Oct 12 (AT) Sri Lanka High Commissioner in Australia has urged the Government of Australia to take appropriate actions against the LTTE for all their illegal activities and the false propaganda campaign undertaken by them on the Australian soil. more..

Oct 12 (AT) Mystery deepens on the plight of Colonel Bahnu, as special attempts were taken to cover up the whole sickening episode - the attack and death of the LTTE cadres on Monday night, 10 October at Vavunathievu, nearly 05 kilometers away from Batticalao. more..

Oct 12 (TN) Trincomalee Fine Art Institute held its annual Art Festival-2005 during the weekend in Sri Muthucumaraswami Kovil Wedding Hall. The Sri Muthucumaraswami Thevasthanam runs the Institute free of charge for courses in fine art such as carnatic music and oriental dance to Tamil children in Trincomalee. more..

Oct 12 (TN) Deputy Head of the Jaffna office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Mr Jorn and member of SLMM, Mr Matti, met with a delegation of LTTE led by its Head of Jaffna Political Wing, C Ilamparithi at the political office of the LTTE in Pallai, Monday, sources in Jaffna said. more..

Oct 12 (TN) Mr.M.L.A.M.Hisbullah who entered parliamentary politic through the SLMC, and later left it due to difference of opinion with the leadership has decided to rejoin the party. Mr.Hisbullah is to formally announce his political decision Wednesday at a media conference at Kattankudi, more..

Oct 12 (TN) Hundreds of students of Kopay Christian College blocked the Jaffna-Point Pedro roads and Kaithady-Urumpirai road at Kopay junction from 12 noon Wednesday and sat in protest condemning the killing of their principal Mr. Nadararajah Sivakadadcham, sources said. more..

Oct 12 (SLA) A principal who rose against continuing child conscription of Tamil Tigers (LTTE) was shot and killed by two suspected Tamil Tiger pistol men on Tuesday (11) night around 8.30 p.m. when he was at his residence in the general area of KOPAI, about 5 km northeast of JAFFNA. more..

Oct 12 (SLA) The house of a civilian in front of the PRADESHIYA SABAWA (local council) on the MANNAR road in the general area of VAVUNIYA came under suspected Tamil Tiger grenade attack Wednesday (12) morning around 6.10 a.m. more..

Oct 12 (SLA) A seriously injured Tamil Tiger cadre of LTTE PRABHAKARAN faction was airlifted to COLOMBO this morning (12) around 10.20 a.m. consequent upon a request made to the Secretariat for Coordinating Peace Process (SCOPP) through Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). more..

Oct 12 (wsws) Thirteen candidates filed nominations last Friday for the November 17 presidential election in Sri Lanka. While the number of candidates is a record, the political choices are strictly limited. The date of the poll has been a matter of conflict. more..

Oct 12 (UNP) UNP Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe queried on Sunday as to how Premier Mahinda Rajapakse could solve the people’s problems without a consensus even among the parties that had pledged support to him at the Presidential poll. more..

Oct 12 (UNP) UNP’s Deputy General Secretary Tissa Attanayaka in a scathing attack on Secretary to the Prime Minister, Lalith Weeratunga has said his denials of abusing public funds and property for Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse’s election campaign lacks credibility and are lame in the extreme. more..

Oct 12 (CP) A number of concessions including foreign training facilities will be introduced for the local master tailors to improve the tailoring industry. Minister of Advancement Technology and National Entreprise Development Rohitha Bogollagama assured to introduce BOI concessions for the tailors. more..

Oct 12 (CP) Sri Lanka’s top government official Dr.P.B.Jayasundara hailed the Japanese government and said that Japan is one and single, largest donor which assists Sri Lanka without any limitations. He said that Japanese Technical Cooperation [JICA] is assisting various development projects, especially poverty reduction projects in Sri Lanka. more..

Oct 12 (SN) JHU organized a National Intellectuals conference under the theme “The destiny of a Nation- For A Unitary State, For A Righteous Society, For a Law abiding Community” Conference was held at the Standards Institute, Colombo 07 on 11th October 2005 at 3.30 P.M. more..

Oct 12 (LT) President Chandrika Kumaratunga addressing her first public rally in support of Mr Mahinda Rajapakse at Wariyapola said yesterday (11) commended him for publicly declaring that the SLFP belongs to the masses and neither Bandaranaikes nor Rajapakses. more..

Oct 12 (LT) An inferior stock of tea which is not suitable for human consumption was seized at Hendala yesterday by Wattala police. The cargo around 30,000 kilos estimated around Rupees 60 lakhs was ready for export when the police detected and took 17 persons including the owner of the company into custody. more..

