Dec 13 (AT) It was reported that a senior cadre of PLOTE Sinnathamby Ganeshalingham alias Farook (45yrs) was abducted allegedly by militants belonging to LTTE, yesterday around 11 in the morning, at Vavuniya. more..

Dec 13 (AT) Muslim youth in the Eastern province are agitating to take up arms for their protection, following the recent spate of attacks against their community in the East, allegedly by the LTTE. more..

Dec 13 (BBC) Tamil Tigers charge that a senior government politician sought assistance from breakaway Karuna group in the presidential campaign. In LTTE held Karadiyanaru in the Batticaloa district, two cadres who allegedly deserted the Karuna group told journalists that SLFP general secretary, Minister Maithripala Sirisena met senior Karuna loyalist Mangalan Master in Welikanda. more..

Dec 13 (BBC) There have been a series of attacks aimed at Sri Lanka police and security forces. Unidentified attackers have lobbed a grenade at Pesalai Police Station Monday evening. 20 injured policemen were reported to have admitted to Mannar hospital. more..

Dec 13 (LBO) A solution to Colombo’s commuter traffic could have to wait till mid 2006, when a Japan funded urban transport master plan is completed. The newly minted New Railroad Development Ministry has been charged with implementing a viable rail transit system for Colombo based on the master plan along with extending the island’s British built rail network. more..

Dec 13 (AT) Confusing reports emerged with regard to the defection of four Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) Parliamentarians from their party to the Government. While unconfirmed reports claimed that four CWC MPs had pledged support to the Government today afternoon during a meeting with President Mahinda Rajapakse, more..

Dec 13 (AT) The Sri Lanka Tea Board and the Ministry of Plantation Industries have planned to setup an Analytical Laboratory to issue internationally recognized standard certificates for tea. The Tea Board’s Director General H.D.Premaratne said that the laboratory would be opened at the end of March next year. more..

Dec 13 (AT) Nitharsanam, the official online news outlet of the LTTE’s intelligent group led by Pottu Amman alias Sivasankaran, in its latest bid to create more tension between the Tamil and Muslim communities, has kicked started a new campaign targeting prominent Muslim individuals in the East. more..

Dec 13 (TN) Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has cordoned the area surrounding the road leading to Potpathi Road Jaffna from Kondavil on Palaly Road and are conducting house to house searches early morning Tuesday, sources in Jaffna said. SLA arrested a youth who was involved in brokering motor bike sales. more..

Dec 13 (CT) Director, Environment and Food Preservation Division, Health Ministry, Dr. S. Shanmugaraja says there is a possible chance of danger of migrant birds carrying bird flu, which fly from other countries to Sri Lanka due to climate changes, spreading the flu in Sri Lanka. more..

Dec 13 (SLA) TWENTY POLICE CONSTABLES, one Sub Inspector and three Sergeants narrowly escaped death with injuries when Tamil Tigers on Monday (12) night around 7.20 p.m. threw two hand grenades at them while policemen were attending a routine lecture in the general area of PESALAI, MANNAR. more..

Dec 13 (SLA) SUSPECTED TAMIL TIGERS have abducted an activist of the People’s Liberation Organization of the Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) organization from the general area of MAHILANKULAM in VAVUNIYA on Monday (12) around 11.55 a.m. while he was on a motorbike. more..

Dec 13 (SLA) POLICE ASSISTED BY TROOPS during a cordon and search operation on Monday (12) morning in the general area of THALAVAI and PUNNAIKUDA in BATTICALOA took one claymore mine, eight non-electronic detonators, one ballistic helmet and five metres of flexible wire, usable for explosion into custody from the inside of an LTTE political office which has been recently vacated. more..

Dec 13 (LT) The present government has turned away from a united country and changed its stand on Norway complains Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the UNP. As a result the government has lost the support of the international community added Mr. Wickremasinghe. more..

Dec 13 (LT) The Government will to put up 67,000 new houses for the shanty dwellers within the Colombo city. This was mentioned by the Minister of Urban Development Mr Dinesh Gunawardena in parliament today opening the Budget 2006 debate on behalf of the Government. more..

Dec 13 (LT) Nearly 750 families have shifted to camps leaving their homes in Muttur. They have moved to evade the threat from Wanni tigers. They accuse that the Wanni tigers abduct their children and collect ransom in large amounts amidst death threats. Most of the families are from the Muslim community. more..

