Aug 31 (Xinhua) The Tamil Tigers have accused the Army and paramilitary of the Sri Lankan government of moving into an area under their control in the eastern Batticaloa district and carrying out an attack. more..

Aug 31 (AT) Virginia Judge, MP for Strathfield, New South Wales, Australia, will be arriving in Colombo on September 2, 2005 carrying a load of money to be handed over to LTTE organizations in Mullativu. Strathfield has a strong concentration of Tamil migrants from Sri Lanka. more..

Aug 31 (UN) The United Nations Deputy Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery Eric Schwartz will travel to Sri Lanka and Indonesia tomorrow on a 10-day fact-finding mission to see the impact of last December’s tsunami on people’s lives and to gauge the progress of the recovery. more..

Aug 31 (AT) S. B. Dissanayake, the National Organiser of the UNP, the main opposition party, has told a few former ministers and MPs of the UNP who had visited him in hospital that Ranil Wickremesinghe can be defeated even by Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, former Prime Minister of the PA government. more..

Aug 31 (AT) Senior loyalists in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) have advised President Chandrika Kumaratunga to dissolve the parliament immediately in order to hold elections for the presidency and the parliament in November this year. more..

Aug 31 (AT) Conflicting reports were received of an attack in the morning of Tuesday 30th August, at the LTTE controlled Kirumichchai, which is located 49 km. north of Batticaloa, in which six Tamil Tiger cadres were reported to be killed and seven of them critically injured. more..

Aug 31 (CD) China offered a package of development assistance to Sri Lanka yesterday to boost bilateral ties in trade, culture and investment. The two countries sealed eight agreements in the fields of finance, infrastructure construction and tourism, more..

Aug 31 (CI) Sri Lanka will be picking from a full-strength squad when they start their three-match one-day series against Bangladesh after Farveez Maharoof, who had been resting a hamstring niggle picked up during a practice game last week, passed a fitness test this morning. more..

Aug 31 (ANN) Karuna group cadres on Monday (Aug 29) evening killed six Wanni LTTE cadres and put their bodies on display at a school in Vakarai. The six Wanni LTTE cadres, who were travelling in a tractor in the uncleared area of Panichchakerni in Wakarai, were killed when the Karuna cadres exploded a claymore mine and fired upon them with T-56 rifles. more..

Aug 31 (TN) Mannar Magistrate Mr.N.M.M.Abdullah Tuesday ordered the release of thirteen Tamil refugees returned from Tamilnadu in India and rescued by the Sri Lanka Navy from sandbank in the midsea. The refugees left Pampan in Tamilnadu on Saturday night in three Indian boats each paying 2000 rupees. more..

Aug 31 (TN) Police Monday arrested two employees of Talaimannar Village Fisheries Co-operative Society with 2100 liters of fuel, which was taken in a society lorry to be supplied to member-fishermen. The police arrested these employees on a report that they had not obtained permission from the relevant authorities to transport fuel. more..

Aug 31 (TN) Four soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), a policeman and a civilian were injured in three separate incidents that took place Wednesday morning in Batticaloa district. They were injured in grenade attack and firing by unidentified men, Police sources said. more..

Aug 31 (CT) Local gem merchants and miners say the unearthing gems from deep gem mines are a costly business for the small and medium scale miners. At present gem miners have to spend over five hundred thousand Rupees for a deep gem mine, said a leading gem merchant Desha Shakthi, W.Winil. more..

Aug 31 (PSL) Work on Sri Lanka’s highly debated yet vital Norochcholai coal power plant is scheduled to take off this October. An agreement was signed between the Ceylon Electricity Board General Manager Ranjith Fonseka and China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation representative Xia Biao today in Beijing, China. more..

Aug 31 (wsws) Amid Sri Lanka’s ongoing political turmoil, the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) held a public meeting at Colombo’s Public Library auditorium on August 22 to present a socialist alternative to the mounting social and economic crisis and the danger of communal violence and renewed war. more..

Aug 31 (LT) The Political Bureau of JVP in a press statement states that they strongly condemn the recent attack on the press office of “Sudaroli”. JVP further says that they respect the right of freedom of expression though totally disagree with the “Elamist” pro-LTTE stance of this newspaper. more..

Aug 31 (LT) The Bill to re-establish the Sri Lanka Transport Board has been passed by 115 votes out of the total votes of 123. There were only 8 votes against the Bill that also were from the TNA parliamentarians. The UNP, PA, JVP, Muslim Congress and Hela Urumaya voted for the Bill. more..

Aug 31 (LT) Assistant Returning Officers have requested the Election Commissioner to hold the next Presidential Poll after 5th November 2005. This request has been made at the discussion held with the Election Commissioner yesterday. more..

Aug 31 (LBO) Sri Lanka’s ruling party says it is lining up political support behind Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, as the common national candidate for Presidential polls. The SLFP, says over eight minor political parties have already agreed to back Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, at the coming Presidential election. more..

