Mar 10 (LeN) It has now been revealed that the documents related to weapons and other items brought to Sri Lanka by the LTTE delegates following their 18 day European tour after the Geneva talks, which were confiscated by the customs, had been released as a result of a telephone call received either from Temple Trees or the Presidential Secretariat. more..

Mar 10 (LeN) The JVP which resorted to communalism to win patriotism has today stoop to tribalism, UNP National Organizer S.B.Dissanayake alleged. He made this observation at a press briefing held in Colombo this morning and this was his first media briefing since being released on a presidential pardon while serving a two year prison term. more..

Mar 10 (LeN) Professor Vishwa Warnapala, a Minister as well as a SLFP Vice President refers to certain recent decisions taken by Chandrika Kumaratunga as SLFP leader is a party versus state clash and says the appointment of Ratnasiri Wickremanayake as acting party chairman is problematic. more..

Mar 10 (LeN) The Central Committee of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party which met this evening unanimously decided to take a decision on the leadership crisis in the party and the Mahinda-Chandrika conflict after the conclusion of the local government polls. more..

Mar 10 (Hindu) Sri Lanka on Thursday said there was no change in its position on facilitator to the peace process Norway. "Our position remains unchanged," Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Cabinet spokesperson told a press conference here. "It is up to the various political parties to air their demands," Mr. Yapa said when asked about the demand by the JVP that Norway be "immediately removed" as the facilitator. more..

Mar 10 (TW) In an annual Prize Giving Day speech at Jaffna St. John’s College, Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole drew on “spirit of The Johnian” in laying out a humanitarian treatise of education. He called on the youth to be empowered by education, envisioning the humanity in all and be able to feel and cry for each other. more..

Mar 10 (LT) When inquired by “Lankathuth” from the JVP about the allegation leveled against them by Mr. S.B. Dissanayake that the JVP and JHU are responsible for the CC not being instituted, JVP parliamentarian, Vijitha Herath said that their party has already nominated a representative for the CC. more..

Mar 10 (LT) United National Party is requesting the speaker to appoint members for the constitutional council without delay. Former parliamentarian S. B. Dissanayake who had been jailed for contempt of court made this request at a press briefing held in Colombo yesterday. more..

Mar 10 (LT) Injunction orders were issued by Appeal Court today (9th) prohibiting the election of 15 more local government councils scheduled to be held on the 30th of this month after considering the petitions of different parties against the decisions of relevant returning orders rejecting nomination papers. more..

Mar 10 (TN) Nuwara Eliya, a district with 80% percent Tamil population, and a district which has the largest concentration of Tamils outside NorthEast, does not have a single Tamil Administrative Officer, said Leader of Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF), Periyasamy Chandrasekaran, in an urgent letter sent to President, Mahinda Rajapakse, more..

Mar 10 (TN) Traditional Tamil village of Kanniya in Trincomalee town celebrated the International Women's Day Thursday evening with the support of the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), sources in Trincomalee said. Several hundred families from Peeliaydi, Managaiootu and Kanniya, resettled since the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement in the year 2002, participated in the celebrations. more..

Mar 10 (SLA) Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Daya Sandgiri and Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka with a view to reviewing the security situation in Jaffna reached the Palaly airport Thursday (09) morning. more..

Mar 10 (ISL) "According to a newspaper report on March 8, 2006 the President of Sri Lanka noted the existing corruption within government agencies and urged the Bribery and Corruption Investigation Commission to implement measures 'more widely and extensively to check these tendencies'. more..

Mar 10 (SLBC) The treasury decides to allocate 3 billion rupees to purchase paddy. The previous allocation for this purpose was 2 billion rupees. Secretary to the Ministry Trade Dr. R.N.K. Ratnayake says his Ministry is to provide rice worth 400 million rupees for Samurdhi beneficiaries each month. more..

Mar 10 (LBO) A group of Singaporean investors will put in US$ 6 million to build a luxury condominium complex in hill country Kandy. A pilot project for Dynasty Developments Pvt Ltd, construction of the apartments block is to begin end March this year and be completed by third quarter 2007. more..

Mar 10 (LT) A few Tamil parties have made a request to the Government and the Commissioner of Elections to hold the local government polls on another day. This they have requested to hold with total supervision by the Government and international organisations. There are 77 divisions in North and East. more..

Mar 10 (LT) The Central Committee of the SLFP met yesterday at Darley Road. This meeting was expected to chair by Prime Minister Mr Ratnasiri Wickramanayake on a written authority as acting president by former President Mrs Chandrika Kumaratunga. more..

Mar 10 (AT) It blames Sri Lanka’s Tamil separatists, the Liberation Tigers, of abductions, disappearances, indiscriminate killings and using under-age children for military combat, but the scrutiny is more on the Government of Sri Lanka as the latter is an elected entity that receives foreign assistance from the United States and more..