Dec 13 (LT) The income expected in the budget presented to Parliament by Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse can never be achieved says the UNP. UNP Parliamentarian Mr. Bandula Gunawardene speaking at a media meeting held in the office of the Leader of the Opposition said the figures have been presented by showing a low figure for budget deficit. more..

Dec 13 (LeN) Ending the long wait, the Government last week gave provisional approval to three domestic airlines to fly to India, while steps for further liberalisation to end Sri Lankan Airline?s monopoly on international routes are on the cards. more..

Dec 13 (LeN) At a special meeting of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Central Committee held last evening at the President's House, former President Chandrika Kumaratunga has taken President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his close confidantes to task. more..

Dec 13 (LT) On 14th December 2005, Sri Lanka celebrates 50 years of Membership at the United Nations. Highlighting this aspect, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in his message stated, 'Throughout its half century of United Nations membership, Sri Lanka has been a constructive and engaged Member State. It continues to be so to this day" more..

Dec 13 (SLBC) The third day of the budget debate commenced in parliament this morning. Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, who initiated the debate, said that the remarkable feature of the budget is that it has focused on regional development shifting away from Colombo and its suburbs. more..

Dec 13 (DN) A demonstration was held opposite the United Nations Office in Geneva on Saturday afternoon by Sri Lankan expatriates against human rights violations of the LTTE. The demonstration was organised on the occasion of the Universal Human Rights Day which fell on December 10. more..

Dec 13 (PIS) When human rights are discussed in the context of Sri Lanka’s peace process, they are generally seen in the area of LTTE violations, rather than those of LTTE celebrations, and as a pressure point. Despite four years of ceasefire, a wide range of human rights continue to be violated in the north east. more..

Dec 13 (ANN) LTTE Spokesman in London Anton Balasingham once likened federalism to a marriage, adding in the same breath that both parties to it had the right to either be together or separate. And the LTTE, we are told, is for federalism, which is said to be the goal of the present peace process. more..

Dec 13 (LM) In a day or two, on reliable information received by them, the police are to launch raids on plush residences and hotels from where persons conspiring to commit crimes against society, operated, said advisor to the Ministry of Defence Senior ex DIG H. M. G. B. Kotakadeniya. more..

Dec 13 (LM) UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the JVP and the JHU must be responsible for the deaths of 17 soldiers who died in recent violent incidents in Jaffna. "They cheated the nation on the election platform that the UNP and the LTTE had a secret pact. Now it is proven to the country who actually had pacts. more..

Dec 13 (LM) The CWC yesterday accused the government of searching leader Arumugam Thondaman's Kotagala bungalow in a bid to dilute CWC influence in the estate sector and said it was moving into a closer alliance with both the UPF and the TNA. more..

Dec 13 (LM) The tug-o-war between President Mahinda Rajapakse and former President Chandrika Kumaratunga is continuing over the filling of the national list vacancy following the killing of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. more..

Dec 13 (SAMN) The Most Ven. Mahanayake Theras of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Maha Vihara chapters have expressed willingness to grant reasonable and legitimate rights of Tamils in the North and East, said Constitutional Reforms and National Integration Minister D. E. W. Gunasekera. more..

Dec 13 (SAMN) Lands, Agriculture and Irrigation Ministry jointly with Animal Husbandry Ministry of the Southern Province have planned to implement a “Saru Gammana” project to develop undeveloped villagers in the southern province. Under this scheme, one underdeveloped village from each of the 47 secretariat divisions would be selected as pilot projects to implement the scheme. more..

Dec 13 (LNP) TNA MP M.K. Eelivendran told Parliament on Friday that President Rajapakse`s maiden budget had allocated an increased sum of Rs. 97 billion for defence expenditure. He alleged that the UPFA budget presented earlier on November 8 had allocated only Rs. 63 billion for the same purpose. more..

Dec 13 (LNP) Several state institutions, the armed forces and even prisoners will work together on a project aimed at creating a cleaner living environment for people residing in the low lying areas and along the canals banks of Colombo. more..

Dec 13 (LNP) Security has been beefed up in the East following the continuous claymore mine attacks, by the LTTE, targeting security force convoys. Army, Police and STF personnel were placed on alert following the third claymore mine blast, at Vanthamullai in Batticaloa last morning, which injured three solders. more..

