Live: Sri Lanka votes in tightest election in decades
Sri Lankans began voting on Thursday in a tightly fought presidential election, with incumbent Mahinda Rajapakse seeking a record third term in office amid a flurry of defections and criticism over his authoritarian rule.Polls opened at 7 a.m. (0130 GMT) and will continue for nine hours under tight... read more »
Syria conflict: 76,000 die in deadliest year – activists
The year 2014 was the deadliest year yet in Syria’s four-year conflict, with over 76,000 killed, activists say. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 17,790 of the dead were civilians, including 3,501 children. Meanwhile more than 15,000 died in conflicts in Iraq in 2014,... read more »
Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa regime losing its grip
Delhi: Casino mogul James Packer must wish he could vote in Sri Lanka’s presidential elections next Thursday. Not only is the main challenger Maithripala Sirisena threatening incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s bid for an unprecedented third term – he is also promising to cancel... read more »
Chinese react to stampede deaths: Thought this happened only in India
China on Friday mourned the 36 dead from New Year festivities at its financial capital Shanghai, as the city government revealed the victims of the deadly stampede were mainly young women. Among the 47 who were injured – many of them students – at Shanghai’s famous waterfront area, called the... read more »
