Oct 19 (TN) UNP parliamentarians including hundreds of party cadres and activists joined in what is dubbed as “Kitchen Revolution," Tuesday in Kollupitiya junction, Slave Island junction, Hyde Park Corner, Maradana overhead bridge junction, Technical College junction and Kochchikade St Anthony’s Church junction, more..

Oct 19 (TN) Kandy based Human Development Organisation (HDO) launched a signature campaign targeting to obtain 100,000 signatures to pressure the the Sri Lanka Government and Private plantation companies to grant wage increase to the Plantation sector workers, civil sources said. more..

Oct 19 (SLA) Troops on duty at the BLACK BRIDGE entry/exit point found a civilian being abducted by two LTTE cadres from the general area of KIRAN on 18 October 2004 around 8.30 a.m. The civilian, NADARAJAH NALLARATHNAM (22) of MEEYANKALLUKULAM, KIRAN was being forcibly taken to un-cleared areas by the LTTE in a lorry when troops found him. more..

Oct 19 (SLA) A civilian has been shot dead by an unidentified armed group in the general area of IYANKERNI in ERAVUR on 19 October 2004 around 3.30 a.m. The victim, KADIRAGAMAR THAMBIGANESHAMOORTHY (41) of PARADIPURAM, IYANKERNI, has been shot dead while he was asleep inside his house.

Oct 19 (SLA) Lt Gen S. H. S. Kottegoda, Commander of the Army on Thursday (14) flew to the Security Forces Headquarters, Wanni in order to see for himself how well his men get on with their duties in respective areas and what could further be done to promote their welfare interests. more..

Oct 19 (CI) The champagne might still be flowing in the Sri Lankan camp, after their resounding win in the final of the Paktel Cup, but the hangover time allotted was just three days. After strangling Pakistan's run-chase with their masterful use of their part-time spinners, Sri Lanka get another shot at glory with the two-Test series beginning at Faisalabad tomorrow. more..

Oct 19 (KT) The Sri Lankan housemaid who alleged being tortured by her UAE national employer resulting in the breaking of a finger, which was later amputated, and non-payment of dues is now eagerly awaiting return home after justice is rendered to her by the local authorities. more..

Oct 19 (DJ) Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama said Tuesday that the government estimates it will spend LKR438 billion in 2005. The estimate, presented to parliament just a few weeks ahead of the announcement of next year's budget, is higher than the spending estimate for 2004 of LKR353 billion. more..

Oct 19 (PIS) The latest reports are that Norway's chief facilitator, Erik Solheim, will be visiting Sri Lanka once again in early November. If there is to be progress it is important that there should not be unrealistic expectations about what a resumption of peace talks can deliver on either side. more..

Oct 19 (AP) Sri Lanka captain Marvan Atapattu on Tuesday rejected criticism from his country's top selector that he is too focused on winning games now and not enough on developing new players for the future. more..

Oct 19 (Xinhua) Leader of Sri Lanka's main Muslim party Rauff Hakeem has said that his party will not join the coalition government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga but will provide conditional support, The Island newspaper said on Tuesday. more..

Oct 19 (DN) The Special Police Unit of the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) has taken into custody a cleric from a mushroom Christian sect on a complaint of sexual abuse of eight minors. more..

Oct 19 (HT) The chief of the LTTE's navy, Col Soosai, left for an undisclosed destination in Europe via Colombo on Monday, according to the Jaffna daily Eelanadu, which is believed to be close to the LTTE. more..

Oct 19 (HT) The Norwegian peace brokers have reportedly told the LTTE that they do not think there is any plan on the part of the Sri Lankan government to submit a proposal of its own for an Interim administration in the North Eastern Province (NEP) ahead of the peace talks. more..

Oct 19 (Xinhua) Sri Lankan and Indian defense officials concluded their talks here Tuesday agreeing to finalize drafting a defense cooperation agreement between the two neighborsacross the Palk Straits. more..

Oct 19 (NYP) Forget what you know about Sri Lanka, because it's going through a change - TURTLE BUNBURY is on the scene. THE guy in the flowered shirt is chewing gum furiously, staring intently at a fuzzy cricket match on an old TV above my head. He is also cutting my hair. more..

