Nov 9 (LeN) A plot to assassinate Uduwe Dhammaloka has been unearthed by Police intelligence sources, 'The Daily English Paper' said. According to the English daily the police have uncovered that the contract for the killing has been offered to an underworld kingpin from Kelaniya. more..

Nov 9 (CT) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse was urged by several cabinet ministers yesterday to stop the presentation of the budget since it would be counter-productive to his election campaign. more..

Nov 9 (ANN) Of an election, what is always calculated is only the direct cost. The indirect costs or external costs defy assessment, the abuse of state property being one, as politicians and their bureaucratic lackeys have over the decades destroyed the tracking systems that once existed in the public service. more..

Nov 9 (wsws) Despite considerable efforts to prevent it going ahead, Wije Dias, the Socialist Equality Party�s candidate in the November 17 presidential election in Sri Lanka, addressed a public meeting of workers, students, teachers and housewives in Madras in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu last Sunday. more..

Nov 9 (DN) The recent assassination of two respected Jaffna principals is a grave setback to the lobby against child recruitment and the use of underage cadres in LTTE activities. By these killings the organization deepened the fear psychosis that prevents parents, elders and youth groups in the North and East from openly opposing the at-times aggressive drive for new recruits. more..

Nov 9 (PIS) Security forces in the North and the East went on high alert yesterday morning following army intelligence intercepting an LTTE message instructing their cadres to be ready for a massive attack in the next few hours. Authorities tightened security in government establishments in the North and the East and ordered high alert. more..

Nov 9 (SAMN) Presidential Candidate and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremeisnghe addressing a propaganda meeting on Monday (07), unfolded his proposals for the economic development of the country. Mr. Wickremesinghe said that his ambition was to create 10,000 job opportunities during the next five years, more..

Nov 9 (SAMN) The United National Party has spent Rs. 684 million on its electronic and print media advertising so far, the Premier�s campaign office claimed yesterday, charging that the funds were coming from underworld agencies, bookies and drug dealers who were eager to bring Ranil Wickremesinghe to power. more..

Nov 9 (SAMN) Although the campaigning for the Presidential election ends at midnight on November 14, the candidates and their supporters are permitted to publish advertisements only in the print media, said Deputy Elections Commissioner Bandula Kulathunga. more..

Nov 9 (LNP) The main Opposition yesterday staged a walk out of the House in protest no sooner Finance Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama commenced presenting the budget in Parliament. The government ignored the Opposition protest and Finance Minister Amunugama continued reading his budget speech for the fiscal year starting January 1. more..

Nov 9 (LNP) UPFA candidate Mahinda Rajapakse`s chief campaign coordinator Mangala Samaraweera yesterday charged that if the Bribery Commission was resorting to throwing out complaints without even recording a statement from the complainant, the commission itself merited inquiry. more..

Nov 9 (LNP) Addressing a large gathering of SLFP, JVP, LSSP supportes and estate workers in Deraniyagala town, PM Mahinda Rajapakse asked `what has the UNP, MP done to develop Deraniyagala electorate during his tenure' On the contrary the SLFP had done much, including electricity and other facilities to estate workers. more..

Nov 9 (DN) UNP Presidential Candidate and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said he would seek a mandate from the masses to come into a common consensus with the SLFP to arrive at a decision to solve the North and East problem and bring about peace after winning the election. more..

Nov 9 (CI) Another day, another emphatic romp, and a resounding slap in the face for those who continue to doubt the wisdom of the Greg Chappell-inspired rotation policy. Even with Rahul Dravid, captain and scourge of bowling attacks, cooling his heels in the pavilion, a Virender Sehwag-led Indian side decimated Sri Lanka by seven wickets with 91 balls to spare. more..

Nov 9 (AFP) Sri Lanka is banking on 6.5 billion dollars in foreign aid to revive its tsunami-battered economy, finance ministry officials said a day after the government unveiled a deficit budget. more..

Nov 9 (Gulf) With merely a week remaining for the presidential election, Sri Lanka's ethnic divide has taken centre stage. Both candidates Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe have pledged to resolve the ethnic conflict in their own ways. more..

Nov 9 (AFP) Sri Lanka's outgoing president bids farewell to regional politics at a South Asian summit this week but retains the honour of being the longest serving head of a regional body that scored high marks for failure. more..

Nov 9 (AFP) Sri Lanka's top official handling the peace process with Tamil Tiger rebels has resigned ahead of presidential elections this month, a government official said. President Chandrika Kumaratunga accepted the resignation of Jayantha Dhanapala, the head of the Secretariat for Co-ordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP), more..

