MIOT helps Trincomalee rural children

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 March 2006, 01:43 GMT]
Mother and Child Care Centre, and a Hall to provide daily free meals to children constructed by the All Ceylon Hindu Development Society (ACHDS) at a cost of 1.3 million rupees in Deva Nagar, a suburb in Trincomalee was declared open by Srimath Swami Tandredeva Maharaj Sunday, sources said. Medical Institute Of Tamils (MIOT) in United Kingdom provided funding for the project, ACHDS officials said.


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Threats to Vavuniya traders must be stopped, MP tells Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 March 2006, 01:37 GMT]
Mr.Selvam Adaikalanathan, Wanni district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian has appealed to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse to take immediate steps to disarm persons intimidating members of the business community in Vavuniya district with death threats and extortion, sources in Vavuniya said.
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Four students drown in Trincomalee Sea

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 March 2006, 12:26 GMT]
Four students, three Tamil and one Burgher, drowned in the Trincomalee Dutch Bay Sea around noon on Sunday caught in the under current while they were spending an afternoon with friends. The bodies of the dead are lying in the mortuary of the Trincomalee general hospital, hospital sources said.
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TNA, LTTE discuss local elections at Kilinochchi meet

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 March 2006, 12:19 GMT]
Selvam Adaikalanathan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Vanni district addressing media in Kilinochchi after a meeting between the Liberation Tigers and the TNA parliamentarians Sunday morning, accused Colombo for delaying making decision on holding local elections in the NorthEast
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Human Rights Watch backtracks on extortion charge

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 March 2006, 12:14 GMT]
Stung by criticism by expatriate Tamils of its report last week claiming the Diaspora was gripped by ‘a culture of fear’ regarding LTTE extortion, Human Rights Watch this weekend issued a statement that stepped back from its earlier sensational claims. Acknowledging that accusations of extortion were only being made about “a small number of individuals” who were “claiming to represent the LTTE or groups linked to the LTTE,” HRW said: “we do not suggest that significant numbers of Tamils are engaging in extortion or other unlawful activity. We also note that many Tamils actively and willingly support the LTTE.”
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Three hundred police trainees begin training in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 March 2006, 00:31 GMT]
Three hundred officers newly recruited for Thamileelam Police started training on Saturday in Vanni. The recruits, under the coaching of Police Trainer S. Thamilarasan, were the second unit to be trained in 2006, said T. Kanahan, the head of administration of the Police.
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US Court orders release of Tamil asylum seeker

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 March 2006, 22:28 GMT]
US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco Friday ordered release of a Tamil Sri Lankan asylum seeker detained since October 2001 in San Diego on suspicion that he once belonged to the Liberation Tigers, an organization included in the US Terrorism List, Washington Post Saturday edition reported.
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SLA arrests Jaffna journalist

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 March 2006, 17:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arrested a journalist working for the Tamil daily Thinakkural for photographing the front portal of the admintrative office of Jaffna jail located on the Main Street in Jaffna Town at 4 p.m. Saturday, sources in Jaffna said. The SLA soldiers refused to accept press credentials of Kandasamy Iruthayabavan and took him into the SLA camp for interrogation. He was released after two hours, sources said.
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Six farm laborers abducted in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 March 2006, 13:17 GMT]
Six workers harvesting paddy in Akkuranai in Batticaloa district were abducted by paramilitary cadres belonging to Karuna group from the Welikande and Thivuchenai area 12 March, Political Section of the Batticaloa LTTE office said in a press release issued Saturday.
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Sri Lanka Bus, Railway employees threaten strike action

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 March 2006, 12:50 GMT]
The United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government said Saturday that it will not allow the private sector bus to increase the fare by twenty percent. "A conference to decide on the demand of the private sector bus owners will be held on Monday with the participations of officials of finance and transport ministries. Private bus owners have no right to revise the fare unilaterally," said Mr.A.H.M.Fowzie, Railway and Transport Minister said.
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Court intervenes in Law College Tamil medium admissions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 March 2006, 12:43 GMT]
Eleven additional Tamil medium candidates were admitted to the Law College in Colombo Friday following the intervention of the Supreme Court after Tamil students filed Fundamental Rights application citing discriminatory procedures in admissions, legal sources said. Only one Tamil medium candidate was allowed to enter the college based on the results released in 1995 entrance examination held by the Law College, sources said.
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Kattankudy Muslims protest against violence

