May 20 (HT) Some Tamil Nadu politicians had secretly negotiated with the LTTE for the release of 11 fishermen who were in the custody of the Sri Lankan Tamil militant group for more than a month, the Colombo-based Sunday Island said. The release had occurred consequent to the interception by the Maldivian Coast Guard of an Indian registered fishing trawler which the LTTE had commandeered for gun-running, the paper said. more..

May 20 (Hinhu) Sri Lanka Government is awaiting reports from the Maldivian Government on the sunk fishing trawler that was allegedly carrying weapons for the LTTE. The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry told The Hindu that Colombo was in touch with Male. "We have also noted reports from Tamil Nadu about resurfacing of some of the fishermen abducted by the LTTE and are waiting for more details." more..

May 20 (Hinhu) FEAR stalks the strife-hit island-nation like never before, thanks to the daredevil aerial raids carried out by the Tamil Tigers in a span of over a month from March 26 to April 29. The situation was best summed up by Iqbal Athas, defence corresponde nt of the Jane�s Defence Weekly and The Sunday Times. in his weekly column on May 13: �Four air raids worse than four wars (four phases of the ethnic conflict�. more..

May 20 (Hinhu) Sri Lankan women refugees living at the refugee camp in Arachalur value water more than most other things. For, drinking water is a rare commodity in the locality. The women say they are forced to depend on bore well water for cooking. "Potable water is not available. We depend on the ground water which is bad for cooking, especially for boiling pulses," says Lalitha, a resident. more..

May 20 (Hinhu) The 11 fishermen from Tamil Nadu, who returned to the Indian shores on Friday night after spending more than two months as captives of the LTTE, called on Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at the Secretariat on Saturday. Mr. Karunanidhi announced Rs.10,000 to each of the fishermen towards meeting their immediate requirements. The fishermen, who were released in two batches of five and six, were brought from Rameswaram by road and presented before the Chief Minister. more..

May 20 (Hinhu) The Sri Lankan Ambassador in Washington, Bernard Goonetileke, has alleged that LTTE has stolen 130,000 Norwegian passports and sold them to the "highest bidders" including the operatives of the Al Qaeda. In a 30-minute interview to the National Security Affairs Correspondent of the Washington Post Radio on Thursday, The envoy said, "One of them [LTTE cadre] surfaced with 700 of the stolen passports in Thailand and got caught to the police." more..

May 20 (IANS) The dramatic return of 11 of the dozen Indian fishermen abducted from the sea by the Tamil Tigers marks the end of an ugly nearly 70-day saga that is bound to cost the group valuable sympathy in India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, officials say. Indian officials who closely studied the case say that the LTTE has lost face over the episode when it initially denied seizing the men who had done it no wrong until its own cadres arrested in Tamil Nadu spilled the beans. more..

May 20 (AP) Sri Lanka's government claimed Sunday to have killed more than 500 Tamil rebels in the past four months and lost only 44 of its own soldiers in fierce fighting that has completely shattered the island nation's peace process. A military spokesman, Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe, said 541 rebels have been killed in fighting in two northern districts, Mannar and Vavuniya. more..

May 20 (AFP) Eleven southern Indian fishermen who went missing in March returned at the weekend alleging that they had been abducted at sea and kept captive by Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels. "They took us to a forest area on an island. We begged them to let us go but they threatened we would be shot dead if we tried to escape," J. Climones, one of the group, told reporters in the southern state of Tamil Nadu Saturday. more..

May 20 (Xinhua) The northern most entry point to the Tamil Tiger rebel territory from areas of government control is to be re-opened on Monday, officials said Sunday. The Omanthai point has been closed since Wednesday when the military claimed that the LTTE rebels fired mortar and artillery fire in the area prompting the military to hit back. more..

May 20 (VOA) The World Food Program warns renewed fighting in Sri Lanka's long-running civil war is worsening the humanitarian situation for hundreds of thousands of civilians. The U.N. agency is calling for more money and better access and security for aid workers trying to help thousands of people displaced by the fighting. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva. more..

May 21 (CI) Try as Sri Lanka might, keeping Shahid Afridi from tinkering with matches is proving beyond them currently. Having laughed, and walloped, in the face of a taut game two nights ago, Afridi conjured up another opportune intervention to lead Pakistan to a 98-run win and a series triumph at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Afridi's bowling has kept his place in the team in recent months. The leg-spin is more pick n' mix than mystical, but its effectiveness is in little doubt. more..

