Dec 22 (SAMN) The Opposition Leader of the Dehiwala Mount Lavinia Municipal Council Kesara Lal Gunasekara yesterday warned that the garbage problem had assumed such proportions it would soon be worse than the North-East problem if the authorities failed to properly address it. more..

Dec 22 (SAMN) Niyagama Pradeshiya Sabha member W. D. Cholomonly who was evading arrest on bribery charges has been arrested by a special police team on the directives of the Bribery Commission. Cholomnly was arrested at his residence in Amugoda, where he was hiding in the ceiling of his home. more..

Dec 22 (LNP) Residents of Irupalai, in Jaffna, attacked and chased away two LTTE cadres, who were attempting to set a high powered claymore mine, targeting security forces yesterday afternoon, sources in the North said. The LTTE cadres, who arrived on a motor bike, had tried to fix the bomb across the road used by the military personnel in their daily mobile patrols. more..

Dec 22 (LNP) Five persons who were convicted in the Walapane murder case were sentenced to death by the Kandy High Court. On December 10, 1998 during a religious ceremony the accused forcibly entered a house in Walapane at Kumbukwala and killed nine persons known to be supporters of the UNP by chopping and shooting them. more..

Dec 22 (LNP) The department of Examination has decided to conduct inquiries into GCE (OL) examination malpractices allegedly committed by 15 officials and eight students. Commissioner General of Examination Anura Edirisinghe said that a life-time exam duty ban would be imposed on five of these officials. more..

Dec 22 (LNP) Most people in this country are certain to wholeheartedly endorse JVP MP K.D. Lalkantha`s appeal to the ministers of this Government to voluntarily relinquish their positions, enabling the development programmes of the Government to be carried out. more..

Dec 22 (DN) Based on the principles of the "Mahinda Chinthanaya" the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) will enter the New Year as a 'new National Rupavahini' on the foundations of Sri Lankan Cultural and Ethical identity, said Chairman SLRC Newton Gunaratne yesterday. more..

Dec 22 (CI) Virender Sehwag decided to ask his spinners to open the bowling on the fifth morning of the Ahmedabad Test, and it paid off. Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh were the dominant figures of this Test match, scheming and plotting, spinning and bouncing, wicket-taking furiously. more..

Dec 22 (CI) Sri Lanka's selectors have named Sanath Jayasuriya, the centre of a selection controversy in recent weeks, in a 16-man squad for Sri Lanka's forthcoming four-match ODI series in New Zealand. His inclusion, though, is "subject to fitness" according to a Sri Lanka cricket media release. more..

Dec 22 (AFP) Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga has slammed record-breaking spinner Shane Warne for suggesting that rivals like Muttiah Muralitharan benefited by taking "cheap" wickets. "Shane tries to be larger than the game and life and expects a lot of credit for his performances. more..

Dec 22 (HT) The LTTE has asked Norway and the international community to persuade the Sri Lankan government to put its army troops in Jaffna back into their barracks on the grounds that the activities of the troops are responsible for the current civil unrest in Jaffna. more..

Dec 22 (AFP) Sri Lanka's navy and Tamil Tigers have fought a sea battle off the island's northwestern coast with 10 people being seized, the navy said. Tiger rebels attacked two naval boats off the town of Mannar, sparking an exchange of gunfire, navy spokesman Jayantha Perera said. more..

Dec 22 (AP) Tamil Tiger rebels attacked two Sri Lankan navy boats off the northwestern coast Thursday, sinking one of them and leaving three sailors missing and one wounded, the navy said. Meanwhile, suspected rebels hurled grenades at a military roadblock in the northern city of Jaffna Thursday, wounding a police sergeant and two women civilians. more..

Dec 22 (AFP) Sri Lanka's navy and Tamil Tigers fought a sea battle off the island's northwest coast and the navy said three sailors were feared killed and seven rebels were captured. Thursday's incident marked a worsening of clashes between rebels and government forces amid diplomatic moves to arrange direct talks between the parties to stop the country sliding back into war. more..

Dec 23 (TA) A FEW broken carriages now stand as a grim memorial. She was the "Queen of the Sea" (engine No.59) as she hurtled towards Galle, on Boxing Day last year. Then the tsunami struck and her carriages were flooded. Only a few dozen of the estimated 1700 passengers survived the derailment. It was the worst rail accident the world had seen. more..

Dec 23 (TA) It took many days before the scale of the calamity was known and many more before it sank in. Two days after the Boxing Day tsunami struck southern Asia and beyond The Age editorial observed it was the second year running that a natural disaster had cast a gloom over the festive season. more..

