Nov 5 (LM) The UNP yesterday strongly condemned the alleged attack on a Swarnavahini team by the supporters of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse at Hiniduma in Galle on Thursday. The Swarnavahini crew members were assaulted while they were returning to Colombo after covering a Prime Minister's Presidential Election rally. more..

Nov 5 (BBC) The presidential campaign is moving forward peacefully says election monitoring organization PAFERAL. Kingsley Rodrigo, convener of PAFERAL speaking to Sandeshaya said that overall there have been very few incidents. more..

Nov 5 (HT) Cow breeders in the Indian state of Kerala are in for a bonanza if Victor Hettigoda wins the presidential election. Hettigoda, head of the most successful Ayurvedic pharmaceutical company in Sri Lanka, has promised to import high yielding cows from Kerala to fulfil his promise to give a cow to every family, including those living in high-rise flats! more..

Nov 5 (LNP) Opposition leader and UNP presidential candidate Ranil Wickremessinghe said in Jaffna Thursday (3) that the LTTE had complained that it lost 26 vessels in battle with the security forces during his tenure as prime minister. more..

Nov 5 (LNP) Donors and international lending organisations give aid to governments and not to persons, Minister Mangala Samaraweera said. Samaraweera said the Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had said at a number of campaign meeting that The present government has not been able to obtain foreign aid and such aid would be given to the country only if he comes to power. more..

Nov 5 (LNP) UPFA Mahinda Rajapakse`s campaign team yesterday said they would take legal action against the UNP demanding Rs. 300 million each for starring in its political advertisements. Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the UNP was using parts of statements made by him and his colleagues for political mileage and taking them out of context. more..

Nov 5 (LNP) The village of Kebithigollawa was in shock and anguish yesterday after a teacher apparently suffering from some mental imbalance allegedly killed his teacher-wife and their two-year-old daughter on Thursday, police said. more..

Nov 6 (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 6 (SLA) AN UNIDENTIFIED PISTOL MAN, suspected to be a Tamil Tiger, has shot and killed a Tamil person at a place close to his residence in the general area of TRINCOMALEE town on 5 November 2005 around 7.40 p.m. more..

Nov 6 (SLA) THREE CIVILIANS, including one former LTTE cadre, have been abducted by unidentified men from the general areas of KALUWANKERNI and ERAVUR Saturday (05) between 5.30 and 7.45 p.m., stated complaints made to the Police and troops by their next of kin. more..

Nov 6 (SLA) A CIVILIAN�S HOUSE in the general area of KURUMANKADU in VAVUNIYA was damaged when an unidentified person lobbed a hand grenade towards it Saturday (05) around 11.20 p.m. The house of N. ROVIN RAJKUMAR of No.34, UC Quarters Road, KURUMANKADU, VAVUNIYA was partly damaged in the hand grenade attack. more..

Nov 6 (UNP) The Permanent Commission Investigating Allegations of Bribery and Corruption has concluded that there is no merit to the complaint made by Ports Minister Mangala Samaraweera against UNP presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe and has decided to close the file. more..

Nov 6 (UNP) The Bribery Commission has thrown out Minister Mangala Samaraweera�s allegations against UNP Leader and presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe regarding a multi-million-dollar computer deal, but has decided to proceed with the complaint against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. more..

Nov 6 (NIP) PHDCCI is holding parleys with experts on SAARC to find ways and means for enhancing imports from these countries. The role model is the bilateral trade with Sri Lanka. A few years back, imports from Sri Lanka into India were miniscule. more..

Nov 6 (BBC) The bishops of Jaffna ,Mannar and Trincomalee/Batticaloa have urged the voters of the North and East to cast their vote at the forthcoming presidential polls. The Bishop of Mannar Rt .Rev Rayappu Joseph said that as lethargy among voters could be seen, more..

Nov 6 (LT) All is ready for the presidential election scheduled to be held on the 17th November says Mr. Dayananda Dishanayake, Commissioner of Elections. He said everything has been prepared for those who are engaged in election duty to cast their postal votes on the 7th and 8th and the relevant instructions and ballot papers have been sent to heads of institutions. more..

Nov 6 (AT) TNA leader R. Sampanthan condemned the spree of political killings that has been going in the North and East whether they committed by the LTTE or paramilitary groups. In an unprecedented turn of events, some twenty murders have been carried out in October alone allegedly by the LTTE, more..