Aug 31 (LBO) Sri Lanka’s Constitutional Council in limbo because Muslim political parties cannot agree on a Muslim representative. Sri Lanka is heading into another election with no hint of the long promised Election Commission. more..

Aug 31 (LBO) Sri Lanka has sent out feelers to the Indian government for fresh round of supplier credit, as soaring world crude prices pushes fuel subsidy payments to US$ 200 million this year. more..

Aug 31 (PRIU) At yesterday’s official reception at the lawn of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing the visiting President Chandrika Kumaratunga was accorded a Guard-of-honour and a rousing welcome. The Chinese President Hu Jintao made the welcome address. more..

Aug 31 (AT) The Bribery Commission is gearing to take a strong stance against the misuse of State property and other corrupt activities during the upcoming presidential elections. Bribery Commissioner told Lankadeepa yesterday Commission members would be meeting this morning (31st) to agree upon a have decided on a strategy to act on the matter. more..

Aug 31 (LM) The International Assembly of Young Men's Muslim Association (I.A.YMMA) has made a request to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse to make arrangements to ensure uninterrupted services and supplies to Muslims throughout the country during the holy month of Ramazan, commencing on October 4. more..

Aug 31 (GT) The Muslim community’s votes would be the deciding factor in the upcoming presidential elections, claimed SLMC MP and national organiser K A Baiz. He said that the party’s politburo, presided over by leader Rauf Hakeem, last Friday had decided that they would keep their options open. more..

Aug 31 (Hindu) Time and again, when governments promise "strong" action against terrorism, they come up with knee-jerk responses that inevitably undermine civil liberties. The British Government seems to be no exception, despite the plausible assurances by Prime Minister Tony Blair that his new anti-terrorism measures are directed at "extremism, and extremism only." more..

Aug 31 (PIS) The LTTE said yesterday it was ready to meet the newly-elected president, whoever it might be, following the upcoming presidential elections. LTTE media spokesman Daya Master said the rebel leadership was ready to discuss the peace process, be it with the SLFP or the UNP. more..

Aug 31 (SAMN) The gazette notification calling for nomination for the upcoming Presidential election will be issued towards the end of the week since the bulk of the work regarding the postal vote is yet to be done, Election Department sources told the Daily Mirror yesterday after a meeting between the Elections Commissioner and top officials. more..

Aug 31 (SAMN) A Bill making it mandatory for all employers to pay a Budgetary Relief Allowance for workers, over which employers have strongly protested, was presented to Parliament yesterday by the Ministry of Labour Relations and Foreign Employment Athauda Seneviratne. more..

Aug 31 (LNP) Retired engine drivers were asked to report to the Railway Headquarters yesterday and leave of railway workers was cancelled under emergency regulations to ease the inconvenience caused to thousands of commuters as the strike begun by the Locomotive Engine Drivers Association (LEDA) is set to continue today. more..

Aug 31 (LNP) The proposed Colombo -Kandy expressway is a mammoth project estimated to cost Rs. 30 billion. It will have the following characteristics: - The starting point would be the Kadawatha interchange. The end point would be Katugastota. more..

Aug 31 (DN) The Government has drawn its attention to reports with regard to a Cabinet decision to allocate a plot of land to President Chandrika Kumaratunga after her retirement. A section of the media has published this story in exaggeration by saying that a further extent of 10 acres surrounding this plot of land is to be declared as High Security Zone (HSZ). more..

Aug 31 (Xinhua) The ruling party candidate in Sri Lanka's impending presidential election has already formed a broader alliance of parties and organizations, his spokesman said Wednesday. more..

Aug 31 (Xinhua) The Sri Lankan Small and Rural Industries Ministry will develop 200 selected industrial villages investing 600 million rupee (around 6 million US dollars) in 2006, the Daily News reported Wednesday. more..

Aug 31 (CI) Bangladesh hurtled to a 88-run loss against Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club grounds in Colombo. Faced with a stiff target of 270, they failed to put together meaningful partnerships, and succumbed to 181for 9. Shahriar Nafees scored 39 at the top of the order, but all the other batsmen failed, more..

Aug 31 (HT) India's offer of an Air Defence System (ADS) to Sri Lanka stands, despite China's offer to provide one, according to a ranking Indian official. Asked to comment on a report in The Island daily on Wednesday about the Chinese making an offer of ADS during the current visit of the President Chandrika Kumaratunga to Beijing, the official said that this was not the first time that the Chinese had made the offer. more..

Aug 31 (AFP) Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels lobbed a grenade at a military checkpoint in eastern Sri Lanka, wounding two soldiers, the defence ministry said. The rebel LTTE carried out the attack at Mawadivembu in Batticaloa district on Wednesday, ministry spokesman Daya Ratnayake said. more..