Nov 22 (SLA) An assailant from the LTTE itself has thrown a hand grenade to the house premises of the sister of renegade KARUNA in the general area of BATTICALOA town on 20 November 2004 around 6.00 a.m. No damage or injuries were reported. more..

Nov 22 (SLA) An LTTE instigated deliberate attempt to provoke Security Forces and disrupt normalcy in the general areas of JAFFNA peninsula after two motorbike-riding LTTE gunmen fired on an EPDP supporters but killed two other Tamil civilians during a football match at VELVETTITHURAI, more..

Nov 22 (SS) Where wardrobe is concerned, Sri Lanka doesn’t need much preparing for. And that’s because its weather is like ours. Here, as well as in our very own Cebu City, it can get very warm and humid. Naturally, every bit of rain is a blessing. more..

Nov 22 (IRIB) Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga will arrive early Wednesday for a five-day visit at the head of a political and economic delegation, announced the foreign ministry here on Saturday. more..

Nov 22 (TN) Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Police have deployed more soldiers in strategic points in the Trincomalee town and several parts of the district under their control following several violent incidents that had taken place during the weekend, security sources said. more..

Nov 22 (TN) Educational Development Organization (EDO) of Trincomalee District, supported by UNICEF, distributed teaching and learning materials to teachers and students serving in twenty Happy Learning Centres (HLC) at an event held at Trincomalee Vivekananda College Sunday morning. more..

Nov 22 (BBC) A Sri Lankan torture victim in a criminal case pending against a number of police officers was shot and critically injured. Gerald Marvin Perera, whose case was due to give evidence before the Negombo High Court within a matter of days, was shot at close range while travelling on a bus at Mabola, Welisara on Sunday morning. more..

Nov 22 (BBC) Sri Lanka Army (SLA) suspects that the attacks on LTTE offices in Batticaloa might have been carried out by the LTTE itself. Military spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake told BBC Sandeshaya that it is difficult for somebody else to come to the area which is under strict security measures. more..

Nov 22 (Rupavahini) Sri Lankan's will get a rare opportunity to witness bollywood actor including Sharuk Khan when he participate in a special show to be held at a racecourse grounds on the 11th of next month at 11.00 p.m. more..

Nov 22 (Rupavahini) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse claims that necessary plans to develop the country through human resources development have been presented by the maiden budget of the freedom alliance government. more..

Nov 22 (Rupavahini) President Chandrika Kumaratunge held bilateral talks of mutual interest with Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz at president's house this afternoon. The Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat aziz arrived in the island on a two-day official visit this afternoon. more..

Nov 22 (PTI) Investigators today issued a picture of a man they believed assassinated a high profile judge here as the probe centred on the involvement of a powerful underworld gang. “It looks more like the work of a local organised crime group,” a senior police officer said. more..

Nov 22 (TN) "Tamil people believe that an interim administration is an essential prerequisite to embarking on talks for a solution to the conflict...and they will not allow the LTTE to give up the right to secession before the parties reach agreements on the outstanding core issues." more..

Nov 22 (TN) Maj. Gen. Sunil Tennekoon, Sri Lankan security forces commander for Jaffna, Sunday refused a request by the people of Manalkaadu, a village on the peninsula's southeast coast, to permit them to fish in the sea without the mandatory pass system. more..

Nov 22 (SLA) A nineteen-year old youngster, earmarked for an undisclosed LTTE mission in COLOMBO was taken in for interrogations from BATTICALOA town area during a snap search, conducted on several suspicious houses Monday (22) morning. more..

Nov 22 (SLA) LTTE men defied Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) rulings and continued to hoist the LTTE flag, during an LTTE organized sports meet at VAVUNIYA urban council grounds on 21 November 2004 around 11.30 a.m. more..

Nov 22 (SLA) A complaint made to the Police by a Muslim civilian stated that an LTTE letter left with three T-56 rounds of ammunition by the side of his shop in the general area of AKKARAIPATTU on 19 November 2004 demanded a ransom of Rs 125,000 /= (about US$ 1213). more..

Nov 22 (SLA) The dead body of a thirteen-year old minor, suspected to have been strangled to death inside a mosque in the general area of PAHALA NAGAR, MUTTUR has been recovered by the Police on 21 November 2004 around 9.00 a.m. The boy has made for the mosque around 7.30 a.m. but failed to return home as usual, according to his father. more..

