Online edition of Sunday Observer

The Golden Girl of Asia shows her Golds to the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Mrs. Maithri Wickremesinghe and Sports Minister Johnston Fernando.

The fastest woman in Asia receiving spectator applause at the Asian Athletic Championships.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharaf visits the Prime Minister at Temple Trees.

Chief peace negotiators cementing first peace talks in Sattahip, Thailand - Minister of Constitutional Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris and Dr. Anton Balasingham of the LTTE.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at peace parley.

Happy once again...

The moment of return - Prisoner exchange at Omanthai.

Back in Sri Lanka tourists basking in tropical greenery.

The Premier at Nallur Kovil, Jaffna, flanked by Defence Minister Tilak Marapana and Minister Jayalath Jayawardena.

Parched earth cracks in agony - Coastal Belt droughts.

Mutiny on road ending in devastation.

“I want peace for my country”, says Anoja de Mel, the Sri Lankan lass who reached the Top Ten of Miss Tourism International Beauty Pageant.

Injured colleagues pay their respects to the murdered student,O.V. Samantha of Sri Jayawardenapura University .

Best bowler of all time - Spinning wizard, Muthiah Muralitharan

A message in melody - “Sri Lanka is a great country to come to” - UB-40 sang for peace in the country’s biggest musical event in recent history.

For years to come, Sri Lankans will remember the out-going year as one which sealed the ebbing of Asia's longest-running guerilla war, put a stop to city bombs and reversed a crashing economy.

The process begun with the unilateral truce by the LTTE last Christmas eve and the subsequent MoU between the Government and the LTTE and scored for the United National Front its second mandate from the people at the March mini-elections.

The historic visit of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to Jaffna gave momentum to forging ties among the North, the East and South. Within months, the Kandy-Jaffna A-9 highway was open to passenger traffic, bringing in a flood of Pada Yathras and peace-hailing visitors to the North.

Criminal Defamation Laws were abolished and welcomed by all as a progressive step towards fostering a free media. In what was a first for a local Head of State, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe met President George Bush in the USA, tempering a stronger-muscled base to raise peace and economy.

The pathos of peace talks were most visible at the prisoner swap in Omanthai where seven government military and 13 Tiger personnel emerged from no-man's land between the Army and LTTE frontlines to join their colleagues once again.

Which peace was somewhat consolidated in Oslo, Norway, was braced with the entry of dollar-pledges from international donors to rebuild the war-ravaged North and East. Bolster came from a zealously anti-terrorist USA, the European Union, Japan and close neighbour India.

Eye-witness accounts of sighting UFO which kept the nation wondering about life in space fizzled out to oblivion.

Tourism bounced back with a resounding "T". The trickle became an effervescent bubble, with the regional traveller from the South Pacific and China joining the tradition-bound European. Trade pacts forged with the USA and Pakistan, climaxed with the Prime Minister's call for a free trade zone of Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Thailand and Sri Lanka. VAT assailed trade, evicting GST and NDL. Petroleum was liberalised, among other moves for a healthier and more competitive economy. In a shock move, Pramuka Bank was liquidated amidst disclosures of unsound practices.

Miss Tourism International, which was the country's first international beauty pageant since the peace moves, was the first buzzer to the world, "We are a safe country." Which the world greats of reggae, UB 40"s mega concert super-cemented at Kettarama. Colombo basked in a month of Christmas festivities and promotions in December, boosting economy and hospitality industries.

Prolonged droughts in the Coastal Belt and Raja Rata dried up irrigation reservoirs and withered agro-based lives. Yet, with rains and more lands in conflict-free Northern East turning to paddy, the country now awaits a bumper harvest for Maha.

Earthslips in the up-country. Floods in cities. The newest flood saga comes from Batticaloa, marking a quarter-century after the last cyclone, and marooning nearly one lakh of people.

A munity raged on motorways. Motor demons were a major killer, the country recording an unprecedented number of road accidents and private bus and lorry drivers named as prime culprits.

Climatic change became the environmental topic of the year and Dengue raised its killer-head mid year. Schools became its prime target. A massive clean-up drive was launched in schools and municipality areas.

Suicides declined. Devil's brew, drug and smoke related deaths recorded an increase. By mid-year, the country was once again illumined with light, after combating for nights on end with long-hauled electricity cuts. Buttressed by rains and the commissioning of a new thermal plant at Kelani Tissa. Upper Kotmale project still on the shelf.

Surprisingly, though peace-efforts dominated politics, violence was a frequent instigator in schools and universities. First, a furore on whether the universities were going to be privatised which the Ministry of Higher Education rebutted. The Z-score of admission to universities was another bone of contention.

Ragging and university violence became a heated national issue after a group of students of Sri Jayawardenapura University allegedly killed another student for his anti-ragging stance. The year also witnessed the country's first violent clashes between school students in the recent history. Knifing among students gained notoriety as the first death of a student knifed by other students in a tuition-class skirmish came to light. Examination centres became hubs of student violence.

In sports, we won and lost. Wisden, the bible of cricket, named off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan as the best ever Test bowler. Local athletes flopped at Commonwealth Games but Susanthika Jayasinghe showed her mettle by winning Golds in 100m and 200m in the 14th Asian Athletic Championships in Colombo.

The Sri Lankan flag flew high at Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, with Susanthika becoming the fastest-ever-woman in Games' 50-year history in a record-breaking 100m run. The other Gold went to Damayanthi Dharsha for her 400m run. Sri Lanka floundered in test cricket but shared the ICC Trophy with India.

Mar 30- Britain's favourite Granny, the Queen Mother, dies and "Lilibet" of England loses her sister, Princess Margaret, and mother within months.

May 6- The world's most famous political prisoner, Myanmar's Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Ki is released from house arrest by the ruling Military Junta.

May 17- Body found in Karachchi, of American journalist, Daniel Pearle, kidnapped and murdered by a British-born Islamic militant, Sheikh Omar.

June 30- Brazil wins its fifth World Cup in Yokohama and its top scorer, Ronaldo is named the FIFA World Player of the Year.

July 25- A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, India's 11th President assumes office as the first Muslim and the first scientist to do so and as the first bachelor to enter Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Aug- India and Pakistan edge closer to a nuclear war over disputed Kashmir but restrained as a UN Peace Convoy intervenes.

Sep 21- Israeli Army surrounds head quarters of Palestinian Leader Yassar Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Sep- Johannesburg Earth Summit on Sustainable Development, deemed "a failure" for failing to reach a consensus on 14 items.

Oct 12- A bomb blows apart a night club, killing over 180, in Indonesian island, Bali.

Oct 18- A bomb explodes in a bus in Manila, Phillipines. More explosions follow.

Nov 7- A new government come into power in Indian-administered Kashmir. New Chief Minister-designate Mufti Mohammed Sayeed seen as a fresh hope in resolving conflicts of the anti-Indian insurgency.

Nov 22- Miss World pageant ordered out of Abuja, Nigerian capital, to London after riots kill nearly 100, in outrage over a comment made on Prophet Mohamed.

Dec 9- Body of JU(U) leader and former Minister H. Nagappa, kidnapped by India's most wanted bandit Koose Muniswamy Veerappan, recovered in Chamarajnagar, Bangalore.

Dec 21- German Composer, Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony joins United Nation's World Heritage list.

Dec 21- War looms large in the Gulf as the USA accuses Iraq of "material breach" of UN Security Resolution 1441 in failing to declare illegal weaponry.

Dec 21- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wins a stunning victory in Gujarat of West India, in a triumph of Hindu fundamentalism as against pluralism and multi-culturalism.