Dec 1 (TN) Hundreds of Tamil families displaced from villages Alankerni, Eechantivu and Upparu in Kinniya division are still languishing in refugee centres without enough essential food items as they are unable to go to Kinniya town to buy their provisions. more..

Dec 1 (TN) "Under 'Village Upliftment Project' economically worst hit villages in Vanni are identified and efforts are channelled to improve social and economic well-being of the residents through self-help. more..

Dec 1 (CI) This is more like it. All England's tour needed was a change of scene. After days of downpours so predictable you could set your watch by them, the England squad have pitched up in Galle, where the rains have temporarily lost track of their movements, give or take a sprinkling of a shower in the late afternoon. more..

Dec 1 (PTI) Tension prevailed in the coastal area of the town on Sunday after 32 local fishermen were reportedly abducted by their Sri Lankan counterparts for allegedly poaching into the latter's territory. more..

Dec 1 (AFP) President Chandrika Kumaratunga is telephoning Commonwealth leaders to secure support for her foreign affairs advisor Lakshman Kadirgamar who is contesting the secretary general post, officials said yesterday. more..

Dec 1 (Island) Signalling that it accepts President Kumaratunga�s pledge to honour the Norwegian arranged cease-fire agreement, an LTTE delegation moved overland from the Wanni to Bandaranaike Iinternational Airport (BIA) on Friday, authoritative sources said. more..

Dec 1 (DN) TULF President V.Anandasangaree was yesterday expelled from the party's top post, the culmination of a dispute between the moderate Tamil parliamentarian and his colleagues who disagreed with Sangaree's independent approach towards the LTTE. more..

Dec 1 (LBO) State privatisation arm, the Public enterprise Reform Commission is hunting for a financial consultant to restructure the Sugarcane Research Institute. �PERC solicits proposals from firms of Chartered Accountants, Investment Banks and other capable Organisations to assist in the proposed re-structuring�, more..

Dec 1 (TN) The African National Congress (ANC) in a statement issued today said that the ANC is meeting today with members of LTTE delegation currently on a study tour to South Africa. The ANC would also meeting Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando on Tuesday, the statement said. more..

Dec 1 (TN) Four members of Sri Lanka's Human Rights Commission (HRC), lead by Dr. Rathika Kumaraswamy arrived in Batticaloa Monday morning on a two day visit to study the situation prevailing in the eastern province, civil sources said. more..

Dec 1 (SLA) Three Muslim civilians, remained vigil inside their paddy fields for protection of their crops in the general area of KINNIYA, were found hacked to death during late hours on 28 November 2003. more..

Dec 1 (SLA) An unidentified group of people had assaulted and inflicted head injuries on a twenty-year old Muslim in the general area of SIVAM KOVIL, about 01 km. northwest of TRINCOMALEE on 30 November 2003 around 1.00 p.m. more..

Dec 1 (SLA) Explosion of a hand grenade, followed by a wave of shooting caused death to a Muslim civilian and injury to another in the general area of ICHCHANTIVU, about 12 km. southwest of TRINCOMALEE town on 30 November 2003 around 10.15 p.m. more..

Dec 1 (SLA) A civilian forcibly detained by LTTE has escaped and sought protection from troops at THANDIKULAM, about 3 km north of VAVUNIYA on 28 November 2003. The victim, KANAPATHIPILLAI MERIMBA RASA (27), who was a resident from BATTICALOA area, is married to a woman at KIDACHURI refugee camp. more..

Dec 1 (SLA) A girl and a boy, who had gone missing from home in the general area of KALMUNAI on 24 November 2003, have reportedly ended up at an LTTE camp at KURUWANVELY-KALAWANCHIKUDY. more..

Dec 1 (SLA) An Army vehicle knocked down a schoolgirl in the general area of WATTEGAMA in KANDY on 28 November 2003 around 7.30 a.m. The vehicle belonging to Area Headquarters, KANDY was driven by Corporal P.M.A. BANDARATHILAKE (453577), more..

