Nov 29 (Hindu) In a move towards a consensual approach to conflict resolution, the President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, today mooted the formation of a Joint Peace Council (JPC) to be co-chaired by her and the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, to "oversee and manage" the peace process. more..

Nov 29 (AP) Police said Saturday they have busted Sri Lanka's top drug-trafficking ring with the arrest of three people, including the suspected boss. Police withheld the name of the alleged gang leader, but said he has been wanted for the past 10 years and was arrested on Friday during an undercover operation in the capital, Colombo. more..

Nov 29 (DM) The People's Alliance said yesterday it was still studying the LTTE warning of separation unless majority Sinhalese politicians ended their bitter power struggle and revived a Norwegian-backed peace bid. more..

Nov 29 (Gulf) Political uncertainty almost overshadowed last week's budget proposals which are now being discussed in the island's parliament. These proposals initially planned for announcement on November 12, were announced on November 19 when the parliament, suspended by President Chandrika Kumaratunga on November 4, was summoned after a two week break. more..

Nov 29 (Gulf) Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga's party has reacted cautiously to Tamil Tigers' chief Velupillai Prabhakaran's warning of separation unless majority Sinhalese politicians ended their bitter power struggle and revived a Norwegian-backed peace bid. more..

Nov 29 (7Sport) Sri Lanka must win all the three tests against England starting next week to overtake the tourists in International Cricket Council's rating, the world's cricket governing body said Friday. more..

Nov 29 (CI) I have come to know from the Media this morning that the Attorney General had issued a letter directing that I be taken into custody and produced in court. To my knowledge there is no order from any court, but only a letter issued by the Attorney General, which is an executive action. more..

Nov 29 (CI) Sri Lanka's attorney-general has ordered the arrest of Thilanga Sumathipala, the cricket-board president and the chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom, for alleged passport fraud, according to newspaper reports on Saturday. more..

Nov 29 (CI) Sri Lanka's president has offered her rival prime minister a role in the Defence Ministry, state media reported on Saturday, but the government said her proposal had only complicated efforts to resolve the political crisis. more..

Nov 29 (AP) President Chandrika Kumaratunga has offered to let her rival prime minister nominate a minister to help coordinate peace talks with Tamil rebels in a bid to resolve a political standoff that has jeopardized efforts to end Sri Lanka's civil war. more..

Nov 29 (PTI) The Sri Lankan Government today rejected a power-sharing offer made by its President in a bid to end their bitter stand-off that has undermined the fragile peace process. more..

Nov 29 (AFP) Sri Lanka's beleaguered government rejected a power-sharing plan from a hostile president, continuing a political power struggle and casting new doubts over the peace process with Tamil rebels. more..

Nov 29 (WSWS) The Sri Lankan government presented its budget last week under conditions of an acute political crisis triggered by President Chandrika Kumaratunga�s autocratic moves in early November, including the suspension of parliament. more..

Nov 29 (Island) PA Spokesman Dr. Sarath Amunugama yesterday told the media that following strong protests from the opposition, the government, forced to face the stark realities, has considered to make concessions to bring down their cost of living. more..

Nov 29 (DN) Minister Assisting Vanni Rehabilitation Noordeen Mashoor, expressed concern over the delays of certain projects and stressed the importance of expediting the speedy completion of projects before the year end. more..

Nov 29 (Reuters) England batsman Graham Thorpe aims to relive one of his greatest achievements when the first test against Sri Lanka starts on Tuesday. Thorpe's nerveless batting was crucial to England's success on their last tour of Sri Lanka in 2001. more..

Nov 29 (TN) President, Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge, Saturday instructed the acting Inspector General of Police, Mr.Indra de Silva, to beef up security measures in the Trincomalee district and launch immediate investigation into the killings of three Muslims and other incidents that had taken place recently in the district, more..

Nov 29 (PTI) A sparkling 111 by Ian Daniel and half century by J Mubarak helped Sri Lanka 'A' pile up 255 for three on the opening day of the four-day match against India 'A' being played at the Nehru Stadium in Pune on Saturday. more..

Nov 29 (TN) Prime Minister, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, said Saturday evening that all the Sinhalese living in the south are not racists and only a handful of them are opposing the current peace efforts. more..

Nov 30 (NIP) SLMC leader and Shipping Minister Rauff Hakeem on Saturday expressed his deep concern over the "trajectory" of the two-year-old peace process in his country and slammed the LTTE for piling up miseries on the Muslims. more..

Nov 30 (SL) While President was pushing the government last week for a compromise formula to break the political deadlock caused by her takeover of three ministries that led to the peace process being stalled, the JVP was equally pressurising the People�s Alliance to forge an alliance immediately and go for elections. more..

Nov 30 (SL) Talks between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe conducted through a four member officials committee to break the political deadlock following the President's take over of three ministries have crashed. more..

Nov 30 (HT) Lakshman Kadirgamar of Sri Lanka, who is believed to have a good chance of winning the election for the post of Commmonwealth Secretary General early next month, has ambitious plans to make the 52-nation group of former British colonies, a vibrant one, well equipped to take on the challenges of the emerging world. more..

Nov 30 (ANI) Cricketers playing international matches over the next few days will be wearing red ribbons as a sign of support for the 40 million people around the world living with HIV and AIDS. They will be commemorating World AIDS Day, which falls on Monday. more..

