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They took a bucket of muddy, bacteria-laden water. Added a bit of white powder. Stirred. And within minutes, standing amid 100 refugees in war-torn Liberia, researchers from Johns Hopkins University had produced what seemed like a magic trick: Clear, drinkable water. "I couldn't believe it when I saw it," Hopkins researcher Shannon Doocy said of her work last year. "The people in Liberia couldn't believe it." The powder, developed by Procter & Gamble Co. with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is now headed for its biggest test yet: the tsunami zone. Relief agencies, led by AmeriCares of...

The Changzheng 2, a Type 091 Han-class nuclear-powered submarine has become the first Chinese submarine to visit Colombo Harbor in Sri Lanka according to the website of state-run Sri Lanka News on Sept. 15. The Chinese submarine arrived at Colombo Harbor one day before Chinese president Xi Jinping began his visit to the country on Sept. 16. In addition to the Changzheng 2, there were two other People's Liberation Army Navy warships in the harbour. The Changzheng 2 is currently under the command of the PLA Navy's North Sea Fleet. Equipped with C-801 anti-ship missiles, it is capable of attacking...

American complains of barking dog, crowing cockerelAn engineer from the US, who had been residing in Jaffna has lodged a complaint with the police that his neighbour’s dog and the cockerel are creating a nuisance, barking and crowing and disturbing him. The engineer who lives in Navalar Road Jaffna has said that he has been disturbed by the noises around his house. When the owner was called in, he said he cannot control his animals from making noise. However, the police asked him to remove the dog from the premises, to which the owner said that if the dog is...

The attackers stormed in close to midnight, tearing through town with gasoline bombs and clubs before carting away piles of cash and jewelry they stole from Muslim families in this tiny corner of Sri Lanka. The onslaught incited by the Bodu Bala Sena, or Buddhist Power Force, a hard-line group that has gained thousands of followers in recent years, killed at least two Muslims and injured dozens more last month in the worst religious violence Sri Lanka has seen in decades. Now, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government is under fire, accused of failing to protect Sri Lanka’s tiny Muslim minority and...

The European Union expressed alarm Wednesday at recent violence against Muslims in Sri Lanka in which three people died and more than 50 were injured, and urged the government to ensure that the rule of law is upheld. […] Hard-line Buddhists hurled gasoline bombs and looted homes and businesses in attacks Sunday evening in several towns in southwestern Sri Lanka. The attacks were led by a mob from Bodu Bala Sena, or Buddhist Power Force, which rails against the country’s Muslim minority. …

A 35-year-old man has been arrested in Sri Lanka for attempting to kill another man with a cobra. According to police, the suspect allegedly tied up a man and put him in a plastic barrel with a cobra in a sugarcane plantation in Weveyaya, Sevanagala on May 9. The victim, who was bitten by the cobra, is currently receiving treatment at the Embilipitiya hospital.

This is weird. This was posted April 4 on the Diego Garcia Passenger Facebook Page. Via RedFlagNews:Malaysian news reported MH370 Captain Zaharie Shah’s homemade flight simulator had five runways programmed into the system.The runways included:** Three airports in India and Sri Lanka** One airport in Maldives** One US military base in Diego GarciaThe Malaysian pilot on missing flight MH370 was reportedly a political fanatic who attended the trial of the country’s opposition leader hours before the flight.The Daily Mail reported:

Three more Ethiopians killed by Saudi police. The killing of Ethiopians continues in Saudi Arabia Three more Ethiopians killed in Saudi Arabia Three more Ethiopians have been killed in Saudi Arabia. Thousands of Ethiopians are leaving the middle east country after scores have been killed in the past few days. Hundreds more injured and women are being raped in front of their families. It is astounding and mind boggling the international community is so silent about this shameful actions of the Saudis. "The act of killing innocent civilians is uncalled for, we condemn that," Foreign Ministry spokesman Dina Mufti told...

Police bust a crime gang led by womanColombo: Sri Lankan Police has busted an organised crime gang led by a woman, whose alleged practises will put to shame seasoned godfathers of the underworld. According to a report in ‘Sunday Times’, she has beaten out limbs of men, has been involved in territorial wars with drug peddlers, pimps and managed sex workers including men in Colombo. The gang was spread across the city and worked out of night clubs and casinos. In a sting operation, the protagonist along with her aides was arrest from a place in Marine Drive, Kollupitiya last...

Upgrading military aircraft – fixed wing and rotary – is a common operation performed all over the world. You take an old platform, reinforce the fuselage and wings, install some new systems and it can fly for many more years. But what Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is currently doing with its old Kfir fighter aircraft is an exception. The Kfir (Lion Cub) fighter is a single-seat multitask fighter built by IAI. The aircraft was first built for the Israeli air force (IAF). The first Kfir was delivered to the IAF in 1975, and entered into service in 1976. The fighter...

