( May 2, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) FOREIGN MINISTER SAMARAWEERA: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It has been a great honor and our privilege to welcome the honorable John F. Kerry, Secretary of State of the United States of America, to the historic Republic building, which has been the home of the foreign minister of Sri Lanka since independence. In fact, Secretary Kerry’s visit is a momentous occasion for Sri Lanka, as it is the first official visit by a U.S. Secretary of State in nearly half a century – 43 years to be precise. And I believe that this important visit signifies the return of our little island nation to the center stage of international affairs.
(Lanka-e-News- 02.May.2015, 6.10PM) This is the press statements by Secretary of State John Kerry and SL Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera after the bilatteral meeting today at the Foreign Ministry
Mangala's Speech
Good Morning Ladies and Gentleman,
It has been a great honour and privilege to welcome the Honourable John F. Kerry, Secretary of State of the United States, to the historic Republic Building which has been the home of our Foreign Ministry since Independence.
Secretary Kerry’s visit is a momentous occasion for Sri Lanka as it is the first official visit by a US Secretary of State in nearly half a century - 43 years to be precise.
I believe that this important visit signifies the return of our little island to the centre stage of international affairs.
This morning we continued a dialogue that began in Washington within a month of my appointment as Foreign Minister.
We agreed to build on a multifaceted bilateral relationship and to forge stronger links between our peoples.
We also agreed to formalize our relationship through a partnership dialogue that will enable us to continue this process on a regular basis.
Relations between our two countries have existed since the adoption of the US constitution, at which time records show that sailors from New England were anchored in the Galle Harbour.
American missionaries, including Sir Henry Olcott, who jointly designed the Buddhist flag flown during Vesak, played a vital role in founding and nurturing some of our best schools both in the North and the South.
Secretary Kerry’s visit to Sri Lanka comes at a very propitious moment.
On one hand, Buddhists in every part of the country, and all over the world, will be celebrating the Lord Buddha’s philosophy of tolerance and non-violence tomorrow, by lighting beautiful paper lanterns in their homes and on the streets.
And on the other hand, it also comes at a time when many Sri Lankans are celebrating the passage of the 19th Amendment to our constitution last Tuesday, which only one Member of Parliament opposed.
This was the apex of the 100 day programme which introduced far-reaching constitutional and democratic reforms.
Today, Sri Lanka is well on its way to becoming a fully-fledged Parliamentary democracy, laying the foundations for a new Sri Lanka, built on the pillars of democracy and ethnic harmony.
This will allow us to reap the fruits of increased economic growth and prosperity, which have been eluding us for nearly two decades.
Ensuring accountability in the New Sri Lanka, will feature as a key component of the reconciliation process, and the architecture of a domestic accountability mechanism with international technical assistance as promised by our manifesto are now being planned.
In this context there are also several areas where the United States can assist us by enhancing local capacity and providing technical expertise.
Sri Lanka, now a middle-income country, can no longer afford to rely solely on foreign aid.
It is in our government’s best interest to attract foreign direct investment as part of a broader strategy to kick-start the economy.
Sri Lanka has been considered a paradise for tourists for many years, but our government is now also keen to make Sri Lanka an investor’s paradise.
In order to do so, we are in the process of cultivating a rule based investment climate. I hope that American investors will take advantage of the many new economic opportunities now opening up in Sri Lanka.
Later today, Secretary Kerry will call on President Sirisena and have discussions with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.
I believe these discussions will provide an opportunity for both sides to understand their respective priorities and that the discussions will also heighten our existing close and friendly relations.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Assistant Secretary Nisha Biswal for her unrelenting belief in Sri Lanka and it’s potential, and for the support and encouragement we have received from her over the last few months.
I hope there will be many more high-level visits to come and that today is just the beginning of a very, very special relationship between Sri Lanka and the United States.
I wish Secretary Kerry and his delegation a pleasant stay in Sri Lanka, and hope that he will visit us again soon, so we may have the opportunity to show him more of our beautiful and diverse island.
Talking of the international dimension, back in the 1980s, the reason why India started supporting the Tamil militants was because India didn’t like Sri Lanka’s foreign policy under the J.R.Jayewardene government. Had Mrs Sirima Bandaranaike been in power at that time, the Tamil militatnts would not have got any help from India. Today once again, the Indians are interfering in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka in order to impose their foreign policy on Sri Lanka. The excuse they use for this is the Northern Tamil community. For example, when Narendra Modi came to the Sri Lankan parliament and talked about going beyond the 13th Amendment, he was doing so on behalf of the Northern Tamils. There is a huge Indian Tamil population in Sri Lanka and Modi does not give a twit about them because they can’t be used in India’s foreign policy games.
