Feb 13 (BG) Abdul and Rispiya Fowser, brother and sister, were both suddenly acting bizarrely. He tried to strangle his wife. She made what her father called "improper" suggestions to men. So their befuddled family tied them together with ropes. When the two reacted by setting fire to their clothes, the family looked for outside help. more..

Feb 13 (FL) A MONTH after the tsunami, and after a flood of high-profile visitors, the first international assessment of Sri Lanka's worst natural disaster has concluded that the island-nation will need around $1.5 billion if it is to "effectively implement" a recovery and reconstruction strategy. more..

Feb 13 (FL) As Sri Lanka starts rebuilding its devastated coastline, Lakshman Kadirgamar, its Foreign Affairs Minister, said efforts were on to put in place a non-political, working arrangement between the government and the LTTE, which he hoped would "provide a new platform" on which a political structure could be built. more..

Feb 13 (TBO) On the wall, there's a black- and-white photo of Tilak and Mitha Ratnasekera on their wedding day. He wears his army uniform. She is in traditional dress. In another picture, he marches along a street. In another, he stands at attention. more..

Feb 13 (PA) A SCOTS aid worker has been chosen to lead vital humanitarian reconstruction efforts in post-tsunami struck Sri Lanka. David Crawford, from Glasgow, has been charged with rebuilding the water and sanitation infrastructure that was destroyed when giant waves struck the country on Boxing Day. more..

Feb 13 (IO) In the six weeks since the Indian Ocean tsunami devastated the region, most people have been going to their homes during the day and then staying with relatives inland at night. But now people in Dickwella have started to stay at their homes permanently. more..

Feb 13 (TN) Ten Indian fishermen who were released by the Mallakam Magistrate's Court on the instruction of the Attorney General are still stranded in the Jaffna prison for about a month as the Sri Lanka Navy authorities have failed to take steps to hand over them to Indian Navy, sources in Jaffna said. more..

Feb 13 (TN) Several civil groups in the Jaffna district Sunday decided to launch a series of agitation campaigns condemning discrimination shown in providing relief and other assistance to tsunami hit coastal areas in the Jaffna district, the killing of LTTE senior leader Mr.Koushalyan and others, more..

Feb 13 (TN) Eulogizing Mr. A. Chandra Nehru, founder member of NorthEast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR), as a champion of peoples rights and as one "who steered through the highly militarized and inhospitable environment that prevails in the NorthEast to defend and protect the Human Rights of those who were voiceless and helpless..," more..

Feb 13 (AP) Sri Lanka's fragile cease-fire has come under new strain after the deadly ambush of a top rebel commander and a grenade attack on a guerrilla office, a truce monitor said Sunday. Unidentified assailants lobbed a grenade at a Tamil Tiger office late Saturday, killing one person and wounding two others. more..

Feb 13 (CP) In coordination with government authorities, World Vision is planning to complete the distributions of household items to 2,500 families in Sri Lanka�s tsunami-hit district of Kalutara over the coming week. more..

Feb 13 (Reuters) An eye for an eye. Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers may well get even for the assassination of a top rebel leader they blame on the military, but chances of an all-out return to bloody civil war are remote. more..

Feb 14 (FP) Sitting in his Bloomfield Hills home, Dr. Harsha Jayatilake clicks through digital pictures on his laptop computer. His daughter, 9-year-old Piumi, and son, 7-year-old Janith, sit next to him on the couch. more..

Feb 14 (Xinhua) Sri Lanka's peace process is very much intact despite breakdown in negotiations, a Japanese special peace envoy said here Sunday. Yasushi Akashi said that the tsunami disaster presented the government and the LTTE a new opportunity to get together and resolve the long running ethnic separatist armed conflict. more..

Feb 14 (AFP) Japan's special envoy to Sri Lanka, Yasushi Akashi, Sunday said he was confident aid for reconstruction and tsunami relief would continue despite the killing of a leading Tamil rebel and that the tsunami itself was an opportunity for peace. more..

Feb 14 (TS) The Indian Ocean tsunami that struck the South Asian countries on 26 January devastated the Sri Lankan coast with sweeping universality. It made no distinction whether the inhabitants were Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims. more..

