COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Oct. 17 — Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera, a hard-line Buddhist nationalist monk serving a prison sentence in Colombo, resisted prison officials for more than two hours before giving up his saffron robes, and someone watched the removal remotely through a telephone connection, according to an account he gave his lawyer. The lawyer, Chula Adhikari, said the monk described the incident during a visit at Magazine Prison, where he is serving a sentence for contempt of court afte

By Asela Kuruluwansha KANDY, Sri Lanka, Oct. 16 — Sri Lanka’s prison authorities told the country’s two most senior Buddhist prelates on Friday that monks serving prison sentences will be allowed to wear their robes when taken outside prison. The change follows weeks of objections from the clergy over the treatment of Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera, the nationalist monk who was returned to prison this month. Senaka Palletenna, a spokesman for the Department of Prisons, described the changes a

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Saudi Arabia executed a Bangladeshi man and woman on Wednesday for what the authorities called an immoral act inside a mosque in Mecca. One day earlier, the kingdom’s Supreme Court had lifted the death sentence of a Sri Lankan Tamil migrant worker convicted of blasphemy over a comment he posted on Facebook. The worker, Anojan Sivarasa, is still in a Saudi jail. The ruling cancelled both his death sentence and an earlier five-year prison term, said Faiszer Musthapha, a Presi

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The United States will spend $17 million to digitize operations at the Port of Colombo, the U.S. Embassy announced on Friday. The project is meant to reduce paperwork and delays at one of South Asia's busiest transshipment hubs. The money will go toward two linked computer systems, a Maritime Single Window and a Port Community System, which will be developed with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority. The systems are intended to let shipping lines, customs and immigration officials