Oct 4 (AFP) Sri Lanka's minority government has told parliament it wanted a 23 percent increase in defence spending next year to nearly 700 million dollars as part of its annual budget. The government did not mention any reason for the proposed enlargement of the defence allocation which comes during a ceasefire with Tiger rebels more..

Oct 4 (AP) A SriLankan Airlines flight bound to Muscat, Oman, made an emergency landing in Bangalore, India, due to a problem with one of its engines, airline officials said Tuesday. The UL320 aircraft was diverted to neighboring India late Monday, about two hours after taking off from Colombo, more..

Oct 4 (AP) Sri Lanka's navy has arrested four Tamil Tiger rebels who were allegedly gathering intelligence on a strategic port, police and defense officials said. The arrests came as a three-year-old truce between the government and rebels is becoming increasingly shaky due to recent scattered incidents of violence that have left scores of people dead. more..

Oct 5 (LBO) Sri Lankan tax payers are fighting shy of official recognition as good tax payers. In May this year the government offered to officially recognise ‘good tax payers’ to coax more taxes out of Sri Lanka’s unusually tax averse population. more..

Oct 5 (TN) Two day "Children Peace Camp" organized by the Centre for Performing Arts (CPA) for children of the internally displaced people sheltered in five welfare centers located in suburbs of Trincomalee town, Allesgarden, Linganagar, Manaiyaveli, Division No: 10 and Andanakulam, to mark the International Children Day held at Hindu Cultural Hall more..

Oct 5 (TN) Internally displaced families who fled from Vilankulam, a Tamil village located on the Trincomalee-Kandy highway about 13 km off southwest of the east port city, twenty years ago following ethnic disturbances are slowly resettling back in their own lands. more..

Oct 5 (RW) As we transit from Tsunami relief to the recovery process it is important to recognize some critical aspects for the recovery strategy to be effective. Certain definitions of the roles of the actors – state, civil society and local community, are required for effective recovery process. more..

Oct 5 (RW) The Red Cross is running 'cash for work' projects for vulnerable communities on Sri Lanka's east coast to pave the way for longer term development work. The programme aims to help a range of villages - those affected by last year's tsunami, those affected by Sri Lanka's civil war, and areas generally prone to recurring natural disasters. more..

Oct 5 (KT) Jude Pereira, the 28-year-old Sri Lankan dubbed as the "Sharjah Slasher" and sentenced to two years in jail by the Sharjah Court of First Instance, has pleaded not guilty in the Court of Appeal. more..

Oct 5 (BBC) Detectives investigating the murder of Sri Lankan Tamil living in London, Pirapakaran Krishnasamy have released a photo of a man they would like to trace in connection with the incident. A reward of up to £10,000 is being offered for the arrest of 24-yr-old Srinavatheepan Srirangarajah, also known as Theepan or Teepan. more..

Oct 5 (HT) The European Union (EU) on Tuesday refuted Sri Lankan media reports that its strong action against the LTTE, announced on September 26, was a "defeat" for the "pro-LTTE" Norwegian peace facilitators. more..

Oct 5 (Hindu) The London-based Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers has called upon the LTTE to "halt all recruitment" of those under 18 and "demobilise all children" in its ranks through a "transparent and independently verifiable" process. more..

Oct 5 (FE) There is little scope for economic cooperation in South Asia, argue some economists. Low intra-regional trade, larger scope of gains from North-South cooperation and limited complementarities in the region are some of the arguments used against a free trade agreement in South Asia. more..

Oct 5 (AT) An indictment of Sri Lanka government is an amazing collection Tamil fairy tales writes Asoka Weerasinghe of Ottawa, Canada in a letter written to the Editor, Asian Trbune. Asoka Weerasinghe has only dealt with one aspect of what was in that article. more..

Oct 5 (AT) The Tamil UNP Member of Parliament T. Maheswaran continues with his ‘politics of fumble’ as the party leadership is considering seriously to take disciplinary action against him for his anti-party activities. more..

Oct 5 (BBC) SLMC has decided to support Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickramasinghe in the forthcoming presidential elections. Speaking to BBCSinhala Service on Tuesday immediately after the SLMC high command decision, party leader Rauff Hakeem said that the SLMC has already signed a election deal with the UNP candidate. more..

Oct 5 (TN) About twenty thousand Tamil medium teachers including principals in the northeast province Wednesday did not report for duty sending a sick note responding to the call of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) as a token protest more..