Oct 12 (LT) The Mayor of Kotte Municipal Council Mr J M Somasiri and Deputy Mayor, Mr R Chinthaka has been remanded until 25th of this month on an alleged misuse of roofing sheets worth over Rupees 2 billion. The stock of roofing sheets was intended to be distributed among the poor during the last regime of the United National Party. more..

Oct 12 (LM) "The SLFP-led PA is committed to devolution of power and this is accepted by more than 75% of the people of this country," said president Kumaratunga, when she appeared for the first time on stage in support of Premir Rajapakse's presidential bid. more..

Oct 12 (UNP) The UNP yesterday challenged Premier Mahinda Rajapakse to immediately spell out the economic policy and his action plan to resolve national issues in the absence of an election manifesto. UNP Assistant General Secretary Tissa Attanayake yesterday said that the SLFP and the JVP are criticizing the UNP manifesto. more..

Oct 12 (LeN) The Deputy minister Sripathi Suriyarachchi has forwarded six questions to Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe to provide with solid answers. He states that in his election manifesto Mr Wickramasinghe has mentioned that he will go for a political solution based on a united Sri Lanka. more..

Oct 12 (KT) COME October 15, the people of Iraq will vote in a referendum to reject or approve a constitution that will decide, among other things, the nature of the state. For forms of government let fools contend, whatever is best administered is best, said Alexander Pope, the great satirist poet of the 18th century. more..

Oct 12 (ANN) Nearly 200 children from the up country plantation sector have been abducted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and are undergoing firearms training at the group’s baby brigade training camp in Kilinochchi, northeast of Sri Lanka. more..

Oct 12 (Hindu) The Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, yesterday called upon the Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapakse, to honour the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party's principles in his bid to win the November 17 Presidential poll. more..

Oct 12 (PIS) The government yesterday provided a helicopter to transport a seriously injured LTTE cadre after at least four LTTE cadres, including a senior intelligence member, were killed and seven injured when their convoy came under attack at Vavunathivu in Battoicaloa on Monday night. more..

Oct 12 (SAMN) Amidst the continuing conflict over the party manifesto, President Chandrika Kumaratunga made a long-awaited appearance at a campaign rally of presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse Tuesday and reiterated her party's commitment to the devolution of power to end the country's ethnic conflict notwithstanding any protest. more..

Oct 12 (SAMN) Employees who were to get a 1,000 rupee salary increase through a law passed in Parliament last month will have to wait longer for their increased wages. The law, passed by Parliament, to increase the salaries of private sector employees by 1,000 rupees per month, more..

Oct 12 (LNP) The UNP proposes to strengthen national security and the forces by increasing the Commands to six from the existing three, said UNP Assistant General Secretary Tissa Attanayake yesterday. 'We will never undermine our forces or kill our service personnel as the JVP did in 1988-89, nor do we want to disband them under any circumstances,' he said. more..

Oct 12 (SAMN) More than 25,000 voters displaced in the conflict ridden North have applied to the Commissioner of Elections Dayananda Dissanayake for their right to vote at the forthcoming Presidential Elections, Deputy Commissioner Bandula Kulatunga told "The Island" yesterday. more..

Oct 12 (DN) Construction of the Colombo-Katunayake expressway will resume next year with the financial assistance of the Chinese Government. Highways Ministry Secretary S. Amarasekere told the Daily News that after calling fresh tenders a Chinese contractor has been awarded the construction of the 24 kilometre expressway. more..

Oct 12 (AP) The Sri Lankan military airlifted a Tamil Tiger rebel to the capital for medical treatment on Wednesday, after the guerrilla sustained severe injuries in a clash with a breakaway faction, officials said. more..

Oct 12 (KO) The Maha Bodhi Society of India, a society that encourages Buddhist studies in India and abroad, presented a sacred Buddha relic (ringse) to His Holiness the Je Khenpo in the presence of the home minister and the four Lopons of the dratshang in Thimphu yesterday. more..

Oct 12 (AP) A top United Nations official warned Wednesday that progress in Sri Lanka's peace process was necessary for development to take place in the tsunami-affected island and urged the government and Tamil Tiger rebels to resolve the two-decade conflict. more..

Oct 12 (HT) President Chandrika Kumaratunga said on Tuesday that she would retire from politics in November after the election of a successor and hoped that the Tamil Tiger rebels would not kill her after retirement. Kumaratunga made this announcement at a rally in Wariyapola near Kurunegala organised to support Mahinda Rajapaksa, more..

