Jan 12 (ANN) The visiting German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer Tuesday said that the German Government has already pledged 500 million Euros for reconstruction and rehabilitation of the affected areas in the region and added that the people of Germany who were deeply moved with the plight of many Sri Lankans who became destitutde have raised 300 million Euros for the same purpose. more..

Jan 12 (Yahoo) Sri Lankans displaced by the Asian tsunami use the showers behind the cricket board at the Matara Sports Club in Matara ,37 kilometers south of Galle, Sri Lanka on Tuesday, Jan.11, 2005. more..

Jan 12 (Gulf) "Eye-witness stories for rupees 50," whispers Atula, coming closer to people busy zooming their camera lens on the few train carriages of the Ruhunukumari express. The train was blown off track by the tsunami killing 1,500 passengers aboard and injuring many others. more..

Jan 12 (Gulf) "We want a place to live. The government should move fast. We are running out of patience," said Ameen Hussain 30, who had taken shelter in a school compound along with other 1,200 refugees in Katugowda a village in Galle district. more..

Jan 12 (AR) Harindra Fernando wanted to interview residents Tuesday about the tsunami that almost obliterated this fishing town Dec. 26, and he didn't need to seek out prospects. One stricken person after another was eager to tell his or her story to the Arizona State University professor, more..

Jan 12 (AR) It was July when Harindra Fernando and his family enjoyed the Yala Safari Lodge, a jewel in an animal preserve where tourists came to see leopards, elephants, wild boar, water buffalo and other exotic creatures. more..

Jan 12 (Reuters) The United Nations should be ready to launch a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean by June 2006 with the rest of the world to follow a year later, the official in charge of the programme said on Wednesday. more..

Jan 12 (CNN) Till Mayer is a journalist working for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Galle, Sri Lanka. He is writing about his experiences as part of the relief effort for CNN.com. more..

Jan 12 (NJMG) Fresh from touring areas damaged by last month's tsunamis, U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine on Tuesday commended the world's response to the disaster but said he worries that aid will taper off once attention drifts to the next big story. more..

Jan 12 (NJMG) Ironically in the surf town of Aragam Bay Island there is a resort called Tsunami on the water front that was damaged from the tsunami. more..

Jan 13 (Reuters) Sri Lanka is one of the countries that suffered most from the recent tsunami. Over 30,000 people lost their lives and thousands more were injured countrywide. Responding to requests from the authorities and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the Norwegian Red Cross immediately dispatched a medical emergency response unit to Sri Lanka more..

Jan 13 (BBC) The main opposition UNP accused the government of mismanagement of the relief efforts. They say, the government had given priority to infrastructure development over humanitarian relief work. The UNP say, they have produced a plan of action giving out a new set of proposals for post tsunami development efforts. more..

Jan 13 (AP) A team of Sri Lankan school cricketers had just finished their warmups at Galle International Stadium on Boxing Day ahead of a match against an England under-19 side when giant tsunami waves struck. The waves dragged the visitors' team bus onto the ground, more..

Jan 13 (IE) Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Nirupama Rao, visited tsunami-battered regions in the northern Jaffna peninsula amidst tension between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels over the distribution of relief supplies. more..

Jan 13 (TN) Mr.Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister of Education in the Government of Singapore Wednesday paid a visit to Trincomalee district and witnessed the destruction of coastal areas in the north of east port town caused by Tsunami and consoled victims sheltered in welfare centres located in Nilaveli Mosque and Adambodai village. more..

Jan 13 (TN) Hundreds of Tamil refugee families who returned from South India some years ago and currently sheltered in a welfare centre at Alles Garden, north of Trincomalee, demonstrated in front of their camp Wednesday morning till noon, demanding that they should also be provided with relief and permanent shelters more..

Jan 13 (NJMG) Ledchumanan Ranjani, 24, the wife of Sasikumar, with their daughter, Gousala. The girl asks for her brother and sister, who are dead. more..

