Colombo — Sri Lanka announced Monday it was
halting the use of heavy weapons and air strikes
to spare civilian lives in its battle against
the Tamil Tigers, but asserted it was not
calling a truce.
Kuala Lumpur— Malaysia’s ruling coalition,
humiliated in a string of by-election losses
over the past year, faces a further bruising
contest as authorities Monday announced another
vote in May.
Bogota— Eighty-seven people have been abducted
in Colombia since the beginning of the year,
although only 10 remain hostages, according to
Bogota’s official anti-kidnap agency. The 10 are
included in the 125 still being held in the
South American country, mostly by the leftist,
rural-based rebels in the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Fondelibertad
agency said in a report.
Paris—Between 60,000 and 70,000 people joined
the ranks of France’s jobless in March, slightly
fewer than in February, Economy Minister
Christine Lagarde said in an interview on
Monday. France had 2.38 million unemployed
workers at the end of February after 79,900 lost
their jobs in a single month as the economic
crisis forced factories and businesses to close.
THE use of torture by the US has proved so
counterproductive that it may have led to the
death of as many US soldiers as civilians killed
in 9/11, says the leader of a crack US
interrogation team in Iraq.
