Jan 8 (TP) Family members of the three Sri Lankan policemen currently in Tamil rebel custody for several months have expressed concern that they would be sent to a rebel jail soon. Family members told Science and Technology Minister Tissa Witharana during a meeting that they had been given this information by LTTE media spokesman Daya Master in northern Kilinochchi recently. more..

Jan 8 (TP) Education Minister Susil Premajayantha has ordered disciplinary action against Examination Department officials responsible for the discrepancies in the machine-aided evaluation of the GCE Advanced Level answer scripts. Newspapers said Premajayantha gave this assurance at a meeting held with the representatives of the Inter University Students' Federation (IUSF) to discuss the injustice caused to students. more..

Jan 8 (TP) Sri Lanka's Health Ministry will shortly publish a comprehensive list of doctors who have failed to return home from countries like England and Australia where they were sent on state sponsored scholarships. According to official statistics, there are 132 state doctors who have not returned home after completing their studies abroad.

Jan 8 (LT) SLMM has decided to stop travelling in S.L. Naval crafts for monitoring purposes. The reason for such a decision is the unceasing attacks targeting S.L. Navy by tiger organization and the lives of those who are on board including the SLMM members were in peril. more..

Jan 8 (LT) An attempt by former president Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga to get 10 of her security personnel trained in France has been revealed. The two week training was to be under the patronage of the French Government. According to sources closer to the former president, it was Ms. Kumaratunga who had got the French Government to agree for the training. more..

Jan 8 (PIS) Sri Lanka has formally raised a red flag about the functions of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in the United States, setting in motion a process that is hoped to slap a ban on the pro-LTTE outfit, senior government officials said. more..

Jan 8 (SAMN) UNP dissidents are hoping that party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe will, as agreed in Bangkok at a discussion with Dr. Rajitha Senaratne and Mr. Ravi Karunanayake, step down from the UNP leadership and pave the way for deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya to succeed him. more..

Jan 8 (SAMN) Arrangements have been made by Ruhunu University Medical Faculty to hold a medical exhibition on the occasion of its Silver Jubilee. This exhibition which wil be held from January 13 to 22 at the Ruhunu University Medical Faculty premises wil be kept open daily from 9.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. more..

Jan 8 (LNP) Although anti social elements have shown their displeasure over the ongoing `Strangers Night` operations launched by the police in Colombo and elsewhere to flush out criminal elements from their hide-outs, several law abiding and peace loving people in the country have supported the move, IGP Chandra Fernando said speaking to the `Sunday Observer`. more..

Jan 8 (LNP) An emissary from President Mahinda Rajapakse`s office yesterday requested the organisers of the 2550 Buddha Jayanthi celebrations to desist from inviting the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama to take part in the celebrations in the country later this year. more..

Jan 8 (LNP) The UNP`s Eksath Lak Vanitha Peramuna resolved that there is no need to change the party leadership and all should rally around Ranil Wickremesinghe and strengthen his hands. It was also agreed that Wickremesinghe is the only person able to lead party and country through the challenges and that he is the only leader acceptable to the international community, more..

Jan 8 (SO) The Nation Building and Development Ministry has focused special attention on resuming a ferry service between Talaimannar and Rameshwaram during the early part of this year to transport at least 60,000 Sri Lankan refugees currently seeking asylum in the State of Tamil Nadu. more..

Jan 8 (ANN) Nobody with a modicum of sense in their head would fault any effort to discourage smoking and drinking which have been medically and scientifically established as not just harmful but dangerous to health. It has been incontrovertibly established that both lung cancer and heart disease are often the result of smoking and more..

Jan 8 (CI) Sri Lanka held their nerve, backed up a competent batting performance with a canny one on the field and, despite a silken innings from Peter Fulton, won by 20 runs. This means Sri Lanka have a consolation victory to take away in this split series that went 4-1 in New Zealand's favour. more..

Jan 8 (AP) The Tamil Tiger rebels accused the Sri Lankan Navy Sunday of barring Tamil fishermen from going to the sea, a day after suspected insurgents rammed a fishing boat packed with explosives into a navy vessel, killing 13 sailors. more..

Jan 8 (AFP) Sri Lanka's navy banned night fishing near a northeastern port, while it searched for the bodies of 15 crewmen killed when their gunboat was destroyed in a suicide bombing by suspected Tiger rebels. Fishing just outside the port of Trincomalee was limited to daytime, more..

Jan 8 (AFP) A suicide attack that sank a Sri Lankan navy gunboat has cast a new shadow over the island's fading peace hopes but an immediate return to war is unlikely, analysts and diplomats said. Sri Lanka has blamed Tamil Tigers for Saturday's spectacular ramming of an Israeli-built Dvora craft by a vessel laden with explosives that killed 15 sailors. more..

