The U.N. Children's Fund made the call ahead of peace talks next week in Geneva between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

While the government has never been accused of child recruitment, the LTTE has been under heavy fire on this score from UNICEF as well as other international agencies.

UNICEF called on both sides to reaffirm their commitment to the ceasefire agreement and ''to ensure that the protection of children affected by the crisis is at the center of the upcoming talks in Geneva.''

''Of particular importance remains the unresolved situation of child recruitment, which led UNICEF to once again appeal to the LTTE to cease the recruitment of children and release all children within its ranks,'' the statement said.

''While recruitment of children in the last six months declined to an average of 43 a month, only 79 children were released and reunited with their families during the same period,'' said JoAnna VanGerpen, UNICEF representative in Sri Lanka.

The statement noted that since January 2002, UNICEF has recorded 5,368 cases of reported child recruitment in Sri Lanka.

Discuss this story Published: Tue Feb 14 09:03:14 EST 2006

The expressway which is set to complete construction by 2007 will see an average speed limit of between 80 kilometres to 110 kilometres per hour.

Already the Government has signed a memorandum of Understanding with the Metallurgical Construction Corporation (MCC), a Chinese company, to complete the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway.

"The 26-km Expressway was designed more than a decade ago and left abandoned for many years due to funding problems. At present 35% of the work has been done and to complete the balance the Government will raise a soft loan of US$ 200 million from the Chinese Government," Highways Ministry Secretary Sarath Amarasekera said.

The Chinese Government has principally agreed to provide a loan for this project.

The main objectives of this project is to create a speedier link between Colombo and Katunayake (International Airport), Serve the traffic to and from the Northern part of the island, Link with the rapid industrial expansion in the area and encourage outward migration of people living under congested conditions in and around Colombo.

Discuss this story Published: Tue Feb 14 11:27:35 EST 2006

The new Website of the Parliament is developed as part of the Parliament's modernization programme, which aims at making its legislative, representative, and oversight functions more effective and efficient.

The Website will offer current information on parliamentary proceedings and activities including important documents such as Hansard, Order Paper (agenda of the Parliament for the day), Order Book (Notices for future activities), Parliamentary Calendar, Published Reports of Committees etc.

The Members of Parliament will have an exclusive domain where each Member will be provided with information relevant to him/her. Through the public domain members of the public will be provided with the opportunity to communicate with the Parliament Information Service through the website.

The Directory of Members will provide the public with contact particulars enabling them to communicate with their Members with ease. It is expected that the website will provide the opportunity to enhance the participation of the public in the democratic process there by strengthening the public confidence in democratic institutions and democratic governance.

The development of the new website for Parliament was sponsored by the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka through its e-Sri Lanka Project launched with the assistance of the World Bank.

Discuss this story Published: Tue Feb 14 11:38:29 EST 2006