Jaffna wins crown in first NorthEast athletic meet

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 July 2004, 17:51 GMT]
Jaffna district emerged champions in the first Thamileelam Junior Track and Field meet held in Jaffna during the weekend. Trincomalee district became the runners-up and the third place went to Mannar district. However the Trincomalee district bagged the highest gold medals with 19, Jaffna district 15, Amparai 09, Kilinochchi 07, Mannar and Mullaitivu 5 each, Vavuniya 6 and Batticaloa 3, sources said.
Full story >>

Smugglers arrive in Mannar among refugees

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 July 2004, 14:36 GMT]
The Mannar magistrate Saturday remanded until July 22 four boatmen and their assistants for illegally ferrying twelve refugees and two alleged smugglers from South India. Talaimannar Police arrested the smugglers with gold jewellery and clothes, legal sources in Mannar said.
Full story >>

Trinco Rotary Club appoints new President

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 July 2004, 00:14 GMT]
Mr.S.I.R.Croos, a Civil Engineer was appointed as the 26th President of the Trincomalee Rotary Club Saturday night at an event held in Hotel Club Oceanic in Allesgarden Trincomalee. Mr.R. Renganathan, Deputy Chairman of Seylan Bank was the chief guest and the Trincomalee District Government Agent Mr. Gamini Rodrigo was the keynote speaker, according to sources who attended the event.


Full story >>

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.
Full story >>

Indian fishermen escape from Mannar lockup

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 July 2004, 10:58 GMT]
Six Indian fishermen remanded over poaching in the seas off Talaimannar escaped from prison in the early hours of Thursday morning, Police said. One of the escapees, Mr. Muniyasamy Murukesu was apprehended inside St. Lucia’s Church in Mannar town Thursday afternoon. The six Indian fishermen escaped from the remand lockup in Uppukkulam in Mannar town during a general blackout in the area from around 3 a.m. Police said. An Indian fisherman who refused to escape with his colleagues was produced in Mannar courts Thursday.
Full story >>

Maj. Gen. Kottegoda SLA's new commander

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 June 2004, 18:17 GMT]
Major General Shantha Kottegoda will be appointed as the Sri Lanka army’s 17th commander from 1 July 2004. President Chandrika Kumaratunga, the commander in chief of the Sri Lankan armed forces, has approved his appointment despite speculation that she might extend the present SLA commander’s term for six months. Maj. Gen. Kottegoda, like his predecessor, is a senior intelligence officer. He was appointed to a special post as Overall Operations Commander (OOC) for the east after the LTTE crushed a renegade’s short-lived rebellion in the region.
Full story >>

Headless body found in Mannar coast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 June 2004, 04:30 GMT]
Headless body of an unidentified young woman washed ashore in the Mannar coast near Nadukuda village close Pesalai area. Residents of the area found the body lying on the beach Wednesday early morning, police said.
Full story >>

Sri Lankan Tamil refugees rescued in Mannar Sea

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 June 2004, 16:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Wednesday morning rescued 26 persons from seven Tamil refugee families returning from Rameswaram in South India from a sandbank in Talaimannar Sea.
Full story >>

Uyilankulam entry to remain open for Madhu festival

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 June 2004, 03:06 GMT]
During the popular annual festival days at Madhu shrine between 30 June and 2 July, Uyilankulam and main Madhu roads will remain open 24 hours, according to Mannar Assistant Police Commissioner, A.K.Jayawardene, local media reorts said.
Full story >>

Norway persists as stalemate deepens

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 June 2004, 01:04 GMT]
The stalemate in Sri Lanka’s peace process continued this week, and even as Norwegian diplomats vowed to continue their shuttle diplomacy, President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s government hardened its stance on the agenda for talks.