Nov 6 (AT) In this concluding second part Douglas Devananda, the leader of �PDP, appeals to the Tamil-speaking to vote for Mahinda Rajapakse as it is possible to work out a formula with him to resolve the problems of the Tamil-speaking people. more..

Nov 6 (AT) The Tigers are engaged in a mind game � and their target is the Sinhala majority in the South. With increasing attacks on the Armed Forces in the North and the East, big enough to receive news coverage but not big enough to get a military or even political reaction, the Tigers are subtly but surely trying to create the impression of an impending war. more..

Nov 6 (AT) Exports should be provided the centre place in the country�s economy and it is the most important requirement so that local industries could develop and the people would be able to buy their consumer items, said Peter Harrold, World Bank�s Country Director in Sri Lanka, more..

Nov 6 (AT) The Messenger of Death - Nitharsanam.com targets the new British High Commissioner designate to Sri Lanka. The Tamil website as usual has prophesied by reporting the news item on the new British High Commissioner with an intriguing headline, using a Tamil adage, �Coming events cast their shadows before.� more..

Nov 6 (LM) Millionaire Singapore retailer, Mohamed Mustafa and Samsuddin Co, is tying up plans to build a sprawling shopping village at Peliyagoda in a move that the Board of Investment hopes will draw hordes of high-spending tourists into the country. more..

Nov 6 (ANN) Postal voting for the presidential election begins Monday (Nov 7) with over 300,000 public servants and other eligible voters eligible to cast their ballots, Senior Deputy Elections Commissioner P.M. Siriwardena said Saturday (Nov 5). more..

Nov 6 (ANN) Before hiring someone for a job, it makes sense to take a close look at what the job requires and then to determine how the relative strengths of the candidates measure up to what is needed. The same holds true in choosing a president. more..

Nov 6 (SAMN) Frustrated by police inaction on complaints, members of the public have been approaching the National Police Commission (NPC) in "their hundreds" to lodge grievances against these officers and to seek redress. "The public have been complaining to us in their hundreds," said Ranjith Abeysuriya, outgoing NPC chairman. more..

Nov 6 (SAMN) The Royal Australian Navy Guided Missile Frigate HMAS Newcastle is in Colombo till November 6 on her return journey to Australia from the northern Arabian Gulf. Newcastle departed Sydney on May 23, 2005 under the command of Captain Trevor Jones. more..

Nov 6 (PIS) The three policemen detained by the LTTE after entering an uncleared area in Mannar are lamenting that the government was not taking sufficient steps to secure their release. The three policemen said they expected the authorities including the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) to play a more active role in getting them released. more..

Nov 6 (PIS) Is Sri Lanka once again on the brink of war, no matter who wins the Presidency on November 17? This is the troubling question that few in the armed forces and no-one in the political arena are willing to address at the present time. more..

Nov 6 (LNP) Boycott call by two groups but LTTE stand on presidential poll still unclear Will the LTTE call upon civilians in the Wanni to boycott the November 17 Presidential elections. Suspicion grew yesterday puzzling government officials and security forces top brass who were busy setting up cluster polling booths. more..

Nov 6 (LNP) The LTTE will open another `court` in the uncleared area of Pallai in the Jaffna Peninsula to take up complaints from the government controlled areas in the peninsula, its judicial chief V. Pararajasingham told The Sunday Times. more..

Nov 6 (LNP) With the government being determined to go ahead with Tuesday`s Budget in spite of a request from the UNP to postpone it for a date after the presidential poll on November 17, all opposition parties, except the JVP, have denounced the Budget presentation as undemocratic and unfair. more..

Nov 6 (SO) The second budget of the UPFA Government has focused on the theme "Balanced Economic Development" as a prerequisite to achieve a double digit GDP growth rate in a few years. The budget has increased more allocations for the development of education, health, agriculture, rural infrastructure sectors more..

Nov 6 (NW) Back in the 1960s, Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew said that he hoped his island nation could one day emulate the success of Sri Lanka. In those days, the former Ceylon had a lot going for it: its per capita income exceeded Thailand's and was roughly equal to South Korea's. more..

