In brief

Lifted

In Parliament on 8 October, Deputy Defence minister Anuruddha Ratwatte announced the lifting of censorship on military news introduced in April.

Postponed

Local elections scheduled for June 1995 has been postponed for the third= time after municipal councils and other local government bodies were extended in= late October by President Chandrika under Emergency regulations up to 14 April 1997.=20

Died

Former Sri Lankan President JR Jayewardene, 90, died after a brief illness= on 1 November. As leader of the United National Party (UNP), Mr Jayewardene became Sri Lanka=92s first executive president under a new constitution= introduced in 1978.

Discussion

A cross-party group of 23 Sri Lankan MPs attended a five-day seminar in Ballymena, Northern Ireland in mid-October. The meeting arranged by London-based NGO International Alert discussed the Sri Lankan and Northern Ireland conflicts.

No upheaval

In a written reply to a parliamentary question on 31 October, British Home= Office minister Ann Widdecombe says that continuing hostilities do not constitute a fundamental change in the circumstances to justify declaring Sri Lanka as a country of major upheaval.
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