Oct 19 (TN) Mr.Kingsley Rasanayagam, ex Tamil National Alliance MP for Batticaloa was shot dead Tuesday evening around 6.20 in the eastern town by unidentified gunmen. He resigned his seat soon after he was elected at the April 2004 election to Sri Lanka's Parliament. more..

Oct 19 (HT) Suspected LTTE gunmen on Tuesday shot dead Kingsley Rasanayagam, a former MP from Batticalao district, known to have been a protégé of the dissident LTTE commander, Col Karuna. Rasanayagam was killed at about 6.30 pm at Kalviyankadu near Batticaloa town in Eastern Sri Lanka. more..

Oct 19 (AP) Hundreds of opposition party supporters marched through the capital Tuesday demanding pay hikes and lower food and fuel costs from the government. The United National Front party supporters carried frying pans and banners through Colombo and called on the government to increase the salaries of state worker by 70 percent to match rising commodity costs. more..

Oct 20 (TN) Mr.Kathirgamathamby Ganeshamoorthy aged 43 was shot dead by unidentified men Tuesday early morning around 3.30 a.m in his house located in the village Iyankerny in Eravur division in Batticaloa district. He was a supporter of the LTTE more..

Oct 20 (AT) Kingsley Rasanayagam had been brutally murdered today by Tigers at Batticaloa district and TamilEela Ikkiya Viduthalai Munnani pays homage to Kingsley Rasanayagam. Kingsley Rasanayagam is the next victim in the chain murder of LTTE. more..

Oct 20 (BBC) Journalists in Jaffna urged the authorities to revive an investigation into the murder of journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan. Members of Nimalarajan Foundation, gathered in front of Jaffna’s bus stand, protested the lack of pace in the murder investigation. more..

Oct 20 (AT) Australian-based Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights (SPUR) has forwarded to the UN Committee for Counter Terrorism a documented charge sheet against Norway for violations of the UN Resolution 1373 which deals with terrorism. more..

Oct 20 (AN) Four Sri Lankan women were killed and 25 others injured in a road accident when the bus they were traveling in collided with an oil tanker in Aflaj, 350 km away from Riyadh, on Sunday. The bus was transporting 37 Sri Lankan and four Bangladeshi women from Najran to Riyadh. more..

Oct 20 (LT) Several political parties and civil organizations established a Unity yesterday against the assassinations and abductions by the Wanni Tigers. This Unity says that the Cease Fire Agreement has given mandate to the Wanni Tigers the sole power to hold weapons and thereafter they have continued to assassinate and abduct their rivals. more..

Oct 20 (LBO) The government has reapplied for a US$ 60 mn loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to restructure national revenue collection. “We (government and ADB) have agreed on a basic outline and we hope to present the proposal to the (ADB) board for approval late this year or early next year,” more..

Oct 20 (TN) Justice C.V.Vickneswaran, Judge of the Supreme Court, who spent nearly 25 years as a Judge said Tuesday sitting on the bench on the last day of his retirement, that personal prejudices and external interference have marred the present day judicial activity and the Judicial community has to take corrective steps to change this climate," more..

Oct 20 (NS) A Research fellow at Aberdeen University has raised £2,015 for the PDSA by completing a sponsored trek in Sri Lanka. Sarah Milne, 28, from Aberdeen, took a break from her research at the University's school of biological sciences to trek for nine days to raise money for the veterinary charity. more..

Oct 20 (G2L) The in-fighting between the politically inexperienced Buddhist monk politicians and the old Sihala Urumaya members in the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) has reached its climax more..

Oct 20 (TS) Seven men who sparked a security scare at Pearson airport have been released pending immigration hearings after claiming refugee status. Airport security officers were scrambled Saturday night to meet an Air Canada jet carrying seven illegal immigrants from Sri Lanka and the Dominican Republic. more..

Oct 20 (Rupavahini) President Chandrika Kumaratunge says that the development war aimed at alleviating poverty will begin from Rajarata next Friday. The president was speaking at the 7th convention of the Samurdhi development officers association at Vihara Maha Devi Park in Colombo today. more..

Oct 20 (Rupavahini) Another reason for this situation was the failures to allocate financial provisions to build the Colombo-Katunayake express high way. However the present government has granted a sum of 78, 5 million rupees to pay compensation for the land owners more..

Oct 20 (LT) It was decided at the government parliamentary group meeting that the Speaker should be ousted from his post by a No Confidence Motion if he continued to be biased in his conduct of the affairs at the parliament. more..

