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
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Ryan Harris said fellow seamer Peter Siddle’s “unacceptable” no-ball that saw England’s Jonny Bairstow reprieved at Lord’s could have cost Australia the Ashes.
Bairstow had made 21 on Thursday’s first day of the second Test when he was clean bowled by Siddle, with England then teetering on 171 for five.
But he was told to wait on the outfield by bowler’s end umpire Kumar Dharmasena as the Sri Lankan asked replay official Tony Hill to check for a front foot no-ball.
After several minutes’ study, the New Zealander decided Siddle had over-stepped, albeit fractionally.
With what had been a wicket changed into a one-run penalty for a no-ball, England’s fifth wicket duo went on to add a hundred more runs before Ian Bell, who made 109, was out with the score on 271 for five.
Bairstow himself pressed on to 67 out of an England stumps total of 289 for seven.
Harris, recalled after Mitchell Starc was dropped from the Australia side that lost the first of this five-match series by just 14 runs at Trent Bridge last week, said coach Darren Lehmann and bowling coach Ali de Winter had both repeatedly emphasised the importance of avoiding no-balls.
“Ali de Winter and Darren are strict on us in the nets,” said Harris, who finished the day with three wickets for 28 runs in 13 overs and not a single no-ball.
“Once we are off our long runs we are not allowed to go over. There is no excuse.
“The line is there for a reason and it is unacceptable,” the 33-year-old Queensland paceman added.
As England hold the Ashes, they only have to draw this series to retain them whereas Australia need an outright win across the five Tests to regain the urn.
“It cost us a lot of runs today (Thursday) and potentially it could cost us the Ashes,” added Harris of the Siddle no-ball.
“We were pretty disappointed. Darren was not very happy when we went in for lunch.
“You just can’t afford to have to take 11 wickets or 12 wickets. It’s as simple as that.
“It was probably the only one he (Siddle) bowled.”
Indeed it was the lone no-ball Siddle delivered in what turned out to be a wicketless return of 12 overs for 48 runs.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Ian Bell’s hundred left Australia having to rewrite the record books if they were to win the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge.
Australia, at lunch on Saturday’s fourth day, were 28 without loss and needing a further 283 runs to reach their victory target of 311 after Bell’s 109 had been the cornerstone of Ashes-holders England’s second innings 375.
No side has made more to win in the fourth innings of a Trent Bridge Test than England’s 284 for six against New Zealand in 2004.
James Anderson’s first ball of Australia’s second innings whistled past Shane Watson’s outside edge and Chris Rogers, on nought, nicked Stuart Broad just short of England captain Alastair Cook at first slip.
But both batsmen survived, with Watson 18 not out at lunch and Rogers unbeaten on 10.
Bell, 95 not out overnight, went to make 109 and shared a seventh-wicket stand of 138 with Broad (65) after the all-rounder was controversially given not out on Friday.
Broad enjoyed a massive slice of luck on 37 when experienced Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar ruled in his favour after Australia appealed for a catch by captain Michael Clarke at first slip off teenage debutant spinner Ashton Agar.
Broad stood his ground and, with Australia having used up their two permitted reviews in the innings, the tourists ultimately had to accept the verdict even though television replays showed a thick edge that had first come off the gloves of wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.
Bell, on 34, was given out by Sri Lankan umpire Kumar Dharmasena after an lbw appeal by medium-pacer Shane Watson before successfully challenging the decision on review.
Apart from a tough diving chance dropped by Haddin off Peter Siddle when he was on 77, Bell batted near faultlessly on Friday after coming in with England effectively 56 for three following a first innings deficit of 65.
This innings, which saw him pass 6,000 runs in his 89th Test, was an especially important one for Bell as the 31-year-old Warwickshire right-hander, often accused of not scoring runs when England most needed them, played arguably his best innings for his country.
Saturday’s play started in extraordinary fashion when left-arm paceman Mitchell Starc bowled a beamer so wide it had Clarke in the slips jumping out of the way as Dar called no-ball for a dangerous delivery.
Bell then steered a Starc full toss through gully for four to go to 99.
At the other end left-handed batsman Broad completed a 124-ball fifty when he edged a drive off James Pattinson between Watson and Clarke in the slips for his sixth four.
Australia’s shoddy start Saturday continued when a misfield at point by Agar, who made 98, the highest score by a Test match No 11, in the tourists’ first innings, allowed Bell to scamper through for a single that saw him to his 18th Test hundred in 237 balls with 13 fours.
Broad was eventually out for 65 when he edged Pattinson to Haddin.
This time Broad, in for nearly three-and-a-half hours, walked off without waiting for the umpire’s verdict before Bell’s near …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
A Sri Lankan judge has announced that more than 150 human skulls and bones recovered from a mass grave were buried there about 25 years ago, strengthening suspicion that they belonged to suspected Marxist rebels killed at the time.
