Jan 13 (TN) Professor V. Nithyanantham of the Dept. of Economics, Jaffna University, talking to TamilNet on the socio-economic setting in NorthEast and problems facing the residents in the post Tsunami period, said that planners should adopt a macro-economic approach to reconstruction taking into account relevant humanitarian and social factors. more..

Jan 13 (TN) Worldbank Country Director, Peter Harold, in a meeting with Head of LTTE Political Wing, S.P.Thamilchelvan, in Kilinochchi Friday, expressed his condolences to people over the loss of their loved ones and added, "the institutions we represent, would continue extending solidarity in the reconstruction efforts,” more..

Jan 13 (AFP) The brewers of toddy, the poor man's drink in Sri Lanka, are managing to keep the spirits of tsunami survivors up despite the loss of some 100,000 coconut palms to the crashing waves. "We have enough stocks for now, but the problems will come later in the year," more..

Jan 13 (LBO) Landmine ban advocacy groups have said claims of shifting landmines are exaggerated, with the tsunami uprooting just about ten of the explosive devices in all un-cleared areas. more..

Jan 13 (LBO) The Asian Development Bank says the wall of water that ripped across southern Asia last month, killing more than 150,000, could throw nearly 2 million additional people into poverty. more..

Jan 13 (PRIU) A fifteen-member US Congressional delegation was in Sri Lanka on Monday and Tuesday [10th and 11th]. The Congressmen toured affected areas in Galle, Hikkaduwa and Seenigama in Southern Sri Lanka to see for themselves the devastation caused by the Asian tsunami. more..

Jan 13 (PRIU) The number of relief camps for tsunami affected has come down form 793 to 482 since the disaster struck a little more than two weeks ago. Some of the displaced have moved back to their dwellings or have moved out to live with relatives or friends. more..

Jan 13 (AT) LTTE was taught another lesson in the international diplomacy when Paul Martin Canada’s Prime Minister yielded to international diplomatic pressure exerted by the Sri Lanka Government to announce that he will not visit the northern region of Sri Lanka controlled by the Tamil rebel outfit. more..

Jan 13 (AT) A two member delegation of the main opposition political party of Sri Lanka, United National Party (UNP) met with the Sri Lankan President to discuss ways and means of cooperating with the Government to reach out a consensus to rebuild the country affected worse by the tsunami natural catastrophe. more..

Jan 13 (ANN) Sri Lanka's long-term priority will be to generate jobs for the thousands who lost their livelihoods after the Dec 26 tsunami disaster. Singapore can collaborate with Sri Lanka by boosting trade, investments, the flow of people into the country and in other areas to help its economic recovery, more..

Jan 13 (Yahoo) Tsunami survivor, Sri Lankan Wilbert, 88 joins his hands to express his gratitude to Alison Thompson, a nurse from New York, U.S., who wipes his face on the floor of an improvised field hospital in the village of Paraliya, more..

Jan 13 (wsws) The following is a first-hand account of the experiences of a nurse who was sent as part of the medical relief team to Pallai, a town on the northern Jaffna Peninsula that has been under the control of the LTTE since May 2000. more..

Jan 13 (Gulf) It is destruction as far as your eyes can see in Hambantota, 185km south of Colombo. Not a single house is left intact in the area close to the coast. Those residents who failed to find any shelter have taken refuge in mosques, temples and in buildings that stand partially damaged. more..

Jan 13 (PSL) Vice Foreign Affairs Minister of the People’s Republic of China Mr. Wu Dawei called on President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday (Jan 12). Mr. Dawei while conveying the condolences of the Government and the people of China assured continued assistance to rebuild the tsunami-affected areas of Sri Lanka. more..

Jan 13 (PSL) President Chandrika Kumaratunga received a delegation of foreign Catholic Bishops accompanied by the Archbishop of Colombo, Rt. Rev. Dr. Oswald Gomis at President’s House yesterday evening. more..

Jan 13 (PIS) In the midst of thousand and one questions that demand one''s close attention and careful consideration, there is one that concerns us most, today. This refers to the social, psychological and economic predicaments of those youth and school children who have become victimised by the dire consequences of the tsunami more..

