Tag Archives: Sri Lanka

The BBC reports: Police in Sri Lanka have arrested the reigning Mrs World Caroline Jurie, after she allegedly injured a fellow beauty queen in an on-stage bust-up. Pushpika De Silva won the “Mrs Sri Lanka” title in a televised ceremony on Sunday, and former winner Mrs Jurie was meant to crown her. Instead, she pulled the crown off Mrs De …

The BBC reports: Beauty queen Pushpika De Silva won the “Mrs Sri Lanka” title at a ceremony on national TV on Sunday. Moments later, the 2019 winner seized Mrs De Silva’s crown, claiming she could not be awarded the title because she was divorced. The prize has now been returned to Mrs De Silva, after pageant organisers confirmed she is …

The BBC reports: Sri Lanka has banned face coverings in public, following a spate of suicide attacks on Easter Sunday that killed at least 250 people and injured hundreds. President Maithripala Sirisena [photo] said he was using an emergency law to impose the restriction from Monday. Any face garment which “hinders identification” will be banned to ensure security, his office …

NPR reports: A Sri Lankan government official says coordinated suicide bombings in the island nation on Easter Sunday, which killed more than 320 people, were carried out in retaliation for last month’s mass shooting at mosques in New Zealand. State minister for defense, Ruwan Wijewardene, said the attacks were carried out by two Islamist organizations. As NPR’s Lauren Frayer reports, …

The New York Times reports: A series of coordinated bombings ripped across Sri Lanka on Sunday morning, striking hotels and churches, killing almost 200 people and shattering the relative calm that the war-torn nation had enjoyed in recent years. The targets of the attacks were Catholic worshipers attending Easter Mass and guests at high-end hotels that are popular with foreign …

Via press release: Gay campaigners and allies rallied today outside the Commonwealth’s London HQ to protest against “Commonwealth collusion with homophobia.” Commonwealth leaders from around the world meet in Sri Lanka on Friday. Yet again they plan to ignore the criminalisation of lesbian and gay people in 80% of Commonwealth member states, including the current wave of homophobic persecution in …

Science fiction legend, the world’s most famous futurologist, and gay man Sir Arthur C. Clarke has died at the age of 90 in Sri Lanka, his adopted home for the last 50 years. I began devouring Clarke’s novels at the age of 12 when a friend pointed out that the spacey lyrics of David Bowie’s 1971 song Oh! You Pretty …