Udathalawinne case concludes, Court's decision in January

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 November 2005, 18:06 GMT]
The High Court Trial-at-Bar inquiry into the Udathalawinne massacre case in which General Anurudha Ratwatte, former Deputy Defense Minister, his two sons, Rohan and Chanuka, and thirteen Sri Lanka Army soldiers have been indicted on seventy two counts, including election violence, grabbing ballot papers and ballot boxes, conspiracy to murder and committing the murder of ten Muslim youths on the general election day on December 5, 2001 at Udathalawinne in Kandy district concluded Monday. Three-member bench of the Colombo High Court reserved its order for 20th January 2006, legal sources said.
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India donates medicine to Kilinochchi hospital

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 November 2005, 12:38 GMT]
India's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Ms Nirupama Rao, handed over boxes of medicines to for urgent use in Kilinochchi hospital at a simple event held at the Indian Embassy in Colombo, a press release by the Information section of the Indian Embassy said.
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Mangala Samaraweera appointed new SL Foreign Minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 November 2005, 07:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka's new President Mahinda Rajapakse has demoted former President Chandrika Kumaratunga's brother, Mr. Anura Bandaranaike, by removing the Foreign Ministry portfolio from him and appointing him as the Minister of Tourism in his new 25-member cabinet. Chief coordinator of Mr. Rajapakse's Presidential Campaign, Mangala Samaraweera, a JVP-friendly hardliner, has been appointed as the Foreign Minister, in addition to his portfolios, Ports and Aviation. The twice postponed- swearing in of the new cabinet of ministers took place at the Presidential Secretariat Wednesday. Rajapakse is likely to keep with him the Finance and Defence Ministries.
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SL Military is the intimidatory presence - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 November 2005, 10:11 GMT]
Denying accusation they had intimidated Tamils into not voting in last week’s Sri Lanka Presidential election, the Liberation Tigers said the boycott by the Tamil people last week was a reflection of prevailing Tamil opinion towards Sri Lankan leaders, based on their bitter experiences of the past. The near total boycott by Tamil voters took place despite the "oppressive presence of thousands of Sri Lankan troops and Army-backed paramilitaries in Jaffna and other parts of the Northeast," the LTTE's Political Head, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, told TamilNet Tuesday. He reiterated that the LTTE had not ordered Tamils to boycott the elections.
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SLN soldier disappeared, Nedunthivu under siege, 7 arrested

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 November 2005, 11:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers Monday morning cordoned off Nedunthivu (Delft) and conducted house to house search after two SLN soldiers were reported missing allegedly abducted by unknown men, sources said. Delft islet is under the control of the Sri Lanka Navy. However, SLN sources in Colombo said only one soldier was missing adding that seven youths have been arrested in Nedunthivu.
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UNP to hold postmortem on presidential poll defeat

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 November 2005, 17:20 GMT]
The working committee and parliamentary group of the main opposition United national Party (UNP) are to meet this week to decide its future course of action following the defeat at the presidential poll held on Thursday, Mr.Tissa Attanayake, UNP Assistant General Secretary said at a press briefing Sunday.
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New cabinet to be sworn in on Tuesday

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 November 2005, 17:33 GMT]
New Cabinet of Ministers will be sworn in on Tuesday and all constituent political parties of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) will be represented in the new Cabinet, Minister and Cabinet spokesman Mr.Nimal Sripala de Silva said at a press briefing held at the Presidential Secretarial Saturday evening.


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Clinton to visit tsunami regions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 November 2005, 13:34 GMT]
Former US President Clinton in his capacity as UN Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery will visit to tsunami affected countries, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, and report to European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, said a media release from the Office of the Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery at UNDP. In both countries, President Clinton will meet with affected communities with a focus on assessing the status of the recovery efforts. Key issues the former President will focus on include: shelter concerns, restoring livelihoods, the role of the private sector in the recovery effort and building the capacity of governmental institutions, the release further said.
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Rajapakse swears in as new President of Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 November 2005, 12:51 GMT]
President Mahinda Rajapakse was sworn in as the fifth executive President of Sri Lanka before the Chief Justice Sarath N Silva at the Presidential Secretariat at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Mahinda Rajapakse, who hails from the southern district of Hambantota, in his first symbolic speech said his priority was to begin talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and strengthen the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA).
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UNP files petition for re-poll in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 November 2005, 12:24 GMT]
Opposition leader and United National Party (UNP) Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe addressing a press conference in Colombo Friday said UNP has requested the Election Commissioner to conduct re-polls in Northeast districts where, the UNP said, conditions were created to prevent people from freely exercising their franchise.
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Rajapakse wins Sri Lankan Presidency