Jan 13 (AFP) The unprecedented relief effort for victims of the Asian tsunami disaster has proved a magnet for scam artists across the globe looking to translate the tragedy into personal gain. The devastation in South Asia "is bringing fraudsters out in droves," more..

Jan 13 (LT) Rupavahini higher ups have instructed the other officials not to telecast any news related to the relief work conducted by the members of Relief Services Force of the JVP. more..

Jan 13 (LT) At a time when the whole country is faced with a national disaster all political parties should unite to build the country and a complete termination of hostile politics should be observed says the JVP. more..

Jan 13 (TN) No estimate has yet been carried out about the damages caused by the tsunami to hospitals at Velvetithurai, Mullaitivu, Ninthavur, and Pothuvil and the rural hospitals at Chalamimadu and Kuchchaveli. more..

Jan 13 (TN) Fifteen-member medical team of the Singapore Red Cross Society (SRCS) has been conducting a medical camp in the Tsunami victim welfare centre, which is located in Nilaveli Mosque premises, north of Trincomalee district since last week. more..

Jan 13 (TN) Mr.Jim Karygiannis, Canadian parliamentarian, arrived in Jaffna with a team to witness the destruction caused by Tsunami of December 26 and console the victims. They visited the coastal areas of Valvettithurai, Athikovilady villages and welfare centres sheltering tsunami victims. more..

Jan 13 (TN) Mr.S.Pathmanathan, veteran Tamil activist and fondly called as " Eelathunathan" in the northeast Tamil political circles passed away Wednesday evening in Colombo hospital after brief illness. He was sixty at that time of death, family sources said. more..

Jan 13 (NJMG) Thanuya, 10, and Mokanaswari, 14, tending to their grandmother's hair. more..

Jan 13 (AT) The JVP’s latest gambit is to say ‘’let all political parties fold up our political agendas’ while the JVP itself is thrusting forward like a rocket with one agenda of its own - - that of re-building the nation after the Tsunami. more..

Jan 13 (AT) Is this veering away from democracy, or is this consensus politics? It is hard to say. But, in the guise of consensual politics, there could be a slight tendency of veering towards centralised presidential rule. more..

Jan 13 (AT) Sources close to Tyrone Fernando say that he being chased out of a Vadamaradhchi refugee camps should not be considered a major affront at all, considering that the former North East Governor Jayewardene, had to "move about in Jaffna by stealth." more..

Jan 13 (AT) A cabinet paper ahs been sent for approval to expedite the issuing of Death Certificates to thousands who are presumed dead in the December 26th Tsunami. The previous legislation was, (at least once upon a time), that a person should be missing or 7 years to be declared dead, more..

Jan 13 (AT) World Vision, a body with Christian affiliations will receive a large component - - if not all - - of funds raised in the Melbourne Charity match for tsunami relief, and this has raised a shindig with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramauna and the Jathika Hela Urumaya. more..

Jan 13 (CP) For Cpl. Gretel Quinonez, it was a life-changing day. She was among several teams of Canadian military doctors, nurses and technicians who opened four clinics Wednesday offering basic treatment to survivors of the Dec. 26 tsunami that devastated this coastal region in southeastern Sri Lanka. more..

Jan 13 (NPR) Along Sri Lanka's tsunami-ravaged coast people are clearing up debris and putting their lives back together. Elsewhere, Sri Lanakans who rely on the sea for their livelihood begin to confront the element that unleashed the catastrophe. more..

Jan 13 (UNI) Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga has sanctioned the visit of LTTE's Political wing head, S P to the tsunami-hit Eastern Batticaloa, Amparai and Trincomalee districts, reports here said. more..

Jan 13 (AG) A Mid Canterbury link is needed with Southeast Asia so the district can channel its support for adopting a village in the tsunami-ravaged region. St Stephen’s Anglican Church consulting vicar and parish enabler Reverend David Hastings suggested the adopt-a-village concept at a service dedicated to victims of the Boxing Day tragedy. more..

