Tamils across the world this week mourned Mr. Anton Balasingham, the Tamil Tigers theoretician and chief negotiator, who passed away Thursday after a brief battle with cancer.

After police in Tamil Nadu found a vehicle carrying a huge quantity of explosives meant for Sri Lanka, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today ordered officials to ascertain whether any business house was exporting explosives without the Centre's knowledge.

France has warned its nationals against making non-essential visits to Sri Lanka because of an increase in violence and suicide attacks, Reuters reported.

The British Government has relaxed the procedure for thousands of Sri Lankan asylum seekers with immediate effect because of what it sees as a deteriorating security situation in Sri Lanka.

A British High Commission spokesperson says Sri Lankan asylum seekers could now remain in the country and make their appeals if their applications had been rejected.

Thirteen civilians,in Jaffna district were abducted last Wednesday night soon after the Sri Lanka government reinstated the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), TamilNet reported.

ine civilians from Kalviyankadu, Kadaipirai, Dutch road areas in Valigamam east were abducted Wednesday night by armed men alleged to be Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police, residents in these areas said.

Sectarian violence between orthodox Muslims and an Islamic Sufi sect has resurfaced in the Muslim town of Kattankudy, Batticaloa.

to include the killing and maiming of children, rape and other grave sexual violence, abductions, attacks against schools or hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access for children.'

Six Tamil civilians have been killed in government-controlled Trincomalee over the past week, as a campaign of terror against local civilians was stepped up.

The PTA provides an incentive for interrogating police to obtain confessions from detainees by any means, including torture'

You decide whether you should be with a handful of terrorists or with the common man who is in the majority.'

Sri Lankan security forces again have wide-ranging powers to search, arrest and question.

Asked last week about the salience of a Patriot Act-style law for Sri Lanka, US Ambassador to Colombo, Robert O' Blake, responded: “civil liberties, frankly, are already under strain here (in Sri Lanka). So, I wouldn't want to suggest other things that might further imperil them.”

He told the state-owned Daily News last week that the US Patriot Act was operating in tandem with strong respect for civil liberties there.

Jaffna residents say they paid less to pass through the Tiger tolls on the A-9 than what they now pay to take the government's lengthy detour.

"Bus fare was only Rs. 150 [US$1.50]" before the A-9 was closed, Jaffna resident Shri Nathan, told the Christian Science Monitor.

"Passengers didn't have to pay anything. Only business people did."

‘The Tigers are representing the Tamils in negotiations with Sri Lanka’