■SRI LANKA
Tamils seek autonomy
The main Tamil party on Saturday vowed to launch a Gandhi-style civil disobedience campaign to press a long-standing demand for regional autonomy for their ethnic minority. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in its manifesto for next month’s parliamentary elections renewed its demand for extensive regional autonomy — after Tamil Tiger rebels who fought in their name were crushed last year. “If the state continues its present style of governance without due regard to the rights of the Tamil-speaking peoples, the TNA will launch a peaceful, non-violent campaign of civil disobedience on the Gandhian model,” the party said. The alliance said it would lobby India and the international community to ensure the island’s Tamil community — 12.5 percent of the population — gets a greater say in the administration. The TNA has repeatedly distanced itself from hardliners who demanded outright independence.
■AUSTRALIA
Slain tot’s parents leave
The parents of a three-year-old Indian boy whose body was found dumped by the side of the road have left the country after an emotional memorial service in Melbourne, reports said yesterday. Gurshan Singh’s lifeless body was found near Melbourne airport on March 4. The cause of death has not been revealed but an Indian man who lived with the child’s family has been charged with manslaughter by criminal negligence. At the service on Saturday, his mother Harpreet Kaur Channa choked back tears as she spoke. “We came to Australia for a better family life with our lovely young bubbly son Gurshan, but destiny had something else in mind and now we are going back without Gurshan’s smile.”
■KAZAKHSTAN
Nuclear manager sentenced
The lawyer for a former head of the state nuclear energy company says his client has been sentenced to 14 years in jail on charges of embezzlement and corruption. Lawyer Nurlan Bisekeyev said Mukhtar Dzhakishev was sentenced on Friday by a court in the capital, Astana. The verdict is likely to unnerve foreign investors, who view Dzhakishev as a modernizing Western-style manager.
■JAPAN
Strong quake rocks center
A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit off the eastern coast yesterday, rattling buildings across the country, including Tokyo. There were no reports of casualties, with only light damage to structures near the epicenter, local officials said. The quake hit at 5:08pm and was felt most strongly in Fukushima Prefecture, 210km northeast of Tokyo, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Hatch a hit at Crufts
A 16th century dog, the only known female to have served aboard King Henry VIII’s ill-fated flagship the Mary Rose, has stolen the show at Britain’s Crufts dog show this year. The two-year old mongrel, lost aboard the Tudor warship 465 years ago, is a special guest of the Kennel Club this year, the show’s organizers said. The painstakingly reconstructed skeleton, poised on its haunches, acquired the nickname “Hatch” after divers discovered her remains near the sliding hatch door of the Mary Rose’s carpenter’s cabin. Her remains were found partly inside and outside his quarters suggesting she was trapped there as the huge warship keeled over and sank in the Solent in mysterious circumstances.
■GEORGIA
Fake news sparks real panic
A TV channel sparked a brief panic in Georgia on Saturday when it produced a fake newscast reporting that a Russian invasion was underway. The privately owned Imedi TV showed footage from the August 2008 war with Russia, reported that Russian tanks were headed for Tbilisi and that Russian aircraft had bombed airports and ports. After the bulletin, the channel announced that it had been false and aimed at exploring possible future events. The Interpress news agency quoted emergency services as saying the report caused multiple incidents of heart attacks and fainting. It said hundreds of residents of Gori, the city worst hit by the 2008 war, fled their homes and rushed to local shops for emergency supplies. Mobile phone networks were also briefly overloaded and ceased functioning as word of the report spread.
RSS