Sri Lankan officials have set the first postwar provincial elections in the country’s war-torn northern province for Sept. 21, more than four years after the end of the island nation’s quarter century civil war. …read more
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Sri Lanka’s captain Angelo Mathews won the toss and chose to bat in the fifth and final one-day international against South Africa in Colombo on Wednesday. …read more
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Sri Lanka and South Africa will not let the intensity slip in Wednesday’s fifth and final one-day international in Colombo even though the hosts have already wrapped up the series. …read more
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Protesters in Sri Lanka have accused India of interfering in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs by criticizing Colombo’s plans to withdraw powers from provincial councils set up to share power with ethnic Tamils. …read more
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Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara pulverised South Africa’s bowling as Sri Lanka took a decisive 3-1 lead in the one-day series with an eight-wicket victory in Pallekele on Sunday. …read more
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Sri Lanka’s military says it has decided to remove a dozen army camps in the former northern war zone where key elections are scheduled in less than two months. …read more
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Sri Lanka’s military said Wednesday it will dismantle over a dozen army camps in the former rebel stronghold of Jaffna, weeks ahead of key council elections in the embattled region. …read more
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A groin injury to star batsman Hashim Amla has added to South Africa’s woes as they attempt to prevent their limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka from falling apart. …read more
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Sri Lanka’s captain Dinesh Chandimal won the toss and elected to bat in the second one-day international against South Africa at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo on Tuesday. …read more
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All information for this article is taken from unclassified material. Most has been provided by a medical doctor and biomedical scientist who has an unconventional warfare background and prefers to be unnamed. He has conducted extensive research in tropical medicine, has served as overwinter physician for a 14-person Antarctic research team, and served as a WMD consultant to the National Medical Response Team (NMRT). He currently conducts jungle training for biomedical scientists, and has conducted extensive pathology investigations involving Ebola, Marburg and other deadly viruses. He also participated in the Asian Disaster Foundation medical response to Sri Lanka, and has authored and coauthored numerous related medical research papers. …read more
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South African captain AB de Villiers won the toss and sent Sri Lanka in to bat in the first one-day international at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo on Saturday. …read more
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South Africa and Sri Lanka are hoping to recover from recent setbacks in one-day cricket when they contest a five-match series starting in Colombo. …read more
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Australia plans to resettle asylum-seekers in developing countries as part of a radical overhaul of its border protection policy to help stem the flood of boatpeople arriving on its shores, reports said Friday.
Papua New Guinea is at the heart of the revamp, News Limited newspapers and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation said, with the Pacific nation’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill expected to jet into Australia on Friday for an announcement.
Under a deal Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is said to have thrashed out, asylum-seekers would not only be processed in other countries, such as poverty-stricken Papua New Guinea, but also permanently resettled there.
The aim is to pose a strong disincentive for people considering the dangerous boat journey from Indonesia, particularly so-called economic migrants who make the trip not to flee persecution but for a better life in Australia.
Australia has struggled to stem an influx of asylum-seekers arriving by boat, with record numbers turning up in 2012 and more than 13,000 so far in 2013.
Hundreds have drowned making the journey and Canberra’s plans to send them to remote Pacific islands for processing has so far failed to stop the flood.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr has said asylum-seekers are increasingly “economic migrants”, many from Iran and Sri Lanka.
The ABC reported Friday that Indonesia had agreed to a request by Prime Minister Rudd to tighten visa restrictions for visitors from Iran, who currently enjoy visa-free entry to the sprawling Southeast Asian nation with many then taking a boat illegally to Australia.
It follows Rudd’s recent meeting with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta, where they announced an agreement to promote greater regional co-operation on cross-border immigration.
Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said further details would be forthcoming.
“We’re in discussions, announcements will be made when they’re made. I’m not in a position to make further detail here,” he said, but welcomed the Indonesian move on Iranians.
“What it will do is stop the transit traffic to go from Iran, Middle East, Indonesia, get your visa on arrival and then have already pre-organised a people smuggler to put you on the boat,” he said.
“That will be far more difficult if there’s not an automatic transit through Indonesia. It’s an example of good co-operation and I congratulate and thank the Indonesian government for doing what they’ve done.”
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Indian police investigating bomb blasts at one of Buddhism’s holiest sites released sketches of a suspect on Tuesday and offered a reward for information about the attacks.
