Japan provides US$185m development loan to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 March 2006, 11:58 GMT]
Japanese Government Thursday announced a new package of loan of US$185 million (Yen 21,560m) for three projects, Galle Port Development (US$125m)), Infrastructure Development of Eastern Province (US$38m), and Tourism Resources Improvement (US$22m). This 37th yen brings the total loan provided by Japan to Sri Lanka in the last 14 months to $370m.
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Bus shortage plagues northern region transport system

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 February 2006, 13:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) has sent only five buses to Northern Region Transport Board (NRTB) instead of fifty as promised. The SLTB made an order with a foreign firm to import two thousand buses to be distributed among various depots in the island. Only three hundred out of 2000 buses have arrived in Colombo, sources said..


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NEHRP provides carpentry, masonry training for NorthEast youths

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 February 2006, 02:03 GMT]
The World Bank (WB) funded North East Housing Reconstruction Programme (NEHRP) has started a masonry and carpentry training project in the NorthEast to meet the acute shortage of masons and carpenters in the eight districts of the province. The project now being implemented in the districts of Jaffna, Mannar and Vavuniya are to be extended to other districts in the province from March, NEHRP sources said.


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Armed men beat MAG staffers in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 11:49 GMT]
Armed men in civilian clothes claiming to be belonging to paramilitary Karuna Group entered the offices of MAG (Mines Advisory Group) in Batticaloa at 2.55 p.m. Wednesday and beat a local staffer working at the office, and threatened the British national heading the Batticaloa office of MAG, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Risk awareness training for NorthEast journalists held

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 February 2006, 11:31 GMT]
Two sessions of two-day risk awareness training for journalists, the first session for 25 Jaffna journalists in Colombo, and the second for journalists from the Batticaloa, Amparai and Vavuniya, at Sigiriya village in the North Central Province, organized by the International News Safety Institute (INSI), concluded Sunday, sources said.
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Fatal bus accident triggers unrest in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 February 2006, 09:36 GMT]
Ms Vjayaraj Patmalogini, 26, was killed on the spot and her daughter severely injured when a public bus heading to Okulankulam from Vavuniya town hit them at Vavuniya Good Shed road Monday 20th Feb. at 8.15 am, sources in Vavuniya said. Vavuniya police had to fire teargas and rubber bullets to disperse the angry youths who started attacking the conductor and confronted the Police who arrived at the scene of the accident.


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Vavuniya youth reported missing

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 February 2006, 19:01 GMT]
Sithamparanathan Thamileesan, 24, from Vavuniya, has been reported missing since his departure to Colombo on December 15th, his relatives said in a complaint to the Vavuniya Human Rights Commission (HRC), officials of HRC said.
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TRO expresses dismay, concern over Govt. allegations of non-cooperation

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 February 2006, 13:28 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) expressed "dismay and concern" over allegations made to the media by Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera, and Cabinet spokesperson Priyadharsana Yapa, that TRO was not helping with ongoing investigations. TRO refuted these statements as politically motivated propaganda by the Sri Lanka Government aimed at discrediting the TRO, TRO officials told TamilNet. TRO said in a press release issued Friday from Colombo that it is fully cooperating with the investigations, and has provided detailed account of the actions taken by TRO from the time of abductions.
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Karunanidhi to apprise Delhi on Sri Lanka Tamil issues

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 February 2006, 06:31 GMT]
Leader of Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF), Periyasamy Chandrasekaran, said in a letter dated 1 February to Dr. Kalaignar M. Karunanithi, President of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhaham of Tamil Nadu, for his early attention to meet India's Prime Minister and Mrs Sonia Ghandi and to release a statement to the media on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) harassment of NorthEast Tamils, UPF media section said.
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Vavuniya SLA trooper kills himself

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 19:41 GMT]
Premaratne Bandara, a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper attached to the Kolluveli SLA camp, fatally shot himself at 4.30 p.m. Saturday, Vavuniya police said. Mr Bandara belongs to the armoured vehicle division of the SLA, military sources said.
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SLA mines injure Mannar elephants

