Lankan woman runs over elderly man in Cyprus

A Sri Lankan woman has been arrested after she allegedly accidentally ran over and killed an elderly man she was tasked with caring for in Cyprus. 

Nicolas Psillides, a 90-year-old resident of Nicosia, was killed on Thursday afternoon after his carer, 39, reversed the car at their apartment building parking area, not realising he was standing behind the vehicle. 

The accident happened around lunchtime when the woman was dropping him home to the apartment in Pallouriotissa and was attempting to park the car, the Cyprus Mail reported. Psillides was transferred to Nicosia general hospital where he died of his injuries at 3pm.

Sri Lanka's Kimiko finishes 4th in heat

Sri Lanka's Kimiko Raheem finished fourth in her women's 100m back stroke heat of the XXX1st Olympic Games swimming competition at Olympic Aquatic Centre today.

Competing in lane two of heat number two of her pet event, the 17-year- old Lankan lass clocked an unimpressive one minute and 4.21 seconds to secure only the fourth place.

She was nowhere near her personal best and finished way behind Claudia Lau of Hong Kong who won the race in 1.0127.

Claudia was placed third at the halfway mark turn at 50m in 29.81 seconds but had a better second lap to catch the lead held by Alicja Tchorz (29.55 after 50m), who eventually settled for the second place in 1.01.31. The third place of the heat was wan by Alexus Laird in 1.03.33, well ahead of Raheem, who was in the fourth place right throughout the race.

The heat one was won by Gaurika Singh of Nepal (1.08.45). American Kathleen Baker who won the heat four had the best timing among all 34 competitors who took part in this event under five heats - 58.84 seconds.

Australian Emily Seebohm who returned a timing of 58.99 seconds won the heat five.

The heat three of women's 100m backstroke was won by Olivia Smoliga in 59.60. Raheem was placed only 28th out of 34 in the overall ztiming list.

House buried by landslide in Polpitiya

A house in Polpitiya overlooking the Polpitiya - Bowatenna tunnel coming up under the CEB’s Broadlands Project got buried and completely disappeared in a landslide on August 7 around 8.00 a.m., causing fear and anguish among residents.

The occupants of the house were away as they had been temporarily moved out and relocated by project officials along with the occupants of 12 other houses which had suffered cracks in the walls.

A 50 foot coconut tree and a mango tree beside the house had also disappeared in the landslide. There are 18 more houses in the area and Ginigathena Police have requested the residents to leave their houses for safety as temporary measure. Officials of the Chinese Company handling the project visited the scene on an inspection yesterday.

AG files indictments on Hirunika, 8 others

Parliamentarian Hirunika Premachandra and eight others were today indicted in the Colombo High Court by the Attorney General over the alleged abduction of a youth in the Dematagoda area. 

The Attorney General had filed the indictments on 29 counts against the suspects. Earlier, the suspects had been produced in the Colombo Chief Magistrate's Court at a non summary trial and they are now out on bail. 

The victim, Amila Priyanga, was alleged to have been abducted by the suspects. The entire incident was captured on CCTV cameras, and the footage was later used by the police to arrest the suspects. (Shehan Chamilka Silva)

Darren Sammy sacked as West Indies T20 captain

Darren Sammy, who led West Indies team to World To glory, posted an emotional video on his social media handle to share that his captaincy had been taken away from the selectors.

In his post, he said that the selectors had “reviewed” his captaincy and later informed that Sammy won’t be part of the West Indies team anymore.

“I got a call yesterday morning, it was probably 30 seconds, from the chairman of selectors telling me that they’ve reviewed the captaincy of T20 and I won’t be captain anymore of the T20 team, [and] my performances have not merited selection in the squad,” Sammy said in the video.

“That’s okay, I’ve always believed West Indies cricket is not about Darren Sammy. They are looking to the future and I wanna wish the new captain – I don’t know if it’s out yet so I won’t call any names – all the best as he looks to lead West Indies cricket and take it forward.

“Obviously, throughout my captaincy, winning the two T20 World Cups has been the highlight. And these memories I will cherish for a long time. This is not me retiring from one-day or T20, it’s just me thanking the fans and my players and the coaches I’ve worked with and WICB for…yeah, letting me lead the side for the last six years. But for now the captaincy has come to an end and thank you people.

“I just know I played with my heart and soul whenever I stepped out on the cricket field.”

In the recently concluded CPL tournament on the Caribbean soil, his team St Lucia Zouks lost to Trinbago Knight Riders in the finals. He also stated that he wanted his players to know that he was proud of their performance and should always hold their head high.

“Six years ago I was asked to captain West Indies, a task which I fought [and] would be the biggest challenge in my career, in my life,” Sammy said. “A task which I know would be so difficult but guess what…I took it head on. I embraced the challenge, I embraced the difficulty. I turn up at the office which is my playground, the cricket field, every day and put in the work.

The exclusion of Sammy from the team comes just few days before India takes on West Indies in a two match T20 series in Florida at the end of August. (Indian Express)

Hantana Training Centre head remanded Over Sexual abuse

A private youth-training centre head who was arrested on charges of abducting and sexually abusing ten female trainees at Hantana was remanded till August 11 by Kandy Chief Magistrate Buddhika C. Ragala. 

The 39-year-old suspect Chandimal Gamage, a resident of Wariyapola was arrested during investigations into complaints made by the victims to the Women and Children’s Bureau of the Kandy Police Headquarters. The victims had made individual statements regarding the incident to the police.

French gymnast breaks leg during Olympics

A French gymnast Samir Ait Said's leg snapped as he tried to complete his vault during team preliminaries yesterday, with the sound of the injury echoing through the arena. 

As he crumpled to the floor, Said writhed in agony while medical officials tended to him in front of a shocked crowd. After a delay of several minutes, he was eventually wheeled out and raised one arm to acknowledge the loud ovation he received from the crowd.

Several viewers watching on television took to social media to express their shock after the incident was broadcast live, with many detailing the loudness of the 'crack'. (Daily Mail – UK)

Australian Women Break Swimming World Records

Hungaria's "Iron Lady", 27-year-old Katinka Hosszu, smashed the 400m Individual Medly World Record to win gold at the event in Rio de Janeiro on the first day of games at the 2016 Olympics.

This was the second world record broken on the first day of swimming.

She finished the race at a time of 4:26.36 minutes. USA's Madeline Dirado finished second five seconds later at 4:31.15 and Spain's Mireia Belmonte won Bronze.

Meanwhile Australians set a world record to claim gold over the U.S. in the 4x100m freestyle relay with a time of three minutes, 30.65 seconds. Emma McKeon, Brittany Elmslie, Bronte Campbell and 100m freestyle world record holder Cate Campbell topped the American quartet of Simone Manuel, Abbey Weitzeil, Dana Vollmer and Katie Ledecky, who raced to 3:31.89.Canada won bronze.