Nov 11 (AP) The European Union said Friday that it will monitor whether anti-fraud measures taken by Sri Lanka's election commission discourages voting in ethnic Tamil-majority areas in the presidential election. more..

Nov 11 (AP) A helicopter carrying Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse to a presidential campaign rally in eastern Sri Lanka was forced to make an emergency landing Friday due to bad weather. No one was injured. But it proved to be a big event for hundreds of school children. more..

Nov 11 (Reuters) Election monitors fear a Sri Lankan court judgement requiring rigorous identity checks for voters could put some off voting in the Nov.17 presidential vote, while stories spread about bids to steal the vote. more..

Nov 11 (AP) An increasing number of children have been victimized in unrelenting violence in Sri Lanka's volatile north and east, the United Nation's children's agency said Friday. "Children pay the highest price in the absence of peace," said JoAnna Van Gerpen, UNICEF's representative in Sri Lanka. more..

Nov 11 (HT) Indian Origin Tamils (IOT), mostly small traders and tea garden workers living in the Ratnapura and Badulla districts of South Central Sri Lanka, are fully backing Ranil Wickremesinghe, candidate of the UNP in the Sri Lankan presidential election of November 17. more..

Nov 12 (CI) If one were to go by the ICC one-day rankings, this series has seen a struggling David maul a Golliath on the roll. To have begun the series as the second ranked team and to then have to endure defeat after crushing defeat has left the Sri Lankans somewhat flat. more..

Nov 12 (LeN) Information has been received of a bid to win over people's sympathy by firing at the bullet-proof glass cubicle at an election rally of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, UNP Deputy Secretary Tissa Attanayake disclosed at a media briefing in Colombo yesterday afternoon (10). more..

Nov 12 (LeN) UNP Deputy Secretary Tissa Attanayake's statement that Mahinda Rajapaksa is banking on a sympathy vote through a bomb blast or a shooting at one of his meetings should not be taken lightly and could be an LTTE-UNP conspiracy, JVP Propaganda Secretary Wimal Weerawansa said at a media briefing in Colombo this afternoon. more..

Nov 12 (BBC) A former senior Army General has admitted that the Sri Lankan security forces fled away facing defeat in a major operation against separatist Tamil Tigers during late 1990s. Former military spokesman Maj. Gen. Sarath Munasinghe said the soldiers fled the battlefield within three days of the ‘Jayasikurui’ operation in Mankulam and Oddusudan. more..

Nov 12 (BBC) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse’s campaign is not racist or discriminatory in any way says the Chief campaign spokesman Mangala Samaraweera. The Minster also accused the opposition campaign of campaigning to divide the country on ethnic and religious lines. more..

Nov 12 (RW) About 200 youth from the eastern Ampara district, which was devastated by last year’s tsunami, are making a new beginning with help from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). more..

Nov 12 (TN) Ruling by Supreme Court Wednesday that election officials can demand identity cards from voters "deemed suspicious," may have a crippling effect on the voter turnout, Election Obeservation Mission (EOM) officials said Friday. more..

Nov 12 (MM) The Sri Lankan selectors have served the finger bowl to Sanath Jayasuriya. The legendary left-hander has, as expected, been dropped from the 15-member test squad for the three test matches against India next month. The 36-year-old has been in an indifferent form in the seven-match one-day series this far, more..

Nov 12 (Hindu) Behind every brew of the world-renowned Sri Lankan tea lies the sweat and toil of nearly a million plantation workers — a minority Indian-origin Tamil community that backs the former Prime Minister and Opposition leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe, in the November 17 presidential poll. more..

Nov 12 (BBC) This is the second time Ranil Wickramasinghe has run for the office of Sri Lankan president. In his previous attempt in 1999, he lost to the incumbent, Chandrika Kumaratunga, who must now leave the post after two terms. more..

Nov 12 (BBC) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, the Buddhist lawyer who is running for president, is described on his website as "a rebel with a cause". The cause with which he has been associated longest is that of the Sinhala community of southern Sri Lanka, into which he was born 58 years ago. more..

Nov 12 (WS) We are not in the final week before the presidential election. The race is still too close to call, according to some. It is still within the margin of error, they say. Loyalists are of course confident that their man will win and some are said to be making post-victory plans already. more..

