25 people killed in Sri Lanka as construction explosives stored at police station for safety explode by accident

Three containers filled with explosives meant for road construction accidentally detonated outside a police station in eastern Sri Lanka this morning, killing 25 people.

Most of the victims were policemen, but the death toll fell from an initial estimate of 60, according to military spokesman Major General Ubaya Medawala.

Images of the blast on Maharaja Television showed the police station reduced to rubble.

Nails removed from 'abused' maid in Arab Saudi

A Saudi couple tortured their Sri Lankan maid after she complained of a too heavy workload by hammering 24 nails into her hands, legs and forehead, officials said on Thursday.

Nearly 2 million Sri Lankans sought employment overseas last year and around 1.4 million, mostly maids, were employed in the Middle East. Many have complained of physical abuse or harassment.

L.T. Ariyawathi, a 49-year old mother of three, returned on Friday after five months in Saudi Arabia.

Sri Lanka launches new port built with Chinese loan

Sri Lanka flooded a new port on Sunday, built with Chinese assistance as part of a $6 billion (RM19 billion) drive to rebuild the island nation’s infrastructure after a quarter century of war.

The Hambantota port, built at an estimated cost of US$1.5 billion on the southern coast, will begin handling ships from November, officials said.

“This is part of making this country an emerging wonder of Asia,” President Mahinda Rajapaksa said after launching the port.

Hambantota is one of four ports being built or upgraded under Rajapaksa’s plan to renew the country’s US$42 billion economy by returning it to its old and lucrative role as a trading hub.

Built to handle 2,500 ships annually in the first stage, the new port is located along the East-West shipping lane and is ultimately meant to challenge Singapore’s status as a regional shipping hub.

Detained opposition leader in Sri Lanka parliament -Defeated Sri Lankan presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka has been released -Jayaratne -- the simple rural touch to Sri Lankan premiership-Sri Lankan new PM Sworn in

New Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Jayaratne (L) hugs with former P.M. Rathnasiri Wikramanayake in Colombo, capital of Sri Lanka, April 21, 2010. Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Jayaratne was sworn in here as the 20th prime minister of Sri Lanka Wednesday evening




The general strongly denies corruption allegations


Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse (L) administers the oath of office to new Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Jayaratne (R) in Colombo, capital of Sri Lanka, April 21, 2010. Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Jayaratne was sworn in here as the 20th prime minister of Sri Lanka Wednesday evening

Defeated Sri Lankan presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka has been released from detention to appear in the opening session of parliament.

The general, who is being court martialled, called for the "rule of law" in an attack on his arch-rival, President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

His comments were his first remarks in public since his detention on 8 February on corruption charges.

He travelled under escort from military custody to take up his seat.

Gen Fonseka fell out with the president after the defeat of Tamil Tigers rebels last May.

He was beaten by Mr Rajapaksa in presidential elections of January 2010.

Sarath Fonseka claims assassination plot as Mahinda Rajapaksa wins poll

President Rajapaksa: "From today onward, I am the president of everyone, whether they voted for me or not"


Mahinda Rajapaksa, the incumbent President of Sri Lanka, was declared the winner of a presidential election today even as his main challenger, surrounded by troops in a luxury hotel, contested the results and accused the Government of trying to have him assassinated.

Mr Rajapaksa, who took power in 2005 and presided over the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels in May, won 57.8 per cent of 10.4 million votes in the first peacetime presidential poll in almost three decades, according to the final results.

General Fonseka, the former army chief who led the campaign against the Tigers before falling out with the President and joining the opposition, won 40.2 per cent of the vote on the Indian Ocean island.

"I announce that Mahinda Rajapaksa has won this presidential election," Dayananda Dissanayake, the independent Elections Commissioner, told reporters as the President’s supporters cheered and let off firecrackers in the streets.


The emphatic result dashed opposition hopes that General Fonseka could split the vote of the ethnic Sinhalese majority and win enough support from minority Tamils and Muslims to unseat Mr Rajapaksa.

It came amid high melodrama in Colombo, the seaside capital, with heavily armed soldiers surrounding the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel, where the General and his team are staying, since the early hours of the morning.

Even as the results were being announced, General Fonseka told reporters in the hotel that he rejected them and had sent a letter to Mr Dissanayake asking him to nullify the election because of vote-rigging and abuse of government resources.

"They have distorted the election result," he said, adding that he would launch a legal challenge through the courts.

"Victory has been grabbed away from us by the Government," he said. "There is no democracy here."

In the letter, he accused Mr Rajapaksa of using the state media to attack him, misappropriating public funds for his campaign and preventing Tamils displaced by the war from voting.

Mr Dissanayake appeared to agree with many of those complaints, but is unlikely to review the result as he has publicly announced that he intended to retire the day after the elections.

Just before announcing the results, he pleaded again to be allowed to resign, saying thst state media violated his guidelines and other government institutions behaved in a way that embarrassed him.

"I request to be released," he said. "I cannot bear this anymore."

General Fonseka also accused the Government of putting his life in danger by asking him to give up the security detail of 70 soldiers who have been guarding him from attack by the remaining Tamil rebels.

"I can't stay in this hotel indefinitely because it's very expensive," he said. "This is an exercise which is aimed at assassinating me."

General Fonseka denied making specific plans to leave the country, but said that he might have to seek temporary shelter overseas if the Government did insist on taking back his security detail, which also includes ten vehicles.


The general has residency rights in the United States, having won a Green Card through a lottery system, and has two daughters studying in Oklahoma.

He declined to say where he would seek shelter if necessary.

Earlier, one of his key supporters sparked talk that the general might head to India when he said he was meeting a foreign diplomat "from a neighbouring country" to negotiate safe passage. The Indian Foreign Ministry told The Times it could neither confirm nor deny that.

The Sri Lankan Government denied trying to arrest or intimidate the general, but accused him of gathering 400 supporters in the hotel, including armed military deserters, to make plans for a possible coup.

"They have booked 100 rooms," Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, an army spokesman, said. "They are highly trained military people. We are suspicious about their gathering."

The general denied having any deserters with him and handed over several people he said were retired soldiers working in his security detail.

There were no signs of protests to support him and the general said that he had refrained from calling his supporters on to the streets because they were "tired" and "confused" by the election.

Analysts said that there were no precedents for Sri Lankans disputing election results through mass unrest and the opposition alliance was too diverse to have the necessary organisational structure.

Soon after the results, President Rajapaksa said that he wanted a new mandate to bless his plans to develop Sri Lanka by exploiting its geographically strategic position astride air and sea lanes, rebuilding infrastructure and encouraging foreign investment.

"After this election, everyone should now join together in building the country," he said. "From today onward, I am the president of everyone, whether they voted for me or not."
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