Feb 4 (BBC) The government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers have agreed to start negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland. The LTTE said the talks will only focus on stabilising the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA), which was under threat due to increased violence. more..

Feb 4 (ISL) When Cinderella rushes out of the ball and the chariot reverts to pumpkin, footmen become rats, the owl toots and skunks, raccoons and foxes begin their prowl along alleyways of stinking garbage cans, Toronto�s AM 1430, Thamilossai (daily Tamil clatter and clamour also known as noise) goes on the air. more..

Feb 4 (ISL) In a statement exclusive to The Independent, the EROS leader stated that the behavior of the TNA M.P�s in parliament was �horrendous and irresponsible�. These leaders have been elected by their communities to represent them in Parliament and act in public with dignity and integrity. more..

Feb 4 (ISL) The Asian Human Rights Commission in a statement said that two of the three members of the Judicial Service Commission of Sri Lanka have resigned their posts as continuing to hold them would be incompatible with their consciences. �The two are senior Supreme Court judges Shiranee Bandaranayaka and T B Veerasuriya. more..

Feb 4 (AT) Salesian Don Bosco Sri Lanka celebrated its Golden Jubilee recently in the presence of Very Rev Fr Pascual Villanueva Chavez, Rector Major of the Salasian Don Bosco worldwide at Don Bosco Technical Centre, Eththukala, Negombo. Saint John Bosco known as Don Bosco was born in Italy in 1815 to a poor family more..

Feb 4 (AT) The Plantation Human Development Trust (PHDT), assists estate workers to achieve better lifestyle including their houses, vocational training, social mobilization, basic health care and sanitation, drinking water, child care and development, nutrition, cultural needs, sports and recreation and education facilities for their children. more..

Feb 4 (ISL) The pro LTTE Jayantha Gnanakone in a letter to the editor criticized the EROS leader Nesan Thirunesan for making statements mocking the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam. He also said that he knew the EROS founder Raje Shankar personally. (Father of EROS Nesan) more..

Feb 4 (TN) Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Thursday listed the Fundamental Rights (FR) application filed by fifteen Tamil students from the Jaffna district alleging discrimination in university admission for further hearing. The FR application came up for inquiry before a three member Bench of the Supreme Court more..

Feb 4 (AT) February 4th 1948 - It was the first Independence Day celebrations in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. We, as young schoolboys, were asked to come to the Jaffna esplanade to perform a musical drill exercise. At the end, we were given small bags filled with cakes and sweets. It was a bright hot sunny day. more..

Feb 4 (AT) President Mahinda Rajapakse will hoist the National flag at exactly 9.08 a.m today as Sri Lanka marks 58 years of Independence. The main ceremony will be held at the Galle Face Green on a grand scale in comparison to last year's celebrations which was carried out on a low key scale due to the tsunami catastrophe. more..

Feb 4 (AT) As usual Freedom Day of Sri Lanka is celebrated by the government sans people. Without speaking of democracy, it would be a futile effort to explain about freedom (liberty). The word democracy has derived from the Greek words demos � kratein� the people to rule. more..

Feb 4 (TN) None of those arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Emergency Regulations were among the 2042 prisoners who were released on Presidential pardon on Sri Lanka's "Independence Day," Saturday. However, it was the first time some prisoners from the Northeast were released from the prisons in Jaffna and Batticaloa. more..

Feb 4 (TN) Tamil residents in the districts of Trincomalee and Mannar observed a general shut down on the Independence Day to protest against the harassment by the State armed forces. Towns of Trincomalee and Mannar came to a standstill as normalcy was disrupted due to the stoppage of state and private sector bus services, sources said. more..

Feb 4 (ISL) Elite Tamils in Australia in particular, now Down Under for four decades, are rather bemused and bewildered that much ruckus and rumpus are being made about child-soldier recruitment and mobilization in the professed and perceived Tamil Eelam pursuit of the LTTE. more..

Feb 4 (ISL) The EROS leader Nesan stated that he was pleased to hear that there was an overall consensus between the representatives of the Government, UNP, TNA and the SLMC apparently indicated their willingness to accept a federal system of government. more..

Feb 4 (ISL) Nitharsanam.com alias �Goebbels Corporation of Wanni� is in serious difficulties caught in the currents of realities. One can fool some people all the time and all the people for sometime but not all the people all the time, and that�s where Nitharsanam.com came to grief. more..

Feb 4 (ISL) Dear Mr Gnanakone: The young boy you refer is much, much older than the children captured and kidnapped for the fighting cadres of the LTTE. 22-23 year EROS Nesan is the same age Prabhakaran was when Mayor Alfred Durayappa was assassinated July 1975. Most of the Tiger suicide bombers were of the same age or even younger. more..

