis the LTTE point and the fact that the attackers alighted from the MAG vehicle and carried the dead into the SLA camp are clear indicators of SLA complicity in the attack", the LTTE Political Head, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, more..

Sep 11 (TN) Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the TNA met with Candian Ambassador Valerie Raymond at the Canadian High Commission in Colombo Friday morning to discuss matters related to Interim Administration Authority Proposals (ISGA), diplomatic sources in Colombo said. more..

Sep 11 (Rupavahini) The ministry of environment will implement this programme in connection with the national tree planting day which falls on the 15th of October. It has been revealed that Sri Lanka's forest cover has depleted to 21 per cent from 87 per cent due to the environmental impacts and changes in the weather pattern. more..

Sep 11 (AT) The Norwegian Embassy in Colombo announced the visit of peace envoy Erik Solheim to Sri Lanka as several thousand angry demonstrators surrounded the mission and burned the Norwegian flag as a mark of protest against what they described as �Norway�s pro-LTTE activities. more..

Sep 11 (BBC) A Sri Lankan man has been jailed for life for stabbing another Sri Lankan to death with a samurai sword. Mayooran Thangarajah, 24, was part of a gang that attacked 18-year-old Asan Ratnasegaram in a street in Wembley on 30 August 2003. more..

Sep 11 (AP) Tamil Tiger rebels on Friday warned that an attack that they blamed on the Sri Lankan army in which at least two guerillas died amounted to a violation of a two-year cease-fire and could disrupt the peace process. more..

Sep 11 (IL) The Meteorological Department says rain can be expected in the drought affected areas in the North and North Central regions later this month. MET Department Director G.H.P. Dharmaratne said inter-monsoonal showers are expected in late September and would continue till November. more..

Sep 11 (TN) London-based T.R.Tec in collaboration with Trincomalee IT Tech Wednesday inaugurated two computer-training centres in Nilaveli and Tampalakamam villages in the Trincomalee district. more..

Sep 11 (AT) Thamilselvan has written a letter to the Head of the SLMM narrating his side of the story regarding the Pullimalai attack where it was reported that LTTE border sentry point at Pullimalai was run over by Karuna�s group and 5 LTTE cadres were killed. more..

Sep 11 (LBO) Holidaymakers to Sri Lanka this winter will probably return home more relaxed and looking better than they did before their vacation - that is if they check in at the plush Apollo Colombo before sinking into their holiday. more..

Sep 11 (LBO) Lankan and EU representatives will meet later in September to work out how Sri Lanka can continue to get special benefits from the Union on local labour standards. more..

Sep 11 (AT) Morten Hoguland, one of Norway�s MP from the Progressive Party, was yesterday highly critical of Norway handling of the Peace Facilitation In Sri Lanka and elsewhere and said he and his party are skeptical of the Peace facilitation at present being undertaken by Norway. more..

Sep 11 (UNI) Fisheries Minister today blamed the LTTE for trying to create a diplomatic row between the Sri Lankan and Indian governments by attacking Indian fishing trawlers. The LTTE was behind yesterday's mysterious attack on two Indian fishing trawlers off Pesalai in the north, more..

Sep 11 (NW) A coconut husker with a penchant for ripping mini skirts of teenage school girls with a razor blade, was arrested yesterday while ripping the skirt of a school girl returning from a tuition class in the Kuliyapitiya town, police said. more..

Sep 11 (NW) President Chandrika Kumaratunga has asked Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa who is now residing at Ackland House (Visumpaya) to vacate and reside at Temple Trees to allow Minister Anura Bandaranaike to take up residence at this plush mansion, sources said. more..

Sep 11 (TN) Jaffna Government Agent, S.Pathmanathan, told an official of the Dutch Government visiting Jaffna Thursday, to delay funding development of the Kankesanthurai harbour until permanent peace prevails in the district, local daily Uthayan reported. more..

Sep 11 (TN) The Trincomalee district office of The Economic Consultancy House (TECH), a Non-Governmental Non-Profit Sharing Organization registered with the Government of Sri Lanka, and a computer training center was opened Friday morning at No 16, Green Road, Trincomalee. more..

Sep 11 (TN) Twenty eight Sri Lankan Tamil refugees from South India who had been abandoned in the island Kachchaithivu were brought to Jaffna Saturday. Government officials at the Jaffna District Secretariat gave the refugees money to help them return to their villages in Mannar,Mullaithivu and other parts of the Vanni. more..

Sep 11 (TN) A Sri Lanka army soldier committed suicide by shooting himself in his bunker in Pampaimadu, 5 kilometres west of Vavuniya Saturday, Police in the northern border town said. He was identified as Private Wijekoon from Kandy. Police said the suicide appeared to be over a broken love affair.

Sep 11 (SLA) A suspicious Tamil person had been arrested by the Naval troops at LEYDEN BASTIAN gate when he was trying to enter the Harbour premises on 10 September 2004 around 1.20 a.m. The Tamil suspect, DHARMALINGAM PERAMBUM (41) of MUNAITHIU, PERIYAPORATHIVU was later handed over to FORT Police station. more..

Sep 11 (SLA) One thousand three hundred and thirty eight (1338) lorry loads of food and other essential items had been dispatched to un-cleared areas in the northern province during the period between 02 September 2004 and 09 September 2004. more..

Sep 11 (SLBC) Secretary to the Ministry of Finance Dr. P. B. Jayasundara says the government has taken steps to strengthen the ties with the private sector to restructure the economy. In this context, the government has initiated a root economic policy framework relating to the role to be played by the state. more..