71.   Sri Lanka Wednesday announced plans to boost defence spending as Tamil Tiger rebels escalated their separatist war by inflicting heavy losses on the security forces.

72.   Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran has called on Tamil youths to join separatist war he is leading in the country.

73.   Sri Lanka Thursday vowed to press ahead with a radical ethnic peace plan aimed at ending its protracted Tamil separatist war despite opposition from within the cabinet.

74.   Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar announced Friday that unnamed foreign governments had lifted an arms embargo on the Colombo government after Tamil rebels resumed their separatist war.

75.   The government opened talks with the LTTE after coming to power last year but the LTTE resumed their separatist war in April.

76.   The government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga opened talks after coming to power last year but the LTTE pulled out and resumed their separatist war in April.

77.   The LTTE has resisted all previous political attempts to end their separatist war.

78.   The palace also said that the joint government-MNLF committee is to monitor projects being rushed through in areas scarred by over two decades of the separatist war.