A private Buddhist shrine in Nepal that preserves the oldest surviving facade in Kathmandu valley will get a touch of polish, thanks to a U.S. fundraiser. For the restoration of Yetkha Agam that is still actively worshipped, the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust (KVPT) organised a reception and exhibition here. Erich G. Theophile, executive director of KVPT, told IANS they hoped to raise $20,000 from the benefit for the project that is estimated to cost $33,000. Over the last 10 years, KVPT has rescued over a dozen significant monuments, including such 17th century shrines as the Radha Krishna temple, the Patukva Agache and the Lakhe Agache, the 18th century Kulihma Narayan, and the 19th century Kwalkhu Pati - all in Nepal.

International attention on Iraq will not mean aid to Sri Lanka, trying to end two decades of civil war, will suffer, officials and diplomats said. A meeting in Washington on Monday hosted by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage showed the high-level support behind the peace process despite the Iraq war and recent sea clashes in Sri Lanka, they said. Several big aid packages to Sri Lanka have already been set, with the World Bank announcing $800 million worth of credit last week and the International Monetary Fund due to announce $560 million in loans next week. "As long as progress continues here, Sri Lanka will not be forgotten no matter what else is going on in the world," U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Ashley Wills told Reuters. The meeting will bring together about 30 countries and two dozen international organisations to plan a common strategy for a donors' conference in June in Japan designed to rebuild war-hit and other areas of the Indian Ocean nation.

The U.S. administration has made it clear that Sri Lanka's Tamil guerrillas will remain on its terror list until the rebels give up terrorism "in word and in deed". But administration officials say the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) could be removed from the list of terrorist organisations if all went well with the Norwegian-brokered peace process in Sri Lanka. Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage told Sri Lankan cabinet minister Milinda Moragoda Thursday that the U.S. would consider removing the LTTE from its list of foreign terrorist groups only after that group renounced terrorism "in word and in deed".