Nov 10 (AFX) The bitter power struggle between Sri Lanka's prime minister and her arch-rival premier threatens 4.5 bln usd pledged in foreign aid to the impoverished country, analysts and diplomats say. more..

Nov 10 (Island) Former Defence Minister, Thilak Marapana yesterday denied President Chandrika Kumaratunga's claims that crucial decisions relating to security were taken without consulting her. Addressing a press briefing at Gramodaya Centre on Sunday, Marapana stressed that she was always consulted by him or by the Prime Minister. more..

Nov 10 (DN) Crimes, Crimes Intelligence, Children and Women Bureau Deputy Inspector General of Police, Herath Mudiyanselage Sirisena Herath has been appointed DIG Colombo with immediate effect. DIG Herath succeeds Colombo Senior DIG Bodhi Liyanage who will assume duties as Senior DIG Central Range. more..

Nov 10 (LBO) With the changing face of the retail petroleum market, the monthly pricing formula is also being revised to allow competitive pricing. Currently, prices of all petroleum fuels are revised monthly on a formula pegged to world price movements. more..

Nov 10 (SLA) Naval troops on duty have arrested 28 Sri Lankan refugees while they were moving towards main land with their baggage near the first Sand bank in the general sea area off URUMALAI, about 1.5 km west of THALAIMANNAR on 07 November 2003 around 5.00 p.m. more..

Nov 10 (TN) The Speaker of the Parliament, Mr.Joseph Michael Perera, Monday requested the leaders of the political parties who had attended a meeting in his chamber to submit a written request to reconvene the parliament before Tuesday. more..

Nov 10 (TN) Muslims who returned to Mullaithivu after a decade began rebuilding their homes and clearing their lands for cultivation with the assistance of the World Food Program (WFP) and the Thamil Eelam Economic Development Organisation (TEEDOR) of the Liberation Tigers, sources in Kilinochchi said. more..

Nov 10 (TN) The political gap between UNF and PA widened today as Prime Minister earlier today said he is prepared to face an immediate election while the President in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister has demanded to form a "Grand Alliance of all national and patriotic forces" with the objective of forming a "Government of National Reconstruction and Reconciliation". more..

Nov 10 (wsws) The crisis that erupted last week in Colombo marks another critical turning point in Sri Lankan politics. While personal idiosyncrasies and rivalries play their role, the latest political turmoil is a product of a series of international economic and strategic shifts that have compelled the Sri Lankan bourgeoisie to make a far-reaching and abrupt change in their basic orientation. more..

Nov 10 (LT) Mr. Wimal Weerawanse, Leader of the Group of Parliamentarians of the JVP has said that the JVP would not participate at a meeting of party leaders called by the UNP as the Parliament remains prorogued and any attempt to convene the Parliament is a violation of the Constitution. more..

Nov 10 (Hindu) A Sri Lankan civil society organisation today extended its solidarity with Indian journalists and media activists protesting against the sentence passed by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and police entry into The Hindu premises. more..

Nov 10 (GU) Travellers intending to visit Sri Lanka, including the England cricket team, are awaiting developments nervously this weekend after a state of emergency was declared there last week. more..

Nov 10 (OW) President Chandrika Kumaratunga's takeover of Sri Lanka's Media ministry last week, has thrown the country's state-owned electronic media in disarray, with the President's loyalists appointed in a major reshuffle, tailoring the news according to her whims. more..

Nov 10 (Bloomberg) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels want to restart peace talks even though the country's president and prime minister are involved in a political standoff, said a spokesman for the LTTE. more..

Nov 10 (Rediff) Most civilised countries recoil in absolute horror at the mention of a coup and Indians go into a double tizzy whenever the term Emergency is bandied. Coup is something we associate with inadequate societies like Pakistan, and Emergency revives memories of a popular leader who turned desperado and did the unthinkable. more..

Nov 10 (AP) It began with an attempt by the president to reinforce her power: Parliament was suspended, three powerful Cabinet ministers fired, a state of emergency declared. Small squads of soldiers were deployed to key positions in this seaside capital city. more..