By Carol MorelloMay 2 at 11:19 AM
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Secretary of State John F. Kerry on Saturday said the United States would send a wide range of advisers to help the island nation emerge from a devastating civil war and years of autocratic rule.
Kerry, the first secretary of state to visit Sri Lanka in a decade, said U.S. advisers would provide “technical assistance” to the newly-elected government as it makes constitutional and democratic reforms.
Washington will also help Sri Lanka fight corruption and recover stolen assets if any are stashed in the United States, he said. And he announced a new U.S. embassy will be built in the capital, Colombo.
In addition, he said, the Commerce and Treasury departments will send advisers to help develop a plan for more investment and economic growth. Colombo is undergoing a construction boom, and many parts of the island that were considered security risks during the civil war are now opening up to tourism. According to the State Department, Sri Lankan exports to the United States amount to $2.5 billion a year.
“I am here today because I want to say to the people of Sri Lanka that in this journey to restore your democracy the American people will stand with you,” Kerry said after a meeting with Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera. “We intend to broaden and to deepen our partnership with you.”
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrives for a meeting with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, center right, at The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo on May 2. (Andrew Harnik/AFP/Getty Images)
Following years of tension with Sri Lanka over human rights abuses under former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who lost to Maithripala Sirisena in a January election, the United States and Sri Lanka would renew their ties by establishing an annual dialogue, Kerry said. He repeated the message in meetings later in the day with Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The diplomatic overtures from Washington are a striking turnaround in the U.S. attitude toward Sri Lanka. During its 26-year-old military campaign against insurgents known as the Tamil Tigers, who sought to carve out an independent state on part of the island, accusations of human rights abuses were rampant on both sides. The Tamil separatists were crushed in 2009, but Rajapaksa’s autocratic tendencies raised concern in many capitals, including Washington.
Building on Sirisena’s campaign promises, the government is moving to become more democratic. On Tuesday, Sri Lanka’s parliament voted to curb presidential powers and make the president answerable to parliament.
The last time a top American diplomat visited Sri Lanka was in 2005, when Colin Powell stopped in briefly following a tsunami. Kerry’s two days of meetings with senior government officials appears to represent hopes that Sri Lanka’s international isolation may finally be coming to an end.
When Kerry arrived at the Foreign Ministry for a meeting, he was greeted by a large sign bearing the word “Welcome,” his photograph exhibited alongside a photo of Sirisena. A young girl placed an ornate flower necklace over his dark blue suit, and he walked toward the building down a red carpet, passing dozens of traditional drummers and dancers performing in his honor.
“I believe that this important visit signifies the return of our little island nation to the center stage of international affairs,”said Samaraweera, the foreign minister.
“Today, Sri Lanka is well on its way to becoming a fully-fledged parliament democracy, laying the foundation for a new Sri Lanka, built on the pillars of democracy and ethnic harmony,” he added.
After meeting with the Sri Lankan president and prime minister, Kerry is scheduled to meet with leaders of the Tamil minority community on Sunday.
In a speech he gave Saturday evening, Kerry struck a highly personal note as he urged Sri Lankans to seek out the truth about war atrocities. He also offered American technical help in organizing reconciliation with the Tamils.
“Peace has come, but true reconciliation will take time,” he said.
To illustrate his point about reconciliation, Kerry recalled his Navy service in Vietnam, commanding a patrol boat in the Mekong Delta, and the return trips he made as a senator decades later, investigating rumors that American aviators shot down during the war were still alive and held in captivity. Although the Senate committee concluded there were no living MIAs held in Southeast Asia, their work helped pave the way for the normalization of diplomatic relations between the former enemies in 1995.
“We knew it was impossible for us move forward if we didn’t try to find answers,” he said, estimating he made 17 to 20 trips back to Vietnam, in some cases talking with North Vietnamese generals who commanded the troops fighting the Americans. “We experienced the same emotions and the same search for answers present in your country today. . . . It’s an essential part of the healing process.”
Carol Morello is the diplomatic correspondent for The Washington Post, covering the State Department.
