Oct 8 (LBO) JobsNet, the national employment sourcing body, says it has 48,000 jobs and 83,000 job seekers, but brokering marriages between the two is easier said than done. �We have 15,000 vacancies in the garment sector and around 10,000 in marketing and sales and over 2,000 vacancies at any given time in technician categories,� more..

Oct 8 (Reuters) Stocks moved up slightly on Friday after three days of profit taking, as investors bought select bluechip shares, brokers said. The key Colombo all-share index rose a provisional 0.31 percent, or 4.41 points, to 1,449.18. more..

Oct 8 (DN) Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapakse said the Government will do its best to speed up the educational and other nation-building projects for the well-being of the common people amidst financial difficulties caused mainly due to reasons beyond its control. more..

Oct 8 (AFP) Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey was set to visit Sri Lanka to try to revive peace talks between the government and Tamil rebels, ministry sources said. Last week leaders of the Tamil Tiger rebel group began a week-long meeting in Switzerland more..

Oct 8 (HT) Sri Lanka's principal opposition party United National Party (UNP) is urging countrymen to see their giant neighbour India as a provider of opportunities for economic development, and not as a threat to their existence. more..

Oct 8 (CI) Marvan Atapattu has urged his team-mates to be completely focussed on winning the next two matches of the Paktel Cup, against Zimbabwe. Sri Lanka lost their first game of the tournament, against Pakistan, by eight wickets, and take on Zimbabwe on October 9 and then again a couple of days later. more..

Oct 8 (BBC) Since veteran nationalist Thilak Karunaratne had defected to the United National Party (UNP), a new crisis seems to be emerging in the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU). Gampaha district MP, Kolonnawe Sumanagala thero has also announced that he will also resign from parliament. more..

Oct 9 (LBO) ICM Worldwide with support from global chipmaker Intel, will begin commercial assembly of laptops here to meet local demand for mobile computing. The laptop�s design and specifications, on par with big brands will retail at 20 percent to 30 percent less than the cost of a branded laptop, more..

Oct 9 (LBO) Sri Lanka may be bypassed for aid to revamp its garment factories, as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) directs funds to needy countries like Madagascar and Vietnam. more..

Oct 9 (TN) "Attempts by the Sri Lankan armed forces to use renegade commander Karuna to destabilize the east, have resulted in the continuation of killings that started in Batticaloa and extended to Colombo. Military analysts have characterized this scenario as a shadow war between the LTTE and the Sri Lanka Army. more..

Oct 9 (TN) Dr.Jayantha Dhanapala Secretary General of Sri Lanka's Government Peace Secretariat Friday visited Trincomalee and held discussion with the local and expatriate members of SLMM in the office of the SLMM located along the Inner Harbour Road, Trincomalee. more..

Oct 9 (AT) If armed conflict fuels and is fueled by the narcotics trade, it is logical then to expect that peace would impede production and trade in narcotics. But this is not necessarily the case, as ceasefires often provide drug mafias with ideal conditions in which to operate. more..

Oct 9 (Reuters) The government's Jan-July revenue rose to 165.9 billion rupees from 158.7 billion rupees in the same period in 2003, the central bank said on Friday. Total January-July spending was 267.6 billion rupees, up from 247.9 billion rupees in 2003. more..

Oct 9 (FL) Suresh Premachandran, 47, secretary-general of a faction of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF-Suresh), joined the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation (EROS) in 1975 and, subsequently, the EPRLF, when it was founded by the late Padmanabha. more..

Oct 9 (FL) Thirunavukkarasu Sritharan, 46, politburo member of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF-Varathar), joined the student militant movement in 1979 and has been engaged primarily in political work. Currently, he is a senior leader of the EPRLF-V. more..

Oct 9 (FL) Selvam Adaikkalanathan, 42, joined the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) at the age of 15 and became its president after the killing of Sri Sabarathinam in 1986. TELO, founded in 1975 by Thangathurai and Kuttimani, was the dominant militant group in the 1980s until it was decimated by the LTTE. more..

