Daily Mirror, Colombo

The Army, yesterday evening, entered one of the most central intersections of the A-9 and the strategically important township of Paranthan after weeks of heavy fighting and stiff resistance from the LTTE, Army Headquarters said.

“Paranthan, about 4.5 km north of Kilinochchi, was blocked by the Army from north of A-9 on Wednesday (31) evening. Entry of the…

by Kelum Bandara, Daily Mirror, Colombo

The UNP yesterday slammed the Government’s relief package calling it an eyewash given the downward trend in the world fuel and food prices.UNP media spokesman MP told a media conference yesterday that the fuel prices had declined in the world market today on an unprecedented scale, but the Government had reduced petrol, diesel and kerosene…

by Patrick Marcus, Daily Mirror, Colombo

The Mount Lavinia Chief Magistrate, yesterday, barred Mr. Lalith Kotelawala, the chairman of the Golden Key Credit Card Company, a subsidiary of Ceylinco Consolidated, from leaving the country and noticed twelve persons, including its board of directors, to appear in court.

Magistrate Harsha Sethunga…

The Island, Colombo

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday assured the People of Jaffna that all they had lost due to terrorism would be restored.

He assured them that it wouldn’t be long before their brothers and sisters, now trapped in Kilinochchi, were released.

The President’s assurance was given in a message in connection with the ‘Future…

by J.A.L.Jayasinghe, Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe,Shelton Hettiarachchi and M.W.Somaratne, Daily Mirror, Colombo

Parties file nominations to contest upcoming PC polls

The main political parties - the UPFA, the UNP and the JVP yesterday started filing nominations to contest the elections to the North-Western and Central…

Daily Mirror, Colombo

The Central Bank Governor , yesterday, met the new board of directors of Seylan Bank, who had been appointed after Central Bank dissolved the former board in the wake of the crisis that had developed in the Golden Key Credit Card Company.

A statement from Seylan Bank said that the CB governor, at the meeting with the new directors, had said that the steps…

by Kelum Bandara, Sandun A Jayasekera and Yohan Perera, Daily Mirror, Colombo

Government announces massive rate cuts

The government yesterday announced massive rate cuts on many items, including fuel and gas, which will take effect from today. The announcement was made with the provincial council…

by Sumaiya Rizvi and J.A.L. Jayasinghe, Daily Mirror, Colombo

Keheliya expresses confidence

The government yesterday expressed hope it would be able to capture LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran and the remaining LTTE controlled areas in the Kilinochchi district in the Wanni by the first week of February.…

Daily Mirror, Colombo

Central Bank tells BoC to appoint board

Court refuses to wind up operations of Golden Key

In a sudden move, the Central Bank (CB) announced yesterday that it had dissolved the Board of Directors of Seylan Bank, part of the Ceylinco group, and asked the state owned Bank of Ceylon (BoC) to appoint a new Board in a move which the CB said would assure continued financial…

The Island, Colombo

* Seylan Bank placed under Bank of Ceylon

* CB Governor and Ceylinco Chief reach amicable settlement

*Monetary Board assures safety of deposits with Seylan

* CB urges customers not to panic

*Jobs of Seylan employees secure

The Monetary Board of the Central Bank yesterday (29) for the first time…

by Zacki Jabbar, The Island, Colombo

Around nine million people including motor cyclists, three wheel taxi drivers and middle class people commute using…

18 injured in Sunday morning suicide blast

by Sandun A Jayasekera, Daily Mirror, Colombo

least eight people including seven Civil Defence Force personnel were killed and 18 injured in a suicide attack in Wattala near the Civil Defence Force (CDF) camp yesterday morning.

The suicide bomber…

by Shamindra Ferdinando, The Island, Colombo

The navy on Sunday thwarted an attempt to bring in urgently needed military supplies from India in a newly designed LTTE vessel. Authoritative defence sources said that it had been designed…

by Kelum Bandara, Daily Mirror, Colombo

The cash-strapped budget airline ‘Mihin Lanka’ acquired its first aircraft Boeing 737-800 on Saturday night and the company is planning to resume flights to Dubai from January for the first time since May this year.

Earlier, plans were afoot to restart flight operations on December 21 but, it did not materialise due to issues regarding over flying clearance from India.

The new aircraft has been…

The Island, Colombo

After Bangladesh claimed the first session by taking two wickets and making two of Sri Lanka’s most experienced batsmen look patchy against quality swing bowling, the second drifted away from them as Sri Lanka extended their lead to 305 at tea on the third day. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara scored composed half-centuries as Bangladesh’s…

Sunday Times, Colombo

As the Golden Key Credit Card crisis grew, Ceylinco Consolidated Chairman Lalith Kotelawala -- in an unexpected move -- yesterday announced he was divesting the stake of his Ceylinco Group in Seylan Bank, saying he needed the money to settle depositors at the crisis-hit credit card company.

The move came amidst concerns from the Central Bank where officials…

Sunday Island, Colombo

Central Bank Governor Ajit Nivard Cabraal yesterday assured that the authorities will take all possible steps to avert any crisis of confidence in the financial services sector following the Golden Key Credit Card Company’s problems which led to Mr. Lalith Kotelawala announcing that he would "divest the investment" in the Seylan Bank.

The Central…

Sunday Times, Colombo

Sri Lankan sports authorities were forced this week to go to the Foreign Ministry to get clearance for the national cricket team to go to Pakistan next month following a nose-dive in Indo-Pak relations in recent weeks that was impacting on diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan.

The matter had been discussed at the highest levels in…

by Kelum Bandara, Daily Mirror, Colombo

Plans for contempt case on refusal to obey SC order on reduction of petrol prices

The main opposition UNP said yesterday it was planning to file a contempt-of-court case against the Cabinet, the Finance Ministry, the CPC, the LIOC, and fuel stations for not complying with the Supreme…

by Sandun A Jayasekera and Hiran Jayasinghe

One political party and several independent groups filed nominations yesterday for the Central and Wayamba Provincial Council polls, election officials said.

Election officials in the Wayamba said the United Socialist Party handed in nominations for the Puttalam district and an independent group led…