Nov 23 (PIS) The SLMM yesterday ruled that the LTTE had violated the ceasefire agreement when it set up road blocks at crossing points within uncleared areas in the Batticalao district to prevent civilians from crossing over and voting at the presidential election last Thursday. more..

Nov 23 (TN) Mannar -Pooneryn main road connecting the districts of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled Mannar and the LTTE controlled Killinochchi has been washed away at Illupaikadavai area due to overflowing water from Parangi Aru and Palee Aru following torrential rain of last few days. more..

Nov 23 (TN) Sri Lanka's new President Mahinda Rajapakse has demoted former President Chandrika Kumaratunga's brother, Mr. Anura Bandaranaike, by removing the Foreign Ministry portfolio from him and allowing him to continue with the Tourism ministry in his new 25-member cabinet. more..

Nov 23 (SLA) Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Daya Sandagiri, Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Shantha Kottegoda, Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda, Commander of the Air Force, Air Marshal Donald Perera and Inspector General of Police Chandra Fernando paid their first courtesy call on the newly elected the President Mahinda Rajapakse more..

Nov 23 (LM) Three persons were killed and thousands displaced by floods. Killinochchi, Jaffna, Trincomalee, Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts were badly affected. Traffic jams were the order of the day as most of the roads, even within the Colombo city limits, were under water. more..

Nov 23 (LM) The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) said yesterday it was prepared to offer conditional support to the new government if President Mahinda Rajapakse wished to have its assistance addressing the grievances of the Muslim community. more..

Nov 23 (LM) The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka in a statement has vehemently condemned the heinous attack on Muslim devotees in prayer at the grand mosque in Akkaraipathu recently. It has called for immediate action to eradicate this kind of inhuman massacre. more..

Nov 23 (LeN) The JVP is divided on whether to accept ministerial portfolios in the Rajapaksa government, internal party sources said. According to these sources, a group led by Propaganda Secretary Wimal Weerawansa is in favor of accepting portfolios while more..

Nov 23 (LeN) It is reported that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has adopted a firm stand to restrict the number of Ministers to 25. Several State Ministers who do not have powers to take policy decisions are also to be sworn in tomorrow. more..

Nov 23 (wsws) The newly elected president, Mahinda Rajapakse, confronts a political crisis within days of being sworn in last Saturday. Far from the conflicts and tensions wracking the Sri Lankan ruling class being resolved by his narrow victory in the November 17 election, they have immediately re-surfaced as he attempts to form a government. more..

Nov 23 (KT) AFTER a closely-contested battle, we have a new president. What is significant in the election of Percy Mahinda Rajapakse as Sri Lanka’s fifth executive president is that a majority of the people did not want him. more..

Nov 23 (Bloomberg) To stand on the ancient fort walls here in Galle, on the southern tip of Sri Lanka, is to travel back to globalization's earliest days. It was in this bustling port city of 100,000 that Chinese explorer Zheng He arrived in the early 1400s. more..

Nov 23 (LBO) Japanese surfers, scuba divers and even mountaineers are finding a sporting paradise in Sri Lanka, traditionally a cultural hotspot among most Japanese. "We have been promoting Sri Lanka to different market segments as we have only been known in the past as a cultural destination in Japan,” more..

Nov 23 (SAMN) Had Ranil Wickremesinghe sought the support of the LTTE the outcome of Thursday’s presidential election would have been different, senior Tamil political sources said. The sources, some of whom are UNPers, said that though Wickremesinghe wooed the CWC and SLMC, he never sought to establish any communication with the LTTE in the run up to the presidential election. more..

Nov 23 (SAMN) A faction in the UNP is calling on the party to change direction and recapture the lost Sinhala Buddhist vote while others say that it should continue to represent the Sri Lankan identity. UNP sources said that Mahinda Rajapakse’s victory at the Thursday’s Presidential Election, backed by a majority of Sinhala Buddhists, has prompted a section of the party to call for a change in direction and a new leadership. more..

Nov 23 (SAMN) UK based Sri Lankan Company, Global Lanka Holdings Ltd (GLH) is looking at possibilities to set up an American style duty free shopping mall at Peliyagoda at a cost of US $ 30 million to cater to the lucrative Indian tourist market. more..

Nov 23 (LNP) President Chandrika Kumaratunga will leave office today, after 11 years as President. The Armed Forces and Police will felicitate the outgoing President with a ceremonial Guard of Honour and Parade today on the occasion of the President relinquishing her duties as the fourth Executive President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. more..