Nov 22 (SLA) Three unidentified gunmen, believed to be from the LTTE have shot and killed a former civil informant of the Army while he was in the general area of SERUNUWARA on 20 November 2004 around 8.00 p.m. The victim, identified as THANGARASA RAMESHWARAN alias AMBUMARAN (22) more..

Nov 22 (LT) UNP said that the UPFA Budget would create a stagnant economy next year, and unless the Ceasefire is continued the situation would worsen. “The momentum of our (UNP) economic progress will bring goods results for some time but in a few months time once our achievements wear off, the economy will stagnate,” more..

Nov 22 (LT) Jaffna Security Forces Commander Major General Sunil Tennakoon said that the tense in Jaffna following the death of two youth in Velvetithurai on Friday had been brought under control. He said a special meeting was held with the SLMM and the Wanni Tiger’s Jaffna district political head Ilamparthy to discuss the current situation. more..

Nov 22 (SLRC) The SLRC will telecast 'live' the proceedings of the funeral of Justice Ambepitiya from 4 pm onwards today. Investigators looking for clues leading to the assassins of High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya are scouring all case records wherein he delivered judgements especially against narcotic traffickers. more..

Nov 22 (SLRC) Sri Lanka hosted a key peace event in the education sector this month at the Pasdunrata National College of Education in Kalutara where educationists, teacher educators, teachers and student-teachers from South Asia explored ways and means of instilling a culture of peace in school education. more..

Nov 22 (AT) A meeting has been arranged in London to address the serious implications and injustices inflicted on the Sri Lankan Tamil kids and to highlight the atrocities inflicted on the them by the LTTE by conscripting them as young as 12 years into their war machineries, where children end up as cannon fodders. more..

Nov 22 (TP) The government in last week’s budget has increased sharply the fines for traffic offences in a bid to reduce the increasing number of accidents, road rage and reckless driving. more..

Nov 22 (TP) President Chandrika Kumaratunga has accused Norwegian peace facilitators of one-sided treatment in putting pressure on the government to re-start the peace process while not doing the same LTTE. But she declared her “willingness to go forward” to break the stalemate to put an end to the 20-year northern insurgency,

Nov 22 (wsws) The first budget of Sri Lanka’s United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, delivered by Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama last Thursday, was a desperate attempt to stem the anger of working people over rising prices and declining living standards. more..

Nov 22 (ANI) The Pakistan government's archaeology department has discovered eight antiquities dating back to the first century AD, including rare sculptures of 'future' Buddha, Hindu God Indra and his bodyguard from an ancient archaeological site very near to Taxila, considered as a seat of learning during the Buddhist period. more..

Nov 22 (PIS) The tense situation in Jaffna following the death of two youth in Velvetiturai on Friday had been brought under control, Jaffna Security Forces Commander Major General Sunil Tennakoon said yesterday. He said following his invitation, a special meeting was held with the SLMM and the LTTE''s Jaffna district political head Ilamparthy to discuss the current situation. more..

Nov 22 (PIS) Sri Lanka has been cited as one of the most improved nations in the list of best places to live in the world in 2005 compiled by the popular The Economist magazine. Aerial view of Colombo: International media reported "Sri Lanka wins the prize of the the most improved nation with a jump of five places to 43rd.” more..

Nov 22 (AFP) Sri Lanka and Pakistan will launch a free trade agreement by January when President Chandrika Kumaratunga visits Islamabad, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said. Aziz said the proposed trade pact will be finalised in two days when officials meet in Islamabad and will then be ready by January. more..

Nov 22 (PTI) The visiting Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz today declined comment on the proposed Indo-Sri Lanka defence cooperation agreement. But Aziz, who arriving in Colombo yesterday, said defence ties between Islamabad and Colombo were excellent. more..

Nov 22 (Reuters) A proposed new throwing rule should make the rules of cricket fairer and easier to apply, International Cricket Council (ICC) chief Ehsan Mani said on Sunday. "What we are trying to do is to come to a system which is fair, which we can protect in the sense that once we put the criteria in place no-one can breach it," Mani said. more..

