New NATO spokesperson, Canadian Tamil

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2004, 15:47 GMT]
James Appathurai, 35, a Canadian Tamil, has been appointed as the spokesperson of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Friday, Associated Press reported.
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SL Airlines assists Trincomalee students

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 January 2004, 13:36 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Airlines, at an event in Trincomalee Vigneswara Maha Vidiyalayam Thursday donated a consignment of exercise books and other learning kits to more than three hundred fifty students of rural schools badly affected in the two-decade-old war in the Trincomalee education zone, education officials said.


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JVP leader says totally opposed to SLFP’s power sharing policy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2004, 13:46 GMT]
Mr. Somawansa Amarasingha, the secretive leader of the JVP said that his party is totally against the SLFP policy of sharing power despite the alliance both parties have formed. In a wide-ranging interview with an online publication before his departure from an unnamed western country to Sri Lanka on Monday, Mr. Amarasingha castigated Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for behaving like an American puppet and for “speaking like a ruler of a land occupied by the US”. He asserted that the India - Sri Lanka Defence Pact should be made a cornerstone of the island’s foreign policy.
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Cannot delay basic needs of NE accede donors

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2004, 11:43 GMT]
"It has been accepted at this conference that the people of the northeast cannot wait for their basic needs until a political solution to the ethnic conflict is found," said Mr. Daya Master, the media co-ordinator of the Liberation Tigers speaking to the press at the conclusion of the northeast donor conference Monday. "People in the northeast have many needs. They cannot be expected to wait until there is a solution to the conflict," a Dutch diplomat who took part in the conference said.
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Thamilchelvan deplores Sri Lanka President's 'arbitrary action'

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2004, 10:40 GMT]
The Sri Lankan "governing apparatus that should take forward the peace process with commitment and sufficient strength is in shambles. This no doubt is an imminent threat to the maintenance of the ceasefire with due integrity," said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, head of the LTTE’s political division addressing the conference of northeast donors Monday in Kilinochchi. He said that "the arbitrary action" of Sri Lanka’s President "has created problems of vast magnitude vis-à-vis the integrity of the CFA and the progress of the political negotiations."
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Northeast donor conference begins in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2004, 06:25 GMT]
The donor conference on northeast development and rehabilitation began as scheduled at the Planning Secretariat of the Liberation Tigers in Kilinochchi at 11.30 a.m. Monday, LTTE officials said. Diplomats and officials from Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland, UK, Germany, France European Union, ADB, World Bank, JICA, JBIC, UNDP, UNICEF and CIDA are taking part in the meeting. Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, the head of political division, is leading the LTTE team at the conference, officials in Kilinochchi told TamilNet.
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Trinco Technical College resource shortages spotlighted

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2004, 03:36 GMT]
Severe shortage of full-time instructors and teaching equipment at the Trincomalee Government Technical College are jeopardizing educational standards of students who seek higher technical education, said the principal of the college Mr.V. Suntharalingam presiding over the concluding event of the tenth anniversary celebrations of the institution held last weekend.


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Popular Tamil filmstar Manivannan to visit Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2004, 03:15 GMT]
Manivannan, a popular film producer and actor from Tamil Nadu is scheduled to visit Jaffna this Wednesday, to exchange views with Jaffna artists and to see the conditions prevailing in war affected Jaffna for himself, local media reported.
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‘Sinhala leaders not interested in peace proposals’ - Ilamparuthy

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2004, 18:00 GMT]
“Events which followed the submission of our proposal for an Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA)- take over of ministries, the campaign to whip up Sinhala extremism- showed that Sinhala leaders are not interested in negotiations,” said Mr. C. Ilamparuthi, head of the LTTE’s political division in Jaffna, addressing a meeting in Oslo Saturday to mark the eleventh death anniversary of Col. Kittu, a senior Tiger commander. He urged India to come forward to develop a positive relationship with the LTTE.
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Separate body a must to reconstruct NorthEast - TNA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2004, 15:24 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan Saturday appealed to the international community to take steps to create a separate structure to the Tamil speaking people to rehabilitate themselves and reconstruct their war ravaged province if the current political power struggle between the executive presidency and head of the parliamentary legislature in the south continues without settlement to take forward the stalled peace process.