Dec 13 (DN) Information received by the Department of Census and Statistics has revealed that a large number of deserving poor have not yet been given the Samurdhi subsidy while others in higher income brackets have obtained the subsidies fraudulently. more..

Dec 13 (CI) Just as they had done on the second day, with the light fading rapidly and Sri Lanka fighting gallantly, India's bowlers, led by Anil Kumble, winkled out crucial wickets and comprehensively tilted the scales, requiring only five more wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the series. more..

Dec 13 (HT) The Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has barred members of the armed forces from engaging in any talks or negotiations with the LTTE and said that matters relating to the Ceasefire Agreement and the peace process were best left to the government and the politicians. more..

Dec 13 (Kyodo) Japan will allow Sri Lanka, which was hard hit by the tsunami on Dec. 26 last year, to defer repayment of about 20.5 billion yen in sovereign debts until late next year, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. more..

Dec 13 (TN) Members of the SLMM met with representatives of the Liberation Tigers in the Puliyankulam office of the LTTE 5 p.m. Monday and again at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The discussions centered on the disappearance of Sinnathamby Ganeshalingam alias Farook, a senior cader of PLOTE on Monday 1.30 p.m. Vavuniya. more..

Dec 13 (Reuters) Suspected Tamil Tigers fired mortar bombs at an army camp in eastern Sri Lanka, military sources said Tuesday as the rebels said they had not decided whether to attend peace talks offered by Japan. Tuesday's attack -- which missed the army camp around 20 miles outside the eastern town of Batticaloa and caused no casualties more..

Dec 13 (IANS) Former Tamil Tiger commander Karuna, who broke away from the outfit last year, is operating from India, according to two of his former associates. The two, identified by their nom de guerre Gnanatheepan and Puhalventhan, made the allegation at a press conference in the eastern district of Batticaloa in an area controlled by the LTTE. more..

Dec 13 (NVR) Christmas Day, 2004, Napa preschool owner Chandini Perera and family were done opening presents and decided to call relatives in Sri Lanka. Across the ocean, Perera's call reached her family at approximately 10 a.m. Dec. 26. Only minutes before, one of the world's most terrible natural disasters had just hit this small island country south of India. more..

Dec 13 (Xinhua) Two people have been gunned down in Sri Lanka's East Province, a police said Tuesday. The police at Eravur, 345 km east of Colombo, said that they had received the news of two bullet-ridden bodies being dumped on the road around 9:00 a.m. local time (0300 GMT). more..

Dec 13 (AP) Tamil Tiger leaders will meet with a high-level Norwegian delegation and discuss the possibility of resuming peace talks with the Sri Lankan government, a rebel spokesman said Tuesday. "The details (for resuming the peace process) will be worked out when the Norwegian delegation meets with our leadership," more..

Dec 13 (Reuters) Any renewed war between Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels could threaten health programmes already hit by Asia's tsunami and hamper efforts to fight bird flu, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. "It would depend on the nature of the conflict, but it could stop people from seeking treatment when they need it" more..

Dec 14 (IANS) The Indian and Sri Lankan cricket teams are practising some fine football skills as a form of exercise before and after each day's play and during the lunch and tea breaks in the ongoing Test here, keeping the large crowd amused. more..

Dec 14 (TN) Indian Defence Minister Mr Pranab Muhkerjee assured the Tamil Nadu Politician Y. Gopalsamy (Vaiko) Monday that he will investigate the press reports on the reconstruction efforts of Palaly airstrip in the main Sri Lankan military base in Jaffna. more..

Dec 14 (CI) It could not have been more fitting - Gautam Gambhir lbw Vaas 3, on a dusty pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. A full-length delivery, pinpoint accuracy, a smidgen of swing, one more imploring two-armed appeal on bended knee, and yet another raised finger. more..

Dec 14 (TW) A raging winter of discontent has begun setting in for many leaders of political parties representing the Up - Country Tamils of Indian in the aftermath of the Presidential elections. more..

Dec 14 (RW) Just under one year ago, a giant tidal wave swept over the coasts of South-East Asia, claiming the lives of over 200,000 people. But the disastrous destruction caused by the tsunami set something else in motion: an unprecedented willingness across the globe to donate. more..

Dec 14 (BBC) The Jatika Hela Urumaya (JHU) has praised President Mahinda Rajapksha’s stand on the ethnic issue while saying that it disagrees with the President's decision for Norway to continue as the facilitator of peace talks. more..