Dec 23 (TA) This Boxing Day, my family and I will think of the morning the tsunami tore apart the Sri Lankan village of Unawatuna. We will think of how lucky we were to escape the killer waves, and of the thousands who were not so fortunate. more..

Dec 23 (TA) In dresses billowing to their ankles for modesty, the fisherwomen of the east coast of Sri Lanka are not textbook feminists. But by venturing out in their own canoes on this fine morning they are challenging ancient village rules about the role of men and women. more..

Dec 23 (AP) There is no happy ending to this story. How could there be with a son dead and a home destroyed? Yet a year after the tsunami tore into this village and through this family, there are signs of lives slowly rebuilding. The dead son's mother still wakes up crying, but less frequently. more..

Dec 23 (CI) The end could not have been sadder, swifter or lamer. Sri Lanka eventually plunged to defeat within 30 minutes of play, fired out by Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble to complete a gutless display. The 259-run defeat, the second hammering of the three-match series, sealed a disastrous end-of-tour report more..

Dec 23 (GU) Sri Lankan children affected by last year's tsunami are still struggling to get a proper education because of a lack of teachers and inappropriate donations from aid agencies, a study from Save the Children found today. more..

Dec 23 (LeN) The government vehemently condemns the LTTE's abduction of three sailors along with a boat and the shooting incident off Talaimannar this morning, government spokesman Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva said. The LTTE has committed 9 such incidents yesterday and today violating the cease-fire agreement, more..

Dec 23 (LeN) Kalutara District UNP parliamentarian Dr. Rajitha Senaratne is to hand over a series of proposals on the 29th of this month with regard to the reforms needed to be carried out in the party to UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. more..

Dec 23 (BBC) The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) says the government may be clamping down on the media in Sri Lanka's Jaffna peninsula. Recent incidents in the district show that the government is "targeting" media and journalists, the IFJ says. more..

Dec 23 (TN) The LTTE have informed the SLMM that their cadres had returned fire for self-protection on Sri Lanka Navy boats that intercepted and attacked three LTTE vessels in the seas of Mannar Thursday morning. Two SLN sailors were found dead inside a boat that was abandoned by the SLN fleet, and another sailor, more..

Dec 23 (AT) When the Tsunami disaster struck Sri Lanka, most of the Sri Lanka ministers of the Government including the President were out of the country holidaying abroad. But the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka spontaneously rose up to the saddest moment of the nation and more..

Dec 23 (AT) As yucky, smelly, gooey, worm prone garbage heaps in all sizes began sprouting up in Colombo and its suburbs, helpless and desperate local authorities are turning towards President Mahinda Rajapakse and the Central Government for help. more..

Dec 23 (AT) The Ministry of Plantation has extensive plans to introduce a list of concessions for the local sugar industry which produces an important food item next to rice and flour in Sri Lanka. It contributes 10 per cent of the daily calorie intake of the population. more..

Dec 23 (AT) Sri Lanka to remember the one year anniversary of the tsunami catastrophe on 26 December by observing at 9.30 AM two minutes silence nationwide. This is in a bid to remember all those who lost their lives in this brief but telling and unimaginable catastrophe ever visited the country. more..

Dec 23 (ANN) The Tamil Tiger rebels attacked two Sri Lankan naval dinghies off Pallimunai, Mannar on the north-west coast Dec 22, capturing three sailors and triggering fears that the country is sliding back into war after a peace treaty in 2002. more..

Dec 23 (Bloomberg) Tamil Tiger rebels rejected charges their forces ambushed navy vessels, saying a clash took place after their boats came under attack. The Sri Lankan navy said 10 boats operated by the LTTE ambushed a patrol off the northwestern coastal town of Mannar yesterday and abducted three sailors. more..

Dec 23 (KR) The world opened its heart a year ago to the victims of a calamitous tsunami, and its generosity can be seen everywhere in places like coastal Sri Lanka. A drive along the south coast of Sri Lanka underscores how widespread the assistance has been. more..

Dec 23 (Reuters) Watching a fish auction in Sri Lanka's tsunami-battered north, closely watched by troops, ex-London disc jockey Mahendrakumar Visvanathapillai is sick of what he sees as the military occupation of his homeland. more..

Dec 23 (TW) As we arrive at the first anniversary of the Asian tsunami of 2004, the United States and the American people join their Sri Lankan friends in solemn memory of the tens of thousands who perished here, as well as in continued sympathy with the survivors who lost family and homes. more..

