Oct 25 (MG) In a gun-firing incident that took place on last 20 of October at vahanery area Mohamed Yaseen of oddamawadi shot died. But due to the press releases of LTTE and Karuna faction are sharply conflicting the Norwegian peace-monitoring mission has initiated the full- scale inquery into the incident. more..

Oct 25 (MG) Amidst growing uncertainty over the existence of North Muslims who were driven out at the gun point By LTTE fourteen years ago, �Muslim People Action Front� held a discussion with more than 20 prominent figures in Puttalam Zahira National college. more..

Oct 25 (SLA) An eighteen-year old youngster employed at a video centre in the general area of ERAVUR has been gunned down by three suspected LTTE men, believed to be from a breakaway LTTE group while the victim was at home on Sunday (24) night at 9.30. more..

Oct 25 (SLA) A sixteen-year old boy from the general area of PUDUKUDYIRUPPU, VALAICHCHENAI has been reportedly kidnapped by suspected LTTE cadres on 23 October 2004 around 9.30 a.m. According to Police information, LTTE cadres on two motorbikes had carried out the abduction of the youngster. more..

Oct 25 (SLA) A teenager abducted and detained by LTTE has managed to flee from LTTE camp at SAMPOOR and surrendered to the roadblock at THOPPUR early morning on 24 October 2004. The eighteen-year old youngster after abduction on 22 October 2004 has been reportedly detained by LTTE in order to be sent to VAVUNIYA for LTTE training. more..

Oct 25 (SLA) Four armed LTTE cadres had threatened a watcher of a private land close to the WILPATTU forest sanctuary in the general area of MAHAWEERAKKULIYA, pointing T-56 weapons at him on 24 October 2004 around 4.45 p.m. more..

Oct 25 (SN) Jathika Hela Urumaya Last week Thursday at 4.00PM under the Pitakotuwa Bodhi tree in Colombo, launched an island wide program to get fifty million signatures for hand over to President Chandrika Kumaratunga. more..

Oct 25 (LT) Security Forces and Police in Batticaloa engaged in a house to house search for the second time after the ceasefire, yesterday. The security authorities described the operation as an attempt to find suspects of the recent assassination of former parliamentarian, Rasanayagam. more..

Oct 25 (LT) National Aquatic Resources Agency has released a report on the impacts of Indian Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project. The report forecasts that the project will definitely effected on the destruction of oceanic life. more..

Oct 25 (LT) The Milad-Un-Nabi religious function will be officially celebrated at Polonnaruwa as decided by the Muslim leaders. Sri Lankan Muslims were engaged in Ramalan fast during the past couple of weeks and this fast will be terminated after the Milad-Un-Nabi celebrations. more..

Oct 25 (TOO) Fifteen students from Class V of the Sri Lankan School Muscat (SSM) have been inducted as junior leaders. �This is part of the school�s leadership development training programme at the primary level, which prepares them for leadership roles in the future,� more..

Oct 25 (PSL) Ministry of Education issued a communiqu� today categorically rejecting that the Government has decided to close down 3,500 under-developed schools in the island. This was in response to such a claim made by the Inter-University Students� Federation. more..

Oct 25 (PSL) The United Nations Day, celebrated on 24 October every year provides us with an opportunity to renew our commitment to the purposes and principles of the United Nations and rededicates our efforts to seek solutions to common problems faced by the 'peoples' of the United Nations. more..

Oct 25 (TN) "Majority of the centuries old stone scriptures that unearthed in the northeast province in Sri Lanka that defines Tamil History have been located in Trincomalee district. Most of the scriptures are connected with the history of Koneswaram Temple," said Professor C.Pathmanathan, more..

Oct 25 (Geo) Sri Lankan Trade Minister has assured that his government would exempt Basmati rice of Pakistan from import duty. Chairman Rice exporter of Pakistan Muhammad Anwar Mian Noor told this while talking to Geo TV here on Sunday. more..