Feb 4 (LeN) The Supreme Court today (3) granted permission to amend the petition filed by three attorneys seeking an order to restrain the Cabinet decision to gift a one and a half acre state land to former President Chandrika Kumaratunga in violation of the Presidential Entitlement Act. more..

Feb 4 (SLA) FOUR ARMED MEN, suspected to be Tamil Tigers, have reportedly abducted one tractor belonging to a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) engaging in tsunami rehabilitation work at PATTACHCHENAI in VALAICHCHENAI on Friday (03) night around 8.45. more..

Feb 4 (SLA) 1,650 lorry loads of food and other essential items had been dispatched to un-cleared areas in the northern province during the period between 27 January 2006 and 02 February 2006. Those consignments had reached areas in KILINOCHCHI and MULLAITIVU districts via OMANTHAI and UYILANKULAM Entry/Exit points. more..

Feb 4 (WS) Two of Sri Lanka's frontline estate sector parties are mulling a possible tie up to contest the forthcoming local government elections under 'one banner'. The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and the Up Country Peoples Front (UPF) have been holding meetings in this regard, but at the time this edition went to press no final decision had been taken. more..

Feb 4 (WS) With several thousand children deprived of a school, Education Minister Susil Premajayantha has instructed authorities to provide suitable schools to these children within a week. The instruction comes following a protest staged by the parents of these children in front of the Education Ministry at Battaramulla this week. more..

Feb 4 (WS) The misuse of lands for human activities has become the main reason for landslides in Sri Lanka where most of the recent cases were the result of cutting the earth surface haphazardly, says National Building Research Organization (NBRO). more..

Feb 4 (TW) The efforts to start Eelam War IV failed for the reasons set out in some detail below. In short, this time the conditions in Sri Lanka were different and importantly there were external pressures against the resumption of hostilities. The LTTE�s strategy to resume full-scale war by provoking the enemy failed. more..

Feb 4 (TW) The agreement to meet in Switzerland to discuss the ceasefire agreement brokered between the GOSL (government of Sri Lanka) and the LTTE by Norway has been welcomed with the sigh of relief by all the peoples of Sri Lanka- especially the war weary Tamils and the international community taking an interest in our affairs. more..

Feb 4 (TW) Just days after the Norwegians announced a breakthrough in the impasse between the Government and the LTTE, mystery surrounds the multiple abduction of Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) workers in Welikanda in the Polonnaruwa district. more..

Feb 4 (TW) There is a tale told about the tragedy of our country over the last century. It involved Lee Kwan Yeu, the Singaporean Premier who arrived in Sri Lanka soon after we attained independence from the British. He went back and told his colleagues that it was Sri Lanka that the tiny island of Singapore should model itself on. more..

Feb 4 (SAMN) Security analysis of the gum like substance found on the carpet in Parliament on Thursday, has revealed traces of explosive chemicals, which if brought in several times could add up to a quantity that could be used in an explosive device, Parliament security Special Task Force (STF) officials said on Friday. more..

Feb 4 (LT) Commissioner of Elections Mr. Dayananda Dishanayake has been handed over a request asking him not to have local government elections for the North and the East. This request was made by TNA. TNA had requested the commissioner of elections not to hold the local government elections in the North and the East as the situation there was not suitable for holding elections. more..

Feb 4 (SAMN) In keeping with the budget 2006 the Government Friday announced the launch of foreign currency denominated Government Bonds giving an opportunity for Sri Lankans overseas to contribute to the nation building effort. The Secretary to the Treasury Dr. P.B. Jayasundera said the entire proceeds of the Bond issue will be utilised for infrastructure development in the country. more..

Feb 4 (SAMN) The Government's Dental Surgeons� Association at an emergency meeting of its executive committee held two days ago, are contemplating trade union action starting from February 6 to be continued till the end of the month. The Association has decided to oppose the suspension of the National Council for Administration (NCA) recommendations on national wage policy by the President. more..

Feb 4 (LNP) Awarding a multi-million rupee tender to the highest bidder by a top port official for the supply of dredger tracking system for the Hansakawa dredger of the Colombo Port while the tender board had approved the lowest bidder, has become the topic of discussion among shipping and port circles, senior official sources said. more..

Feb 4 (LNP) The government on Thursday welcomed initiatives by the construction industry to introduce new technology for the development of the fishing industry and thereby tap the vast resources available within. The introduction of new technology is important for the industry and in particular for the development of the aqua culture, more..