Oct 9 (FL) Shankar Rajee, 55, is a founder-member of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation (EROS), one of the earliest militant groups. He had his initial training with the Palestinian movement and was a member of the executive committee of the EROS. more..

Oct 9 (FL) Douglas Devananda, 47, is the secretary general of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), the most vocal critic of the LTTE. A founder-member of the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation (EROS), formed in 1975, Devananda received military training from the Al-Fatah faction of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) in 1978. more..

Oct 9 (FL) Dharmalingam Sithadthan, 56, president of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), is a founder-member of the overseas branch of the LTTE in London. When Uma Maheswaran left the LTTE and founded PLOTE, Sithadthan joined him. more..

Oct 9 (FL) Thirty years after militant Tamil nationalism came to the fore in Sri Lanka, its core demand - greater sharing of political powers between the state and the Tamil-dominated northern and eastern provinces of the country - remains elusive. more..

Oct 9 (Rupavahini) The international civil aviation organization appreciated the Sri Lankan government's action to strengthen safety and security measures relating to civil aviation. more..

Oct 9 (Rupavahini) She points out that it is essential to strengthen the administrative structure irrespective of political differences. The president further noted that the outdated administrative system of the country should also be changed to meet the present needs. more..

Oct 9 (AT) Neelan Tiruchelvam was a many-sided figure, astonishingly diverse in the range of his interest and activities - as scholar, lawyer, social activist and politician. But as remarkable as that variety was the underlying consistency and unity of the attitudes, convictions and beliefs that he brought to bear on every one of the fields in which he was engaged. more..

Oct 9 (AT) Here is my concluding observation on Dayan Jayatilleka�s judgment on my views: 1. First of all, I am a student of political science and trained as a political scientist, and not as a politician or not an agent of any foreign governments including India, which expects collapse of the LTTE and emergence of pro-Indian groups including Dayan�s loves Perumal led EPRLF emergence. more..

Oct 9 (AT) Why did the chicken cross the road? The original answer to this old question is simple: "The chicken crossed the road to get to the other side" But times are not simple now. New age comes up with new answers. Here are some selected answers : more..

Oct 9 (TN) Sri Lanka Army soldiers, police personnel and Sinhala home guards severely assaulted a group of Tamil youths Friday evening at Anpuvallipuram junction, in Trincomalee, injuring two of them. The injured youths have been admitted at the Trincomalee general hospital, sources said. more..

Oct 9 (TN) An identification parade will be held in Jaffna magistrate's court next week to identify the policemen who assaulted Jaffna regional co-ordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) in the Jaffna police station few days ago, legal sources said. more..

Oct 9 (TN) Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is to inaugurate district level political awareness campaign in the northeast province next week, said TNA parliamentary group leader and Trincomalee district parliamentarian Mr.R.Sampanthan. more..

Oct 9 (NW) The Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP), a specially trained counter-terrorist unit formed by the Directorate of Military intelligence has been disbanded by Army Commander Shantha Kottegoda. more..

Oct 9 (NW) President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday lashed out at the Opposition for not participating in the opening ceremony of the new District Secretariat building in Galle - but she was apparently not aware that the opposition members had already left after a three hour wait for the President. more..

Oct 9 (NW) The LTTE has requested the army to relax its checking on LTTE cadres when they are visiting cleared areas in the Batticaloa district as they feel it as a humiliation to go through that exercise at the security check point in front of civilians. more..

Oct 9 (NW) The crisis in the JHU deepened yesterday with the removal of Lay Secretary Champika Ranawaka and the resignation of Ven. Kolonnawe Sumangala Thera as a member of Parliament. more..

Oct 9 (WF) Congressman James A. Leach has expressed concern about the rising level of political violence in Sri Lanka and called for a resumption of the peace talks between the government and the rebel LTTE. more..

Oct 9 (SLBC) The CID yesterday uncovered a massive forged Vehicle Revenue License racket following the arrest of eight persons including seven minor employees attached to the Divisional Secretariat of Hendala, Wattala and Ja-Ela. more..

