Nov 3 (SLA) THE CONTINUOUS ORGY of cowardly Tamil Tiger (LTTE) violence against members of the Security Forces and the Police struck once again on Thursday (03) morning and also on Wednesday (02) in the general areas of BATTICALOA and JAFFNA. more..

Nov 3 (SLA) A bullet-riddled dead body of an ex-Tamil Tiger was recovered by the Police on 02 November 2005 from the general of KURUCHCHI road in VALAICHCHENAI following information received by the VALAICHCHENAI Police. more..

Nov 3 (UNP) In 1948 when we gained the independence, Sri Lanka was one country in the region which had the best per capita income now lagging behind many other counties those who have gone forward. more..

Nov 3 (PSL) Electricity produced today from diesel power plants at prices ranging from Rs 8.50 to Rs 11 could have been produced at Rs 3.81 per unit, if the Government made the decision to build it six years ago. Any politician or Bishop attempting to further delay the project are merely paving the way for more diesel power plants. more..

Nov 3 (CT) The Professional Business Circle of Colombo, which is a backing organization for Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksha on Wednesday met Colombo based businessmen and Trade Chamber officials to explain the manifesto of Presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapaksha. more..

Nov 3 (SN) Apropos recent remarks, rather unwanted and unwelcome at a critical time like the present, made by the President Kumaratunga and Anura Bandaranaike regarding the �enemies� who are trying to destroy Bandaranaike policies, I would like to make few comments for the benefit of the general public so that they will know as to who the real enemies of the Bandaranaike policies are. more..

Nov 3 (LT) Minster Mangala Samaraweera addressing the media said yesterday that the United National Party is spending millions on advertisements since Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe who has lost twelve times is well aware that this Presidential campaign would be his last chance. more..

Nov 3 (LT) In response to a petition seeking a directive on the voting system in un-cleared areas, the High Courts have ordered the Commissioner of Elections to discuss the matter with the relevant political parties. Following this decision the UPFA has forwarded a series of suggestions to the Commissioner of Elections. more..

Nov 3 (Xinhua) The Sri Lanka Internet media organization InfoShare Limited is launching the www.slelections.info website to raise awareness among the public on election violence and malpractice, Daily News reported Thursday. more..

Nov 3 (LeN) Former Media Minister and presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa's campaign spokesman Mangala Samaraeera has made a veiled threat that moves are afoot to tame the private media. He posed this indirect threat during a pro-Rajapaksa media briefing this afternoon at the Foundation Institute. more..

Nov 3 (ANN) When will Sri Lanka cease to be the White Man's burden? Fifty seven years have elapsed since Independence but we are still dependent on the West to run our own affairs. It is not only the national economy that we cannot manage without foreign help. We cannot even handle our solid waste disposal on our own. more..

Nov 3 (PIS) President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday said it was up to her successor to take forward or backward the peace process that she initiated in a bid to bring about a negotiated settlement to the ethnic conflict. more..

Nov 3 (PIS) The United States yesterday said they would be concerned about links between the LTTE and al-Qaeda � or any other terrorist group � after the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) revealed that the Tigers may have �possible� connections with Osama bin Laden�s radical outfit. more..

Nov 3 (PIS) The University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR) blamed the killing spree in North and East on the lack of an institutional mechanism to safeguard civilians� interests in the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA). UTHR also called for a system to ensure that the civilians remain the key interest in the CFA. more..

Nov 3 (SAMN) Opposition leader and the UNP�s presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe said that there was no such thing as the �balanced economy� as stated by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. Wickremesinghe said "there is no economic system called balanced economy and I am prepared to debate Mr. Rajapakse on the subject." more..

Nov 3 (SAMN) In its latest report, the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), (UTHR (J) has observed that the LTTE had total control of the northern and eastern provinces until the Karuna split. more..

Nov 3 (LNP) Presidential candidate Victor Hettigoda also known as Siddhalepa Vedamahathya said yesterday he would not dissolve the Parliament if elected, but would govern through a coalition government. Addressing a news conference he said public funds were wasted on elections. more..

