News stories by Amantha Perera, page 4

VAVUNIYA, Sri Lanka, Jan 20 (IPS) - In four months' time, Sri Lanka will mark the sixth anniversary of the end of its bloody civil conflict. Ever since government armed forces declared victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on May 19, 2009, the country has savored peace after a generation of war.

MADHU, Sri Lanka, Jan 15 (IPS) - Jessi Jogeswaran, a 20-year-old woman from Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna district, waited over six hours with 18 friends in the sweltering heat just to get a glimpse of Pope Francis on Jan. 14.

COLOMBO, Jan 06 (IPS) - As 14.5 million Sri Lankans prepare to select their next leader, there is growing fear that violence could mar the Jan. 8 elections, billed as the closet electoral contest in the island's history.

COLOMBO, Jan 05 (IPS) - These days, the national greeting in Sri Lanka is a simple question: "So, what do you think?"

Everyone from van drivers waiting to pick kids up from school, to mechanics repairing vehicles, to barbers cutting your hair have only this question on their lips.

KALMUNAI, Sri Lanka, Dec 31 (IPS) - About six months after a massive tsunami slammed the island nation of Sri Lanka on Dec. 26, 2004, large plumes of smoke could be frequently seen snaking skywards from the beach near the village of Sainathimaruthu, just east of Kalmunai town, about 300 km from the capital, Colombo.

COLOMBO, Dec 26 (IPS) - It took just 30 minutes for the killer waves to leave 350,000 dead and half a million displaced. Less than one hour for 100,000 houses to be destroyed and 200,000 people to be stripped of their livelihoods.

YANGON, Nov 21 (IPS) - Myanmar is never out of the news for long. This has been the case since a popular uprising challenged military rule in 1988. For over two decades, the country was featured in mainstream media primarily as one unable to cope with its own internal contradictions, a nation crippled by violence.

COLOMBO, Nov 17 (IPS) - Of the thousands of landslide-prone villages he has visited and worked with, R M S Bandara, a high-ranking official from Sri Lanka's National Building Resources Organisation (NBRO), says only one has made him sit up and take note.

COLOMBO, Nov 02 (IPS) - When early warning systems fail, death comes quickly to unsuspecting victims of natural disasters. It is a reality that millions of Sri Lankans have experienced repeatedly in the last decade, and yet those responsible for preventing human fatalities continue to make the same mistakes.

COLOMBO/BALI, Oct 30 (IPS) - Disregarding the rights of indigenous people to their traditional lands is costing companies millions of dollars each year, and costing communities themselves their lives.