Global Tamil Forum (GTF) congratulates the leadership shown by all Sri Lankan political parties and their Parliamentarians, and in particular the leadership shown by President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe on successfully adopting the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Passing of the 19th amendment along with other steps taken to democratise the state and its institutions have significantly altered the unfortunate political culture and practices adopted in Sri Lanka in the recent past. These newly adopted progressive changes annul the trend set by the previous regime, and effectively place the country back in the right course to work towards more meaningful and democratic constitutional changes in the future.
We are aware that the government’s 100-day program could not be implemented in full to meet all its ideals and the 19th Amendment too in its adopted form has lot to be desired. Despite that, the spirit of change and the new political atmosphere involving consultations and compromises are breathtakingly fresh in the context of Sri Lanka and give hope that such conditions, if further developed, will be conducive to resolve other pressing issues faced by the people.
We also recognise the positive steps the government has taken to address certain immediate concerns of the Tamil people. These include removing of military Governors and appointing civilians as Governors for the Northern and Eastern Provinces, transferring of small sections of land back to the rightful owners, releasing of a few Tamil political detainees and the review of the proscription of Tamil diaspora individuals and entities. Though limited in scope they are still significant.
However, large swathes of private land are still illegally occupied by the military, disproportionate number of military personnel still remain in the North and East, intimidation and arbitrary arrests still continue, military remains engaged in day to day life of Tamils in North and East, sexual violence continue against the tens of thousands of war widows and others, Tamil men and women still live in fear even more so in the Northern and Eastern provinces, several hundreds of political prisoners still remain in custody without being charged, the Prevention of Terrorism Act still not repealed, above all the Tamil National Question remains unresolved.
Momentum developed by passing of the 19th amendment and other positive initiatives taken to provide limited relief for the Tamil people, should be developed further to be stepping stones, to resolve the long standing Tamil national problem in Sri Lanka. In this context, it is important that the government accelerates implementing these initiatives and also takes meaningful steps to comprehensively address the issues related to alleged war crimes, serving of justice, political resolution and reconciliation.
Global Tamil Forum, for its part, is fully committed to playing a constructive role in making all these reality.
The 19A Bill was gazetted in March, after having obtained the approval of Cabinet. The Gazetted version did not go as far as the previous changes envisaged, due to disagreement from some quarters. Subsequently, post-gazetting, Cabinet agreed to the inclusion of the further clauses.
The usual way of doing this, would have been to include those clauses as Committee Stage Amendments.
However, in an unprecedented move – and a move in keeping with the Government’s promise of democratic processes and good governance the Attorney General brought these envisaged Amendments to the Notice of the Supreme Court, and provided copies to the judges and all lawyers appearing in the 19th Amendment case (before the hearing started), so that the opinion of the Supreme Court would be obtained on those clauses as well.
The PM had also, on the very day the Bill was placed on the Order Paper, indicated to Parliament that changes were envisaged and would be proposed at Committee Stage.
Lawyers made submissions on the Bill and the envisaged amendments, in order that the Supreme Court would also be able to determine whether a referendum was required for the inclusion of those amendments as well. The judges posed numerous questions to counsel based on the gazetted Bill as well as the envisaged amendments.
The SC Determination and Subsequent Amendments Read More
Former Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Leader, Somawansa Amarasinghe commenced a fast at the Independence Square yesterday (1) demanding President Maithripala Sirisena to immediately initiate a probe into the alleged coup attempt of 9 January morning, and arrest those responsible and to bring them before Court without any undue delays.
He added that President Sirisena had himself stated that he had death threats, while he was the opposition presidential candidate and that was the political environment that suffused this country...
... during the previous regime though certain politicians were able to survive the cruel regime of Rajapaksa. "Even recently there was the incident in which an Army soldier had got unduly close to the President with a pistol in his pocket. That was the third occasion on which the President had been exposed to possible death.
Therefore, if the current President does not expedite the probe in to the coup of 9 January, some third grade person will try todestroy this country .So I am questioning the President of this country whether he is waiting for the fourth time to destroy himself without taking action against those third class people" he added.
JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake today urged President Maithripala Sirisena to dissolve parliament soon and give another chance for the people to elect suitable parliamentarians, while requesting the president not to listen to those who opposed him earlier including present Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala.