Dec 23 (GI) G. Salinona (80), looks out the window of her wooden shack where she lives with three members of her family on December 22, 2005 in Peraliya. Most of her neighbors were killed in the tsunami more..

Dec 23 (SLBC) The Sri Lanka Athletics Association says a national athletics training plan will be implemented at a cost of over 60 million rupees. Chairman of the association Dervin Perera says the plan will be materialized from next month. more..

Dec 23 (PIS) The Government yesterday insisted the international community �punish� the LTTE for its killing spree and its continuous violation of the CFA. Government spokesman Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva hailed the statement issued by the Co-chairs to the peace process, warning the LTTE of serious consequences, saying it was the first time it sent warning signals in the strongest terms. more..

Dec 23 (BBC) From one-way charity to international partnership, the Indian Ocean tsunami a year ago has forged links between schools across the world. Like many pupils and staff in the UK, those at Wales High School in South Yorkshire were moved to try to help those whose lives had been wrecked. more..

Dec 23 (TN) Three internally displaced fishermen from Jaffna district, arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy, while being engaged in fishing in Pallimunai in Mannar area, are still being detained in the Mannar police station for further investigation regarding the firefight that took place between the Sri Lanka Navy and the LTTE Thursday morning. more..

Dec 23 (TN) Unidentified gunmen who entered a house to abduct a young man in Chenkalady opened fire inside his house as the family members spoiled the attempted abduction. The angered gunmen, armed with a T-56 rifle, shot and killed the sister of the youth, Eravur Police said. more..

Dec 23 (TN) Twelve Sri Lanka Navy sailors were killed and seventeen were wounded in a Claymore attack on their bus in Pesalai 15 km northwest of Mannar around 1:30 p.m. Friday, SLN sources said. The vehicle, a bus, sustained heavy damage and has burned down, according to civilian sources. more..

Dec 23 (SLA) ESCALATING VIOLENT ACTS OF TAMIL TIGERS (LTTE) inflicted injuries on two more soldiers in two different hand grenades and fire attacks in the general areas of IRUPALAI and THIRUNELVELY west in JAFFNA on Thursday (22) between 4.00 - 6.30 p.m. more..

Dec 23 (SLA) AN EIGHTEEN-YEAR OLD GIRL, who tried to foil abduction of her teenaged brother and a visiting relative by four armed Tamil Tigers (LTTE) was brutally gunned down inside her residence in the general area of ERAVUR on Thursday (22) night around 9.30 p.m.. more..

Dec 23 (SLA) A NAVAL CONVOY proceeding to THALAIMANNAR from MANNAR around 2.25 p.m. on Friday (23) afternoon with thirty sailors aboard a bus and a Navy truck was blown up in at least two explosions, triggered off by Tamil Tiger (LTTE) terrorists in the general area of NADUKUDHA in MANNAR. more..

Dec 23 (LM) Contradicting LTTE claim that they had opened fire at two Sri Lankan naval crafts during early hours of yesterday in the Pallimunai coastal sea, off Mannar in the Northern province, fishermen who were eyewitnesses to the confrontation are reported to have stated that four LTTE gun-boats opened fire at the naval crafts without any provocation. more..

Dec 23 (GU) Of the countries affected by the tsunami, none suffered proportionately more devastation than Sri Lanka, with almost 36,000 people reported killed or missing out of a population of 19.5 million. Other nations on the Indian Ocean rim saw most damage confined to one geographical area, but 70% of Sri Lanka's 830-mile coastline was battered by the killer wave. more..

Dec 23 (SAMN) The UNP has offered its total support to the government in order to bring peace to Sri Lanka on the basis of an United country. This offer of support must be taken in the spirit in which it is given and should not be used by the government to gain various devious ends, said UNP Parliamentarian Dr. Jayalath Jayawardane more..

Dec 23 (SAMN) The Environment Ministry is spending a part of an Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan to acquire15 new double cabs. The loan is to be spent on a forest resources management project. The ministry recently called for tenders for the acquisition of vehicles. The project director and his deputy were not available for comment. more..

Dec 23 (SAMN) The Green Movement of Sri Lanka accused the Chief Forest Conservator of granting permission to clear a forest path within a Sripada Gillimale Forest Reserve against the Forest Ordinance. The forest path is to be cleared to set up an electricity line to connect a private Mini Hydro Power Project within the reserve to the main grid. more..

Dec 23 (LNP) A Sri Lankan airlines flight had to be delayed by thirty two minutes to accommodate former President Chandrika Kumaratunge. The former President left for London last morning after returning to the country from a holiday in Australia two days ago. more..