Oct 26 (LM) "We have proved in the past that no presidential candidates have won an election without the support of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress" emphasised, the SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem, addressing a mammoth election rally held in Palamunai, in support of the UNP presidential candidate Ranil Wickremasinghe on Monday (24). more..

Oct 26 (LeN) SLFP must today be saved from Ranil Wickremesinghe says Mangala Samaraweera, presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa's main campaign coordinator. From the beginning of the 20th century, the Wijewardane's wanted to wreck the Bandaranaikes and the Wijewardane faction was invariably behind the conspiracies against the Bandaranaikes, more..

Oct 26 (LeN) A former UNP Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education, A.R.M.B.Attanayaake addressing a media briefing in support of Mahinda Rajapaksa today said the JVP attacked his house during the reign of error with a 20 kilo bomb. more..

Oct 26 (ANN) The Attidiya-Bellanwila marsh, which was declared a bird sanctuary nearly a decade ago due its rich diversity of both fauna and flora and its ecosystem, has today become a dumping ground for garbage and toxic waste and is also a haven for illegal settlers. more..

Oct 26 (Xinhua) Sri Lanka will soon be turned into a popular tourist destination for Middle Eastern countries with an annual projected arrival of between 30,000 to 40,000 tourists. Tourism Deputy Minister Faizer Mushthapa gave the remarks at a press conference at the Tourism Ministry on Tuesday after finishing his tour of some Middle Eastern countries. more..

Oct 26 (KT) TRANSPARENCY International has downgraded Sri Lanka by four places in its annual corruption report. Sri Lanka held the 67th position in last year’s report with Finland occupying No. 1 position. This year we are 78th with Iceland ranked first. more..

Oct 26 (DN) The Emergency Calls Unit of the Kandy Police took in to custody two LTTE cadres who were allegedly from the areas of Point Pedro and Vavuniya, near a restaurant on Peradeniya-Kandy road around 3.00 p.m. last Sunday (23). The suspects had in their possession a special identity permit issued by the LTTE, as disclosed by the Police. more..

Oct 26 (SAMN) Opposition leader and UNP’s presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe said that he was ready for a public debate on the "balanced economy" proposed by Prime Minister and SLFP presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse. more..

Oct 26 (SAMN) The Police have launched an investigation into the import of Aviation Fuel by a businessman based in Colombo city. The Intelligence Division had obtained information that the businessman had imported Aviation Fuel for the LTTE and he is likely to be arrested within the next few days, police sources said Tuesday (25). more..

Oct 26 (LNP) The UNP said yesterday that the JVP`s call, for the dissolution of the army, was not something new since its founder leader Rohana Wijeweera himself said the same thing in his first public speech. more..

Oct 26 (LNP) Attempts are being made to sweep the contaminated syringes affair under the carpet and the culprits are likely to get away despite a number of deaths due to meningitis, health sector sources said. more..

Oct 26 (LNP) UPFA candidate Mahinda Rajapakse`s campaign manager Mangala Samaraweera claimed yesterday the SLFP would reject moves by UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to bring the two party`s together to arrive at a consensus on the ethnic issue. more..

Oct 26 (DN) Ballot papers for the Jaffna electoral district, the only area not accessible through land, was airlifted from the Ratmalana airbase to Palali in an Air Force helicopter on Monday. The papers were handed over to Jaffna Returning Officer P. Kuganathan for safe keeping until election day. more..

Oct 26 (PR) In the first let of their World Cup qualifier against Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan won 25-19 in the national stadium in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday. Almaty, formerly Alma-Alta, is the capital of Kazakhstan, once a part of the USSR but independent since 1991. more..

Oct 26 (EU) The European Commission is deploying an EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) for the presidential election scheduled to take place on 17 November following an invitation from the Government of Sri Lanka. The EU EOM will be led by John Cushnahan, former Member of the European Parliament. more..

Oct 26 (Xinhua) A Tamil Tiger hideout in northeastern Sri Lanka was attacked by the rival renegade faction, a defense official said Wednesday. The attack on the main stream LTTE rebels at Welikanda, 248 Kms north of Colombo, took place at around 07:00 a.m.local time (0100 GMT) in an area controlled by the Tigers. more..

Oct 26 (AP) A top Sri Lankan ornithologist warned Wednesday that the tropical island nation, where hundreds of thousands of migratory birds spend October to March, is at risk from the bird flu virus. more..

