Feb 11 (IL) The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Sri Lanka has produced four world prize winners in the November 2004 examination. The world prize winners were Mrs. M. Thushari Gunathilake for Finance, Mr. K. J. N. C. P. Jayasuriya for Business Taxation, more..

Feb 11 (RW) The World Bank President James Wolfenson called on President Chandrika Kumaratunga at the Presidential Suite of her hotel in Islamabad yesterday, to discuss further World Bank assistance for the reconstruction of infrastructure in Sri Lanka. more..

Feb 11 (AT) Your piece in the Asian Tribune about me and the JVP (Foreign Minister Kadirgamar's love affair with JVP deepens copy attached) has just been brought to my notice. As always it is very interesting, but I think you overate my influence with the JVP. more..

Feb 11 (AT) I would like to take this opportunity to publicly respond to a deeply-upsetting article full of fictitious and false allegations recently published in the Asia Tribune and the Daily Mirror titled "Murali bowls Sri Lanka with political 'Doosra'" which was written by a Sri Lankan expatriate living in Australia called Mr. H. L. D. Mahindapala. more..

Feb 11 (AT) A bill now before the United States Senate, presented in late January by Republican Senator Gordon Smith, a member of the Senate’s influential Finance Committee, would cut tariff rates to zero on textile imports to the United States from tsunami-affected Sri Lanka. more..

Feb 11 (CP) Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister spoke positively about his government’s partnership with one of the world’s most enduring institutions at a ceremony marking the opening of a major housing project in tsunami-struck Sri Lanka. more..

Feb 11 (PT) Former Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka S.G.S Chatwal has said that Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga's current visit to Pakistan is not a cause of concern for India. more..

Feb 11 (SAMN) An all-party parliamentary select committee was Thursday appointed by the Speaker to recommend ways of minimizing damage from natural disasters similar to the devastation of 26/12. more..

Feb 11 (SAMN) The UNP Thursday launched a thundering attack on emergency regulations which are to be presented in parliament Friday. The UNP in a statement said the parliamentary group had decided to vote against the motion for the extension of the state-of-emergency as some regulations could be used to suppress personal freedom and trade union rights. more..

Feb 11 (SAMN) The Government said Thursday that a 'Water Management Bill' was never presented to the Cabinet, or approved and denied media reports which said the government was to introduce it. more..

Feb 11 (LT) A special discussion was held yesterday (10th) between Mr. Yakushi Akashi, the special envoy of Japan and a team of Japanese delegation and Mr. Wimal Weerawansa, Propaganda Secretary and Leader of the group of Parliamentarians of the JVP and Mr. Lal Kanthe, Minister of Small and Rural Industries. more..

Feb 11 (LNP) The Airforce is likely to be called regularly to fly key LTTE cadres within the northern and eastern provinces due to Monday's ambush, on the Polonnaruwa-Batticaloa overland main supply route, that claimed the lives of five cadres, including Ampara-Batticaloa political wing leader E. Kaushalyan, posthumously promoted to the rank of 'Lieutenant Colonel.' more..

Feb 11 (LNP) A former Fisheries Minister and UNP front-liner said yesterday that he was against the government`s 100 metre coastal buffer zone despite the UNP Deputy leader`s acceptance of the restriction. Speaking during the adjournment debate in parliament on post-tsunami related issues, a defiant Mahinda Wijesekera said the 100 metre buffer zone was not practical. more..

Feb 11 (TO) STANDING in front of the famous old fort at Galle this week, I looked down on to what I remember as one of the most picturesque cricket grounds in the world. I saw a stadium in ruins, an outfield buried underneath rubbish and rubble. The experience will go down as one of the saddest and strangest in my life. more..

Feb 11 (HRW) The killings of a senior Tamil Tiger official and a former parliamentarian underscore the need for all sides to address human rights concerns in the Sri Lankan peace process, Human Rights Watch said today. more..

