Jan 3 (BBC) Police have seized documents from the offices of Sri Lanka Cricket as part of an ongoing passport fraud inquiry. "We conducted a raid in connection with some alleged illegal transactions of the cricket board," police spokesman Nimal Kulatanga commented. more..

Jan 3 (AP) Like their ancestors who worked for British tea baron Sir Thomas Lipton, the 200 workers at the Dambatene tea plantation have spent their lives toiling in the lush fields that sprawl over this tropical island off the southern tip of India. more..

Jan 3 (DN) The National Education Commission (NEC) in a document outlining its policy proposals to the Government has recommended that the existing 1939 Education Act should be replaced with a new development oriented, simple and broadbased Act to meet current challenges. more..

Jan 3 (Gulf) The tourism industry, which has become an integral part of the island's economy during the past three decades, continues to set new records despite some gloomy forecasts. The projected figure for last year was 500,000 visitors and by the end of November this figure had reached 442,920, more..

Jan 3 (DM) The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission has assured Jaffna Security Forces Commander Susil Chandrapala that it would undertake a full-scale investigation into a death threat allegedly made by an LTTE leader in violation of the cease-fire agreement, military sources said. more..

Jan 3 (CI) The Sri Lankan selectors are expected to name a 20-man training squad, and decide on the captaincy for Australia's tour of Sri Lanka by mid-January. Australia are due to play five one-dayers and three Test matches during a six-week tour in February and March. more..

Jan 4 (TN) Hindu priests in Jaffna have appealed to India’s Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that his government should change its stand on the Tamils in the northeast and should fully contribute to the process of achieving their rights, a spokesman for their body told TamilNet Saturday. more..

Jan 4 (TN) Thondamannar lagoon sluice gate which was built to prevent sea water entering the villages of Karaveddy, Mandan, Kapputhoo, Udupiddy, Velvety, Kerudavil and Thondamannar and which was blown off in 1985 by the Sri Lanka Army is to be rebuilt by the Department of Irrigation, sources said. more..

Jan 4 (TN) The fourth death anniversary of Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam, leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), who was gunned down in Wellawatte, Colombo, in 1999, is to be observed on January 5, Monday, in the NorthEast province, sources said. more..

Jan 4 (Dawn) The leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Mr Rauff Hakeem, in an interview with Dawn on Saturday, condemned the statement made by LTTE leader S.P. Thamilselvan that the proposed LTTE-SLMC memorandum of understanding had been cancelled. more..

Jan 4 (AP) Police have raided Sri Lanka's cricket headquarters, seizing accounts and other documents as part of an investigation into allegations that the country's top cricket official altered a passport for an alleged gangster, an investigator said Saturday. more..

Jan 4 (IL) Sixty seven employees of the Independent Television Network have been dismissed from service by the present administrative authority with effect from yesterday, according to a statement issued by these employees. more..

Jan 4 (IL) A top Buddhist prelate yesterday expressed fears that the peace process might suffer if the President and the Prime Minister did not come together soon, in a national consensus. more..

Jan 4 (IL) The Finance Ministry yesterday said the proposed salary increase to the public servants would take effect from this month. The General Treasury has taken action to implement the salary increase as proposed by the Budget for the public servants. more..

Jan 4 (TN) Key officials of SLMC met Saturday night at SLMC Head Quarters in Colombo to discuss SLMC's version of proposals for Interim Administrative Structure for NorthEast and to obtain formal acceptance by SLMC' Special Political Division, sources said. more..

Jan 4 (TN) TamilNet publishes the relevant parts of the speech by Government Agent of Jaffna at a meeting in Chavakachcheri on 27 December 2003 where he asserted that the Sri Lankan government “did not spend a red cent” on rehabilitation in the northern peninsula in the last two years. more..

Jan 4 (AP) President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Sunday declared that she would work with her divided government to push forward a stalled peace process with Tamil rebels and bring an end to her country's 20-year civil war. more..

