Sep 22 (LM) Deputy leader of the CWC R.Yogarajan said yesterday that his party has decided to support a candidate who would agree to implement the P-TOMS agreement signed between the government and the LTTE and re-commence peace talks based on the ISGA proposals. more..

Sep 22 (IHT) SriLankan Airlines, the biggest Sri Lankan carrier, has suspended its fleet expansion as higher fuel costs erode profit, its chief executive, Peter Hill, has said. "This year we aren't growing the fleet but are working the planes harder," Hill said more..

Sep 22 (Dawn) With the presidential campaign of the ruling Peoples’ Alliance candidate, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse kicking off on Tuesday on anti LTTE lines, highly informed sources in Jaffna confirmed that the LTTE has commenced a massive recruitment drive in the Jaffna peninsula. more..

Sep 22 (ANN) Top Tigers must be shivering in their boots in Kilinochchi and Anton Balasingham wondering in London what to do next. Tamil Chelvam must be packing his trunk and ordering an SLAF VIP chopper to rush in it to the Katunayake Airport to discuss the cease-fire agreement (CFA) with the government. more..

Sep 22 (PIS) Over 250 youth from around the country representing all the communities convened in Colombo yesterday to commemorate World Peace Day by discussing and developing an action plan for a peaceful Sri Lanka. The Peace Summit, organised by the Peace Initiative of the Bakeer Markar Centre for National Unity saw youth, more..

Sep 22 (AT) Sirisena Cooray, a former General Secretary of the UNP, A Minister and former Mayor of Colombo was appointed a member of the UNP Central Committee. Tissa Attanayake, Deputy General Secretary, UNP and MP for Kandy District said that Sirisena Cooray was accepted to the UNP Central Committee as a member on an invitation made by UNP Presidential Candidate more..

Sep 22 (AT) The search for the location of “Tamil Eelam,” a country referred by Ms.Virginia Judge, a Member of New South Wales Parliament has just drawn blank and one irate Sri Lankan has written an open letter to the MP, more..

Sep 22 (IANS) The co-chairs to the Sri Lanka peace process may have a grudge against both Colombo and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but it is clear they are slowly but surely getting tired of the Tamil Tigers' murderous run. more..

Sep 22 (DN) UNP Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe said he will seek the people's mandate to hold talks with the SLFP to work towards establishing peace by devolving power without dividing the country. more..

Sep 22 (SAMN) Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake Wednesday filed an application before the Supreme Court seeking revision on the judgment delivered earlier regarding the Presidential election. He had filed a motion through his Counsel Elmore Perera on September 7, more..

Sep 22 (LNP) The proposed US $ 25 million, Sheraton Hotel chain project in Colombo has been called off. Despite Cabinet approval for the project having been obtained by September 6, joint promoters said they were pulling out as they were disillusioned with the delays caused by the Urban Development Authority. more..

Sep 22 (LNP) Gokerella police is of the view that there is some mystery over the killing of 25 year old female clerk of the Ibbagamuwa Yakalla Filling station Hemantha Ratnayake who had taken Rs. 1.2 million cash and cheques to be deposited in a private bank in Kurunegala. more..

Sep 22 (LNP) President`s Counsel K. N. Choksy filed a motion in the Supreme Court yesterday stating that he will not appear for UNP Member of Parliament Ravi Karunananayake, named as a respondent in the Appeal filed in the Supreme Court by the CID. more..

Sep 22 (BT) Leading companies from United Kingdom, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have shown interest in buying Kabool Lanka Textile Mills Limited, which has been closed for the past two years. more..

Sep 22 (NT) Jayaprakash Narayan Community College presented the Mrs H K Philip Birth Centennary Award to Dr Shanthi Wilson, Head of the Food Technology, Sri Lanka, at the Cosmopolitan Club, here recently. The award was presented in recognition of Shanthi's outstanding research work in post-harvest processing, a press release said. more..

Sep 22 (AFP) Warwickshire batsman Trevor Penney announced his retirement from first class cricket to enable him to join the coaching team that will prepare Sri Lanka for the 2007 World Cup. more..