May 21 (AT) "President Rajapakse is distancing his closest SLFPers and on a political journey of his own. As a result, the need of the hour is a national government" warned the sacked former Minister Mangala Samaraweera in a wide ranging interview. He said that conditions of February 9, 2007 (the day he was sacked) needs to be reinstated for them to rejoin the government, more..

May 21 (BBC) A senior Sri Lankan minister says Jordanian authorities agreed to offer an amnesty for Sri Lankan prisoners. Minister in charge of Foreign Employment Promotion, Keheliya Rambukwella, told journalists in Amman that many Sri Lankans serving in Jordanian prisons will soon be able to return home. Minister Rambukewella is in Amman as a member of President Rajapaksa's official delegation to G11 summit. more..

May 21 (BBC) The identities of the arrested foreign nationals three days ago off Maldives seas are yet to be determined, authorities in Maldives said. Maldives government spokesman Mohamed Hussein Sharif told BBC Tamil Service that one person, identified as Simon, is an Indian national probably from South Indian state of Kerala. more..

May 21 (Reuters) Sri Lanka paceman Chaminda Vaas was taken to hospital on Sunday after striking his head on an advertising hoarding during the one-day match between Essex and Middlesex at Chelmsford. Vaas, playing for Middlesex, fell as he attempted a difficult catch on the boundary. The game was held up for more than half an hour while Vaas received medical attention before being taken, on a stretcher but conscious, to hospital for checks. more..

May 21 (AFP) SRI Lanka's separatist Tamil rebels overnight vowed never to return to peace negotiations unless the government halts a military campaign against them. The leader of the political wing of the LTTE, SP Thamilselvan, said attacks by government forces would not force them to compromise. Mr Thamilselvan told the pro-rebel tamilnet.com website the government was trying to present the campaign as part of the war on terrorism to win international support. more..

May 21 (LeN) It is being reported that president Mahinda Rajapakse who has a habit of traveling around the world with gigantic delegations has taken a delegation of 92 with him to the G11 summit in Jordan. The delegation comprises of ministers Rohitha Bogollagama, Fowzie, G.L. Peries, Keheliya Rambukwella, Salinda Dissanayake, Mahinda Amaraweera, Susantha Punchinilame, Chief minister of the southern province Shan Wijayalal, Deputy ministers Fais Mustafa, C.A. Suriarachchi and 12 other officials. more..

May 21 (LeN) It is being reported that senior journalist and Sunday Times defense columnist Iqubal Athas is being pressurized to reveal the sources that he receives information from. Director of the CID Nimal Kulatunga has asked him for the source which provided him with the information regarding his article published last week stating that the LTTE posses 10 light air crafts. more..

May 21 (LeN) The recent spate of killings and abductions of Tamil businessmen and collecting ransom from their families has shifted roads, now targeting Muslim businessmen. So far 3 Muslim businessmen have been abducted and the abductors have collected sums between 20 to 50 million rupees from their families. LeN has been informed that the proprietor of "Asian Hardware" was one of the abducted and was freed after paying a ransom of 20 million rupees. more..

May 21 (AT) It was 16 years ago, Independent India�s ninth Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by Thenmoli Rajaratnam alias Dhanu, a suicide bomber of the LTTE at Siriperumbudur near Chennai by a conspiracy hatched by Velupillai Prabhakaran and his intelligence Chief Pottu Amman. The Indian nation remembered the former Prime Minister who was killed on May 21 1999 by paying rich tributes in singing "sthothras" at Vir Bhumi the memorial of the departed leader on the banks of River Yamuna. more..

May 21 (AT) The abducted Tamil Journalist P. Vijayan (32) has been let to go by the abductors at the city of Badulla, 300 km away from where he was abducted. He promptly reported to the Badulla Police Station from where he was transferred back to Colombo by police. Mr. P. Vijayan, a popular Sri Lanka's Tamil Journalist was abducted on May 18 in broad daylight at the heart of city of Colombo (Borella) at about 3:30 pm. more..

May 21 (AT) Distributing food rations to over 100,000 people displaced by conflict in eastern Sri Lanka is a logistical challenge. The World Food Programme (WFP) in early May was providing food rations to some 100,000 of the nearly 140,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) living in welfare camps and other sites in Sri Lanka's eastern Batticaloa district. About 10 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) provide food rations for the remaining IDPs. more..

May 21 (LBO) Four investor groups have sent in bids to build the infrastructure and do the dredging for the Colombo Port Expansion Project, a new deep-water harbour next to Colombo. Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) officials said big international players were among those who submitted bids for the project. The technical proposals are being evaluated first after which the financial bids will be opened, they said. more..

