Two former allies who led Sri Lanka to victory in a 25-year civil war dueled at the ballot box on Tuesday after a bitter, personal campaign for the country’s first peacetime presidential vote in nearly three decades. More than 14 million people registered to vote, and polling began amid heavy security and fears that election day would be as bloody as a campaign...

Residents in the capital of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province awoke to the sounds of explosions and mortar fire Tuesday, hours before polls opened in the country’s first peace-time presidential election in 26 years. Once a stronghold for the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the Northern Province city of Jaffna was a frequent battleground for the rebels and...

Voting has begun in a tense Sri Lanka amid heightened fears of election violence. Several bombs exploded in the Tamil heartland of Jaffna even before polls opened for the crucial presidential election between Sarath Fonseka, the former army chief who led the campaign against the Tigers and President Mahinda Rajapaksa, At least two bombs went off outside the home of a...

When the Tamil Tigers were defeated last May, there was widespread pessimism that hopes of a just solution had vanished. As he won election after election, local and provincial, President Mahinda Rajapaksa appeared invincible, riding on the image of a man who had unified the country by recovering large swathes of territory from LTTE rule and ended the “terrorist problem”...

Two Tamil-Canadians who were caught by the FBI trying to buy anti-aircraft missiles and other weapons for the Tamil Tigers three years ago have been sentenced to 25 years in prison with no chance of parole. Toronto residents Suhil Sabaratnam and Thiruthanikan (Thani) Thanigasalam were sentenced in New York City on Monday. Both pleaded guilty to conspiracy and material...

Voters in Sri Lanka are preparing to choose their next president after a bitter election campaign. The election is the first since the Tamil Tiger rebels were defeated last year after 25 years of war. President Mahinda Rajapaksa is facing a tough test against his former army chief-turned-rival Gen Sarath Fonseka. More than 14m voters will be eligible to vote in 11,000...

The German rock band The Scorpions is breaking up after more than 40 years together courting controversy and selling more than 100 million recordings, its founder said in an interview published Sunday. Rudolf Schenker told the weekly Bild am Sonntag that the group, best known for its power ballad “Wind of Change” which became closely associated with the fall...

Padma Lakshmi has grabbed the 15th position in top 99 women poll leaving behind former Miss World and actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Ash stands in 63rd position while Slumdog Millionaire star Frieda Pinto holds the 50th position. Menon stands at 45th position. “I am delighted that the readers of this portal have chosen to include me on their list. I am extremely...

CAIRO, Egypt – Osama bin Laden endorsed the failed attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day and threatened new attacks against the United States in an audio message released Sunday that appeared aimed at asserting he maintains some direct command over al-Qaida-inspired offshoots. However, U.S. officials and several researchers who track terrorist groups...

In the scores of talks, interviews, and meetings, that I have been involved in over the past four decades, on the problems facing the Sri Lankan Tamils (and the Plantation Tamils) in Sri Lanka, I have rarely been asked absurd questions. This has changed. I have been bombarded with one question, “Whom should the Tamils vote for in the up-coming Election – the current...