Nov 2 (TP) Teachers supporting Marxists are to contribute a day’s wages to raise funds for the government’s 1,000 tanks rehabilitation programme. Mahinda Jayasinghe, general secretary of the JVP-affiliated Ceylon Teachers’ Services Union, told newspapers that the teachers would contribute by means of financial assistance and manpower to this programme more..

Nov 2 (Jang) Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Atapattu said on Monday after his team lost an exciting second Test to Pakistan that his players would be returning home having gained a lot from the Pakistan tour. more..

Nov 2 (PIS) Excerpts from LTTE ideologue and chief negotiator Dr Anton Balasingham's, still unpublished book, titled "War and Peace", have created doubt once again about the parameters of a political solution to the ethnic conflict. more..

Nov 2 (TN) Mr.K.Mohan (19) of Rakka Road in Jaffna town and Mr.Ananda Baby (27) of Uduvil Monday early morning were electrocuted when they were allegedly moving around a poultry shed at Malluwam in Uduvil village in Valigamam division in Jaffna district, Police said. more..

Nov 2 (TN) Free Media Movement (FMM) including Sri Lanka Working Journalist Association, Sri Lanka Journalist Guild and Dinamina Editorial Staff held a protest demonstration in front of the Colombo, Fort railway station Tuesday to condemn the assault on Lake House Kandy Correspondent Sanjaya Asela Maturata more..

Nov 2 (SLA) Cementing the spirits of age-old friendship and goodwill that exists between Sri Lanka and India further, General N. C Vij, Chief of Army Staff, Indian Army arrived in Sri Lanka, Monday on a four-day official visit with a view to meeting a cross section of military and political authorities in the island. more..

Nov 2 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's trade deficit more than tripled to $178 million in August from $52.4 million a year earlier due to costly oil and higher textile import bills, the central bank said on Tuesday. more..

Nov 2 (PIS) However President Kumaratunga’s opening remarks at the BMICH yesterday afternoon before assembly was open to media personnel. Most political parties with parliamentary representation were present yesterday. It is learnt that matters are being ironed out and the other political parties will be present at the subsequent sessions. more..

Nov 2 (LBO) The Landmine Ban Advocacy Forum welcomed participation of LTTE combatants at a global anti-landmine summit, adding that compliance could increase donor aid for landmine action. more..

Nov 2 (Geo) Rice Mills Association has offered to sell rice on 120-days credit to Sri Lanka. Vice-chairman of the Association, Anwer Mian Noor extended this offer in his meeting with the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapakse. more..

Nov 2 (IPS) When Anthony Michael Fernando, a 50 year-old trade union secretary in Sri Lanka, was sentenced to a year in prison for contempt of court, he thought his life could not get any worse. more..

Nov 2 (SLBC) Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation Deputy Minister, Bimal Ratnayake opened the first re-constructed tank at Hewanpelessa, Kattabuwawa in Yapahuwa electorate last Saturday evening. The project was carried out by direct labour and the cost of reconstruction was Rs. 1.3 million.

Nov 2 (SLBC) Most Ven. Thibbotuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Mahanayake Thera of the Malwatte Mahavihara Chapter observed that there should be sufficient freedom for journalists to operate without fear or favour. more..

Nov 2 (PIS) The Japanese government has agreed to obtain approval from the donor community to provide humanitarian relief to the people in the North and East prior to the final agreement, the LTTE Peace Secretariat said yesterday. more..

Nov 2 (PSL) The Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe called on President Chandrika Kumaratunga this morning and the President briefed him on the proceedings of the National Advisory Council for Peace and Reconciliation (NACPR) held yesterday and plans for future meetings of the Council. more..

Nov 2 (DN) The final solution to the ethnic question based on any form of power sharing should be through a Constitutional amendment and fall within the framework of a sovereign, undivided and united Sri Lanka, President Chandrika Kumaratunga emphasised more..

Nov 2 (AFP) Japan's peace envoy wrapped up his latest salvage attempt in Sri Lanka saying he detected some flexibility on the part of the government and hoped negotiations with Tamil separatists could resume soon. more..