Jan 4 (DG) Sri Lanka on Sunday said the reduction of tension between India and Pakistan has provided renewed impetus to regional Association for economic development. more..

Jan 4 (SL) With the Christmas and new year festivities over, both President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were setting the stage for a make or break political confrontation that would in all probability climax in a general election. more..

Jan 4 (SL) Two parliamentarians of the SLFP are collecting signatures for a petition to be presented to President Chandrika Kumaratunga urging her not to form an alliance with the Marxist JVP without consulting the party membership. more..

Jan 4 (Gulf) The Marxist JVP has issued an ultimatum to President Chandrika Kumaratunga to finalise a Memorandum of Understanding between the two sides, and warned that it would continue on its own if they fail to reach an agreement before the end of the month. more..

Jan 4 (Reuters) US Secretary of State Colin Powell has urged Sri Lanka’s president and prime minister to end their feud, diplomats said on Sunday, pressuring the two to come to an agreement and resume a peace bid with Tamil Tiger rebels. more..

Jan 4 (CO) Members of the All-Fishermen's Federation today went on a strike to protest against the Sri Lankan authorities not releasing 62 mechanised boats, 18 country boats and fishermen for several years. more..

Jan 4 (HT) President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, is unlikely to listen to the United States if the latter is seen as being "partisan" in its interventions to resolve the conflict between her and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe over the Defence portfolio. more..

Jan 4 (UNI) President Chandrika Kumaratunga hailed vision and courage of Indian and Pakistani leaders in taking a major initiative to resolve their bilateral issues and said it had given "us a great cause of hope for the future of SAARC." more..

Jan 4 (PSL) It gives me great pleasure to be present here, in this beautiful city of Islamabad, to attend the 12th SAARC Summit. I avail myself of this opportunity to thank His Excellency President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Jamali and the Government of Pakistan for the warm welcome and the generous hospitality that my delegation and I have been privileged to receive. more..

Jan 4 (IANS) Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga said Sunday that her differences with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe would not mar the country's peace prospects with Tamil guerrillas. more..

Jan 4 (Xinhua) President Chandrika Kumaratunga is expected to invite her arch political rival Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for another round of talks as early as possible in a bid to end the current political crisis, the official Sunday Observer said. more..

Jan 4 (SO) The government in its bid to introduce speedy legislation to halt unethical conversions is seeking multi-religious co-operation and has asked Hindu, Christian, Muslim and Buddhist religious dignitaries for their views and suggestions to formulate the necessary laws. more..

Jan 4 (AT) Sri Lanka’s leading Sinhala language weekly, the Irida Divaina, published by the Upali newspaper group quoting unnamed French military experts visiting security forces in Sri Lanka said that the LTTE has ordered Cluster Bombs, to be added to their deadly arsenal in the preparation of war against the Sri Lanka government. more..

Jan 5 (TN) Members of SLMM said that the bunker in Pullumalai, which the Sri Lanka Army alleged was a violation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by the Liberation Tigers, is in a closed state, security sources said. more..

Jan 5 (TN) Two youth were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in two separate incidents in Vavuniya Sunday. One of them, identified as Mr. Balasubramaniam Ajanthan, 25, by his wife, was shot dead around 11.15 a.m. in Pattakaadu, an outer suburb of the northern border town. more..

Jan 5 (TN) 'The Tamil people will have to exercise their right to self determination and secede if the political impasse in Colombo were to continue' the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, the oldest Tamil party in Sri Lanka, declared at its annual convention in Jaffna town Sunday. more..

Jan 5 (LT) The inaugural session of the National Executive Council of the Patriotic National Movement was held today (4th January) at 10.00 a.m. at BMICH. At the invitation of the founding organizing committee the following intellectuals too participated at the sessions. more..

Jan 5 (DN) Learning the Tamil and English languages will never hamper the Sinhala language. The 66,000 strong police force has only 600 Tamil-speaking officers. This is inadequate for daily work, especially in the North and East, said Police Higher Training DIG Gunasena Thenabadu. more..

