- Pakistani separatists kill 25 in railway station blast
- South Sudan floods affect 1.4 million, displace 379,000: UN
- Japan's Sasaki set to follow Ohtani with move to MLB
- Konstas hits unbeaten 73 in audition to open for Australia
- Pakistani separatists kill 22 in railway station blast
- No culprit found five years on from Notre Dame fire
- Reeking mud sparks health fears in Spain flood epicentre
- Bogusz goal edges LAFC past Whitecaps in MLS playoffs
- N. Korea jams GPS signals, affecting ships, aircraft in South
- Indonesia volcano catapults vast ash tower into sky
- Cavs ride huge first half to crushing win over Warriors
- Over 130 homes lost in California wildfire as winds drop
- New tools give researchers hope for fungus-ravaged US bats
- Germany marks 1989 Berlin Wall fall with 'Preserve Freedom' party
- Heat, air pollution, disease: How climate change affects health
- Boeing to face civil trial over 2019 MAX crash
- Over 130 homes lost in California wildfire as winds abate for now
- 'No excuses', says Farrell after All Blacks end Irish home win streak
- Furious de Zerbi talks of leaving after Marseille lose to Auxerre
- UK rules drivers on Bolt ride-hailing platform are employees
- US stocks hit fresh records as European bourses retreat
- McKenzie boots All Blacks to victory over sloppy Irish
- Star striker Mekhloufi symbol of Algerian struggle dies at 88
- Marseille lose further ground in title race with Auxerre loss
- Climate crusader to vaccine skeptic RFK Jr to 'Make America Healthy Again'
- US announces charges in alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Trump
- Daughter of missing Mexico environment defender pleads for global help
- After Trump victory, EU leaders vow 'urgent' economic reform
- Death toll from Mozambique election protests rises to at least 30
- Beyonce leads Grammy nods after trailblazing country album
- Elon Musk took part in Trump-Zelensky call: Ukrainian official
- Gatland 'relishes the pressure' with struggling Wales
- Villa's Emery aiming high despite mini-slump
- Zheng to play WTA Finals decider after beating Krejcikova in the semis
- Gauff sets up decider with Zheng at WTA Finals
- PSG to curb political slogans in wake of 'Free Palestine' banner
- Yankees keep Boone as manager for 2025 MLB season
- Samson and leg-spinners earn crushing T20 win for India against South Africa
- Israeli football fans home after 'frightening' Amsterdam violence
- Jewish students block Austria far-right parliament speaker at Holocaust memorial
- Spain's grim search for flood missing moves to coast
- European businesses brace for Trump return
- 11 bodies found in Mexico truck were of missing group: prosecutors
- Germany's embattled Scholz open to talks on early election
- UN peacekeepers say Israel army damages south Lebanon position
- Toll from Mozambique election protests up to at least 30
- Superstar Dupont raring to go for France return
- First flight with Israelis evacuated from Amsterdam lands in Tel Aviv
- Resilient but threatened, Kenya celebrates Maa culture
- Van Nistelrooy accepts Man Utd lack a clinical striker
Sri Lanka cardinal seeks UN probe into Easter massacre
The head of Sri Lanka's Roman Catholic Church on Monday urged the United Nations to investigate the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 279 people, calling the massacre a "political plot".
In an address to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith demanded a mechanism to probe the attacks, which have been blamed on local Islamic radicals.
"The first impression of this massacre was that it was purely the work of a few Islamic extremists," Ranjith said. "However, subsequent investigations indicate that this massacre was part of a grand political plot."
The Church has previously suggested that the attacks, which targeted three churches and three hotels in Colombo in April 2019, helped Gotabaya Rajapaksa win the presidential elections in November the same year.
The government has not responded to the Church's accusations.
Ranjith, who initially supported Rajapaksa's election as president, said there were attempts by the government "to harass and intimidate those who clamour for justice".
Catholic priests have been summoned and questioned at length by the Criminal Investigations Department over statements critical of the slow progress in investigations.
"Nearly three years after the horrendous crime, we are still in the dark as to what really happened on that Easter Sunday," the cardinal said.
His address to the UN Council came a week after meeting with the pope.
Sri Lanka is on the agenda of the UN's top rights body at the moment for a separate reason.
Last year it set up a mechanism to gather evidence linked to alleged war crimes during the final stages of the island's Tamil separatist conflict, which ended in May 2009.
Allegations that Sri Lankan troops killed at least 40,000 Tamil civilians in the final months of the war go back to a period when Rajapaksa was the top defence official under his elder brother president Mahinda.
Both have denied allegations of war crimes.
"We earnestly call upon the UNHRC and all its member countries to support the continuation of evidence gathering initiated by the Council last year and to devise a means to ensure an investigation to unravel the truth behind the Easter Sunday massacre," the cardinal said.
Last month, Sri Lanka's High Court acquitted two top officials accused of "crime against humanity" for failing to prevent the Easter Sunday bombings.
I.Meyer--BTB