Oct 26 (HT) Nostalgically recalling an era when famous South Indian playback singers, music makers and directors were an integral part of the Sri Lankan film industry, the Sri Lankan government will be honouring Jamuna Rani, whose melodies were the rage in the island in the 1950s and 1960s. more..

Oct 26 (AP) Sri Lankan cricket star Mahela Jayawardene plans to get married early next month, but has no plans for a honeymoon because he can't skip a cricket series against India, an Indian newspaper reported Wednesday. more..

Oct 26 (Xinhua) Sri Lankan government has set up a new Ministry of Petroleum Resources Development for developing petroleum resources in the island country, Daily News reported Wednesday. President Chandrika Kumaratunga will function as the Minister. more..

Oct 26 (AP) Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels on Wednesday dismissed as pointless recent talks between the island's outgoing president and her arch opponent on a solution to the island's long-running ethnic conflict. more..

Oct 26 (AP) The distribution of tens of thousands of polling cards began Wednesday in Sri Lanka's northern Tamil heartland ahead of next months' presidential election, officials said. Some 701,938 cards needed to be distributed to the Jaffna electoral district, which included large areas controlled by the Tamil Tiger rebels, said Puniya Kuganathen, Jaffna's deputy election commissioner. more..

Oct 27 (WRPS) Homicide investigators continue to actively investigate the deaths of Soumiyan Nagulasisgamany, 19 years, and Chandrasegar Nagulasisgamany, 21 years, both of Scarborough, Ontario. Late yesterday evening, regional police in partnership with the FBI New Haven Office, Fugitive Squad, arrested Paul Jeyarajah Alexander, 21 years of the City of Toronto at a residence in Ridgefield, Connecticut. more..

Oct 27 (LBO) Ceylon Petroleum Corporation trade unions say they will not go on strike over a new refinery project, pending a meeting with Premier Mahinda Rajapakse. “We objected because we were not fully aware of all the details of the project. We met the Prime Minister on Monday and he said he would arrange a meeting to clarify the situation,” more..

Oct 27 (LBO) Sri Lanka among Asian countries most affected by brain drain, says World Bank study. Sri Lanka among countries that see a relatively large proportion of educated people migrating in search of greener pastures, says latest World Bank study on international migration. more..

Oct 27 (BBC) Health trade unions are warning of a two day island wide strike if outstanding demands are not met by authorities. Informing the decision reached by the Health Services Trade Union Alliance (HSTUA) on Wednesday, president Saman Ratnapriya told journalists that 70,000 employees in the health service will go on strike from Thursday. more..

Oct 27 (TN) Prime Minister Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse, presidential candidate of the UPFA Wednesday addressed election rallies in the towns of Trincomalee, Kinniya and Kantalai in the district. Mr.Wimal Weeravanse, parliamentary group leader of the JVP accompanied him, sources said. more..

Oct 27 (AT) SPUR an Australian based NGO and the WAPS have appealed to UN Secretary- General, Kofi Annan, and the Indian Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, to issue an early warning to the LTTE urging them not to target candidates in the current presidential election. more..

Oct 27 (TT) The Sri Lankans are peeved at being made to look like “poor losers.” “We didn’t want to ‘boycott’ the Media conference in Nagpur yesterday, but were told that only the Man-of-the-Match would be required. As Rahul Dravid got the award, neither our captain (Maravan Atapattu) nor the coach (Tom Moody) interacted with the Media,” the Sri Lankan manager, Michael Tissera, told more..

Oct 27 (RW) On the occasion of the 5th commemoration day of the Bindunuwewa Massacre, Asian Centre for Human Rights released its report, “The Bindunuwewa Massacre in Sri Lanka: A Cry for Justice” and made confidential “Report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into incidents that took place at Bindunuwewa Rehabilitation Centre, Bandarawela on 25 October 2000” more..

Oct 27 (AT) The recent protest rally held in Brussels by the pro-LTTE lobby to influence the European Union to lift the travel ban on the LTTE has fizzled out without any impact, according to informed sources in the Tamil diasporas. more..

Oct 27 (SCCC) On October 18th, 2005, the President of the Sri Lankan Chamber of Commerce in Canada (SCCC), Mr. Cecil Rodrigo, and the Immediate Past President of the Sri Lanka – Canada Business Council (SLCBC) which functions under the aegis of The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Sri Lanka, more..

Oct 27 (LeN) A group of Tamils residing at No. 520, Kimbulapitiya, Madampitiya Road, Mutwal has complained to the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission, the Norwegian embassy and the Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Haugruf Hockland that they were threatened by a government sponsored armed group to leave Colombo and settle in Jaffna. more..