May 21 (LBO) Though Sri Lanka's inflation will continue to fall with tight monetary policy, there may be spikes due to administered price rises and seasonal factors, the Central Bank has warned. Sri Lanka's inflation has come down steadily since the Central Bank virtually halted money printing to finance the budget deficit, but the bank overshot the reserve money target in April. more..

May 21 (Reuters) Sri Lankan shares ended firmer on Monday for a second consecutive session after the sale of a stake in Dialog Telekom by its Malaysian parent last week boosted liquidity and confidence, traders said. The Colombo All Share index closed a provisional 1.6 percent higher at 2,612.56 points, a gain of 41.10 points. The index is now down around 4 percent so far this year after falling sharply over the past fortnight. more..

May 21 (GDI) �As a result of the discussions held between the President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa and the King Abdullah Al Hussein of Jordan, the two nations will get the opportunity of exploring trade and investment prospects,� said the Minister of Trade- Salim Kahazailh of Jordanian Government. He made this assurance after having discussions with Sri Lankan and Jordanian businessmen and investors. more..

May 21 (GDI) As a remedial action towards the Sri Lankan expatriates who are stranded in Jordan without legal visas, the Government of Jordan has taken a decision to grant an amnesty period for them to return to their motherland. The Jordanian King Abudullah Al Hussein has taken this decision preceding a request made by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa during their discussion. more..

May 21 (GDI) Several new bills to protect the Ayurvedic medicine sector form all sorts of the exploitative activities and to upgrade its standards will be formulated by the government. According to the Minister of Indigenous Medicine, Tissa Karaliyadde, around 50 Bills will be presented in Parliament this year to protect indigenous ayuurvedic medicinal resources from being exploited for commercial use locally and abroad. more..

May 21 (GDI) The necessity of sticking in to the national programme for disaster management and the obligation of enforcing the law to prevent disasters that can occur due to illegal human activities was reiterated by the Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe. "Our responsibilities can not be confined only to the process of providing compensation to the victims of a disaster. more..

May 21 (GDI) President Mahinda Rajapaksa during his official tour to Jordan entered in to 3 major agreements pertaining to trade, investment and culture with the Government of Jordan. These there agreements will enhance the bilateral relationship between the two nations while providing a greater opportunity for Sri Lanka to expose in to Jordanian market. Signing of the agreements took place at the King Abdullah Memorial Hall on Friday (18). more..

May 21 (ANN) Sri Raman makes an interesting analysis of the situation in South Asia in his article in truthout, �Trojan Horse as a South Asian Theme�, reproduced on this page today. Examining political chaos in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan, he argues, there are sinister forces at work with a hidden military agenda�a Trojan horse hiding the military in its belly. All three nations, he argues, are being made to wait for a military saviour or solution. more..

May 21 (CI) Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has officially launched the recruitment process for a new head coach for the national team, placing an advertisment on their website. Tom Moody's term as coach ends after the ongoing one-day series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi. While negotiations continued with former fast bowler Rumesh Ratnayake about the possibility of him assisting during the Bangladesh tour in July, more..

May 21 (LT) According to a spokesman from the JVP the party is seeking legal advice regarding taking action against the fraudsters who have been found to have swindled public money to the tune of Rs.15, 000 billion. COPE, a Parliamentary select committee to probe fraud, corruption and waste in state enterprises revealed in the Parliament that authorities in 26 enterprises had swindled Rs.15, 000 with the help of ministers in the UNP and PA governments. more..

May 21 (Hindu) The Airport Police have busted an international racket in fake passports involving Sri Lankan nationals and those of Sri Lankan origin settled elsewhere. They recently arrested a Sri Lankan, two persons with Canadian passports and of Sri Lankan origin, and another with Australian passport and also of Sri Lankan origin in this connection. Two Sri Lankan nationals, however, escaped to Paris, the police said. more..

May 21 (AN) A Sri Lankan Christian was arrested in the holy city of Makkah, which is off-limits to non-Muslims, by the Expatriates Monitoring Committee in Makkah. The authorities were able to verify the identity of the man, who had claimed he had overstayed his Umrah visa, by running his details through a new fingerprints system. more..

May 21 (LNP) The Sri Lankan government yesterday rejected the assertion that it investigated a possible Chinese link in transferring arms, ammunition and equipment to the LTTE. `There is absolutely no basis to suspect a Chinese link and we never did,` a senior official told The Island. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, he expressed serious concern over the misrepresentation of facts. more..

