May 6 (BBC) TNA called for the government to appoint an international commission of inquiry to probe the murder of senior Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram. In a special session held to debate the murder on Friday, TNA’s parliamentary group leader R Sampanthan urged a panel to be appointed from SAARC and Commonwealth countries. more..

May 7 (BBC) It is an unusual folk theatre where actors as well as spectators perform together. The subject deals with the life and death of Lord Kama, Hindu god of love and passion. The whole village participates in the long-running theatre - a play can go on for 11 or 30 days - that eventually becomes a kind of festival. more..

May 7 (TN) Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the LTTE Friday morning lodged a complaint with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in the east port town that the Sri Lanka Army soldiers located in Kaddaiparichchan camp had fired at the LTTE sentry in the LTTE controlled Muttur east. more..

May 7 (TN) Nagarkovil Civil Groups Consortium in Vadamaradchchi east division in the Jaffna district Friday sent a memorandum to Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge to take immediate steps to open the Nagarkovil Road located in the high security zone (HSZ), sources said. The road is currently closed for public use. more..

May 7 (TN) Vadamaradchchi East Fishermen Co-operative Societies Union (VEFCSU) has requested the World Vision, an international non-governmental organization, to provide at least 100 catamarans and fishing nets to fisher families who are affected by tsunami. more..

May 7 (TN) Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded North East Community Restoration Development (NECORD) awarded loans under the Social Development scheme to increase the earning potential of small scale entrepreneurs at an event held at the Kovil Vayal village in Pachchilaipalli district in Kilinochchi more..

May 7 (N24) Sri Lanka's new cricket administrators appointed a five-member selection panel headed by former Test offspinner Lalith Kaluperuma on Friday, an official said. The panel named by the government-appointed interim committee also retained two other Test players more..

May 7 (KUNA) Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said Friday that he has informed 67 International Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Geneva today that they are welcome to start reconstruction operations in his country in favor of the survivors of the Tsunami disaster more..

May 7 (TN) The World Bank is ready to work with the government to uplift the living conditions of Muslim refugees, a senior official said. World Bank’s Country Director for Sri Lanka Peter Harold said that he was saddened to see the plight of Muslim refugees in Puttlam. more..

May 7 (AT) Consumers will have to pay higher prices for imported essential food commodities due to the government’s new tax structure introduced in the last budget, according to trade associations. “Government has implemented VAT on VAT. We can’t reduce the prices of the essential commodities due to the recently introduced tax,” more..

May 7 (NN) The Sri Lanka Association of Bangladesh (SLAB) organised Pahela Baishakh, Bangla New Year celebration, at the International School of Dhaka in Basundhara in the city yesterday. Prianka Fernando, President of the Association opened the programme at 8.30 AM in the school ground. more..

May 7 (AP) President on Friday started a key meeting about how to distribute foreign aid to tsunami victims in areas held by the country's Tamil Tiger rebels. President Chandrika Kumaratunga was meeting with the Marxist People's Liberation Front, more..

May 7 (AT) President Chandrika Kumaratunga said that the politicians of the current generation could learn a lot from the vision of the late Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, mother of Kumaratunga. more..

May 7 (AT) Political observers are puzzled by the refusal of Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Leader of the Opposition, to participate in the talks with President Chandrika Kumaratunga on the proposals to set up a joint mechanism to distribute aid to the north and the east. more..

May 7 (TN) Mr.Peter Harrold, World Bank Country Representative in Sri Lanka, Friday said in Puttalam, a Muslim dominated town in the north of Western Province, that the World Bank extends its full support to the implementation of the Joint Mechanism more..

May 7 (LT) The behaviour of those mates who were with journalist Dharmaratnam Sivaram known in media circles as ‘Taraki’ when he was abducted was suspicious say Parliamentarians of the Government. This was stated when the debate on the “Tamil media persons killed after the ceasefire was signed” took place in the Parliament yesterday. more..

May 7 (TN) Nedunkerni Development and Rehabilitation Organization (NDRO) Thursday opened a pre-school at Paranthan Puliyankulam village in Nedunkerni division in the Vavuniya district with the financial assistance provided by the FORUT. more..

