Oct 12 (Reuters) Stocks ended higher on Tuesday, driven by fresh retail investor interest in the hotels sector, traders said. The key Colombo all-share index climbed a provisional 0.41 percent, or 5.97 points, to 1,451.40 points. The bourse has gained more than 36 percent so far this year on upbeat corporate earnings. more..

Oct 12 (PIS) The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission yesterday said it was awaiting the return of LTTE political leaders to the country to discuss issues pertaining to the Ceasefire Agreement. more..

Oct 12 (DN) UPFA Western Provincial Council member Namal Gunawardena was found shot dead inside his vehicle at Dharmaraja Mawatha in Kollupitiya last night. According to Kollupitiya police the victim had nine pistol shot wounds on his body. The weapon used was a .38 revolver. more..

Oct 12 (AT) Amidst speculation about Colombo�s overtures to New Delhi to play a pro-active role in the current peace process, Ranil Wickremesinghe, former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, had a luncheon meeting with Indian Foreign Minister K Natwar Singh on Monday. more..

Oct 12 (AT) V. Muralitharan alias Colonel Karuna, this morning here in Colombo, openly claimed the formation of �TamilEela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP)� � TamilEela Peoples Liberation Tigers his new political party, more..

Oct 12 (UNI) Former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wikremasinghe today called on Opposition leader in Lok Sabha, L K Advani, and is understood to have discussed bilateral and regional situation. more..

Oct 12 (ANI) Former Sri Lankan prime minister Ranil Wickremasinghe today called on Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and discussed the peace process in the Island nation and various other issues. more..

Oct 12 (IANS) A famed former Tamil guerrilla leader Tuesday announced the formation of a political party in Sri Lanka after branding Tamil Tigers boss Velupillai Prabhakaran as a "coward" and a "mentally deranged person". more..

Oct 12 (AP) Switzerland's foreign minister warned Tuesday that Sri Lanka's fragile cease-fire was in jeopardy and urged the government and Tamil Tiger rebels to resume stalled peace talks. "I have the impression that the cease-fire could be in danger," Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss foreign minister told reporters. more..

Oct 12 (KT) The Lankan Ministry of Defence will shortly launch a door-to-door campaign to take a head count of Tamil rebels who have moved in to the South from Tiger-held areas under a cease-fire agreement during the previous regime, defence officials revealed yesterday. more..

Oct 12 (BBC) Tamil Tigers have admitted killing two supporters of Karuna faction and injuring some others in Nagastenna, near Welikanda. In a statement issued Tuesday, Batticaloa - Ampara district office of the LTTE�s political wing has claimed responsibility for the attack on Sunday. more..

Oct 13 (DY) The first Sri Lanka Festival is being held at the end of this month to introduce natural, cultural and tourism aspects of a country the Japanese public is not very aware of, officials of the Sri Lankan Embassy in Tokyo said at a press conference Tuesday. more..

Oct 13 (TN) Jaffna High Court Judge Mr.K.P.S.Varatharajah Tuesday referred two Habeas Corpus applications to the Chavakachcheri Magistrate for preliminary inquiry and report. more..

Oct 13 (TN) The Jaffna Magistrate Mr.R.T.Viknarajah Tuesday ordered for an identification parade on Wednesday in connection with the alleged assault on Mr.Ruwan Chandrasekara and his associate Mr.S.Feroz of the Jaffna regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) by a group of Jaffna policemen, more..

Oct 13 (TN) Liberation Tigers� delegation led by Head of Political Wing, S.P.Thamilchelvan met with Mr. Robert Milders, Director Asia and Oceania Department of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Dutch Ministry building Tuesday, LTTE sources said. more..

Oct 13 (Rupavahini) The secretary to the ministry of public security, law and order, Thilak Ranavirajah has appealed to the Northeast Sinhala organizations to suspend their protest demonstration scheduled to be launched in Trincomalee, tomorrow. more..

Oct 13 (Rupavahini) President Kumaratunge asserts that the aim of the government is to wage wars to uplift the living standards of the people instead of conventional wars. President asserts that the aim of the government is to wage wars to uplift the living standards of the people instead of conventional wars. more..

