Mar 31 (TN) The Vavuniya High Court Tuesday sentenced an absconding accused, Chelliah Sivaji, 24, to 27 years of rigorous imprisonment for the abduction and rape of an eight years-old girl, and ordered the accused to pay 20,000 rupees as compensation to the victim and 3,000 rupees to the court, more..

Mar 31 (TN) Businesses belonging to Tamils from Jaffna remain closed in Batticaloa, Chenkalady, Kaluwanchikudi, Pandiriuppu and Kalmunai areas as the owners left the area on the orders of renegade commander Karuna said sources in Batticaloa. more..

Mar 31 (TN) The Batticaloa Magistrate Mr.A.J.M.Ajmeer Wednesday ordered remand till April 14 for four persons who are said to be cadres of Karuna, renegade commander of the LTTE when they were produced in court on a report that they were taken into custody for possession of dangerous weapons, legal sources said. more..

Mar 31 (TN) The 106th birthday of the late Tamil leader and the founder of the Federal Party, Mr.S.J.V.Chelvanayakam, falls on Wednesday. Tamils in the country, who still fondly remembering Mr. Chelvanayakam as “Thanthai (father) Chelva,” will celebrate the late leader's birthday Wednesday more..

Mar 31 (LBO) Sri Lanka’s trade deficit for January expanded marginally, despite higher revenues from key exports sectors like apparels and tea, the Central Bank said Wednesday. Trade deficit for January grew US$ 4 mn to US$ 152 mn in 2004, more..

Mar 31 (LBO) Two main parties may find it hard to secure a comfortable lead, as weeks of campaigning comes to an end on Tue, an independent poll reveals. In its last survey to the run up of April 2 polls, independent research firm Org-Marg Smart says the opposition UPFA has a slight edge of 101 seats over the ruling UNF (99 seats). more..

Mar 31 (FA) Sampath Bank will act as cash and cheque collection agent for the German bank's cash management customers. Deutsche Bank has signed a partnership agreement with Sampath Bank in Sri Lanka, increasing its cash management coverage in South Asia. more..

Mar 31 (AFP) Sri Lanka will send spinner Muttiah Muralitharan to Perth to have his action assessed after it was questioned at the weekend. English match referee Chris Broad has reported Muralitharan to the International Cricket Council, believing that he straightens his arm when delivering his doosra more..

Mar 31 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's feuding president and prime minister raced around the island by helicopter on Tuesday in a last bid to convince voters their parties were the best to negotiate peace with Tamil rebels after 20 years of war. more..

Mar 31 (UTHR) The LTTE is being challenged as never before. Its outmoded reliance on violence to maintain political control over a frightened and beleaguered population has worn thin. Tamil politicians, journalists and ordinary members of the public are openly defying the LTTE’s blatant death threats, and more importantly, many are surviving. more..

Mar 31 (AP) Soft-spoken Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe - in a tough election battle against rivals from the party of Sri Lanka's powerful president - is campaigning on his pledge to restore tranquility to this war-scarred tropical island. more..

Mar 31 (NZH) Sri Lanka A slumped to their third consecutive innings defeat by New Zealand A when their five-day match ended more than a day-and-a-half early in Christchurch yesterday. Having trailed by 383 runs on the first innings and having resumed at 70-2, the Sri Lankans collapsed to be all out for 125. more..

Mar 31 (BBC) International Cricket Council president Ehsan Mani has reacted angrily to claims of bias against Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan. Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga believed the spinner was the victim of a conspiracy after his bowling action was reported to the ICC. more..

Mar 31 (TN) Tension and fear gripped Batticaloa town Tuesday evening as Karuna Group cadres ordered thousands of civilians and businessmen of Jaffna who are resident in Batticaloa to leave the eastern district immediately. more..

Mar 31 (TN) The Jaffna High Court Judge, Mr.K.P.S.Varatharajah, Tuesday imposed fine on 39 Indian boatmen who had been indicted for poaching in the Sri Lankan territorial waters. Each accused was ordered to pay a fine of fifty thousand rupees in default to serve five years rigorous imprisonment, which has been suspended for a period of ten years, more..

Mar 31 (TN) “The Elections Commissioner has agreed that voters in LTTE held areas in the northeast would be given an opportunity to exercise their franchise. However, preventing them from voting on the polling day would pose serious problems,” said the EU EOM Chief Observer, Mr.John Cushnahan, more..

Mar 31 (TN) The Kayts Police in Jaffna district Tuesday arrested the absconding suspect Mr.Kanthasamy Jegatheeswaran alias Jegan in the Journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan murder case. The Jaffna Magistrate Mr.R.T.Viknarajah last week issued open warrant on the suspect when he failed to appear in court, legal sources said. more..

Mar 31 (TN) The security of the Batticaloa district, which has witnessed four political murders since the filing of nominations for the forthcoming general election, has been strengthened following the killings of two persons including the TNA candidate Mr.Rajan Sathyamoorthy Tuesday. more..

Mar 31 (TN) EU EOM Chief Observer Mr.John Cushnahan accompanied by EU Sri Lankan delegation head Mr.Wouter Wilton arrived in Batticaloa Tuesday morning and visited the house where the Tamil National Alliance candidate Mr.Rajan Sathyamoorthy and his relative Mr.Kanthan Kanagasabai were killed. more..

Mar 30 (Reuters) A Tamil candidate standing in Sri Lanka's parliamentary elections this week was shot and killed on Tuesday, apparently the victim of a split among the country's Tiger rebels. more..

