LTTE: "no need to renegotiate ceasefire"

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 July 2005, 19:06 GMT]
Rejecting a call by the Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga inviting the Liberation Tigers for top-level talks to review and restructure the February 2002 ceasefire agreement, the Tigers this week urged the Sri Lankan government to implement the clauses and obligations of the truce without delay, so as to "consolidate the conditions of peace and normalcy in the Tamil homeland."
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Joint appearance of SLFP foes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 July 2005, 18:15 GMT]
Mr.Anura Bandaranaike, a senior minister and the brother of incumbent President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge appeared with Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse, Prime Minister on the same platform Wednesday and declared that he would support Mr.Rajapakse in the coming Presidential election as the candidate of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), sources in Colombo said. Both candidates have aspired for the SLFP Presidency and canvassed support separately till Tuesday.


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Batticaloa youth shot dead in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 July 2005, 14:34 GMT]
Mr. Kirupaharan Krishnapillai, 28, a Tamil youth, who was shot by unidentified gunmen Tuesday night around 11:30 p.m in Colombo, succumbed to gunshot wounds Wednesday morning around 6:30 a.m. at Colombo Hospital, Police sources said.
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Journalists protest against SL Deputy Minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 July 2005, 13:43 GMT]
Hundreds of print and electronic media personnel demonstrated against the Deputy Minister of Labour Relations and Foreign Employment, Mr. Mervyn Silva, condemning the verbal abuse by the Deputy Minister against the Sirasa, Swarnavahini television jouranalists and several other news paper reporters and photographers who were at the Colombo Fort Magistrate Courts to cover a case against Deputy Minister Mervyn Silva's son on Monday, sources said.
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SLFP to announce candidate for SL Presidency

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 July 2005, 04:18 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Ms.Chandrika Kumaratunge is likely to announce the names of candidates for President of Sri Lanka and the post of Prime Minister of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) at the central working committee of the SLFP which is scheduled to be held on Thursday or Friday, government sources said.
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286 Tamil medium teachers to be posted to NE schools

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 July 2005, 16:45 GMT]
286 GCE Advanced Level qualified Tamil medium teachers are to receive their appointment letters from zonal education offices in their respective districts in the northeast province Wednesday. These teachers have been selected by the Colombo Ministry of Education based on the results of the competitive examination held in December last year and the list has been handed over to the North East Provincial Ministry of Education for posting, education department officials said.
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Tamil Media Alliance condemns Minister for insulting journalist

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 July 2005, 16:13 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance has condemned Deputy Minister of Labour Relations and Foreign Employment, Mr. Mervyn Silva for verbally abusing and nearly assaulting the Veerakesari photographer Mr. S. Surenthiran who went to cover a court case where the Deputy Minister's son was involved.
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SL President convenes meeting of top military brass

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 July 2005, 15:59 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Ms. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga convened a meeting of senior officers of all three armed forces in Colombo at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) Tuesday, and spoke on the current political trends, sources in Colombo said.
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"Sri Lanka's Judiciary consistently denied justice to Tamils" - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 July 2005, 15:21 GMT]
"We have seen how the Judiciary of Sri Lanka aided the oppression of Tamil people during the period of war, and we have recently witnessed how Colombo's Supreme Court crippled the Agreement on Joint Mechanism accepted by the President of Sri Lanka," LTTE's Political Head Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan said in his key note address delivered in Kilinochchi at the ceremony to mark the opening of the new building for Legislation Secretariat of the Judicial Administrative Unit of the Tamil Eelam on Tuesday. "The Sinhala Nation has failed to seize the opportunity during this three and a half year period of absence of war to resolve the Tamil national question," LTTE's Political Head said.
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USAID to provide $77m for tsunami reconstruction

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 July 2005, 11:10 GMT]
United States signed an agreement Tuesday with the Government of Sri Lanka authorizing USAID additional funding of $77m "to implement a broad-reaching package of tsunami reconstruction projects," a press release issued by the US Embassy in Colombo said. The new funding "complements the $56 million already obligated for the relief and recovery program," the release said.
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NE part-time English teachers to be made permanent