Ten small devices exploded on July 7 in the Bodh Gaya temple complex in the eastern state of Bihar, wounding two monks, while three others were defused at the historic shrine.
The National Investigation Agency released two sketches of a man suspected of planting the bombs at the complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site, which was not badly damaged in the blasts.
One sketch showed the suspect wearing a mask, while the second showed a clean-shaven face. The suspect was “wearing the dress of a Buddhist monk”, the agency said on its website.
It also announced a reward of one million rupees ($16,900) for information leading to the arrest of the bombers.
Police studied CCTV footage of the complex immediately after the early morning attacks and arrested a man for questioning, but no charges were laid.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks. But police say they had received intelligence that Islamic militants could target the site as revenge for Buddhist violence against Muslims in neighbouring Myanmar.
Along with temples, dozens of monasteries housing monks from around the world dot the Bodh Gaya complex, which is said to be the site where the Buddha reached enlightenment in 531 BC.
The centrepiece of the complex is the site of the holy Bodhi tree, under which Buddha is said to have meditated. A sapling of the original tree was undamaged in the attacks.
The complex, 110 kilometres (69 miles) south of Patna, contains one of the earliest Buddhist temples still standing in India.
Buddhists are rarely targeted in India but there have been tensions in the wider region recently following clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
In neighbouring Nepal, dozens of police have been mobilised to guard the country’s famed Buddhist temple complex as a precaution after the India attacks.
Police have doubled to 70 the number of security officers guarding the Lumbini temple complex, 250 kilometres (150 miles) southwest of the capital Kathmandu, local police official Surendra Bahadur Shah told AFP.
Thousands of pilgrims visit Lumbini each year to pay homage to the Buddha, who is said to have been born in the temple gardens in 623 BC.
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Sri Lanka has halted a French cultural festival after it screened an internationally-acclaimed local film that the military considered insulting, authorities said Monday.
The French Film Festival in Colombo was abruptly stopped by the management of the state-owned venue after the movie — set during Sri Lanka’s ethnic war — was screened, the French embassy and the government said.
A defence ministry official told reporters the film had been banned in Sri Lanka.
“It’s an illegal film which insults the security forces and the government of Sri Lanka,”said the official, Lakshman Hulugalle, adding that producers did not have permission to use military uniforms.
The venue management told the embassy it suspended the festival marking Bastille Day celebrations, on “account of the contents of and the sentiments contained” in the Sinhala-language film “Flying Fish”.
However, the embassy said it had been given clearance by the Public Performance Board, Sri Lanka’s official movie and drama censor, to screen the film last Thursday to an invited audience.
State media slammed the festival organisers after the movie was screened, saying “Flying Fish” was critical of Sri Lanka’s troops. The movie is set against the backdrop of the Tamil separatist war in the east of the island.
The government did not say what specific scenes were unacceptable. The festival was scheduled to end last Sunday but was terminated Saturday morning.
The French embassy said it had selected the 2011 movie with the support of Sri Lanka’s culture ministry due to its international recognition in festivals in Asia and in France.
Sri Lanka is highly sensitive to criticism of its troops, who are facing international censure for alleged war crimes in the final stages of crushing Tamil separatists in 2009.
Sri Lanka has banned several local productions, saying they were undermining military morale. The government has rejected allegations that its troops killed 40,000 civilians in the closing stages of the war.
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Hugely contrasting half-centuries by Shahid Afridi and Misbah-ul-Haq rescued Pakistan from a perilous position as they reached 224 for nine against the West Indies in the first one-day international at the Guyana National Stadium on Sunday.
Returning to the team after being omitted from the Champions Trophy in England in June, the mercurial Afridi smashed a top score of 76 off 55 deliveries while Misbah redefined the role of the cautious captain, occupying 121 balls for his watchful innings of 42.
The pair put on 120 for the sixth wicket, a new record in one-day internationals for the ground and the best for Pakistan against the West Indies.
Their effort was essential after Jason Holder wrecked Pakistan’s top-order batting in finishing with the outstanding figures of four for 13 off 10 overs.
The beanpole pacer, in just his fourth one-dayer, proved almost unplayable in overcast, seamer-friendly conditions with an exhibition of pace and accuracy that belied his relative inexperience.
Holder wasted little time in getting among the wickets after light morning delayed the start by 15 minutes.