Oct 5 (TN) Mr.Armugam Thondaman, CWC leader said at a media briefing Wednesday morning that the party's two ministers would tender their resignations from the UPFA government. He said the CWC has decided to support UNP leader Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe in the forthcoming presidential election. more..

Oct 5 (SLA) ONE MUSLIM BUSINESSMAN died on the spot and another businessman was critically injured this morning (05) around 6.15 a.m. at UDAYAR junction on Beach road, KALMUNAI when bicycle-riding two armed Tamil Tigers fired at them with a pistol in revenge of clearing a land where a Tamil Tiger monument stood some years ago. more..

Oct 5 (SLA) One Home Guard, attached to BAKKIELLA Police station was believed to have been abducted by Tamil Tigers (LTTE) after he had gone to KALMUNAI town to buy some fish on Sunday (02) around 6.30 p.m. more..

Oct 5 (SLA) One more hand grenade thrown by suspected Tamil Tigers damaged the residence of the Coordinating Officer of the Ministry of Rehabilitation and Development in BATTICALOA in the general area of VALAICHCHENAI on Tuesday (04) night around 10.20 p.m. more..

Oct 5 (SLA) Tamil Tigers, despite numerous appeals made to them for renouncement of continuing violence against Security Forces and civilians, struck once again after detonating one more hand grenade at a Police Post near the BATTICALOA Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) depot on Tuesday (04) night at about 8.15 p.m. more..

Oct 5 (SLA) Naval troops on duty in the general sea area of MULLAITIVU on Tuesday (04) around 9.30 a.m. observed another fleet of seven LTTE attack craft moving in the sea in a suspicious manner. In the recent past, a number of Tamil Tiger fast attack craft were seen sailing in the seas on clandestine missions. more..

Oct 5 (SLA) A twenty-six year old youth was forced to seek admission to hospital after he was shot by two unidentified Tamil Tiger gunmen inside his own three-wheeler on Tuesday (04) around 5.25 p.m. in the general area of WELIKANDA. more..

Oct 5 (LT) The ship and the crew abducted by an armed group in the sea near Somalia were released. A Sri Lankan was the captain of the ill fated ship. The ship and the crew were detained by the armed group for more than three months. The ship belonging to World food Programme was carrying 850 metric tons of rice for the tsunami affected in Somalia. more..

Oct 5 (LT) The main candidates for the presidential election should concentrate more on the North East crisis says Mr. Ananda Sangaree, leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). He has stated this in letters to Messrs Mahinda Rajapakse and Ranil Wiremasinghe. more..

Oct 5 (LT) The UNP is in a move to reduce the security forces to six small contingents says Mr. Wimal Weerawansa, Parliamentarian of the JVP. In the election manifesto of the UNP under the heading ‘defense’ it is stated that the armed forces would be reorganized and reduced to six contingents. Mr. Weerawansa said there were 43 divisions at present. more..

Oct 5 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's trade deficit widened 7.7 percent to $1.576 billion in the first eight months of 2005 as the cost of intermediate goods imports such as oil rose sharply, the central bank said on Wednesday. Imports during the January-August period rose 11.3 percent to $5.626 billion dollars, while exports rose 12.7 percent during the period to $4.051 billion. more..

Oct 5 (Xinhua) The Sri Lanka Tourist Board (SLTB) in collaboration with Sri Lankan Airlines will launch marketing promotions in Malaysia aimed at increasing more Malaysian arrivalsto Sri Lanka, Daily News reported Wednesday. more..

Oct 5 (KT) IN SRI Lanka’s age-old tradition, oil is considered both a bane and a blessing. Even today, people go to the kattadiya, a man who claims he has special relationship with deities, to get charmed oil, which, they believe, has the capability to heal any sickness, cause the downfall of an adversary or even bring a person under a spell. more..

Oct 5 (CI) They say no player's cricketing education is complete without a tour of England. If one cannot make it to the national team for a tour to England, the next best thing is to get a contract to one of the 18 English counties and play out a season, or perhaps even half a season. more..

Oct 5 (PRIU) Three agreements, two of which will facilitate the rebuilding of the tsunami affected infrastructure in the Trincomalee district were signed today between the governments of Sri Lanka and France. A 64 million Euro credit facility at a concessionary interest rate and re-payable in 20 years, more..

Oct 5 (ANN) Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said that his ministry would investigate reports that a deputy director-general of the ministry had provided medicines and equipment to the LTTE. A deputy director-general had given scanning and X-ray machines along with surgical equipment worth millions of rupees, more..

