The stubborn stench hanging in the air at the small Sri Lankan district hospital where more than 150 corpses have been brought is so bad that a policeman is retching in the front garden. "We have room for only two bodies" in refrigeration, says Dr. Manorie Talgaswatta, who was on duty when the first casualties…
Read moreShattered seaside community grieves, starts picking up the pieces
Pala Withanage gestures towards the flattened remains of his wooden seaside home, then he points a few hundred metres inland. That’s where they found his wife’s body. "I will never come back to this area. I want to stay far away from here," he says, wringing his hands and still in a daze two days…
Read moreSurvivors count blessings as Sri Lanka begins mass funerals
In the horror of Sri Lanka’s tidal wave tragedy, undertaker Mahilal Punchihewa manages to raise a smile. He has just seen his Galle shopfront and home washed away but doesn’t care. His three daughters and four grandchildren are safe. "We have lost before," said Punchihewa, whose pet dog Doggie somehow survived the carnage that has…
Read moreSri Lanka’s Muslims begin to bury their dead amid pleas for help
Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority began to bury their dead here Monday, a day after tsunamis killed more than 5,800 people along the island’s coastline, amid pleas for help. "We need help … We need everything such as water, food, electricity," said Shaul Hameed as volunteers dug graves at a mosque compound located on high ground…
Read moreLaughter turns to terror for couple in Sri Lanka tidal wave disaster
American tourist Matthew O’Connell started laughing when he saw his hotel room filling with water. But when a raging wall of tidal wave water ripped him and Israeli friend Sue Mor apart, the laughter turned to sheer terror. O’Connell and Mor told Monday of how they survived after being separated by floodwaters at Ambalangoda, lucky…
Read moreCambodia’s land concession system needs overhaul, corruption persists: UN
Cambodia’s land concession system has undermined the rights of the poor and led to the plundering of natural resources and must be urgently overhauled, a United Nations human rights envoy said Sunday. The special representative of the UN secretary-general for human rights in Cambodia, Peter Leuprecht, also said at the end of his 11th mission…
Read moreCambodia’s former king to stay influential despite turning 82: analysts
Cambodia’s retired king Norodom Sihanouk marks his 82nd birthday Sunday and despite promises of a hushed retirement is unlikely to bow out of public life as he goes on wielding influence, analysts say. Given his indefatigable energy and love of the limelight even after more than six decades of flamboyantly treading the international stage, they…
Read moreCambodia’s new king faces baptism of fire into politics
The totally inexperienced Prince Norodom Sihamoni, an ex-ballet dancer named Cambodia’s new king Thursday, faces a baptism of fire when he is plunged into the kingdom’s infamously treacherous political world. The 51-year-old prince, who has spent years abroad pursuing a career in the arts, is largely unknown at home and will have few people to…
Read moreCambodia’s Prince Sihamoni — the dancer destined to be king
Prince Norodom Sihamoni, the man expected to be Cambodia’s next king, is a clasically-trained ballet dancer who has spent much of his adult life abroad pursuing a career in the arts. Inheriting his father’s King Norodom Sihanouk’s artistic streak, the 51-year-old Sihamoni has pursued a love of dance, music and cinema, and is known to…
Read moreTop Cambodian leader to beg” abdicated king to stay on throne”
Cambodia’s national assembly president left for China Saturday to beg King Norodom Sihanouk to change his mind about abdicating, but left open the option of a new monarch being appointed. Prince Norodom Ranariddh, 81-year-old Sihanouk’s son, told reporters he would "kneel down to beg His Majesty the King to continue to lead us as the…
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