Sep 22 (CI) Sri Lanka's bowlers clinched victory on the third morning of the second Test, capturing the last six Bangladesh wickets for 66 runs to complete an innings-and-69-run win and a 2-0 series whitewash. more..

Sep 22 (IIL) The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Mahindra Rajapakse, said that the "Made in India Show represented the achievements of our great neighbour India in various fronts, like industry, technology and so on." more..

Sep 22 (HT) Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is standing for Presidency as a candidate of the UNP, has said that he is seeking a mandate for holding talks with the SLFP to arrive at a joint policy on the thorny issue of the peace process and negotiations with the LTTE. more..

Sep 22 (BBC) Media watchdog Free Media Movement (FMM) expressed concern on attempts to portray certain filmmakers as 'new terrorists.' The FMM says it is disturbed by the recent remarks on internationally acclaimed film directors Asoka Handagama, Prasanna Vithanage, Sudath Mahadivulwewa and Vimukthi Jayasundara. more..

Sep 22 (DPA) Sri Lanka's main opposition said Thursday President Chandrika Kumaratunga should say where she stands in the peace process after her Prime Minister signed election deals with two radical parties who are critical of the ceasefire agreement with Tamil rebels. more..

Sep 23 (LBO) The Colombo bourse sustained its upward momentum for the eight straight day, on speculations that the main opposition party will win the upcoming presidential poll, brokers said. more..

Sep 23 (LBO) Demand for petrol is increasing in Sri Lanka despite two price increases this year, says the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC). According to CPC data, average petrol consumption per day, is now around 1,200 MT, compared to 950 MT per day by this time last year. more..

Sep 23 (AP) A school for ethnic minority Tamil children in northern Sri Lanka held a memorial Thursday for 20 students killed in an aerial bombing by the country's air force during operations against Tamil Tiger rebels 10 years ago. more..

Sep 23 (Hindu) "India is an excellent economic model for Sri Lanka to follow," Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse said on Thursday. He was inaugurating the "Made in India" exhibition, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in collaboration with the Indian High Commission and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. more..

Sep 23 (FL) THE rapidly changing geometry of global geopolitics over the past few years has redrawn many coordinates on Cartesian maps. Many flashpoints on these maps have emerged out of decades of conflict to reassert a new dynamic of political resolution. more..

Sep 23 (FL) Elections in Sri Lanka are a time of agony as the bitterly divided polity descends to its murkiest in a competitive assertion of Sinhala and Tamil nationalisms. However, since the 1994 presidential election, the public discourse during elections has been largely on a change from the unitary state more..

Sep 23 (BBC) SLFP says that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse is yet to win the support from any Tamil party in his attempt to become Sri Lanka's next president. Post and Telecommunication minister DM Jayaratne said although the PM has already won the support of over 14 political parties, the minorities are yet to decide their stand more..

Sep 23 (AT) Being aware of the tragic civil war that has gripped the island for decades, wherever possible, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) uses projects in Sri Lanka to bring together people from diverse communities to work together for the common good, more..

Sep 23 (AT) The authorities allowed river sand mining until it seriously affected the environmental and ecological conditions of the country, confronting the country of deepening the river beds, river bank erosions, affecting the underground water levels in wells more..

Sep 23 (TN) Tamil people will be forced to urge the International community to "explicitely endorse the Tamil people's struggle for self-determination," if the Sri Lankan State continues to be intransigent in resolving the Tamil National question, warned Tamil National Alliance (TNA) more..

Sep 23 (TN) Political events in Sri Lanka are overtaking the international efforts to create a lasting peace and it is only a matter of time before the island’s ascending Sinhala nationalist forces trigger a new war, the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued in its editorial this week. more..

Sep 23 (TN) More than sixty teachers of music and dance in Jaffna district struck for the second day Friday forcing closure to regional education centers. Teachers demanded explanation from the NorthEast Education Ministry for not providing permanent positions even after passing the selection examinations and attending interviews, more..

