Aug 11 (ANN) Those of us who have heard of Andare, the legendary court jester, will remember his dog, which was noted for a peculiar habit. It did exactly the opposite of what the people wanted it to do. If asked to come, it would run away and vice versa. more..

Aug 11 (Xinhua) Sri Lanka will host its first World Spice Festival, a celebration of food with a difference that will place the island firmly on the international culinary map, the Daily News reported Thursday. The 10-day festival to be held in Colombo from Oct. 7 to 16 more..

Aug 11 (PIS) Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen and the Royal Norwegian peace delegation met the Governor of the Southern Province Kingsley T. Wickramaratne and his officials recently. The delegation led by the Deputy Foreign Minister comprised of M/s Solfrid Fien Ministry of Foreign Affairs Norway, Ambassador Hans Brattskar, Minister Counselor, more..

Aug 11 (NK) Sri Lanka applauded its cricket team's Triangular Series triumph by publishing full-page advertisements in local newspapers Thursday. Leading Sri Lankan mobile companies published these advertisements to congratulate the team for winning the Indian Oil Cup, beating India by 18 runs in the final at the R. Premadasa Stadium here Tuesday. more..

Aug 11 (SAMN) Due to differences of opinion in Muslim political parties with regard to the appointment of a Muslim representative to the Constitutional Council, such an appointment is likely to be delayed, sources said. This representative has to be appointed with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition agreeing to it. more..

Aug 11 (SAMN) Minister of Justice and Judicial Reforms W.D.J.Seneviratne has taken steps to operate a welfare scheme for the benefit of the 22,000 prisoners in the country. This welfare scheme has not been operated properly though it has been started since 1958. more..

Aug 11 (LNP) Deputy Minister Meryvn Silva who is in the centre of controversy, yesterday said youngsters who did not behave like his son, should be shown to a doctor. Speaking in Parliament during an adjournment debate on the crime situation, Mr. Silva said the IGP had enough `spine` to take action against clubs and karaoke bars. more..

Aug 11 (LNP) TULF leader V. Anandasangaree said if the LTTE was not responsible for the killing of Senior Superintendent of Police Charles Wijewardane it was then their responsibility to bring the culprit to the book. more..

Aug 11 (LNP) Nilanthi (35), an attractive mother of three grown-up children of Pokunuwita in Mulleriyawa was killed by her husband, on suspicion of her intimacy with men in the neighbourhood. Nilanthi was employed in a textile factory while her husband Dayarathna worked as a lorry driver. more..

Aug 11 (DN) The Government yesterday declared that it would not amend or suspend the implementation of the legislation increasing fines for traffic offences. "Unless and until Parliament decides by a majority to amend the legislation, the new laws will be implemented fully," more..

Aug 11 (RW) The Ministry of Tourism and the Sri Lanka Tourist Board have developed short to long term recovery plans for 15 coastal resort towns for restoration including Bentota, Hikkaduwa, Unawatuna, Galle and Kogalla, all in Galle District. These resort-towns will be master-planned, taking into consideration zoning regulations and the needs of the community. more..

Aug 11 (Haveeru) A Sri Lankan teenager traumatised by the December tsunami has learned to speak again thanks to a play at the Edinburgh Festival, a report said Wednesday. Ruwani Sitara, 15, was so disturbed by the December 26 tsunami which killed seven members of her family that she became mute, more..

Aug 11 (HT) Allaying Sri Lankan fears about the adverse environmental and economic impact of the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP) on the island country, India says that, far from harming Sri Lanka, the project will benefit it as much as it will benefit India. more..

Aug 11 (Reuters) Sri Lanka has all the symptoms of election fever: billboards are pasted with party slogans and pictures of presidential hopefuls, political squabbling and rhetoric are reaching crescendo and ballots have been printed. more..

Aug 11 (Reuters) The Sri Lankan government's refusal to hunt down and disarm renegades fighting a silent war with the Tamil Tigers is threatening a truce that halted two decades of civil war, the rebels said on Thursday. more..

Aug 11 (Reuters) Want to learn how to handle a Kalashnikov, or try basic martial arts? Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels are offering civilians a crash course in self-defence guerrilla-style, just in case a two-decade civil war resumes. more..

