Vahaneri villagers, children lack basic facilities

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 January 2003, 03:51 GMT]
In a ceremony held Tuesday, Shoah Foundation donated chairs and desks for one hundred students of Vahaneri Kokulum Vidyalam in Kalkudah education district, Batticaloa, who for the past several years had to learn their lessons in school seated on the ground, education officials in Batticaloa said. The gift also included a teacher's chair and a desk, and other school supplies.
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Omanthai celebrates Pongal after five years

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 January 2003, 13:35 GMT]
In addition to visiting their lands and the remnants of their war ravaged homes, people of Omanthai celebrated Thai Pongal in the famous Varasithi Vinayagar Hindu Temple after a lapse of five years,sources visiting Omanthai said today.


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TNA protests new Buddhist shrine in Tamil village

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 January 2003, 19:12 GMT]
A Tamil National Alliance delegation, headed by Mr.R.Sampanthan, Tuesday met with the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremasinghe, and protested the construction of a new Buddhist shrine in Vilankulam, a historically Tamil a village, and the ban on renovating the historic Hindu temple at Kanniya, in Trincomalee, which had been destroyed by the war, sources said.
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Workshop charts educational development for NorthEast

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 January 2003, 19:50 GMT]
Three-day workshop to give final shape to educational development projects to be implemented in the northern province in the year 2003 commenced Sunday at Killinochchi Maha Vidiyalayam in the Wanni region. Twelve zonal directors of education and their deputies in the northern province including Professor A.Shanmugathas of the Jaffna University participated, education sources said.


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Tokyo to host talks, Akashi to meet Pirapaharan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 January 2003, 12:57 GMT]
Mr. Yasushi Akashi, Japan's special envoy for peace building and rehabilitation and reconstruction in Sri Lanka and Mr.Anton Balasingham, the Liberation Tigers’ Chief negotiator and political advisor, met Sunday in Bangkok to discuss the ongoing Norwegian peace initiative in Sri Lanka and Japan’s aid plans for the country.
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Jaffna observes Major Sothia death anniversary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 January 2003, 17:50 GMT]
The thirteen-death anniversary of Major Sothia, a senior commander of the women wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who died in 1990 after an illness, was observed in Vadamarachchi area in Jaffna district. Saturday. She was the first commander of the LTTE women wing, sources said.
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Agreement on resettlement as talks conclude

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 January 2003, 07:49 GMT]
The fourth round of peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ended Thursday in Bangkok, Thailand with parties reaching agreement on accelerated action on resettlement of displaced people and making progress on human rights, the Norwegian government said.
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Towards building a next generation voice/data network for NorthEast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 January 2003, 02:18 GMT]
Building a state of the art Telecommunication infrastructure for North East is vital for development, industrial growth, advancement in education, general economic progress and to maintain a competitive edge in a global business environment. With the emergence of a new political configuration, NorthEast administration is rightly positioned to consider building a well designed communication network to connect the NorthEast with the rest of the globe. This article provides technical possibilites and key strategies to consider when designing such network.
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Japanese Foreign Minister visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 January 2003, 14:01 GMT]
The Japanese Foreign Minister Ms Yoriko Kawguchi Monday flew to Jaffna by special aircraft and surveyed the progress of resettlement and humanitarian projects in the northern peninsula implemented with Japanese aid. This was the first visit of a Japanese Foreign Minister to the war torn Jaffna district. She also toured Chavakachcheri and Sarasalai areas in Thenmaradchchi areas, worst affected by the war in the district, sources said.
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LTTE slams SLA Commander, says "decommissioning is non-negotiable"