Nov 22 (ANN) The slaying of High Court Judge Ranjith Amebepitiya was not a chance happening. To perceptive observers of the breakdown of Law and Order in this country, the slaying of such fearless and honest officials appeared to be in the making for some time. more..

Nov 22 (DN) Beginning today, Supreme Court and High Court Judges will receive armed security provided by the Special Task Force (STF) on the specific instructions of President Chandrika Kumaratunga. This will be an initial step pending the establishment of a Judicial Security Division (JSD) that will come into being shortly more..

Nov 22 (HT) Muslims of North and East Sri Lanka, whose rights have been mercilessly trampled upon by Tamil militants with successive governments in Colombo looking on passively, are now planning to seek the assistance of the international community to secure their rights. more..

Nov 22 (AFP) Police began probing local crime gangs yesterday as Sri Lanka’s first assassination of a High Court judge rocked the judiciary and the political establishment, investigators said. Underworld crime groups topped the list of suspects, more..

nov 22 (ANN) One of Sri Lanka’s top hoteliers, Prof. M. T. A. Furkhan, Chairman of the Confifi group, has focused on Sri Lanka’s hotel industry confronting "a tremendous shortage" of middle and senior managers. more..

Nov 22 (Xinhua) A landmine explosion has resulted in the deaths of at least ten people belonging to the LTTE rebels, the state television announced here Monday. The Rupavahini TV said the landmine explosion took place at Tharavikulam in the eastern Batticaloa district around 11:00 a.m. local time (GMT 0050). more..

Nov 23 (TN) Sri Lanka Police backed by army troops Monday searched the home of slain journalist Mr. Aiyathurai Nadesan's home in Batticaloa town. Mr. Nadesan, a well regarded senior Tamil journalist, was murdered by gunmen suspected to be assassins from a paramilitary working with the Sri Lanka army on 31 May this year. more..

Nov 23 (TN) Police said they arrested a youth on suspicion in Batticaloa town Monday. He was in a restaurant in front of GV Hospital, a private nursing home in Batticaloa town, according Police. The youth, Mr. Ganesamoorthy Sasikaran, 19 of Mayilambaveli, 10 kilometres north of Batticaloa, is being questioned, more..

Nov 23 (Rupavahini) President Chandrika Kumaratunge has instructed officials to fill vacancies for teachers and also complete the infrastructure requirements at all national and Navodya schools by the first of January, next year. more..

Nov 23 (BBC) The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Sri Lanka is opposing the implementation of death penalty. Director NHRC Nimal Punchihewa told BBC Sandeshaya on Monday that nowhere in the world has capital punishment reduced crime more..

Nov 23 (BBC) Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva says that the killing of High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya is the culmination of a series of events. The chief justice speaking to BBC Sandeshaya at the slain judges funeral said, "had this decision been taken earlier, we would have avoided such a calamity." more..

Nov 23 (AFP) Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels on Monday began commemorating the 17,780 people who have died in the fight for a separate state, including 72 over the past year despite a truce, residents said Monday. more..

Nov 23 (LBO) Sustained demand for hotel and diversified shares will further boost Sri Lanka's stock market in the coming months, but the government's populist budget may not bode well for the bourse over the long-term, said a U.S.-based fund manager. more..

Nov 23 (LBO) A joint government-private sector tax cluster will re-examine all the changes to taxes proposed in the budget, says the Treasury Secretary. "A special tax cluster will begin work next week under the NCED (National Council for Economic Development)," more..

Nov 23 (AT) ”Though the Muslims who are languishing in the refugee camps in Puttalam, Anuradhapura and in other places are willing to go back to their traditional places of residence in the Northern province, but so far the LTTE, who chased these Muslims out of their homes are still not prepared to accommodate them,” more..

Nov 23 (ANN) In the aftermath of the assassination of High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya, which had prompted the government to re-introduce the capital punishment, the Executioner at the Welikade Prison has demanded for 24-hour security if he is to carry out his duties. more..

Nov 23 (TN) The Liberation Tigers dismissed reports in the Sri Lankan state controlled media that more than thirty LTTE fighters were killed in a landmine attack in the Batticaloa district's interior. "This is clearly another psy-ops gimmick by the Sri Lankan armed forces to disrupt the Great Heroes' Week in Batticaloa", more..