Jan 9 (AFP) Fishermen cast their nets for the first time since the tsunami; teenagers start looking for jobs to support their families; men talk of moving away from the shoreline, others of returning. Two weeks after the tragedy, survivors are turning their attention to the future. more..

Jan 10 (CSM) When roiling black water turned the TriStar garment factory into a wasteland, owner Kumar Dewapura gathered his 400 frightened workers together for a pep talk no one here can forget. He affirmed that all his employees were a family and that they would all be treated as such. more..

Jan 10 (CSM) Before his damaged garment factory reopened Monday, plant manager Anura Kelaniyangoda held an imaginary Buddha relic over his head and led 400 workers from a temple to the workplace. Behind him strode 10 robed monks; pipers and drummers paced in front. more..

Jan 10 (TN) Bishop Joseph Kingsley Swampillai, bishop of Batticaloa-Amparai district, expressed his appreciation for the relief efforts carried out by the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) and the support given by the Tamil diaspora in meeting the immediate and urgent needs of the victims of disaster, more..

Jan 10 (TN) According to the US Geological Survey more than three million earthquakes occur every year. That is 8.000 quakes a day or one every 11 seconds. But researchers still debate on what causes earthquakes. more..

Jan 10 (TN) The Executive Director of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), Mr. K. P. Regi, met with United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, at a meeting Sunday convened for a selected group of civil society representatives, sources in Colombo said. more..

Jan 10 (AT) Tamils in the Eastern Sri Lanka have rejected the divisive politics of Tamil Tigers (LTTE), the Sri Lankan rebel group fighting for an independent state in North East Sri Lanka. more..

Jan 10 (AT) In a survey of ten people picked at random by this writer for Asian Tribune, we find there is a mixed reaction here in Sri Lanka on the credibility of reports by state media that Velupillai Prabhakaran, the LTTE leader, died in the December Tsunami. more..

Jan 10 (Bloomberg) Sri Lanka must slow the flow of overseas aid into the country to prevent its currency from further rising against the dollar and the yen, said Raghuram Rajan, chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. more..

Jan 10 (BBC) Schools are due to reopen in Sri Lanka on Monday after the tsunami delayed the beginning of the new academic year. But in many areas, refugees from the tsunami are still sheltering inside school buildings. In the rebel-held north, the homeless are being speedily moved out of the schools into temporary shelters. more..

Jan 10 (Jang) The Sri Lankan high commissioner in Pakistan said 31,000 people were killed and 5,000 missing in Sri Lanka’s coastal areas in the wake of December 26 tsunami as a final count. more..

Jan 10 (AFP) A New Zealand tour operator wants to help Sri Lanka rebuild from the devastation of last month’s tsunami by offering a holiday combining sightseeing with aid work. The tour, due to leave on January 20, includes five days of sightseeing and a minimum of four days rebuilding a fishing village, more..

Jan 10 (BBC) President Chandrika Kumaratunga called on the international community to provide technical assistance for the reconstruction of areas affected by the tsunami. more..

Jan 10 (VERONA) The local effort to help tsunami victims heads overseas, as area educators prepare for a lesson in survival. "I think it's gonna be a little bit frightening and hard work and life–opening, you know, eye opening experience," says Melea Renk who's headed for Sri Lanka. more..

Jan 10 (AN) More than half the people who died from tsunami waves in Sri Lanka were Muslims. According to the latest figures released by the government, 30,860 people have been killed, some 4,000 missing and one million more made homeless. more..

Jan 10 (SAMN) The Free Media Movement (FMM) has expressed its appreciation of the media's role in collecting and distributing immediate humanitarian relief for tsunami victims in the days following the tragedy of December 26, 2004. more..

Jan 10 (SAMN) The destruction caused by politicisation to the country since independence is greater than the tsunami tragedy which engulfed the whole nation within twenty minutes, said Minister of Advanced Technology and National Enterprise Development Rohitha Bogollagama. more..