Jan 13 (PIS) Government yesterday appealed to the private sector to become a partner to usher sustainable economic development in post-tsunami Sri Lanka as a master plan for reconstruction was being readied for implementation on a bipartisan approach. more..

Jan 13 (AN) Hambantota, a lively tourist spot in the southern tip of Sri Lanka, is now a ghost town after the Dec. 26 tidal waves. The Urban Council (UC) Quarter of the suburb located 240 km from the capital was left with some 100 men whose family members were devoured by tsunami and their houses razed. more..

Jan 13 (Reuters) Sri Lanka is worried a Paris Club freeze on its debt payments may be too short, and is angling for outright debt forgiveness to help it rebuild and recover after last month's devastating tsunami, government officials said on Thursday. more..

Jan 13 (BBC) Sri Lankan authorities say they are “happy” on Paris Club’s decision to offer a moratorium on loan repayments for tsunami-hit countries. The Paris Club, the international forum set up to manage debts owed to nineteen of the world's richest nations, has offered to freeze loan repayments from countries directly affected by the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. more..

Jan 13 (BBC) It is late in the evening at Beruwala's tsunami-ravaged harbour but Nirmal Fernando is hard at work. He is loading ice into the container of a big fishing boat so it can sail out next morning. Just outside the harbour, massive cranes are still moving boats that December's tsunami tossed from the sea into ditches, canals and roads. more..

Jan 13 (AP) Sri Lanka's World Bank chief met with a senior Tamil Tiger leader Thursday and discussed rebuilding rebel-held areas affected by last month's tsunami, the guerrillas said. The contentious issue of whether the rebels should get direct aid also figured in the talks. more..

Jan 13 (CI) Australia's generous response to the Asian tsunami will continue on January 23, when cricketers and fans will join the "Cricketers Walk For Sri Lanka Tsunami Victims" around Sydney's Cenhmm bit long-windedtennial Park to raise further funds for victims of the disaster. more..

Jan 13 (Yahoo) A statue of Buddha sits among the ruins of a collapsed temple on the coastal road near the village of Hikkaduwa, southern Sri Lanka, January 13, 2005. more..

Jan 13 (AFP) Norway will next week launch its first post-tsunami attempt to salvage Sri Lanka's faltering peace process, diplomatic sources here said. Top peace envoy Erik Solheim is due here for talks with Sri Lankan leaders as well as Tamil Tiger guerrillas to try to end a 21-month impasse in the negotiations, more..

Jan 13 (Age) The final death toll from the tsunami that smashed village after village on Sri Lanka's eastern, southern and northern shores is expected to be close to 38,000. The figure for people still missing has risen by nearly 1000 to 6088. more..

Jan 13 (BBC) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels are recruiting child soldiers from relief camps set up after December's tsunami, the United Nations says. The UN's child agency, Unicef, says it has monitored the cases of three girls who had been recruited by the rebels. more..

Jan 13 (PI) In the immediate aftermath of last month's devastating tsunami, it was hoped that the Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels would put aside decades of hostility to work for peace and to rebuild their devastated country. more..

Jan 13 (BBC) Volunteers from Search and Rescue Assistance in Disasters (SARAID) have begun supplying fresh water to people living in tsunami-affected areas of Sri Lanka. Here Stef Hopkins, the leader of the Gloucestershire-based team of six, talks about their experience. more..

Jan 13 (TS) THE stench of raw sewage and rotting fruit seeps through the village of Paraleya on the coast road north of the town of Galle, one of the worst areas affected by the Boxing Day tsunami. more..

Jan 13 (AP) Police have arrested a 63-year-old Sri Lankan man on charges of trying to sell his two young granddaughters after their home was destroyed and their mother killed by the Asian tsunami - a case that highlights the vulnerability of children in the wake of the disaster. more..

Jan 13 (AFP) US marines in southern Sri Lanka will deliver 21 tonnes of vegetables on the island’s tsunami-battered eastern coast as part of their relief work here, an official said yesterday. Using Black Hawk helicopters the marines will transport the cargo from Dambulla more..