Nov 9 (AP) A Sri Lankan court Wednesday endorsed guidelines proposed by the elections commissioner to thwart voter fraud when people from Tamil rebel-controlled areas enter Sri Lankan government-held territory to vote in this month's presidential election. more..

Nov 10 (LBO) The Freedom Alliance government in possibly its last policy making cabinet meeting gave the green light for a national policy on biosafety. The much worked on policy will outline the country�s stance on issues like genetic modified foods, labeling requirement, testing, risk assessments and the use of bio technology in research and agriculture. more..

Nov 10 (BBC) Media watchdogs in Sri Lanka condemned a decision by the Elections Commissioner not to reveal assets and liabilities of the two main presidential candidates. The Free Media Movement (FMM) said the Commissioner�s decision is a violation of the right of the people to access information "vital in making their choice at the elections". more..

Nov 10 (Xinhua) UNP said Wednesday that ruling party's election manifesto for the Nov.17 presidential poll has been rendered meaningless by the government budget. Bandula Gunawardena, told reporters here that the government budget for 2006 presented in parliament on Tuesday did not include any of the pledges made by the ruling party's candidate, more..

Nov 10 (IHT) Budget for 2006 may help Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse in his bid to win next week's presidential election, analysts said. The governing coalition on Tuesday announced tax relief for farmers and salary increases for civil servants in a fiscal package that would widen the budget deficit to 9 percent of gross domestic product in 2006 from an estimated 8.5 percent this year. more..

Nov 10 (TN) Heavy rains drenched Trincomalee town and other villages in the district Wednesday evening for about three hours flooding roads and lanes, bringing the traffic almost to a halt. Several tsunami affected families sheltered in temporary huts located in coastal areas sought refuge in nearby public buildings and temples more..

Nov 10 (AT) A six-member team from the Commonwealth will begin its preliminary work today in Sri Lanka observing the preparations for Sri Lanka�s presidential election to be held in November 17. The Commonwealth Expert Team, as it is called, sent by Secretary-General Don McKinnon more..

Nov 10 (AT) A wide-ranging group of professionals, National Task force for Diabetes set up with the intention of formulating a comprehensive National policy for the prevention of Diabetes is to hand over its consensus document to the Director General of Health Services on the 13th of November. more..

Nov 10 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's tea industry needs to improve quality and develop a new type of teabag for its unique Ceylon brand in order to recapture market share amid falling world prices, a senior official said. Tea Board chairman Niraj De Mel told Reuters the island would produce more than 325 million kg in 2005, more..

Nov 10 (BBC) The Supreme Court in Sri Lanka has allowed the Elections Commissioner to implement ten-fold programme in establishing cluster polling booths for the voters in the rebel-held areas. more..

Nov 10 (WS) The country's most vital yet highly controversial Norochcholai coal power plant continues to hang in the balance, despite a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Sri Lankan and the Chinese Government and the insistence made by the Government to the effect that construction of the plant will begin soon. more..

Nov 10 (SLA) FOUR UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS, suspected to be from LTTE, have robbed some vote cards on 9 November 2005 around 12.30 p.m. Two Postmen, THAMOTHARAM PILLAI NAGABASKARAN and SOMASUNDARAM PANEETHANATHAN attached to the MEESALAI Sub Post Office were delivering vote cards more..

Nov 10 (SLA) A VEHICLE HIJACKED by suspected Tamil Tigers on Tuesday (08) has been arrested by the Police at the MADHU ROAD entry/exit point Wednesday (09) around 2.00 p.m.. The Toyota van (252-0967) was being taken to the un-cleared areas at the time of the arrest on suspicion. more..

Nov 10 (SLA) TWO TAMIL TIGERS who were lying in the general area of VANTHARAMOOLAI, about 15 km northwest of BATTICALOA, with severe gunshot injuries were taken to the ERAVUR hospital by troops on foot patrol in the area on Wednesday (09) around 9.25 p.m. more..

Nov 10 (SLA) NAVAL TROOPS on duty in the general area of MUTTUR have observed Tamil Tigers conducting firing practice sessions using small arms in the LTTE held areas on 09 November 2005 around 12.30 p.m.. The matter was to be informed to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).

Nov 10 (TN) An unidentified assailant shot and wounded two masons, Mr. Ganeshamoorthy Chandrakumar,20, and Mr Navaratnarajah Kannan, 24, in Vantharumoolai in Eravur, 18 km north of Batticaloa. The incident took place around 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Chandrakumar was talking to his neighbour and co-worker Kannan when the assailant entered his house. more..

