Nov 17 (PISL) With the LTTE continuing to face stiff resistance from the Navy in attempts to smuggle weapons by sea, the rebels are now resorting to hijacking Indian fishing trawlers as a modus operandi, the Government has told the Indian Foreign Ministry and the Defence attach�. more..

Nov 17 (PISL) Consistent with the Government�s increasing emphasis on the development of the North and the East, and facilitating the distribution of resulting benefits to the people of these Provinces, and the raising of their living standards, the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) jointly with the Board of Investment (BOI) convened a series of meetings to devise a strategy to more..

Nov 17 (Bloomberg) President Mahinda Rajapaksa may struggle to convince overseas investors to fund record spending on roads and ports on concern the island-nation is sliding toward civil war. The International Monetary Fund this week warned that peace talks with Tamil rebels on the verge of failure threatened to curb investment and Standard & Poor's said its negative rating on the island nation would remain unless security improved. more..

Nov 17 (AP) The military said Friday its soldiers killed 27 Tamil Tiger rebels in eastern Sri Lanka, as the island nation's president urged the separatist insurgents to lay down their weapons and help end decades of bloodshed. The fighting occurred Thursday in Batticaloa district, said military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe. more..

Nov 17 (UTHR) The licence to kill sported by the Military and its Tamil surrogates, underpins the impunity described above. This has rendered life and international standards utterly meaningless here. In areas where the Government is intent on grinding down minority ethnic groups, it has reached the point of banditry. Killing and enrichment are part of the same package. One such area is Trincomalee. more..

Nov 17 (ISL) The Secretary of Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal Mrs. S.Padhmini explained the TMVP's stance on children's issue to the delegates of the UNICEF led by Honorable Allan Rock the Special Advisor on Sri Lanka Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, in the meeting held on Sunday (12, 11, 2006) at TMVP Political Head Secretariat in Colombo. more..

Nov 17 (LBO) After creating two new state banks in successive budgets, Sri Lanka's government is planning to merge and consolidate them with a network of existing rural banks. The SME Bank was created in 2005 to fulfill a pledge to help small and medium domestic enterprise in the run to parliamentary elections, and Lankaputhra Bank was created ostensibly for the same reason, but to give effect to an election promise made during a presidential poll. more..

Nov 17 (GDI) The President Mahinda Rajapaksa�s second budget was packed with long term plans to rub out the poverty in Sri Lanka. The budget mainly focused on agricultural and rural development, infrastructure, social welfare, and economic growth. The Budget 2007 presented by President Rajapaksa yesterday laid a firm foundation for a 10-year development plan focused mainly on agricultural and rural resurgence. more..

Nov 17 (LT) None of the ministers in the Parliament was able to answer the question of JVP Member Sunil Handunneththi as to how many ministers were in the cabinet. Mr. Handunneththi asked this question while participating at the budget debate. At the time the JVP Parliamentarian asked the question there were a number of senior ministers of the Government including more..

Nov 17 (BBC) The judiciary in Sri Lanka has rejected a petition calling for an interim order against the annual convention of the main opposition party. Mt. Lavinia District Court has rejected an appeal by three prominent members of the UNP. Acting General Secretary Tissa Attanayakke told BBC Sinhala that the convention will be held on 19 November as scheduled. more..

Nov 17 (LNP) This particular assassination is not a work of a single individual. Therefore, it`s reasonable to focus on `stakeholder` groups, entities or parties. Not in sequential order of substance, entire range of stakeholders would be: Military Intelligence Karuna Fraction or a proxy, LTTE or a LTTE proxy, Other Tamil militant groups such as EPDP or EPRLF A militant Singhalese group ,JVP A foreign Jackal or local underworld. more..

Nov 17 (LNP) The medical profession in Sri Lanka is affected by a severe dearth of doctors. The country needs at least another 3,000 doctors. Most doctors do not wish to serve in difficult areas. Even in the Badulla district, due to the shortage of gynaenacologists some operations have to be postponed, said Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva more..

Nov 17 (SAMN) President Mahinda Rajapaksa Thursday assured Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs that he was ready for further discussion on the controversial North-East de-merger and have it sorted out. The de-merger issue figured high, when President Rajapaksa and the TNA members met at Temple Trees. TNA Leader R. Sampanthan insisted that the Supreme Court verdict did not rule out the merger of the two provinces as illegal, more..