Magistrate Chathurika de Silva told a court in the central town of Matale that tests show the skeletal remains found inside the premises of a government hospital dated to between 1987 and 1990. During that period, thousands of men and women suspected of having ties to the rebels disappeared after being arrested by security forces.
However, de Silva did not explain the cause of death but declared the mass grave a crime scene.
Workers found human remains while doing construction on part of the hospital land.
A project supported by the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF) is helping smallholder shrimp farmers in Sri Lanka adapt their industry’s best management practices to local needs. This could lead to fewer disease outbreaks, bigger and more profitable shrimp, and fewer negative environmental impacts. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
A United Nations resolution criticizing the actions of Sri Lanka‘s government during its war against the Tamil Tigers has threatened India‘s shaky coalition government.
Early Tuesday, a key ally from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu said it had withdrawn its 18 members from the Congress-led government.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is demanding the government push for a strongly worded resolution at the United Nations. It also wants Parliament to condemn the Sri Lankan government.
The government has yet to say how India will vote.
Finance Minister P.Chidambaram insisted the defection of the Tamil party would not put the government at risk. National elections are not expected until next year.
The Congress-led coalition is already a minority government that leans heavily on small regional parties.
Alex Pyron’s expertise is in family trees. Who is related to whom, who begat whom, how did they get where they are now. But not for humans: reptiles. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
(Phys.org) —A fireball that appeared over the Sri Lankan province of Polonnaruwa on December 29, 2012 was a meteorite containing algae fossils, according to a paper published in the Journal of Cosmology. A team of researchers, led by Jamie Wallis of Cardiff University, believes that these fossils provide evidence of cometary panspermia, the hypothesis that life originated in outer space and comets brought it to Earth. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
The photo shows a boy sitting by a row of sandbags as he glumly eats a snack. The next photo shows him with a series of bullet holes in his chest.
The makers of a documentary on Sri Lanka say the boy was the 12-year-old son of Sri Lankan insurgent leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, and that the photos prove he was executed by the Sri Lankan military. Sri Lanka denies the charge.
The accusation comes as Sri Lanka is struggling to fend off a surge of criticism about its conduct in the final days of the war in 2009 and its treatment of the Tamil minority in the four years since.
Navi Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, has accused the country of failing to investigate reports of atrocities.
Myanmar asylum seekers rescued by Sri Lanka‘s navy last week say they floated for 25 days at sea and 97 people died of starvation after Thailand‘s navy intercepted them and forcibly removed their boat’s engine. The Thai navy has denied the allegation.
Thirty-two men and a boy now held at an immigration detention center near Sri Lanka‘s capital, Colombo, were rescued last Saturday when their dilapidated wooden vessel began sinking while making a perilous journey to Malaysia.
All are Rohingya Muslims who face heavy discrimination in Myanmar, and say they do not want to return there.
The survivors were suffering from serious dehydration when they were rescued about 400 kilometers (250 miles) off Sri Lanka‘s east coast. The Sri Lankan navy said they were alerted to the sinking vessel by a fisherman.
“The journey was dangerous, but we had to do that … as we fear for our lives, no jobs, and big fighting” in Myanmar, one of the survivors, Shofiulla, told The Associated Press.
Sectarian violence in western Myanmar has killed hundreds of people and displaced 100,000 more since last June. The Rohingya speak a Bengali dialect and resemble Bangladeshis, with darker skin than most people in Myanmar, which is mostly Buddhist. They are widely regarded as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
The United Nations estimates the Rohingya population in Myanmar at 800,000, but the Myanmar government does not recognize them as one of the country’s 135 ethnic groups. Most are denied citizenship and have no passports, though many of their families have lived in the country for generations. Bangladesh also refuses to accept them as citizens.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees expressed concern Friday over the rising number of deaths of Rohingya at sea and urged Myanmar’s government to promote reconciliation in conflict-hit Rakhine state and ensure them basic living conditions and eventual access to citizenship.
While commending the Sri Lankan navy’s quick response, UNHCR also said there are continuing reports of some countries in the region putting boat people back to sea. It asked countries to “keep their borders open to people in need of international protection … (and) offer them temporary assistance and protection until durable solutions can be found.”
Shofiulla, 24, said 130 people were on the boat when the journey to Malaysia began on Jan. 10. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
A British filmmaker says photographs have emerged that show the son of a Tamil rebel leader prove the boy was executed in 2009 by Sri Lankan soldiers.
Balachandran Prabhakaran, the 12-year-old son of Velupillai Prabhakaranm — the former leader of the Tamil Tigers – was captured by Sri Lanka‘s army on the final day of the 26-year war between the two sides, the BBC reports.