Oct 13 (AT) The visiting Sri Lankan leader Ranil Wickremesinghe continued his efforts Tuesday to press India to take a more pro-active role in the Peace Process that is aimed at finding an early, amicable settlement of the two-decade old Tamil ethnic embrologio. more..

Oct 13 (LBO) From housemaids in the Middle East to engineers in Canada, Sri Lankans away from home keep tabs on news back home through Sri Lankan newspapers online. The Internet is emerging as the next great sales point for Sri Lankan companies. more..

Oct 13 (LBO) Local porcelain brand Dankotuwa will expand into India, selling directly under its own name for the first time. The trouble is, its not turning out the plates fast enough. more..

Oct 13 (BBC) Indian Prime Minister urged the visiting Sri Lankan opposition leader to help bring back the stalled peace process. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed Indian government�s support to a negotiated political settlement with the Tamil Tigers within an undivided Sri Lanka. more..

Oct 13 (BBC) Sri Lankan authorities believe that the Tamil Tigers will release the captured Home Guards as soon as the judiciary release them on bail. Thilak Ranaviraja, Secretary to the ministry of Law and Order, said that the government will not influence the decision of the judiciary. more..

Oct 13 (LT) A �Harthal� campaign, organized by Sinhala Organization of the North and East will be held in Trincomalee tomorrow protesting against the tiger organization�s refusal to release the two Home Guards detained by the tigers. more..

Oct 13 (NW) A woman who was unhappy over the Anuradhapura Magistrate's order denying her the custody of her son, consumed poison in the presence of the Magistrate. Police and court staff rushed the woman to the general hospital and her condition is said to be stable. more..

Oct 13 (NW) The Army's Director General of General Staff, Major General Sisira Wijesuriya, who was arrested and later released by the Commission Investigating Allegations of Bribery and Corruption on charges of graft, is to be sent on compulsory leave. more..

Oct 13 (NW) The North and East Sinhala Organisation warned yesterday it would prevent public and private sector employees � except those of the health sector and the security forces � from entering Trincomalee town from today until the two abducted homeguards were released. more..

Oct 13 (SLBC) A rare accident involving a wild elephant and a cyclist is reported from Urewa in Padaviya. Farmer and his son were cycling home after his evening bath when an elephant crossed the track in a hurry. more..

Oct 13 (SLBC) At the 170th session of the Executive Board of the UNESCO, Sri Lanka has submitted a draft resolution on "Misuse of religious symbols and expressions". This was primarily aimed at taking necessary steps to prevent the misuse of religious symbols, images and expressions. more..

Oct 13 (AT) Having read Mr. Dayan Jayatilleka�s intervention in responses to Mr. A. R. M. Imtiyaz�s contention that the LTTE has his strong support because it is the only organized force to protect and win rights for �(we) the minorities from the oppressive Sinhala-Buddhist state�, more..

Oct 13 (TS) The Sri Lanka government is expected to decide soon on who to award the contract of the proposed 26km Colombo-Katunayake expressway to � and a Malaysian company is in the running. Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama said the company, which he did not name, had done most of the design work for the proposed expressway. more..

Oct 13 (OI) LTTE denies any role in the recent spate of killings that seem to have its stamp all over, and suggests that 'serious political hierarchies' may be the masterminds as the battlefield between Colonel Karuna and Prabhakaran gets bloodier. more..

Oct 13 (Hindu) Six months after the most serious split in the LTTE, rumours of yet another fissure at the top leadership level are spreading in sections of the Sri Lankan media. According to reports, differences of opinion have crept between the LTTE's leadership and the head of the Sea Tigers, Soosai. more..

Oct 13 (TP) Despite a high literacy rate, the number of Muslim students in Sri Lanka who are getting into the universities has come down in recent years, causing concern among community activists, a visiting Sri Lankan academician said in Doha yesterday. more..

Oct 13 (LBO) UNP seems to think that more subsidies are the way to go, by claiming that the government should subsidise petrol. Showing their solidarity with protesting three-wheeler drivers on Wed., UNP bigwigs stepped out of their luxury vehicles, and into autorickshaws to show off their 'commoness', and cause a huge traffic jam in Fort at rush hours. more..

