Mar 21 (BBC) The hollowed out shell of St Peter's church lies on the beach in Mullaitivu, in north-eastern Sri Lanka. Just metres from the sea, only the facade remains. The rest was destroyed by December's tsunami. Chandran Siskandaraja used to attend church regularly, from his fishing village just a few kilometres away. more..

Mar 21 (HT) The international community has been rather closely involved in Sri Lanka's bid to find a solution to its long-standing ethnic problem and recover economically from the debilitating effects of a long war and the recent devastation wrought by the tsunami. more..

Mar 21 (PIS) A Canadian Parliamentary Delegation led by Ms. Maria Minna, Minister of International Cooperation of the Canadian Government met Prof. W.A. Wiswa Warnapala, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs at the Foreign Ministry office recently. more..

Mar 21 (BBC) Rikki Clarke was the hero as England A beat Sri Lanka A by five wickets after a stirring run chase in Colombo. Surrey all-rounder Clarke struck an unbeaten 44 off just 27 balls in a stand with Alex Gidman (29 not out) that was worth 62 off just 39 balls. more..

Mar 21 (LM) The SLMC Colombo District Western Provincial Councillor, Mr Shafeek Rajabdeen, JP in a statement to be issued at the meeting of the Western Provincial Council on Tuesday, March 22, said that he will move the objection of the SLMC to the 5% increase on the Business Turnover Tax. more..

Mar 21 (LM) A United Nations Special Envoy for Tsunami recovery, will chair a meeting today evening to study the latest developments in context to Sri Lanka's tsunami recovery process. more..

Mar 21 (RW) World Vision together with World Food Programme and the government of Sri Lanka has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to implement an emergency school feeding programme. The programme will target 171 schools in eight districts affected by the tsunami. more..

Mar 21 (LT) �Myta� virus that has infected coconut plants will bring down the coconut crop drastically says Sri Lanka Coconut Research Institute. As a result of �Myta� virus, the kernel of the coconut gets thinner and the nut too becomes smaller and deformed. more..

Mar 21 (LT) A group of Wanni tiger organization has launched an attack on the members of Karuna Amman�s Eastern faction this morning at a place called Thiruchena in Polonnaruwa at about 6.20 a.m. more..

Mar 21 (LNP) The JVP is planning to involve school children in their ongoing campaign, to pressure the government to reverse its hotly disputed decision to establish private universities and offer degrees through private higher educational institutions. more..

Mar 21 (DN) THE Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry will bring in an Act containing the National Policy on Drugs and Pharmaceutical items in Parliament shortly to ensure a fair deal to the consumer. "This National Policy mainly seeks to ensure that the public could purchase quality and safe drugs at reasonable prices," more..

Mar 21 (AP) Everything was on schedule: the bronze roofing and wooden boards for Sri Lanka's pavilion at the World's Fair arrived at a warehouse on the southern tip of the island nation, ready for shipping. Then came Dec. 26 and a towering tsunami. more..

Mar 21 (AP) Two rival factions of the Tamil Tiger rebels clashed in eastern Sri Lanka on Monday, killing at least two combatants and wounding three, the Sri Lanka military reported. A splinter group broke away from the Tamil Tigers a year ago, and the two factions have frequently clashed, more..

Mar 21 (AFP) Two Tamil Tigers were killed in a clash between rebel factions in eastern Sri Lanka as peace broker Norway scrambled to arrange a confidence-building tsunami aid deal, officials said. Sri Lankan military officials said the main LTTE mounted an attack on a breakaway faction in the east of the island early Monday. more..

Mar 22 (PL) Upcountry industrialists and business community have asked the economic managers to strictly monitor goods traded under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Sri Lanka. They apprehend that the Indian exporters might use this low tariff channel to dump their goods into the Pakistani market. more..

Mar 22 (PD) Ukiah veterinarian Kerry Levin didn't need a school counselor to help her choose a career. "At the age of 4, I knew I wanted to be a vet," she said, describing her calling to help animals as "karmic destiny." more..

Mar 22 (ND) When Kavita Kulandiran sleeps, she dreams of her children. But when she wakes up in the tin hut that is now her home, she remembers. The tsunami that struck on Dec. 26 took her son, Delakshan, 8, and daughter Saduvja, 4, sweeping their small bodies into the nearby jungle or out to sea. more..