Ahmed Shehzad played-on in the Barbadian’s second over while the experienced Mohammad Hafeez was a prized scalp, his off-stump sent cartwheeling when he opted not to offer a shot.
Holder was then fortunate to have an lbw appeal against the other opener, Nasir Jamshed, upheld and then removed Asad Shafiq first ball to a brilliant catch by wicketkeeper Johnson Charles.
He should have claimed a fifth wicket but what looked like an obvious edge to Charles off Umar Akmal was ruled not out by umpire Joel Wilson, the same official who ruled Jamshed leg-before.
Afridi wasted no time setting about the bowling, hoisting six fours and five sixes in a typically entertaining innings while at the other end, Misbah was content to support the rampant all-rounder by feeding him the strike at every opportunity.
Afridi eventually fell to a catch at deep midwicket off Kieron Pollard in the 39th over.
West Indies did not help their cause with a repetition of the bowling indiscretions which surfaced during the Tri-Nations series last week where visiting India and Sri Lanka beat them to the final.
They delivered some 23 wides and gifted a total of 28 extras to the Pakistani total. Given the potential potency of the Pakistani bowling attack, it may prove to be a carelessness they could ill afford.
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Australian rescue authorities on Sunday said a search for eight people missing after a boat carrying 97 asylum-seekers sank in remote seas had ended, with little chance anyone would be found alive.
A baby boy died and 88 people were plucked to safety after the vessel capsized some 87 nautical miles north of the Australian territory of Christmas Island on Friday morning.
Rescuers, alerted by a distress call, were only able to reach the scene late that evening and a short time later a huge wave broke over the boat and it began to sink.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said the search and rescue operation was called off after dark on Saturday.
“This decision was made based on the high probability that anyone alive would have been found during the day and on medical advice on survivability,” AMSA said in a statement on Sunday.
Two navy patrol boats, a merchant vessel, a military aircraft and two maritime rescue planes were involved in combing the seas.
The asylum-seekers on the boat, which originated from Indonesia, were from Iran, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, authorities said, with the survivors taken to Christmas Island for processing at Australia’s main facility for holding asylum-seekers arriving by boat.
Hundreds of asylum-seekers have drowned on the dangerous sea voyage from Indonesia with the latest disaster following recent talks between Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Rudd and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on the issue.
It is a controversial political topic in Australia that is likely to loom large in the lead-up to national elections to be held later this year.
The conservative opposition accuses Labor of losing control of Australia’s borders and proposes using the navy to tow back people-smuggling boats — a plan not welcomed by Jakarta.
Rudd on Saturday said he would have more to say regarding policy changes on asylum-seekers ahead of the polls.
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At least three, and perhaps all, of the 15-man crew of a merchant vessel that sank last week while being held by Somali pirates are alive, their families said Saturday.
The Malaysian-flagged MV Albedo container ship, seized by Somali pirates in November 2010, sank last week in rough seas a short distance offshore from the pirate-held town of Hobyo, on central Somalia’s Indian Ocean coast.
While initially the crew were feared drowned, three have since been allowed to call their families, saying that 11 in total of the crew are alive, while four more are unaccounted for.
Begging for their release, families called on the pirates to let surviving crew members go, saying that now that the boat had sunk, its owners had no interest in paying ransom for its release.
“We appealed to everyone in this world to pay money towards the release of our people, but no one listened,” they said in a written appeal to the pirates.
“We are very poor people, we even do not have any money to pay for medicines, school fees, buy food for our children.”
The Albedo had more than 20 crew from several nations including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Iran on board when it was captured, but seven Pakistani sailors were released last August.
“Now, that the vessel has sunk… the owner has no interest to pay money and rescue the crew,” they added.
“At least release them on humanitarian grounds, else they will die in your hands.”
Pirates had initially claimed the crew had drowned, but later lifeboats from the Albedo were spotted onshore.
However, it is understood the sailors were transferred to another pirated vessel, a fishing boat called FV Nahem 3, which is tethered to the sunken hulk of the Albedo.
John Steed, head of an internationally-backed liason body, the Secretariat for Regional Maritime Security, said the crew and pirates on the Nahem are also in danger of sinking.
“We have told the pirates that the best scenario is for them to leave FV Naham 3, and allow us to arrange to recover the hostages,” Steed said.
Pirate attacks have been launched as far as 3,655 kilometres from the Somali coast in the Indian Ocean.