Jan 10 (TN) Mr.Juan Manuel Suarez Del Toro Rivero, President of International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) Monday paid courtesy call on Prime Minister Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse at the latter's official residence Temple Trees. Mr.Juan Manuel Suarez del Toro Rivero who is currently in the island meeting with Red Cross officials and reviewing ongoing Tsunami relief and assistance programmes. more..

Jan 10 (wsws) The tsunami that shattered the coastal regions of Sri Lanka played havoc in the northern parts of the Jaffna peninsula. According to statistics from the country’s Disaster Management Centre, 2,640 people were killed, with another 540 missing, while 541 were injured. more..

Jan 10 (Bernama) Sri Lanka is scrambling to put together an early warning system against tsunamis and earthquakes after one virtually devoured the country's coastline. But, as in the past, the country is unlikely to be adequately prepared to handle a similar disaster because of an inept bureaucracy and repeated political changes. more..

Jan 10 (Bernama) The tsunamis that left more than 30,000 Sri Lankans dead and swift international focus on the rebuilding effort is worrying many people that the peace process could get sidelined in the melee. The death toll in just a few minutes of destruction is half of what the country has lost in 20 years of ethnic strife. more..

Jan 10 (AP) An American Navy ship, the USS Duluth, carrying more than 100 U.S. Marines arrived Monday off the southern coast of Sri Lanka as part of the U.S. military's relief and rebuilding efforts in tsunami-struck areas. more..

Jan 10 (LBO) The Tax Cluster will look at providing tax concessions for tsunami-donations and for reconstruction activity, says the Inland Revenue. "We have got requests for tax concessions on donations and for imports for reconstruction. We will discuss these when the Tax Cluster meets early next week and make a decision," more..

Jan 10 (LBO) Battered victims of Sri Lanka's tsunami, are facing another blow as the government draws up plans to grab their only remaining asset, the piece of valuable coastal land where they used to live. Displaced residents of Hambantota are already getting together to protest government moves to take away their land, more..

Jan 10 (SLA) Troops engaged in the post-tsunami needs in affected HAMBANTOTA areas on 09 January 2005 recovered six more vehicles and one more motorbike from the debris in the town and HAMBANTOTA saltern in the lagoon. more..

Jan 10 (AP) Singapore on Monday shipped seven tons of medical supplies to tsunami-ravaged Sri Lanka, as part of the tiny city-state's multimillion dollar response to the crisis. The consignment contained surgical tools, face masks, disposable syringes, wound dressings, thermometers more..

Jan 10 (LT) Whether international aid and money sent to the people in the North or whether tigers use it to buy arms should be looked into said Mr. Somawansha Amarasinghe, leader of the JVP to UN Secretary General Mr. Koffy Annan. more..

Jan 10 (AP) Some Sri Lankans living in Minnesota are planning trips to their homeland after the devastating tsunami with a specific goal in mind: finding a small village and rebuilding it - complete with 25 new homes, a clinic, school and orphanage. more..

Jan 10 (SAMN) The Free Media Movement (FMM) has expressed its appreciation of the media's role in collecting and distributing immediate humanitarian relief for tsunami victims in the days following the tragedy of December 26, 2004. more..

Jan 10 (HT) The tsunami onslaught is over, and the seas around Sri Lanka are as placid as they can be. But behind the surface calm are nagging uncertainties, deep apprehensions and acute tensions. Life in the 'paradise isle' will never be the same again. more..

Jan 10 (DN) Reconstruction work after the tsunami was now a priority and would get under way shortly, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga told BBC Television yesterday. more..

Jan 11 (TN) Jaffna district Tamil National Parliamentarians Monday boycotted the first official visit of Mr.Tyronne Fernando, Governor of the Northeast Province in protest to the government's refusal to allow Mr.Koffi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations to visit Tsunami destroyed Northern coastal areas, including Mullaitivu district, TNA sources said. more..

Jan 11 (CBS) The U.S. military is running relief operations in the areas stricken by the tsunamis, and The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith is in Sri Lanka, where he joined up with one battalion of Marines just outside of the coastal city of Galle. more..