Feb 14 (BBC) Four Tamil prisoners started a rooftop fast at the Moneragala jail on Sunday. The Moneragala acting chief jailer H M Premadasa told BBC Sandeshaya that the prisoners were members of the Karuna faction. Their demand is that they be released or brought into court. more..

Feb 14 (AFP) Sri Lankan children orphaned by the tsunami disaster had a rare day of entertainment on Sunday, when they competed against national cricketing heroes at a stadium which was itself damaged by the waves. more..

Feb 14 (NPR) Host Jennifer Ludden checks in with Maryland doctor Sinnarajah Raguraj, who has just returned from a mission to help tsunami victims in his native Sri Lanka. more..

Feb 14 (AT) Pressure keep on mounting daily on the LTTE for their recalcitrant and appalling highhanded act of continued child conscription as cannon fodders of their armed formations, unmindful of repeated condemnation and appeal to desist by the international community and human rights organizations. more..

Feb 14 (LNP) Saturday's LTTE-led protest in Jaffna had been a deliberate bid to provoke troops, security forces spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake said. For about three hours, LTTE cadres and several civilians had desperately tried to provoke troops and police at several places, particularly at Meesalai, Sarasalai and Puttur. more..

Feb 14 (Hindu) The Japanese Special Representative for Sri Lanka's peace process, Yasushi Akashi, today cautioned the Government and the LTTE against letting go the "enormous opportunity" to find a lasting solution to the decades-long separatist crisis. more..

Feb 14 (LNP) President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday told the UPFA`s main coalition ally JVP to leave the government if it did not wish to remain in the fold. President Kumaratunga said when the government was about to come to an agreement with LTTE leader Prabhakaran, the JVP was threatening to leave the government over a `word` in the agreement. more..

Feb 14 (SAMN) Tension is running high in parts of Polonnaruwa-Welikanda area as Tigers hunt their renegade colleagues responsible for last Monday�s killings on the Polonnaruwa-Batticaloa main supply route. more..

Feb 14 (SAMN) Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera said Sunday that the LTTE was behaving �very maturely�,even though some of its senior members were gunned down this week. more..

Feb 14 (SAMN) Around sixty percent of a 1.8 billion-dollar tsunami reconstruction plan will target LTTE controlled areas of the country, with fisheries and small businesses the main focus, a top official said. more..

Feb 14 (ANN) A team of national and international experts has strongly recommended the setting up of a single-multihazard warning system for Sri Lanka, calling on the country to act now before the memory of the tsunami disaster fades. more..

Feb 14 (TN) One-day workshop for representatives of international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) currently engaged in post tsunami relief and rehabilitation programmes in the Trincomalee district on how to conduct relief work without disturbing the currently prevailing ground situation was held in Trincomalee more..

Feb 14 (TN) Convoy of vehicles joined the Jaffna district transport sector protest march Monday condemning the discrimination shown by the government in providing relief to tsunami victims in coastal areas and the recent killings of LTTE Batticaloa Amparai district political head Mr.Kousalyan and former TNA parliamentarians Mr.A. Chandra Nehru, more..

Feb 14 (LT) A group of about 30, wearing the uniform of Wanni tiger organization, had broken into a tourist resort at Polonnaruwa and ransacked the place saying they were looking for the people who murdered Kaushalyan. They had said they got information that the assassins were hiding in the resort and had searched all the rooms. more..

Feb 14 (AT) Though LTTE death squads had once ruthlessly hacked to death young Buddhist monks in the Buddhist temple in Arantalawa, located in the remote corner of the Eastern province, the same temple has opened wider its doors to those affected by tsunami and the majority of them now housed in the Temple are Tamils. more..

Feb 14 (LBO) Tourist flows to the tsunami struck Paradise Isle are drying up and the tourism authorities are considering revising 2005 targets. January is normally part of the winter tourism peak but January 2005 saw only 38,000 visitors coming to Sri Lanka. more..

Feb 14 (PIS) Japanese special envoy Yasushi Akashi yesterday expressed hope that the opportunity provided by the tsunami would be used by both parties to reach a lasting settlement despite the atmosphere being spoiled by the killing of LTTE eastern political leader E. Kaushalyan. more..

Feb 14 (IL) Japanese special peace envoy Yasushi Akashi has hailed the setting up of the Muslim Peace Secretariat (MPS) as a constructive move in the peace process and urged the parties concerned to make sure that the MPS would function as a strong mechanism to safeguard the rights of the Muslim community. more..