Oct 25 (TP) War-torn Sri Lanka may be at peace for nearly three years but that hasn�t still reduced the country�s defence spending. The defence budget has risen by 7.7 per cent to Rs56bn for 2005 from an estimated Rs52bn this year, more..

Oct 25 (Rupavahini) The Yala National Park reopened today. It was closed down for about one and half months for reconstruction activities and owing to drought. Minister of environment A.H.M. Fowzie says that measures would be taken to keep open the Yala National Park for the whole year. more..

Oct 25 (Rupavahini) This was disclosed by foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar who is on a tour of the United Kingdom. Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar has already held discussions with the British council authorities in Colombo to seek assistance to develop the Jaffna library. more..

Oct 25 (Rupavahini) The government has taken measures to provide title deeds of lands to the people. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse said that this will help them enjoy the ownership of lands. The premier was speaking at the Swarnabhoomi title deed presentation ceremony held in Kamburupitiya Matara yesterday. more..

Oct 25 (UTPD) Colombo District parliamentarian Bandula Gunawardhane addressing a press conference described the UPFA government�s first budget which is to be presented at the end of next month as a fake. more..

Oct 25 (UTPD) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakshe called upon all members of the society to leave behind political identities to establish peace by helping the peace process put on correct tracks. more..

Oct 25 (DN) Commuters can expect faster train rides soon with the Railways Department launching a program to do away with speed limits imposed on rail tracks islandwide. All speed limits imposed on trains running on certain lines owing to the poor condition of rail tracks will be removed within nine months. more..

Oct 25 (HT) A leading Sri Lankan development expert has urged India and Sri Lanka to opt for "transnational spatial planning" so that they may avoid needless and mutually destructive competition, and develop in tandem. more..

Oct 25 (Gulf) An attempt by the Marxists' partners in the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government to gain sufficient support from opposition parties to remove the speaker in parliament in Sri Lanka has failed. more..

Oct 25 (AP) Six senior Tamil Tiger rebels returned Monday from a four-week European trip, which they say was aimed at finding ways to resume peace talks with Sri Lanka's government, officials said. more..

Oct 25 (Reuters) A Buddhist monk's war on insects has shut down Canada's mission in Sri Lanka after powder he used to preserve his passport from moths triggered an anthrax scare. The Canadian mission has been evacuated and would remain shut indefinitely pending security procedures, more..

Oct 25 (HT) The LTTE has criticised the proposed Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) between India and Sri Lanka, saying that it will upset the military balance and threaten the peace process in Sri Lanka. more..

Oct 26 (TN) Posters appeared in several parts of Batticaloa town Monday attacking the Liberation Tigers and warning local journalists against reporting on the LTTE. The posters are in the name of the paramilitary led by renegade LTTE commander Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (Karuna). more..

Oct 26 (TN) Vice President of the Ceylon Workers United Front, Kanapathy Kanakaraj, condemned the decision of the Estate Infrastructure Ministry to retake a sum of Rs. 150 millions that had been placed in deposit by the Sri Lanka Government to put up houses for the benefit of people living in huts in the plantation sector, more..

Oct 26 (TN) One thousand and fourteen students who have qualified 2002 GCE Ordinary Level examination and currently following GCE A/L classes in 24 education zones of the northeast province are to be awarded with Millennium Scholarships under a scheme formulated by Presidential Secretariat. more..

Oct 26 (TN) National Advisory Committee for Peace and Reconciliation (NACPR), a group formed by President and touted as a mechanism to introduce inclusivity in the peace process, is to meet on 1st November, a press release from the President's office said. more..

Oct 26 (TN) Three thousand two hundred and fifty seven graduates recruited under the job recruitment scheme launched by the UPFA government are currently undergoing six months' training in eight administrative districts in the Northeast Province. The training programme commenced on October 21 as scheduled. more..

Oct 26 (Rupavahini) The customs at the airport have arrested a Pakistani national who attempted to smuggle into the country a consignment of narcotics described as brown sugar. The drugs were valued around ten million rupees. A kilo of the brown sugar variety of drugs fetches around four million rupees in the local market. more..