Feb 11 (Seven) A NSW MP holidaying in Sri Lanka during the Boxing Day tsunami warned that massive amounts of asbestos presented a long-term danger to people there. NSW upper house Greens MP Ian Cohen was in Sri Lanka on a surfing holiday when the waves struck on December 26, killing 296,000 people, almost 31,000 of them in Sri Lanka. more..

Feb 11 (TN) Failure to reach consensus with the Liberation Tigers in setting up a mechanism that will ensure equitable distribution of aid will lead to Sri Lanka losing large amount of aid pledged by the International community, said Prof G L Peiris, UNP parliamentarian more..

Feb 11 (TN) “You are reintroducing Emergency Regulations (ER) to wage on the Tamil people so that you can cling on to power. The emergency is not for the south. It is for oppressing the Tamil people in the northeast with an iron fist as you did in the past. You need war to stay in power. more..

Feb 11 (TN) Cabinet Spokesman of President Chandrika Kumaratunga's Freedom Alliance government Minister Mangala Samaraweera said Friday that although the government was taking all steps to prevent killings in the future, there was a limit to which it can prevent them. more..

Feb 11 (TN) Transitional shelter complex comprising forty-five units constructed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) with the funding of the Government of Japan at a cost of 3.2 million rupees was opened Thursday in Naduthivu in Muttur division, south of Trincomalee district, sources said. more..

Feb 11 (wsws) The assassination of a top leader of tht LTTE in eastern Sri Lanka on Monday has heightened the danger of a return to civil war on the island. While the Sri Lankan government condemned the killing, the LTTE has accused the military of complicity in the attack more..

Feb 11 (RW) Mercy Corps staff is partnering with local organizations to mount a sustained, efficient response to Sri Lanka's greatest needs. Current operations include include distribution of water purification materials, rebuilding of water and sanitation facilities, trauma counseling, clean up and ensuring access to basic services. more..

Feb 11 (SLA) A three-wheeler driver has made a complaint that LTTE men had abducted a civilian from the general un-cleared area of VERUGAL on 10 February 2005. more..

Feb 11 (SLA) Regardless requests repeatedly made by the SLMM, LTTE has once again violated MoU hoisting their flag at the International Students’ Organization building at PARAMESHWARAN junction in the general area east of KOKUVIL on 10 February 2005 around 10.00 a.m. more..

Feb 11 (TOM) SOS Malta has donated $8,000 to St Mary's Convent in Matara, Sri Lanka which was damaged by the Boxing Day tsunami. The money is being used for urgently needed repairs on the groundfloor of the school especially windows and doors. more..

Feb 11 (PRIU) In an interview with Pakistan Television on Wednesday President Chandrika Kumaratunga spoke on a variety of issues ranging from the Free Trade Agreement between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, to the peace process to the reconstruction of Sri Lanka after the tsunami. more..

Feb 11 (PRIU) The scope of the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement should be broadened and deepened to move towards a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), President Chandrika Kumaratunga said on Wednesday. more..

Feb 11 (PSL) Prime Minister of Turkey Tayyip Erdogan and a delegation of senior Turkish cabinet members called on President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday. The Turkish Leader offered to build 500 houses in the South as a first step and said, “we are here now and we want to share in your suffering”. more..

Feb 11 (LBO) In line with its left leaning thinking, the Ministry of Agriculture is pushing forward another self-sufficiency project – this time to produce animal feed. The project fits well with the Ministry’s agriculture development programme, which hopes to achieve self sufficiency in dairy and rice production, more..

Feb 11 (ANN) A feature in most refugee camps, where surviving Tsunami victims live, is the visible lack of coordination for dispersal of aid a said General Manager, European chamber of Commerce, Sujeevan Perera. more..

Feb 11 (CI) It's strange that it took a tragedy of the enormity of a tsunami to bring together people whose relationships had been strained over the years. Past enmities were forgotten and there was camaraderie not experienced before when Shane Warne, the Australian spin icon made a brief visit to Sri Lanka. more..

Feb 11 (AFP) Around sixty percent of a 1.8 billion-dollar tsunami reconstruction plan will target Tamil Tiger-controlled areas of Sri Lanka, with fisheries and small businesses the main focus, a top official said. more..

