News stories by Amantha Perera, page 3

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka, Aug 30 (IPS) - The new Sri Lankan government that was voted in on Aug. 17 certainly didn't inherit as much baggage as its predecessors did during the nearly 30 years of conflict that gripped this South Asian island nation.

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka, Jun 26 (IPS) - It is an oasis from the scorching heat outside. The three-storey, centrally air-conditioned Cargills Square, a major mall in Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna town, is the latest hangout spot in the former warzone, where everyone from teenagers to families to off-duty military officers converge.

KALPITIYA, Sri Lanka, Jun 17 (IPS) - Weekends and public holidays are deadly for one of Sri Lanka's most delicate ecosystems – that is when the island's 8,815 hectares of mangroves come under threat.

MIRIGAMA, Sri Lanka, May 28 (IPS) - Wathsala Marasinghe, a 33-year-old hailing from the town of Mirigama, just 50 km from Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, once had high hopes that the progressive education and employment policies of this South Asian island nation would work in her favour. Today, she feels differently, believing that "an evil system" has let her down.

COLOMBO, May 08 (IPS) - There has never been any doubt that Nepal is sitting on one of the most seismically active areas in South Asia. The fact that, when the big one struck, damages and deaths would be catastrophic has been known for years.

COLOMBO, Apr 04 (IPS) - Jessi Joygeswaran seems like your typical 23-year-old young woman. She has an infectious smile and laughs a lot when she talks. Like many other young women anywhere in the world, her life is full of dreams.

BALI, Indonesia, Apr 02 (IPS) - The statistics tell the story: in some parts of the world, four times as many women as men die during floods; in some instance women are 14 times more likely to die during natural disasters than men.

BALI, Indonesia, Mar 16 (IPS) - Over the past three decades, 50 percent of the 544,150 square kilometres that comprise Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo, has been taken over by the palm oil industry.

COLOMBO, Feb 25 (IPS) - Weerasinghearachilage Ruwan Rangana had it all planed out last year in September: the big break that would change his life and those of his extended family had finally arrived.

MANNAR, Sri Lanka, Feb 16 (IPS) - It is a hot, steamy day in Sri Lanka's northwestern Mannar District. Mid-day temperatures are reaching 34 degrees Celsius, and the tarred road is practically melting under the sun.