May 7 (SLA) Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri, Chief of Defence Staff & Commander of the Navy, Lieutenant General Shantha Kottegoda, Commander of the Army and Air Vice Marshal Donald Perera, Commander of the Air Force on Wednesday (04) morning flew to Batticaloa with a view to assessing current security developments more..

May 7 (Dawn) The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will arrange school level cricket with Sri Lanka to promote the game at the grassroots level, the PCB chairman, Shaharyar M Khan, stated after attending the prize distribution ceremony of the Lahore Inter-school final on Friday. more..

May 7 (CI) Ashantha de Mel, Sri Lanka's chairman of selectors, has been sacked by Jeewan Kumaratunga, the sports minister, just three weeks after being reappointed for a fresh one-year term. Lalith Kaluperuma has been appointed as the chairman of a new trimmed down five-man panel. more..

May 7 (ANN) Veteran politician and President of the TULF V. Anandasangaree has made a sensible suggestion to the TNA. He has asked them, who are on a campaign to get the killers of senior journalist D. Sivaram or Taraki brought to justice, to condemn all killings without being selective. more..

May 7 (LBO) Engineers of the striking state monopoly power supplier the Ceylon Electricity Board are threatening to pull out base load thermal plants including AES Kelanitissa off the grid shortly, resulting in rotating blackouts around the island. more..

May 7 (LBO) A Bill allowing the Government to claim part of international incoming call revenues was to be endorsed this week allowing the legislature to collect up to 0.038 US cents from telecos’ terminating over seas calls on local networks. more..

May 7 (LM) JVP top rungers told President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday that the proposed three -tiered national, district and regional level joint mechanism to distribute tsunami aid would give the LTTE enhanced official recognition more..

May 7 (LT) A special discussion between the representatives of the SLFP including the President and representatives of the JVP took place yesterday. The discussion was on the proposed joint mechanism. According to the President’s explanation the joint mechanism consists of three levels. more..

May 7 (PIS) The main opposition UNP yesterday said it was not ready to discuss the joint mechanism with the government saying it was premature to talk about it at this stage. In a letter to President Chandrika Kumaratunga the UNP was responding to an invitation sent to Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe by her to discuss the joint mechanism on May 9. more..

May 7 (SAMN) The Public Service Commission's (PSC) ruling to reinstate interdicted Ananda and Kingswood principals was praised by all public servants working with self-dignity, independence and self-consciousness, UNP spokesman Prof. G.L. Peiris said on Thursday. more..

May 7 (SAMN) Parliament agrees to refer to Standing Committee Parliament yesterday agreed to refer the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) "Bill to ban forced conversions to other religions" to a parliament standing committee for consideration. more..

May 7 (SAMN) Speculation that a High Security Zone (HSZ) is to be in place in Talawakelle on account of the Upper Kotmale Hydro Power Project (UKHP) was scotched by Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) stalwart and Minister of Estate Infrastructure, Housing and Community Development, Muthu Sivalingam. more..

May 7 (SLE) Former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton have announced that they will donate 1 Million Dollars from the Bush-Clinton Houston Tsunami Fund to be used towards the welfare of children in Sri Lanka affected by the tsunami. more..

May 7 (SN) The Secretary General of the JHU in a bid to save the interdicted police officers of The Kodikaamum Police Station in the East, has written a letter addressed to the Deputy Minister of Defence and the President. We give below a translation of the said letter. more..

May 7 (LNP) The work to rule campaign launched by the railway engine drivers, lasting two days, was called off from 8.00 p.m on Thursday (5) and the train services were back to normal by yesterday (6), the Controller of Railway Traffic said. more..

May 7 (LNP) Major changes in the curricular of the GCC Ordinary Level Examination are to be from 2007 with the inclusion of several new subjects, an official said yesterday. An Education Ministry official said candidates would have to sit ten subjects for the exam with Mathematics, English, Mother Tongue and Religion being compulsory. more..

