Local fishermen allege that about 75 Indian fishermen had trespassed into Sri Lanka's territorial waters at Pesalai in the Mannar district.

The Navy have taken into custody 58 Indian fishermen together with 23 of their trawlers. The Navy however were not able to prevent a bitter fight that by that time had broken out between local fishermen and the Indians, resulting in 17 Indians being severely wounded. Published: Mon Mar 3 22:07:50 EST 2003

Ex-Mayor Sellan Kandian expressed regret over the forceful postponement of the Jaffna library recently after protests by LTTE Jaffna District Political Leader Illamparathi and the International Tamil Eelam Students’ Federation based there, a privately owned newspaper said here Saturday.

Mr. Kandian told Daily Mirror that his council took a unanimous decision to resign because the LTTE and connected organisations expressed they were against the re-opening.

“We felt that we were part of the local body elected by the masses in Jaffna and we wanted to function democratically. In a situation where we were not allowed to function freely in a democratic manner, we thought the best decision was to resign,” he said.

“We maintain it is our right to act freely and this right was not allowed,” he said.

Mr. Kandian said that the LTTE warned bloodshed in the event of re-opening the library. The LTTE has told the ex-mayor that a situation like 1974 international Tamil literary conference, where many were killed would arise if re-opened against the Tiger wishes.

He also said the LTTE did not want his name on the stone plaque, since he comes from a ‘low cast’.

Mr. Kandian first joined the Jaffna municpal council as a minor labourer in 1960. Published: Mon Mar 3 10:00:26 EST 2003

Just one run separated ecstasy and dejection. For South Africa, it was dejection for the fourth successive World Cup since it was readmitted into the international cricket fold after the abolition of the country's apartheid policies.

``The end of our campaign was very disappointing. We didn't play that badly to miss out on the Super Six,'' Pollock said. ``It'll take a long time to sink in,'' he said.

South Africa has finished on the wrong side of rules governing the game in three World Cups.

For the second time since 1992, South Africa felt cheated by untimely showers, and for the second successive time a tied game signaled its ouster from the tournament.

In 1992, seven months after its admission to the International Cricket Council, South Africa appeared on victory course in the semifinal against England in Sydney when the skies opened up.

By the time the match resumed the prevalent rain rules left South Africa requiring six boundaries off a single ball. After this incident, the rain rule was altered, but it was too late for South Africa.

Starting as the title favorite in 1996, South Africa won five group matches convincingly before running into a belligerent Brian Lara in the quarterfinal against the West Indies in Karachi. A Lara century set up West Indies' shock win, but the South Africa batsmen contributed with some reckless shots.

South Africa once again started the 1999 World Cup as the overwhelming favorite and justified that billing until it ran into eventual title winner Australia, which beat it in Super-Six encounter at Leeds, to secure passage into the semifinals.

The semifinal at Edgbaston, Birmingham, was again a South Africa-Australia showdown that ended in a tie after last batsman Allan Donald was run out with the scores level and one ball still remaining.

The tied match actually went in Australia's favor since it had beaten South Africa in their previous match. South Africa returned home shattered, while Australia went on to win the World Cup.

Monday's outcome was equally tragic for Shaun Pollock's team. It was once again a case of being so near and yet so far.

Vice-captain Mark Boucher's massive six over mid-on off Muttiah Muralitharan brought South Africa on par with Sri Lanka - in terms of amended target, but he thought he'd already got ahead. So he turned the next ball with ease to midwicket, didn't try to hammer the ball away or steal a single.

The confusion was caused by the a wrong message sent from the dressing room, but it brought South Africa's misfortune into play once again.

``It's difficult to comprehend the irony,'' South African coach Eric Simons.

``It is a tough call on the batsmen in the middle, who's trying to score runs and not lose his wicket. Then he also has to keep the amended targets in him calculations,'' he said.

Skipper Pollock stoned face told the picture more than his words.

(sn-jp) Published: Mon Mar 3 20:27:23 EST 2003