Jan 5 (AFP) Sri Lanka’s state-run railways announced yesterday they would be increasing fares by as much as 60 per cent in a bid to reduce losses. The railway authority said the rise would be effective from yesterday midnight, adding a previous 25 per cent increase imposed nine years ago had not helped to reduce losses. more..

Jan 5 (AP) While the Buddhist-majority Sri Lankan government prepares to enact an anticonversion law, people of this island nation have begun debating on religious freedom. more..

Jan 5 (DM) Amidst claims and counter claims of an alleged secret swearing-in of President Chandrika Kumaratunga for the second time after the last Presidential election in December 1999, the President is to make an official statement regarding the matter soon, more..

Jan 5 (TN) More than a thousand patients are seeking treatment daily at the outpatient clinic of the Kaluwanchikudy hospital in the Batticaloa district, and with a severe shortage of medicine at the hospital, poor patients who cannot afford to buy drugs are facing a serious crisis, more..

Jan 5 (AT) Ranil Wickremesinghe’s cabinet Minister, Periyasamy Chandrasekaran is facilitating guerilla training to Tamil youths of Indian origin from the luxuriant tea plantations of Sri Lanka’s central hills by the country’s Northern separatists, the LTTE, alleges a Tamil political party opposed to the rebel outfit. more..

Jan 5 (AT) Only days after the UNF government gave a written pledge to the protesting Buddhist monks who were performing a fast unto death demanding new laws to stop "unethical and immoral" religious conversions of Buddhists into Fundamentalist Christianity more..

Jan 5 (LBO) Sri Lanka Telecom is asking the government to sell the balance 49.5 percent it owns in the firm in small parcels through an international listing. Last October, the government said it hopes to sell a further stake in the telco operator and is presently exploring various exit options. more..

Jan 5 (LBO) The Welikada prison and its 7,000 inmates will relocate elsewhere to make room for Sri Lanka Telecom’s expansion plans into the business of call centre outsourcing. “The Telecom City project has already got approval as a national project and the prison will be relocated to six different places that we have identified,” more..

Jan 5 (LBO) The Colombo Stock Exchange’s debt trading system is likely to take off this month, giving smalltime investors closer access to the government debt market. Seylan Merchant Bank, who became the first of the five members to get a licence, says they plan to roll out operations this month. more..

Jan 5 (SLA) An unidentified gunman has shot dead a man in a three wheeler at close range on Sunday (4) night around 7.30 while it was traveling in the general area of 5th MILE POST at PANDARIKULAM, about 3 km west of VAVUNIYA town. more..

Jan 5 (SLA) An unidentified gunman has gunned down a twenty-five year old Tamil youngster at close range who was on a bicycle in the general area close to the HINDU KOVIL at PATTAKADU in VEPPANKULAM on 04 January 2004 around 10.00 a.m. more..

Jan 5 (SLA) A Muslim driver transporting cattle from WELIKANDA towards KALMUNAI in a lorry, who refused to pay ransom to LTTE, has been penalized by LTTE after snatching his licence issued for cattle transportation on 03 January 2004 around 12.20 p.m. more..

Jan 5 (SLA) An LTTE cadre, identified as KANNAN has threatened a civilian with death on 04 January 2004 when the victim with three others refused LTTE attempt to check the three-wheeler in which they traveled while they were passing the general area of VAIRAWAN KOVIL at TUPPALAI, KATTUWAN. more..

Jan 5 (SLA) One of the three youngsters, who fled THORABORA LTTE camp in THOPPIGALA and surrendered to KANDEGAMA Police post seeking protection, was handed over to his mother on 04 January 2004 on a ruling given by the Court. more..

Jan 5 (WSWS) Washington last week publicly intervened in the two-month political crisis in Sri Lanka with a blunt message that it will not tolerate a continuation of the standoff between the president and the government. more..