Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, flashing a broad smile, declared victory Tuesday in the country’s 25-year civil war against the Tamil Tiger rebels. “We are celebrating the defeat of terrorism,” he said in a nationally televised speech before parliament
Tag Archives: north
Schools Close as Spike in Swine Flu Cases Hits Japan
In a sudden surge that took Asian health officials by surprise, the Japanese health ministry confirmed on Monday at least 125 new cases of the A virus — or swine flu — in the country’s western prefectures of Osaka and Hyogo. Officials have shut down around 1,000 schools since many of the infected were high-school students. Japan, along with the United Kingdom and Spain, is now one of the few countries outside of North America where the World Health Organization fears sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus could lead to the onset of a full-blown pandemic
Accused Sudanese war criminal shows up at Hague for hearing
A Sudanese rebel commander, accused of being involved in the 2007 deaths of a dozen peacekeepers in Darfur, voluntarily arrived in the Netherlands Sunday for an International Criminal Court hearing at the Hague this week, officials said. Bahr Idriss Abu Garda, of the Zaghawa tribe of Sudan, is charged with three war crimes allegedly committed on September 29, 2007, when 1000 rebel-led soldiers surrounded and stormed an African Union peacekeeping base in Haskanita, in North Darfur, the international court said. Twelve peacekeepers were killed and eight were wounded in the overnight attack, the deadliest single attack on AU peacekeepers since they began their mission in late 2004.
2-Min. Bio: Tamil Tiger Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran
For more than a quarter-century, the Tamil Tigers have waged a guerilla war against the Sri Lankan government in their attempt to establish an independent state — which they call Eelam — for minority Hindu Tamils in the north and east of the island nation.
Sri Lanka govt. says 70 Tamil rebels killed in latest fighting
The Sri Lankan army destroyed six Tamil Tiger boats and killed 70 rebels in a lagoon on the western edge of a no-fire zone early Sunday, Sri Lanka’s Media Center for National Security has said. Independent reports were not possible since media are not allowed into the area.
Peirsol tops Phelps in backstroke
Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps suffered his first defeat in a championship race in a year when he lost the 100-meter backstroke to world-record holder Aaron Peirsol at the Charlotte UltraSwim in North Carolina. On Saturday Peirsol led at the turn and pulled away to win the 100-meter backstroke in 53.32 seconds
India elections: Facts behind world’s biggest vote
Indians are voting in their tens of millions in a monthlong general election that creates huge logistical issues in the world’s largest democracy. The first round of polling was held on April 16. There are a further five voting phases before the final count is due on May 16
Sri Lanka claims last rebel area taken
Sri Lankan government soldiers seized the last remaining coastal stretch under the control of Tamil Tiger rebels, the Ministry of Defense said Saturday, marking a possible end to a quarter-century-long fight in the island nation. The seizure marks the total capture of coastline territory previously controlled by the rebels, the government said, after army divisions advanced from the north and south to link up.
Pakistanis get brief window to flee fighting
Pakistani civilians were given a brief window on Friday to flee the ongoing fighting between government forces and Taliban militants in the country’s north, according to military officials.
Sri Lankan president says civil war in ‘final phase’
Sri Lanka’s quarter-century-long civil war is in its final phase, the government suggested Friday, as its troops pounded Tamil Tiger rebels in the country’s north.