Jan 13 (NBC) A mannequin is the only thing left standing in this beachside garden, Saturday, two weeks after the massive tsunami that killed thousands in Galle area more..

Jan 13 (Dawn) These are surreal times for Sri Lanka's political leaders. Never before have they been sought after, sympathized with and offered promises of assistance from an impressive list of international figures as has happened since the tsunamis ravaged the coast of this island nation. more..

Jan 13 (Dawn) With the controversial anti -conversion bill to be presented in the Parliament shortly, anti-Christian sentiments have re-surfaced with the main Buddhist representative party , the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) protesting against large amounts of Tsunami funds being allocated to Christian organisations. more..

Jan 13 (WP) It wasn't a school day. Why was Vishney Ambalavanar's dad shaking her awake? "There was a tsunami in Sri Lanka!" she remembers him saying. She rolled over and went back to sleep. But when 14-year-old Vishney woke up and saw the TV, she snapped to attention. more..

Jan 13 (IPS) Philip De Vota has joined the ranks of Sri Lanka's poor for the first time in his 54 years. This reality since the day after Christmas last month gnaws at him, leaving him "depressed". "I am ashamed to beg. I cannot bare having to depend on handouts," said De Vota, more..

Jan 13 (IANS) Most US textile companies will continue their contracts with Sri Lankan suppliers despite the phasing out of the Multi Fibre Agreement (MFA) this month. "They have been touched by the situation in Sri Lanka and would keep on supporting the nation," said visiting US Senator John Corzine, more..

Jan 13 (DN) An overall plan for rebuilding all sectors devastated by the tsunami disaster will be presented to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga today, January 13 for her recommendations and observations. more..

Jan 13 (G&M) An overall plan for rebuilding all sectors devastated by the tsunami disaster will be presented to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga today, January 13 for her recommendations and observations. more..

Jan 13 (G&M) One day after Prime Minister Paul Martin rebuffed pressure to visit Tamil Tiger-controlled regions of Sri Lanka next week, Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis is touring the region and meeting leaders of the rebels' political wing. more..

Jan 13 (ET) A tsunami survivor described today how he was appalled after spotting United Nations officials dining in one of Colombo's finest restaurants after the disaster struck Sri Lanka. more..

Jan 13 (AFP) Sri Lanka's tsunami orphans could be further traumatized unless they are quickly reunited with their surviving relatives, rights organisations warned amid calls to put them up for adoption. more..

Jan 13 (NBC) Sri Lankan civilians unload mattresses from a U.S. Army helicopter near a refief camp for tsunami victims in Pottuvil, sri Lanka on Jan 11. more..

Jan 13 (FT) Sri Lanka and the Maldives will be the two economies worst affected by the Indian Ocean tsunamis, although Indonesia suffered many more casualties, according to a preliminary assessment by the Asian Development Bank. more..

Jan 13 (Kyodo) Nearly 1,000 children in Sri Lanka have lost both parents and a further 3,200 have lost one parent in the Indian Ocean tsunami, the U.N. Children's Agency said here Thursday. more..

Jan 14 (Reuters) Sri Lankan conservationist Kithsiri Kannangara wipes a tear as he stands over a patch of sand and broken wire mesh, the only surviving incubation pit of his hatchery for endangered sea turtles. more..

Jan 14 (NBC) The absolute devastation is overwhelming. Houses have been reduced to splinters of wood and chunks of brick and mortar. Vehicles lie twisted around palm trees, or sit upside down in bays hundreds of yards from land. But the most visible indication of what was lost along the Sri Lankan coastline is what you don't see: people. more..

Jan 14 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's Central Bank said on Thursday it will monitor the appreciation of the Sri Lanka rupee and take steps to ensure that exporters don't lose money on the exchange rate's post-tsunami fluctuations. more..

jan 14 (TN) Monitors of SLMM led by their head Major General (Retd) Trond Furuhovde personally came to the rescue of LTTE Trincomalee district political head Mr.S.Elilan when the latter was stopped by the Sri Lanka military police at Kaddaiparichchan army camp Thursday more..