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A young child has been recovered alive from a Yemeni jet crash in the Indian Ocean, an airline official said Tuesday. The child was the first person found alive from the Yemenia Airways jet, which was carrying more than 150 people en route to the island nation of Comoros from Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. The child was found in the waters and was taken to a hospital, said Captain Abdulkhalek al-Kadi, chairman of Yemenia Airways. “One child is alive and we hope to find more,” the chairman said. He blamed the crash on bad weather. “It was high seas and windy weather,” he said. A reconnaissance plane had earlier spotted traces of the Airbus A310-300 in the sea near the town of Mitsamiouli, Comoros Vice President Idi Nadhoim said Tuesday. “There were no sign of survivors,” he said before the child was found. “There are a few bodies floating and there is a lot of debris floating around.” The crash took place as the plane approached the Hahaya airport in Moroni. The plane tried but failed to land

Maldives National Oil Company (MNOC) is planning to build a 6-million cubic metres (m³) onshore oil terminal on the one of the Maldive islands. The crude and petroleum terminal is being planned on 20 hectares of land at a total investment of $150 million, according to MNOC’s Managing Director Ahmed Muneez. About 75% of the storage capacity will be dedicated to storing crude oil while the remaining 25% will be for clean and bunker products, said Muneez. The terminal will have either two jetties or two Single Buoy Moorings (SBM), coupled with full blending facilities, Muneez told participants at a bunker course organised by August Energy in Singapore. Construction work on the terminal is expected to start towards the end of this year and could take one and a half years to complete, Muneez told Bunkerworld. Five islands have been shortlisted by MNOC for the project. MNOC is currently inviting international fuel oil traders to commit to lease agreements of the storage capacity for the

Water cut from 8am Saturday to 8am Sunday in Kelaniya, Peliyagoda, Hedala, Wattala, Mahara & Kiribathgoda due to repair-Water Boa

Pop star Michael Jackson has died in Los Angeles, USA at the age of 50 after a suspected cardiac arrest-report

French naval vessels detected a weak signal from the flight data recorders, according to French newspaper Le Monde. They said that a mini submarine has been dispatched on Monday to try and find the black boxes on the bottom of the ocean floor. The “black boxes” may contain vital information that could help explain what happened when the Airbus A330 aircraft crashed into the sea en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1. Locator beacons, known as “pingers”, on the flight recorders send an electronic impulse every second for at least 30 days. The signal can be heard up to 2 km (1.2 miles) away. French vessels involved in the search operation include a nuclear submarine with advanced sonar equipment and a research ship equipped with mini submarines. The remote location in the Atlanticas well as the depth and surface of the ocean floor have made the search especially difficult and the wreckage could lie anywhere between a depth of 1 km (0.6 miles) and 4 km (2.5 miles). An Air France

Sri Lanka ’s Meteorology Department said the country could continue to experience the prevailing rainy weather in the next few days as the South West Monsoon had turned active during the past 24 hours. Fairly strong South-Westerly winds would occur over the island and over the seas especially along the Western slope of the Central Hills. Winds of between 30 and 40 km a hour and was likely to increase its speed to up to 50 to 60 km an hour at certain times. Referring to reports from the Indian Met. Department that a tropical storm has developed in the North East of the Bay of Bengal, the Department said that it had become weak and therefore would not have any major effect on Sri Lanka . According to the Met. Department the highest amount of rains was recorded from Malimboda in Avissawella with 99 mm of rainfall while several other areas in Colombo and its suburbs also experienced a considerable amount of rain.

President of the Republic of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport a short while ago.

Telecom sector CEOs agree to quick deployment of services in North in meeting with North Task Force chaired by MP Basil Rajapaksa-Dir Gen TRC

Health Minister says all medicines needed to counter H1N1 Flu are available; other passengers on flight are being tested; info on epid.gov.lk

Law enforcement authorities are to come down hard on those who do not wear seat belts while driving. The regulations have been approved under the Vehicle Emendatory Act 2009 - No 08, and accordingly those who do not wear seatbelts while driving will be prosecuted. Most vehicles currently plying the roads are without the seat belts and have become an obstacle to the implementation of the law, but steps are being taken to overcome these obstacles in the near future, say authorities.

Most restrictions on fishing in Trinco & Muttur removed, after five years; boats upto 25 horsepower also allowed for use-MP Basil Rajapaksa-

Iranians re-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president with a resounding victory, taking a commanding lead in his bid for re-election with more than two-thirds of ballot boxes counted, Iran's interior ministry has said. With 80 per cent of the ballots counted on Saturday, the election commission put Ahmadinejad ahead with 63.8 per cent of the vote against 32.7 per cent for Mir Hossein Mousavi, his main rival. While his re-election was not a major upset, the scale of his first-round victory stunned his main challenger, Mirhossein Mousavi, whose campaign had drawn tens of thousands onto the streets of Tehran during three weeks of campaigning. Ahmadinejad won twice as many votes as Mousavi. "Doctor Ahmadinejad, by getting a majority of the votes, has become the definite winner of the 10th presidential election," the official IRNA news agency reported. After the declaration, the president's supporters took to the streets of Tehran, waving Iranian flags and honking car horns.

Police & Human Rights Commission is yet to act after thugs disabled a man in August in Moragahahena, Panadura, says Asian Human Rights Comm’n

Villagers in area surround Kelaniya Uni after four persons allegedly injured in brawl with students; police use teargas to intervene-police

Pro-LTTE Canadian MP Bob Ray detained at Katunayake airport after arrival; whether he will be deported now being discussed-govt source

A fire has broken out at an Army camp in Vavuniya this afternoon. No casualties have been reported and the flame has been brought under control. The extent of damage is still not confirmed, says Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara.

Road from Maskeliya o Nallathanniya closed after an earth slip today, will take several days to repair, says Disaster Mgt Centre

With cases of H1N1 virus soaring in  Melbourne , the city has emerged as the “swine-flu capital of the world”, a report said on Saturday.   Australia at present has 1,006 confirmed cases of swine flu, of which 874 were detected in the state of Victoria  concentrated mostly in the north and west of its capital  Melbourne , according to the health department.   The latest figures from the World Health Organisation says that the  US  has 11,131 confirmed cases of swine flu and  Mexico  has 5,029, ‘The Australian’ newspaper reported.   “With the state’s comparatively small population, this means swine flu occurs in about one in 9,139 Victorians -- more than double the one in 21,860 Mexicans with the virus and triple the one in 27,295 people with swine flu in the US”, the report said.   Health Minister Nicola Roxon said on Friday that the increased number of confirmed swine flu cases in Victoria  was a credit to the government´s testing procedures.   “Now that is actually a compliment to  V

A  journalist Association Secy & Lake House journalist Poddala Jayantha hospitalised with leg injuries after assault by unknown group-reporter

Sri Lankan intelligence officials believe Adele Balasingham, 59, is one of the most senior figures in the remains of the terror group which fought a 26-year war for independence on the island and was defeated last month. They claim she has played a key role in organising protests by Tamils outside Parliament and want  Britain to take action against her.   Sri Lanka ’s government believes Tamil Tiger leaders abroad are raising funds and procuring equipment which could be used in fresh attacks.   Mrs. Balasingham lives in a £500,000 house in New Malden,  Surrey . She is the widow of Anton Balasingham, a Sri Lankan with British citizenship who was the chief political strategist of the Tamil Tigers until he died in 2006.   Mrs. Balasingham, an Australian-born nurse, met and married him while he was living in  London in the seventies. She became deeply involved in the Tigers’ cause - ending up as the leader of its women soldiers and nicknamed “Aunty” on the island.   An undated video of Mrs