Nov 10 (TN) Hope for the Children (HOPE), a non-governmental organization based in London, Wednesday under the project "Tsunami Disaster Relief UK Schools Link," donated computers, printers and furniture costing about eight hundred thousand rupees to three village schools affected by tsunami in the Trincomalee district through the Trincomalee YMCA. more..

Nov 10 (UNP) Addressing a news conference in Colombo this morning UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya said good governance is one of the priorities of the new president Ranil Wickremesinghe. He said that soon after the independence good governance was prevailing in the country, trains ran in time, letters were distributed in time, and the judiciary worked independently. more..

Nov 10 (UNP) UNP Presidential cadidate Ranil Wickremesinghe, told an election campaign meeting in Homagama that in order to to gain political mileage, some groups were trying to make out that the ceasefire agreement would lead to a division of the country. more..

Nov 10 (LM) A group of gunmen believed to be supporters and security personnel of Deputy Minister Anver Islamil had open fired at a SLMC presidential election propaganda in Sammanathurai severely injuring two SLMC supporters. The incident had taken place during the dark hours of this morning, around 2.15 a.m. more..

Nov 10 (LM) Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader Rauff Hakeem said that the Tamil nationalism was using �election boycott' as a weapon to win their rights but the Muslim community cannot take recourse to such political strategies because they were not an armed group and also they did not have any territory under their administration. more..

Nov 10 (LM) The JVP was now in the process of concocting false and baseless stories about the minorities in order to create panic among the majority community, said Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) national leader Rauff Hakeem MP speaking at an election meeting at Thillayadi in Puttlam. more..

Nov 10 (LM) Colombo District Judge K.H. Sumithrapala yesterday disallowed an enjoining order asking that three private TV channels stop the telecast of a UNP election advertisement. The Judge ruled that there were insufficient grounds to suspend this advertisement being telecast by several television channels. more..

Nov 10 (LeN) Investigations have revealed that the Prime Minister's 'Helping Hambantota' account is a false transaction and a criminal breach of trust, Deputy Inspector General of Lionel Gunathilake of the Criminal Investigations Department said in an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court today. more..

Nov 10 (LT) A supporting rally on Mr Mahinda Rajapakse�s vitctory organized by the National Muslim Community was held at Sugathadada Stadium, Colombo yesterday. Mr Rajapakse addressing the rally asked whether they would prefer a leader who did not support Palestinians or who hailed the invasion of Iraq by the American army. more..

Nov 10 (LT) A protest organized by the parents of the children who were massacred at Batalanda during 1988 � 89 uprising have been obstructed by the Police. This �Sathyagraha� was organized close to Batalanda torture chamber to commemorate the massacre of youth. more..

Nov 10 (GT) An SMS poll conducted by Sirasa TV to name the winning candidate at the presidential election was abruptly terminated following a complaint by the UPFA presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse, that the SMS texts dispatched by him to the channel had not been tallied in his favour. more..

Nov 10 (LBO) Mr. Pain Killer and Presidential Candidate Victor Hettigoda says he would have encouraged toddy-tapping apart from giving every home a milk cow if he presented the 2006 annual budget. Hettigoda said 'moo' to Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama budget and said his cow-plan and toddy tapping would have been much more productive to encourage local industries. more..

Nov 10 (TP) A young Sri Lankan committed suicide recently. He was a carpentry worker and was in Doha for a year. He is the second Sri Lankan to commit suicide so far this year. A maid was found hanging from the ceiling of her room in her sponsor�s house in June this year, more..

Nov 10 (PIS) After 11 years as Sri Lanka's Executive President, Chandrika Kumaratunga speaks of her days in power and plans for the future. In an exclusive interview with The Hindu on November 7, Kumaratunga said she does not intend to hold any position in any Government more..

Nov 10 (PIS) The core of the peace process is irreversible, President Chandrika Kumaratunga has told The Hindu in an exclusive interview. "But it could be temporarily changed. The historian, the political historian, the political scientist, the philosopher, and the practical politician in me tell me that it cannot be changed. more..

Nov 10 (PIS) �The Government has mobilized nearly US$ 650 million for development in the North and East,� stated the Hon. Finance Minister in the 2005-06 Budget presented to the parliament on November 8, 2005. �The Government itself provides nearly Rs. 5 billion from its annual budget to improve living conditions of people in these areas. more..