LaNUBlog™

A statue of Queen Victoria in Sri Lanka's main city, Colombo, has been taken off its plinth for renovation ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held there next month. The statue was moved from its original location seven years ago and placed in an inconspicuous position. But the authorities say it will now be given more prominence. She's been brought temporarily down to earth - the seven-year curse has ended Colombo commentator The statue of Britain's longest-reigning monarch dates from 1897, the year of her Diamond Jubilee. It was placed in gardens adjoining the residence of the governor-general of what was then the British colony of Ceylon. The building - in Colombo's Fort district - became the presidential palace in 1972. But the palace has barely been used by Sri Lanka's presidents. Local reports say one reason is that the statue was widely considered to bring bad luck. There are also structural issues - the one president ...

The US civil rights activist Rev Jesse Jackson says he will go to Colombia to seek the release of a former US marine held hostage despite the government's rejection of his mediation offer. President Juan Manuel Santos said on Saturday he did not want the freeing of the man held by left-wing Farc rebels to become a "media spectacle." Only the Red Cross would be allowed to participate, Mr Santos said. Meanwhile, the rebels have asked the president to reconsider his position. The International Committee of the Red Cross also said on Sunday it is waiting for an agreement to get into the process. "When both sides [the Farc and the government] reach an agreement, we will start playing our part," the ICRC spokesperson Erika Tovar told Colombian newspaper El Espectador. From Havana, where he had met with Farc leaders who are in Cuba for the peace talks with the government, Rev Jesse Jackson said he still intended to go to Colombia "in a matter of days". ...

Doctored posters were on display during campaigning for Sri Lanka's recent regional elections, it's been claimed. The country's main Tamil party won a sweeping victory to take control of the semi-autonomous Northern Provincial Council but not - according to reports in the region's media - without overcoming some dirty tricks along the way. One of the Tamil National Alliance's (TNA) complaints concerned posters of its chief ministerial candidate, CV Wigneswaran, which appeared in the regional capital Jaffna, the Colombo Telegraphreports. Apparently, they featured the wrong candidate number and would have encouraged people to cross box seven, instead of casting their vote for Wigneswaran by marking box 10. The TNA secured 78% of the voteto win 30 seats of the 38 seats. But reports suggest international election monitors were unimpressed by the actions of the armed forces, which were accused of attacking the home of a TNA candidate. Commonwealth observers describe...

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos has rejected American civil rights activist the Rev Jesse Jackson's mediation over a Farc hostage release. Mr Santos said only the Red Cross would be allowed to be involved, because he did not want "a media spectacle". Earlier, Jesse Jackson had agreed to go to Colombia next week to seek the release of former US marine Kevin Scott Sutay, held hostage since June. The Farc say they want to free Mr Sutay to brighten the mood of peace talks. During a visit to Cuba on Saturday, Rev Jesse Jackson had agreed to mediate, following a Farc statement saying his "experience and probity" would speed up the process of freeing Mr Sutay, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. But President Santos reacted quickly, writing on Twitter. "Only the Red Cross will be allowed to facilitate the release of the North American kidnapped by the Farc. We won't allow a media spectacle." 'Service to nation' Earlier this m...

California has passed a law that will enable under-18s to make websites delete their personal information. The law, which will take effect in 2015, only covers content, including photos, generated by the individual. Companies will not have to remove content posted, or reposted, by others. Nor will they have to remove the information from their servers. The legislation has been welcomed by Common Sense Media, a charity that promotes children's digital privacy. "Teens often self-reveal before they self-reflect and may post sensitive personal information about themselves - and about others - without realising the consequences," said chief executive James Steyer in a blog post. A Pew survey indicated 59% of US youngsters with a social-media profile had deleted or edited something they had posted, and 19% had posted comments, photos or updates they later regretted sharing. Right to be forgotten Back in May, Google chairman Eric Schmidt said the internet needed a "d...

Peru has become the world's main grower of coca leaves- the raw ingredient for cocaine - despite a small drop in the area under cultivation. According to a report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, coca plantations in Peru covered 60,400 hectares last year. The previous top producer was Colombia, where crop eradication programmes have been successful. It's not clear how much of the leaf output is used for the legal production of teas and medicaments. But Peru remains one the world's top three producers of cocaine, alongside Colombia and Bolivia. The area cultivated with coca is now 20% larger than that of Colombia. In a report released last month, UNDOC said that the area of land planted with coca in Colombia was down by 25% from the previous year. There was a decrease in the area cultivated also in Bolivia. Shining Path Peru has its own eradication programme, and the efforts of the government of Ollanta Humala to deal with the problem have been praised by the UN...

Peru has become the world's main grower of coca leaves- the raw ingredient for cocaine - despite a small drop in the area under cultivation. According to a report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, coca plantations in Peru covered 60,400 hectares last year. The previous top producer was Colombia, where crop eradication programmes have been successful. It's not clear how much of the leaf output is used for the legal production of teas and medicaments. But Peru remains one the world's top three producers of cocaine, alongside Colombia and Bolivia. The area cultivated with coca is now 20% larger than that of Colombia. In a report released last month, UNDOC said that the area of land planted with coca in Colombia was down by 25% from the previous year. There was a decrease in the area cultivated also in Bolivia. Shining Path Peru has its own eradication programme, and the efforts of the government of Ollanta Humala to deal with the problem have been praised by the UN...