Nov 17 (SAMN) TNA parliamentarians staged a �Sathyagraha� (sit-in) in the well of the Parliament Thursday while President Mahinda Rajapaksa was delivering the budget speech for 2007. A day after the cremation of their slain colleague N. Raviraj, the Tamil MPs including leader R. Sampanthan carried placards in the House demanding that the Government stop what they called �state terrorism�. more..

Nov 17 (SAMN) Cross sections of political parties, business leaders and the civil society came up with varying ideas on the Government�s budget with the main opposition UNP criticising it as something useless to get out of the present economic crisis. UNP economic spokesman and MP Bandula Gunawardane said the peoples� hopes for economic relief was shattered in this context. more..

Nov 17 (SAMN) Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has recommended a one-year extension for Army Commander Lt Gen. Sarath Fonseka, but President Mahinda Rajapaksa has not approved it as yet. A senior Defence ministry official said the letter of recommendation had been sent to the President as the Commander-in-Chief. Lt. General Fonseka�s current term ends on December 18 when he reaches the age of 56. more..

Nov 17 (DN) Lak Handa Radio will celebrate its first decade of service to the Nation today November 17 at a ceremony held at the BMICH, Colombo at 6 pm with the participation of Speaker of the House W.J.M. Lokubandara and Mass Media and Information Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa as chief guests. Participation of well-known and popular vocalists and singers will add novelty to the felicitation ceremony. more..

Nov 17 (TO) Ratnajeevan Hoole, auxillary professor of electrical and computer engineering, has fled his native country, Sri Lanka, following weeks of death threats against him by the LTTE. LTTE is one of the prime militant groups in Sri Lanka. Since the 1970s, LTTE has been waging a secessionist campaign against the Sri Lankan government in order to secure a separate state for the Tamil majority regions in the north and east of Sri Lanka. more..

Nov 17 (CO) Over 1,000 MDMK party workers led by party chief Vaiko today courted arrest while trying to take out a procession to the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission here, in defiance of prohibitory orders in force, to condemn the "ethnic genocide" in Sri Lanka. They demanded that the Indian government advocate a lasting solution for the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. more..

Nov 17 (AP) Russia will scrap its 5 percent import duty on loose tea within two years after it joins the World Trade Organization under an agreement reached during successful talks with Sri Lanka on Moscow's WTO bid, the Interfax news agency reported Friday. The agency said the pledge to abolish the import duty was part of a bilateral deal signed with Sri Lanka, more..

Nov 17 (AT) President Mahinda Rajapaksa's second budget was packed with long term plans to rub poverty out of Sri Lanka. The budget mainly focused on agricultural and rural development, infrastructure, social welfare, and economic growth and laid a foundation for a 10-year development plan focused mainly on agricultural and rural resurgence. more..

Nov 17 (GDI) A new Institute of Labour Education will be opened next month. This Institute is being set up with the assistance of the International Labour Oraganisation (ILO). The Minister of Labour Relations and Foreign Employment Promotion, Athauda Senevirathna disclosed this to the Government Official Website today. more..

Nov 17 (NIP) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that the Indian government has taken note of the situation in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka and was despatching humanitarian assistance such as rice, sugar and milk powder. Replying to a letter of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi dated November 10, the Prime Minister said that 5,200 tonnes of rice, 1,500 tonnes of sugar and 300 tonnes of milk powder were being sent to the island nation. more..

Nov 17 (AP) A Tamil employee of a Scotland-based international demining group has been abducted from his home in northern Sri Lanka, the group said Friday. Gaston Ravindra, a father of three, was abducted by unknown men on Wednesday night, said Daya Rajendram, an official for Halo Trust demining group in the northern town of Jaffna. more..

Nov 17 (AP) The LTTE today rejected a call from Sri Lanka's president to surrender their arms, as the military announced it killed 27 insurgents. "He must be joking," LTTE top mlitary spokesman, Rasiah Ilanthirayan, told The Associated Press today from their headquarter in Kilinochchi in the north, reacting to President Mahinda Rajapakse's call during a speech in Parliament a day before. more..