Oct 9 (Reuters) Sri Lanka is preparing tenders to explore for oil and to build a new hydropower plant, as soaring crude prices have revived projects that have been on the backburner for years, Power and Energy Minister Susil Premajayantha said on Friday. more..

Oct 9 (AT) A strong growing determination to ban the Sri lanka�s Tamil Separatist organization, LTTE is fast emerging in Denmark and it is clearly evidenced that the opposition to the Tamil rebel outfit is gathering momentum. more..

Oct 9 (TT) Finance Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama had bilateral meetings with the Finance Ministers of India, Saudi Arabia and Iran on the sidelines of the 2004 Annual meetings of the Boards of Governors of the IMF and the World Bank. more..

Oct 9 (TI) Zimbabwe captain Tatenda Taibu aims to break a losing streak of 12 limited-overs Internationals Saturday when he leads his young side against Sri Lanka in a must-win triangular series game. �It�s time now for us to break the ice and win a game,� Taibu said here. more..

Oct 9 (PD) A visiting senior Chinese official has said China's new leadership attaches great importance to the development of relations between China and Sri Lanka. Wu Guanzheng, a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks while meeting with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse more..

Oct 9 (BBC) Sri Lanka's cricket board has launched an investigation into allegations of drunken misconduct by two players during the ICC Champions Trophy. Two unnamed players were reported to have had a drinking binge in their hotel room on the first night of the rain-interrupted match against England. more..

Oct 9 (TOO) The Sri Lankan School Muscat has secured its best-ever results at the Ordinary Level examinations of Edexcel International, London. A total of 42 students sat for 317 subject entries. An astonishing total of 151 �A� grades, representing 48 per cent of subject entries submitted, more..

Oct 9 (ANN) Petrol and diesel sales had dropped to nearly 50 per cent in some petrol sheds in Colombo city due to the recent two-rupee price increase, a senior Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CEYPETCO) spokesman, who did not wish to be identified said Friday. more..

Oct 9 (SLA) A Tamil youth who escaped from the PORTHIVU LTTE camp has surrendered to the troops at the PADIRUPPU, ROAD BLOCK at KALAWANCHIKUDI, Special Task Force (STF) on 08 October 2004 around 2.30 a.m. more..

Oct 9 (SLA) The sit-on fast, launched at TRINCOMALEE clock tower by next of kin of two Home Guards being detained by LTTE, continues for the twenty sixth day on Saturday (09 October 2004), demanding the immediate release of them.

Oct 9 (AT) The Jathika Hela Urumaya (National Heritage Party) led by Buddhist monks with nine Member representation in Sri Lankan parliament is now facing crisis situation owing to differences between the clergy and lay office bearers of the party. more..

Oct 9 (IANS) Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are having negotiations to start direct air services to boost bilateral trade. A delegation of the Bangladesh Civil Aviation Authority visited Colombo last month and discussed various options, including opening of the air route, more..

Oct 9 (IANS) A senior Chinese official on a goodwill tour here met President Chandrika Kumaratunga and discussed bilateral relations. Wu Guanzheng, a central committee member of the Communist party, expressed confidence that a new chapter of Sino-Sri Lankan friendship would open in the current century. more..

Oct 9 (CI) Sri Lanka made short work of Zimbabwe in the first encounter between the two sides in the Paktel Cup, finishing the match off in less than 52 overs, just over half the scheduled amount. Their victory was set up in the field: more..

Oct 9 (AFP) Elite police commandos on Saturday shot dead a renegade Tamil rebel who killed a regional commander from the main guerrilla group, an official said. The breakaway faction of the LTTE shot dead a local commander known as Jude in the eastern Akkaraipattu region and minutes after commandos gunned down the assassin, more..

Oct 9 (DN) The Sanwardhana Sangramaya (Development War), a drive to accelerate the neglected development needs in all parts of the country will be launched on October 22 with the participation of all Government, Provincial Council and Local Government bodies, President Chandrika Kumaratunga said yesterday. more..