Nov 12 (WS) ColomboTodaywebsite spoke to the JVP about their policies regarding the LTTE and their views on the peace process.
Why Did You Oppose the P-TOMS? We oppose the P-TOMS agreement for the following multitude of reasons that are all unfavourable to Sri Lanka. more..

Nov 12 (WS) Several hundred thousand Muslims, who were evicted from the North and East by the LTTE, launched a 'week of mourning' demanding immediate solace to their grievances recently. More than 100,000 of them signed a petition and handed it over to the United Nations office in Colombo, Ambassadors of Arab nations, and Government and Opposition bigwigs, seeking their immediate attention. more..

Nov 12 (WS) There will be no dissolution of parliament in the event of the victory of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse as President and he has indicated that he will continue with the present Parliament where the Government already commands 119 seats out of a total of 225, informed government sources said last night. more..

Nov 12 (TW) As we enter the last lap of the presidential election campaign there is considerable speculation as to whether the LTTE will engage proactively with the election in terms of sending out a message to voters in the north and east and in the areas under their control in particular, with regard to who they should vote for, if indeed they are to vote for anyone. more..

Nov 12 (AT) The JVP is now often criticized by the political parties like SLMC and TNA as a racial party that obstructs finding a solution to the ethnic problems of Sri Lanka and acts against the political aspirations of the minorities. This is the view inculcated in the minds of the Tamils by the LTTE. more..

Nov 12 (AT) The South Asian Leaders Summit begins here at Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh later today Saturday 12 th November. The Srilankan Airlines' special flight brought President Chandrika Kumaratunga and her delegation and it touched down at the Zia International Airport in the early hours this morning. more..

Nov 12 (AT) Though there are thirteen candidates in the field only two major political alignments are competing seriously to win the presidential crown on November 17. Without any deception or trying to hide his agenda, Mahinda Rajapakse built his front on a candid anti-LTTE (not anti-Tamil) and pro-grassroots, pro-Sinhala-Buddhist programme. more..

Nov 12 (AT) The LTTE of Sri Lanka, in its protracted war since 1983 on three fronts, military, diplomatic and psychological, has been emphasizing, nationally and internationally, that Sri Lanka is run by a ‘Sinhalese dominated government’. more..

Nov 12 (LeN) National Television's Marketing Manager Asanga Jayasuriya has gone on leave following a threat made by Minister Mangala Samaraweera instructing him to telecast advertisements supporting presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa on the basis of paying later. more..

Nov 12 (LT) ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ has been created taking into consideration views of not only farmers and workers but also that of professors, intellectuals and the experience he has had for 37 years said Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse. Speaking further at a rally held at Piliyandala Mr. Rajapakse said ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ was a practical programme and he was committed to implement it. more..

Nov 12 (UNP) The failure of the UPFA government to utilize nearly five billion dollars worth of aid pledged to Sri Lanka following the Tokyo summit is a crime against the nation, UNP Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe said addressing huge rallies at Kiribathgoda, more..

Nov 12 (TN) Colonel Sornam, Trincomalee district military commander of the LTTE, and Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district LTTE Head of the Political Wing, Thursday urged North East Provincial Council (NEPC) administration officials to channel funds to build proper roads, bridges, hospitals, schools and other essential services to the people of the neglected Muttur east region. more..

Nov 12 (TN) A Claymore mine exploded Friday midnight at Kirimichchai in Vaharai, 44 km north of Batticaloa, killing two Muslim timber workers, Mr. Mohammed Munas, 28, and Mr. Athambava Mohammed Lebbe, 35. Four persons were rushed to Batticaloa Hospital with wounds, Police said. more..

Nov 12 (SLA) TWO MOTOR BIKE RIDING Tamil Tigers had fired at a Army soldier in the general area of GANDINAGAR Friday (11) around 07.50 p.m. However the solider managed to escape from the assailants, since the round didn’t hit him. Troops at GANDINAGAR detachments had rushed to the location and conducted a cordon and search operation. more..

Nov 12 (UNP) Prof. G.L. Peiris said: “We are patriotic, we all love our country and we belong to a party which has its roots in the soil of our country. This is the party founded by independent Sri Lanka’s first Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake and it’s inconceivable to say that our party would do anything that is detrimental to the national interest of Sri Lanka”. more..

Nov 12 (ANN) UPFA Presidential candidate, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa told an election rally at Puttalam on Wednesday (Nov 9) that when he is elected President he will revise the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) with the LTTE to prevent any form of terrorist acts under cover of the CFA in the future. more..