Nov 17 (Reuters) Government plans to use a budgeted 28 percent increase in defence spending for 2007 to help beef up the military as it battles Tamil Tiger rebels amid renewed civil war, officials said on Friday. A volume of official budget estimates obtained by Reuters on Friday showed the planned increase was for the acquisition of capital assets such as machinery, equipment, vehicles and contingency services as well as for higher pay for servicemen. more..

Nov 17 (Reuters) Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers should learn from Northern Ireland's peace process that even a hopeless case can be solved if both sides realise neither can win their war, a top British envoy said. From ceasefire implementation to peace talks and human rights to arms issues, Northern Ireland offers a series of lessons for Sri Lanka as it wrestles with renewed civil war, Paul Murphy, a former Northern Ireland minister, said in an interview. more..

Nov 17 (AFP) Sri Lanka is set to borrow heavily abroad and at home in a bid to finance a record 2.18-billion-dollar budget deficit next year as defence spending jumps 45 percent, official figures showed. The overall budget deficit for 2007 was estimated at 7.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) while the government revised the 2006 deficit to 7.9 percent of GDP from an earlier projection of 9.1 percent. more..

Nov 18 (BBC) The security forces in Sri Lanka have sent back food supplies sent to refugees in the LTTE-held areas in the east. Civil administrators in Batticaloa said the civilians are caught in the increasing fighting in the Vakarai area. Food and medicine supplies are rapidly running out for nearly 30,000 residents and refugees, they said. more..

Nov 18 (IG) The ethnic war in Sri Lanka has taken a turn for the worse. As a result, the refugee influx to India has increased considerably. Now three movies are being churned out with the ethnic war in Lanka as its backdrop. Jeeva's Rameswaram, Sundar C's Yazhpanam and Maan which will feature newcomers, are ready to hit the floors. All these films dwell on the ethnic war in Lanka. more..

Nov 18 (TA) BLOODY civil war has ravaged teardrop-shaped Sri Lanka, claiming more than 60,000 lives, the majority civilians, since 1983. Inter-communal tensions between the nation's principal Sinhalese and Tamil ethnic communities reached a boiling point that summer, sparking a full-blown Tamil rebellion. Later dubbed Black July, it began when Tamil militants killed 13 Government soldiers, more..

Nov 18 (LBO) Sri Lankan rupee fell to a new low Friday, while share prices broke a three day record streak, a day after the island's 2007 budget was presented to parliament. The rupee breached the 109 level to slip to new a low of 109.20 to the dollar in late trading, as state banks fished for dollars, dealers said. more..

Nov 18 (LBO) Sri Lanka Customs says it will shore up revenues to 240 billion rupees next year, despite a host of import duty waivers in the country�s latest budget. Scaled up cess collections and rooting out malpractice and under-valuations should keep the government�s customs revenue targets on track, C W Jayatilake, Director General of Sri Lanka Customs, said. more..

Nov 18 (AT) Everyone in the world wants to lead a happy, free and a peaceful life. Most of us have great aspirations. Having a happy, free and peaceful life is put into question, and simply being 'alive' becomes a challenge. This challenge and struggle for survival is confronted due to conflict. This struggle and conflict destroys the aspiration for a normal life. more..

Nov 18 (AT) Tsunami affected small-scale entrepreneurs and housewives of the Trincomalee district now move to a new era, after the assistance provided by the NGOs and INGOs to start their own businesses. The entrepreneurs said they need government assistance to find new markets, financial assistance from commercial banks and permanent buildings to expand their industries. more..

Nov 18 (AT) Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) provide the Sri Lankan hotels with Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) Mobile Internet Zone known as a Wi-Fi Hotspot. Wi-Fi is a simple and easy to use form to access wireless broadband network. In contrast to other cable based broadband systems like Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) Wi-Fi does not require waiting up in setting up. more..

Nov 18 (Hindu) Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd (AHEL) has entered into a partnership agreement with The Lanka Hospitals Corporation Ltd (LHCL) to enable licensing and support services between the two. The agreement follows the recommendations of the restructured board of directors of LHCL and Apollo Hospital, Colombo, Harry Jayawardhane, chairman, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation and director of LHCL, told reporters here on Friday. more..