Oct 13 (TN) Hindus across NorthEast and other regions of Sri Lanka concluded celebrations of the nine-day 'Navarathiri' (nine nights) festival Tuesday. 'Navarathiri' is an annual festival celebrated by Hindus across the world, especially in India and Sri Lanka, where prayers are held for first three nights for Goddess ‘Thurgai’ (bravery), more..

Oct 13 (BBC) Two principals of Jaffna schools were gunned down within twenty four hours. Spokesperson of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Vilja Kutvonen told BBC Sandeshaya that Jaffna Central College principal, K. Rajadurai succumbed to injuries after been shot near the Jaffna library on Wednesday. more..

Oct 13 (LBO) The November presidential election maybe a face off between Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, but the consolation prize for the other 11 contenders is not too bad either. Apart from Rajapakse and Wickremesinghe, the other 11 are set to lose their deposit of 50,000 rupees each, but more..

Oct 13 (BBC) A failed asylum seeker living in the South West has been told by his doctor he will probably die if he is deported. The man, who wants to be known only as Mr Sebastian, will be unable to get his life-saving drugs in Sri Lanka. He had a kidney transplant at Plymouth's Derriford Hospital in 2003, more..

Oct 13 (TA) SHANE Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan have challenged each other to crack the 1000-wicket barrier ahead of an epic spin-bowling clash in tomorrow's Super Series Test. The world-record breaking spin kings are set to partner Stuart MacGill and Daniel Vettori respectively on a turning SCG wicket, more..

Oct 13 (Reuters) Development in tsunami-hit Sri Lanka will be long and difficult unless the government and Tamil Tiger rebels turn a ceasefire after two decades of civil war into permanent peace, a senior U.N. official said on Wednesday. more..

Oct 13 (AT) The Eastern Province of Sri Lanka was worst affected by the December 26 Tsunami – Tidal Wave and more than 4,000 families have lost their houses along with their kith and kin and all their belongings. The worst affected people of Kalmunai told the “Asian Tribune” the heart-wrenching tales of their sufferings and hardships more..

Oct 13 (IHT) The economy of Sri Lanka will expand at the fastest pace in eight years in 2005 and maintain that growth rate next year as it rebuilds after the December tsunami disaster, Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera said. "I strongly believe that this year's growth will be 6 percent plus," Jayasundera said more..

Oct 13 (AT) Two leading college principals from Jaffna were brutally shot and killed in succession within the last two days by the pistol group of the LTTE. Fratricidal killings continue unabatedly and those who open their mouth against the Tamil Tigers are virtually living in mortal fear of being killed as rule of the jungle prevails. more..

Oct 13 (PRN) Nobel Peace Prize nominee A.T. Ariyaratne will visit the British School of Boston on Friday, October 14, 2005 to share heart-breaking and heart-warming stories regarding the tsunami that claimed 50,000 lives in Sri Lanka in December 2004. He will set out how one organization made a big difference. more..

Oct 13 (LeN) A complaint was lodged with the Bribery or Corruption Commission today (12) claiming that a fraudulent transaction had taken place when procuring computers for the Prime Minister's office when Ranil Wickremesinghe was in office. more..

Oct 13 (LeN) It is reported that a certain group is ready to heckle the President if she made critical remarks about the Prime Minister in presidential election rallies. For the first time the President addressed a rally of Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday at Wariyapola and she was careful not to criticize Rajapaksa's agreement with the JVP more..

Oct 13 (LeN) Uduwe Dhammloka thera who was elected to Parliament from the Jathika Hela Urumaya is to declare his stand on the upcoming presidential election within the next couple of days, sources close to the thera said. The thera had a discussion with President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Monday. more..

Oct 13 (LeN) Elections Chief Dayannada Dissanayake has allocated airtime over National television and the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation for the thirteen candidates of the November 17 presidential polls. Each candidate will get 90 minutes which they can use in three 30 minute segments. more..

Oct 13 (LeN) The Rupavahini Corporation has refused to accept election advertisements of UNP candidate Ranil Wickremsinghe. Earlier Rupavahini aired a number of advertisements of Wickremesinghe, however when a UNP delegation visited the Rupavahini advertisement section on the 3rd they had refused to accept money for more advertisements more..

Oct 13 (Hindu) A cross section of the friends and associates of the late Foreign Affairs Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, on Wednesday lauded his services to maintain the unity and sovereignty of the island-nation. At a commemoration meeting to mark the second month of the Foreign Minister's assassination, the speakers recalled his contribution, more..