Nov 10 (AP) Norwegian envoys who are trying to help broker Sri Lanka's peace with the Tamil Tiger rebels are headed to the island nation as the president and prime minister remain locked in a power struggle that has thrown uncertainty over the peace process. more..

Nov 10 (AT) A two-pronged intervention by India and the United States over the past several days has helped avert a full-blown crisis in Sri Lanka, following President Chandrika Kumaratunga's peremptory sacking of three cabinet ministers - including the powerful Defense Minister Tilak Marapana - as well as the dismissal of parliament and a day later the imposition of a nationwide emergency. more..

Nov 10 (AT) Within the space of three weeks, Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have earned unflattering stripes in Thailand, a country they once roamed freely in search of weapons for their separatist struggle. more..

Nov 10 (HT) The unending row between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe holds no surprises for someone from Tamil Nadu, like the present writer. The show in Colombo is but a Sinhalese version of a Jayalalithaa-Karunanidhi routine, replicated to the last detail. more..

Nov 10 (BBC) Sri Lanka's prime minister says he is ready for snap elections to resolve a power struggle with the president. The announcement from his spokesman came as the cabinet said peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels could be in jeopardy because of the crisis. more..

Nov 10 (RD) Elaborate arrangements are being made by the Sri Lankan embassy to host a grand Iftar party for all Sri Lankans in the Kingdom at the embassy premises on Thursday. Ambassador Ibrahim Sahib Ansar told Riyadh Daily that the party will be hosted by a group of Sri Lankan well-wishers. more..

Nov 10 (DM) Twelve out of twenty medical specialists will go on transfer to other general hospitals since the Anuradhapura General hospital is unable to provide with the necessary facilities to treat patients. more..

Nov 10 (AFP) Norwegian envoys were due in Sri Lanka Monday to revive the peace process between the government and Tamil rebels, but diplomats said the political crisis gripping the island could delay negotiations. more..

Nov 10 (DJ) For Sri Lanka Telecom Ltd. (SLTL.SL), the island's power struggle has brought an unexpected silver lining: a surge in local and overseas calls as Sri Lankans try to keep abreast of the rapidly unfolding events in the crisis. more..

Nov 10 (HT) The Sri Lankan peace process is in the limbo, thanks to the political turmoil in southern Sri Lanka and the dim prospect of it's ending soon. The Norwegian Facilitators, Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgessen, and the Special Peace Envoy, Erik Solheim, would be in Colombo on Tuesday trying to revive the process, more..

Nov 10 (HT) A majority of members of the Sri Lankan parliament, belonging to the ruling United National Front (UNF) and its allies, have demanded the immediate annulment of the prorogation of the House by President Chandrika Kumaratunga. more..

Nov 10 (HT) Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, is keen on snap polls to re-affirm and improve upon the popular mandate he had got in 2001 because this will help him face the challenge thrown at him by President Chandrika Kumaratunga, according to Parliamentary Affairs Minister, AHM Azwer. more..

Nov 10 (AFP) Sri Lanka's government said it was ready to face polls to head off a power struggle with the president as the political crisis led to peace talks with the Tamil Tigers being postponed indefinitely. more..

Nov 10 (SLA) Two-teenaged conscripted minors fled LTTE and sought protection from the Police at NIDANWALA, about 50 km southeast of POLONNARUWA on 08 November 2003. These teenagers (16 years) from KALAWANCHIKUDY area were conscripted on 06 October 2003 by LTTE for reasons best known only to LTTE. more..

Nov 10 (SLA) Police, assisted by troops arrested two civilians aboard a lorry, which had varying and forged registration numbers while it was entering the cleared areas via entry/exit point at UYILANKULAM on 09 November 2003. more..

Nov 10 (SLA) The dead body of an absent soldier with stab injuries was recovered from the general area of KUMBURUMULLAI THOTUM, about 5 km south of VALAICHCHENAI on 09 November 2003 following information given to troops by a civilian. more..

Nov 10 (Reuters) A political tussle between Sri Lanka's president and prime minister could delay foreign aid to the country, a World Bank official said on Monday. Analysts said investment, tourism and economic growth could also be affected if the crisis lasts for too long. more..