Nov 3 (LNP) At an election rally in Akmeemana, UPFA presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse said he would set up 12 more investment zones and 50,000 persons would be appointed to well-paid positions next year under his youth empowerment foundation. more..

Nov 3 (LNP) Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Parliamentary Group Leader Venerable Athureliya Rathna Thera yesterday said if the leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe is concerned about propagating Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka, he should first of all cancel the membership with the International Democrat Union (IDU). more..

Nov 3 (DN) President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday directed the State Electronic media to permit UNP leader and Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe maximum airtime with his election propaganda. She also asked Wickremesinghe to get his office provide all information of his campaign details to the Heads of State Media Institutions so that his meetings could be covered. more..

Nov 3 (CI) Marvan Atapattu shrugged off his poor run to stroke a classy 87, but he was trumped by Ajit Agarkar as the Indians put in another polished performance in the field to restrict Sri Lanka to 261 in the fourth one-day international at Pune. more..

Nov 3 (DB) When we set out on this mission we were primarily focused on post tsunmai aid for people and saving the reefs of Southern Sri Lanka. We really wanted to stop the fisherman from hurting the reefs. But since we arrived our priorities have slightly changed; more..

Nov 3 (Reuters) Presidential hopeful Ranil Wickremesinghe flew to a military base in Sri Lanka's rebel-dominated north on Thursday to woo soldiers' votes with his pledge of lasting peace with the Tamil Tigers. more..

Nov 3 (AFP) Elections have turned Sri Lankan politics topsy-turvy with Marxists and monks joining with a prime minister whose bid for the top job has alienated his own mentor, the outgoing president. more..

Nov 3 (AFP) Opposition leader visited the main military garrison in the Tamil heartland of Jaffna and vowed peace within "two to three years" if he is elected president this month. Opposition candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe made a rare visit to this sprawling military complex at the northern tip of the arid Jaffna peninsula more..

Nov 3 (Reuters) Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse's presidential campaign team is unfairly using public resources to further his election bid, the local arm of corruption watchdog Transparency International said on Thursday. more..

Nov 3 (BBC) Unidentified gunmen killed on Thursday an EPDP member who was engaged in distributing their newspaper, "Thinamurasu". The police who escorted him and the tri-shaw driver who transported them were also wounded. more..

Nov 4 (TN) Civilians entering the Liberation Tigers controlled Muttur east territory in the Trincomalee district are now subjected to severe checking and interrogation by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) manning the Kaddaiparichchan army camp checkpoint located on the border of the SLA and LTTE controlled areas. more..

Nov 4 (IPS) This tourist destination, famed for its golden beaches, has regained some of the splendour lost when the Dec. 26 tsunami turned the limpid waters into a mass grave. Beach vendors are back and so are the snorkelers and the tourists. more..

Nov 4 (Xinhua) The European Union (EU) has upgraded its representation level in Sri Lanka to maintain good relations between EU and the Indian Ocean island country, Sri Lanka's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday in a press release. more..

Nov 4 (AT) So far the only consistency in the career of Chandrika Kumaratunga � a president on her way out � has been her inconsistency. No one knows what she would say or do next. Nor can anyone predict who will be her friends or foes tomorrow. more..

Nov 4 (TN) Mr.Kandiah Thangarajah (65), leading educationist in Trincomalee district and who headed the organization committee of the Tamil National Resurgence Convention in Trincomalee passed away Wednesday night after a heart attack. His funeral was held Thursday evening at Hindu cemetery in the east port town more..

Nov 4 (TN) Mr.Chris Eijkemans, Head of the South Asian Bureau of N (o) vib-Oxfam Netherlands (Netherlands Organization for International Development Co-operation) and his Programme Officer in Sri Lanka Ms Rixt Bode Wednesday laid foundation stones for the reconstruction of two Tamil schools in villages Uppooral and Cheenanveli in Muttur east, more..

Nov 4 (RW) Increasing levels of security incidents continue to characterize the operational environment in the Batticaloa district. Security concerns are also an issue for four families in the Paddy Marketing Board welfare camp while another 20 families with relatives and friends refuse to go to Thiraimadu, in Batticaloa more..