Jan 11 (CBS) "I've been with UNICEF for 10 years, and I've seen a lot of pretty terrible things, but it was horrifying. I've never seen anything as dramatic, as broad in its impact. (Not only) the number of people dead, but the number of people affected. I've just never seen anything like it." more..

Jan 11 (AP) A northern Indiana priest who grew up in Sri Lanka is heading back to his homeland to help children whose lives were thrown into chaos by last month's deadly tsunami. The Rev. Daniel Pinto said he would arrive Wednesday in Colombo, Sri Lanka, more..

Jan 11 (KRT) The Tamil Tigers are best known for recruiting suicide bombers and teenage soldiers who prefer death by cyanide to capture. They are known for their discipline. Now the rebel group has turned its military skills from a decades-long civil war toward tsunami relief. more..

Jan 11 (UST) Having watched the sea take away her parents and her home, Thushari de Silva clung with all her 12-year-old fury to the big sister who was trying to leave her behind. "I can't stay here! I want to go with you!" cried Thushari, a pretty girl in a bright blue T-shirt, shaken by grief and scared to be left alone at a government shelter for girls. more..

Jan 11 (Yahoo) A disabled resident of Sambodhi home, a shelter for physically and mentally disabled children and adults, eats his breakfast two weeks after the Tsunami which hit the coastal city of Galle, more..

Jan 11 (Bloomberg) Sri Lanka must control the flow of overseas aid into the country to prevent its currency from further rising against the dollar and the yen, said Raghuram Rajan, chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. more..

Jan 11 (Bloomberg) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels don't object to the U.S. military presence in the South Asian island as part of relief efforts after the Dec. 26 tsunami that killed at least 30,000 people, a rebel leader said. more..

Jan 11 (CI) Sri Lanka Cricket officials and cricketers met with Tamil Tiger sports and political officials over the weekend and agreed to set-up and manage an emergency camp for 200 families in Mullaitivu, a severely hit part of the east coast, as part of their Cricket-Aid programme. more..

Jan 11 (AP) Sri Lanka could play two Tests in New Zealand in April, reviving a tour abandoned when tsunamis hit the Indian Ocean nation, New Zealand Cricket said Monday. “There are a number of options and one is to look at a couple of Tests in the first half of April,” more..

Jan 11 (CI) A showcase of the world's best players could not produce a gripping finish, but Ricky Ponting led the list of memorable performances in tribute to the more than 150,000 victims of the Boxing-Day tsunami. more..

Jan 11 (DPA) The LTTE have called on German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer to visit their rebel-held territory in northeastern Sri Lanka. SP Tamilselvan told dpa that Fischer would be acknowledging the desperate cries of tsunami victims in the Tamil region by accepting the offer of the insurgent group. more..

Jan 11 (AT) Sri Lanka has suffered the most human fatalities (30,000 plus) and infrastructure and other property damage after Indonesia in the catastrophic tsunami disaster of last month. According to reliable reports from independent sources, the Sri Lankan Tamil community in the Northern and Eastern provinces has suffered the most in the tragedy, more..

Jan 11 (BBC) Despite the reopening of schools for the new term, most schools in the affected ares did not reopen on Monday,the 10th. According to the National Operations Center, out of the 1.5 million students in the affected areas, 76,000 students couldn’t start school. more..

Jan 11 (BBC) Children in many areas of Sri Lanka and the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu have been returning to school following the tsunami disaster. Few lessons took place in Sri Lanka, as staff attempted to establish how many pupils and teachers were killed. more..

Jan 11 (Yahoo) Anitha Thevakumar, right, and Deluxshanthi Erampamoorthy, second right, sit in their classroom during their lesson on the first day of the school year at Vincent girl's high school in the eastern coastal town of Batticaloa, more..

Jan 11 (AP) President acknowledged on Monday asking U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan not to visit a tsunami-ravaged area controlled by Tamil Tiger rebels. Rising tensions between the government and rebels have dampened hopes that joint tsunami relief efforts would help bring the two sides closer together, more..

Jan 11 (PTI) The threat to Sri Lanka's tsunami-battered shores from a cyclone that was building off its east coast appears to be dissipating, the meteorological department said on Monday. more..