Sep 15 (CI) South Africa A took the honours on the opening day of their three-day match against Sri Lanka A in Dambulla thanks to impressive bursts from their pacemen. Monde Zondeki, Tyron Henderson and Zander de Bruyn grabbed three wickets each as Sri Lanka were dismissed for 206. more..

Sep 15 (LBO) The International Monetary Fund Thursday warned Sri Lanka that it was dangerously busting budget targets and urged tough measures to slash subsidies and salvage the economy despite elections this year. more..

Sep 15 (LM) Speculation is rife among political circles that the gazette notification calling nominations for the presidential poll will be published after President Chandrika Bandaranaike's return to the island on September 19. more..

Sep 15 (LM) Officials of the Department of Muslim Religious Affairs exerted pressure on dates importers to distribute them free of charge during the Ramazan season, an official of the International Assembly of Young Men's Muslim Association (IA-YMMA), Sri Lanka, told us. more..

Sep 15 (TN) Mallakam Magistrate Ms Sarojini Ilankovan Wednesday ordered the Kankesanthurai Police to produce Mr.Velautham (25), a LTTE Sea Tiger who is being held at the KKS police station, in court on September 20, legal sources said. She made this order after visiting the suspect in the KKS police station. more..

Sep 15 (TN) Tens of thousands of people from Mullaitivu district, including the tsunami ravaged coastal areas participated in the Tamil Resurgence event held at Malathi Sports Ground, Puthukudiyiruppu, Wednesday evening at 3:30 p.m. The event was organised by the Tamil National Resurgence Task Force to bolster the Vavuniya Declaration. more..

Sep 15 (TN) The offices of Additional Provincial Director of Education and Zonal Director of Education did not function Wednesday for the third day due to the sit-in-protest conducted by the graduate trainees demanding permanent appointment. more..

Sep 15 (TN) The suspect in the slaying of journalist Dharmaratnam Sivaram, Sriskandarajah, was remanded till 27th September by the Kaduwela Chief Magistrate and Additional District Judge Champa Janaki Rajaratna on Wednesday, legal sources said. more..

Sep 15 (SLA) Investigators probing into the Tamil Tiger assassination of Hindu priest Rev SABHANANDA SHARMA on Wednesday (14) afternoon in MARANDANAMADAM, JAFFNA have been told that many other Hindu priests in the peninsula were under Tamil Tiger threats for co-operating with members of the Security Forces and the Police. more..

Sep 15 (SLA) A stock of arms and ammunition hidden inside a bank building in the general area of JAFFNA were taken into custody on Wednesday (14) morning after the Police received information to that effect. During the search conducted by the Police assisted by troops, more..

Sep 15 (LT) Mr Chandana Suriarachchi, President of the 2004 graduates under the graduates scheme in a press release says that the UNP is in a bid to mislead the un-employed graduates with their false promises once again He reminds the UNP which came into power promising employment within 24 hours, later oppressed their demands in a range of activities. more..

Sep 15 (LT) Mr Bandula Gunawardena, UNP parliamentarian said that during his 2 year period of premiership, Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe has done a service which any other leader could not do in 20 years in this country. He stopped the war in this country even without executive powers as the President more..

Sep 15 (LT) The guardians of the children without parents in the Tsunami disaster who passed the 5th standard scholarship examination have requested the Ministry of Education. to grant them a special financial aid. A monthly allowance of Rs 500 is granted for each child by the Ministry of Education. more..

Sep 15 (LT) Though King Prakramabahu the Great constructed tanks and anicuts and developed agriculture in the country what ‘modern Parakramabahu’ does is fill up paddy lands said Presidential candidate Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. more..

Sep 15 (LT) TNA has postponed announcing its stand on Presidential Election. This decision has been taken on instructions from wanni tiger organization. Thamilselvan who met TNA Parliamentarians at Kilinochchi yesterday had instructed them not to put forward an independent candidate. more..

Sep 15 (LM) Leading Tamil daily "Sudar Oli" reported today quoting SLMC sources that the Leader of the National Unity Alliance and Cabinet Minister of the ruling coalition Ferial Ashraff will join the SLMC again. Ashraff is disappointed with the Premier's entering into agreements with the JVP and the JHU more..