Nov 6 (AP) Unidentified attackers in volatile eastern Sri Lanka on Saturday fatally shot a man believed to be a former Tamil Tiger rebel, the military said. Thurairaja Kannan, 30, was shot three times near his home in the town of Trincomalee, 230 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo, more..

Nov 6 (AP) A senior Tamil Tiger rebel said Saturday that Sri Lanka's minority ethnic Tamils will not be interested in the coming presidential election because both main candidates are unconcerned about their problems, a pro-rebel Web site reported. more..

Nov 6 (AFP) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have decided to remain neutral in the presidential election this month, a pro-rebel website reported as minority Tamil voters emerged as potential king-makers. more..

Nov 6 (Gulf) Sri Lanka may have been pushed to the backfoot in the ongoing one-day series against India, but Muttiah Muralitharan�s popularity has not waned one bit here. The ace off-spinner took time off to speak to Gulf News after the fourth one-dayer in this city. Following are excerpts: more..

Nov 6 (AFP) Foreign arrivals in Sri Lanka rose eight percent in the first nine months of the year following the December tsunami that battered resorts, but hotels failed to attract more guests, a report said. The Ceylon Tourist Board said 405,585 foreigners visited the Indian Ocean island nation from January through September, more..

Nov 6 (TP) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse launched two low-interest housing loan schemes for private sector employees and migrant workers. The launch coincided with the opening of the Head Quarters building of Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), newspapers said. more..

Nov 6 (TP) Prime Minister and ruling party presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse during a sudden visit to northern Jaffna on Friday accused the UNP � the party led by his main opponent � as hypocrites, who once robbed the rights of the minority Tamil community and now posed as saviours, more..

Nov 6 (TP) There are an estimated 45,000 Sri Lankans in Qatar, but that is an official figure. Considering a large floating population of the community, it is estimated that their number could be 55,000. more..

Nov 7 (TN) Jaffna district Political Wing of the LTTE today issued a statement warning people to be vigilant of the fake posters and leaflets being circulated by anti-LTTE elements in Jaffna. "The leaflets printed under the Tiger insignia and signed by "Jaffna district LTTE political section," more..

Nov 7 (CI) An undefeated 131-run stand for the sixth wicket between Tillakaratne Dilshan and Russel Arnold ensured that Sri Lanka ended their four-match losing streak as they romped to a five-wicket win at Ahmedabad. more..

Nov 7 (AP) Sri Lanka's military found grenades, a rifle and a bomb hidden in a bag in an abandoned house in the country's volatile east. Spokesman Brig. Nalin Witharanage said the military was investigating whether the weapons found Saturday in the Batticaloa district belonged to rebels from the LTTE. more..

Nov 7 (AT) Sri Lanka Tamil rebel outfit - Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has decided to commemorate hero�s day�s celebrations in Brisbane, Australia as a Day of Rising. The hero�s day celebration in Brisbane is to be held on 26 November, at Indoor Oopilly State High School. more..

Nov 7 (AT) Selliah Nagarajah, correspondent of the Asian Tribune and a columnist of the Australian a Tamil community newspaper -- last week received an edict which is called in Tamil Aanai equivalent to the Arabic word �fatwa� warning him that "no one will be able to stop your death". more..

Nov 7 (AT) Tamil Bishops of Sri Lanka appear to have launched subtle and indirect campaign in support of Ranil Wickremasinghe, UNP�s Presidential candidate at the forthcoming Sri Lankan Presidential Election. more..

Nov 7 (AT) Government its ministers along with its officials are supposed to be socially oriented in meeting the common needs of the people and the safety of their living. While other countries since a long time have been successful in such issues of their people like, more..

Nov 7 (TN) A UNP stalwart, Mr. Naveen Dissanayake, has said that it would not be necessary for Sri Lanka�s Military to fight the Tigers. "American and Indian forces will fight the LTTE if Liberation Tigers' leader Pirapaharan opts to wage a war," Naveen Dissanayake told the audience at an Election propaganda meeting, Thursday, more..

Nov 7 (TN) "If the UNP has plans to undermine the NorthEast struggle by using paramilitaries or by inviting foreign military forces, then Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF) will not only withdraw its support to the UNP but will work against its candidate in the forthcoming presidential elections," said Periyasamy Chandrasekaran, leader of UPF, more..