Mar 30 (AFP) Gunmen have killed an ethnic Tamil candidate in Sri Lanka, marring the end of a lacklustre five-week vote campaign that pointed to a hung parliament and raised fears of factional war, officials said. more..

Mar 30 (Reuters) Sri Lanka’s state-run media challenged election laws in court on Tuesday, a day after the Elections Commission took it over following charges it favoured the president’s party for general election. more..

Mar 30 (BBC) A senior Tamil Tiger leader in Sri Lanka says 1,800 fighters have deserted from Colonel Karuna, the breakaway commander in the east. But a spokesman for the colonel rejected the claim and instead blamed the main faction of the Tigers for the killing of an election candidate. more..

Mar 30 (IL) The decision by the Election Commissioner to appoint a competent authority for the SLBC and SLRC has come under condemnation from the Freedom Polls Watch (FPW). A media statement from the FPW stated yesterday that this was an attempt to stifle the freedom of expression under the cover of a statutory authority. more..

Mar 30 (IL) Bishop Kingsley Swamipillai of Batticaloa-Trincomalee yesterday stressed the importance of avoiding war and destruction particularly in the East, irrespective of race. He stated this in a letter addressed to the media in the wake of an allegedly incorrect statement reported recently. more..

Mar 30 (IL) The LTTE backed Tamil National Alliance members/supporters is alleged to have resorted to bygone issues, and are provoking the civilians with old communal issues, in their desperate bid to gain more votes at the April 2 polls. more..

Mar 30 (NW) The Tamil United Liberation Front, which is the main constituent of the Tamil National Alliance has expressed support to any government that would find a lasting solution to the North East crisis. more..

Mar 30 (NW) As general election draws closer, the LTTE is alleged to have intensified their intimidation campaign against all anti LTTE/TNA groups, who are reportedly carrying out their non-violent election propaganda in the North-East. more..

Mar 30 (NW) With just 48 hours to go for the general elections, the incidence of election violence yesterday rose to 1127 with 66 cases reported during the 24 hours ending last morning. Among the serious incidents reported on Sunday, 23 men suspected to be SLMC supporters were arrested at Addalachenai with petrol bombs, bicycle chains, swords and poles. more..

Mar 30 (DN) President Chandrika Kumaratunga at a special news conference with the Rupavahini Corporation telecast last night claimed the Freedom Alliance was moving with satisfaction and it was in a winning mood as people appeared to have made their decision to bring the Alliance to power. more..

Mar 30 (DM) If the people vote the UNF to office at the upcoming general elections the executive powers of President Chandrika Kumaratunga will become invalid, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told the Daily Mirror. more..

Mar 30 (Reuters) Final campaigning kicked off yesterday in Sri Lanka as the two main parties battled to avoid a possible hung parliament that could imperil efforts to end a 20-year civil war. more..

Mar 30 (Reuters) A splash of motor oil on a monument honouring a Tamil Tiger martyr is a rare sign of dissent in northern Sri Lanka, where the rebels have run things for two decades. The message is clear. Their strong-arm tactics are no longer welcome. more..

Mar 30 (AP) Sri Lanka's political parties were making final attempts to woo voters ahead of Friday's parliamentary elections, following a campaign that has focused on who is best suited to bring an end to decades of civil war with Tamil Tiger rebels. more..

Mar 30 (Hindu) The first phase of campaigning for the April 2 parliamentary election ended today, bringing the curtains down on a high-decibel electronic media offensive in which popular movie songs and images from the past were painted before Sri Lanka's 12 million-strong electorate. more..

Mar 30 (Gulf) President Chandrika Kumaratunga has declared that she would try to convince the Tamil guerrillas to agree to accommodate other political parties during proposed negotiations aimed at ending the Tamil minority ethnic conflict. more..

Mar 30 (Bloomberg) Sri Lankan voters will vote this Friday to end an impasse that was thrust upon them when the nation's president pulled the plug on her archrival, the prime minister. more..

Mar 30 (FA) Sri Lanka secured their place in the semi-finals of the ninth South Asian Federation (SAF) Games football competition with a 1-0 win over Nepal on Monday. Sri Lanka's Mohammad Azmeer Lathif breached Nepal's strong defence to score the only goal in the second half more..

Mar 30 (AP) A 10-member Japanese election observer team arrived today in Colombo to help monitor this week's Sri Lanka's parliamentary elections, which have been marked by violence and fears of vote-rigging. more..

Mar 30 (PRIU) The Ambassador of Switzerland Bernardino Regazzoni and the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka Radhika Coomaraswamy March 26 signed an Agreement providing Rs. 3.8 million to support a programme to combat torture through monitoring places of detention in Sri Lanka. more..

Mar 30 (AFP) Sri Lanka's former captain Arjuna Ranatunga has lashed out at the ICC for bringing Muttiah Muralitharan's action under scrutiny once again. Ranatunga felt the prolific off-spinner was being put under pressure just when he was set to become the highest wicket-taker in Test history. more..

Mar 30 (wsws) The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) strongly condemns the decision by the Sri Lankan election commissioner not to establish polling booths for the voters living in areas of the North and East under the control of the LTTE. more..

Mar 30 (TN) The Liberation Tigers Tuesday said they strongly condemn the killing of Mr. Rajan Sathiyamoorthy, Tamil National Alliance candidate for Batticaloa. “The people of Batticaloa should not to be perturbed by such incidents of violence in the district that create fear. more..

Mar 30 (TN) Nearly six hundred displaced voters of Thennamaravadi, a traditional Tamil village on the northern border of the Trincomalee district located about 73 km from the east port town wiil be voting for the first time after they fled from the village in 1987 due to military operation by the Sri Lanka Army, more..