Sep 15 (LM) A publication in commemoration of the 5th death anniversary of late M.H.M. Ashraff, founder and former leader of the SLMC is to be released on 24 September, 2005. The publication edited by SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem is a collection of speeches made in Parliament by Mr. Ashraff during the period 1989- 1990. more..

Sep 15 (PRIU) President Chandrika Kumaratunga Yesterday [14th September] addressed New York 's Asia Society at its Park Avenue Head Quarters. President Kumaratunga spoke on the theme "For Larger Freedom: Pursuit of Peace in Sri Lanka". more..

Sep 15 (ANN) The biggest donor meeting since Tokyo in 2003 -- when the international community pledged US$4.5 billion to get Sri Lanka back on its feet after a debilitating civil war had bled the country white over several decades -- will open in Kandy tomorrow (Sept 16). more..

Sep 15 (PIS) Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) officials yesterday met the three police officers in rebel captivity after the LTTE gave the green light for the meeting although their release was not guaranteed until the completion of Tiger ‘court’ proceedings. more..

Sep 15 (PIS) The Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) together with the Peace Education Division of the Ministry of Education will commemorate the International Day of Peace on Tuesday 21st September 2005 with the inauguration of a child art exhibition on the theme Brush Strokes of Peace in Sri Lanka. more..

Sep 15 (SAMN) Acting Defence Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake on Wednesday echoed Premier and ruling coalition's presidential election candidate Mahinda Rajapakse's concerns that the Oslo-arranged Cease-Fire Agreement (CFA) was not successful. more..

Sep 15 (SAMN) Commissioner of Elections Dayananda Dissanayake has directed District Secretaries to submit lists of names of persons who are missing or have gone abroad for employment in addition to those killed in the tsunami disaster. more..

Sep 15 (LNP) SLFP Presidential hopeful Mahinda Rajapakse need not respond to President Chandrika Kumaratunga`s letter calling for an explanation about his deal with the JVP, according to the Premier`s chief campaign organiser, Mangala Samaraweera. more..

Sep 15 (LNP) Reclamation of paddy fields will not usher in a Parakrama era. It is high time our leaders understand it. People of this country are not so gullible as to swallow the bait of Ranil Wickremesinghe who wants to save us from our dignified and age-old cultural moorings and make us subservient to foreign elements, more..

Sep 15 (Dawn) The ground is parched. The sun is hot. It is around 2.00 in the afternoon. In a playground adjoining an orphanage run by the LTTE in its de facto state of north eastern Killinochchi, nearly 50 children, mostly girls, are ‘exercising’. They move their limbs as though in rote but there is no room for lethargy. more..

Sep 15 (WT) The peace envoy from Sri Lanka left Washington yesterday satisfied that U.S. officials understood the renewed danger his South Asian nation faces from a vicious rebel army accused of killing the foreign minister and repeatedly violating a cease-fire. more..

Sep 15 (Gulf) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse defied orders by party leader President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday and went ahead to finalise an agreement with a radical party led by Buddhist monks seeking their support for the upcoming presidential elections. more..

Sep 15 (SLBC) The Crime Investigation Bureau will have a special unit to control computer crime. Meanwhile, the Analysis Department will have a laboratory with relation to computer crimes. The director Information Technology technician representative Manju Haththotuwa says the police and the relevant authority will be educated in this regard. more..

Sep 15 (SLBC) Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremasinghe pledges to reduce the cost of living and to generate employment if he is elected as the president. Addressing a public meeting in Agalawatte , he further pointed out that there is only one clause that is important to the people in the 2 agreements reached more..

Sep 15 (LBO) Sri Lanka's stockmarket closed up on a record high on Thursday, as investors chased after banking sector stocks, brokers said. The benchmark All Share Index gained 39.50 points to close at 2237.52 points, while the liquid Milanka Price Index surged 77.91 points to close at 2963.15, more..

Sep 15 (AFP) A Sri Lankan magistrate Thursday gave police permission to examine three private bank accounts amid allegations that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse helped himself to foreign aid meant for tsunami survivors. more..

Sep 15 (AP) The National Child Protection Authority is gathering information about a Briton who was arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing Sri Lankan children, the government agency's chief said Thursday. "We are collecting more and more evidence and will produce him before court," said Hiranthi Wijemanne. more..