Mar 22 (HAI) Kalmunai is a beautiful fishing town in Ampara district, on the eastern shores of Sri Lanka. In the town centre life goes on as usual, and the streets are bustling with traffic and people. But Kalmunai is one of the places worst hit by the tsunami. more..

Mar 22 (BBC) Welgamage Ramani is washing her clothes. She's wrapped in a sarong; her young son stands naked, waiting his turn to be scrubbed. It's a picture of normality, except it's all happening by the roadside. It's now a familiar story: they lost everything in the tsunami; they're living in a tent. more..

Mar 22 (BBC) Government's coalition partner is not against the privatisation of Kanthale Sugar Corporation, a senior lawmaker from JVP said. Trincomalle district MP Jayantha Wijesekara said that the party has prepared a plan to build a new sugar factory in the area instead of trying to save the Corporation, which is up for sale. more..

Mar 22 (LBO) Japan is finalising a US$ 100 mn tsunami soft loan for Sri Lanka�s reconstruction work, expected to come through by mid next month. The soft loan will be over and above US$ 80 mn in emergency grant aid that Japan pledged shortly after the tsunami swept away coastal villages. more..

Mar 22 (BBC) Thirty-two year-old Sinniva takes in a deep breath and surveys his new home in north-eastern Sri Lanka. Row after row of tents stretch before him in the transit camp in Tamil Tiger-controlled Mullaitivu. It is three months since the tsunami struck Sri Lanka and washed away his home and family. more..

Mar 22 (AT) Sri Lanka Army has exposed LTTE�s tactics of prowling on the innocent passengers arriving by air from Colombo to Jaffna and exhorting money by threat and intimidation. Angered air passengers bound for Jaffna have brought those acts of harassment and blackmail to the attention of the police and cecurity forces authorities, more..

Mar 22 (AT) General traders and the public of Galle, a sea coast breezy town located in the South of Sri Lanka, said that they will stage mass demonstration and death-fast if the authorities attempt to remove or demolish the damaged shops or industry buildings which remains intact in the recently imposed buffer zone. more..

Mar 22 (LT) As western international forces are taking stringent efforts in establishing a joint mechanism between GOSL and Tamil Elam tiger terrorists, Patriotic National Movement (PNM) has decided to take stern action to oppose such a move. more..

Mar 22 (LT) The JVP has written to the President about the feeling that is going around the county about privatization of education and state institutes. The letter points out that though the UGC has been endowed with legal right to allow private institutes to issue degrees, more..

Mar 22 (AR) An East Valley group that collected and shipped toys and clothing for tsunami victims in Sri Lanka says the 20-foot container has been held up in port by government bureaucracy, and it now fears that the items may never reach survivors. more..

Mar 22 (AT) Sri Lanka's main political opposition, United National Party has raised contentious issues regarding JVP and the UPFA government during a series of public rallies and the media briefings, held throughout last week in Colombo and other areas in the country. more..

Mar 22 (LNP) The Police Special Task Force is on the trail of 12 Sinhalese men, in the Eastern Province, who are believed to have become informants of the LTTE, STF intelligence sources said. Among them some Sinhalese married to Tamil women in the areas bordering the LTTE held territory. more..

Mar 22 (SAMN) Due a number of factors, the tsunami relief cargo clearance procedure has hit a snag with around 100 containers stuck in port and not claimed by anybody, and Customs authorities are also lamenting the lack of cargo examination space within the Colombo Harbour. more..

Mar 22 (SAMN) Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister Chandrasena Wijesinghe addressing the Ministerial Meeting on Fisheries at the FAO, Rome on March 12 said the Government has decided to prepare a National Fisheries Policy to improve the fisheries sector while maintaining resources sustainability. more..

Mar 22 (TN) Four-day workshop to find solution to problems preventing several thousands of people who lost their houses in the northeast province in the two-decade-old war, from obtaining financial assistance from World Bank (WB) funded North East Housing Reconstruction Programme (NEHRP) began Monday. more..

Mar 22 (TN) Hundreds of residents of Islets in the Jaffna district Monday held a demonstration in front of the Velanai divisional secretariat demanding that they should be provided with dry ration without interruption instead of taking steps to suspend it, civil sources said. more..