Oct 27 (LeN) The co-chairman of the Patriotic National Movement, Ven.Elle Gunawansa thera has expressed concern over the increasing politicization of the Movement, which was originally intended to transcend petty political bickering. more..

Oct 27 (TN) Ms Sarojini Kusala Weerawardene, Colombo Chief Magistrate Wednesday ordered the release of Mr.Kathiramalai Vaitheehan alias Gopi alias Veerapandiyan who was remanded on reports from the Jaffna police that he was involved in the abduction and murder of Mr. Charles Wijewardene, Jaffna Senior Superintendent of Police, more..

Oct 27 (TN) Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, UNP presidential candidate challenged his rival Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse to cancel the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) by giving fifteen days' notice to the Norwegian government instead of accusing him (Ranil) for signing the CFA. Mr Wickremasinghe issued the challenge when he addressed an election rally in Elpitiya, more..

Oct 27 (TP) Sri Lanka will soon be turned into a popular tourist destination in the Gulf with an annual projected arrival of between 30,000 to 40,000 Middle Eastern tourists annually, Deputy Tourism Minister Faizer Mushthapa told reporters. more..

Oct 27 (LBO) Fertilizer importers are lobbying Treasury to cough up on a Rs. 4 bn subsidy bill due over the past eight months, or farmers will face a supply squeeze in January’s Maha Season. The industry imports about 550,000 MT of fertiliser every year, mainly for the paddy and tea industries. more..

Oct 27 (SLA) TAMIL TIGERS (LTTE) in civil clothes had reportedly abducted about fifteen men from the general area of ELLALAI north, about 14 km north of JAFFNA town on 24 October 2005 around 9.00 p.m., the Police were told by next of kin of the victims on Wednesday (26). more..

Oct 27 (SLA) One more large stretch of the agricultural land hitherto remained abandoned in Thanankilappu area in Jaffna because of imminent danger posed by unearthed landmines turned arable once again after it was cleared of mines by the Engineers Regiment of the Sri Lanka Army. more..

Oct 27 (CT) Presidential Candidate Victor Hettigoda laments over the lack of sufficient media coverage about him and other ten Presidential candidates except Ranil Wickramasingha and Mahinda Rajapaksha. “The government media SLRC and ITN are only promoting the two main candidates, he said. more..

Oct 27 (CT) Ex-Jathika Hela Urumaya member [JHU] and Parliamentarian Rev. Uduwe Dhammloka Thera decided to extend support to UNP presidential candidate Ranil Wickremasinghe at the forth coming presidential election. The venerable thera further said he has taken this decision taking into consideration several major factors affecting the country. more..

Oct 27 (LM) Former Parliamentarians H.M. Haress and M.B.A. Azeez who represented the Digamadulla electoral district, officially re-joined the SLMC today. Haress, who was the Secretary General of the National Muslim Congress (NMC) said that a non- Contiguous unit for Muslim was the prime concern for them when they left the SLMC to support the UPFA. more..

Oct 27 (LM) The International Assembly of YMMA (IA-YMMA) met the Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapakse prior to the commencement of the holy month of Ramadhan to draw up a programme of action to ensure un-interrupted service and supplies during the month Ramadhan, the delegation placed number request before the Premier, more..

Oct 27 (LM) "A separate Provincial Council and a Non Contiguous Unit are the inevitable needs to ensure the defence of the Muslim Community and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress has this in its policy. more..

Oct 27 (UNP) UNP presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe said that he was ready for a public debate on the “balanced economy” proposed by Prime Minister and SLFP presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse. more..

Oct 27 (CI) Already much has been spoken and written about the positive body language and oneness of the Indian team after just one win. But it could have easily been so different had Rahul Dravid's deft flick of the coin landed the other way. more..

Oct 27 (ANN) The government of Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide US$ 4.5 million to start an agricultural and rural development project for community rehabilitation and reconstruction in Trincomalee District from November this year. more..

Oct 27 (ANN) The belated but much flaunted coming together of the President and the Opposition Leader is the kind of stuff that Bollywood movies are made of: The bad guy becomes good all of a sudden for no apparent reason other than the severe beating he receives from his archrival who in the end shows some mercy to his bloodied foe. more..

Oct 27 (PIS) The senior LTTE leader who underwent treatment at a private hospital in Colombo after being seriously injured in a fierce attack between the LTTE and the Karuna faction in Batticaloa two weeks ago, was flown in an Air Force plane to Vavuniya yesterday morning. more..