Addressing the mammoth crowd at the JVP May Day rally at the BRC grounds the JVP Leader accused the coalition government of displaying their inability to govern a country as a coalition. He also said that the enactment of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was a historical victory for Sri Lankans but the President had to offer ministerial posts as bribes to parliamentarians to get their votes in favour. “The Hyde Park Grounds where the SLFP May Day rally is being held was not used even for small meetings of the JVP. It shows how the people have been disappointed over the other political parties”, Mr. Dissanayake said.
JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva told the crowd that the ongoing political situation in the country, has proved that the JVP was the only political party which could be trusted by the people.
“Today, people are holding May Day rallies without knowing the real meaning of this day. They misuse May Day to fulfil their personal agendas. Some try to elect former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who defrauded state money with the support of his family members. They never stood for the working class,” Mr. Silva alleged.
The JVP also accused parliamentarians including Vasudewa Nanayakkara and Dinesh Gunawardene of working hard to get the former president back to active politics, describing them as politically displaced characters. The Red May demonstration of the JVP commenced its march from S. de S Jayasinghe Grounds in Dehiwela and reached B.R.C. grounds with a big crowd representing all Ceylon Trade Unions of Farmers’, Fishermen’s, Women’s, Youths, Students and Artistes.
The rally was chaired by All Ceylon Trade Union Federation President Lal Kantha, JVP leader Anura Dissanayake, General Secretary Tilvin Silva, Information Secretary Vijitha Herath and Politburo Member Sunil Handunneththi.
Clockwise from top left: Baltimore police officers William G. Porter, Garrett E. Miller, Caesar R. Goodson Jr., Edward M. Nero, Alicia D. White, Brian W. Rice. (Baltimore Police Department)
The six officers accused in the death of Freddie Gray face a litany of charges that include second-degree depraved-heart murder, involuntary manslaughter, false imprisonment and misconduct in office.
The officers — three white, three African American — represent a broad spectrum of experience on Baltimore’s police force. Three of them joined the force three years ago. The driver, who faces the most serious charges, is African American and has been on the force since 1999.
Finance secretary denies material is subject to import duties, as police stop private aid trucks and state orders all overseas money to be paid into its fund Nepalese soldiers load relief aid from residents of Sikkim, India, at Kakarvitta on Saturday. Photograph: Diptendu Dutta/AFP/Getty Images
A young boy, Gigar Rama, eats lunch inside a temporary shelter in Kathmandu on Saturday. Photograph: Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images
The Nepali government is increasingly under fire for blocking private initiatives bringing desperately needed assistance to remote areas, and allegedly obstructing the flow of relief to the country.
Suman Prasad Sharma, the Nepali finance secretary, on Saturday denied charges made by NGOs and top international officials that the government was levying import taxes on aid or had blocked consignments.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Thousands of South Koreans marched in Seoul on Friday for a third week to protest government labor policies and the handling of a ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people a year ago.
Demonstrators, many of them carrying banners and wearing yellow jackets, the color identified with supporters of the families of the ferry disaster victims, occupied several downtown streets and sporadically clashed with police officers.
Twelve people were detained for allegedly assaulting police officers and other disorderly conduct, said an official from the National Police Agency, who didn't want to be named citing office rules. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Members of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions shout slogans while raising banners reading "Better Working Condition" during a May Day rally near the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 1, 2015. Thousands of workers rallied to demand better working conditions and urge companies to stop using temporary employees. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Police created tight perimeters with their buses to block the marchers, contributing to a significant disruption in commuting traffic. In several streets, protesters tried to move the buses by pulling ropes they tied near the vehicles' wheels and police responded by pepper spraying them. Many buses were vandalized by protesters who spray-painted anti-government slogans on them.
South Korean labor groups have been denouncing a series of government policies they believe will reduce wages, job security and retirement benefits for state employees.
"We, the workers, will succeed in forcing the administration of (President) Park Geun-hye to stop its repression of labor," Han Sang-goon, president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, shouted at one of the rallies.
Marches on May 1 are rooted in labor movements worldwide. The demonstrations in Seoul were joined by supporters of the ferry victims' relatives who want a more thorough investigation into the sinking. At an earlier demonstration on April 18, dozens of people were hurt in a violent clash between police and demonstrators.
The ferry disaster continues to be a thorny issue for increasingly unpopular Park, despite her bowing to relatives' demand to proceed with the difficult and potentially dangerous job of salvaging the vessel. Relatives also want a new investigation to look into the government's responsibility for the disaster, which was blamed in part on official incompetence and corruption.
