The World : Sri Lanka Calls Yule Truce

Sri Lankan soldiers and Tamil separatist rebels announced that they will stop fighting for 24 hours as a Christmas good-will gesture. A military official declined to call the action a cease-fire, saying, ‘We will not be conducting any offensive operations . . . (but) it remains to be seen if defensive operations” will be required. A leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the largest guerrilla group, said his forces were halting offensive moves at midnight.