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 March 2006, 10:58 GMT]
Kattankudy Muslims Saturday observed a shut down in protest against the escalating violence in their area where on Friday four motorbikes belonging to Muslim individuals, were hijacked, allegedly by paramilitary cadres. There is a concerted attempt to create communal violence between Tamils and Muslims, protesters said. Saturday's protest paralysed the entire Kattankudy. Transport on Batticaloa - Kalmunai road remained blocked and tension prevails in Batticaloa - Kattankudy Tamil, Muslim border areas. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers were seen deployed in the streets.
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Local council election contestants meet TNA in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 March 2006, 13:12 GMT]
Candidates competing in the Vavuniya district local council elections under the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) ticket met with Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians in Vavuniya Hindu Youths Hall Thursday, sources in Vavuniya said.
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Asylumn seekers in UK face deportation

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 March 2006, 09:10 GMT]
Action Group of Tamil Asylumn Seekers (AGTAS) in U.K. is organising a protest rally against the British move to deport rejected asylumn seekers. "We fear more than 2000 persons have already been either deported or detained by the British authorities during the recent months," said Mr. M. Selvarooban, an organiser of the Action Group. The rally is to be held on Sunday between 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Trafalgar Square in London.
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Paramilitary issue raised in Congressional Hearing

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 March 2006, 02:19 GMT]
Congressman James A Leach, Chairman, Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, and Donald Camp, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, during a House Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific Hearing on Recent Developments in Nepal held on 15 March 2006, mentioned the presence of armed paramilitary groups as one of the impediments to peace.
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Modern building for Sambaltivu Children Home commissioned

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 March 2006, 00:55 GMT]
Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham, Trincomalee district parliamentarian, Wednesday declared open the modern building constructed at a cost of 3.5 million rupees for the Sambaltivu Saratha Children Home with the funding of New Jersey Tamil Arts and Cultural Society in the United States of America. Mr.Thurairatnasingham cut the ribbon and unveiled the tablet of the new building, which could provide space for about fifty children, sources said.
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2005, a black year for Tamil media journalists in Sri Lanka- SLTMA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 March 2006, 18:33 GMT]


The Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA) in its annual report said 2005 was a black year for Tamil media journalists in the country. "We lost three Tamil media persons including Mr.D.Sivaram, a reputed journalist and military analyst," the annual report said. The annual general meeting of the SLTMA was held last Sunday evening at Hotel Ranmuthu in Colpetty in Colombo. Mr.S.Rajkumar was elected President, Mr.R.Barati General re-elected Secretary and Mr.S.Sri Gajan, re-elected Treasurer for the year 2006, sources said.
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Thamichelvan meets Brattskar in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 March 2006, 11:31 GMT]
Head of LTTE's Political Wing, S.P.Thamilchelvan, met with Norway's Ambassador Mr Hans Brattskar at the LTTE Peace Secretariat building in Kilinochchi at 9.30 a.m. Thursday, LTTE sources in Kilinochchi said. Acting Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Brigadier Hagrup Haukland, also accompanied Mr Brattskar on his Kilinochchi visit, sources added.
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Special Envoy to assist Solheim in Sri Lanka peace process

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 March 2006, 10:58 GMT]
The Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim has appointed Jon Hanssen-Bauer, Director, Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies, University of Oslo, as new Special Envoy to Sri Lanka Peace Process, according to a press statement issued by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo Friday. "Mr Hanssen-Bauer will report to International Development Minister Erik Solheim, who will lead the work, visit Sri Lanka regularly and be responsible for Norway’s role as facilitator of the peace process. Norway’s ambassador to Sri Lanka, Hans Brattskar, will continue to be the parties’ day-to-day point of contact in Sri Lanka", the press statement added.
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TRO donates permanent houses to tsunami victims

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 March 2006, 10:43 GMT]
"We have plans to build 250 houses in the Mullaitivu district. Houses we have constructed in Kallappad are expensive, structurally strong and are better than many similar houses donated as part of tsunami relief across Sri Lanka," said K.P. Regi, Executive Director, Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), speaking at the handing over ceremony held Tuesday morning in Kallappadu village in the Mulaitivu district.
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