Nov 7 (SLA) THREE MOTORBIKE-RIDING UNIDENTIFIED GUNMEN, suspected to be from the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) gunned down a civilian on Sunday (06) night at about 7.00 p.m. when he was in the general area of ALAIADIWEMBU, about 3 km away from AKKARAIPATTU town. more..

Nov 7 (SLA) SUSPECTED TAMIL TIGER (LTTE) gunfire has caused injuries to a fifteen-year old boy in un-cleared areas of PULIPANCHIKAL, VALAICHCHENAI forcing him to seek admission to BATTICALOA general hospital on 05 November 2005 around 8.40 p.m. more..

Nov 7 (SLA) MOTORBIKE-RIDING two suspected Tamil Tiger pistol men Monday (07) afternoon at about 1.30 p.m. repeated their violence once again in the general area of ABHAYAPURA, TRINCOMALEE after firing at a Muslim civilian. more..

Nov 7 (UNP) The UNP Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday pledged to concentrate on developing the infrastructure in the provinces ensuring more job opportunities and raise the living standards in these areas. more..

Nov 7 (CT) Presidential Candidate Ranil Wickramasingha said that he re-challenged Prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksha to attend a television debate on some curial issues. Mr.Wickramasingha said that the Premier is unable to attend this debate due to his faults. more..

Nov 7 (LBO) While the �pre Presidential poll� budget is being sidelines as election propaganda, the country�s overall financial planning process is also losing its significance. Successive governments, despite going through the pomp and pageantry of preparing and presenting the budget, have rarely met targets they set for themselves. more..

Nov 7 (LBO) Sri Lanka plans to lean on foreign aid and debt relief to trim its deficit, though Tuesday�s budget will be sugar coated to woo voters in the run up to next week�s keenly contested presidential poll. more..

Nov 7 (LeN) The postal voting of the November 17 presidential poll commenced this morning. The voting was very peaceful according to the Election Secretariat as well as the country's main election monitoring bodies, PAFFREL and the Centre for Monitoring Election violence (CMEV). more..

Nov 7 (LT) According to a report published in �International Forbes Magazine� says the Sri Lankan President has secured 25th place among the most influential women in the world community today. According to the report Sri Lankan President has been named as the most authoritative woman in South East Asia. more..

Nov 7 (LT) Youth who seek foreign employment will be given opportunities to find employment in many sectors other than as house maids and domestic helpers says Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. There is a big demand for such professions said Mr. Rajapakse adding that there hadn�t been any programme to take advantage of these opportunities. more..

Nov 7 (GT) The government has issued Rs3mn to the top State official in Kilinochchi to make arrangements for special transport to facilitate voters in LTTE-held areas on the election day. more..

Nov 7 (LM) The Head of Mission of the European Union Election Observation Mission in Sri Lanka to monitor the forthcoming Presidential Election Mr. John Cushnahan met with the Leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Mr. Rauff Hakeem M.P., at Mr. Hakeem's residence in Colombo today. more..

Nov 7 (Hindu) Two weeks ahead of Sri Lanka's fifth presidential poll, its 13.32 million electorate is polarised along ethnic and religious lines. While support for Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse is increasing among the majority Sinhalese-Buddhists, the ethnic and religious minorities repose their confidence in Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. more..

Nov 7 (PIS) President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday said more than 75% of the votes at the forthcoming Presidential election would be made up of UNP and SLFP votes which meant that they are all for a negotiated settlement to the ethnic crisis. more..

Nov 7 (PIS) The LTTE is reported to have invited the European Union Election Observers, now in the country, to visit the uncleared areas and meet its leaders. It is a very clever move. The travel ban in the EU has sent the Tigers reeling. more..

Nov 7 (SAMN) General Secretary of the Ceylon Mercantile Union (CMU), yesterday claimed that neither of the main Presidential hopefuls could be expected to resolve �any of the major problems facing the people�. more..

Nov 7 (SAMN) The UNP, once it forms a government on the 17th will strip civic rights of all ministers and other high ranking government officers if they were charged with bribery and corruption, UNP MP Dr. Rajitha Senaratne told a press conference yesterday. more..

Nov 7 (SAMN) A special police team investigating the assassination of Lt. Col. T. R. Meedin has arrested a key suspect, believed to be an accomplice of the main suspect A. H. Chaminda Manjula alias Ice Manjula. The police said they suspected he, too, was in league with the LTTE. more..

