News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 November 1998, 12:25 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army in Jaffna deny arrest of 15 persons; five Tigers have died in confrontations with the Sri Lankan Army since Saturday; displaced civilian feared dead in floods in the Vanni, and posters against British Minister's visit.
Full story >>

German officials visit Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 November 1998, 12:47 GMT]
Two representatives of the Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development of Germany visited Vavuniya on Monday 9 November to evaluate the projects of the GTZ in the district.
Full story >>

Grenade blast at Katunayake

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 November 1998, 00:05 GMT]
A Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) trooper guarding the runway at Colombo's Katunayake International Airport accidentally fired a rocket-propelled grenade at around 9.00 a.m., shortly before the plane carrying the British Foreign Office Minister Derek Fatchett landed.
Full story >>

Disappearances recur in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 November 1998, 20:30 GMT]
Human rights sources in Jaffna said today that there has been a recent increase in the incidence of arrest and detention of youths.
Full story >>

News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 November 1998, 20:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka is to observe a two minute silence in respect of dead troops, Government allocates 700,000 RS for filming documentary about S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and TELO holds annual national convention today and tomorrow.
Full story >>

Emergency Regulations further extended

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 November 1998, 12:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Parliament yesterday extended the Emergency Regulations for one further month. One hundred and seven parliamentarians voted for the motion on extension of the emergency regulations while 80 voted against it.
Full story >>

News in Brief

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 November 1998, 10:54 GMT]
An EPDP cadre escapes from the group's custody; several arrests conducted in Jaffna as the poster campaign continues; police arrests a friend of alleged LTTE member in Colombo and police station destroyed by electrical fault.
Full story >>

Jaffna travellers arrive in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 November 1998, 16:02 GMT]
The Lanka Muditha, a cargo vessel chartered by the Sri Lankan Government to transport civilians to and from Jaffna, arrived at the eastern port of Trincomalee this morning around 9.30. A civilian passenger said that about 1000 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and 626 civilian passengers had travelled on the ship from Jaffna.
Full story >>

Prayers for soldiers planned

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 November 1998, 23:32 GMT]
The Presidential secretariat in Colombo said today that special prayers will be offered in Buddhist and Hindu temples and churches tomorrow at 7 p.m. simultaneously in the evening to invoke blessings upon soldiers of the Sri Lankan army who are fighting the Liberation Tigers in the north and east of the island.
Full story >>

Protest over detainee's death

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 November 1998, 23:29 GMT]
The Forum for Human Dignity (FHD) issued a statement today protesting over the Colombo coroners verdict on the death of Rajaratnam Uthayakumar who died in the Sri Lankan Army's custody in Jafna on October 27.
Full story >>

Detainee's death declared as suicide

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 November 1998, 17:02 GMT]
The coroner of Colombo, Edward Ahangama, who conducted the inquest into the death of Mr.Rasanayagam Uthayakumar,44, declared that he committed suicide by hanging himself. Uthayakumar was arrested by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) at Nayanmarkaddu in Jaffna on October 23. The SLA handed over his body to the Jaffna Hospital on October 28.
Full story >>

Victory, not Hindu celebrations say posters

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 November 1998, 15:46 GMT]
Posters appeared in the campus of Morattuwa University, south of Colombo, on Saturday, October 31, alleging that the "Saraswathy Pooja" celebration (a Hindu religious festival) held in the University at the beginning of this month had been organised to mark the capture of Kilinochchi by the Liberation Tigers.
Full story >>

Indian official visits east

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 November 1998, 11:47 GMT]
"The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka cannot be resolved without talking to the Liberation Tigers; they are the key players and main actors in the Tamil issue" said Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham MP of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) during discussions with Mr. C.V Thripathi, the first senior Indian official to visit the war torn Batticaloa district in ten years, this morning. Mr.Thripathi is India's new Deputy High Commissioner in Sri Lanka.
Full story >>

President solicits Tamil MP's Support

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 October 1998, 19:45 GMT]
The Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumarathunge will meet leaders of Tamil political parties on November 6 prior to debate on government's budget proposal for the next year, said political sources in Colombo.
Full story >>

Lion Air wants flights resumed

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 October 1998, 22:15 GMT]
Lion Air, the private airline that operated between Colombo and Jaffna, wrote to the Director General of Sri Lanka's civil aviation department today that it is keen to resume flights to the north from November 9. The Lion Air was grounded after one of its flights fell into the sea off the north-western coast under mysterious circumstances on September 29.
Full story >>

Detainees body requires post-mortem

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 October 1998, 19:27 GMT]
The body of Uthayakumar, which the Sri Lankan Army handed over to the Jaffna hospital yesterday, was flown to Colombo this evening for a post-mortem to determine the cause of his death.
Full story >>

SLA spokesman briefs press

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 October 1998, 11:18 GMT]
Six army personnel were killed and 18 wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked Forward defense Lines (FDL) in the southern sector of Paranthan said the SLA spokesman Brigadier Sunil Tennekoon, presenting a review of the security situation in the north and east of the island at the weekly cabinet press briefing today at the People's Bank Training Centre at D.R Wijewardene Mawatha in downtown Colombo.
Full story >>

Minister seeks LTTE's help to restore electricity

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 October 1998, 03:33 GMT]
Mr.M.L.M Hisbullah, Sri Lanka's Deputy Minister for Posts and Telecommunications and Media, appealed to the Liberation Tigers in Batticaloa to help solve the disruption of electricity supply to the district.
Full story >>

Continuing search for army deserters

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 October 1998, 15:10 GMT]
A spokesman for the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence (MoD) said today that the Police have arrested 818 army deserters since last Tuesday, October 20. He said they will be subject to a brief retraining program and be sent off to the front soon.
Full story >>

Tamil journalist released on bail

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 October 1998, 12:21 GMT]
S.Sree Gajan, the Tamil journalist who was arrested on July 6 by the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID), a special unit established in May this year by the Sri Lankan government, was released on bail today by the Colombo magistrate. The journalist's lawyer Joseph Charles, instructed by Ms.Gowri Shankar, appeared for him.
Full story >>