But in recent years, international naval patrols from China, Europe, United States and Russia have protected shipping and fought off pirate vessels, with the rate of attacks tumbling by 80 percent from 2011 to 2012, according to the European naval force for Somalia.
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Australian authorities were scouring remote seas for survivors on Saturday after a people-smuggling boat carrying 97 went down, with 88 people rescued so far and the body of a baby found.
Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said the boat first issued a distress call in rough seas north of Christmas Island, between Australia and Indonesia, on Friday morning.
Rescuers were unable to reach the scene until 10:00 pm (1200 GMT), and a short time later Clare said a huge wave broke over the boat and it began to sink.
“Last night our officers have rescued 88 people and they’ve recovered the body of a little baby boy,” Clare told reporters, adding that the infant was reportedly less than a year old.
“The advice to me is that there were 97 people on board and a search and rescue effort is happening right now.”
Two navy patrol boats and a merchant vessel were combing the seas 87 nautical miles north of Christmas Island, along with a military aircraft and two maritime rescue planes.
The ill-fated ship was believed to have originated in Indonesia with passengers from Iran, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, Clare said.
Clare said the 88 plucked from the sea overnight had been transferred to immigration detention on the remote island, Australia’s main facility for holding asylum-seekers arriving by boat.
It is the second asylum boat incident on the dangerous people-smuggling sea passage from Java in a week — a vessel issued a distress signal last Friday after taking on water but was ultimately able to fix its engine.
Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was in Indonesia holding diplomatic talks on the sensitive issue with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the time.
Rudd said Saturday’s emergency “underlines the absolute importance of Australia continu(ing) to adjust its policy to meet changing circumstances in the region and in the world.”
“The loss of any child’s life or of any person’s life at sea in these sorts of circumstances is a genuine human tragedy,” the prime minister said.
“Our response in terms of elevating the work we do cooperatively with the Indonesians and others is now urgent.”
Promising that he would “have more to say” regarding policy changes ahead of this year’s elections, Rudd highlighted source and transit country talks and tightening refugee claims and approvals as key areas.
“Other measures in terms of the continued adjustment of our border protection policy are critical,” he said.
Hundreds of asylum-seekers have drowned on the dangerous sea voyage from Indonesia when their rickety, overloaded boats sank.
More than 13,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in Australia by boat since January 1, piling pressure on the ruling Labor party in an election year.
It is a controversial political issue likely to loom large in the lead-up to polls to be held later this year.
The conservative opposition accuses Labor of losing control of Australia’s borders and proposes using the navy to tow back people-smuggling boats — a plan not welcomed by Jakarta.
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A glance at some sporting events and teams that have been affected by attacks and threats:
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Sept. 5-6, 1972 — Palestinians going by the name of “Black September” kill 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
April 21, 1987 — A car bomb kills more than 100 people at a bus station in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The blast came during a tour of the country by the New Zealand cricket team. The three-Test tour was cut to one.
Feb. 11, 1996 — Cricket teams from australia and the West Indies refuse to play preliminary World Cup matches in Sri Lanka a week after a huge bomb blast in Colombo killed 80 people and injures 1,200.
July 27, 1996 — Centennial Park bombing at Atlanta Olympics. The attack took place during a nighttime music concert at the Centennial Olympic Park. The explosion killed one person and injured over 100 others.
April 5, 1997 — The Grand National, the most famous horse race in England, was abandoned after two coded bomb threats were reportedly received from the IRA. Sixty-thousand spectators (including Princess Anne), jockeys, race personnel and local residents were evacuated, and the course was secured by police. The race was run two days later.
May 1, 2002 — Hours before the Champions League semifinal between Real Madrid and Barcelona, a car bomb was detonated near Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid. Seventeen people were injured. UEFA made security checks before going ahead with the match.
May 8, 2002 — A suicide bomber killed 14 people outside the hotel where the New Zealand cricket team was staying in Karachi, Pakistan. Fourteen people died in the attack and the New Zealand team returned home.
2006 — Iraqi sportsmen and women were targeted three times. On May 17, 15 athletes and officials of the Iraqi taekwondo team were kidnapped as they headed to Jordan for a training camp. None of the athletes were seen alive again. On May 26, gunmen shot and killed the Iraqi tennis coach and two of his players. The final attack on July 16 involved 50 gunmen who attacked a sports conference in Baghdad. They kidnapped 30 athletes and officials, including the head of Iraq’s Olympic Committee, Ahmed
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