Feb 10 (LBO) The Finance Ministry Wednesday set up a new office under its External Resources Department (ERD) to coordinate non-government organisations (NGO) post tsunami aid activities. “Non-Governmental Organisations are encouraged to obtain the agreement of the Ministry of Finance more..

Feb 10 (TN) Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, Col. Banu, Mr. S. Thamilenthi, Mr. K. V. Balakumaran, and Mr. S. Nagesh arrived in Karadiyanaru Maha Vithiyalam grounds in Batticaloa 5 PM Wednesday in a SLAF Helicopter facilitated by the SLMM. LTTE leaders visited Mr. Kousalyan's wife Pushpa in Ampilanthoddai, Kokkadicholai more..

Feb 10 (BBC) UK scientists have released images of the ocean floor near the epicentre of December's giant Asian earthquake. They were obtained by the Royal Navy's hydrographic survey ship HMS Scott. The three-dimensional pictures detail the deformed seabed 150km (94 miles) off the Sumatran coast, and reveal huge underwater landslides. more..

Feb 10 (RC) With more than 100,000 Sri Lankan families impacted across hundreds of miles, American Red Cross relief worker Matthew Parry and his team faced unprecedented challenges in delivering Red Cross aid to tsunami survivors. more..

Feb 10 (FE) A comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) between India and Sri Lanka covering goods, services and investment is all set to become a reality. Top government officials from both countries are meeting in New Delhi on February 10-11 to chalk out the roadmap for the agreement. more..

Feb 10 (Hindu) It has been almost 18 years since an Indian Prime Minister paid a bilateral visit to Sri Lanka and nearly seven years since an Indian head of Government travelled to Colombo to attend a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit. more..

Feb 10 (AT) "Asian Tribune" asserts the correctness of the reports regarding the Sydney Murugan Temple filed by its Sydney correspondent S Nagarajah which were posted in our website on the 21s January and 2nd February. more..

Feb 10 (ANN) The Tigers have proposed a council to handle rehabilitation and reconstruction in the Northern and the Eastern Provinces and want the Lion’s share of its representation. To make the demand look reasonable, it has proposed that one member each be appointed to represent the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities at the apex level. more..

Feb 10 (AP) The baby found in the mud and debris left by Asia's tsunami and the couple claiming to be his parents will have to wait at least a week for DNA test results that will determine if they will be reunited or separated forever. more..

Feb 10 (LNP) The trial against the wife of Christian and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Milroy Fernando and two other accused in connection with the abduction and murder of a woman who was said to be the mistress of the minister and the domestic aid resumed before a jury in Colombo High Court yesterday. more..

Feb 10 (LNP) The government will implement a programme to provide newly built houses free of charge to all persons who are likely to be deprived of their houses due to the introduction of the 100 metre coastal buffer zone, the Presidential Secretariat said yesterday. more..

Feb 10 (AFP) US President George W. Bush announced plans to nearly triple US aid to nations devastated by the December 26 Indian Ocean tsunami, bringing total US assistance to 950 million dollars. more..

Feb 10 (SAMN) The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Wednesady impressed upon the Norwegian Government the Muslim community's concern pertaining to the unequal distribution of aid to the tsunami devastated areas. more..

Feb 10 (SAMN) In the midst of reports of closed-door meetings between the LTTE and top-level government officers, diplomatic sources Wednesday said the two parties are "very much close to an agreement" on working out a post-tsunami reconstruction mechanism. more..

Feb 10 (AT) The assassination of Elayathamby Nagendran nom de guerre E.Kaushalyan., head of the Tigers' political division in the Batticaloa-Amparai district, is the latest episode in the on-going saga between Karuna and Prabhakaran. more..

Feb 10 (AT) In 1983, Martin Sturzinger - a Swiss national - came to Sri Lanka as a Tourist. While he was holidaying, “Black July” outbreak occurredn in the country. Martin witnessed the massive disaster. Upon return he presented a paper detailing the gruesome experience and - that paper changed the course of his life. more..