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 January 2003, 14:28 GMT]
Responding to the Sri Lanka Army's reiterated demand that the Liberation Tigers must decommission their heavy weapons before Tamil civilians would be permitted to resettle in their villages now within High Security Zones, the LTTE Friday said the issue was non-negotiable and expressed "deep disappointment" over the Army's "confrontational" position.
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VoT expands broadcast to mark Kittu memorial day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 January 2003, 20:07 GMT]
Voice of Tigers (VoT) announced in its daily nightly broadcast today that it will increase its broadcast time and distance from 16 January marking the tenth memorial anniversary of Colonel Kittu, said sources in Vanni.
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Film release celebrates Sea Tigers' tenth anniversary

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 December 2002, 17:43 GMT]
“Nitharsanam” TV unit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tuesday released the film “ Kadaloorakatru” (A wind along the coast) produced after the ceasefire agreement between the government and LTTE came into force, simultaneously in six districts in the northeast province celebrating the tenth anniversary of Sea Tigers, sources said.
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HSZ issue draws Sri Lanka government team to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 December 2002, 13:37 GMT]
A high level team of Sri Lanka government officials led by Minister Mr.Milinda Morogoda Tuesday flew to Jaffna to hold crucial discussions regarding the dispute that has arisen between the hierarchy of the Sri Lanka Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the question of resettling displaced families in villages of the high security zone (HSZ), sources said.


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SLA blocks removal of Navalar Road land-mine

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 December 2002, 17:57 GMT]
Residents of Navalar Road and surrounding area east of Jaffna town are disturbed by the refusal by the soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) manning a nearby checkpoint to remove an unexploded mine lying close to the Jaffna-Kandy road stating that the 512-th brigade head quarters of the SLA has not given permission to do so, sources in Jaffna said.
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Public urged to safeguard Jaffna's antiques

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 December 2002, 16:33 GMT]
The Head of Tamil Department of the Jaffna University, Professor K.Shanmugathas, Saturday made an appeal to all citizens to take immediate measures to safeguard antiques found in Hindu temples and other public places from being smuggled out of Jaffna peninsula, sources in Jaffna said.
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LTTE lauds writers, artists contribution to struggle

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 December 2002, 15:07 GMT]
Creative writers and artists played a vital role in successfully supporting the progress of Tamil freedom struggle, said Ms T.Karoonja, LTTE Trincomalee district student head addressing a oriental dance programme organized by Bramashetrya Spiritual Centre, held Thursday evening at Trincomalee Sri Koneswara Hindu College hall. Kanniya is located eight km off Trincomalee town.


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Freedom of press high on UNF's agenda - Minister

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 December 2002, 14:25 GMT]
"During the People's Alliance (PA) Government there were severe restrictions on freedom of press and Journalists were prosecuted under criminal law. United National Front (UNF) abolished all restrictive laws allowing journalists to function with total freedom," said Imtiyaz Bakeer Markar, Minister of Communications, in an event organized to provide Press Identification Cards to Journalists by Sri Lanka Government Information Department Friday in Batticaloa Secretariat, said sources.
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Trinco university campus faces uncertain future

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 December 2002, 01:49 GMT]
In a meeting held at Trincomalee Sri Koneswara Hindu College hall Monday evening, leading educationists, citizens and heads of schools in the Trincomalee district expressed serious concern over the lack of support by the University Grants Commission and the Administration of the Eastern University on developing Trincomalee campus of the East University of Sri Lanka to a quaity academic institution, sources said.
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Archaeologically significant findings in Kokkavil?

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 December 2002, 21:08 GMT]
The Road Development Authority (RDA) has dug out gravel sand from the Kokkavil area in the Vanni, and metal ingots thousands of years old, and possible archaeologically significant evidences, were also dug out while the workers of the RDA were busy excavating gravel in Kokkavil for renovating A9 highway, sources said.
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Report soon on LTTE's broadcast equipment - G.L. Pieris

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 December 2002, 17:03 GMT]
The United National Front Government will soon release a report giving details of the broadcasting equipment given to the LTTE and this will clarify the misleading information spread to the public by some interested parties, said G. L. Pieris, minister of Constitutional Affairs and the leader of Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) negotiating team, speaking to journalists at a press conference in Colombo today.
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