May 21 (LNP) President Mahinda Rajapaksa has called on members of the G-11 to make use of the groupings common bond, to work towards eliminating the scourge of terrorism which has mostly affected the poor and disadvantaged in their countries. `All terrorist attacks whether in Amman, Islamabad, London or Colombo are acts that must be vehemently condemned,` the President stressed addressing the G-11 Summit at the King Hussein Conference Hall at the Dead Sea City in Jordan on Saturday. more..

May 21 (SAMN) United National Party Democratic Reforms Group Leader Karu Jayasuriya ruled out defections from the UNP to the government. He said the group of 18 UNPers joined the government to work for the betterment of the country and not for self-aggrandizement. "The 18 UNP stalwarts have joined the government not for personal rewards as we are convinced that remaining in the UNP with unsolved core issues will be futile," he said. more..

May 21 (SAMN) The Private Bus Owners Association has decided to seek the government�s approval to effect fare hike from June 1 as private buses are beginning to incur losses. The spiraling cost of fuel prices has necessitated the PBOA to request the government for a fair bus fare increase without delay, a PBOA source said. Government sources said that they would not give into the association�s threats. more..

May 21 (SAMN) The Malwatta Mahanayaka Thera, The Most Ven.Thibbotuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thera, said Sunday Sri Lanka could not solve its ethnic problem due to various political divisions among the people. He has pointed out to politicians who visited him that it was imperative for all to unite in the name of the country. He made this comment during a discussion with the Secretary of the Sri Amarapura Sanga Sabha. more..

May 21 (SAMN) As a measure to reduce electricity consumption and thereby conserve energy, the adoption of the �green building� concept has been identified as a viable option, especially as Sri Lanka has the highest electricity costs in the region. It was revealed recently at a conference on saving energy and reducing global warming, that the total consumption of electricity by the commercial sector including buildings, accounts for one fifth of the total electricity consumption in the country. more..

May 21 (DM) Western Province Governor Alavi Moulana who is in the spotlight after his mediator�s role in resolving the dispute between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Minister Mangala Samaraweera said he entered hospital only for a routine check. He denied media reports that he had fallen ill after his efforts to resolve the issue between the President and Mr. Samaraweera failed as the latter had refused to accept the Irrigation portfolio. more..

May 21 (DM) The Health Ministry had to incur a huge Rs. 2200 million a year as overtime payments for health workers alone and Rs. 1740 million out of it had been claimed fraudulently, Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripla De Silva said. Speaking to the Daily Mirror last morning on the recent health sector trade union action, Minister De Silva further said that health employees were free to discuss any issue with him or his Ministry officials at any time they desired, more..

May 21 (DN) Steps are being taken to safeguard residents living close to the Kelani river who are at peril owing to the erosion of the river bund near Udana Mawatha, Gonawala. The Daily News reported on May 15 pointing out the plight of the residents. The news revealed that the river bund continuously gets washed away and there is only about a 10 feet wide section of the 60 feet wide bund. more..

May 21 (DN) The Government run transport service in Jaffna got a boost yesterday, with eleven new buses adding muscle to the transport service in the peninsula. Jaffna Forces Commander Major General G.A. Chandrasiri handed over 11 new buses to Jaffna CTB Depot Manager yesterday with the Mayor of the city K. Ganesh in attendance. more..

May 21 (BBC) Sri Lanka's military says more than 500 Tamil Tigers have been killed around rebel-held areas in the north of the country over the last four months. The Tigers dispute the figures - they say the government is trying to persuade the Sinhalese majority community that it is winning the war. Meanwhile, a military spokesman said four soldiers have been killed in two separate attacks on Monday. more..

May 21 (HT) Sri Lanka has the highest level of literacy (91%) in the South Asian region. An overwhelming majority of its school going population (4 million) enjoys free education from the kindergarten to the university undergraduate level. But the quality of the education does not match the quantitative achievement. In this year's General Certificate of Education-Ordinary Level (GCA-OL) exam, held after 11 years of schooling, 51 per cent had failed. more..

May 21 (AFP) Four members of Sri Lanka's security forces were killed and five wounded in separate attacks by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels on Monday, the defence ministry and police said. A mine that targeted troops travelling in a tractor in the northern district of Vavuniya killed two soldiers and injured four others, local police said. In the same district, an officer was wounded when suspected guerrillas threw a bomb into a food supply bunker, local police said. more..

May 21 (AP) A pre-dawn clash with separatist rebels and a roadside bomb killed four soldiers in Sri Lanka's volatile north Monday, where a bitter conflict has claimed the lives of nearly 600 in the past four months, the military said. Military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said Sunday that 541 rebels have been killed in fighting in two northern districts, Mannar and Vavuniya. more..