A total of 304 people, most of them schoolchildren, died when the ferry Sewol sank last year. Nine victims' bodies have not been found.
Police arrest three politicians along with nearly 200 of their supporters after protesters demand release of ex-leader.
Riot police fired tear gas and baton-charged the late night protest, witnesses said [AP]
02 May 2015
Authorities in the Maldives have arrested three opposition leaders along with nearly 200 others after clashes erupted between police and protesters demanding the resignation of the country's president and the release of a jailed ex-leader.
With the arrests, nearly the entire opposition leadership behind Friday's anti-government protests were detained, opposition lawmaker Eva Abdulla said on Saturday.
Riot police fired tear gas and baton-charged the late night protest on the Indian Ocean islands, said witnesses to what was the biggest show of support for former President Mohamed Nasheed since he was handed a 13-year jail term in March.
Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said one of its top leaders were among those arrested on the capital island of Male, while the head of the largest Islamist party in the mainly Sunni Muslim nation was detained.
The streets of Male appeared to be calm on Saturday morning as police put the number of arrests at 193.
While Nasheed's supporters said the "brutal" crackdown could not be justified, authorities insisted they acted lawfully in breaking up the protest.
"The organisers of the protest addressed the protesters and called on all gathered to topple the government and confront the police," a government statement said.
MDP spokeswoman Shauna Aminath said 195 people had been arrested since Friday evening when the protest began.
"All key opposition figures are now under arrest," Aminath told AFP. "It was a brutal crackdown by the regime."
She said the party's chairman Ali Waheed had been arrested along with Sheik Imran, leader of the main Islamic Adhaalath Party, who was an organiser of Friday's protest.
Nasheed's arrest
The protest came only hours after the United Nations criticised the jailing of Nasheed on March 13 on anti-terror charges as "arbitrary" and said the sentencing had followed a "vastly unfair trial".
Yameen came to power in late 2013 after controversially beating Nasheed in a run-off election despite trailing in the first round.
Nasheed, a climate change activist who was imprisoned during the three-decade rule of former leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, became the archipelago's first democratically elected leader in 2008.
He was toppled in February 2012 after a mutiny by police and troops that followed weeks of protests over his ordering of the arrest of a top judge who had been appointed by Gayoom.
Despite the backlash, the government has insisted Nasheed received a fair trial and has told its critics to respect the verdict.
"A free and fair trial has happened. A verdict has come," Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon, who is Gayoom's daughter and Yameen's niece, said last month.
Known for its luxury island resorts, the Maldives became a multiparty democracy in 2008 when Nasheed was elected president, ending the autocratic 30-year rule of Gayoom.
Already gripped by violence and poverty, Afghanistan is now in a malnutrition crisis that has left a quarter of its children underweight and could cost the country millions.
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan – The malnutrition ward at Bost Hospital in Lashkar Gah is normally packed with wide-eyed, withered babies and skeletal toddlers with swollen stomachs. But at the moment, only half of the beds are full.
It’s poppy harvest season in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province — the time of year when many rural households secure most of their annual earnings. And that means a dip in admissions to the hospital: Most women will not travel unaccompanied from the countryside to the city, and men cannot afford to abandon their work in the field to go with them. In a few days when farmers have wrapped up this year’s harvest, the children who make it to the hospital will be in a much more critical state — if they survive at all.
Employees of Snapdeal.com, an Indian online discount shopping website, work inside their company office in New Delhi March 1, 2012.
MUMBAI| BY NIVEDITA BHATTACHARJEE-Fri May 1, 2015
(Reuters) - After losing top engineering talent for years to America's tech heartland of Silicon Valley, India is luring them back as an e-commerce boom sparks a thriving start-up culture, unprecedented pay, and perks including free healthcare for in-laws.
India's IT industry has long been seen as a back-office backwater, even by its own engineers who started moving abroad in their droves in the 1970s. That is now changing.
The e-commerce sector, led by companies such as Flipkart and Snapdeal, attracted more than $5 billion of investment last year, Morgan Stanley says, compared with less than $2 billion in 2013.
That growth is fuelling the hunt for talent to drive the next stage of expansion - for many, an initial public offering or a push into overseas markets.
"The appetite for finding engineering talent ... is great," said George Kaszacs of Silicon Valley-based headhunters Riviera Partners, who helps Indian startups scout for potential hires.