Sep 23 (SLA) The remains of the Police Sergeant that fell victim to the surge of Tamil Tiger violence at AKKARAIPATTU Thursday (22) night are to be accorded a funeral with full Police honours after the Magisterial inquiry and the post-mortem are over. more..

Sep 23 (SLA) Suspicious movements of two men, one of who infiltrated the Air Force field wing Headquarters in WANNI, prompted Security Forces and the Police to arrest them on suspicion from COLOMBO and VAVUNIYA areas on Thursday (22) afternoon. more..

Sep 23 (CT) The micro hydropower projects, which are operating mainly in three districts in the country, serve thousands of poor masses to illuminate their houses in rural villages. They have seen high voltage electricity lines, which are over their houses, but never use electricity to illuminate their houses before the commissioning of the micro hydropower projects. more..

Sep 23 (wsws) The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in Sri Lanka held a media conference on Tuesday at the Hotel Nippon in central Colombo to announce its candidate, Wije Dias, for the presidential election on November 17. more..

Sep 23 (LBO) Tsunami hit Sri Lanka has seen a shift in its tourism mix, with more visitors popping in to shop and see the city lights than soak up the sun or hit the cultural beat, officials said Friday. more..

Sep 23 (SN) The abolition of the P-TOMS agreement, major revisions of the ceasefire deal and the rejection of any self-governance or homeland concept are among the tough conditions in the agreement between presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse and the JHU. more..

Sep 23 (LT) The National Film Corporation has decided to stop screening the Sinhala film ‘Sulanga Enu Pinisa’ from the cinema theatres immediately which won an international award at the Cannes Film Festival in France recently. more..

Sep 23 (LT) LTTE’s official web site ‘Nitharsanam’ has thanked and admired, the JVP parliamentarian Mr Wimal Weerawansa’s speech in support of Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian MrT. Maheswaran at the debate on extension of Emergency in parliament yesterday. more..

Sep 23 (LT) A police sergeant attached to Akkaraipaththu police was shot dead by the pistol gang of the wanni tiger organization at about 7.00 p.m. tonight. He had been shot by a member of the tiger pistol gang at the Akkaraipaththu bus stand while waiting to go to the police station to report for duty. more..

Sep 23 (LM) While ruling UPFA ally Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) is yet to officially announce any change in its stance with regard the November 17 presidential poll, ‘Virakesari', has reported that the party's 19 point pre-condition for extending support has been unequivocally accepted by UNP leader more..

Sep 23 (ANN) Over 100 development projects with a total project cost of Rs.400 billion now ongoing, Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Planning, Dr. P B Jayasundera said. Reponding to questions as what are the major projects, Dr. Jayasundera said there are about 100 projects, each of which are over Rs.500 million. more..

Sep 23 (ANN) The cabinet proposal to lower the age of consent (at which a girl is legally permitted to have sex) from 16 years to 13 has triggered an avalanche of criticism. Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, who made the announcement at a recent cabinet news briefing, is running for cover with concerned mothers giving him the chase. more..

Sep 23 (PIS) The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, still undecided on whom to support at the Presidential Election, says peace is the community''s first priority and expects the future President to continue the process in accordance with "Tokyo Declaration". more..

Sep 23 (DJ) Government will present its budget proposals for 2006 in Parliament on Nov. 10, a government spokesman said Friday. The government estimates the proposals will keep the budget deficit to 8.2% of gross domestic product next year, Nimal Siripala de Silva told reporters. more..

Sep 23 (AP) Sri Lanka set up a panel Friday to assess neighboring India's plan to deepen the waterway separating the two countries, saying the project could harm marine life. India has begun dredging the Palk Strait, where a reef known as Adam's Bridge makes the waterway too shallow for ships traveling between east and west India, more..

Sep 23 (AFP) The appointment of the Australian umpire Darrell Hair to next month's Super Series has revived memories of his calling of Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing in Melbourne almost 10 years ago. Muralitharan has been named in the World XI squads against Australia more..

Sep 23 (SAMN) The Association of Asian Elections Authorities (AAEA) an umbrella group of over 10 Asian states is due in Sri Lanka to monitor the forthcoming Presidential Election, a senior elections official said yesterday. more..