Meritorious A/L performance brings cheer to Jaffna parents

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 22:47 GMT]
The performance of students from Jaffna in the General Certificate of Education (Advanced Level) Examination released Friday has brought cheer to the parents, Northern Province education department sources said. Jaffna students, while obtaining first places in the Tamil medium in Math and Biological Sciences, students have also performed competitively in all-island ranking, with a students getting 3rd and 5th places in Mathematics.
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Indian PM's participation in SL independence day not fixed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 17:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogolloagama had to hastily retract on Friday his earlier claim that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will participate in the 60th Independence Day celebrations of Sri Lanka on February 4, 2008. A few weeks ago, Mr. Bogollagama told Parliament that Sri Lanka had invited Dr. Manmohan Singh to be the chief guest of the independence day function. The information that the dates of Manmohan Singh's proposed visit to Colombo have not been finalized was revealed a day after Bogollagama called the Indian High Commissioner Alok Prasad to inform him about GoSL's decision to abrogate the almost six-year old CFA agreement with the LTTE, informed sources said.
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Kumar Ponnambalam remembered on eighth anniversary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 13:33 GMT]
Eighth year anniversary of Kumar Ponnambalam, president of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, who was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at Wellawatte, a Tamil suburb of the capital Colombo around 11.15 a.m. 5 January 2000, was commemorated in U.K. and in Vanni in simple ceremonies.
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No military solution: Indian External Affairs Minister

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 13:00 GMT]
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee ruled out any military solution to the Sri Lankan problem two days after the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) formally scrapped the five-year ceasefire with the LTTE. Mr Mukherjee stressed that the solution to the island nation's problem "had to be found through dialogue and discussion" and called upon the Lankan government to address the problem by "fulfilling the legitimate aspirations of the ethnic groups."
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Japan concerned of escalation of violence following abrogation of CFA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 12:37 GMT]
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Masahiko Koumura, on Friday issued a statement stating that Japan was deeply concerned that the decision taken by the Government of Sri Lanka to withdraw from the Ceasefire may lead to the escalation of the conflict by way of increased level of violence and greater civilian casualties, and leave the peace process at a standstill. Japan further said it expected a devolution package, "in line" with Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa's previous commitment.
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Passenger ship service between Trincomalee-Jaffna to be suspended

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 11:42 GMT]
The passenger ship service between Trincomalee and Jaffna is to be suspended from January 7 due to repairs to be carried out in the vessel "Green Ocean." The last service from Trincomalee Harbour to Jaffna will take place on January 5 Saturday and from Jaffna to Trincomalee on January 6 Sunday, Trincomalee divisional secretariat sources said.
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Kārai-tīvu/ Kārainakar, Marukkāraṅ-kuḷam, Ceṅ-kārai, Kara-gaha-vala

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 00:06 GMT]
The island of Kārai shrubs

The tank or pond of Marukkārai shrubs/ trees

The (place of) Ceṅkārai shrubs

The jungle or thicket of Kara shrubs
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Nordic countries regret Colombo's decision to abrogate CFA

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2008, 17:58 GMT]
Foreign Ministers from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, the Nordic countries that took part in the formation of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, issued a joint statement on Friday, stating that the withdrawal of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission from Sri Lanka would mean the end of an important mechanism that protected civilians and which gave a voice to the victims and their families. "The termination of the Ceasefire Agreement will only make it more difficult to find a way back to the negotiating table," the Foreign Ministers of the Nordic countries said in their joint statement regretting the unilateral decision by the GoSL to abrogate the ceasefire.
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10 passengers injured in accident in Kaarainakar

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2008, 17:34 GMT]
A bus carrying passengers from Kaarainakar to Jaffna Friday around 8:30 a.m, slipped off Ponnaalai bridge road that was submerged in floods, causing serious injuries to two of the passengers and minor injuries to several others, sources in Jaffna said. The passengers in the bus were mostly relatives and well wishers of the assassinated Tamil parliamentarian T. Maheswaran, who were returning to their places after attending events Thursday in Maheswaran's home town Kaarainakar.
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STF officer, 2 bodyguards killed in Ampaa'rai ambush - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2008, 12:41 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam officials in Ampaa'rai claimed that a Sri Lankan Special Task Force officer and two of his bodyguards were killed in an ambush on their vehicle 15 km west of Poththuvil in Ampaa'rai Friday around 3:00 p.m. Meanwhile, sources in Colombo said one STF Sub Inspector, identified as Herath, was wounded together with four STF commandos in the attack.
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SLMM to terminate operational activities on January 16