Feb 11 (Reuters) The Sri Lanka rupee closed flat on Friday as light importer demand for dollars to settle trade bills was offset by exporter sales of the U.S. currency, dealers said. The rupee closed at 99.46 against the dollar compared to Thursday's close of 99.45 rupees. more..

Feb 11 (AP) Sri Lanka's parliament Friday extended for another month emergency rule to help tsunami relief efforts, but opposition parties condemned the move saying authorities would abuse their extra powers. more..

Feb 11 (AFP) The New York-based Human Rights Watch asked Sri Lanka to probe the killings of a senior Tamil Tiger rebel and five others amid fears that the slayings could push the country back to war. more..

Feb 11 (AP) Sri Lanka's government Friday played down fears that the killing of a rebel commander would hamper efforts to revive peace talks and provide relief to tsunami victims. more..

Feb 11 (Xinhua) Sri Lanka's main opposition party on Friday abstained in voting in the parliament to approve the state of emergency in the tsunami-hit areas in this Indian ocean island. The vote was passed with 106 for and 20 against, parliamentary officials said. more..

Feb 11 (AFP) Sri Lanka's government blamed splinter factions of the Tamil rebel movement for the slaying of a top guerrilla leader and praised it for the "restraint" it had shown since the killing. more..

Feb 11 (HT) The recent killing of the LTTE's Batticaloa leader, E Kousalyan, is generally attributed to the breakaway "Karuna" group. But Sri Lanka's Minister of Hindu Affairs, Douglas Devananda, says that it may have been the handiwork of elements within the LTTE. more..

Feb 11 (DN) Plan's International CEO Tom Miller on a two day visit to Sri Lanka told a gathering of schoolchildren and parents in Hambantota that Plan was proud to be part of an important program, the reconstruction of schools in Hambantota. more..

Feb 11 (KN) The Sri Lankan government’s main Marxist coalition partner on Wednesday boycotted a parliamentary debate about the tsunami disaster and said it was their first warning to the administration. more..

Feb 11 (BBC) Sri Lanka's banks face hard times following December's tsunami disaster, officials have warned. The Sri Lanka Banks Association said the waves which killed more than 30,000 people also washed away huge amounts of property which was securing loans. more..

Feb 12 (TN) Governor of NorthEast Province, Mr Tyronne Fernando arrived Thursday morning in Kokkilai, a village resettled with Sinhala families from Negombo, to see the devastation caused by the tsunami, security sources said. more..

Feb 12 (TN) "The violence unleashed against senior LTTE cadres and others on Monday the 7th in government controlled territory situated between two Army Camps, and in an area which has a strong armed forces presence, has raised grave questions in regard to the continued stability of the ceasefire," more..

Feb 12 (TN) Hundreds of people protested against Sri Lanka Police in Thaalvupaadu, a coastal village near Mannar town Friday evening, demanding action against constables who had sexually assaulted and grievously injured a school boy. more..

Feb 12 (TN) The National Peace Council in a media release issued Friday in Colombo said that "there needs to be confidence building and positive action at this time is imperative in view of consistent accusations by the LTTE of alleged military connivance in the activities of the Karuna group. more..

Feb 12 (NK) The Second Round of negotiations led by the Commerce Secretaries of India and Sri Lanka -- S.N. Menon, and S. Urithamulla respectively - on the Bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was held here on February 10 and 11. more..

Feb 12 (BBC) The government of Sri Lanka condemned the killings of the Tamil Tiger Eastern leader and his companions. The government spokesman Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the incident was a clear breach of the Ceasefire Agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding. more..

Feb 12 (AP) Ministers from Britain and its former colonies sharply criticized Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, on Friday for failing to keep his pledge to step down as army chief last year, and they urged him to do so by 2007 at the latest. more..

Feb 12 (Yahoo) A tsunami survivor sorts out a box containing soccer cleats and boots at the main wharehouse in Galle. Among the unprecedented aid that has poured into the country anxious individuals from all corners of the world have shipped over items that are of no use here more..