Nov 30 (Hindu) Sri Lanka's Chief Government Negotiator, G.L. Peiris, is of the view that the time has come for a "more direct and vigorous input" by the President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, in the next stage of the peace process. more..

Nov 30 (Island) Thilanga Sumathipala, President of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and Chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom yesterday declared that he will appear before court this week "seeking justice." more..

Nov 30 (SO) Moves for a stable President-Government relationship gather momentum this week when the Committee of National Consensus submits its final report to the President and Prime Minister on Thursday. The draft of a Memorandum of Understanding to be signed between the two sides is also to be submitted later this week, more..

Nov 30 (ST) Just three weeks after President Chandrika Kumaratunga took over the state media, the national television Rupavahini set a historic record -- facilitating a live telecast of Tiger guerrilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran's "Maveerar Day" address to Europe. more..

Nov 30 (GU) The first domestic flights in Sri Lanka are due to start in the new year, with Sri Lankan Airlines serving five destinations from the capital, Colombo. From January, the airline is launching Sri Lanka Air Taxi, which will offer flights to Kandy, Kandalama, Bentota, Galle and Nuwara Eliya. more..

Nov 30 (GU) England's three test series in Sri Lanka, starting on Tuesday, should be a neat measure of whether England are making any progress. Two-and-a-half years ago they played in Sri Lanka, for the most part against the same players they will encounter at Galle, and they won the series 2-1. So nothing less than another victory is required to demonstrate progress. more..

Nov 30 (TN) "The UNF government is willing to meet a snap general election instead of losing its identity in the proposed national reconciliation government," said Sri Lanka's Constitutional Affairs Minister, Professor G.L.Peiris, more..

Nov 30 (TN) More than one hundred Tamil families in the Kinniya division in the Trincomalee district have sought refuge in the Eechantivu welfare center when a group of Muslim youths blocked the Kinniya co-operative society from distributing relief as ordered by the Trincomalee district Government Agent, more..

Nov 30 (TN) Tamils and Muslims in the northeast have a right to set up their administration in their traditional areas under the devolution of power. No one can deny this right," said veteran trade unionist and the national organizer of the Democratic Left Front(DLF), Mr.Vasudeva Nanayakkara, more..

Nov 30 (TN) Seven Chief Ministers of the Provincial Councils in the country Saturday decided to set up an organization to fight for devolved powers under the 13th Amendment to the constitution, from being taken away by the central government, sources said. more..

Nov 30 (TN) �The Sri Lankan government has duped us for long by giving false promises and not investigating the fate of our missing children. We intend to stage a sit in protest in front of the National Human Rights Commission offices in Jaffna and Colombo on 10 December�, more..

Nov 30 (TN) �The leader of the LTTE is our leader. The policy of the LTTE is our policy. Our party upholds the ideals of the Tigers. There is criticism that the LTTE are not permitting some armed Tamils groups to function in the northeast. more..

Nov 30 (TN) The central working committee of the TULF Sunday evening voted on a no confidence motion on the President Mr.V.Anandasangaree. The meeting ended in uproar. Jaffna TULF organiser Mr. T. Kulasingham, Vavuniya TULF organiser and TNA parliamentarian Mr. N. Raviraj were assaulted. more..

Nov 30 (TS) THE bullet holes in the walls at St Patrick�s school in the Jaffna peninsula are slowly being covered over, but it may take a little longer for the students to recover from years of war. more..

Nov 30 (AFP) Sri Lanka looked headed for a snap poll as attempts to resolve a power struggle hit a dead-end, sparking new fears for the peace bid with Tamil rebels, political sources said on Sunday. more..

Nov 30 (Gulf) Sri Lanka's cricket board chief Thilanga Sumathipala yesterday denied that he was avoiding arrest on charges of violating the country's Immigration and Emigration laws. more..

Nov 30 (Gulf) Sri Lanka's former foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar is set to challenge the incumbent Secretary-General of the Commonwealth during the summit of the 54-state grouping in Lagos early next month. more..

Nov 30 (AP) Troops have been deployed in eastern Sri Lanka to back up police trying to prevent a backlash over the killing of three Muslim men, a military spokesman said on Sunday. Authorities fear violence could break out, with Muslims accusing the Tamil Tiger rebels of killing three Muslims yesterday in the northeastern town of Kinniya, more..

Nov 30 (Reuters) England are facing a bowling selection headache for the opening test against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, captain Michael Vaughan said on Sunday. The Galle pitch is bone dry and likely to assist the spinners. more..

Nov 30 (PT) A group of 15 illegal Pakistani immigrants arrived here after being released by Sri Lankan authorities, FIA officials said here Saturday.These included Nasir Husain, Ziaullah, Sajid Naeem, Anjum Shehzad, Javed Iqbal, Zafar Iqbal, Imran Asghar, Sajjad Ahmed, Irgan Bashir, Faisal Iqbal, more..

Nov 30 (AP) Sri Lanka's Navy on Sunday arrested 60 people in a fishing boat who were trying to migrate illegally to Italy, an official said. Acting on a tip-off, the Navy arrested the men along with the boat's four Sri Lankan crew members about 20 nautical miles from the fishing town of Negombo, more..

Nov 30 (Rediff) Opener Gautam Gambhir scored an unbeaten ton as India 'A' scored 203 for three on the second day of the second cricket 'Test' match against Sri Lanka 'A' at the Nehru Stadium at Pune on Monday. more..