News stories by Amantha Perera, page 5

MADHU, Sri Lanka, Oct 27 (IPS) - Rising out of a thick forest about 17 km from the nearest main road, the Madhu Church is a symbol of spiritual harmony and tranquility. When the wind blows you hear the leaves rustle. Other times a solemn silence hangs in the air. Old-timers say that once, almost an entire generation ago, the grass grew six feet high in the church compound, and elephants wandered through it.

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka, Oct 11 (IPS) - The kids of Kodikaman, a dusty village straddling the newly laid railway line in Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna District, enjoy a special treat these days.

COLOMBO, Sep 29 (IPS) - The last time there was mud on his village roads was about a year ago, says Murugesu Mohanabavan, a farmer from the village of Karachchi, situated about 300 km north of Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo.

STOCKHOLM, Sep 23 (IPS) - A gift of nature, or a valuable commodity? A human right, or a luxury for the privileged few? Will the agricultural sector or industrial sector be the main consumer of this precious resource? Whatever the answers to these and many more questions, one thing is clear: that water will be one of the defining issues of the coming decade.

BALI, Indonesia, Sep 20 (IPS) - When she talks about the forests in her native Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo, Maridiana Deren's facial expression changes. The calm, almost shy person is transformed into an emotionally charged woman, her fists clench and she stares wide-eyed at whoever is listening to her.

ODDUSUDDAN, Sri Lanka, Aug 24 (IPS) - In this dust bowl of a village deep inside Sri Lanka's former conflict zone, locals will sometimes ask visitors to rub their palms on the ground and watch their skin immediately take on a dark bronze hue, proof of the fertility of the soil.

BALI, Aug 08 (IPS) - Aleta Baun, an Indonesian environmental activist known in her community as Mama Aleta, has a penchant for wearing a colourful scarf on her head, but not for cosmetic reasons.

DHARMAPURAM, Aug 03 (IPS) - Back in the day when the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ran a de-facto state in Sri Lanka's Northern Province, alcohol consumption was closely monitored, and sternly frowned upon.

COLOMBO, Jul 24 (IPS) - Millions still live in poverty and even those who have gained the security of the middle-income bracket could relapse into poverty due to sudden changes to their economic fortunes in South Asia, the latest annual Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) revealed.