News stories by Amantha Perera, page 2

ARANAYAKE, Sri Lanka, Jun 02 (IPS) - The picture could be straight out of a tourist postcard – a sleepy green mountain with misty clouds floating above the canopy – if not for one fatal flaw: the ugly gash running right through the middle.

VAVUNIYA, Sri Lanka, Apr 07 (IPS) - Sri Lanka is facing the heat from a scorching sun for the past one month. In recent times, the country has imposed power cuts after almost a decade. The main reason was the stoppage at a coal power plant, but engineers at the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) admit that the island's hydro-power generation capacity is at such a critical low that without additional coal, diesel and renewable generation, the country's full demand for power cannot be met.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Mar 24 (IPS) - Early evening, there is a play of light and shadow over Kathmandu's famous Durbar Square. The rising monuments, damaged by the April 2015 earthquake, appear as dark silhouettes while large flash lights streak through in between them.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Mar 15 (IPS) - Berta Isabel Cáceres Flores, was in her early 20s when she co-founded the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras (Cophin), a group that campaigned for the rights of indigenous communities in the South American nation.

TALAWAKELE, Sri Lanka, Feb 10 (IPS) - One and half years ago, Johnson, a 20- something youth, hailing from Sri Lanka's tea plantations, received an unusual request. The caller, someone Johnson knew casually, made an offer for his kidney. "It was for a half a million rupees (around US $3,500)," he said.

COLOMBO Sri Lanka, Dec 21 (IPS) - Details of a secret detention center, where serious human rights abuses took place, deep inside the sprawling Tricomalee Naval base in the east of Sri Lanka are slowly emerging.

NEW DELHI, India, Nov 22 (IPS) - On a late Friday afternoon as choking smog descended on the Indian Capital, Francois Richier, the French ambassador to India , took some hard questions from scores of journalists about the upcoming climate change talks in Paris this month.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Nov 11 (IPS) - Residents in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo and outlying areas have been waking up to misty mornings of late. A decade ago, regular mist in this area just above the equator would have been a noteworthy event. These days, it is a regular occurrence in some parts north of the capital.

PAVAKODICHENNAI, Sri Lanka, Oct 29 (IPS) - Thavarasa Utharai's most treasured belongings are stuck inside several plastic bags and tucked within old traveling bags.

BOYARSHIN, Bangladesh, Oct 26 (IPS) - Twice a week, 20-year-old Kulsum Begam, a young mother of two, spends over three hours gossiping with the neighbours.