Feb 4 (DN) ARMY Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka has issued notice to stop all fund-raising events in the form of carnivals and musical shows by Army Regiments to boost their Regimental Funds, which he sees as a burden to the people. "We are not here to raise funds, we are here to protect them. And people are not here to raise funds for us," more..

Feb 4 (CI) Sri Lanka are poised to appoint a new captain and rest key senior players for their forthcoming tour of Bangladesh which follows the ongoing VB Series. According to selection sources, Marvan Atapattu, Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan are expected to be rested as the selectors look to the future. more..

Feb 4 (AFP) Women convicts granted a presidential amnesty to mark 58th anniversary of independence leave the main jail in Colombo 04 february 2006. The country freed some 1,995 prisoners who were serving jail terms for minor offences. more..

Feb 4 (PP) After the tsunami, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies led all donors in Sri Lanka with a pledge to build 15,000 new homes. Some 13 months later, the Red Cross has completed only 62 homes by the government's figures � 162 by the relief organization's tally. more..

Feb 4 (CI) Muttiah Muralitharan has undergone another round of Tests at the University of Western Australia (UWA) to prove to the Australian crowds that his action is legitimate. "I've have gone to tests again ... and still people are trying to bully me in a way," said Murali. more..

Feb 4 (LT) The new peace process that will be launch for a New Sri Lanka will be a transparent one. There is nothing to hide in it. �We are not preparing to forcibly bring about a solution. Similarly, we shall not be frightened by threats from any quarter. Our aim is to bring about a national consensus from a solution that is brought about by broad and deep discussion,� more..

Feb 4 (AP) Sri Lanka celebrated its independence anniversary Saturday, with tanks parading through the capital and troops guarding intersections in fear of attacks by Tamil Tiger rebels seeking their own independent homeland. But the president said his government was not gearing up for a renewed war against the rebels, more..

Feb 4 (WS) Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has come under considerable flak for making negative statements with regard to the resumption of peace talks scheduled to take place this month in Geneva. Several political parties and Ministers termed Wickremesinghe's utterance as a 'childish and unbecoming' statement from a leader of a respected political party in Sri Lanka. more..

Feb 4 (HT) In his oration to mark Sri Lanka's 58th anniversary of Independence on Saturday, President Mahinda Rajapaksa called for a new "state structure" to bring genuine democracy to all Sri Lankans and resolve the ethnic conflict without dividing the country. more..

Feb 4 (AFP) President Mahinda Rajapakse (2R) raises the national Lion flag in Colombo 04 February 2006 to mark the island's 58th anniversary of independence from Britain. Rajapakse called for peace and unity in his country torn apart by ethnic violence that has claimed over 60,000 lives since 1972. more..

Feb 4 (AFP) Sri Lanka put on a bristling display of its military might to mark freedom day as Tamil rebels forced a work stoppage ahead of key talks to save a tenuous truce in the strife-torn island. Shops were closed and public transport was off the streets in the restive northeastern port district of Trincomalee after the one-day strike called by a Tamil Tiger front organisation, more..

Feb 4 (Reuters) President Mahinda Rajapakse took a firm stand against rebel demands for a Tamil homeland on Saturday as tanks and rocket launchers rolled along the capital's seafront in an Independence Day show of force. Attacks by suspected rebels on the military in December and January nearly destroyed a truce reached in 2002, more..

Feb 5 (TN) The World Bank funded NEHRP has commenced the second phase reconstruction of 13000 houses for the war victim families in the NorthEast. NEHRP officials started distributing forms to collect necessary data to select qualified beneficiaries affected by the two decade-old war in the province to be included in the second phase, more..

Feb 5 (LT) It is reported that tiger organization is attempting to postpone agreeing on days for talks between it and GoSL to be held in Geneva. The President has already informed Norwegian peace brokers that the Government is ready to have talks on the 15th and 16th of February. However, wanni tiger organization has not expressed their consent for this. more..

Feb 5 (LT) Government delegation for talks between GoSL and wanni tiger organization to be held during mid February has been decided. The Government has already officially announced that Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva will act as the leader of its delegation. It is also reported that Ministers Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and Rohitha Bogollagama will participate in the talks on behalf of the Government. more..

Feb 5 (TW) Following Eric Solheim�s visit, the LTTE and the Government have decided finally to meet once again and to recommence talks after an interval of 33 months (April 2003- January 2006). One of the positive aspects of the Norwegian peace initiatives is that they are quite capable of arranging meetings between two conflict partners who are not ready to talk to each other. more..