Feb 14 (IB) Sri Lanka was on the verge of a disaster on the Xmas day last year. Not a natural disaster, but a man-made one. War fever in the LTTE-controlled areas of the North and East, which had been whipped up from Prabakaran's Heroes' Day speech on 26 November onwards, reached a peak on the Christmas day. more..

Feb 14 (AFP) The Asian tsunamis washed away much of what drew foreigners to Sri Lanka's beaches, but a coastal tea plantation reputed for making the world's most expensive tea has survived to become an oasis for tourists. more..

Feb 14 (ANN) Ceylinco Insurance (General) now ensures that no disaster is left uncovered with its recent launch of a new natural disaster cover to their range of insurance policies. Ceylinco is one of the first companies in Sri Lanka to introduce insurance policies for protection against natural disasters. more..

Feb 14 (DN) Finance and Planning Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama said there will be no injustice or bias towards any citizen or community in the Government's drive to rebuild the lives of tsunami victims. more..

Feb 14 (AFP) DNA tests have proved a Sri Lankan couple's claim that a baby who survived December's tsunamis is their child, a court announced, ending seven weeks of heartache and drama. more..

Feb 14 (TS) Two hundred thousand people lost their homes in this district. They were the lucky ones. More than 3,500 people perished and that number will only rise as the more than 1,500 missing are either found or declared dead. more..

Feb 14 (Bernama) Japan's special peace envoy Yasushi Akashi ended a five-day visit to Sri Lanka on Sunday, saying that the December tsunami which killed an estimated 40,000 people in Sri Lanka can be made into a great opportunity to end three decades of civil war, more..

Feb 14 (HT) After the tsunami struck its shores on December 26, 2004, there was an unprecedented outpouring of moral support for Sri Lanka from the world over, and the richer nations pledged a whopping US$ 1.5 billion for its rehabilitation and reconstruction. more..

Feb 14 (HT) "Pillaiyaar has answered my prayers! " gushed Junita, the young Sri Lankan Tamil mother, after a DNA test showed that she and her husband, Murugapillai Jayarajah, were the natural parents of four-month-old Abilash. more..

Feb 14 (Xinhua) President Chandrika Kumaratunga has set March 1 as the commencing date for rebuilding damaged infrastructure in the tsunami hit areas. The newspaper quoted President Kumaratunga as saying that a working structure to obtain the contribution from all segment of societies will be announced in due course to get their contribution effectively towards this task. more..

Feb 14 (Yahoo) Murugupillai Jeyarajah, center, and Jenita Jeyarajah, left, confirmed by DNA tests to be the parents of 'Baby 81,' talk to their lawyer S. Manarudeen, right, at their residence in Kalmunai. more..

Feb 14 (TN) The Director of Asian German Sports Exchange Programme (AGSEP) Dr. Dietmar Doering Recently handed over 10 container loads of emergency medical relief supplies, which included school books, toys for mentally traumatized children, blankets, clothing and cooking utensils to be distributed to tsunami affected families more..

Feb 14 (TN) �First they divided us. Then they divided you. Sinhala leaders will always deny our rights. Tamil Muslim unity should be the foundation of your liberation struggle�, said Mr. I.M Ibrahim, secretary of the Mosque Federations of Amparai District, more..

Feb 15 (CI) The future of the picturesque and historical Galle International Stadium as a Test and one-day international venue is at stake following the aftermath of the Boxing Day tsunami disaster. Thilanga Sumathipala, Sri Lanka Cricket's former president was skeptical that the Galle Stadium would remain a Test venue in future. more..

Feb 15 (LBO) Sri Lanka allocates Rs 1 bn to introduce the rest of the world to the island�s unique occult services, ayurveda products and other non-traditional exports. "Small and medium exporters with a turnover of less than Rs 60 mn, with domestic inputs of over 35 percent, are eligible to apply," more..

Feb 15 (TN) Mr. Anton Balasingham told Norwegian facilitators Monday that the government had to take steps to restore confidence in the peace process, in particular by disarming paramilitaries working alongside its armed forces and establish a joint mechanism with the LTTE for post-tsunami aid, sources said. more..