$700/day nightly comfort for SL team to UN- paper

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 September 2004, 11:55 GMT]
"Sri Lanka delegation to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) sessions is billed to stay at the most famous five-star luxury hotel in the city - the Waldorf Astoria," in New York costing Sri Lankan tax payers room rates ranging from $370 to $700, Sunday Times, a weekly broadsheet in Colombo reported in its Sunday edition.
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Provincial Folk Dance festival held in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 September 2004, 10:41 GMT]
Northeast Provincial Folk Dance Festival was held Saturday evening in Trincomalee St.Mary's College Therese Auditorium under the auspices of Provincial Department of Education. Schools which won the district level competitions participated in the provincial level final competitions held Saturday morning and the winners were awarded prizes and certificates in the Folk Dance Festival held later the same day.
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TRO supplies tractors to Killinochchi NGOs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 September 2004, 15:39 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) under its Accelerated Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Development Project Saturday handed over seven tractors on a loan scheme through Killinochchi Social Economic Development Bank (KSEDB) to local non-governmental organizations to strengthen their activities in the region.
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Sri Lanka Police chief urged to stop drug smuggling in Mannar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 September 2004, 13:10 GMT]
Mannar Bishop Rt. Rev. Rayappu Joseph Saturday urged Sri Lanka's Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Indra Silva, to urgently start a special Police division to curb rampant heroin smuggling in the district. Mr.Indra Silva is the first IGP of Sri Lanka to visit Mannar in 30 years. He paid a courtsey call on the Bishop during an official visit to Mannar Saturday. Mannar has emerged as a major transit point for drug smuggling from India to Sri Lanka after Colombo signed a cease fire agreement with the Liberation Tigers in 2002.
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Senior EPDP cadre shot dead in Puttalam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 September 2004, 07:08 GMT]
A senior member of the EPDP, a close ally of President Kumaratunga, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Puttalam, 125 kilometres north of Colombo, Saturday around 11 a.m. Police said. The EPDP cadre, identified as Mr. Thambithurai Sivakumar, 42, was going home in Thillaiyadi, Puttalam when he was shot by gunmen riding a motorbike, according to Police.
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Solheim discusses peace impasse with editors

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 September 2004, 10:59 GMT]
Norway's special peace envoy Mr. Eric Solheim Friday had discussions with editors of the Sinhala dailies Lankadeepa and and Lakbima and the Tamil dailies Thinakkural and Sudar Oli about the current peace impasse in Sri Lanka. He said that he was unable to meet the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), President Kumaratunga's main coalition partner that is stridently opposing peace talks with the Liberation Tigers.
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Sri Lanka President welcomes Norway's role

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 September 2004, 17:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunge welcomed Norway's role in the peace process and accused the LTTE of ''indecision over commencement of talks,'' in a press release issued today after discussions with Norwegian Peace Envoy, Eric Solheim at the President's House in Colombo.
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Tamil Language Festival to be held in Trinco

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 September 2004, 15:26 GMT]
North East Provincial Tamil Language Festival for Tamil medium schools in the province is to be held on September 18 and 19 in Trincomalee St.Mary's College Theresa Auditorium. Provincial Folkdance Festival will be held on the first day and Tamil Language Festival on the second day, provincial ministry of education officials said.


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ISGA must form basis for talks- UNP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 September 2004, 14:44 GMT]
Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) Thursday reiterated its stand that the future talks between the United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) should commence on the basis of the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA), said UNP's media spokesman and former minister Professor G.L.Peiris addressing a press briefing in Colombo.
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U.S. Consular officials to visit Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 September 2004, 10:53 GMT]
Consular officials of the American Embassy in Colombo will be visiting Jaffna on Monday, 20 September to provide opportunity for U.S. citizens residing in Jaffna to meet the officials, a press release from the U.S. Embassy said.
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No constructive message from Colombo - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 September 2004, 09:33 GMT]
"The Norwegian facilitators did not bring any constructive message from the Sri Lankan government. It is unfortunate that the Sri Lankan government is not speaking in one voice about the peace process" said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, head of the Liberation Tigers' political divison, speaking to the press after discussions with Mr. Eric Solheim, Norway's special peace envoy to Sri Lanka, Thursday in Kilinochchi. Speaking briefly to media after the meeting, Mr. Solheim said all parties connected to the peace process are feeling a sense of frustration now.
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Solheim to meet Thamilchelvan Thursday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 September 2004, 17:52 GMT]
Norwegian special peace envoy Mr. Erik Solheim is scheduled to meet Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, Political Head of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Thursday morning at 10 a.m. in the Killinochchi Peace Secretariat, sources said
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Solheim meets Hakim, Devananda

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 September 2004, 01:13 GMT]
Norwegian special envoy Eric Solheim Tuesday evening met with Leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Rauff Hakim, and Secretary General of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), Douglas Devananda, and discussed in detail about the resumption of peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suspended from April last year, political sources in Colombo said.
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Solheim meets Government Peace Secretariat Head

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 September 2004, 16:18 GMT]
Norwegian special peace envoy Mr. Eric Solheim Tuesday held wide range of discussion with Dr.Jayantha Dhanapala, Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat of the Government of Sri Lanka regarding the prospects of resuming peace talks between the GOSL and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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Norwegian peace envoy arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 September 2004, 04:45 GMT]
Norwegian special peace envoy Mr. Eric Solheim arrived in Colombo Monday evening on a five-day visit to hold talks with the leaders of Government of Sri Lanka and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) with the aim to a make a headway in the resumption of stalled peace talks, political sources said.
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Kumaratunga confidante promises better deal in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 September 2004, 17:09 GMT]
President Chandrika Kumaratunga's spokesman and advisor on rehabilitation and reconstruction, Mr. Harim Pieris told jounalists in Jaffna Monday that her government does not discriminate between areas held by the Liberation Tigers and Sri Lankan armed forces in providing aid unlike the previous regime in Colombo. He pointed out that President Chandrika's government had repaired bridges on the A9 road first in the LTTE held parts of the north.
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U.S. urged to adopt balanced approach to peace

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 September 2004, 10:17 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader and the Trincomalee district parliamentarian Mr.R.Sampanthan in a press release issued Monday in Trincomalee said that a meeting Ambassador J.Cofer Black, had with a group of Sri Lankan media representatives in Colombo, has "caused much concern to wide sections of the Tamil people," and cautioned that "failure to adopt an even handed approach could cause immense harm to the peace process." Ambassador Black is U.S. State Department's Co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism.
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Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal to be decentralized

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 September 2004, 19:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka's constitution is to be amended to open regional level circuit session of the Court of Appeal to hear appeals from outstations. Sri Lanka Cabinet has given its approval to the proposed amendment to the constitution submitted by the Justice Minister, said Sri Lanka's Chief Justice Mr.Sarath N.Silva Sunday in Trincomalee.


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TNA MPs meet Canadian Ambassador

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 2004, 10:44 GMT]
Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Senior parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Kajendran, Ms.Pathmini Sithamparanathan and Selvam Adaikalanathan met with Candian Ambassador Valerie Raymond at the Canadian High Commission in Colombo Friday morning to discuss matters related to Interim Administration Authority Proposals (ISGA), diplomatic sources in Colombo said.
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UNICEF funded maternity ward opened in Trinco hospital

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 2004, 00:01 GMT]
Dr.Ashok Nigam, UNICEF Regional Planning Officer, Regional Office, Nepal Thursday afternoon declared open the reconstructed maternity ward in the Trincomalee General Hospital built with the financial support of the UNICEF.


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