Nov 23 (LNP) 'It gives me great pleasure to extend, on behalf of the people and Government of Bhutan and on my own behalf, our warm congratulations to your Excellency on your election as the President of Sri Lanka.' 'Your Excellency`s victory is a clear testimony of the trust and confidence reposed in your Excellency by the people of Sri Lanka', more..

Nov 23 (LNP) Heavy rains have wreaked havoc in many parts of the country. Floods are reported from Trincomalee, Jaffna, Horana and several other areas. The weather gods have not spared even the tsunami victims in temporary shelters, which have been flooded in the East. more..

Nov 23 (DN) 'Access for All' a campaign fighting for the rights of disabled people, initiated by a consortium of national and international disability organizations, recently held a stakeholder forum at the Auditorium of Sri Lanka Institute of International Relations. more..

Nov 23 (AFP) Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lanka's spin wizard, says he wants to have a go at star batsman Sachin Tendulkar during the Test series in India starting on December 2. "Sachin is the best batsman in the world along with Brian Lara and it is always a big task when you play against them," more..

Nov 23 (Xinhua) The government has taken immediate relief measures to assist the people displaced by the sudden torrential rains reported throughout the country. The Special Disaster Relief Center established Tuesday said that over 8,345 families across the country have been affected by floods during the last two days. more..

Nov 23 (AT) A London Tamil group is due to file court action against the Metropolitan Police for not stopping the LTTE's "Heroes Day" commemoration planned to be held in two venues on November 27. more..

Nov 23 (Reuters) Rupee was unchanged on Wednesday, with traders saying the central bank would not allow it to slide in after of last week's election, and stocks clawed back some of their initial post-poll losses. The rupee closed at 101.93/101.95 to the dollar, unchanged from Tuesday's close. more..

Nov 23 (Reuters) Sri Lanka Telecom's third quarter quarter net profit rose 38 percent on a year ago on a surge in new landline subscriptions, the company said on Wednesday. The number of fixed telephone lines has risen to 925,000 from 860,000 at the end of 2004, pushing up income, more..

Nov 23 (LBO) Sri Lanka’s tsunami orphans going to new homes but childcare authorities still can’t reconcile the numbers. Thousands of Sri Lankan children were orphaned last year when the December 26, 2004 tsunami killed both parents or a single remaining parent. more..

Nov 23 (TA) AUSTRALIAN Federal Police have raided several Melbourne properties while investigating possible local links with Sri Lankan separatist movement the Tamil Tigers. The Tamil Co-ordinating Committee of Australia building in Burwood East was among the targets of yesterday's raids, which were made in response to a request for help from authorities in Sri Lanka. more..

Nov 23 (LeN) Twenty five Cabinet Ministers of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government were sworn in before the President today. In addition 23 non-Cabinet Ministers and 29 Deputy Ministers also took oaths today bringing the total number of government parliamentarians holding ministerial portfolios to 77. more..

Nov 23 (AP) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on Wednesday denied preventing minority ethnic Tamils from voting in last week's presidential election, blaming a heavy government military presence for low voter turnout. more..

Nov 23 (AT) The LTTE cadres brutally chopped the one hand of the person from Kilinochchi who voted in the last Presidential elections to Ranil Wickremasinghe, the UNP Presidential candidate. The hand of the person was chopped publicly in Kilinochchi by the LTTE cadres in the presence of hundreds of onlookers. more..

Nov 23 (AFP) Sri Lanka's new president on Wednesday set up a 25-member cabinet which excluded hard-line allies from the Marxist and Buddhist monks' parties in a move analysts said could trigger a snap poll. President Mahinda Rajapakse retained the defence portfolio as required by the constitution and also kept the finance ministry, more..

Nov 23 (AFP) An elderly Sri Lankan woman is carried to safety though floodwaters in Colombo after rising waters engulfed the Kelaniya suburb of the Sri Lankan capital. more..

Nov 24 (TN) A farewell military parade by all three armed forces to the outgoing Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunge has been postponed indefinitely as heavy rains flooded the main parade field of the army head quarters, military sources said. more..

Nov 24 (Hindu) The Indian Government today gifted "urgently-required medicines" for use at a district hospital in Sri Lanka's northern rebel-held Kilinochchi district. The Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Nirupama Rao, handed over the medicines to the Sri Lankan Director-General of Health Services, H.A.P. Kahandaliyanage. more..

Nov 24 (BBC) The decision of the Tamil Tiger rebels to force the Tamil voters in the North and East of Sri Lanka to boycott Thursday’s presidential elections has led to international condemnation. Only 8524, just over one percent (1.21%), out of 701,938 registered voters exercised their democratic right in the Jaffna district. more..