Aug 12 (TN) "We would create one hundred Pirapaharan instead of one in the North East if we allow the current political crisis situation without P-TOMS and with the stalled peace process to continue," said Mr.Maithiripala Sirisena, Minister of Irrigation and Rajarata Development participating in the P-TOMS debate, more..

Aug 12 (TN) Two unidentified persons riding a motorbike lobbed a grenade into an armed post located close to the Triple Gem tsunami refugee camp in Kalmunai Thursday night around 10:00 p.m. Two civilians, standing near the armed post, were also injured in the grenade attack, Police said. more..

Aug 12 (TN) The Jaffna regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has recommended legal action against three prison guards employed in Jaffna prison on allegation of torturing a suspect while in remand. Jaffna Human rights officials have made the recommendation to their head office in Colombo. more..

Aug 12 (LBO) Sri Lankan tsunami victims suffocating in bureaucracy with no say in their future. A survey by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) shows that despite many government sponsored livelihood rehabilitation schemes, tsunami victims in Sri Lanka can't access money to rebuild their lives. more..

Aug 12 (LBO) Sri Lankan shares perked up on Friday, with a one off foreign deal in Commercial Bank of Ceylon Ltd dominating the day's trading. Saudi Arabia's Euro Gulf Management, a unit of the Al Mashal Group, picked up a five million parcel in Commercial Bank at Rs. 150.00, from Sri Lankan born fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, more..

Aug 12 (LT) Unemployed Graduates Association held a protest campaign today at the Lipton Circle, Colombo and, marched to Pettah, Colombo where they held a protest rally. Its convener said that Graduate Employment Scheme is marred with lots of irregularities and it does not go about the way it was originally planned. more..

Aug 12 (LT) The signing of P-TOMS agreement was a need of a minority clique in the Government said Mr. Wimal Weerawansa, Parliamentarian of the JVP. He further said it (P-TOMS) did not bring any benefit to those affected by the tsunami or the peace process. more..

Aug 12 (LT) A meeting between the Batticaloa leaders of wanni tiger organization and members of SLMM was held in Batticaloa yesterday. The meeting was held in wanni tiger office at Kokadicholai in Batticaloa. The situation in the Eastern Province had been discussed. more..

Aug 12 (LT) A new act would be presented to the Parliament so that any future government would not be able to privatize Ceylon Electricity Board says Cabinet spokesman Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva. The cabinet paper presented to the cabinet by Minister of Power and Energy Susil Premajayantha has been approved by the cabinet. more..

Aug 12 (CI) England's dominance of this match continued on day three of the second Test, as they extended their lead to a daunting 328 runs against Sri Lanka. Despite scoring turgidly for most of the day, their lead is almost certainly enough. more..

Aug 12 (AT) Sri Lankan police sought Interpol assistance for its investigations into an arm shipment detained in Colombo port. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is probing to ascertain whether the shipment was meant for the LTTE. more..

Aug 12 (AT) Describing the three-and-a-half year negotiations with the Sri Lankan government as a �peace trap� and warning that the �war clouds� gathering, S.Paramu Tamilselvan, Head of the Political Division of the LTTE, urged the Tamil people to unite behind their Leader to win their rights. more..

Aug 12 (AT) The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has decided to take up the petitions on the controversial issue of the next Presidential election on August 22. A 5-member bench of the Supreme Court will hear arguments on two petitions filed by the SLFP General Secretary Maithreepala Sirisena and Dr Omalpe Sobitha Thero, more..

Aug 12 (AT) The European Commission approved another �45 million for two Tsunami reconstruction projects in Sri Lanka. Building on the �30 million already provided by the European Commission for emergency work since the Tsunami struck last December, this �45 million is the first installment of the EC�s longer term reconstruction package. more..

Aug 12 (wsws) An incident last week involving the killing of a young Tamil barber in northern Sri Lanka has highlighted the fragility of the present three-year-old ceasefire between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tami Eelam (LTTE). more..

Aug 12 (PIS) TNA Parliamentary Group Leader R. Sambandan said yesterday that the Post-Tsunami Operations Management Structure (P-TOMS) could easily command a two thirds majority in Parliament. more..

Aug 12 (LNP) The government is weighing the option of calling a general election ahead of the presidential election. President Chandrika Kumaratunga is likely to dissolve Parliament if Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake decides to call for a presidential election this year. more..

