Detainee gives birth

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Mrs.Shyamalawathie Wijesundaram, 25, held in the Welikade prison gave birth to a boy on May 6 at the Colombo General Hospital. She was admitted to the hospital by the prison officials after labour pain started.
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Jaffna detainees held elsewhere

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
According to lists of detainees submitted to the Human Rights Commissionand the Jaffna courts, people arrested in Jaffna are being taken to distantdetention centres, such as in the central province and Colombo.
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Another telecom exchange blasted

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A bomb explosion around 7 a.m, this morning damaged Sri Lanka Telecom exchange in Kuliyapiti, north of Colombo. Adjoining Mobitel building was also damaged in the blast. Bomb is believed to have placed in an air conditioner.
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UN official calls for end to war

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The number of children who are being affected by the war in Sri Lanka is on the increase and all those who are concerned with the welfare of the children must come together and stop this, said visiting UN Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict, Mr. Olara Otunnu, while speaking at a meeting held at Vavuniya Town Council hall, yesterday.
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Sinhala race 'being destroyed'

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
"None of the resources in this country can be preserved until the Sri Lankan Government declares the country as Buddhist", said Professor Nalin De Silva, while speaking at a meeting in Colombo, which was titled, "We will protect our race and resources," said sources.
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Batticaloa travellers being filmed

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Passengers undergoing security checks at Mannampitty, 65 km north of Batticaloa, while en route from Batticaloa to Colombo are video filmed by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at the checkpoint, said sources in Batticaloa.
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Human rights group quits in protest

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Peace Brigades International (PBI), an international human rights organisation active in Sri Lanka, has withdrawn its services from the country after the Sri Lankan Government imposed conditions which it could not meet, said human rights activists in Colombo.
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Extra checks on Colombo heavy vehicles

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
All heavy vehicles entering Colombo from southern part of the island will be checked for bombs and explosives and will be given security clearance at Kattubedde check point, 8 km south of Colombo, before they are allowed to proceed to the city.
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Deadly flu spreads to East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The deadly influenza A virus, that caused havoc in Colombo and other towns in south, central and northwest Sri Lanka, has now moved to the East, with Trincomalee town recording the deaths of three children and the wards at Batticaloa hospital chock-a-block with patients, said sources in the East. Three students, two females and one male, have died in Trincomalee.
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Senior MPs call for UN intervention

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Senior Members of Parliament (MPs) from six political parties who met Mr. Olara Otunnu, UN Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, requested him to intervene in the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict to bring about a solution, despite the subject not coming strictly within his mandate, said sources in Colombo.
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SLA thrust ahead of anniversary?

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Large number of troops have been sent to the forward areas of Operation Jayasikurui, north of Kanakarayankulam, to defend the areas captured by the army, as troops stationed in Olumadu, 4 km. east of Mankulam, are preparing to advance towards north, said SLA sources in Vavuniya.
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UN official in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Mr. Olara Otunnu, United Nations Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict, visited Jaffna yesterday and had meetings with the Jaffna Government Agent said sources in the Jaffna Kachcheri. He also met Maj. Gen. Balagalle, at the Palaly SLA base yesterday said SLA sources in Jaffna.
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Former SLAF chief's guard charged

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Rukmal Herath, a bodyguard of the former Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) commander, Air Marshal Oliver Ranasinghe, was produced before the Gangodawila courts, in a suburb of Colombo, on the charge of attacking Iqbal Athas, a well known Sri Lankan journalist, said legal sources in Colombo.
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Sinhala papers to help SLA recruitment

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Deputy Minister of Defence, Anuruddha Ratwatte, summoned editors of the Sinhala press today and requested their cooperation in the Sri Lanka Government's fresh recruitment drive for soldiers, and in a final call for deserters from the security forces to rejoin, said journalist sources in Colombo.
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Vavuniya blast said accident

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
SLA officials in Colombo said an accident caused the explosions at the Vavuniya SLA camp this afternoon. The explosions began at 12.45 p.m. One SLA soldier was wounded in the explosion and a SLA truck was burnt in the fire caused by the explosions.
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Batticaloa unemployed assured of jobs

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Eastern Province Unemployed Graduates Association has threatened to go on a fast unto death if immediate steps are not taken to give them employment, said sources in Batticaloa.
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One woman's agony

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Mrs.Shyamalawathie Wijesundaram,25, was arrested on 31 October 1997 by the Vavuniya Police. At the time of her arrest she was two months pregnant. Currently she is being held in the Welikada jail in Colombo. She is in cell no.4530 of the female ward of the prison.
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May Day celebrations muted

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
News Feature"There were so many cops about the place watching your every movement, that you were scared to bend down and pick upsomething you dropped," said a man who had ventured out on to the streets of Colombo on May Day.
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Bomb explosion - Union sabotage ?

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Police is yet to arrest any one in connection with the bomb which knocked out the telecommunication exchange in Kalutara, 43 kilometers south of Colombo, last night.
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Official's overnight stay ends with arrest

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Vadivel Saravanamuttu (58), an official working in Trincomalee Customs Department told the Colombo High Court yesterday that he had been arrested on fictitious and unjustifiable grounds when he had stayed overnight in the customs area at the Colombo Harbour.
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