Oct 20 (AT) Sri Lanka Air Force has so far used its helicopters to ferry, cadres belonging to LTTE and their sponsors for more than 1270 hours since February 2002. According to the Air Force estimate, it cost Rs. 115,000 per hour to keep the helicopter airborne. more..

Oct 20 (TP) Facilities now being extended to the LTTE by the government are to be reviewed since the rebels have taken undue advantage of these facilities under the ceasefire agreement, a top government official said. more..

Oct 20 (DN) President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday pledged that the Government will deposit Rs. 620 million squandered by former Samurdhi Minister S. B. Dissanayake from the Samurdhi Social Security Fund into Samurdhi beneficiaries accounts with interest. more..

Oct 20 (CI) Pakistan's fast bowlers were rewarded for their disciplined approach as Sri Lanka struggled on the opening day of the first Test at Faisalabad. As if still asleep, Sri Lanka's top order were clueless against Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami and were reduced to 9 for 3 in the first four overs of the game. more..

Oct 20 (HT) Top officials from India and Sri Lanka on Tuesday finalised a draft on India-Lanka Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA), an official source told Hindustan Times. "The draft will now be considered by the higher echelons of government in both the countries. more..

Oct 20 (Xinhua) Sri Lanka's all Buddhist monk political party said here Wednesday that it will endeavor to stay united despite machination by major political forces in the country to create dissension among them. more..

Oct 20 (AP) A breakaway faction of the Tamil Tiger rebels demanded Wednesday that Norwegian mediators withdraw from Sri Lanka's peace process, claiming they haven't stopped the Tigers from killing their political rivals, the Associated Press reports. more..

Oct 20 (BBC) Sri Lankan filmmaker Sudath Devapriya’s latest film will be screened at the London film festival this year. Udugan Yamaya is set in the rural Sri Lanka of 1989. Film is based on the experiances of a child caught up in the terror engulfed the country during the time of the JVP uprising. more..

Oct 20 (TN) "The US is the most disruptive force on the planet. The US invasion and occupation of Iraq is a war crime carried out in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions. American media did not bother to independently investigate claims made by the Bush administration for invading Iraq. Instead, they behaved like ministry of propaganda. more..

Oct 20 (LBO) The Transport Ministry will tap one percent of all third-party insurance to start a hit-and-run fund for pedestrians by end of this year. "We will set up a fund using one percent of all third party insurance for victims of hit and run accidents," said Minister of Transport Felix Perera, more..

Oct 20 (AFP) Sri Lanka’s government has proposed an 8 percent increase in defense spending next year as compared with a 24 percent increase in the overall budget, finance ministry officials said Oct. 20. more..

Oct 20 (Rupavahini) Several historic places in Sri Lanka are being proposed to be declared as world heritage sites. Minister of cultural affairs and national heritage, Vijitha Herath said that they included Sri Pada, Piduruthalagala and Laggala rocks, Trincomalee, Mannar and Kankesanthurai Harbours. more..

Oct 20 (Rupavahini) The Maha Nayaka of the Malwatta chapter, the most Ven Thibbotuwawe Sri Sumangala Thera says the Maha Sangha will be compelled to take a far reaching decision if all the political parties fail to collectively come to a decision on the national crisis. more..

Oct 21 (TN) Head of LTTE Political Wing, S.P.Thamilchelvan told Norwegian Foreign Minister, Mr. Jan Peterson, that Tamil people are losing hope in the peace process and that LTTE views with increasing concern that anti-peace elements are gaining momentum in the South, sources from Oslo said. more..

Oct 21 (BBC) In the eastern hamlet of Kulathumadu a fire- wood seller died as a result of a grenade attack and an Army intelligence officer succumbed to gun shot injuries in Dehiwala, Colombo. The fire wood seller, twenty six year old Meera Mohideen Hanifa died while in LTTE custody. more..

Oct 21 (BBC) The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) will adhere to its principals, a founding leader of the party said. In a press conference held Wednesday at Mahaveli Centre in Colombo, JHU General Secretary Uduwe Dhammaloka thero said that the decision he was about to announce had been postponed for two weeks. more..

Oct 21 (AT) TamilEela Ikkiya Viduthalai Munnani, a united formation of Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front (ENDLF) and TamilEela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal in its first major political step appealed to Kjell Magne Bondevik, Prime Minister of Norway more..