Oct 13 (SLA) An unknown group of persons have fired a few gunshots at a civilian on 11 October 2004 around 9.15 p.m. while he was at his home in the general area of KALUWANKERNI. The civilian, SELWATHAMBI PUWANESHWARAM (24) of MARIAMMAN KOVIL ROAD, KALUWANKERNI � 02 who came under gunfire has however escaped unhurt. more..

Oct 13 (SLA) On information, troops have arrested a person with a claymore mine when they searched his house in the general area of MANKERNI on 11 October 2004 around 4.00 p.m. According to information, he is a supporter of the LTTE. more..

Oct 13 (SLA) The LTTE once again hoisted its flag during a ceremony at the Municipal Council ground at MANNAR on 12 October 2004 around 5.00 p.m. for the second consecutive day despite repeated requests made by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). more..

Oct 13 (SLA) Sri Lanka Army�s Seva Vanitha Unit (ASVU), founded in 1984 with the express objective of promoting welfare measures of the soldiers as well as next of kin of the Fallen War Heroes, has to-date erected 161 houses and offered about 300 scholarships to sons and daughters of the Army�s War Heroes. more..

Oct 13 (TN) Trincomalee town has been put on security alert from Tuesday evening following the announcement by the North East Sinhala Association (NESA) to launch 24 hour-road blockades from Trincomalee to other parts of the country transporting fuel and flour until the two Sinhala home guards arrested and remanded by the LTTE are released, more..

Oct 13 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's balance of payments deficit increased to about $250 million in the first seven months of 2004 on slower trade and investment inflows, the central bank said on Wednesday after its monthly monetary policy meeting. more..

Oct 13 (TN) The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Wednesday commenced providing security to lorries transporting fuel from Ceylon Petroleum Corporation refinery and flour from Prima Flour Mill, both are located in Chinabay, about nine km off Trincomalee town to other provinces. more..

Oct 13 (PSL) A British delegation of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) called on President Kumaratunga at President�s House, Colombo this morning. The delegation is on a study tour organized by CPA and the World Bank Institute (WBI), to examine the role of parliament in conflict-affected countries. more..

Oct 13 (UNI) Strongly denying any links with the outlawed LTTE, CPI(ML) outfit People's War (PW) on Tuesday asserted that it disapproved the tactics of the Al Qaeda though it was committed to work for a global anti-imperialist platform targetting the United States. more..

Oct 13 (DN) The Board of the National Child Protection Authority (ACPA) has appointed a special committee to recommend suitable amendments to the National Child Protection Authority Act No. 50 of 1998. more..

Oct 13 (HT) The Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) has denied media reports that it is doing away with Indian or American help to upgrade the strategic military-cum-civil airport at Palaly in Jaffna. Air Marshal Donald Perera, Commander of the SLAF said that the upgradation would take place with Indian help. more..

Oct 13 (AFP) Legal snags are blocking renegade Tamil Tiger rebels from forming a new political party, officials said. Election Commission officials said the faction of the Liberation LTTE led by renegade commander Karuna, faced legal obstacles in seeking recognition. more..

Oct 13 (NT) Nagarajan, a fisherman from Tamilnadu, who had been battling for life after being shot at by Sri Lanka navy, has recovered fully and today met Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to thank her for her timely succour. more..

Oct 13 (AP) Shops and offices were closed and streets were deserted in an eastern Sri Lankan town on Wednesday as residents staged a daylong general strike to demand the immediate release of two security guards held captive by Tamil Tiger rebels, police said. more..

Oct 13 (HT) The dissident LTTE commander, Colonel Karuna, has started a political party to liberate Sri Lankan Tamils from the "destructive" movement led by Prabhakaran, according to a statement posted on the party website www.tmvp.org on Tuesday. more..

Oct 13 (BBC) A protest by auto rickshaw drivers at the Lake House roundabout in Colombo on Wednesday brought the traffic in the capital to a standstill. United National Party (UNP) led protesters demanded the government reduce the fuel prices and the cost of living. more..