The World : Sri Lanka Tightens Control

Sri Lanka extended tough censorship laws for foreign media and gave security forces shoot-on-sight powers in moves to crush Sinhalese extremism. All public meetings and trade union rallies have been banned in the crackdown, Foreign Minister Rajan Wijeratne said. The latest victims of the militant left-wing extremists were seven people killed Wednesday. The government blames the extremists for at least 3,500 deaths in southern Sri Lanka, where they have fought for two years to overthrow the government. Most victims are government officials or supporters of Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa’s governing party.