Category: Other
Incident
Jan 29, 2014 (LBO) – Harsha de Silva, an opposition legislator and economist said a person who had accused him of assault had withdrawn a complaint made to the police. The person had alleged that de Silva had hit him on the head after an exchange of words when clearing a bare land near his […]
IMF rep, UN staff among 14 killed in Kabul restaurant attack
KABUL, January 18, 2014 (AFP) – Taliban suicide attackers killed at least 14 people, including the IMF representative in Afghanistan and three UN staff, in a terrifying gun and bomb attack on a Kabul restaurant popular with foreigners.One attacker blew himself up outside the Taverna du Liban in the upmarket Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood Friday […]
‘s Sonia Gandhi stalls son Rahul PM candidacy push
NEW DELHI, January 17, 2014 (AFP) – India’s ruling party was putting on a united front Friday at a mass rally after its leader Sonia Gandhi stalled a push to name her son Rahul as prime ministerial candidate at looming elections.Thousands of Congress party members have gathered in the capital New Delhi for a conclave […]
Modern cigarettes more dangerous than ever: US health report
WASHINGTON, January 17, 2014 (AFP) – Smoking cigarettes can cause even more health problems than lung cancer, including blindness, diabetes, erectile dysfunction and liver cancer, said a major US government report on Friday.The latest Surgeon General’s findings on the health consequences of smoking were to be formally announced at the White House, in a ceremony […]
Double Trouble
BOBIGNY, January 14, 2014 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan man wanted on an international arrest warrant for terrorism, was discovered in France by accident, after he walked into a police station to complain about poor working conditions.Jeyanthan Tharmalingam, 35, went last Thursday to give a statement in a case about illegal employment in which he […]
US Call
COLOMBO, January 12, 2014 (AFP) – The United States called Sunday for Sri Lanka to investigate rights abuses by security forces after a top envoy completed a fact-finding mission to the island, the US embassy in Colombo said.US State Department war crimes investigator Stephen Rapp “listened to eyewitness accounts about serious human rights abuses” during […]
Scapgoat
WASHINGTON, January 9, 2014 (AFP) – An American jailed for nine months in the United Arab Emirates for making a spoof YouTube video mocking Dubai teenagers returned home Thursday, comparing the experience to being in a “cage.” Being back on American soil “feels great,” Shezanne Cassim, 29, told an impromptu press conference just a few […]
Sri Lankan found dead on Maldives resort
MALÉ, December 30, 2013 (AFP) – A dead body has washed up at an exclusive island resort in the Maldives where English football star David Beckham is taking a hideaway Christmas holiday with his family, police said Monday.Investigations were underway to establish the cause of death of the man, whose body was found floating near […]
Three Asian workers dead in Saudi oil platform sinking
JEDDAH, December 28, 2013 (AFP) – Saudi coastguards have found the bodies of three Asian workers at sea after they went missing when an oil company’s offshore platform sank, officials said Saturday. “They were all found. We found two of them late yesterday and another one this morning,” Eastern Province Coastguard spokesman Colonel Khaled al-Arqubi […]
Rescue underway for Russian ship trapped by Antarctic ice
SYDNEY, December 26, 2013 (AFP) – Three icebreaking ships were Thursday hurrying to reach a Russian vessel carrying 74 people on a scientific expedition which is trapped by ice off Antarctica, with Australian authorities coordinating the rescue mission.The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said the MV Akademik Shokalskiy sent a distress message on Wednesday to […]
Grave Discovery
COLOMBO, December 22, 2013 (AFP) – An unmarked mass grave has been found in Sri Lanka’s former war zone, the first discovery of an unmarked gravesite since troops defeated Tamil rebels more than four years ago, police said Sunday. The insurgency by the mainly Sinhalese JVP was unrelated to the separatist campaign in the north […]
Bad Employer
DOHA, December 18, 2013 (AFP) – Migrants who have worked for nearly a year without pay on a Qatar skyscraper are facing “severe foot shortages” and cannot leave or seek other employment, Amnesty International said Wednesday.Qatar has come under mounting criticism from rights groups, particularly after being chosen to host the 2022 World Cup, which […]