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 November 2005, 07:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s hardline Prime Minister has been elected as country’s fifth President. Results released Friday by the election commission indicated Premier Mahinda Rajapakse had received almost 50.3% of the vote, with his main rival, opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, taking 48.4% in a hard fought race that has long been described as too close to call.
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Less than one percent cast vote in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 November 2005, 12:28 GMT]
Election officials in Jaffna secretariat said in a low voter turnout only 2168 votes (0.3% out of 701,938 registered) were cast in Jaffna district. Low number of incidents of violence were reported during the election day where Jaffna district voters appeared to have heeded the call for total boycott by several student organizations.
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Jaffna election irregularities on voting eve

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 November 2005, 12:55 GMT]
Reports from Jaffna reveal intimidating and underhand activities of the Eelam People Democratic Party (EPDP) cadres in organising vote-rigging in Sri Lanka Presidential election. Groups of armed EPDP cadres were seen visiting house to house forcibly collecting the 'ballot-tokens' from residents in islets off Jaffna peninsula, TamilNet learns. With armed protection from the State armed forces, Douglas Devananda's EPDP is holding unannounced short-meetings at market places and actively campaigning for Mahinda Rajapakse, the candidate of the ruling party.
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FMM condemns attack on journalist

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 November 2005, 11:50 GMT]
Free Media Movement (FMM), in a press release issued Tuesday in Colombo condemned the attack on Mr Wahab, a correspondent to Tamil Language newspaper Thinakaran, in Akkaraipattu on the 14 November. A grenade lobbed into Mr Wahab's house by unknown assailants exploded causing damage to his house, but no one was injured.
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Unidentified aircraft comes down in Puttalam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 November 2005, 09:29 GMT]
An unidentified flying object, suspected to be a small aircraft or a helicopter, has come down in the sea 140 km north of Colombo and 2 km off the Ilanthayadi shore at about 10.45 a.m. Tuesday, according to fishermen in the area. None of the Sri Lankan aircrafts or helicopters were reported missing, according to Mr. Ajantha De Silva, the spokesman of the Sri Lanka Airforce (SLAF).
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NEPC to setup sand mining projects in NorthEast districts

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 November 2005, 00:02 GMT]
North East Provincial Council (NEPC) is planning to establish plants to mine sand from sea in the districts of Jaffna, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai to compensate for the shortage of river sand needed for the construction industry in the districts. NEPC administration is to call for tenders internationally for the setting up of these plants, Mr.T.Thavasilingam, Provincial Deputy Chief Secretary, Engineering Services of the NEPC said at a meeting with officials of the National Reconstruction Association of Sri Lanka (NCASL) held Saturday in Trincomalee.
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Children support peace, says poll

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 November 2005, 12:21 GMT]
A Children’s Opinion Poll commissioned by the Children As Zones of Peace (‘CZOP’), a collaboration of local and international NGOs and UN Agencies has found that 97 percent of children that are aware of the peace process, see the peace process as good for Sri Lanka, a media release issued by CZOP said Monday.


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84 EU members to be on election duty

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 November 2005, 12:15 GMT]
55 additional officials arrived from European member countries and Switzerland Monday to augment the 29 officials already present to participate with the EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) to "observe voting, counting and tabulation procedures throughout the whole country," a press release issued by the EOM said Monday.
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French Government funds disaster preparedness efforts

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 November 2005, 11:18 GMT]
The Government of France has provided Sri Lanka $1.2m to improve disaster preparedness, to create better disaster awareness and a culture of safety in the country, a press release issued by the French Embassy in Colombo said Monday.


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EPDP cadre shot dead in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 November 2005, 17:54 GMT]
Two unknown gunmen riding in a motorbike shot dead Mr Vellaipodi Rasanayagam (36), an Eelam People Democratic Party (EPDP) cadre, Sunday night at about 8.00 p.m. at Maya Avenue in Wellawatte, Colombo, sources said. Mr Rasanayagam is alleged to be a key intelligence operative, and is in-charge of security for Leader of EPDP, Mr Douglas Devananda.
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