May 3 (LM) SLMC leader Digamadulla MP Rauff Hakeem castigated the government strongly for its lacklustre attitude towards the elimination of the common man's sufferings. The SLMC is the largest Muslim representative political party in the legislature, enjoying six prominent parliamentary opposition seats. more..

May 3 (PIS) The indicators are that President Chandrika Kumaratunga is about to take a momentous decision that would either revitalise hope of a forward movement in the peace process, or else consolidate the relapse into stagnancy. more..

May 3 (PIS) TULF President V.Anandasangaree told the "Daily News" that he held four rounds of discussions with the JVP leaders on resolving the ethnic crisis. Their discussions were mainly centred on finding a basis for a solution in line with the Indian federal system, he said. more..

May 3 (ANN) The Indian government will gift two fully equipped hospitals to Sri Lanka, one to be in the tea plantation area of Dikoya with 150 beds and with other facilities and the other will be a cancer hospital in Colombo named after Mahathma at a cost of US $ 7.5 million. more..

May 3 (CI) Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik led the way with the bat, before Rao Iftikhar Anjum nipped out three of the Sri Lankan Masters' top order to facilitate a comfortable 76-run victory for Pakistan Masters in the second match of the triangular tournament for tsunami relief in Abu Dhabi. more..

May 3 (SLBC) One hundred and forty unemployed graduates will be recruited to the private sector by the end of this month. The Director General of Tharuna Aruna Programme Sam Stembo said about 2,000 unemployed graduates will be given employment in the private sector under the second phase of the Tharuna Aruna Programme within this year. more..

May 3 (LNP) The Cabinet paper presented by President Chandrika Kumaratunga on restructuring the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and the Ceylon Electricity Board is expected to be presented to the Cabinet tomorrow without change despite vehement opposition by the JVP, government sources said yesterday. more..

May 3 (LNP) Indiscriminate issuing of route permits to private buses was cited by the Lanka Private Bus Owners Association yesterday. Association president Gemunu Wijeratne told a media briefing that while there were around 18,000 private buses in the country, only 3,500 had route permits from the National Transport Commission (NTC). more..

May 3 (LNP) UNP allegations against me in the WPC is insufficient to remove me from office. I would reply the charges and safeguard the esteemed position of the post`, said Reginald Cooray, Chief Minister of W.P. to the working members of the SLFP of Kalutara District, more..

May 3 (DN) The Ministry of Education is preparing circulars which prohibit the use of children in protests, agitations and disciplinary activity by teachers, principals and other school officials including the Old Boys' Association/Old Girls' Association. more..

May 3 (AP) World Press Freedom day in Sri Lanka on Tuesday was overshadowed by the recent abduction and slaying of a prominent Tamil journalist. Dharmeratnam Sivaram, 46, an ethnic Tamil columnist for Sri Lanka's Daily Mirror newspaper and a board member of TamilNet, more..

May 3 (Xinhua) Sri Lanka's military said Tuesday that they had lodged a complaint with the international truce monitoring group over what they alleged discovery of weapons in a Tamil Tiger political office. Brigadier Daya Ratnayake, the Defense Ministry spokesman, said here that the SLMM had been officially informed of the incident. more..

May 3 (AP) Police and officers from Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department on Tuesday entered the premises of the Sri Lankan cricket board, a cricket official and witnesses said. The reason for the apparent raid was not immediately known. more..

May 3 (HT) The visiting Indian Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran, announced the moratorium during the India-Sri Lanka Foreign Office Consultations held on Monday. At the discussions, the Indian Foreign Secretary and his Sri Lankan counterpart, HMGS Palihakkara, more..

May 3 (AP) Unidentified men fired automatic rifles and lobbed grenades at a Tamil Tiger rebel office in Sri Lanka's volatile east, but the building was apparently empty during the attack, police said on Tuesday. Separately, attackers fatally shot and killed a village council member in the country's northwest, police said. more..

May 3 (IANS) India Tuesday agreed to share more information with Sri Lanka on the Sethusamudram canal project that aims to create a shipping channel to the island nation's eastern ports. In a joint statement issued here Tuesday at the end of a four-day visit by Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, both sides said their bilateral relations were "excellent". more..