Sri Lanka‘s government has said the boy was killed in crossfire during a battle, but two photos show Balachandran in custody before his death.
In the first photo, Balachandran is seen eating chocolate. In the second, he is shown dead after being shot five times in the chest. The photos were taken less than two hours apart on May 19, 2009, according to data analysis done by the Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, the BBC reports.
“His death was deliberate and calculated,” filmmaker Callum Macrae said. “This is a proof, beyond reasonable doubt, of the execution of a child — not a battlefield death.”
Sri Lanka Army spokesman Ruwan Wanigasuriya denied the claims, and said the photos showed “no substantive evidence.”
The photos are being released in Macrae’s latest documentary, “No Fire Zone,” which will be screened at the Geneva Human Rights Film Festival during a UN meeting in March, the BBC reports.
Saudi Arabia says it has called back its ambassador to Sri Lanka following a similar move by the South Asian nation to protest the kingdom’s beheading of a Sri Lankan domestic worker last month.
The two countries have been at odds since the January execution of Rizana Nafeek, who was convicted in the death of a Saudi baby in her care in 2005.
The case spurred global appeals for leniency because she was 17 at the time of the infant’s death. She had denied strangling the 4-month-old boy.
The official Saudi Press Agency said on Wednesday that the ambassador was called to Riyadh for consultations. Sri Lanka withdrew its ambassador to the Gulf kingdom after the execution.
By The Huffington Post News Editors
By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal
COLOMBO, Feb 19 (Reuters) – Photographs of the son of the leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels suggest he was murdered, and not killed in the cross fire during the chaotic end of Sri Lanka’s three decade war, a British-based documentary maker said.
If confirmed, the accusation would leave the Sri Lankan government with more questions to answer about allegations of systematic executions at the end of the war, especially given Balachandran Prabakaran was just 12.
WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS BELOW
Tens of thousands of civilians were killed in 2009 in the final months the war, a U.N. panel said, as government troops advanced on the ever-shrinking northern tip of the island controlled by Tamil rebels fighting for an independent homeland.
The U.N. panel said it had “credible allegations” that Sri Lankan troops and the Tamil Tigers both carried out atrocities and war crimes, and singled out the government for most of the responsibility for the deaths.
Sri Lanka has rejected all rights abuse allegations.
One of the photographs obtained from anonymous sources by Britain’s Channel 4 showed Balachandran, son of Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabakaran, being given a snack and some water after being captured. Another shows him dead.
Digital image analysis indicates the photographs were taken by the same camera, suggesting he was killed deliberately, said Callum Macrae, director of the Channel 4 documentary “No fire zone: The killing fields of Sri Lanka“.
“They prove that Balachandran was not killed in crossfire, or in a battle. His death was deliberate and calculated,” Macrae wrote in The Hindu, an Indian daily.
The government has said Balachandran and many rebel leaders were killed in crossfire.
Macrae said the photographs formed a part of new evidence in the documentary that will be shown for the first time next month in Geneva, to coincide with a United Nations Human …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
The U.N.’s top human rights official says Sri Lanka is failing to properly investigate its government‘s alleged abuses toward the end of a bloody quarter-century civil war.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says opposition leaders are still being killed or abducted and the government has not yet made arrests or prosecutions in cases of disappearances.
Pillay said in a report Wednesday that Sri Lankan authorities must permit international experts to probe allegations of serious human rights violations from a war that the U.N. estimates killed 80,000 to 100,000 people.
In May 2009, the government, dominated by the ethnic Sinhalese majority, defeated the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, who were demanding an independent Tamil nation after decades of perceived discrimination.
Sri Lanka‘s government disputes many of the report’s findings.
Sri Lanka‘s military on Thursday asked the government to introduce its own rules to deal with civil wars, saying existing international humanitarian laws cover only state actors and not terrorist organizations.
The country’s armed forces face numerous human rights allegations and possible war crimes for their conduct during a decades-long civil war with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels that ended in 2009.
The suggestion is part of the military’s response to a call to implement a war commission report that suggests investigating abuse allegations against government soldiers.
The army also rejected a suggestion by the commission to confine police to civil matters only, saying they should be placed under the defense ministry. Even though it is common for police to be under home ministry or under purview of a regional administration in many countries, “such countries do not face widespread internal disorders,” it said.
Sri Lanka is likely to face questions at the United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in March on what steps it has taken to implement the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.
Three diplomats from the United States, deputy assistant secretaries of state, James Moore and Jane Zimmerman, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Vikram Singh visit the country on Saturday to discuss the implementation of the report.
Army Commander Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya handed over the military’s seven recommendations to Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on Thursday. It also includes a suggestion calling for local guidelines on the roles of international humanitarian organizations in civil war situations.