May 7 (LNP) In colloquial parlance the opening of a soda bottle is quite often compared to something that begins with a bang and slowly fizzles out into nothingness. In that sense, the soda bottle metaphor would be the most appropriate to describe the present state of the JVP in the UPFA government. more..

May 7 (TN) Hundreds of Jaffna journalists, university academicians, priests and heads of non-governmental organizations Saturday morning held a demonstration in front of the Jaffna regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) condemning the brutal killing of senior journalist Mr.Dharmeratnam Sivaram more..

May 7 (DN) BUS travellers will have an opportunity of providing information to relevant authorities by telephone about buses that "fly" at high speed without observing road rules, signboards and signals. IGP Chandra Fernando has requested the public to inform the police on one of two numbers which will be manned 24 hours. more..

May 7 (Reuters) A three-year truce between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels is in jeopardy as Colombo has failed to fulfill its promises to restore normalcy and has eliminated prominent Tamils, a top rebel leader said on Saturday. more..

May 7 (AP) Sri Lankan soldiers recovered two bodies believed to be Tamil Tiger intelligence operatives killed in a clash with a renegade rebel faction, a spokesman said Saturday. Military spokesman Brig. Daya Ratnayake said the bodies were found in Welikanda area Friday. more..

May 7 (AP) Hundreds of Tamils protested in northern Sri Lanka on Saturday to condemn the abduction and killing of a prominent Tamil journalist and demand that authorities quickly arrest and punish his killers. more..

May 7 (AFP) Sri Lanka's government is firmly committed to a deal with Tamil rebels on distribution of tsunami aid but will not be pinned down to a mid-May deadline, the country's foreign minister said after a meeting with donors. more..

May 7 (AFP) India is concerned about information that a Tamil rebel group in neighbouring Sri Lanka has built an airstrip and acquired aircraft, Foreign Minister Natwar Singh said. Sri Lanka's LTTE were believed to be getting more aircraft, the minister said more..

May 7 (LBO) Trade unions of state monopoly power utility the Ceylon Electricity Board, called off its strike and threats of blackouts, after a written assurance from government. The government has assured unions in writing that a new Electricity Reform Act would be drawn up and union demands accommodated, more..

May 7 (IANS) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas may be taking part in the Norway-backed peace process but they remain "one of the deadliest terrorist organisations in the world", the Indian government says. more..

May 8 (TN) A children's festival involving about three thousand tsunami affected children and youths from the four divisions of the Batticaloa district will be held Sunday May 8. The fun-filled day will start with a parade of children living in tsunami relief camps beginning around 9 a.m. at Gandhi Square in Batticaloa town more..

May 8 (TN) The lack of a quorum in Parliament and the subsequent lacklustre debate when the abduction and brutal murder of Tamil political columnist and military analyst, Dharmeratnam Sivaram, was taken up Friday dismayed journalists who three days earlier had taken to the streets in a major protest over the brazen killing in Colombo. more..

May 8 (TN) Speakers at a memorial event held in Temple Hall, Paris, condemned the murder of Tamil journalist, Mr Dharmeratnam Sivaram, and urged the United Nation's (UN's) Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, more..

May 8 (SPUR) We write to thank you for the follow-up action of the Security Council to adopt a new resolution to impose severe penalties on the parties recruiting child soldiers. As you are aware, one of the main organizations violating the rights of the children is the LTTE operating in Sri Lanka. more..

May 8 (NYT) The teacher held up an electric cake mixer and told the class of wide-eyed women before her to clean it properly. If it smells, "Mama," as the aspiring maids were instructed to call their female employers, "will be angry and she will hammer and beat you." more..

May 8 (AT) Hectic political activities taking place to resolve major differences between the two main parties of the ruling alliance. The differences between the SLFP headed by President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the main government ally, the JVP have assumed a gigantic proportion and that could result in the collapse of the government. more..

May 8 (AT) Blasting the Canadian government for not banning the Tamil Tigers, the reputed Mackenzie Institute had exposed the myths on which the Canadian bureaucrats and the government tend to sweep the issue under a carpet of maple leaves. more..