May 3 (LBO) Ceylon Electricity Board unions (CEB) will go on a half day token strike tomorrow, protesting against a Cabinet paper to restructure the loss making utility. The Government is to take up the controversial Cabinet paper for discussion on Wednesday, sparking the protest by the CEB’s 52 trade unions. more..

May 3 (HT) India's Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran, said on Tuesday, that the proposed India-Lanka Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) would not be a threat to any community in Sri Lanka, and that the Tamils' apprehensions about it had no basis. more..

May 4 (TN) Indian participation in post-tsunami construction, bilateral trade, economic cooperation and Sethusamudram project are some among the issues discussed Monday during the Foreign Office consultations between the Governments of Sri Lanka and India, more..

May 4 (AT) Kusumsiri Balapatabendi flew out of Sri Lanka yesterday at the auspicious hour to take up his new post as High Commissioner in Australia today. But he is flying into the eye of a media storm over the handling of tsunami aid piling up in wharves without being cleared for the needy victims. more..

May 4 (AT) Norway’s prestigious newspaper Aftenposten revealed that young women and boys temporarily living in asylum centres become victims of prostitution rings. Norwegian asylum reception centres are visited by men who want to recruit women and young boys for prostitution, the newspaper said. more..

May 4 (AT) The Free Media Movement (FMM) has released its latest report highlighting the perils faced by journalists in Sri Lanka. The case studies outlined in the report focus on the plight of the journalists facing threats and death in the course of performing their duties. more..

May 4 (IC) It was hardly a surprise that it was a cakewalk for the Jagmohan Dalmiya group in the recent annual general meeting of the BCCI at Kolkata. It was expected though, for the group has really worked for the betterment of the game during its last term. more..

May 4 (AT) www.newdawn.ie New Dawn, a charity registered in Ireland, state that aid monies collected abroad do not reach the tsunami victims. This charity has been working to rehabilitate children affected by the tsunami. more..

May 4 (CT) Following the six-week United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) last month in Geneva, the exploitation of religious freedom in many countries is being brought to the headlines due to strong condemnation by the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) and NGOs. more..

May 4 (Xinhua) President Chandrika Kumaratunga said here Tuesday that the country is faced with best chance in 20 years to solve its separatist armed conflict. Kumaratunga said the proposed join mechanism with the Tamil Tigers has presented the country with a rare opportunity in the history of the over two decades old conflict. more..

May 4 (LT) Today, employees of the Ceylon electricity Board are going to launch a strike to protest against an insulting statement regarding the CEB workers made on the 30th April by Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama. more..

May 4 (LT) Even the presidency, ministries or political power will be put at risk to create the joint mechanism, president Chandrika Kumaratunga said addressing a seminar of all religious representatives at BMICH, Colombo. more..

May 4 (BBC) Condemning the murder of D Sivaram, UNESCO calls the killing a shameful crime. Marking the World Press Freedom Day in Dakar in Senegal UNESCO Director General Koïchiro Matsuura says, "This shameful crime has led to a great loss for Sri Lankan journalism and for UNESCO. more..

May 4 (BBC) Sri Lankan journalists gathered on Tuesday, 'World Press Freedom Day' in Colombo demonstrated demanding press freedom. They condemned the killing of jounalist Dharmartnem Sivaram. Hundreds of jounalists carrying placards and photos of slain jounalist Sivaram held the demonstation in front of the Fort Railway Station. more..

May 4 (TP) A 22-year-old mother and her two-month baby were thrown out of an ambulance near the Maha Modera maternity hospital in southern Galle owing to a faulty door, police told newspapers. The mother suffered serious head injures but the child escaped miraculously. more..

May 4 (AT) India and Sri Lanka will continue talks on the final draft of the proposed defence cooperation agreement. Two countries failed to finalise the agreement during the talks with the visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran. more..

May 4 (AT) The United National Party is now moving to expel the Chief Ministers in selected provincial councils .By doing this they hope to resist the government and to dismantle the activities of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) politicians. more..

May 4 (RW) The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Asma Jahangir, is on a ten-day mission to Sri Lanka from 02 to 12 May. Her fact-finding mission focuses on religious concerns, including attacks on minorities and proposed laws regarding religious conversion. more..

