The UN's Deputy Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery Erskine Bowles, who is now in Sri Lanka visiting the tsunami-affected areas, said President Clinton would later meet heads of UN agencies and major NGOs to assess the success of recovery efforts and ensure the proper utilisation of funds. More... Published: Wed Mar 23 04:38:07 EST 2005

The National Disaster Management Center, one of two government agencies keeping count of the victims, said Wednesday its tally of people killed in the Dec. 26 disaster has gone up to 31,225 from 31,187 last reported on March 16.

N.D. Hettairachchi, an official with the center, said 38 skeletons had been found over the past week, mostly in the worst-affected districts of Galle in the south and in Ampara in the east.

The Public Security Ministry, however, said its tally remained the same at 38,938 as reported on March 16. Ministry officials did not explain the discrepancy between their numbers and those of the Disaster Management Center.

The two agencies use different methods to collect their information, and both stand by their figures. The government has been unable to reconcile the differences. Officials say the true number of victims may never be known because some bodies may never be recovered. Published: Wed Mar 23 04:22:21 EST 2005

This has prompted many of the affected people, including expatriate Tamil community returning on holiday to seek the assistance of security forces, military officials said yesterday.

Many of the passengers, mostly Tamils returning from abroad were opting to travel by air in order to avoid paying taxes to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam at the entry point of the guerrilla held areas. All passengers travelling by road come under a security and a "customs" check carried out by the LTTE at Omanthai, the entry point to the guerrilla-held Wanni region while travelling by road. More... Published: Wed Mar 23 04:48:20 EST 2005