Feb 10 (SAMN) The government's attempt to bring the controversial "Water policy" of issuing permits to tap water resources and treating it as a marketable commodity was continuing, despite claims that water resources would not be privatised, claimed Lawyers for Human Rights and Development. more..

Feb 10 (SLBC) The Special Presidential Investigating Unit will hand over an interim investigation report into shady grade one admissions to five premier national schools to the President today. These five schools include three leading Colombo schools and two popular outstation schools. more..

Feb 10 (TN) Slain LTTE political leader, Mr. Kousalyan’s body was taken to Kiran, 28 kilometres north of Batticaloa, Wednesday afternoon for the people of the village to pay their last respects to him and his colleagues who were killed by gunmen suspected to working with the Sri Lanka military. more..

Feb 10 (PRIU) The Government has during the last six months taken the required measures to seek duty free access to the European market and has requested flexible rules of origin for the apparel sector in order to receive the full benefit of the Generalized System of Preference (GPS) duty concessions. more..

Feb 10 (Dive) SOS Malta donated more than Lm2, 600 to St. Mary's Convent of Matara, Sri Lanka to repair the ground floor of the school which is 20 metres from the beach and which on December 26 2004 was devastated by the tsunami. The money donated by SOS Malta will be used for urgently repairing windows and doors. more..

Feb 10 (GI) World's highest Test wicket taker Australian Shane Warne coaches school boys, many of them tsunami survivors, at the Tyronne Fernando Stadium in Moratuwa, 10 February 2005, more..

Feb 10 (HT) In a significant diplomatic move, Pakistan will rebuild two major mosques in Sri Lanka, which were damaged by the tsunami of December 26, 2004. The Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, has accepted Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's offer to rebuild the mosques, more..

Feb 10 (AT) The Tamil National Force claims responsibility for the attack and killings of Elayathamby Nagendran nom de guerre E.Kousalyan, Chandra Nehru Ariyanayagam and others on the last 7th February. more..

Feb 10 (TP) A fever that affects the human heart is prevalent in some parts of Sri Lanka and medical specialists have expressed grave concern over the inability of the health authorities to identify what really causes it, the Island newspaper said. more..

Feb 10 (TP) The Advanced Level (AL) examination scheduled for April has been put off to June 6 to accommodate students affected by the tsunami, the Education Ministry said. Thousands of students sit this exam which also helps entry to universities. more..

Feb 10 (Gulf) Tamil guerillas have organised strikes throughout the north and eastern parts of Sri Lanka to protest against the death of one of their top cadres. As the guerrillas prepared for the funeral of their political wing leader for the eastern Batticaloa and Ampara districts, more..

Feb 10 (CI) Shane Warne has pledged US$1million to help rebuild Galle Stadium, according to the curator of the ground. Warne was touring areas ravaged by the tsunami, and was awe-struck when he saw the extent of damage the tsunami had done to the venue, where he took his 500th Test wicket almost a year ago. more..

Feb 10 (ANN) A ten-member working-level survey team dispatched by the Government of the Republic of Korea visited Colombo form February 2-6, 2005. The mission was to explore specific possible projects to which the Korean Government could extend its assistance in consultation with the Sri Lankan government. more..

Feb 10 (ANN) TNA Parliamentary group leader R. Sampanthan Wednesday demanded an immediate halt to attacks on the LTTE and the TNA. "...we strongly impress upon the government that the unhealthy trend of killing our members and LTTE leaders should immediately be stopped if the peace process is to have a chance," he told the Parliament. more..

Feb 10 (DN) Colombo District UPFA Parliamentarian and JVP Propaganda Secretary Wimal Weerawansa yesterday said that it was yet not too late for the nation to grab the opportunity presented by nature to emerge from the ashes and rebuild the country along a strategic vision. more..

Feb 10 (AFP) Troops stepped up security in eastern Sri Lanka as Tamil Tiger rebels prepared to hold the funeral of a murdered leader, officials said. Shops and offices remained shut in the district of Batticaloa where the LTTE were due later Thursday to bury their local political chief E. Koushalyan. more..

Feb 10 (AFP) Tiger rebels have been reported to the UN Security Council for recruiting thousands of child soldiers and could face sanctions including a travel ban, a report said. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in his latest report on "Children and Armed Conflict," said Tamil Tigers had recruited more than 4,700 children, some as young as 11, since 2001. more..