Nov 18 (DT) The government of Pakistan has decided not to allow further tariff concession of 33% in the existing applicable tariff on the import of 118 types of auto parts and accessories of the auto sector from Sri Lanka under the Pak-Sri-Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA), a senior government official told the Daily Times on Friday. more..

Nov 18 (AT) The Export Development Board invites local entrepreneurs to join the Sri Lanka Trade Center (SLTC) in Chennai, India to fill few vacant stalls at the Center to exploit the opportunities in the Indian market. It serves as a permanent gateway to the Indian market enabling easy access to the products of Sri Lankan origin at competitive prices facilitated through tariff wavers available under Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement more..

Nov 18 (OD) The delegations representing the Sri Lankan state and the LTTE met on 28-29 October in Geneva for talks to thrash out a possible settlement to the civil war that has ravaged the island of Sri Lanka since 1983. They did so against the background of military operations raging on both sides in the country. It was sadly predictable that the politician-warriors at the talks remained entrenched in their mutually irreconcilable positions, more..

Aug 18 (TW) Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) President Veerasingham Anandasangaree was awarded the prestigious 2006 UNESCO - Madanjeet Singh prize for the promotion of Tolerance and Non - Violence on Thursday November 16th. The prize - giving ceremony in Paris was held as usual on Nov 16th the International day for tolerance observed annually. more..

Aug 18 (TW) His name is Rock! Allan Rock!! He is a Canadian!!! He was in Sri Lanka for ten days from November 6th to 14th on a fact - finding mission for the United Nations. Allan Rock visited Sri Lanka in his capacity of special adviser on Sri Lanka to UN Scretary - General�s Special representative (SGSR)on Children and armed conflict (CAAC). more..

Aug 18 (TW) The assassination of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Member of Parliament for Jaffna District, Nadaraja Raviraj, has brought to the forefront, with added momentum, the elementary and immediate political issues standing in the way of a peaceful settlement to the armed conflict in the North-East. more..

Aug 18 (TW) Sri Lanka had a population of almost 19.69 million in 2005. Sri Lanka ranks 96th on the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Index scale. There were a total of 743 cases of HIV/AIDS, and 144 deaths reported by 2005, according to statistics from Sexual Transmitted Diseases (STD) clinics. There were 432 males, and 311 females reported in 2005 with HIV/AIDS. more..

Aug 18 (LeN) Following a failed attempt by some UNP dissidents to stop the party Annual Convention from being held tomorrow. UNP National Organizer S.B. Dissanayake urged party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to join Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya and present the Party reforms at the convention, to protect the unity within the party. more..

Aug 18 (LeN) The Tokyo donor conference co-chairs who convene in Washington on Monday will cal on the LTTE to show more flexibility on the A9 while urging both the government and the rebels to reach a compromise on the issue, the media. Japanese Ambassador Kiyoshi Araki yesterday met the government peace delegation, which participated at the last Geneva talks before departing for Washington to attend the co-chair meeting. more..

Aug 18 (ISL) The case brought before the Harrow Crown Court by the Metropolitan Police on the violence in front of the Tamil Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) on 8 June 2006 was formally adjourned following brief hearing today (17/11). Nadarajah Sethurupan, Anushriskumar Thamotherampillai and Kandiah Uthayasekaran stand accused of causing disturbance in front of the TBC and over threatening behaviour towards four persons attached to the radio station. more..

Aug 18 (LT) Foundation stone laying ceremony for the proposed second international air port in Sri Lanka at Weerawila will be held under the auspices of President Mahinda Rajapakse. Speaking to the media Mr. Mangala Samaraweera said the construction of the air port would cost Rs.12.5 billion. At the moment there is only one other international air port in Sri Lanka. more..

Aug 18 (GDI) The Government requests the Tigers to pause their attacks in the East by 3 p.m. today to facilitate the transportation of the Food and essential items to the Vakarai area, Security sources informed. Ten lorries loaded with two ambulances, food and medicine are waiting for the green light to move, in Valachchenai. more..

Aug 18 (GDI) The country's business community represented by various trade chambers and associations have commended the 10-year comprehensive economic framework introduced by Budget 2007 which is heavily focused on the development of vital infrastructure especially in the regions. Representatives of trade chambers said that the Government's intention to expedite key roads and power sector projects was clearly evident in the Budget proposals. more..