NEW DELHI: With its defence ties with India growing at a rapid pace, Israel today asserted that it will not supply any weapons systems and military hardware to Pakistan, saying the policy in this regard was "very clear" and "strict". Israeli Ambassador Alon Ushpiz said his country follows a very strict guidelines in exporting weapons systems and there was no question of reversing its policy of not supplying military hardware to Pakistan. "The policy of Government of Israel is (very clear) and we are tremendously strict about it that we do not export weapons system to Pakistan," he said. A...

Wife refuses to return to husband; 'new owner' also refuses to let her goA husband in Sri Lanka pawned his wife to his friend for 90 days to borrow Rs15,000 from him to buy drugs, the ‘Mirror’ newspaper has reported. But the husband got a shock when his wife, a mother of two, refused to return to him after 90 days. Her ‘new owner’ also refused to let her go. The husband then approached the Dambulla police station for help to get his wife released. Since she had always been harassed always by her drug addicted husband, the woman had...

<p>Sri Lanka police have apologized for holding a wedding ceremony for sniffer dogs after the country’s culture minister condemned the event and demanded an investigation.</p>

How far would you go to get your cinnamon fix? If you lived in the Levant 3,000 years ago (a region that includes modern day Israel), very far indeed new research indicates. Researchers analyzing the contents of 27 flasks from five archaeological sites in Israel that date back around 3,000 years have found that 10 of the flasks contain cinnamaldehyde, the compound that gives cinnamon its flavor, indicating that the spice was stored in these flasks. At this time cinnamon was found in the Far East with the closest places to Israel being southern India and Sri Lanka located at...

IAI selling upgraded Kfir jets for $20m Israel Aerospace Industries promises very short delivery schedules for the renovated jets, which it claims are even better than fourth-generation jets. 6 August 13 17:45, Yuval Azulai Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) (TASE: ARSP.B1) is trying to sell dozens of Kfir fighter jets to foreign air forces, offering a 40-year manufacturer's guarantee. The veteran jets are equipped with new avionics and powerful radars developed by IAI unit Elta Systems, diversified armaments, updated electronic warfare systems, and air-to-air refueling. IAI has told its sales reps to sell the Kfirs to Eastern European countries that...

KATHMANDU SNIPPET: The Annapurna Post vernacular daily reported on Sunday that the arrest was made on April 13. Identified as Mohsin Khosravian, the suspect is currently in police custody.

 The security officials at the Embassy speculated that the suspect was scouting the facility with a harmful intention "for he carried a tourist map of the Lazimpat area" where the Israeli mission is located. 

He had stayed in a Thamel-based hotel. After his arrest, the suspect told police that he had ventured out to find out a shop to repair his laptop.

 According to the report, the Nepal Police's Central Bureau...

A local Brownsville bar was shut down for allegedly selling alcohol without a permit. The bar, once called Xolchi’s on Boca Chica Boulevard, sold a bottle of Miller Lite to an undercover Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agent. On Friday, the investigation ensued to determine if they were selling alcohol without a license. The bar did not have a permit or license to sell alcoholic beverages. At around 9:15 p.m. two agents entered Xolchi’s and bought a beer for $1.75 from bartender Casimiro Hernandez. Agents seized 140 bottles of Michelob Ultra, Bud Light, Budweiser, and Miller Lite. Hernandez was arrested for...

It's big, it's hairy, and it's venomous. The newest spider to give arachnophobes the willies, a tarantula named Poecilotheria rajaei has been discovered on the island nation of Sri Lanka. With a leg span of 8 inches (20 centimeters) and enough venom to kill mice, lizards, small birds and snakes, according to Sky News, the crawler is covered in subtle markings of gray, pink and daffodil yellow. "It can be quite attractive, unless spiders freak you out," Peter Kirk, editor of the British Tarantula Society journal, told the New York Daily News. Even the scientists studying the spiders admit to...

Police in front of a Muslim-owned clothing store's warehouse in Colombo, Sri Lanka, after it was attacked by a mob. An angry mob of hundreds of people, led by Buddhist monks, attacked a warehouse belonging to a Muslim-owned clothing chain in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo on Thursday. This comes as Buddhist hardliners ramp up their campaigns against Muslims’ lifestyles. The scene was eerily reminiscent of attacks on Muslim-owned stores throughout the past week in Burma. One video shows a monk throwing a rock at a security camera in front of the warehouse, as policemen look on and the mob erupts...

Two Italian marines accused of murdering two Indian fishermen, in a case that has sparked a diplomatic row, are to be sent back to Delhi for trial. The Indian government had allowed them to return to Italy to vote in last month's election. But when they failed to return, India's Supreme Court ruled Italy's ambassador was barred from leaving the country. The Italian government said it had received assurances about the men's treatment and their human rights. The marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, are accused of shooting the fishermen off the Kerala coast in February 2012. The marines had...