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 15:37 GMT]
Three wild elephants which have sustained injuries from landmines buried in Ganshapuram along Sri Lanka Government controlled Mannar-Vavuniya Road Wednesday morning have crossed over into the jungles at the Madhu side. Wild Department officials and veterinary surgeons are reported to have refused to enter the forest located in the Liberation Tigers controlled area to treat the elephants, sources said.
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Reconstruction of 13,000 houses in NorthEast to begin

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 03:13 GMT]
The World Bank funded North East Housing Reconstruction Programme (NEHRP) has commenced the second phase reconstruction of 13000 houses for the war victim families in the NorthEast. NEHRP officials started distributing forms to collect necessary data to select qualified beneficiaries affected by the two decade-old war in the province to be included in the second phase, a press release of the NEHRP said.
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Court begins inquiry into Jaffna students FR application

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 February 2006, 17:55 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Thursday listed the Fundamental Rights (FR) application filed by fifteen Tamil students from the Jaffna district alleging discrimination in university admission for further hearing. The FR application came up for inquiry before a three member Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Shiranee Bandaranaike, Raja Fernando and N.G.Amaratunge, legal sources said.
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Vavuniya traders face intimidation by armed groups- TNA MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 February 2006, 19:48 GMT]
"Traders of Vavuniya have brought to my notice that they have become the target of intimidation by unidentified armed groups. The anonymous callers have demanded ransom of cash over the telephone. I am also informed that these men are using mobile phone for this purpose," said Mr.Selvam Adaikalanathan, Wanni district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian in an urgent letter to the Sri Lanka President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse.
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Traders call for hartal in Vavuniya Thursday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 February 2006, 11:39 GMT]
Vavuniya Traders Union has called for a complete shutdown (hartal) of all businesses, private and Government offices in Vavuniya on Thursday as a protest against the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) for the escalating incidents of arrests, harassement and disappearances in the NorthEast, spokesperson for the Union said.
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NGO Consortium urges immediate action to release kidnapped TRO staff

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 February 2006, 08:08 GMT]
The Consortium of Non Governmental Organisation in Vavuniya, representing 43 NGOs in Vavuniya District, on Tuesday, appealed to the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, the representative of the International Committee for Red Cross in Colombo (ICRC), the Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and the chairperson of the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies in Colombo, to take immediate action to safeguard the lives and to ensure the safe return of NGO workers who have been kidnapped.
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Paramilitaries abduct 5 TRO staff in Welikande

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 January 2006, 19:54 GMT]
"Five (5) staff members [of Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO)] travelling from the Batticaloa office to Vanvuniya for training have been stopped by unidentified paramilitary personnel immediately after the Welikanda, (Polunnaruwa District) Sri Lankan Army Checkpoint at approximately 2:00 pm 30 January, 2006," TRO said in a press release issued Monday.
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Indian Air Force Chief arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 January 2006, 14:04 GMT]
The Indian Air Force (IAF) chief, Air Chief Marshal S.P.Tyagi arrived Monday in Sri Lanka on a five-day official visit, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) officials in Colombo said. During his stay in Sri Lanka, he is scheduled to meet SL President Mahinda Rajapakse, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapakse, Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Daya Sandagiri and the commanders of the three forces.
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Another grenade attack on civilian residence in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 January 2006, 08:38 GMT]
Unknown attackers lobbed a grenade at a civilian residence in Vavuniya Sunday night. No one was wounded in the attack, which was the sixth grenade attack to be reported on civilian residences within the last few days, Vavuniya Police said. At least two houses of reputed businessmen were among the targets in Vavuniya. Incidents of extortions and violence, allegedly by paramilitary cadres, have escalated in Vavuniya.
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Three wounded in grenade attack on Vavuniya trader's house

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 January 2006, 11:16 GMT]
A 13-year-old boy, his 14-year-old sister, and their mother were wounded when unknown attackers lobbed a grenade Saturday night around 8:40 p.m. on the front-yard of the residence of a reputed trader in Vavuniya, Police said. The cause of the attack on the house of the businessman, Chandrakumar, the owner of Gopi Agency, is not known, the Police said. This is the fifth grenade attack to be reported in Vavuniya town within the past 7 days, sources said.
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