Sep 15 (AFP) Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga has pledged to turn her embattled republic into a federal state and share power with minority Tamils in a bid to end decades of ethnic bloodshed, despite a rebellion in her own party. more..

Sep 15 (RW) The Supreme Court rescheduled the hearing of the three Fundamental Rights applications against the Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS) agreement signed between the Government and the LTTE for November 22. more..

Sep 15 (IPS) For a country that suffered more than 35,000 deaths and one billion US dollars in damages, local media coverage of the aftermath of the Dec. 26 tsunami has been woefully inadequate, a study, sponsored by Transparency International in Sri Lanka, has concluded. more..

Sep 15 (CI) Avishka Gunawardene survived a nasty blow to the face to anchor Sri Lanka A's second innings, but by the close of the second day at Dambulla, South Africa A were enjoying the better of the match, needing another four quick wickets to limit themselves to an obtainable target in the fourth innings of the match. more..

Sep 15 (BBC) Foreign Minister Anura Bandaranaike says his comments were misinterpreted in recent media reports indicating that he intends to pull out of the presidential campaign. Minister Bandaranaike says he will extend full support for SLFP presidential candidate PM Mahinda Rajapakse after closely examining the recent agreements entered by the PM "with some parties and groups.” more..

Sep 16 (TN) "The peace process requires an approach that transcends narrow and warped ambitions of party politics. The two Presidential candiates, Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa and Opposition leader Ranil Wickramesinghe, must refrain from making the peace process an issue at the forthcoming Presidential elections," said an editorial of Thinakkural, more..

Sep 16 (BT) HOMEGROWN western-themed fast-food chain Chicken King (CK) is confident of achieving significant growth for its business in Sri Lanka. CK Malaysia managing director Chua Kean Num believes the brand’s potential in the new market will be fully exploited due to the commitment of its Master Franchisee namely Chicken King International Lanka Pvt Ltd more..

Sep 16 (AT) Mahinda Rajapakse, Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister as well as the Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s candidate in the forthcoming presidential election, has entered into two separate political agreements recently with the Janatha Vimukthi Perumuna (JVP) and Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU). more..

Sep 16 (AT) A campaign to save Douglas Devananda from being the next target of the LTTE has been launched on the internet website www.savedouglasdevananda.com yesterday. This petition is addressed to world leaders, from Secretary-General of the UN to heads of states. more..

Sep 16 (AT) The Minister of Healthcare, Nimal Siripala de Silva, on Thursday launched a joint communications campaign with UNICEF to raise awareness of proper care practices among families, health professional and others concerned with children’s wellbeing. more..

Sep 16 (IANS) A six-day cricket skill and coaching course is being organised in China by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) to fast track the country into international fold, the continental body said Thursday. 'The long-term objective is for China to participate in future World Cups,' more..

Sep 16 (PTI) Police on Thursday summoned filmstar Aditya Panscholi to record his statement in connection with the ongoing Tarannum Khan bargirl-bookies-cricket case, although the actor did not turn up due to professional preoccupation. more..

Sep 16 (LT) Several political parties have expressed their dismay over the silence maintained by the Commissioner of Elections regarding the non announcement of the nomination day for the presidential election. The commissioner had earlier stated that the decision given by Supreme Court was an obstacle for him to announce the nomination day. more..

Sep 16 (LT) A meeting between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the Head of European Union was held prior to the 60th summit of the UNO in New York. Addressing the summit of the Asian Union the President made special reference to the assassination of former foreign Minister late Mr. Luxman Kadirgamar. more..

Sep 16 (TN) A Police officer of Colombo Crime Division (CCD) has informed the Kaduwela Magistrate court on Friday 16 September, that all information and location details regarding the killers and gun used in the murder of TamilNet senior editor Mr. Dharmaretnam Sivaram has been found, legal sources said. more..

Sep 16 (TN) Graduate trainees holding demonstrations in front of education offices in Jaffna, Mannar, Vavuniya, Batticaloa and Trincomalee since Monday demanding permanent appointments Thursday evening decided to call off their protest from Friday following an assurance by Mr.R.Thiakalingam, more..

Sep 16 (TN) Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers from Mannar camp encircled TNA MP Mr Vino Noharathalingam's residence at 5.15pm Thursday before entering the house, and searched all rooms in the house for suspicious material, the MP said in registering his complaint to the SLMM. more..