Nov 10 (OI) There is a strange if not bizarre paradox in Sri Lanka's peace process. More Coverage. Twenty months after a fledgling ceasefire, the Tiger rebels made public their much awaited demands to end their near two-decade-long 'armed struggle'. They want autonomous self-rule in the North East, outside Sri Lanka's Constitution and laws. more..

Nov 10 (IANS) India on Monday asked President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to close ranks for the sake of the country's floundering peace process. Addressing reporters here, Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal expressed concern over the deteriorating political situation in Sri Lanka. more..

Nov 10 (TN) The UNF government spokesman, Professor G.L.Peiris, Monday said in a statement that if Sri Lanka’s President was not willing to assume control of the peace process, the UNF government must be “invested with responsibility for all aspects of the process, as was the case prior to the events of November 4th.” more..

Nov 10 (AP) About 20 U.S. naval personnel and the Sri Lanka navy will train together later this month as part of military cooperation between the two nations, the U.S. embassy here said Monday. more..

Nov 10 (AFP) Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told his cabinet Monday that he was ready to face a snap election to end a bitter stand-off with a hostile president, a government spokesman said. more..

Nov 11 (BBC) I keep on asking diplomats, fellow journalists and academics what they think the outcome of Sri Lanka's current political crisis will be. "I don't know," is the answer every time. more..

Nov 11 (TN) A leading educationist from the Jaffna peninsula, Mr.K.Arunasalam, was felicitated on his seventy fifth birthday at an event held at the Wellawatte Sri Ramakrishna Mission Hall in Colombo Sunday evening. more..

Nov 11 (TN) The resettled farm families in the Kanniya village, about six km north of Trincomalee town on the Trinco-Anuradhapura road, are to get a new paddy store and co-operative retail shop. more..

Nov 11 (Island) The Supreme Court yesterday, reserved the order, in two appeal applications, filed by some residents of Akmeemana and Bandaragama, against the Road Development Authority and a few other respondents, regarding an issue pertaining to the construction of the Colombo-Matara Express Highway. more..

Nov 11 (IL) "The UNF government has launched a skillfully formulated programme to develop the country extensively. The budget that would be presented before the Parliament would silence the critics of the government" said Minister A.H.M.Azwer. more..

Nov 11 (AFP) Norwegian peace envoys arrived here late Monday as Sri Lanka's beleaguered government said its planned talks with Tamil Tiger rebels will be put off indefinitely till the political crisis is resolved. more..

Nov 11 (ST) SRI Lanka's 20-year civil war between Tamils who comprise 17 per cent of the population and the majority Sinhalese community has always been a warning to the rest of Asia on how not to antagonise ethnic minorities. more..

Nov 11 (BP) Three Sri Lankan men, suspected to be Tamil Tiger rebels, were yesterday sentenced to five years in jail for arms smuggling. Sujit Gunapala, 27, Sasijaran Teverajah, 27 and Satiepawan Arsieawatap, 34, denied the charges following their arrest in the South on May 12. more..

Nov 11 (LBO) The telecom watchdog has been taken over by President Chandrika Kumaratunga, as part of her ‘constitutional coup’ last Monday. President Kumaratunga last week tookover the posts of Defence, Interior and Media, but said she had left the telecommunications ministry with the government. more..

Nov 11 (LBO) Top party meetings on Tuesday failed to reach consensus on presenting and debating the budget, while still meeting deadlines and upcoming aid meetings with donors. Most of the US$ 4.5 bn pledged in aid as well as a second US$ 80 mn tranche from the IMF is due in December, tied to conditions in the proposed budget. more..

Nov 11 (TN) Only less than thirty percent of the internally displaced families from the islets of Jaffna district who fled the islets following 1990 military operations by the Sri Lanka Army have returned back to their former homes since the signing of the ceasefire agreement more..

Nov 11 (TN) The United Nations Inter-Agency Working Group on Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Colombo said Tuesday that most of the accidents caused by mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) occurred in Jaffna this year. more..