The number of returnees is small, but they represent a sign of the early emergence on the global stage of Indian upstarts. Indian companies such as Snapdeal, Inmobi and Zomato each say they have hired between a handful to as many as 20 people from Silicon Valley in the past five years.
India's biggest e-commerce company, Flipkart (IPO-FLPK.N), recently hired two senior executives from Google Inc (GOOGL.O) in California, both engineers of Indian origin, for its headquarters in Bengaluru.
Flipkart did not disclose their pay, but headhunters say remuneration packages can reach $1 million over 3-4 years.
Headhunter Kaszacs said several factors are drawing Indians back home, including the chance to join a fast-growing start-up. Joining bonuses, stock options and other perks were also helping.
The chance to live close to parents and other relatives is another factor drawing Indian executives back home - an important consideration in India's close knit family system.
For Tanmay Saksena, who heads online ordering at restaurant review website Zomato, similarities between the Indian and Silicon Valley start-up culture helped him decide to return after eight years away.
"Of course your base pay is not the main driver, it is equity and you join a start-up because you think it will do well," Saksena said.
Other executives moved for similar reasons, saying the chance to work for a thriving start-up offset the challenges of everyday living in India's chaotic cities.
In return, companies are going all out to make settling back as easy as can be.
InMobi, a mobile phone advertising platform, provides summer camps for kids and meetings where spouses can socialise with one another. It offers health insurance not just for employees and their spouse, but their in-laws too, which Abhay Singhal says is a big hit.
"One thing that unfortunately India does not have great answers to yet is the quality of living outside of work," Singhal, one of the founders of the company, said.
"The professional still has his days to spend in the office but the spouse and kids... that becomes a very big issue."
Snapdeal said in a couple of instances the company had even helped spouses search for jobs.
"There will be systemic issues everywhere," Punit Soni, who joined Flipkart from Google as its chief product officer, told Reuters in March.
"I took up the job because it was the most interesting thing I could do."
FRIDAY01 MAY 2015
Hurtling to the ground at over 8,700 miles an hour, Nasa's Messenger spacecraft collided with Mercury on Thursday - but had time to send one last picture.
Above: an artist's impresson of the Messenger craft at Mercury
After more than 10 years in space, the Messenger (which stands for Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft, succumbed to Mercury's gravity and crashed to earth - making a crater estimated to be 16 metres in diameter.
Above: the last photograph taken by the Messenger craft
Mercury's very thin atmosphere means the Messenger craft did not slow as it plummeted to the surface of the planet, resulting in the high speed and large crater.
The Messenger mission has acquired over 250,000 images as well as other datasets during its 10-year mission.
It entered Mercury's orbit in 2011, and was only expected to survive for one year. However, earlier this week the craft ran out of propellant and it was pulled to Mercury's surface.
Above: image of the surface of Mercury. Messenger is believed to have crashed in the bottom left hand corner
It entered Mercury's orbit in 2011, and was only expected to survive for one year. However, earlier this week the craft ran out of propellant and it was pulled to Mercury's surface.
The Messenger spacecraft is the first ever to orbit Mercury and used seven scientific instruments to explore the origins of the solar system's innermost planet.
( May 2, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) FOREIGN MINISTER SAMARAWEERA: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It has been a great honor and our privilege to welcome the honorable John F. Kerry, Secretary of State of the United States of America, to the historic Republic building, which has been the home of the foreign minister of Sri Lanka since independence. In fact, Secretary Kerry’s visit is a momentous occasion for Sri Lanka, as it is the first official visit by a U.S. Secretary of State in nearly half a century – 43 years to be precise. And I believe that this important visit signifies the return of our little island nation to the center stage of international affairs.
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrives for a meeting with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, center right, at The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo on May 2. (Andrew Harnik/AFP/Getty Images)
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![Riot police fired tear gas and baton-charged the late night protest, witnesses said [AP]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tGqYWHizlTy6ogdp9kkcEU7Y8DAlAaPiOkVN34BPSadSq63gO-lD7j59L38-02r8konnW_ucOFJ6OuLSvuqpu3bZ7643mD18sLNjvx-FsvTGKCwSJa19Ntla6ppI71ZKJxSSjhEB8wn_ZyEcXASKUO4h4P5qHJbZx7feN-u0mC6o66_0VU7emC6Yf0EGF-cC-c7DK-r-czIHM=s0-d "Maldives opposition leaders arrested after clashes")
Riot police fired tear gas and baton-charged the late night protest, witnesses said [AP]