Oct 5 (SAMN) Prime Minister and Presidential Candidate Mahinda Rajapakse said Monday the Sri Lanka Freedom Party was a party of the country's common people and stressed that he would allow it to become a private property of neither Bandaranaike's nor the Rajapakse's. more..

Oct 5 (SAMN) The JVP affiliated National Bhikku Front (NBF) yesterday accused Presidential Candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe of distorting the Sinhala Buddhist identity and historical sites with the cheap intention of collecting more votes. more..

Oct 5 (LNP) The much awaited SLFP manifesto for the presidential election would insist on a negotiated settlement to the ethnic conflict under a unitary structure, a senior party leader told the Daily Mirror yesterday as senior members finalized the document. more..

Oct 5 (LNP) The SLFP`s chief campaign organiser Mangala Samaraweera said yesterday that if the CWC wanted to champion lost causes there was nothing to be done about it. Responding to widespread speculation that the estate-centered party would announce its decision to support the opposition candidate today, more..

Oct 5 (LNP) The Police Election Secretariat has planned a massive increase in security and declared the Election Commissioner`s office and surrounding areas a high security zone. This move was taken after the police intelligence reports that LTTE suicide squad members had infiltrated Colombo targeting leading presidential candidates on Nominations day, more..

Oct 5 (Dawn) Pakistan and Sri Lanka have agreed to remove two items from the concessional list and to rationalize duty on two other items under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). A senior official told Dawn that the understanding to this effect was reached between the senior officials of the two countries in a recent meeting held in Colombo. more..

Oct 5 (Xinhua) The cost of removing presidential election posters and cutouts exhibited in the island country will be around 8 million rupees. The Police Election Bureau said it will start to remove these posters, cutouts and propaganda material in public places from the nomination day on Oct. 7. more..

Oct 5 (DN) UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe told the Maha Sangha participating in a discussion telecast over "Swarnavahini" on Monday night said that the national problem could not be solved by the Government alone. The two major political parties should work together in finding a lasting solution to the national problem, Wickremesinghe said. more..

Oct 5 (G&A) THE dedication shown by the people of North Devon on behalf of our Adopt-a-Village Appeal is about to bear fruit. The money is going towards building a Sri Lankan school. Since the appeal was launched by North Devon Lions' Clubs in conjunction with the G&A, to help the tsunami-stricken region of Hikkaduwa and Dodanduwa, more..

Oct 5 (AP) A Muslim man was shot dead and another was wounded by an unidentified gunman on a bicycle in eastern Sri Lanka on Wednesday, local police said. The assailant fatally shot Mohammed Wahab, said officer S. Roopasinghe of the Kalmunai town police department. more..

Oct 5 (AP) A top Norwegian diplomat will meet with Tamil Tiger rebel leaders on Thursday to try to keep Sri Lanka from sliding back into civil war amid escalating violence, officials said. Hans Brattskar was expected to travel Thursday to the northern rebel-held town of Kilinochchi, more..

Oct 5 (AP) Two key minority political parties pledged Wednesday to support opposition presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe, who favors forging a peace deal to end Sri Lanka's two-decade civil war with the Tamil Tiger rebels, officials said. more..

Oct 6 (LBO) Sri Lanka's stock market, one of the best performing in Asia after gaining 67% so far this year, should climb further on buying in banking, manufacturing and construction stocks in the run-up to November's presidential election, a local fund manager said Wednesday. more..

Oct 6 (LBO) Chronic diseases are giving heart attacks to low and middle income economies like Sri Lanka, says the World Health Organisation(WHO). Chronic diseases are the leading cause of death in the world and the death toll is mounting. more..

Oct 6 (TN) Youths from NorthEast who were successful in sports events in Sri Lanka wide competitions were felicitated in an event held at the Thuyavan Instititue of Politics in Kilinochchi 10 a.m. Tuesday, sources said. "Our movement's and our Leader's national priority is to setup structures and an environment that nurture educational and sporting talent of our youth," more..

Oct 6 (BBC) The Red Cross has criticised aid agencies for failing to co-ordinate their response to the tsunami disaster. Rivalries between hundreds of groups led to a duplication and in some places a delay in aid reaching those affected, the Red Cross said in a report. more..

Oct 6 (CI) A typically clinical bowling performance overcame a less distinguished fielding effort as Australia dismantled a star-studded World XI, winning the first of the three Super Series matches by 93 runs under lights, and a roof, at the Telstra Dome while it rained on the rest of Melbourne. more..