Nov 2 (AFP) Sri Lankan authorities were still trying to make contact with the abductors of a Sri Lankan truck driver in Iraq amid reports that another of its nationals had been seized, officials said. more..

Nov 2 (PTI) The proposed defence agreement between India and Sri Lanka was "not hostile" and will not affect efforts to bring peace between the Colombo government and Tamil Tigers, a top Japanese peace envoy said here today. more..

Nov 2 (Reuters) Japan's peace envoy said on Tuesday he was concerned by lack of visible progress in forging lasting peace between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. Yasushi Akashi said he had noted flexibility on the part of the government, but was miffed by comments made by the rebels' political wing leader. more..

Nov 2 (AP) A Tamil Tiger leader says the rebels remain committed to peace efforts aimed at permanently ending Sri Lanka's civil war, but accused the government of insincerity. more..

Nov 2 (BBC) Curfew has been imposed at Kattankudy in Batticaloa after reports of further clashes between two Muslim sects. Speaking to BBC Sandeshaya, DIG of police (East) Neville Wijesinghe said that a grenade has been thrown into a mosque last night while people were praying after Ramadan fast. more..

Nov 2 (BBC) President Chandrika Kumaratunga met the opposition leader Ranil Wickramasinghe to “discuss number of matters relating to the peace process”, said a joint communiqué issued by the presidential media unit. more..

Nov 2 (Reuters) One of Sri Lanka's most successful bowlers, Muttiah Muralitharan, on Tuesday urged the government and Tamil Tiger rebels to resume stalled talks to turn a truce into lasting peace after two decades of civil war. more..

Nov 2 (HT) The Sri Lankan government has apparently conveyed to the LTTE its readiness to start talks on the basis of the latter’s controversial proposal for an Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) for the Tamil-speaking North Eastern Province (NEP). more..

Nov 3 (TN) Mannar Magistrate Mr.M.N.M.Abdulla Tuesday ordered further remand for five Indian fishermen who were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) when poaching in the seas off Thalaimannar. The suspects told civil officials present in court that they would go on hunger strike if they are not sent back to India. more..

Nov 3 (LBO) “There are no permits, no licenses and no quotas. We buy from anywhere in the world if the quality is right, and the price is right,” Chile says Sri Lanka should tap the potential. more..

Nov 3 (LBO) Cashed trapped Treasury is considering a proposal to mandate those who own a car, house, credit card and a mobile phone to open a tax file. The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, who mooted the proposal, says it is styled on line with India, who uses such methods to widen the tax net. more..

Nov 3 (LBO) The international donor community could cut the strings attached to US$ 4.5 bn in aid, with a thaw in the peace process far from sight. Japanese Peace Envoy Yasushi Akashi said foreign aid promised to Sri Lanka at the Tokyo Conference in June 2003 would not remain frozen even though the ‘peace process’ was. more..

Nov 3 (LBO) All rubber cultivators, from smallholders to plantation companies can get a Rs.100,000 subsidy per hectare for replanting, from a recently set up rubber cess fund. A Rs. 49,000 per hectare subsidy was previously available to smallholders to encourage replanting, more..

Nov 3 (AT) There is an urgent need to prevent the LTTE from raising funds and conducting business internationally. These are, as systematic elimination of democratic opponents and forced recruitment of children most poignantly indicate, aimed at the destruction of democratic culture in the Tamil community. more..

Nov 3 (AT) At a meeting with President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Leader of the Opposition strongly emphasized of a “a clear agreement between the Government and the LTTE to explore a federal solution as the basis of a political resolution of the ethnic conflict.” more..

Nov 3 (Rupavahini) The Japanese peace envoy, Yasushi Akashi express the belief that the peace talks between the government and the LTTE could be resumed shortly, if the two parties have been able to build mutual understanding and faith. more..

Nov 3 (IC) A GANG of Sri Lankans murdered a compatriot with an axe outside a kebab house, the Old Bailey heard. Thirukar Sothilingam, 28, known as Thiru, was battered repeatedly over the head as he returned to his car outside the Croydon Flaming Grill, in London Road, West Croydon. more..