Jan 8 (Reuters) Speeding along the rough roads of the Sri Lankan army-held Jaffna peninsula, guarded by armoured vehicles front and back, convoys transporting troops near Tamil rebel-held areas take no chances. more..

Jan 9 (IANS) Hundreds of Buddhist monks from India and abroad offered special prayers at Bodh Gaya, the birthplace of Buddhism, for world peace. The 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the spiritual head of the Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhists, led the prayers Saturday at the Mahabodhi Mahavihara in the Bihar town about 110 km from here. more..

Jan 9 (LBO) Central bank governor Sunday denied news reports that he has been asked to make way for senior presidential advisor Nivard Cabraal. The report claimed that Governor Sunil Mendis, who is currently in the third of his six-year term, is said to be offered a diplomatic posting, in return. more..

Jan 9 (Xinhua) Tamil minority legislators have pointed out to President Mahinda Rajapakse that early resumption of talks was needed to diffuse the current volatile security situation in the country. Sampanthan, the leader of the TNA parliamentary group said Sunday that a TNA delegation had met Rajapakse on Saturday in view of the violence that has endangered the ongoing Norwegian backed truce. more..

Jan 9 (IANS) Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha has urged that India take back the Kachatheevu island in the Gulf of Mannar on permanent lease to stem Sri Lankan attacks on fishermen from Tamil Nadu coast. In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday, Jayalalitha demanded that the 'traditional rights' of the fishermen to fish be recognised. more..

Jan 9 (AT) The newly-elected President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapakse came to New Delhi to garner support for his hard-line confrontation with the LTTE which has had the effect of destroying an already tenuous ceasefire agreement signed in 2002. more..

Jan 9 (AT) Denzil Aponso, former president, Toy Exporters Association in a memorandum to President Mahinda Rajapakse complains that the export quality wood-based industry that was carried on for the last 20 years is in danger of extinction due to it not receiving the support promised eight years ago by the government. more..

Jan 9 (LeN) The President has decided to appoint a presidential commission to probe a transaction to procure fifteen 30 mm guns from Israel which resulted in a loss of 400 million rupees to the government by former Navy Commander and present Chief of Defense Staff Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri. more..

Jan 9 (LeN) The Jathika Hekla Urumaya has decided to contest the forthcoming local government election on its own without aligning with other parties, party leader Ven. Ellawala Medghananda thera said. more..

Jan 9 (LeN) The LTTE should bear in mind that it would be a grave mistake for the LTTE to regard his patience as a weakness, the President has said. The President made this comment at a function to handover credentials of Adikarana Sangha Nayake to senior lecturer on History and Archaeology of the Sri Jayawardanapura University, venerable Dambara Amila thera. more..

Jan 9 (LeN) The President is reported to have eased his hard line stand on conducting peace talks in Oslo at a discussion held yesterday with Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians. The President has requested TNA members to send a group to talk with the LTTE to persuade them to return to the negotiating process. more..

Jan 9 (BBC) The government of Sri Lanka is seeking international support to exert pressure against the Tamil Tiger atrocities against security forces, a senior minister said. Government spokesman minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said President Rajapaksa’s administration do not have other option than seeking international help for pressurising LTTE to stop killings in the north and the east. more..

Jan 9 (AT) The close-door secret confab between the LTTE and the leaders of Tamil Nadu political parties, Dr. S. Ramadoss – Founder President of the Pattali Makkal Kadchchi, G.K.Mani - President of the Pattali Makkal Kadchchi and R. Thiumavalavan of the Dalith Panthers of India has been rescheduled to be held in Bangkok today. more..

Jan 9 (AT) "I never wanted to be a national list Member of Parliament. If I wanted to enter the Parliament as a national list MP, I would have become an MP in 1989 after the death of A. Amirthalingham on 13 July 1989 and also again when Neelan Thiruchelvam was killed on 29 July 1999," said V.Anandasangaree, Leader of the TULF. more..

Jan 9 (LT) 9 members of wanni tiger organization have been apprehended at Poonagala Estate at Bandarawela in Badulla District say Bandarawela Police. When the intelligence sections revealed that tiger organization had infiltrated the estate sector and abducting estate Tamil youth for combat training search operation in the upcountry too have been intensified. more..

Jan 9 (LT) One soldier was killed and another injured in an attack by members of wanni tiger organization on a group of soldiers patrolling Maligathivu area at Pahalathopur in Trincomalee. The soldiers retaliated by killing one tiger. The incident had occurred at about 10.00 p.m. yesterday. more..

Jan 9 (PTI) India should directly involve itself in the peace talks between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE, Upcountry Tamils Front of Sri Lanka, a party of Sri Lankan Tamils of Indian origin, has said. more..