Jan 13 (Reuters) The families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks made a donation for tsunami relief on Wednesday, returning the generosity afforded them by a group of Sri Lankan Buddhists living in the New York area more than three years ago. more..

Jan 13 (Yahoo) Sri Lankan children displaced by the Asian tsunami smiles to camera at a refugee camp in Batapola, Sri Lanka on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005. more..

Jan 13 (IE) Hand in hand, they went, worried what they would find; by mid-morning their worst fears had been realised. At a junior school fronting the Jaffna Lagoon, Jeehan (11) and Vijay (10) were looking for school friends last seen in early December. more..

Jan 13 (Times) GOVERNMENT soldiers loll by the entrance to the relief camp, resting on their rifles. Inside, scowling, stand the camp administrators, dressed in their silver bibs with the name denoting their allegiance to the main Tamil aid agency. more..

Jan 13 (SAMN) The government's failure to address some of its shortcomings contributed to the destruction caused by the tsunami on December 26 last year, Science and Technology Minister Tissa Vitharana admitted Wednesday. more..

Jan 13 (DH) Tsunami has posed a major challenge to Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers in Mullaitivu and Killinochi in the north which are under their military and administrative control. Over 2,400 have died in the coastal town of Mullaitivu which is close to Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu. more..

Jan 13 (SAMN) Britain has agreed to pay 10% of the Sri Lanka's multilateral debt owed to the World Bank, an official said Wednesday. Britain's department of international development official Mandeep Kaur Grewal told a news conference in Colombo talks for a similar purpose were being held with the International Monetary Fund also. more..

Jan 13 (SAMN) A senior Army officer Wednesday alleged that while several areas in Batticaloa and other districts are badly in need of relief, large quantities of relief material especially tents are airlifted directly from Colombo to Kattankudy, the electorate of Airport and Aviation Services chief M.L.A.M. Hisbullah. more..

Jan 13 (NST) Two weeks after the tsunami lashed the island, leaving more than 30,000 dead and a trail of destruction which will take years to repair, the majority of children have returned to their classrooms. more..

Jan 13 (TS) THE tsunami tragedy of Dec 26 last month continues to make a deep impact in many of our lives. Some of you wrote to Wheel Power to ask if I had come across accounts of how disabled people in the affected areas were surviving the trauma and devastation caused by the killer tides. more..

Jan 13 (AFP) Security guard G.A. Nimal stands on the broken fort wall, the sea pounding below, and stretches an arm skyward to show the height of the tsunami that pounded this historic city. more..

Jan 13 (NJMG) Thurairajah Sasikumar, center, fetching water for his family. The 27-year-old fisherman lost two children in the tsunami and is staying at the refugee camp with his wife and daughter, below left. more..

Jan 13 (TN) Following a report that a tsunami victim had attempted to commit suicide by setting fire to him as he was depressed due to the death of his two year old son on December 26, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in Trincomalee district has stepped up its trauma counselling programme for Tsunami victims, more..

Jan 13 (CP) Although the death and devastation that now plagues Southeast Asia in the aftermath of recent tsunamis demands immediate attention by the global community, extremists in Sri Lanka, India, and elsewhere are contesting to aid and assistance by both religious and nonreligious charitable organizations—in particular Christian organizations. more..

Jan 13 (HT) The Indian Navy's hydrographic survey teams and clearing crews are enabling Sri Lanka to operationalise harbours, which were hit by the tsunami. An Indian High Commission official said that the task of making hydrographic maps of all the affected harbours and clearing them for use, would be completed within the next two weeks. more..

Jan 13 (NBC) Sri Lankan tsunami victims watch as U.S. Marines from the 15th Marine Expenditionary unit based in Camp Pendleton, Calif., come ashore in Kogala on Jan. 10 more..