Latest News
Canada rocked by mass killing of Sri Lankan family
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has condemned the mass killing of an Ottawa family that had recently moved from Sri Lanka, calling it an act of “terrible violence”.
Trudeau’s comments on Thursday came in the hours after a family and their acquaintance were killed in an apparent late-night stabbing in the Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven.
The victims include a 35-year-old woman and her four children, ages seven, four, two and two months. A 40-year-old family friend was also killed.
The attack has resonated across Canada, which, unlike its southern neighbour the United States, rarely sees mass casualty attacks. There were just 14 murders in Ottawa, a city of one million, in 2023. The year prior, the tally was only 15.
“Obviously, our first reactions are all ones of shock and horror at this terrible violence,” Trudeau told reporters. “We’re expecting that the community reaches out to support family and friends, as Canadians always do. And we expect the police of jurisdiction to be doing the work and keeping us all informed of this terrible tragedy.”
An Ottawa Police Service officer stands near a door smeared in blood in Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven in Ontario, Canada (Aljazeera)
The motive for the killing was not immediately clear, although police said 19-year-old Febrio De-Zoysa, a student from Sri Lanka, has been arrested and charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
Police said De-Zoysa was an acquaintance staying with the family but had no previous contact with law enforcement.
Ottawa police chief Eric Stubbs said, during a televised news conference, that the family was found inside a house after authorities responded to an emergency call shortly before 11pm local time Wednesday (02:00 GMT Thursday).
The husband of the 35-year-old mother killed in the attack was injured but survived and was taken to a hospital in stable condition. De-Zoysa was arrested at the scene. Stubbs said an “edged weapon” was used in the killings. “This was a senseless act of violence perpetrated on purely innocent people,” he said.
On social media, Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe called the attack “one of the most shocking incidents of violence in our city’s history”.
Mass killings are relatively infrequent in Canada, which has a population of just over 38 million. However, 2022 saw two prominent attacks. In December of that year, a man shot five people in a Toronto suburb before being fatally shot by police.
Several months prior, in September, a man also stabbed and killed 11 people in the western province of Saskatchewan. He died of a cocaine overdose shortly after being arrested.
The rate of such attacks is far lower than in the US, which has a population of 331 million. In 2023, there were 42 mass killings, defined as incidents in which four or more victims are killed, according to Northeastern University’s mass killing database.
The number was the second highest in the US since 2006, the year when the database began tracking mass killings. In 2019, there were 46 attacks, accounting for 234 victims killed.
(Aljazeera)
Turkish and Somali forces have freed a cargo ship held captive by pirates off the coast of Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland state, according to authorities.
In a statement on X on Saturday, the Somali Ministry of Defence said that “14 pirates” died in the operation to free the Cameroon-flagged MV Latuf.
Four of their boats were also destroyed, it said.
The Defence Ministry said that “sustained pressure from the forces ultimately compelled the remaining pirates to abandon the vessel”, allowing the forces to take control of the ship.
The rescue operation was conducted under a defence cooperation agreement between Somalia and Turkiye, aimed at strengthening maritime security, protecting Somalia’s coastline and combating piracy, it said.
The Somali Defence Ministry did not provide details about any casualties or the wellbeing of the ship’s crew.
A local elder, Abdullahi Warsame, from the Jiifle community in the Godob Jiraan district of Puntland’s Nugal region, told The Associated Press news agency that the vessel and its crew had been freed.
The MV Latuf left the Turkish Port of Tekirdag in late July. It was hijacked on August 17 in waters off the coast of the Nugal region of Puntland, a semi-autonomous federal state in northeastern Somalia.
According to the Marine Traffic website, the cargo ship has continued its voyage to its reported destination in Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania.
Piracy was rampant off the coast of Somalia in the 2000s, peaking in 2011, before being curbed by international naval deployments and new protection measures for commercial shipping.
A ferry carrying around 260 people has capsized off the coast of northern Cyprus with a search underway for survivors, according to local media.
The catamaran-style boat was travelling from the port of Kyrenia, also known as Girne, and started sinking a few kilometres off the coast of the island state on Sunday.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
[Aljazeera]
Imam ul Haq is unlikely to play the rest of Pakistan’s Lord’s Test against England after being diagnosed with a grade-1 tear in his left calf. He has been advised ten days of rest. Cricinfo has learned that Imam was taken for scans at stumps on day one of the ongoing Test, after which the severity of the injury became clear.
Imam remained off the field after tea on the first day and has not been in action in this Test since with Salman Agha coming in as his substitute. Imam did not come out to bat in the first innings on day two, which folded inside 38 overs as Pakistan scored only 110 in reply to England’s 290.
Before the start of the second day’s play at Lord’s, the team management had said that Imam’s participation in the match depended on his treatment from a “strain to his left calf muscle”, and fast bowler Mohammad Ali sidestepped the question after stumps on day three. “I wouldn’t be able to tell you anything about it,” he told reporters. “I am aware of his status, but the team’s medical panel is better placed to answer you better.”
Imam did come out before the start of the fourth day’s play and faced a few gentle throw-downs, with his left calf heavily strapped. He looked limited in his movements while batting and limped back after a short while with members of the support staff around him.
Imam picked up the injury while batting in the Headingley Test, which Pakistan lost by an innings and 103 runs. He needed on-field attention from the team medical panel during the first innings and had his left calf strapped over the course of his 42-run innings in which he struck a partnership worth 91 runs with Abdullah Shafique for the third wicket after which Pakistan crumbled for 171.
Imam’s likely unavailability for the second innings will be a further blow for Pakistan who are staring at a steep target to level the series with England boasting a 357-run lead after the third day. A defeat at Lord’s will give England their first Test series win since December 2024, and Pakistan’s ninth defeat in their last ten away Tests. It would also mark Pakistan’s second consecutive Test series defeat in England after the lost 1-0 on the Covid-era tour in 2020.
The third and last Test of the series begins on September 9 in Birmingham, providing enough time to Imam to recuperate from the injury.
[Cricinfo]
“Rathuwewi Mihimadala” Book Launched with the Participation of the Prime Minister
Turkiye, Somalia forces free cargo vessel hijacked by pirates
Ferry carrying 260 people capsizes off northern Cyprus coast
Imam unlikely to play rest of Lord’s Test after picking up left calf tear
Vimukthi, Ayodhya hand Sri Lanka winning start to Asia Cup title defence
Voting closes in Iceland’s knife-edge EU referendum
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
Sunday Island 27 December – Headlines
#SundayIsland 17th December – Headlines
Sunday Island – 28th March
Sunday Island Headlines – 21 March
Sunday Island – 21st February – Headlines
-
News6 days agoMissing doctor’s body found in Mahiyanganaya
-
News6 days agoAustralia declines to release Finance Secy Suriyapperuma’s citizenship details
-
News6 days ago22A: BASL suggests CJ recuse himself from hearing petitions
-
News3 days agoEight politicians in drug kingpin probe
-
Editorial7 days agoGovts. drag feet as undergrads age
-
Business3 days agoSri Lanka opens up: A new season of direct connectivity
-
Features5 days agoInsights from Chieftains of Uva: Genealogy of two Kandyan Families – Part II
-
Features3 days agoRedefining ageing in Sri Lanka