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Former Tamil Tiger child soldiers try to reclaim their childhood in postwar Sri Lanka

Former child soldiers move on in Sri Lanka

Billionaire charged in insider trading case is sued in NJ by victims of Sri Lankan rebels

NEW YORK — A billionaire hedge fund manager charged in a $25 million insider trading case was sued by victims of violence in Sri Lanka who say he helped finance separatist rebels notorious for suicide bombings.

Sri Lanka releases 4,300 ethnic Tamils, displaced by war, from detention camps

KATHANKULAM, Sri Lanka — More than 4,000 ethnic Tamils displaced by civil war left government-run camps Thursday, the latest to be released amid international criticism that Sri Lanka is moving too slowly to let thousands of others go.

Island nation of Maldives to hold underwater Cabinet meeting to show climate change threat

Maldives: All set for underwater Cabinet meeting

Sri Lanka goes dark in nationwide blackout

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — An official says a power blackout plunged all of Sri Lanka into darkness for a few hours Friday because of a technical fault at an electricity distribution center.

Maldives to hold cabinet meeting underwater to highlight threat of global warming

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Maldives government ministers are taking scuba lessons and learning underwater signs in preparation for an unprecedented Cabinet meeting at the bottom of the ocean intended to highlight the threat global warming poses to the low-lying nation.

Sri Lanka’s military says bomb blast in vehicle kills schoolgirl, 12 others wounded

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A schoolgirl was killed by a car bomb in northwestern Sri Lanka that also wounded 12 others Friday, mostly students who were about to travel in the vehicle, officials said.

Sri Lanka’s military says bomb blast in vehicle to transport schoolchildren wounds 13

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A car bomb exploded in northwest Sri Lanka on Friday and wounded 13 people, most of them schoolchildren about to travel in the van, the military said.

Sri Lanka’s military says bomb blast in a car transporting schoolchildren wounds 13

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s military says a bomb has exploded inside a car transporting schoolchildren in the country’s northwest province, wounding 13.

Sri Lanka military says it foils escape bid by war refugees, wounds 2

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan soldiers fired on a group of war refugees trying to flee a camp in the north of the island, wounding two, the military said Sunday.

Sri Lanka’s president promises UN it will resettle all war-displaced civilians in 4 months

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s president promised Friday to send nearly 300,000 Tamil war refugees who are being held in military-run camps back to their homes in the next four months, the government said.

Lawmaker says Tamil refugees released from Sri Lankan camps detained again

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Hundreds of Tamil war refugees whom the Sri Lankan government said it had released from military-run camps last week were simply moved to other detention centers, a lawmaker said Thursday.

UN expert urges impartial probe into Sri Lanka video purporting to show army killings

GENEVA — A U.N. rights expert called Thursday for an “independent and impartial investigation” into a video that purports to show Sri Lankan troops killing naked, blindfolded men during the recently ended civil war.

UN political chief will head to Sri Lanka to press for release of detained Tamils

UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is sending the U.N. political chief to Sri Lanka to press the government to step up the release of nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians who have been detained since the South Asian nation’s civil war ended in May.

Sri Lanka resettles nearly 10,000 war refugees from government-run camps

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan authorities sent home nearly 10,000 war refugees Friday amid growing international concern for the nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians still detained in government-run camps.

UNICEF protests expulsion of spokesman from Sri Lanka, rejects allegations of bias

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The United Nations children’s agency expressed concern Tuesday about Sri Lanka’s decision to expel its spokesman and rejected allegations that it was biased against the government during the recently ended 25-year civil war.

Sri Lankan official expelled by Sri Lanka reportedly over comments on suffering Tamil children

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A United Nations official has been banished from Sri Lanka reportedly after discussing how the government’s decades-long battle with Tamil Tiger rebels took its toll on children in the war zone.

Sri Lanka defends sentencing journalist to 20 years under anti-terror laws

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s government defended a 20-year prison sentence given to a journalist accused of violating the country’s strict anti-terror law, saying he was given a fair trial and the decision did not impact media freedom on the island.

Sri Lankan court sentences ethnic Tamil journalist to 20 years in prison under anti-terror law

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A Sri Lankan reporter singled out by President Barack Obama as an example of persecuted journalists around the globe was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison on charges of violating the country’s strict anti-terror law.

Pakistani Taliban choose commander behind attack on Sri Lanka cricket team as new chief

ISLAMABAD — The militant commander named by the Pakistani Taliban as its new leader is as ruthless as his predecessor, taking credit for several bloody attacks, and could order more in the coming weeks to prove the terror network is still a force to be reckoned with.

Rights group urges Sri Lanka to free war refugees held in flood-hit camps

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A human rights group on Tuesday urged Sri Lanka to release hundreds of thousands of war refugees from camps hit by flooding over the weekend saying their lives were in danger from disease.

UN says floods have hit camp holding war-displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Heavy rains have destroyed or damaged hundreds of shelters housing ethnic Tamils displaced during Sri Lanka’s civil war, the United Nations said Monday.

Heavy rains flood camps holding 300,000 war-displaced Sri Lankans

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Heavy rains have caused havoc in camps housing nearly 300,000 people displaced by war in Sri Lanka’s war-ravaged north, an official said Sunday.

Roman Catholic leaders urge release of Tamils in military-run camps in Sri Lanka

MADHU, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s Roman Catholic leaders called for the release of ethnic Tamils held in military-run displacement camps on Saturday, saying they are confined like prisoners behind barbed wire.

Sri Lanka lifts blockade on pilgrims to Catholic shrine after war ends

MADHU, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka has lifted a blockade on the island’s holiest Roman Catholic shrine and will allow pilgrims to hold their annual feast there Saturday as a sign that the north was returning to normal after the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels.