COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A Hindu priest who spent about 22 years in prison in connection with the 1999 assassination attempt on President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has asked a Tamil nationalist Facebook page to stop publicising his case, saying the renewed attention has threatened the life he has rebuilt since his release. In an open letter posted on Facebook on Tuesday, the priest, Brahmasri Chandra Iyer Ragupathi Sharma, asked the page, Inam Ondrin Kural, or Voice of a Race, to stop usin

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: A member of Parliament from Batticaloa District has asked the Court of Appeal to reopen a case over the occupation of traditional cattle grazing land in the Eastern Province, saying state authorities did not carry out assurances given to the court that encroachers would be removed. Shanakiyan Rasamanickam filed an application seeking to revive proceedings the court closed several years ago. According to the application, people occupying the Mayilathamadu and Mathavanai grazi

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A Tamil party allied with Sri Lanka’s main opposition has asked the opposition leader, Sajith Premadasa, to act after Lakshman Kiriella, a senior figure in Mr. Premadasa’s party, described the government’s handling of a jailed Buddhist monk’s case as an effort to appease Tamil-speaking citizens. Mano Ganesan, the leader of the Tamil Progressive Alliance, made the request in a letter to Mr. Premadasa, whose Samagi Jana Balawegaya, or S.J.B., leads the coalition the T.P.A. be

KANDY, Sri Lanka — A 17-year-old schoolboy in Sri Lanka developed oral cancer after chewing areca nut, a senior dental researcher said, warning that packaged, flavoured versions of the nut sold near schools were exposing children to one of the main causes of the disease. Professor Ruwan Jayasinghe, director of the Centre for Research in Oral Cancer at the University of Peradeniya, said he had seen the boy himself. He said younger students were also arriving for treatment with conditions that ca