Nov 3 (Bernama) At least 18 people were injured in the strife-torn town of Kattankudy in eastern Sri Lanka on Tuesday in fresh fighting sparked by a bomb explosion, only a day after village elders had agreed to calm frayed tempers between two Muslim groups, police and officials said. more..

Nov 3 (Reuters) Police have imposed a curfew on a town in eastern Sri Lanka after 7,000 Muslims scuffled on the streets late on Monday following a hand-grenade attack that wounded 13 people, including three policemen, officials said. more..

Nov 3 (BBC) Japan's peace envoy to Sri Lanka says that he has detected “a degree of willingness to examine LTTE's proposals” by government's junior partner Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). However, neither the government nor Tamil Tiger rebels are prepared to take the first step to revive peace talks, Yasushi Akasi said. more..

Nov 3 (BBC) Muslims of the Sufi faith launched a hunger strike on Tuesday demanding that the Government intervene to control violence in the eastern town of Kattankudy. Curfew has been imposed at Kattankudy in Batticaloa after a second day of clashes between two Muslim sects within two days. more..

Nov 3 (Hindu) The visiting Japanese special envoy, Yasushi Akashi, said today that he had conveyed "some ideas" of the President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, to the LTTE, during a meeting with its political wing leader, S.P. Tamilchelvan, in rebel-held Kilinochchi on Monday. more..

Nov 3 (Gulf) A Buddhist organisation that planned to launch a major protest at the Canadian High Commission against the disrobing of three monks called it off as the embassy failed to reopen yesterday. more..

Nov 3 (AT) Asian Human Rights Commission, a Hong Kong based human rights organizations declared that striking against the transfer of an official by the Human Rights Commission in Sri Lanka in not a statement of human rights, but rather a breach of discipline. more..

Nov 3 (NW) While the world eagerly awaited the results of the most terrifyingly close US presidential elections, Sri Lanka yesterday announced plans to import table birds from America to slash Christmas chicken prices by as much as Rs. 50 a kilo, Trade Ministry officials said. more..

Nov 3 (NW) The Deputy Ministers Guild which met yesterday decided to inform the Alliance hierarchy in writing to take action against derogatory statements made by a JVP Parliamentarian on President Kumaratunga, instead of writing love letters to the JVP. more..

Nov 3 (NW) The JVP yesterday hit out strongly at what it sees as President Chandrika Kumaratunga's arbitrary decision to appoint three non cabinet ministers and warned that the UPFA might be ruined if this move was not corrected. more..

Nov 3 (SLA) A large section of state officials, private sector businessmen and members of the public in MANNAR and its suburbs have contacted the Police and troops to inform that some LTTE members in the area were demanding increased extortions from them in order to strengthen LTTE coffers. more..

Nov 3 (SLA) A van arrested by Police at KOVILPUDAKKULAM, VAVUNIYA on 2 November 2004 on suspicion was found that its chassis number, engine number and the registration number altered and forged. more..

Nov 3 (TN) "Visits of Indian military and naval chiefs to Sri Lanka and Indo-Sri Lanka defence agreement expected to be signed next week in India by both governments during the visit of President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge have caused apprehension among Tamils that preparations are underway for another war in the island," more..

Nov 3 (TN) "The donor conferences held in Oslo on 25 November 2002 and in Tokyo on 10 June 2003 and the resolutions adopted at these meetings cannot bind our liberation organisation to a particular framework of a final political settlement," said Mr Anton Balasingham, more..

Nov 3 (TN) Hundreds of Government workers under the Committee For Salary Increase Of The Public Service banner today held a protest demonstration at Lipton Square in Colombo against to UPFA government's economic policy and demanding increase in government workers salary, sources in Colombo said. more..

Nov 3 (Reuters) The rupee dipped to a sixth consecutive all-time closing low on Wednesday, as importers continued to buy dollars to settle trade bills, brokers said. The rupee closed at 104.50 against the dollar, slipping slightly from Tuesday's previous record closing low of 104.40. more..