Mar 10 (AT) Nonagenarian V.Navaratnam, a veteran Tamil leader, who was in a great way responsible for infusing 'Tamil Nationalism' in the hearts and minds of the Tamils, has come up with his latest book – "Tamil Civilization – The Untold History." more..

Mar 10 (AT) Saivaites in Sri Lanka and all over the world recall Iravanan (known also as Ravana) daily through this devotional hymns of (Saint) Thiru+Gnana+Sampanthar – "-the holy ashes were upon him," (worn by Iravanan) – the highest form of valedictory eulogy showered upon the great Tamil King of Lanka by a holy Saint. more..

Mar 10 (SLBC) The Elections Secretariat says all preparations are in place to conduct the upcoming local government election successfully. The secretariat points out that steps have been taken to expedite initial activities such as the distribution of poll cards. more..

Mar 10 (SLBC) The government is to immediately fulfill 40 thousand vacancies in the state sector with graduates and those who have passed O/level and A/level examinations. The Ministry of Finance has made preparation to call for applications shortly. Out of this 1,200 will be recruited to state banks. more..

Mar 10 (ANN) The renowned dance ensemble Channa-Upuli Troupe from Sri Lanka will perform a variety of traditional dances at the Ha Noi Opera House next Tuesday (March 14) on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Viet Nam and Sri Lanka. more..

Mar 10 (PIS) As exposed in The Island last week, an LTTE propaganda exercise titled 'EU's contribution to the peace process in Sri Lanka' was held at the European Parliament on of March 7, 2006 from 3.00 to 5.00p.m. There was no EU representation other than Mr Robert Evans MEP. A total of 22 persons attended. more..

Mar 10 (IRNA) Lakshman Watawala, chairman of the Board of Investment (BOI), said the single biggest investment for this year is between USD 400-450 million from the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) of India for a coal power project in the island. "BOI has identified a location in Trincomalee for NTPC's project. more..

Mar 10 (wsws) More than 50 contract cleaners from the Jaffna teaching hospital in Sri Lanka’s war-ravaged north held a three-day strike beginning on February 11 to demand improved wages and conditions. The cleaners, who are employed by labour hire firm Tharans Company, have formed an organisation Clean Well to defend their rights and demanded a daily wage of 400 rupees ($US4), uniforms and fixed work times. more..

Mar 10 (LNP) Kattadige Amarasena, a lawyer by profession, was further remanded by the Tangalla District Judge and Magistrate Tamara Tennakoon, for the alleged murder of his wife Sandya Kanthi Ekanayake, a resident of Halmullaketiya in Thungama on November 20, 2005. The suspect is alleged to have slit his wife`s neck with a `Manna` knife. more..

Mar 10 (LNP) A war in the country will be inevitable if the government drags its feet on the national question and insists on a solution within a unitary form of government, the UNP warned yesterday. UNP National Organizer S.B.Dissanayake told a news conference that the JVP and the JHU were engaged in a futile hair-splitting theorizing exercise insisting more..

Mar 10 (LNP) The Organization for Protection of the Properties and the Rights of Railway Employees is to hold a mass protest demonstration opposite the Colombo Fort Railway station to draw the attention of the Minister and the Government to their demands. They said there were a number of demands. more..

Mar 10 (SAMN) Foreign media institutions Thursday came out hard against the local press for “endangering the lives of two teenaged LTTE escapees” by publishing their names and photographs after the two teenagers were brought to Colombo and presented before a selected media on Wednesday. more..

Mar 10 (SAMN) A National policy for the protection of wild elephants is to be implemented. According to statistics only 3,000 elephants remain in Sri Lanka and have been threatened owing to the conflict between man and beast. Media Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa noted that nearly 150 elephants and 50 humans were killed each year in frequent clashes between elephants and villagers. more..

Mar 10 (SAMN) The LTTE, which is expected to announce its programme for the second round of talks within the next few days, Thursday urged the government to take immediate steps to disarm the Karuna faction before April 19, in accordance with the agreement reached in Geneva. more..

Mar 10 (CI) Muttiah Muralitharan became the second bowler in history to claim 600 Test wickets during the third afternoon of the Bogra Test as Sri Lanka seized control and paved the way for a certain 2-0 series win. Set a modest 120-run target after a disciplined allround display in the field, Sri Lanka finished on 77 without loss more..

Mar 10 (DN) The Department of Immigration and Emigration will carry out the issuance of passports under the revised system from March 13. Controller Immigration and Emigration P.B. Abeykoon in a press release states the Department is issuing passports with five years validity and this validity period can be extended for another five years. more..

