COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Artillery shells tore through a hospital packed with wounded civilians in Sri Lanka's war zone for a second day yesterday, killing at least 50 people, setting an ambulance ablaze and forcing the medical staff to huddle in bunkers for safety, doctors said.

Health workers at the makeshift medical facility said they were so overwhelmed by the crush of the wounded and the unrelenting shelling of the area they could do little but give gauze and bandages to the roughly 1,000 patients waiting for treatment. The strike on the hospital came as the government marched on with its offensive to destroy the reeling Tamil Tiger rebels and end their quarter-century quest for a separate homeland.

SALE OF CALIFORNIA LANDMARKS PROPOSED

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to sell Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, San Quentin State Prison, the Orange County Fairgrounds and other state property to raise cash amid the state's growing fiscal crisis, according to a copy of a proposal reviewed by the Los Angeles Times.

Sale of the properties, to be included in the governor's revised budget plan today, would raise between $600 million and $1 billion, although it would not provide financial relief for two to five years, according to the proposal. Other items on the list for potential disposal include Cal Expo, site of the state fair in Sacramento; the Del Mar Fairground; and the Cow Palace in Daly City.

CHICAGO BANS BPA IN BABY BOTTLES, CUPS

CHICAGO — The City Council's vote yesterday to make Chicago the first U.S. city to ban bisphenol A in baby bottles and sippy cups is the latest act in a groundswell of public concern about a widely used chemical that has been linked to cancer, diabetes and other ailments.

With retailers and manufacturers already phasing out use of BPA, the unanimous vote is largely symbolic. But it adds the city to a growing list of states and countries moving to eliminate the chemical from household products, especially those made for infants and children.

CRAIGSLIST NIXES 'EROTIC SERVICES' CATEGORY

CHICAGO — A month after the killing of a masseuse who advertised on Craigslist, the classified ad site announced plans yesterday to eliminate its "erotic services" category and screen all submissions to a new "adult services" section before they are posted.

Law enforcement officials praised the move as a victory against online prostitution, but they acknowledged doubts about whether the changes will curb the practice.

The announcement marked a significant policy change for Craigslist, which in the past has never prescreened ads, choosing instead to remove them only after receiving complaints. The new adult services ads will also carry a fee.

ASTRONAUTS CATCH HUBBLE FOR REPAIRS

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Atlantis' astronauts grabbed the Hubble Space Telescope yesterday, then quickly set their sights on the difficult, dangerous and unprecedented spacewalking repairs they will attempt over the next five days.

Hubble and Atlantis are flying in a 350-mile-high orbit littered with space junk. Some of that debris put a bit of a scare into NASA late yesterday, when a 4-inch piece was spotted on a path coming close to the shuttle.

The debris did not hit the spacecraft and NASA had decided it didn't need to move Atlantis out of the way.

3 MORE BIRD SPECIES CLOSE TO EXTINCTION

GENEVA — An Ethiopian lark, a Galapagos finch and a spectacularly colored hummingbird only recently discovered in Colombia have been added to the list of the world's most threatened species, an environmental group said today.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature — the producer each year of a Red List of endangered species — said the Sidamo lark could soon become Africa's first known bird extinction as the Ethiopian savanna becomes overgrown by bush, farmland and overgrazing.

The Sidamo lark is joined as a "critically endangered" species by the medium tree-finch in Ecuador's Galapagos Islands and the gorgeted puffleg — a Colombian mountain bird with an appearance as flamboyant as its name.