Nov 4 (SLA) AN LTTE SHOT CIVILIAN in the general area of MUHAMALAI un-cleared areas on Friday (04) morning manage to escape the LTTE and sought help from the Security Forces and the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) at MUHAMALAI Entry / Exit point in un-cleared areas. more..

Nov 4 (SLA) TROOPS ON DUTY at KADDAIPARICHCHAN roadblock were compelled to detain a stock of 338 pen torch batteries from the vehicle of an Non Governmental Organization (NGO) registered in Denmark on 03 November 2005 around 2.45 p.m.. more..

Nov 4 (LBO) Government is likely to announce ambitious spending plans to help low-income groups and farmers when it presents its 2006 budget proposals next week, analysts say. The ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party is expected to increase welfare spending despite a large budget deficit. more..

Nov 4 (LBO) The Sri Lankan poultry industry�s ills are not brought on by the bird flue, but the November presidential polls say local chicken farmers. The All Island Poultry Association says chicken sales for the Islamic festive season are marginally lower than previous years over concerns about the Avian Influenza. more..

Nov 4 (LBO) Cabinet of minister gave the go ahead on Thursday to increase the minimum solvency margins for insurance firms to Rs. 100 mn for each line of business. Cabinet spokesperson Nimal Siripala de Silva said the Cabinet on Thursday agreed to push through the changes to the Insurance Act, which would help protect policy holders� interests further. more..

Nov 4 (LBO) Some 3,000 odd working journalists in Sri Lanka are hoping for better pay and working conditions after several industry associations signed up to honour a new media charter on Thursday. more..

Nov 4 (AT) In his latest book, "A Call for National Reawakening", launched yesterday (November 2, 2005) Judge C. G. Weeramantry, former Vice-President of the International Court of Justice, has defined the indispensable criteria needed to "ensure a single, sovereign State Lankan state." more..

Nov 4 (LT) President Chandrika Kumaratunga in an emotional address at the BMICH on the 2nd November said that she could step down with contentment ending her 11 year tenure. She expressed that she did her best for the country amidst greatest challenges that no any other leader of the country had to face. more..

Nov 4 (LT) The representatives of the European Union who have arrived in the island to observe the process of polling in Sri Lanka does not hope to visit the un-cleared areas. This was disclosed at a media conference held this morning at Divisional Secretariat in Vavuniya. more..

Nov 4 (LT) Speaking at the media conference informing of Cabinet decisions, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said yesterday that at the Cabinet meeting it was decided to go ahead with the Budget presentation at the Parliament on 8th November as scheduled. President Chandrika Kumaratunga was present at this meeting. more..

Nov 4 (LT) Does Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe who says he could get foreign aid once he becomes the President, do so after accepting the conditions of lending organizations asks Mr. Mangala Samaraweera. more..

Nov 4 (PTI) Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the fifth one-day international between India and Sri Lanka to be played at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, keeping in mind the recent serial blasts in Delhi. more..

Nov 4 (PIS) Stressing the urgency and need for strengthening the CFA the Government yesterday charged that the LTTE was responsible for 20 brutal killings during October. Government Spokesman and Health Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva said the Peace Secretariat (SCOPP) has vehemently condemned the killing of the 20 persons during last month more..

Nov 4 (SAMN) The Government will spend Rs. 171 million on compensation payments to victims of political violence during the 2001 and 2004 General Elections recommended by the Presidential Committee on payment of compensation to victims of political violence appointed by President Chandrika Kumaratunga. more..

Nov 4 (LNP) In what is described in political circles as a possible showdown between the government and those who oppose the Norochcholai Coal Fired Power Plant, the bishop of Chilaw, who has been the staunchest opponent of the project, yesterday expressed his strong opposition to the signing of the project agreement with China more..

Nov 4 (LNP) The country`s economy was in the doldrums and its integrity under threat due to the failure of the government to resume the stagnant peace process, UNP Parliamentarian Prof. G.L. Peiris said yesterday. more..