Aren't they Buddhists?
Pope backs search for wartime truth in Sri Lanka
They are moving slowly on that as the Pope began a weeklong Asian tour.
He's a fine one to be talking about deviant forms of religion.
"Sri Lankans elect new leader" by Krishan Francis, Associated Press January 09, 2015
NEW DELHI — Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has conceded defeat in his bid for a third term in office, his spokesman said Friday.
Rajapaksa has bowed to the people’s decision and left Temple Trees, his official residence, said Wijeyanda Herath, his media secretary.
In a result unthinkable just weeks ago, Rajapaksa lost to his former friend and health minister, Maithripala Sirisena, who defected from the ruling party and turned the election into a referendum on the president and the enormous power he wields over the island nation of 21 million.
Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said the election was peaceful, although some voters were prevented from casting ballots in the Tamil-dominated north, according to the Center for Monitoring Election Violence.
Until a few weeks ago, Rajapaksa was widely expected to easily win his third term in office. But that changed suddenly in November when Sirisena split from him and gathered the support of other defecting lawmakers and many of the country’s ethnic minorities, making the election a fierce political battle.
Rajapaksa was still thought to be tough to beat because he controlled state media, had immense wealth, and still maintained popularity among the Sinhala majority, some of whom see him as a savior for destroying Tamil rebels and ending a decades-long civil war in 2009.
But polling was notably strong Thursday in Tamil-dominated areas, where voting had been poor in previous elections. Many Tamils have felt abandoned since the war’s end, when Rajapaksa largely ignored Tamil demands to heal the wounds of the fighting and years of ethnic divisions. They were thought to have voted heavily for Sirisena.
Both Sirisena and Rajapaksa are ethnic Sinhalese, who make up about three-quarters of the country. Neither has done much to reach out to Tamils, who account for about 9 percent of the population, but Rajapaksa is deeply unpopular in the Tamil community.
The wider world was watching the election in case violence should erupt after the results were revealed, especially since Pope Francis is scheduled to arrive in the country Tuesday.
While Rajapaksa’s campaign centered around his victory over the Tamils and his work rebuilding the country’s infrastructure and economy, Sirisena’s focused on reining in the president’s expanding powers. He also accused Rajapaksa of corruption, a charge the president denies.
The economy has grown quickly in recent years, fed by enormous construction projects, many built with Chinese investment money.
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"New president takes office in Sri Lanka" Associated Press January 10, 2015
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The new president, Maithripala Sirisena, was sworn into office Friday and vowed to curtail the powers amassed by his predecessor, who was swept aside in a stunning election upset.
Sirisena, a longtime political insider, and an ally of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa until just a few weeks ago, won the Thursday election by capitalizing on Rajapaksa’s unpopularity among the island nation’s ethnic and religious minorities, as well as grumbling among the Sinhalese majority about his family’s growing power.
‘‘With this victory we will implement the 100-day program in our election manifesto,’’ Sirisena told jubilant crowds after his swearing-in. Sirisena had promised to change Sri Lanka’s Constitution to drastically reduce the power of the president and return the country to a parliamentary system with a prime minister as its leader.
Sirisena also promised that he would not run again for president.
He thanked Rajapaksa for conceding defeat but called for future campaigns to be ‘‘much more mature,’’ and blasted the state media for its coverage.
He took the oath of office with senior Supreme Court Justice Kanagasabapathy Sripavan, bypassing the country’s chief justice, who was installed by Rajapaksa in a widely criticized move to expand his authority even more.
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NDUs:
Diversity in new cardinals signals pope’s intentions
Pope travels to war-torn north Sri Lanka, urges forgiveness
I hope you can forgive me for losing interest in what they are saying.
UPDATE: New Sri Lankan president pardons ex-army chief
