TULF candidates for Trincomalee decided

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 August 2000, 11:18 GMT]
Attorney-at-Law Kasinathar Sivapalan will lead the list of Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) candidates to contest the Trincomalee electoral district during the forthcoming parliamentary election.
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New SLA commander assumes duties

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 August 2000, 20:55 GMT]
Lieutenant General Lionel Balagalle took over as the 16th commander of the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) on Friday. In a press conference soon after his appointment, Lt. Gen Balagalle, who had served as the commanding officer of the forces in the Jaffna peninsula and the Vanni, admitted that there were problems with the SLA. He said there was a need to strengthen the SLA's manpower, provide better training to the soldiers and modernise the army's weapons. However, he stressed that the SLA was ready for war, and that the current lull had allowed time for the soldiers to regroup.
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Four loggers reported 'missing'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2000, 19:50 GMT]
Four villagers who went in a tractor to collect fire-wood in the jungles of Maha Oya have been reported missing since 22 August. According to complaints made with the Batticaloa Human Rights Commission (HRC), five others who went along with them had escaped and returned home, leaving behind the tractor, when troops opened fire.
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Killing of student ruled homicide

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2000, 12:26 GMT]
The Batticaloa District Judge Wednesday returned a verdict of homicide in the death of a student who was shot by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on August 18.
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Husband 'missing' for two months

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2000, 12:14 GMT]
A fifty five year old woman Sokkalingam Saraswathi has lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Kalmunai in the south-east of the island that her husband has been 'missing' for about two months. Sandirapillai Rasangam,60, was working in a jewellery shop at Mutur.
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Ashraff on pilgrimage, resignation stands

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 August 2000, 17:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader and Sri Lanka's Ports minister M.H.M.Ashraff left for Mecca in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday on a three-day pilgrimage to perform religious rites called UMRA.
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Amnesty concerned over new "disappearances"

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2000, 12:48 GMT]
Amnesty International said Monday it was concerned for two Tamil men who have been reported "disappeared" after being arrested by Sri Lanka Army soldiers in Vavuniya this month. The London based human rights pressure group said there has been an increase in reports of torture, "disappearances" and deaths in custody since new emergency regulations were introduced by the President in May 2000.
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LTTE ambush kills three

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2000, 15:12 GMT]
A Police officer and two Home Guards were killed in an ambush by the Liberation Tigers at 11th Colony in the boarder between Batticaloa and Ampara Districts Sunday morning. Two Home Guards were also wounded in the incident, sources said.
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Cessation of hostilities if elected -Ranil

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2000, 13:20 GMT]
The United National Party (UNP) will bring about a cessation of hostilities agreement with the Liberation Tigers if it comes to power said party leader Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, addressing a press conference Sunday at the opposition leader's office in Colombo.
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SLA troops kill student, wound another

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2000, 11:25 GMT]
"The army shoots civilians whenever it comes into Kaluwankerny. This is why innocent civilians in the village run for their life when they know the army is entering the area. My son went behind the house when he saw people running on the road, shouting "the army is coming into the village". He was killed there by soldiers who shot him and his friend" said Vairamuthu Manikkavel, 48, at the inquest into the death of his son the M.Vijayatharsan, 20, before Batticaloa district judge J. Viswanathan at the Eravur hospital Saturday.
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UNP first to seek Norway's help - Bondevik

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 August 2000, 19:03 GMT]
The United National Party was the first to seek Norway's assistance in the effort to find a political settlement to the ethnic conflict on the island when it was in power in 1990 according to Mr.Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Norwegian Prime Minister. he made this statement when delivering the keynote address at the commemoration meeting to mark the first death anniversary of veteran foreign minister A.C.S.Hameed, held at Colombo Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall Thursday evening.
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Farming abandoned due to STF action - MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 August 2000, 06:08 GMT]
Mr. Pon Selvarasa, Tamil United Liberation Front MP for Batticaloa said Thursday that farmers in Vaalaikkaalai, about 25 kilometers southwest of Batticaloa, have been compelled to abandon cultivation due to the activities of the Special Task Force (STF) commandos in the area.
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Eight Ampara villagers held

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 August 2000, 18:26 GMT]
Eight Tamils from a remote village of Thumbankerny in Thikkodai in the south-eastern Ampara District were arrested by the Sri Lankan police on Tuesday, according to the local office of the government-funded Human Rights Commission, but a senior police officer denied the arrests had taken place.
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Former Norwegian PM visits Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 August 2000, 21:45 GMT]
Former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik will arrive in Colombo on a two day visit Wednesday afternoon. During his stay in Colombo he will have talks with President Chandrika Kumaratunge, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe.
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SLAF steps up bombing in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 August 2000, 10:50 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has stepped up bombing raids in the Vanni said sources in the northern border town Vavuniya. The said SLAF jets flew several sorties today towards the northern Vanni region they said.
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Anti-Tamil protesters threaten Karen Parker at UN

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 August 2000, 14:34 GMT]
Karen Parker, a human rights lawyer was intimidated and threatened by anti-LTTE demonstrators protesting outside the United Nation in Geneva Friday. Some of the demonstrators had pursued her, screaming insults and confronted her when they caught up, Ms. Parker, who is a well known figure in legal circles interested in Sri Lanka, told TamilNet Monday. She had been rescued by a passing Swiss national, she said, adding that the matter had been reported to the Swiss police and would be filed with the UN's Special Rapporteur on the independence of the judiciary.
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Santhiramohan pleaded to spare life

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 August 2000, 11:51 GMT]
"I heard Santhiramohan pleading with the soldiers to spare his life. He was telling them he was poor and was married to a poor girl. Then there was silence. I came out of the thicket where I was hiding after some time when it appeared that the army had left the place.
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New constitution with simple majority - President

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 August 2000, 18:23 GMT]
New Parliament will be converted into a Constituent Assembly and the new constitution bill would be passed with a simple majority, declared President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge. The President said that the new Constitution Bill would be approved after the next general election, and added that she was optimistic that the new Constitution will be implemented before January next year.
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India to sell military hardware to Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 August 2000, 12:30 GMT]
India has decided to sell military hardware to Sri Lanka and negotiations are on to clinch the deal on an offshore patrol vessel for the Sri Lankan navy, according to Indian press reports Friday. The newindpress.com website, quoting sources in India's Ministry of Defence (MoD), said the Indian navy has earmarked an offshore patrol vessel (OPV), INS Shardae, made at Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Vishakhapatanam for sale to Sri Lanka.
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Three civilians wounded in SLA shelling

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2000, 15:10 GMT]
Three civilians, including a Grama Sevaka Officer, were wounded when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers fired artillery shells towards Kaddaiparichchan in the Trincomalee District Thursday morning, residents said.
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