Oct 26 (Rupavahini) President Chandrika Kumaratunge has issued an open appeal to all to join without political or communal differences in carrying forward the Samurdhi movement which seeks to alleviate poverty in the context, president noted that no other country in the world implemented such a movement. more..

Oct 26 (LBO) The Civil Aviation Authority is pushing for the state greenlight to open up its air routes for a second local carrier, and draw up the ground rules for operation. SriLankan Airlines bilateral monopoly on air routes as the country�s sole national carrier, ended in April this year, more..

Oct 26 (LBO) With the belly ring getting to be a social necessity beauty salons are scrambling to cater to the growing craze for body piercing. Body piercing is a totally unregulated practice in Sri Lanka, but demand is already spilling over into the traditional medical practitioner�s territory. more..

Oct 26 (LBO) The Railway Department is waiting for a "good time" to reel out an alternate rail service from Fort to Nugegoda from November. "We are going to start the rail bus service on the Kelaniweli line from November 5. The Railway Department is checking for a good time to start the first trip," more..

Oct 26 (LBO) Political instability, restrictive labour regulations and government coups are driving down Sri Lanka�s competitiveness among the many places around the world to business in. Lanka scored 3.57 in a 7 point scale, to take the 73 slot in the World Economic Forum�s (WEF) Growth Competitive Index from its 68 position in 2003. more..

Oct 26 (AT) The international community closely monitoring the peace process in Sri Lanka in the coming weeks is set to have a thorough review on the progress achieved by the two parties - Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE, towards resuming peace talks. more..

Oct 26 (AT) It is time Tamil nationalism does some stocktaking. The LTTE is at an impasse, able to go to war but unable to be sure of the external repercussions, not least from India and especially with Karuna in the running. It is unwilling to settle for a federal peace. more..

Oct 26 (Hindu) Emphasising the need for a "bipartisan consensus" between the ruling SLFP and the Opposition UNP, the Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu , N. Ram, said today a "genuine breakthrough" would be made in the island-nation's efforts to solve the ethnic conflict "if a common minimum programme (CMP)" could be worked out by the "two big parties on the nature and unit of the federal structure" for the North-East. more..

Oct 26 (BBC) Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakim says that Tamil armed groups led by renegade LTTE commander Karuna are suspected to have built a camp in a government held area. more..

Oct 26 (NW) The trade union leader appointed to the Sathosa Directorate recently, is to go ahead with his plans disregarding objections by the other Board members. more..

Oct 26 (NW) The nearly-resolved conflict within the Jatika Hela Urumaya (JHU) deepened again creating conflict within the Supreme Sangha Council over the demands of Ven. Uduwe Dammaloka Thera, party sources said yesterday. more..

Oct 26 (NW) The Executive Presidency was given life by the National Patriotic Movement (NPM) at a time it did not have a bearing in national affairs, said JVP Propaganda Secretary Wimal Weerawansa. more..

Oct 26 (HT) As a way of breaking the deadlock over the use of the strategic Palaly airfield in Jaffna, after it is upgraded with Indian assistance, India and Sri Lanka may agree to a system of consulting each other on its use, according an official source in New Delhi. more..

Oct 26 (TP) Some 3,500 more schools have been earmarked to be closed due to the lack of students resulting from the low birth rate and the increase in demand for well-facilitated urban schools. Duminda Nagamuwa, convener of university students group, was quoted as saying 68 schools had been closed down last year more..

Oct 26 (TP) Tourism and Industries Minister Anura Bandaranaike said on Sunday the actions of the US had hurt countries like Sri Lanka. �I�m against the American attack on Iraq. They are now planning to attack Iran as well. The Iraqi oil production has dropped and Iran is facing a similar situation. more..

Oct 26 (TN) In a critical analysis of the Norwegian facilitated peace process in his new book �War and Peace,� the LTTE�s theoretician, Mr. Anton Balasingham, calls into question the concept of the �Oslo Declaration.� more..

Oct 26 (LBO) Sri Lanka's top donors are waiting for the government to come up with a credible budget in November before talking about an economic programme to resume stalled programme loans to the country. more..