Amal Jayasinghe

Christian groups attacked Muslim-owned shops in the northwestern town of Chilaw on Sunday in anger at a Facebook post by a shopkeeper, police said

Investigators believe the group also used social media private messenges to keep in touch without being noticed by the authorities

The Church had planned to resume Sunday public services for the first time since the Easter Sunday attacks that killed 257 people

All public services by Sri Lanka's Christian minority were cancelled after the April 21 suicide attacks

The revelation came as the death toll in the Easter Sunday bomb attacks on churches and high-end hotels rose to 321

The 69-year-old leader was sworn in by President Maithripala Sirisena, who sacked him on October 26

New Maldives president Mohamed Waheed has welcomed a Commonwealth mission to investigate the ousting of his predecessor after overnight clashes.

Flooding in Sri Lanka has forced more than a million people out of their homes, the government said on Thursday.

Sri Lanka's president on Monday sacked a dozen senior military officers whom the Defence Ministry said were a "direct threat to national security".

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse won a bruising re-election battle on Wednesday that left his main rival in apparent fear of assassination.

Suspected Tiger rebels set off two more mines and fought a gun battle with troops on Tuesday as the United Nations urged talks and Norway made a fresh bid to pull Sri Lanka back from the brink of war. Military officials said members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ambushed a navy bus by setting off a landmine in the restive northeast port district of Trincomalee.

Sri Lanka's presidential election this week has turned into a vote on the country's distressed economy and the troubled peace process, with the two main contenders diverging sharply on the major issues. About 13,3-million eligible voters will effectively be choosing on Thursday between the current and former prime ministers, who have radically different views on how to save the nation from economic and ethnic implosion.