Aug 12 (LNP) A Grade thirteen school boy from Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala brought honour to Sri Lanka at the International Mathematical Olympiad by winning a Bronze Medal. Supun Thamara Samarakoon won the medal at the 46th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) more..

Aug 12 (SAMN) UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya told parliament yesterday that many problems regarding the P-TOMS had arisen due to the government�s weakness in handling the process, and therefore called for a fresh approach to address the problem. more..

Aug 12 (SAMN) National Police Commission Chief Ranjit Abeysuriya said yesterday the Constitution would have to be amended to allow the Inspector General of Police to be included in the Commission. more..

Aug 12 (SAMN) Private buses are the most lethal vehicles on the roads when it comes to fatal accidents while motorcycles are the most vulnerable vehicles to use, according to National Transport Commission Chairman Amal Kumarage. more..

Aug 12 (DN) THE Government of Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide Rs. 370 million for developing the education sector in Sri Lanka. The funds will be used for the new project "Improving School Management to Enhance Quality of Education with Special Reference to Science and Mathematics", more..

Aug 12 (Xinhua) Sri Lanka's main leftist party JVP or the People's Liberation Front has announced that abolition of a joint deal with the Tamil Tigers for tsunami relief co-ordination would be the key to any future alliance with the ruling party. more..

Aug 12 (CSM) The only thing that slows traffic between Sri Lanka's capital and the heartland city of Kandy are the winding uphill roads. There are no checkpoints, no police, no soldiers pointing rifles - none of the security precautions, built up after years of ethnic conflict, that clutter roads heading farther north into ethnic Tamil strongholds. more..

Aug 12 (Rediff) Sri Lanka has closed the gap to Australia at the top of the LG ICC ODI Championship to 15 points by winning the home tri-series against India and West Indies. Sri Lanka's new rating of 121 points is four higher than it was at the start of the series and the best rating held by any team in 2005 apart from Australia. more..

Aug 12 (Xinhua) Several policemen and civilians were injured in a grenade attack on a tsunami relief camp in eastern Sri Lanka, police said Friday. At least two policemen and two civilians suffered injuries as aresult of a grenade thrown at a tsunami relief camp known as the Triple Gem camp at Kalmunai, more..

Aug 12 (HT) The LTTE has warned that war may ensue if the Sri Lankan government continues to refuse to disarm the Tamil paramilitary groups, including the breakaway Karuna group, in the troubled eastern districts of the island. more..

Aug 12 (TN) Senior Announcer at Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) Mrs. Relangi Selvarajah (45) and her husband Mr. Sinnadurai Selvarajah (48) were shot dead by unidentified gunmen Friday around 12.45 pm at Bampalapitiya St. Peter�s lane Colombo where they ran a Travel Agency, Kinrose Travel Service, more..

Aug 12 (PSL) A Bill to safeguard the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) from future Privatization will be presented to the Parliament shortly; Cabinet Spokesman Nimal Siripala Silva announced today addressing the weekly Cabinet news conference. more..

Aug 12 (SLA) One Police sergeant, a father of two children was killed and another Home Guard was injured today (12) around 2.30 p.m. after a group of unidentified LTTE men ambushed them in the general area of DEHIATTAKANDIYA, POLONNARUWA. more..

Aug 12 (SLA) A former lady announcer, attached to the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Cooperation (SLBC) and Sri Lanka Rupavahini Cooperation (SLRC) and her fifty-year old husband now running a communication centre on KINROSS Avenue, WELLAWATTE were slain by an unidentified pistol man in broad daylight Friday (12) afternoon around 1.00 p.m. while they were inside their business centre. more..

Aug 12 (SLA) A Policeman, attached to the SAMMANTHURAI Police Station, was fired upon by an unidentified LTTE cadre on Friday (12) afternoon around 12.50 p.m. in the general area of KARATHIVU in AMPARA. more..

Aug 12 (SLA) Three civilians, who were abducted from the general area of REDEEPOKUNA, POLONNARUWA and detained by four unidentified LTTE men for non-payment of ransom were finally released on 11 August 2005 around 7.30 a.m. after extorting money from them. more..

Aug 12 (SLA) Two hand grenades thrown at an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) centre at KALMUNAI Sivam Kovil grounds Thursday (11) night around 10.10.p.m. by suspected LTTE men injured four including one Police Constable and a Home Guard. more..