Full story >>

Mannar town paralyzed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 June 2004, 04:54 GMT]
Normal life of Mannar town was completely paralyzed Tuesday when civil groups launched one day general shut down (hartal) protesting against the assault on civilians by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Monday evening.
Full story >>

Mannar tense following SLA interrogation of LTTE activists

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 June 2004, 13:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army soldiers manning the checkpoint at the entrance to the Mannar town Monday afternoon at about 1.30 p.m. stopped two leading political activists of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Ms V.Nilavarasi, Mannar District Political Head of Women's wing and her deputy Ms Kavimani and subjected them to severe interrogation when they arrived from LTTE controlled Vattakandal area.
Full story >>

Kumaratunga hints at "an effective compromise" with the LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 June 2004, 15:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga, in a prime-time TV address, has indicated that she is "seeking an effective compromise" to overcome the dragging differences with the LTTE that delay peace talks. The LTTE has been insisting on negotiating its interim administration proposals first, while the government wanted to have parallel talks on the final solution to the conflict. In her nation-wide telecast Saturday night Kumaratunga hinted at her readiness to "prioritise" the LTTE demand while not openly abandoning the government's position to have parallel talks on the final settlement.
Full story >>

Mannar Court releases refugees, orders remand for boatmen

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 June 2004, 11:27 GMT]
The Mannar Magistrate Mr. N.M.M.Abdullah Sunday released all 29 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees but ordered remand till June 10th for three boatmen, S.Jayarasa (27), S.Chandrabose (19) and A.Thavarajah (29) who brought them to the shore , legal sources in Mannar said. The three boatmen are Sri Lankan Tamils.


Full story >>

Poaching by Indian fishermen discussed at conference

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 May 2004, 17:48 GMT]
Fishermen from the North-East met with their counterparts from South India at a two-day conference in Colombo on Thursday and Friday to discuss the poaching by Indian fishermen and other problems faced by them. The National Fishermen’s Cooperative Council of Sri Lanka organized the conference.
Full story >>

Kalutara Tamil prisoners put off fasting campaign

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 May 2004, 22:04 GMT]
Mr. Sivanathan Kishore, the Tamil National Alliance Member of Parliament from the Vanni, who visited the Kalutara prison Thursday, said that the Tamil youths at the prison have put off their planned fasting campaign, following assurances that the TNA would take up their plight with Sri Lanka’s Attorney General and the Minister of Justice. Arrested under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), many youths have been languishing in jails for several years without their cases being brought to court.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka's BOI seeks investors for North-East

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 May 2004, 15:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Board of Investment (BOI) has established a Regional Economic Development Office (REDO) in Trincomalee town. The main objective of the REDO is to lure people from overseas, especially Sri Lankan expatriates, to invest in the eight districts of the northeast province, REDO's Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Terrence Suntharam, told journalists Thursday.
Full story >>

SL President urged to hand over Mannar saltern to co-op

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 May 2004, 18:00 GMT]
Mr.Selvam Adaikalanathan, Vanni district parliamentarian, Thursday made an urgent appeal to Sri Lanka's President, Ms.Chandrika Kumaratunge, to take immediate steps to hand over the defunct Mannar saltern to the Mannar Fisheries Co-operative Society to reactivate it. The Mannar saltern has now been under the purview of the Ministry of Enterprises, and Investment Promotion, sources said.
Full story >>

Mannar GA declines to send back jailed Indians by sea

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 May 2004, 17:39 GMT]
The Mannar government agent Thursday declined a directive by the district magistrate to send back by sea three Indian fishermen jailed for illegally ferrying Tamil refugees and for smuggling explosives to the island's northwestern coast last year.
Full story >>

"SLA establishes new checkpoints in Vavuniya, Mannar"- Selvam

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 May 2004, 11:22 GMT]
Vanni electoral district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Mr.Selvam Adaikalanathan Monday sent an urgent letter to Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge that the establishment of new check points of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the administrative districts of Mannar and Vavuniya is causing serious apprehension in the minds of the people that the security forces are preparing for renewed military action, TNA sources said.


Full story >>