Jan 9 (Gulf) President Mahinda Rajapakse will appoint a Presidential Commission of Inquiry to investigate military procurement deals entered into by former Commander of the Navy and now Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Daya Sandagiri. more..

Jan 9 (SLBC) Model environmental projects centering cities and towns will commence. The land reclamation and development corporation has undertaken the venture based on a concept of Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. The authorities point out that the improper disposal of garbage has largely but negatively contributed in triggering serious environmental issues due to blocking of drainage system. more..

Jan 9 (LBO) Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) wants government to support consumer subsidies as part of a plan to stop losing large sums of money every day. Monopoly electricity supplier the CEB is selling power below cost and has overdue payments running up to almost Rs. 14 billion owed to fuel supplier and private power generators. more..

Jan 9 (LBO) Revenue projections for last year will be missed although total government revenue is 19 percent higher in the first 11 months of the last year. However, cashflow difficulties were forcing the government to delay payments to key sectors in the economy. more..

Jan 9 (TN) Mr Ratnam Karunakaran, 32, also known as Sinappodiyan, was shot and seriously injured by unknown gunmen on Monday evening 3.30 p.m. at Piscal Junction, a predominantly muslim area in Akkaraipattu along the Akkaraipattu-Kalmunai main Road. Karunakaran was selling maize at the time gunmen shot him, sources said. more..

Jan 9 (FMM) A Provincial Journalist, Vincent Jeyan, Jaffna correspondent for Associated Press, Lake House and Shakthi FM, alleges that members of the Security Forces assaulted him, while two others fired at him, alleging that he was a member of the LTTE, when he was covering a protest rally. more..

Jan 9 (SLA) A DELIBERATE LTTE ATTACK on the troops at MALIGATHIVU, PAHALA THOPPUR, about 21 km south of TRINCOMALEE, claimed the life of one more soldier and injured another on Sunday (08) night around 9.30 p.m. when the troops on foot patrol tried to check a vehicle parked on the roadside. more..

Jan 9 (SLA) A CIVILIAN WHO HAS IGNORED LTTE ORDERS to appear in the LTTE office at ILUPPADICHENAI, about 16 km west of BATTICALOA town has been penalized by LTTE men after detonating a hand grenade directed at his house on Sunday (08) night around 7.45 p.m. more..

Jan 9 (ISL) The leader of the opposition in a rally addressing UNP supporters in Gamapaha challenged the JVP and JHU to cancel the ceasefire and come out with their alternatives to the CFA. He said these comments yesterday while addressing a rally organized by the UNP deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya in Gamapaha. more..

Jan 9 (ISL) The potential of LTTE media to distort the truth and to engineer civil unrest and the inability of non LTTE Sinhalese and English media to counter the LTTE disinformation and manipulation was clearly evident in the media reports of the disappearance and death of Ilayathambi Tharsini. more..

Jan 9 (LBO) Sri Lanka put over Rs. 40 billion every year into free education for the past 40 years, but large numbers of young people can’t find work. Over 700,000 youth are unemployed and the number grows every year, because of the mismatch between jobs and skills, says EDEX, more..

Jan 9 (LeN) The students were fired at last Monday (2) in Trincomalee by a group wearing uniforms similar to the Army, one of the two students who survived the attack was reported to have told Trincomalee magistrate P.Kamalan. The Magistrate visited the hospital last week end and recorded the statement from the student. more..

Jan 9 (AT) With assembly elections looming large on the horizon, Sri Lanka factor has begun to assume fresh importance in the Tamilnadu politics. More so since a blatantly pro-LTTE party like MDMK of Mr Vaiko is a partner in the ruling alliance in Delhi. Vaiko has already managed to stall the long planned India- Sri Lanka defence deal. more..

Jan 9 (PIS) The SLMM yesterday reiterated that the LTTE has no control over the territorial waters in any part of the island. SLMM Chief Hagrup Haukland told the Daily News that following the Navy complaint on the attack on their Israel-built fast attack Dvora vessel on Saturday, the SLMM was investigating the incident. more..

Jan 9 (ANN) Saturday's (Jan 7) suicide attack on a naval craft with 15 personnel on board is a pointer that the LTTE is far from ready to settle for anything less than a separate state. For, the so-called Black Tigers used for suicide attacks are under strict orders from the LTTE leader to kill even him if he ever deviates from the goal of Eelam. more..

Jan 9 (LNP) PRESIDENT Mahinda Rajapakse asserted yesterday that forces of terrorism would not affect the decisions that he has taken in the interests of the Nation. `It is a great mistake if anyone believes that our decisions can be altered by means of terror. The LTTE should realise that we are not deaf and blind,` more..