Dec 1 (PSL) �Prevention efforts require a collective approach, we cannot be complacent. The health sector alone cannot be left to handle this catastrophe,� President Chandrika Kumaratunga said today in a message to mark the World AIDS Day. more..

Dec 1 (TT) Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the country�s largest profit-making company, is looking at upstream opportunities in neighbouring Sri Lanka. Sources said the Indian upstream major has already held one round of talks with the Sri Lankan government more..

Dec 1 (MT) The United States has been appearing more often in the political radar screen of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, but experts both in and out of the South Asian island nation do not see Washington taking up a major role in efforts to reach a settlement in its ethnic conflict. more..

Dec 1 (DJ) Public Enterprise Reform Commission, or PERC, the government privatization body, Monday invited applications from accountancy firms to audit its accounts. PERC said the selected firm will also be required to identify weaknesses in the privatization programs and other forms of restructuring, and come up with solutions. more..

Dec 1 (CTO) Fixed-line operator Sri Lanka Telecom Ltd. (SLT) has completed due diligence on Lanka Bell Ltd., and will now conduct final negotiations to acquire the wireless loop operator. more..

Dec 1 (AFP) Sri Lanka's star spinner Muttiah Muralitharan warned that England would not be easy to beat in the upcoming Test series. "England are a very good batting side and their past record shows what they are capable of. It won't be easy for us even though we are playing at home," Muralitharan told more..

Dec 1 (OW) Child activists say the absence of an integrated program to treat hundreds of thousands of traumatized children in Sri Lanka's war-torn North and East even 21 months after the ceasefire, forms a major impediment in bring them back to normalcy. more..

Dec 1 (Reuters) England fast bowler James Anderson will remain in Sri Lanka after his injured ankle showed signs of improvement during a workout on Monday. Anderson had been given until Tuesday, the first day of the first test, to convince the team management that he was on the road to recovery. more..

Dec 1 (PTI) European Union on Friday said in unequivocal terms that the international community will not tolerate any "divisive" outcome in Sri Lanka and hoped that LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran's commitment to peace was "genuine". more..

Dec 1 (DM) Parents of students sitting for the GCE O/L examination which begins today are protesting against a countrywide strike launched by private bus operators. more..

Dec 1 (HT) The LTTE says that it will be bad for the Sri Lankan Tamils if Lakshman Kadirgmar became the next Secretary General of the Commonwealth as he may influence the 51-nation body to take a hard line against it. more..

Dec 1 (HT) To defend the take over of the Defence and Interior (Police) Ministries from the Wickremesinghe Government, in the face of a possible breakdown of the on-going talks on cohabitation, President Chandrika Kumaratunga may publicise a "damning" official report on the controversial police raid on the army's elite Deep Penetration Unit in Athurugiriya in early 2002. more..

Dec 1 (HT) The official-level talks between the Presidency and the Prime Ministership, to sort out problems hampering cohabitation, have run into a snag in the second week itself. Nobody has a clue as what went wrong, because the discussions had been confidential. more..

Dec 1 (AFP) Fresh talks aimed at resolving a bitter power struggle between president and prime minister ended without a breakthrough, official sources said. A four-member panel appointed by the two leaders met to find a working arrangement for the uneasy cohabitation between President Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe. more..

Dec 1 (PTI) Requesting Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to secure the release of 32 fishermen from the custody of the Sri Lankan Navy, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, today demanded the taking of 'Katchatheevu' island on lease in perpetuity. more..

Dec 1 (AFP) The southern Sri Lankan town of Galle is seeing a flood of tourists like never before as English fans converge here for the first Test starting on Tuesday. An estimated 6,000 fans from the England team, many belonging to the famous Barmy Army group of travelling supporters, have come calling on this town which boast a 200-year-old Dutch fort but not many hotel rooms. more..

Dec 1 (Hindu) Narcotics Intelligence Bureau personnel have arrested a Sri Lankan repatriate here and seized 1.2 kg of heroin. The Deputy Superintendent of Police, R. Subramanian, told the media here yesterday that V. Chandrakantha Raja alias Dhavan (38) hailed from Jaffna and had overstayed in India. more..

