Upcountry leaders readying to prop failing govt says editor

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 July 2004, 13:21 GMT]
"Upcountry Tamil parties are preparing to make opportunistic deals to prop up this government as soon as the provincial polls are over this month. What do the people of upcountry gain by their politicians joining each government that comes to power? Nothing", said Mr. Vadivel Devaraj, editor of the Sunday edition of the Tamil daily Virakesari, speaking at a book launch in Colombo Sunday.
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‘Jailed Karuna associate in SLA psy-ops’ - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 July 2004, 07:18 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers in Batticaloa Sunday charged that the Sri Lanka army intelligence was providing telephone facilities to an associate of renegade commander Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan (Karuna) who is in prison in the eastern town for possessing weapons illegally. “We have clear proof now that ‘Satchi Master’ is giving phone interviews from his cell in the Batticaloa jail to a Tamil weekly and a radio station which are backed by Sri Lanka military intelligence," a senior LTTE official in the eastern district said Sunday.
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BBC launches Tamil online news service

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 July 2004, 00:57 GMT]
Popularity of the BBC's Tamil service, "Thamil Osai," broadcasting to listeners in Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka, North America, Western Europe and Australia, has prompted the BBC to start an online news service www.bbctamil.com.


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Navy arrests 29 Tamil refugees in Talaimannar Sea

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 July 2004, 09:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Friday early morning arrested 29 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees and four boatmen in the Talaimannar Sea when they were returning from Rameswaram in South India. Refugees and boatmen were later handed over to the Talaimannar Police.
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CTTU charges Director of Pension chauvinistic

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 July 2004, 16:17 GMT]
Twenty thousand member strong Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) complained to Sri Lanka’s President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge that the Director of Pensions has been showing racial discrimination towards Tamil teachers in attending their pension related problems, sources said.
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MP highlights woes of garrisoned island

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 July 2004, 10:32 GMT]
Three hundred families living in Mandaitheevu are still suffering without basic ameneties and ready access to drinking water despite two years of peace and promises by Sri Lankan military authorities to ease their burden, an MP who visited the area told TamilNet Friday. Mandaitheevu is an island south of Jaffna town heavily garrisoned by the Sri Lanka Navy since 1990.
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SLA stops Elilan at checkpoint from visiting Pulmoddai

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 July 2004, 10:14 GMT]
Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Friday lodged a complaint with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in the east port town that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers stationed at the north of the district had prevented him from going to Pulmoddai village to carryout political work on Thursday, sources said.


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Supreme Court takes up TULF interim injunction case

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 July 2004, 16:51 GMT]
The three member bench of the Supreme Court chaired by Chief Justice Sarath N.Silva fixed the inquiry for August 25 into the appeal filed by the Secretary General and Senior Vice President of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Messrs R.Sampanthan and Jospeh Pararajasingham against the interim order issued by the Colombo District Court and later affirmed by the Court of Appeal preventing them from summoning the central committee of the TULF without the consent of the President Mr. V.Anandasangaree, legal sources said.
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Canadian expatriates assist Trinco Children's Shelter

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 July 2004, 10:35 GMT]
Expatriate Tamils in Canada gifted a consignment of food, clothes and learning materials to about sixty students sheltered in "Happy Home," a children's shelter, located in Chenaiyoor Central College in the Liberation Tigers controlled Muttur east in the Trincomalee district.
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The cease-fire’s weakest link: Tamil paramilitaries

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 2004, 17:50 GMT]
When Norwegian Special Envoy Erik Solheim flew into Sri Lanka this week, he was well aware that the problems that have bedeviled his government’s peace process thus far have now been eclipsed by new and far more severe one: a weak link in the formal ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers has finally snapped.
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Thamilchelvan conveys LTTE’s stand on CFA, talks to Solheim

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 2004, 08:37 GMT]
“If the Sri Lankan President and government are serious about the cease-fire agreement and peace talks they should stop sheltering Karuna and backing the murder and mayhem in which some of his henchmen are indulging Batticaloa. This is what we told the Norwegian facilitators today”, said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, head of the LTTE’s political division, speaking to the press after meeting Norway’s special peace envoy Mr. Erik Solheim Wednesday in Kilinochchi.
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UPFA renews attempt to woo CWC support

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 2004, 05:30 GMT]
Leaders of the minority United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government Tuesday held talks with Mr.Arumugam Thondaman, leader of the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) in a fresh bid to secure majority in parliament when it is scheduled to meet on July 20, political sources said.
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Sampanthan to address U.S. Tamil meet

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 2004, 02:25 GMT]
Secretary General of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Parliamentary Group leader, R.Sampanthan, is scheduled to address the Annual Convention of the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America (FeTNA) at the Carl J. Murphy Fine Arts Center, Morgan State University, in Baltimore during the 4th July weekend, sources said.
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TRO provides computer training to needy students

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 2004, 00:12 GMT]
Eighty two students completed computer training conducted by the Social Economic Development Organization (SEDO), a sub-unit of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), and were awarded with certificates at an event held during the weekend in Trincomalee Vipulananda College in Anpuvallipuram, a suburb located about 2 km off the east port town.
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Special envoy Solheim to meet Thamilchelvan Wednesday

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 June 2004, 15:07 GMT]
Norwegian special envoy Mr. Erik Solheim is to visit Killinochchi Wednesday to hold discussions with Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a bid to break the deadlock in resuming the stalled peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, embassy statement said.
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Tamil journalists condemn slander

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 June 2004, 14:59 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA) and the East Lanka Journalists’ Association (ELJA) Tuesday condemned what they described as “attempts in a section of the Colombo to discredit independent Tamil journalists”. Referring to a report in the Tuesday edition of ‘The Island’, an English language daily published from Colombo, a spokesman for the ELJA said, “the paper refers to us as ‘supporters of LTTE leader Pirapaharan’. This is a dangerously mischievous report aimed at discrediting us and thereby justify the intimidation and murder of eastern journalists”.
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Kalmunai Rotary Club elects Tamil woman as President

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 June 2004, 03:08 GMT]
Dr Ms Pushpalatha Loganathan became the first Rotary Club President in the northeast province. She was elected as the new President of Kalmunai Rotary Club in the Amparai district at an event held last week with the former Rotary District Governor Mr. N.Pathmanathan as the chief guest, sources said.
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Detainees have rights to U.S. Courts- Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 June 2004, 00:13 GMT]
Striking down Bush administration's argument that inmates held in Guantanamo have no right to challenge the conditions of their detention because the US courts do not have jurisdiction over the base, the U.S Supreme Court with a 6-3 majority ruled today that detainees have a right to challenge their detention in U.S courts. The Court said that the Cuban base is not beyond the reach of American courts even though it is outside the country, reports in U.S media said.
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Parents naming children in Tamil honoured

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 June 2004, 13:41 GMT]
"Silampam" an organization run by Tamil expatriates in Canada through its northeast branch Sunday evening honoured selected sixty five Tamil parents at a function held in Trincomalee St Joseph's' College for having named their children with 'pure' Tamil names. "Silampam" has been engaged in a campaign to create awareness among Tamils worldwide to safeguard Tamil language.
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LTTE, Muslims meet in Muttur

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 June 2004, 22:20 GMT]
Representatives of the Liberation Tigers and Muttur Muslim community in Trincomalee met at the offices of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Muttur Sunday, BBC Tamil service reported. This is the first meeting between the two parties in four months.
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