Nov 12 (SAMN) Condemning the UNP General Secretary's recent comments of a sympathy vote, the five main Leftist parties backing Premier Mahinda Rajapakse at the Presidential polls warned that this could be a hint of an attempt on the Premier's life. more..

Nov 12 (SAMN) European Union Chief Observer, John Cushnahan said in Jaffna yesterday the European Election Observation Mission would assess the impact of the Supreme Court judgement on voting at the cluster polling stations in the North and East. more..

Nov 12 (LNP) Ceylinco Consolidated Chief, Lalith Kotelawala is demanding Rs. 1 billion as damages from UPFA Campaign Manager for Premier Mahinda Rajapakse, Minister Mangala Samaraweera for allegedly defamatory statements made at a press conference on Thursday (10). more..

Nov 12 (LNP) Elucidating the criteria for his recent political decision Bhikkhu parliamentarian Venerable Uduwe Dhammaloka Thera said that he had decided to support the presidential candidature of Ranil Wickremesinghe as he is deemed to be the only leader who is able to solve the ethnic problem. more..

Nov 12 (LNP) The LTTE yesterday accused the military of harassment ahead of next week`s presidential election, when the minority community is expected to play a decisive role. The LTTE said the military had increased checkpoints ahead of the election to restrict movement between rebel and government-held territory. more..

Nov 12 (LNP) Prime Minister and UPFA Presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse has appointed Dullas Alahapperuma to liaise with the UNP Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe`s appointed representative on the public television debate. more..

Nov 12 (DN) THE failure to establish a Sri Lankan nation after independence and the process of alienation of the minorities beginning with the Indian-Pakistan Citizenship Act of 1948 that disenfranchised nearly one million Tamils of Indian origin, culminated in the bloody civil war that has lasted for more than two decades. more..

Nov 12 (TW) The presidential election campaign of Ranil Wickremasinghe has been dealt a terrific jolt by the LTTE organization and its appendage the Tamil National Alliance. In one decisive stroke the LTTE and TNA have dispelled the notion that they were extending tacit support to the United National Party candidate and Opposition Leader. more..

Nov 12 (TW) The attempt made by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to enforce a Tamil boycott of the Presidential elections will affect Ranil Wickremasinghe as the bulk of Tamil votes was expected to be cast for him. The LTTE - TNA press conference in Kilinochchi has made it clear that the tigers are in favour of a boycott. more..

Nov 12 (TW) EPDP Leader and Northern Development and Hindu Cultural Affairs Minister Douglas Devananda declared in the Asian Tribune of October 24, 2005 that the ethnic issue has to be approached in a pragmatic way, relying essentially on negotiations and avoiding military confrontations. The country, as a whole, agrees with Devananda. more..

Nov 12 (TW) Bhikkhus are a common sight on political platforms today. We now have even bhikkhu parliamentarians elected directly and indirectly by the people. But, say prior to early forties, the sight of a Buddhist monk on a political platform would have amazed the people, and in fact shocked the devout Buddhists, Upasakas and Upasakaammas. more..

Nov 12 (CI) Another superb performance in the field and with the bat ensured that India finished the series just as they started it - with a thumping victory. The margin this time was five wickets, as the Indians, led by a 73-ball 80 by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, chased down their target of 245 with a whopping 63 deliveries to spare more..

Nov 12 (SAMN) UNP presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe says his first priority upon assuming office as President will be to obtain the support of the SLFP to pursue the peace process. more..

Nov 12 (AFP) President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who steps down as president next week after serving her maximum two terms, leaves her parents' party in turmoil and the country at a crossroads. The 60-year-old president came to power in 1994 pledging to abolish the all-powerful executive presidency within six months. more..

Nov 12 (AP) The government said Saturday all shops selling alcoholic drinks will be closed for an unprecedented four-day stretch ahead of the upcoming presidential election and holy full moon day. The step has been taken largely to stop election violence, which took more than 50 lives in 1999, 61 in 2001 and seven in 2004. more..

Nov 12 (AP) The European Union's chief election observer said Saturday that a second vote should be held if serious irregularities occur during Sri Lanka's coming presidential election. "I have said consistently that voters have the right to ensure that their votes count," more..

Nov 12 (wsws) With just five days to go to the presidential poll, the Sri Lankan government brought down the coming year’s budget on Tuesday in a brazen last-minute appeal for votes for its candidate—Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse of the SLFP. more..