Nov 7 (LNP) Police in the Southern Province are grappling with a shortage of manpower to carry out election duties, in the face of providing enhanced security for certain VIPs during the election period. more..

Nov 7 (LNP) `Entry by boat` is a term used in universities to describe those who gain entry on a special basis after the normal intake known as `entry by ship`. Ranil Wickremesinghe, an alumnus of the Colombo University decades after he finished his university education, recently went to another university in the cooler climes. more..

Nov 7 (TN) Civil engineers working in the distircts of NorthEast Friday met with the offiicals of the political and economic wings of the Liberation Tigers at the LTTE's Planning and Development Secretariat (PDS) in Kilinochchi to discuss the objectives and guildlines to be adopted for the infrastructure design and construction across NorthEast, more..

Nov 7 (TN) Election officials at the Jaffna Secretariat said that less than 10% of those applied for postal voting cast their votes when the first day of postal voting completed on Monday. Although there is expected to be voting in some centers tomorrow, the election officials added that the numbers voted present a historic low for the district. more..

Nov 7 (LNP) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse last Friday said he had no race or religious prejudices and was confident that the southern vote, which he said, was stronger that the Northern vote, would ensure his victory on November 18. He said, on assuming office he would give priority to attending to the long standing grievances of the security forces and police. more..

Nov 7 (DN) An international business leader with business interests in a multitude of industries ranging from online Entertainment to exports Sabir Mehdi Hussein is planning to obtain BOI approval to set up a 23-floor super luxury condominium with a multi-storeyed car park overlooking the Beira Lake. more..

Nov 7 (Xinhua) Sri Lanka's government budget for the year 2006 would be a "pro poor, pro-growth" budget and not election related, the Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama said here Monday. The budget is to be presented in parliament on Tuesday amidst protests by the main opposition UNP. more..

Nov 7 (Gulf) Sri Lanka's main political parties campaigning for the presidential election are focusing their attention on votes in northern Sri Lanka with the Tamil rebels keeping the parties and the voters guessing about their position on the election. more..

Nov 7 (HT) Though the countdown for the November 17 Presidential election has begun, the question remains as to who would be the next President. Opinion polls conducted by professionals and impressions, during personal visits to politically important areas over the past two weeks, depict a conflicting picture. more..

Nov 7 (IFJ) The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has welcomed the historic coming together of journalists� associations in Sri Lanka with five of Sri Lanka�s leading journalists� associations signing onto a joint media charter on media reform at a ceremony in Colombo, more..

Nov 7 (Reuters) Militant attacks on army outposts in Sri Lanka's restive north and east are increasing, troops and observers say, raising fears voters may be intimidated into staying away ahead of the Nov. 17 presidential election. more..

Nov 7 (wsws) Although the Sri Lankan film industry produces a handful of feature films annually, a number of directors have distinguished themselves in recent years with thoughtful movies about the catastrophic impact of the 20-year civil war by the Sri Lankan military against the LTTE. more..

Nov 7 (AP) Gunmen fatally shot an employee of Sri Lanka's state-run bus company in the island's volatile east, a military official said Monday. Thasaputhiran Thasakumar, an ethnic Tamil, was at home in Akkaraipattu in eastern Batticaloa district when gunmen called him outside and shot him three times in the head Sunday evening, more..

Nov 7 (AP) Election Commission started accepting absentee ballots on Monday for the Nov. 17 presidential vote, an election official said. More than 320,000 government employees, including members of the armed forces and police, are eligible to cast their votes by mail in the two-day process. more..

Nov 7 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's 2006 budget will focus spending on health, education and post-tsunami reconstruction to help the poor while aiming for long-term economic growth of 8 to 10 percent, Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama said on Monday. more..

Nov 7 (IHT) Sri Lanka will rely on overseas aid and debt relief pledged after the December tsunami disaster to help trim its budget deficit, Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama has said. The government will seek "the benefits of debt relief," to reduce next year's deficit to 8.5 percent of gross domestic product from the 9 percent the central bank estimates for 2005, more..

Nov 8 (TN) In a meeting held at the Vavuniya secretariat Monday at 3.30 p.m., Sri Lanka Army (SLA) high level officials and, Vavuniya district election Commissioner and Government Agent Mr S Shanumugam, decided to restrict travel at the Omanthai checkpoint and disallow heavy vehicles during Sri Lanka presidential elections on 16th and 17th November, more..