May 4 (SLA) A motorbike-riding LTTE member with two cyanide capsules was taken in for questioning by the Police at KADDAIPARICHCHAN Entry/Exit point, TRINCOMALEE on 03 May 2005 around 12.00 noon. The suspect, E. MUVOGAM of VIGAM, KILIVEDDI (LTTE ID No. 019851) and the motorcycle (EPGR 1537) were handed over to MUTTUR Police for further investigations.

May 4 (SLA) A soldier attached to 5 Field Engineer Regiment received injuries following an explosion of an Anti Personnel Mine (APM) occurred close to the Forward Defence Line (FDL) at KADDUTTADDAMALAI, WELIOYA on 03 May 2005 around 9.15 a.m. more..

May 4 (TN) Leaders of political parties represented in the Parliament Wednesday decided to hold a special debate on the killing of a senior journalist Mr.D.Sivaram, Speaker Mr.W.M.J.Lokkubandara announced. Mr.R.Sampanthan, leader of the TNA parliamentary group Wednesday made a statement on the killing of Mr.Sivaram. more..

May 4 (TN) Tamil Nation Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians held a demonstration at Jeyanthipura Junction and marched to the Parliament Ground, Wednesday, protesting aginst the abduction and murder of leading Tamil journalist Mr.D.Sivaram, last week. more..

May 4 (wsws) The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) held a successful May Day meeting at New Town Hall in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo on the evening of May 1. More than 200 workers, young people and professionals from Colombo, Ambalangoda, Matara, Kandy & Chilaw participated in the meeting. more..

May 4 (LM) An appropriate proportion of Muslim representation with functional authority was an imperative for any joint mechanism with the LTTE to be just and truly representative, Javed Yusuf, Secretary to the Muslim Peace Secretariat told yesterday. more..

May 4 (LM) A young novice Buddhist monk, severely bleeding allegedly after repeated sex abuse committed on him at a Kandy temple, has been hospitalised in a serious condition, in the main Kandy hospital. Police sources said the sex abuse had been going on "...For an indefinite period of time more..

May 4 (KT) Former Sri Lankan cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga lauded the Pakistan and Sri Lanka cricket boards for supporting the cause of cricket in the Gulf but slammed the Indian board for shunning the ongoing International Cricket Council-approved tri-series here. more..

May 4 (PT) With the setting of free trade agreement next month, the volume of business between Sri Lanka and Pakistan is expected to get double touching the level of almost 300 million dollars in the first year. more..

May 4 (SAMN) Within five days of President Chandrika Kumartunga’s public statement at Piliyandala that she did not think the JVP would oppose the proposed joint mechanism with the LTTE to handle tsunami aid and rebuilding, JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe has said his party does not speak with two tongues and their answer to such a mechanism is a definite NO. more..

May 4 (SAMN) The party leaders meeting of the UPFA Government took place yesterday morning at the Parliamentary Complex chaired by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse to discuss several contemporary issues including the problems that may crop up following future oil price hikes in the world market. more..

May 4 (SAMN) Mannar police on Sunday arrested two men, travelling in a Land Rover at the Uylankulam road block, on suspicion, and discovered that they were in possession of Rs. 18,829,000 in cash, a lap top computer, a satelite phone, and two cellular phones. more..

May 4 (PIS) S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike was a visionary who realized the potential of federalism as a political system to keep a multi cultural society intact. As a testimony to his far-sightedness, he first advocated federalism as the best option for this island as far back as 1926, exactly 30 years before he introduced the Sinhala Only policy. more..

May 4 (Hindu) "ONE DAY some gun will silence me and it will not be held by an outsider but by the son born in the womb of this very society, from a woman with whom my history is shared," wrote Rajani Thiranagama in 1989, a few months before she was killed in Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka. more..

May 4 (PIS) In one of her toughest statements, President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday vowed to go ahead with the joint mechanism with the LTTE even if that meant losing her presidency or the downfall of the UPFA government. more..

May 4 (AFP) Sri Lanka has sounded out former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody to replace fellow Australian John Dyson as coach of the national cricket team, cricket officials here said. Talks were under way with Moody about taking over the job after Dyson's term ended last month, officials said on Wednesday. more..