Polls predict uncertain future for government

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 1999, 23:59 GMT]
The results of the provincial council elections in Sri Lanka have left the country's ruling coalition wondering about its political future. Political uncertainty looms large in the horizon for all the main players in the island's Parliamentary elections scheduled next year.
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Court impounds Buddhist temple's van

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 1999, 19:26 GMT]
The Batticaloa district additional judge, K.Thadchanamoorthy, yesterday impounded a van belonging to Mangalaramaya, the Buddhist temple in Batticaloa as it had no documents showing its ownership, license, insurance, etc.,
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Low turnout said favouring ruling party

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 April 1999, 16:27 GMT]
A senior official at the Election Commissioner's department said this evening that 69 percent of the votes in the five provinces were cast by 3 p.m. this afternoon. He said overall turnout was excellent except in the district of Colombo.
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Five killed in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 April 1999, 12:49 GMT]
Three SLA soldiers were killed and six were wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked a group of SLA soldiers returning to their position around 6.10 a.m. this morning at the Puthuvelippaalam in Kaavaththamunai, four km. west of Valaichenai in the Batticaloa district.
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Foreign carriers blamed for Jaffna AIDS cases

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 1999, 18:49 GMT]
(NEWS FEATURE) Jaffna's fourth positively identified AIDS patient died yesterday at his residence in Neduntheevu. The person who had worked abroad was admitted to the Jaffna Teaching hospital in May last year. HIV tests in Colombo and Jaffna had revealed that he was suffering from advanced stages of disease. Doctors discovered that his wife, a teacher, was also infected. The patient and his family were given medical advise and sent home. He died early morning yesterday.
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Four arrested in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 1999, 18:34 GMT]
The SLA arrested Vincent Anthonythaas, 23, of 4th Cross Street in Pt.Pedro at around 4.00 p.m. yesterday while he was at his work in an ice cream parlour in the town. Seven of his co-workers were asked to report to the Pt.Pedro jetty army camp this afternoon.
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Magistrate orders Chemmani exhumation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 1999, 10:01 GMT]
The Jaffna additional magistrate N.Arulsaagaran ordered in court today that ex-Lance Corporal Somaratna Rajapaksha, the first accused in the Krishanthi Kumarasamy rape and murder case, to be produced in Jaffna on June 15 to identify the alleged grave site in Chemmani.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 March 1999, 22:22 GMT]
Loyal EPDP party workers prioritised in choice of new Jaffna MP's; Student shot dead in Sri Lankan army retaliatory fire and Sri Lankan Police arrest family of five in Jaffna.
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Quarterly meetings keep Jaffna council alive

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 1999, 20:35 GMT]
The Jaffna Municipal council was convened today by the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). The meeting was held at the office of the EPRLF on Hospital street in the high security zone of Jaffna town following PLOTE's refusal to attend the event at the TULF's office for security reasons.
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EPDP leader appeals to Presidential Committee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 1999, 20:30 GMT]
EPDP leader Douglus Devananda sent a letter to the Presidents committee on Unlawful Arrests and Harassment regarding the arrest of Mr.S.Vinothalingam who is Secretary General of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO).
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Tiger ambush kills seven

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 1999, 10:37 GMT]
Seven Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldiers were killed last night around 7.15 p.m. in an attack by the Liberation Tigers in Weli Oya. Army sources in Vavuniya said that the tractor in which they were travelling was hit by a claymore mine.
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JMO to investigate Jaffna skeletons

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 March 1999, 20:41 GMT]
Legal sources in Jaffna said that the Jaffna district Judicial Medical Officer (JMO), Ram Manohar, who is currently in Colombo will arrive on or before April 6 to investigate the site near the Duraiappa stadium where Jaffna Municipal workers found human skeletons on Friday March 26.
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Tamil parties to protest Trinco colonisation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 March 1999, 18:10 GMT]
The TULF, PLOTE, EPDP, TELO and the EPRLF resolved this evening in Colombo to ask the Sri Lankan government to stop colonisation of Sinhalese in Trincomalee and to evict the Sinhala settlers.
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Police assault prompts estate strike

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 March 1999, 15:55 GMT]
More than four thousand workers in four tea estates of the Issa Ella group in the Matale district went on strike last night in protest against Police assault on a Tamil night watchman in one of the plantations.
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State of Tamil medium education discussed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 March 1999, 14:04 GMT]
Tamil politicians in parliament today do not seem to understand the intensity of the educational problem faced by the Tamil speaking people deplored Prof.K. Sivathamby and K.Thiyagarajah, former secretary to the Ministry of Education of the Northeastern Provincial Council while addressing a seminar organised by the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union in Colombo this morning.
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Increased STF surveillance in Amparai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 March 1999, 12:52 GMT]
The Special Task Force (STF) stepped up surveillance in the Tamil areas of the Ampara district in south east Sri Lanka yesterday following information that several suicide bombers of the Liberation Tigers had moved in recently for attacks.
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Four SLA killed in blast

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 March 1999, 06:32 GMT]
More than four Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldiers were killed in a blast at Maasaar in the Thenmaradchi division of Jaffna in the early hours of the morning today around 1.30 a.m.
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Bishop concerned at troops proximity to church

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 March 1999, 22:22 GMT]
The Bishop of Mannar Rt.Rev.Rayappu Joseph has strongly objected to the presence of Sri Lankan Army (SLA) troops in the precincts of the Madhu church. Although the army had initially given an undertaking that it would only be encamped in the environs of the Madhu church for two weeks, arrangements being made now indicate that troops intend staying permanently in the precincts, said the Bishop.
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PLOTE detainees tortured - Amnesty

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 March 1999, 00:47 GMT]
Three people who had been detained by the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) had been subject to severe torture said Amnesty International in a statement. The three have now been released, but another detainee is missing, said Amnesty.
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Passenger ferry service resumes in May

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 March 1999, 22:07 GMT]
A private passenger ship service under the supervision of Sri Lanka's Commissioner General of Essential Services (CGES) will commence between Jaffna and Trincomalee from May said government sources in Jaffna today.
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