Nov 24 (BBC) A minister in Sri lanka's newly formed government handed over his resignation after been sworn in. Sripathi Suriayaarachchi appointed as the skills and employment promotion minister by President Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned soon after the swearing in ceremony on Tuesday. more..

Nov 24 (AP) A teenage boy has been meditating in a Nepalese jungle for six months, and thousands have flocked to see him, with some believing he is the reincarnation of Buddha, police and media said Wednesday. Ram Bahadur Banjan, 15, sits cross-legged and motionless with eyes closed among the roots of a tree in the jungle of Bara, more..

Nov 24 (TN) The High Court Trial-at-Bar inquiry into the Udathalawinne massacre case in which General Anurudha Ratwatte, former Deputy Defense Minister, his two sons, Rohan and Chanuka, and thirteen Sri Lanka Army soldiers have been indicted on seventy two counts, including election violence, grabbing ballot papers and ballot boxes, more..

Nov 24 (BBC) A human rights watchdog urges the newly elected Sri Lankan president to appoint members to the Constitutional Council of Sri Lanka. In a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Asian Human Rights Commission said, "a significant constitutional deadlock has existed in Sri Lanka during the last few months due to the non-appointment of members to the Constitution Council of Sri Lanka (CCSL)". more..

Nov 24 (AT) The statistics provided by the LTTE, reveals that the separatist Tamil rebel outfit of Sri Lanka has so far lost 17,903 of its cadres either killed or died in action, since from 27 November 1982 up to 15 November 2005. According to the LTTE statistics, out of the total dead cadres 14,908 were males and 3805 were females. more..

Nov 24 (LT) UNP Parliamentarian Mahinda Wijesekera and six others, who surrendered to court on an incident where JVP Parliamentarian Premasiri Manage and a group were assaulted, were released on bail. Mahinda Wijesekera and his gang had assaulted the JVP Parliamentarian and the group at a place called Galbokka more..

Nov 24 (LeN) Many incidents of assaults, intimidation and destruction of property of UNP supporters are reported from several areas of the island following the declaration of the presidential election result. UNP working committee member and former ambassador Rossie Senanayake and her family members have received death threats and she has lodged a complaint with the IGP regarding these threats. more..

Nov 24 (Hindu) AFTER competing for years in several sections of the global markets, two of the world's major tea producers, India and Sri Lanka, will join hands against the major buying communities. They have a single agenda. more..

Nov 24 (ANN) President Mahinda Rajapakse said Wednesday that retired career services diplomat Dr. John Gunaratne would take over the Peace Secretariat. Gunaratne, who served the Secretariat headed by Ambassador Bernard Tillekeratne and subsequently Jayantha Dhanapala, who recently quit the post citing personal reasons, is expected to take over the high profile assignment shortly. more..

Nov 24 (ANN) The western media, the peace lobby and their fellow travellers have done it! They have dubbed President Mahinda Rajapakse a hawk. How have they come to such a conclusion so soon? What he really intends to do by way of resolving the conflict remains to be seen. A man, we believe, should be judged by his deeds and not words. more..

Nov 24 (TN) The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Association for Aid and Relief (AAR) of Japan to build infrastructure and provide psychosocial support to a tsunami-affected community in Galle district. more..

Nov 24 (TN) "People of Jaffna will never forget nor pardon the desecration of the memorials of more than 900 war heroes in the hallowed grounds of Kopay Martyrs Cemetary in 1996 by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers," Professor. C. Mohanadas, the Vice Chancellor of Jaffna Univeristy told TamilNet more..

Nov 24 (SLA) TROOPS ON DUTY at NAGARKOVIL Forward Defence Line (FDL) in JAFFNA once again heard the firing of Tamil Tiger small arms rounds from a location, ahead of the FDL of the Tamil Tigers on Wednesday (23) around 9.10 a.m. more..

Nov 24 (SLA) ONE MORE COWARDLY Tamil Tiger grenade attack on a moving Army truck in the general area of LINGANAGAR, TRINCOMALEE on Wednesday (23) around 7.15 p.m. caused injuries to one soldier but other soldiers escaped unhurt. more..

Nov 24 (SLA) THE WHOLE OF MUTTUR town and its suburbs came to a standstill on Wednesday (23) morning as Muslims in the area closed down their shops and business places in protest against the recent murder of four Islamic devotees inside a mosque at AKKARAIPATTU and continuing Tamil Tiger atrocities against them. more..