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2008, 11:55 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) on Thursday said it would terminate its current operational activities in Sri Lanka effective 16 January at 1900 hrs., following the decision by the Government of Sri Lanka to abrogate the Ceasefire Agreement of 2002 with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam effective as of 16 January 2008.
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Abrogation of CFA endangers respect for human rights - NPC

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2008, 10:16 GMT]
The GoSL withdrawal from the Ceasefire, resulting in the removal of the role played by the truce monitors, will reduce the flow of credible information to the world outside and deprive the hapless civilians with a credible authority to lodge complaints, said National Peace Council, a Colombo based peace group, on Thursday. Colombo's rejection of a UN Human Rights field presence, the inability of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) and the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) to make meaningful progress in discharging their mandates, and the recent downgrading of the National Human Rights Commission, combine to place respect for human rights in Sri Lanka in further jeopardy.
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U.N. regrets Colombo's decision to withdraw from CFA

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2008, 10:00 GMT]
The U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Thursday said he regretted the decision made by the Government of Sri Lanka to terminate the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Secretary-General said he was deeply worried that the withdrawal from the Agreement comes amidst intensifying fighting in the North and increasing violence across the country, including Colombo.
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U.S 'troubled' by GoSL withdrawal from CFA

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 January 2008, 09:08 GMT]
The United States Department of State, in a statement issued on Thursday said, it is troubled by the Sri Lankan Government's January 2 decision to terminate the 2002 cease-fire agreement. Ending the cease-fire agreement will make it more difficult to achieve a lasting, peaceful solution to Sri Lanka's conflict.
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Maheswaran's TV interview to drive Police investigations

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 19:31 GMT]
The Colombo Additional Magistrate Ravindra Premaratne Thursday instructed the Police to conduct investigation into the killing of Mr. Thiagarajah Maheswaran, Colombo district parliamentarian of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), based on the latter's interview carried by Sakthi television in the "Minnal" programme prior to his death.
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Maheswaran’s remains cremated in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 18:58 GMT]
United National Party (UNP) parliamentarians took over the casket containing Maheswaran’s remains from his family Thursday around 2:30 p.m. at his residence in Wellawatte and the cortege, and the funeral procession went along Galle Road and several areas in Colombo to reach Kanaththai cremation grounds in Borella. Homage was paid to the Tamil parliamentarian, who was assassinated while worshiping in Colombo Ponnampala Vaa'neasvarar temple on New Year Day, before the body was cremated.
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Silencing Tamil voices, genocidal tactic - Puleedevan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 17:31 GMT]
Director of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Peace Secretariat, S. Puleedevan, on Thursday charged that the Government of Sri Lanka, locked in a military mindset, has been eliminating Tamil politicians who voiced for Tamil rights, irrespective of their political alignment. Mr. Puleedevan was referring to the slaying of the Colombo Tamil parliamentarian T. Maheswaran of the United National Party on New Year's Day inside a Sivan temple in Colombo.
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Holland Tamil reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 14:14 GMT]
A 22-year-old Tamil citizen of Netherlands, Ajith Anand, 22, who was visiting his parents in Colombo, has been reported missing since Wednesday night when he went to nearby Internet cafe, according to a complaint made by the family members to Wellawatte Police.
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SLA advance in Vavuniyaa defeated, 3 SLA killed - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 14:02 GMT]
A ground operation launched by the Sri Lanka Army in Paalamoaddai in Vavuniyaa - Mannaar border area was defeated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam in a clash in which three SLA soldiers were killed and seven wounded. The Tigers have seized military hardware in the clearing operation after the clash. The clash lasted for 40-minutes, LTTE's operations command in Vavuniyaa told media in Ki'linochchi Thursday.
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Sri Lanka withdraws from CFA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2008, 11:29 GMT]
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama on Thursday evening officially conveyed in writing to the Norwegian Ambassador Tore Hattrem in Colombo that the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) was withdrawing from the February 2002 Cease Fire Agreement (CFA). The message was conveyed to the Ambassador at the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry in Colombo. The CFA formally ends on 16 January, the day after the Tamil festival Thaippongkal. GoSL has also suspended the Status of Mission Agreement (SOMA) with 14-days advance notification.
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