Nov 8 (TN) Members of the European Union (EU) Election Observation Mission (EOM) to Sri Lanka met with leader of SLMC Mr Rauf Hakim Monday at Mr Hakim's residence in Colombo. Mr Hakim raised concerns related to activities that undermine democracy during the forthcoming presidential elections, more..

Nov 8 (TN) President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge will lead the Sri Lanka delegation to the forthcoming thirteenth South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) Summit at Dhaka, Bangladesh, scheduled for 12-13 November 2005. more..

Nov 8 (AT) News reports emerging from Norway reveals that the country is considering withdraw from its role as the monitor of the peace process in Sri Lanka. Norway, however, added that this will depend on the decision of both the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE. more..

Nov 8 (AFP) Sri Lanka is seeking a loan of 100 million dollars to finance urgent infrastructure projects, financial sources said Monday. The government has chosen Citigroup of the United States to arrange the loan and raise the cash within six to eight weeks, the sources said. more..

Nov 8 (TN) Opposition UNP this week claimed credit for engineering a split within the LTTE through the peace process whilst at the same time keeping the movement locked in via an international security net. The UNP also claimed credit for the sinking of LTTE vessels during the peace talks. more..

Nov 8 (AT) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse readily accepted the challenge thrown by Ranil Wickremasinghe, the UNP Leader for a television debate at anytime and at anywhere. The ruling Party Presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse insisted that the debate must be held in any open place, more..

Nov 8 (TN) Mr. Sinnathamby Puhari, 26, a Muslim owner of a business was shot and wounded in Monday night at his residence in Eravur by gunmen believed to be belonging to a Muslim armed group. Mr. Puhari was shot when he returned home after talking to his friends at Meerakerny in Eravur at 8:30 p.m., Eravur Police said. more..

Nov 8 (SLA) AN LTTE (TAMIL TIGERS) suicide jacket, believed to have been brought down to COLOMBO for an undisclosed suicidal mission on the eve of the Presidential Election 2005, was taken into custody by the KOLLUPITIYA Police following a tip-off received from a civilian on Monday (07) night. more..

Nov 8 (SLA) AN UNIDENTIFIED PISTOL MAN, suspected to be from the LTTE pistol group shot and killed another Tamil civilian in the general area of KANNAGIPURAM, about 15 km west of AKKARAIPATTU on Monday (07) around 4.30 p.m. The victim, VELAYUDAN GNANENDRAN (40) of No 01, GABADAPITIYA, SAGAMA Road, KANNAGIPURAM, AKKARAIPATTU, more..

Nov 8 (SLA) ONE MORE TAMIL TIGER hand grenade attack and firing on a sentry point of the troops in PULIKANDI, ALVAI in JAFFNA on Monday (07) night at about 9.00 p.m. inflicted injuries on a soldier on duty at the point. Those Tamil Tigers after hiding themselves in the dark first threw two hand grenades at the troops before they fired a couple of small arms rounds at the sentry point. more..

Nov 8 (LBO) State utilities the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and the debt ridden Ceylon Electricity Board are to get a rating in two years, Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama said in Wednesday�s national budget. Reforms at the state giants have been shelved for years by union protests and changes in government. more..

Nov 8 (UNP) The UNP called upon the Bribery Commission to take action against Minister Mangala Samaraweera for making a false complaint against UNP Presidential Candidate Mr. Wickremesinghe. The Bribery Commission cleared Ranil Wickremesinghe of corruption charges last friday. more..

Nov 8 (UNP) UNP Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe said a Presidential candidate should be honest and not be scared to disclose facts to the people. Mr. Wickremesinghe said there had been no charges against him during his lifetime until Minister Mangala Samaraweera accused him recently of malpractice regarding the acquisition more..

Nov 8 (LT) "We will be forced to review our support to the UNP if the leadership fails to provide acceptable explanations to the revelations by a senior member of the party," said Mr. P Chandrasekeran, leader of Upcountry People�s Front in a media release. more..

Nov 8 (LT) Mr. Navin Dissanayake, a former deputy minister of the UNP government and son of late Mr. Gamini Dissanayake, a former presidential candidate of the UNP, had said that Tamils in the estate sector are divided and their leaders should be blamed for that situation. more..