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Plans for Batti-Amparai Pongu Thamil said complete

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2004, 04:23 GMT]
The organizing committee of the Pongu Thamil (Tamil upsurge) event to be held at the Sports grounds of the Eastern University in Vantharumoolai on January 21 has completed its arrangements for the event and sent invitations to Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, and Prime Minister, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, committee sources said.
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Tamils should be vigilant of JVP - Jaffna VC

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2004, 13:23 GMT]
"The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna is a force that is opposed to the Tamil people's struggle for their rights. It is now striving to become part of national politics. We, the Tamil people, should be vigilant about this," said Prof. S. Mohanadas, Vice Chancellor of the Jaffna University, addressing a meeting Saturday to mark the third anniversary of the Pongu Thamil festival in the northern peninsula.
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Jaffna district observes Kittu death anniversary

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2004, 15:38 GMT]
Jaffna district Friday observed the eleventh death anniversary of LTTE senior commander Colonel Kittu and other nine LTTE cadres who sacrificed their lives on 15th January 1993 when the Indian Navy intercepted their vessel in the Indian Ocean. The main event was held Friday at Theeruvil Commemoration Square in Jaffna district, sources said.
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Col.Kittu memorial held in Vakarai

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2004, 15:17 GMT]
The 11th death anniversary of Col.Kittu and nine LTTE cadres who died with him on 16 Jan 1993 was held in Panichchangkerni, Vakarai in Batticaloa district Friday, sources said. Panichchangkerni is village located 50km north of Batticaloa town.
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Trinco commemorates Col.Kittu death anniversary

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2004, 15:09 GMT]
The eleventh death anniversary of Colonel Kittu, senior commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who was killed with nine other LTTE cadres when the Indian Navy intercepted the vessel they traveled in the Indian Ocean on 16th of January 1993 was observed in the Trincomalee district Friday.


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11th Anniversary of Col.Kittu to be commemorated

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2004, 01:17 GMT]
The eleventh death anniversary of Senior Commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Sathasivam Krishnakumar (Col.Kittu), and nine other LTTE cadres is to be celebrated across the NorthEast, Friday, sources in Jaffna said. When the Indian Navy on Jan. 16, 1993, intercepted the ship Kittu was travelling, Kittu refused to surrender and blew up the ship killing himself and other LTTE cadres.
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Norwegian Ambassador meets Thamilchelvan in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 January 2004, 15:01 GMT]
Norway's ambassodor to Sri Lanka, Mr.Hans Brattskar met Head of Liberation Tigers' Political Wing, Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan Wednesday morning at the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi. Mr. Brattskar told local presspersons after the meeting that he discussed aid issues for the northeast and Mr. Thamilchelvan's upcoming visit to Norway.
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SLA says can open A9 longer if ICRC consents

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 January 2004, 08:34 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army told a delegation of religious and civil society leaders in Jaffna Wednesday that the A9 can be opened for more hours for the convenience of the public if the International Committee of the Red Cross consents. The delegation of the People’s Council for Peace and Goodwill (PCPG) comprised the Catholic Bishop of Jaffna, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundranayagam, the chief incumbent of the Nallai Aatheenam, Ven. Somasundara Paramaachchariya Swamigal, the President of the PCPG, Mr. D. R Arumainayagam and several civil society leaders.
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New Maternity ward opens at Nedunkerni Hospital

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 January 2004, 14:24 GMT]
Medical and Maternity wards of the Nedunkerni Hospital, renovated at a cost of Rs.2m, was ceremonially opened Monday by Secretary of Ministry of Health for NorthEast, Mr.R.M.S.Ratnayake, Health Commissioner for NorthEast, S.Kumaravetpillai and Secretary of Nedunkerni Pradeshya Sabha, K.Iyampillai, sources in Kilinochchi said.
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Trinco, Batticaloa writers remembered

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 January 2004, 04:57 GMT]
The seventh death anniversary of Trincomalee born versatile Tamil writer, Mr.Tharmu Sivaramoo, and the 28th death anniversary of Batticaloa poet, Mr.Thuraineelavanan, were observed on Sunday with a public meeting held at the Sri Vigneswara Maha Vidiyalayam in Trincomalee.
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