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 July 2005, 03:12 GMT]
Two hundred and three part time English teachers of more than seven hundred and fifty serving in schools in the North East are to get permanent appointment with effect from Wednesday. Officials at the Provincial Ministry of Education in Trincomalee began scrutinizing their certificates and documents according to the 27/2001 Public Administration Ministry Monday and will continue till Tuesday, Mr.R.Thiyakalingam, and Provincial Education Ministry Secretary said
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JVP launches campaign against CFA in south

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 July 2005, 15:58 GMT]
More than 1500 cadres and supporters of Marxist Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) staged a protest demonstration against the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) demanding Colombo to make the CFA null and void. The main protest was held in front of the Colombo Fort Railway Station Monday evening from 4:30 p.m to 5:30 p.m. Similar protests were also held in Kalutura, Puttalam, Kandy, Matala, Monaragala, Ratnapura and Anurathapura on Monday.


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Indian official's limousine stolen in Ambepussa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 July 2005, 16:30 GMT]
Thieves stole the limousine of the Deputy Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, Mr Ramanpillai, at gun point in Ambepussa, a popular tourist spot along the Colombo-Kandy road Saturday morning. The incident took place at around 10:30 a.m. when the Deputy Indian envoy who is based in Kandy stopped his vehiche and entered the Ambepussa Rest House for tea with his family, sources said.
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Colombo to file objections to P-TOMS stay order

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 July 2005, 13:49 GMT]
Within the legal framework, the Government will canvass its case in favor of the Post Tsunami Operational Management Structure, cabinet spokesman Nimal Siripala De Silva said Friday. Speaking to reporters at a press briefing in COlombo Mr. Silva said that lawyers for the Government will file objections in the Supreme Court on July 29th regarding the Court ruling that imposed an interim order on the implementation of four vital clauses of the Bill.
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Japan funds rural development in Badulla

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 July 2005, 10:30 GMT]
Japanese Governement is to provide Rs 9 million for the "rehabilitation of the Galahagama Irrigation scheme, construction of the Welihela Ladduma Water Supply Project and improve the Kahatapitiya - Hangiliela Road," said a press release issued by Japanese Embassy in Colombo Friday.
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Stay order defers expropriation of estate workers' land

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 July 2005, 01:10 GMT]
Colombo High Court Monday issued a stay order on the the State's attempt to expropriate land belonging to estate workers at the Ingurugama tea estate in Badulla district, legal sources said. Families of several estate workers were asked to relocate to provide space for building University campus for Uva province.
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Disarming paramilitaries vital for peace - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 July 2005, 10:34 GMT]
LTTE's Political Head Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, after meeting with a Norwegian delegation Wednesday morning in Kilinochchi told the press that the ceasefire monitors did not bring any new message that will improve the deteriorating ground conditions in the NorthEast. He accused Colombo and the Sri Lankan armed forces for nurturing and promoting paramilitary groups in the SLA held areas of the NorthEast in violation of clause 1.8 of the CFA. "We stressed to Norwegian delegation the urgency of disarming the paramilitaries according to the terms of the CFA," Thamilchelvan told the reporters.
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Court acquits Dissanayake in bribery case

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 July 2005, 16:50 GMT]
Ms Rohini Perera, Colombo High Court Judge Tuesday acquitted Mr.S.B.Dissanayake, a former minister in the then UNF government and now serving two year jail sentence in a contempt of court case without calling for the defense from another case in which he had been indicted for accumulating assets by improper means, legal sources said.
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A9 travellers checked at gunpoint

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 July 2005, 14:40 GMT]
Passengers reaching Jaffna from Colombo Tuesday evening said that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were checking the travellers on A9 at gunpoint at a newly constructed checkpoint at Arasankulam, 1 km. south of Omanthai checkpoint.
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Peace co-chairs call for end to violence

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 July 2005, 11:25 GMT]
In a press release issued by the US Embassy in Colombo Tuesday, the Co-chairs for Sri Lanka Peace Process expressed alarm at the escalating violence called on the LTTE to stop killings, and the Government of Sri Lanka to disarm all paramilitaries and to guarantee security to unarmed LTTE cadres.
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