During the civil war Sri Lanka often loudly accused aid groups of helping the Tamil Tigers and ordered their eviction from the war zone when it started its final offensive, limiting essential supplies to hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped inside the war zone.
A United Nations report said at least 7,000 civilians were killed during that time.
International human rights groups have accused government troops and Tamil Tigers of possible war crimes. Sri Lankan soldiers were accused of deliberate targeting of civilians, and blocking food and medical convoys to the battle zone, while the rebels were accused of child recruitment and using civilians as human shields.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Sri Lanka’s president has appointed a trusted aide to replace the chief justice he fired, a move that lawyers and opposition politicians say was illegal.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday swore in his new top judge, Mohan Peiris, a retired attorney general and a legal adviser to the Cabinet. On Sunday, Rajapaksa sacked Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake after a parliamentary committee found her guilty of having unexplained wealth and misuse of power.
Bandaranayake has denied the charges and accused the tribunal of not giving her a fair hearing. Courts have ruled in her favor but the president and Parliament ignored the rulings.
Rajapaksa’s critics say replacing the chief justice is part of an effort to consolidate government power in the hands of the president’s family.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Sri Lanka‘s leading lawyers on Monday denounced President Mahinda Rajapaksa‘s dismissal of the chief justice as illegal and said they still recognize Shirani Bandaranayake as the South Asian country’s top judge.
Lawyers and activists said Rajapaksa and the Parliament he controls violated the constitution by trying to remove Bandaranayake, and that any attempt to replace her could precipitate a constitutional crisis.
Rajapaksa on Sunday ratified a parliamentary vote to dismiss Bandaranayake, saying she has been found guilty of having unexplained wealth and misuse of power. The president’s critics say he pushed out the chief justice because she resisted efforts to solidify his family’s hold on the government.
A parliamentary tribunal found Bandaranayake guilty last month. She denied wrongdoing and walked out of the proceeding, saying she was not given a fair hearing. An appeals court quashed the guilty verdict after another court ruled that the tribunal lacked legal powers, but neither parliament nor Rajapaksa recognized those moves.
Lawyers Collective, a grouping of the country’s leading lawyers, said Bandaranayake’s dismissal was “unconstitutional and illegal.”
“We also still recognize she is the chief justice of this country,” said Chadrapala Kumarage, a member of the collective. He said any new appointment would be invalid.
“If the rulers of this country themselves break the main laws, other criminals may say those courts are not valid and illegal and that they will not accept them,” Kumarage said. “Then there will be a very dangerous and anarchy situation in the country.”
The lawyers said they will launch an islandwide campaign to educate the people about the government‘s move. Many senior lawyers have asked Supreme Court judges not to sit with a new chief justice. It is unclear when Rajapaksa intends to appoint a replacement.
Critics of Rajapaksa see Bandaranayake’s impeachment as a step toward removing obstacles to absolute power and ensuring a servile judiciary.
Rajapaksa won his second term as president on a wave of popular support after ending Sri Lanka‘s bloody 25-year civil war in 2009. He has pushed through laws ending term limits for the presidency and abolishing independent commissions that select top judiciary, police and public service personnel. He now has the power to appoint many of the country’s officials.
Bandaranayake was long viewed as pro-government but faced the allegations after she ruled against a law that would have increased the power of a brother of Rajapaksa who runs the economic development ministry.
The government is largely controlled by the Rajapaksa family, including the president’s older brother Chamal Rajapaksa, the speaker of Parliament. Another brother runs the defense ministry, and one of the president’s sons is a member of Parliament.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Sri Lanka’s president has signed a decree to dismiss the country’s chief justice after Parliament voted overwhelmingly for her removal in a widely criticized impeachment process.
The official government website says President Mahinda Rajapaksa signed the decree Sunday. It was the final step to dismiss Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake following a bitter dispute with the judiciary.
Jurists and activists have said the impeachment was illegal and that any attempt to appoint a new chief justice could precipitate a constitutional crisis.
A parliamentary committee last month found Bandaranayake guilty of unexplained wealth and misuse of power. Bandaranayake walked out of the proceeding, saying she was not given a fair hearing.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Sri Lanka‘s Parliament is debating whether to impeach the chief justice, deepening a standoff between the judiciary and the government, which is controlled by the country’s most powerful family.
Lawmakers are widely expected to vote Friday to impeach Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. Last month, a parliamentary committee ruled she was guilty of possession of unexplained wealth and misuse of power and declared her unfit for office.
Bandaranayake has denied the allegations and accuses the government of denying her a fair trial.
Sri Lanka is largely controlled by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family. He has the support of more than two-thirds of the 225-member Parliament.
Critics say the impeachment plan is a part of a government move to undermine the independence of the judiciary.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
By Mark Russell 
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
