Himal Kotelawala / Colombo Balkan Fernando was at his home in Kochchikade, a suburb north of Sri Lanka’s capital, when he heard the first bomb go off around 8:45 a.m. He sprinted toward the deafening sound that had come from nearby St. Anthony’s Shrine and found members of the country’s Christian minority evacuating their Easter service amid a scene of carnal wreckage. “It must’ve been at the end of mass, during the holy communion,” he tells TIME. “I ran to the church as soon as I heard it. I was inside about two minutes after the blast. There was a … Continue reading Sri Lanka Struggles to Come to Terms With the Implications of the Easter Sunday Bombings

Hillary Leung Vietnam has logged a new highest-ever temperature, with the mercury climbing to a sweltering 110ºF in April, adding the country to a growing list of heat milestones achieved globally, the Washington Post reports. Huong Khe district, located in Ha Tinh province about 150 miles south of the capital Hanoi, experienced the record-breaking heat on Saturday, according to a forecaster with French meteorological agency Meteo France. The area normally averages in the 80s this time of year. Temperatures in popular tourist destinations Da Nang and Hue also rose to about 100ºF, and in the south, Ho Chi Minh City … Continue reading Vietnam Just Recorded a New Peak Temperature of 110 Degrees, Report Says

EMILY SCHMALL AND KRISHAN FRANCIS / AP (COLOMBO, Sri Lanka) — The warning in the April 11 letter was plain: A local group was planning a suicide terror attack against churches in Sri Lanka. Priyalal Disanayaka, the deputy inspector general of police, signed the letter addressed to the directors of four Sri Lankan security agencies. He identified Mohammed Zaharan as the leader of “National Thawheek Jaman” and said state intelligence showed Zaharan’s group was planning a suicide attack in the country. Disanayaka asked the four security directors to “pay extra attention” to the places and VIPs in their care. The … Continue reading Sri Lankan Authorities Warned of Possible Church Attacks Almost Two Weeks Ago

Associated Press (LONDON) — The Northern Ireland Police Service says they have arrested a woman under the Terrorism Act in the slaying of journalist Lyra McKee. The 57-year-old woman was arrested Tuesday under the terrorism act. An Irish Republican Army splinter group earlier admitted that one of its “volunteers” killed McKee, who was shot dead while reporting on rioting in Londonderry. In a statement issued Tuesday to the Irish News, the New IRA offered “full and sincere” apologies to McKee’s family and friends. The group said the 29-year-old journalist was killed during Thursday night’s unrest “while standing beside enemy forces” … Continue reading A Woman Has Been Arrested in the Killing of Journalist Lyra McKee

Ashok Sharma / AP (NEW DELHI) — Indians are voting Tuesday in the third phase of the general elections with campaigning by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party and the opposition marred by bitter accusations and acrimony. People lined up outside voting station at several places even before the polling started at 7 a.m. The voting for 117 parliamentary seats in 13 states and two Union Territories on Tuesday means polls are half done for 543 seats in the lower house of Parliament. The voting over seven phases ends May 19, with counting scheduled for May 23. The election … Continue reading Voting Begins in the Third Phase of India’s General Election

Bullit Marquez / AP (PORAC, Philippines) — Rescuers found more bodies overnight in the rubble of a supermarket that crashed down in a powerful earthquake that damaged buildings and an airport in the northern Philippines, raising the death toll to 11, officials said Tuesday. The bodies of four victims were pulled from Chuzon Supermarket and three other villagers died due to collapsed house walls, said Mayor Condralito dela Cruz of Porac town in Pampanga province, north of Manila. An Associated Press photographer saw seven people, including at least one dead, being pulled out by rescuers from the pile of concrete, … Continue reading Rescuers in the Philippines Search for the Missing as Earthquake Death Toll Rises to 11

Steve Peoples and Hunter Woodall / AP (MANCHESTER, N.H.) — California Sen. Kamala Harris joined the call for President Donald Trump’s impeachment on Monday as five leading Democratic presidential contenders clashed in a series of prime-time town hall meetings that exposed deep divisions in a party desperate to end the Trump presidency. Harris’ unexpected support for impeachment follows Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s push for Congress to begin the process to remove the Republican president following the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted report — a plan all but certain to fail without significant Republican support. “There is no political … Continue reading Senator Kamala Harris Says She Supports Impeaching President Trump