Dec 1 (M&G) The African National Congress is to meet a delegation from the LTTE on Monday. The delegation will be led by the LTTE Peace Secretariat Secretary General S Puleedevan, the ANC said in a statement. The ANC would also meet Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando on Tuesday. more..

Dec 1 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have grabbed at least seven Indian fishing boats with about 30 fishermen on board, officials monitoring the island's cease-fire said on Monday, insisting that those captured should be freed. more..

Dec 1 (TN) The Sri Lanka army Monday handed back part of a densely populated coastal suburb of Jaffna it had been occupying since 1996. �We are vacating this area on the instructions of Maj. Gen. Sarath Fonseka�, Sri Lankan military sources in the northern town said. more..

Dec 1 (PTI) Riding on brilliant centuries by Rohan Gavaskar (173) and Gautam Gambhir (131), India 'A' mustered a lead of 216 runs on the penultimate day of the four-day match against Sri Lanka 'A' at the Nehru stadium in Pune on Monday. more..

Dec 1 (TN) A Sri Lanka Police officer in charge of the police sentry at Thamana in the Amparai district on Monday shot dead his two children and committed suicide by shooting himself, sources said. more..

Dec 2 (TN) Mr.R.Sampanthan of the TNA, participating in the committee stage debate on the votes of the 2004 budget Monday, urged the government to implement the final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Involuntary Removal or Disappearance of Persons in the Northern and Eastern provinces. more..

Dec 2 (TN) Two conferences were held Monday in Trincomalee town to defuse tension between two communities, Muslims and Tamils and bring back normalcy in Kinniya and Trincomalee police divisions, which had been rocked by violence for the last few days, police said. more..

Dec 2 (Island) The fundamental rights application filed by Thilanga Sumathipala, Chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka and SLT, was called before the Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva yesterday and was listed to be supported at a later date. more..

Dec 2 (Hindu) Thirty-two Indian fishermen were detained and eight trawlers seized by "civilians" off rebel-held northern Sri Lanka for allegedly poaching in Sri Lankan waters. more..

Dec 2 (DN) The sudden islandwide strike by private bus operators was called off yesterday following a meeting between Transport Minister Tilak Marapana and bus owners of the Southern Province who triggered off the strike. more..

Dec 2 (LBO) Sales of the morning-after pill are soaring at 30,000 packs a month, as �Postinor� takes over from males reluctant to snap on that condom. Only 3.3 percent of males use condoms, with birth control largely geared toward females - an imbalance the Family Planning Association is trying to alter. more..

Dec 2 (LBO) Sri Lanka Telecom hopes to tap the overseas market to raise up to US$ 100 mn via bonds for its expansion plans next year. The issue, which is likely to come out next March or April, will be the first overseas debt paper to be offered by any Sri Lankan firm. more..

Dec 2 (LBO) The Corporative Wholesale Establishment�s (CWE) Chairman Lal Wickramatunge unloaded 40 percent off his burden on Monday when the government and a private consortium led by Ceylon Biscuits, signed the final paper work to transfer the stake and management control into private hands. more..

Dec 2 (LBO) The United States will tighten trade controls on all food imports, with local firms exporting food to the US, having to register and give prior notice of shipments. The new regulations, effective from December 12 will cover all exporters that manufacture process, pack or hold food products for the US. more..

Dec 2 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's banks are being forced by the Central Bank to reveal their credit ratings and their bad levels by the end of this month. "It is a government requirement. A prudential requirement," a central bank official told Reuters on Monday. more..

Dec 2 (TN) The head of Sri Lanka�s national human rights commission (HRC) Dr. Radhika Kumaraswamy, told journalists in Batticaloa Tuesday that the process of restoring normalcy in the district is still hindered. more..

Dec 2 (TN) Ariyathas Puvaneswary, mother of Ariyathas Vijayakumar, who went missing after 15 August 2000 when he was arrested by the Sri Lanka Army soldiers from the Vavuniya 211 Brigade, gave evidence at the Vavuniya courts when the case was taken up for hearing under District Judge M.Ilancheliyan, more..