Mar 10 (CI) Muttiah Muralitharan reached yet another milestone in a record-filled career, becoming only the second bowler in Test history to claim 600 wickets, on the third day of the second Test at Bogra. Only Shane Warne, currently with 659 victims, is ahead of him and it may not be too long before the duo resume their battle for top honours. more..

Mar 10 (AFP) Sri Lanka has cleared the way for protecting e-commerce under new legislation to bring the country in line with neighbours in regulating electronic transactions. Sri Lanka's parliament this week approved laws to recognise electronic signatures, said Jayantha Fernando, the legal advisor to the government's Information Communication Technology agency. more..

Mar 10 (HT) Sri Lanka's bid to get its candidate Jayantha Dhanapala elected as the Secretary General of the United Nations has suffered a set back with the United States indicating its preference for an East European. Even as Dhanapala and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera were on a campaign tour of Europe, the US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton said that it was the turn of East Europe to occupy the post. more..

Mar 10 (AP) Sri Lankan poultry farmers are putting up posters and airing radio and television programs to persuade reluctant consumers to eat chicken as sales slide amid fears of bird flu, an official said. Chicken sales in Sri Lanka have dropped by 20 percent since February when bird flu was reported from neighboring India, more..

Mar 10 (HT) The LTTE has announced laws to govern land rights and land distribution in the areas under its control in Sri Lanka. The laws came into force on Friday, the rebel outfit's law department said in a notification, according to the Tamil daily Sudar Oli. more..

Mar 10 (AP) Tamil Tiger rebels still hold as many as 1,358 child soldiers, despite pledges by the guerrillas to free all underage combatants, the U.N. children's agency said Friday. The issue of child soldiers has come under renewed focus since Wednesday, when the government went on a publicity blitz by inviting newspapers to photograph two underage combatants who fled from rebel camps more..

Mar 10 (AFP) The Sri Lankan government will retain Norway as peace broker despite calls from a key Marxist ally to immediately end the arrangement. Media Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said Oslo will continue to work to keep Tamil Tiger rebels at the negotiating table and ruled out a change in Colombo's policy. more..

Mar 11 (FT) The medieval Arab traders called it Serendib, the magical island of gems that once lured King Solomon to its shores. Our grandparents knew it as Ceylon, the British colony famous for tea and cricket. Since 1972 it has been Sri Lanka. Whatever its name, this tropical island off the south-western heel of India has always fired the world's imagination as a land of enchantment and beauty. more..

Mar 11 (BBC) The United States has strongly criticised the human rights violations by the Sri Lanka police, paramilitaries and the Tamil Tigers. The US Department of State said both parties have failed to respect the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) signed in February 2002. more..

Mar 11 (Hindu) It's hard to recognise Chaminda Vaas these days in his bouncy, new hairstyle. "You need to change a little to keep pace with the youngsters," he quips with a wink. A `hairy makeover' or not, his bowling retains its zing. The 32-year-old crafty Sri Lankan left-arm paceman still torments the batsmen with his two-way swing. more..

Mar 11 (LBO) Vanaspati, pepper and haggling over negative lists has pushed back trade talks between India and Sri Lanka on liberalising its service sectors, to May. The next round of negotiations under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the two countries was to be held at the end of March. more..

Mar 11 (AT) The course for war with Iravanan, a flimsy façade of a distorted version, was allowed to circulate by Valmiki, the robber turned ascetic author of Iramayanam. It was an attempt to apotheosize Iraman at the cost of Iravanan and the Tamils, an unfortunate decision by Iraman to enter into a war with Iravanan, to redeem his abducted wife. more..

Mar 11 (LT) GoSL has expressed its disapproval to Norwegian government for giving stately treatment for the members of wanni tiger organization who participated in Geneva talks. According to diplomatic sources Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Mr. Hans Bradskar was called to Ministry of Foreign Affairs by its secretary on the 9th morning and informed him of the disapproval of the Government. more..

Mar 11 (LT) Mr. Dayananda Dishanayake, Commissioner of Elections informed the Appeal Court yesterday that a new programme will be launched to establish the identity of the voters. Commissioner of Elections says the new scheme would be introduced under special regulations in election law of 14 in 2004. more..

Mar 11 (LeN) Even though President Mahinda Rajapaksa enjoys executive powers as President, either he or the SLFP Central Committee are not vested with powers to annul the appointment of Ratnaisri Wickremanayake as acting SLFP president made by party President Chandrika Kumaratunga, a pro-Chandrika SLFP Central Committee member told 'Lanka e News'. more..

Mar 11 (LeN) Despite several written complaints made by a port trade union to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Minister Mangala Samaraweera regarding a commission fraud amounting to millions of rupees when procuring two computer systems for the Colombo Port, the union claims that no action has been taken so far. more..