Feb 10 (AFP) US marines have completed their tsunami relief operations in Sri Lanka while troops from seven other nations were also scaling down their work and preparing to withdraw from the island, a defence official said Thursday. more..

Feb 10 (Reuters) The Sri Lanka rupee closed marginally stronger on Thursday with a state bank's dollar sales propping up the local currency after it took a hit from importer demand for dollars, dealers said. The rupee settled at 99.45 against the dollar, after falling to 99.56 rupees in intraday trade. more..

Feb 10 (Reuters) Sprinkling jasmine flowers and perfume to mask the stench of death, Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers on Thursday paid their last respects to five rebels slain in an ambush that has shaken hopes of ending two decades of civil war. more..

Feb 10 (IHT) Sri Lanka Telecom, the biggest telephone company in the country, has said it will expand and upgrade its network in areas controlled by Tamil separatists, betting that the cease-fire with the government will continue into a fourth year. more..

Feb 10 (Age) The children hold their hands to their mouths, motioning that they need to eat. But there is no food for them. The rations have dried up. Six weeks after the tsunami struck, aid - some 4.1 billion rupees ($52 million) - has failed to reach nearly 70 per cent of the displaced people in Sri Lanka, more..

Feb 10 (Reuters) Many people in cricket-crazy Sri Lanka had a grudge against Australian cricketer Shane Warne but the leg-spinner's reputation in the Indian Ocean island is changing fast. more..

Feb 10 (ICRC) Sri Lanka’s coastlines in the north, east, south and south-west were overwhelmed by the tsunami that followed the undersea earthquake that struck near Sumatra on 26 December. More than 30,000 people died in Sri Lanka, more than half of them in the north and east. more..

Feb 10 (BBC) Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka should face travel curbs and other penalties if they keep using children as soldiers, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says. Mr Annan is urging sanctions against the Tamil Tigers and 40 other groups accused of using children in war. more..

Feb 10 (Yahoo) Sri Lankan Tamils pay their last respects to slain top Tamil tiger rebels during their funeral in the eastern Sri Lanka town of Batticaloa, February 10, 2005. more..

Feb 10 (TN) "The cowardly act of the Sri Lankan government has taken away Kousalyan and his colleagues from us. Kousalyan came back to Batticaloa with many dreams. He came back with ambitious plans to rebuild this land, devastated by the Tsunami and impoverished by the war imposed by the Sinhala chauvinist state", more..

Feb 10 (TN) Sri Lanka Government has declared a State of Emergency in Tsunami affected Districts again, political sources in Colombo said. Sri Lanka Parliament was informed that Ms Kumaratunge had by Gazette notification published on 3rd February re-declared the State of Emergency for a period of 1 month. more..

Feb 10 (Xinhua) Yasushi Akashi, Japanese peace envoy on Sri Lanka's Norwegian backed peace process with the TamilTiger rebels has arrived in Sri Lanka on a four-day visit, Japanese embassy said on Thursday. more..

Feb 10 (AP) Tamil Tiger rebels warned their patience with Sri Lanka's government was running out, as they buried an insurgent commander gunned down earlier this week after overseeing relief to tsunami victims. more..

Feb 11 (GR) READING has offered its hand of friendship to the Sri Lankan victims of the tsunami. Business leaders, community groups and the voluntary sector have joined forces to ensure the town plays a key role in the long-term relief work in the devastated nation. more..

Feb 11 (APP) Business community has welcomed the signing of Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA), hoping that it would help boost trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. Under the FTA the two sides will grant duty free access to each other on several tariff lines. more..

Feb 11 (HT) Sri Lanka's Muslim political parties have joined together to seek equal status for the Muslims in any national administrative structure that may be created to plan, fund and implement post-tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the country. more..

Feb 11 (LBO) Ceylon Tobacco Company says the one year amnesty for illegal bootlegs will eat into its market and state tax revenue. An amendment to the tobacco tax last year, made white cigarettes or white beedi – a thriving industry or illegal. more..