Mar 22 (TN) "Tamil media journalists still feel insecure in the ceasefire situation and also they are facing discrimination language wise", said Mr.R.Barathi, General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA) in his annual report tabled at the annual general meeting of the SLTMA held during the weekend in Colombo. more..

Mar 22 (TN) Mr. Anton Balasingham Tuesday dismissed claims in a Sri Lankan newspaper that British authorities had pressured him to secure the release of a Tamil resident of the UK which the paper also claimed had been detained by the LTTE in northern Sri Lanka. more..

Mar 22 (SLA) A tsunami affected Tamil fisherman who was returning from VAKARAI area after collecting tsunami aid has been assaulted and his money has been robbed by the LTTE at the LTTE roadblock in the general un-cleared area of PANICHCHANKERNI on 21 March 2005 around 8.20 a.m. more..

Mar 22 (SLA) An LTTE attempt to abduct a seventeen year old boy from the general area of AKKARAIPATTU for conscription has been foiled when the boy escaped the LTTE arrest and ran to the nearest Special Task Force (STF) camp for protection on 21 March 2005 around 5.00 p.m. more..

Mar 22 (SLA) Air passengers bound for Jaffna, angered due to continuing LTTE orchestrated moves to extort money from them, no sooner than they land in Jaffna, have brought those acts of harassment to the attention of the Police and Security Forces authorities, seeking Police escort. more..

Mar 22 (LBO) Despite an upsurge in global oil prices, Sri Lanka's trade deficit narrowed to its lowest point in January, as lower imports of textiles, diamonds, electrical equipment and building materials took the pressure of the Exchequer. more..

Mar 22 (CI) Stan Nel, the Sri Lanka A coach, has blasted some of his players, questioning their commitment and accusing them of "indifference" to defeat after they lost their second consecutive game in the ongoing triangular tournament also involving the A teams of England and Pakistan. more..

Mar 22 (wsws) The Sri Lankan government has imposed drastic funding cuts to public hospitals and health services for the payment of overtime or extra duty allowances. The decision has not been publicly announced, but was leaked to the media in late January. more..

Mar 22 (DT) Southpaw opener Nasir Jamshed hammered a brilliant double hundred as Pakistan-Sri Lanka first Youth Test ended in a draw at the Quaid-e-Azam Park, Steel Township on Monday. Talented batsman Nasir, overnight 115, hit 28 boundaries in his 204 before being trapped lbw by leg spinner Rupasinghe. more..

Mar 22 (LM) Mr. Segulebbe Razeek (43) of Oddamavadi was killed by alleged LTTE cadres in Meeravodai. His daughter was critically injured in the shooting incident yesterday(21'st) around 9.30 in the evening. more..

Mar 22 (LM) Despite the Muslim community being the most affected in the Tidal Waves that struck the nation, where 60% of the damage and over 50% of the total deaths are of Muslims, neither the GOSL nor the LTTE, who are involved in a series of meetings with the mediation of the Norwegian facilitators, have so far considered the inclusion of Muslims in the discussions or in the proposed Joint Mechanism. more..

Mar 22 (LM) Certain events occur without any warning and the effects are so tragic and disastrous that we call them �landmarks' in a nation's historical timeline. One such impact-making landmark was the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York, on the 9th of September 2001, which we often refer to as 9/11. more..

Mar 22 (TP) A visiting Japanese investigation team on Sunday said that several families were still living in tents despite the construction of many temporary houses. Tatsuo Hamaguchi who headed the investigation team on the Indian Ocean Disaster insisted that more temporary houses should be built apart from setting up new townships. more..

Mar 22 (TP) The Transport Ministry will shortly commence a feasibility study on the construction of a railway line to the country�s aviation hub, the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA). The airport will be only 20 minutes away when the express rail link opens, the Daily News reported. more..

Mar 22 (IPS) The Sri Lankan capital's weekly open-air art market comes alive amidst an odd set of neighbours. It's not unusual to see a mahout tend to a tusker about 10 meters from where artists sell their work. more..

Mar 22 (SLBC) The government has taken steps to recruit employees into public service. The relevant gazette notifications, advertisements in daily and weekend newspapers will be published accordingly. The programme is implemented simultaneously to the provision of employment to graduates. more..

Mar 22 (AP) Leading a troupe of 30 clowns, Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams _ an American physician who mixes humor with healing _ visited on Tuesday a southern Sri Lankan town devastated by the December tsunami. more..