Obama asks the world to lock down nuclear materials

STAFF WRITER 20:10 HRS IST

Lalit K Jha and Ajay Kaul

Washington, Apr 13 (PTI) US President Barack Obama today warned that terror groups like al-Qaeda were trying to acquire nuclear material for weapons posing one of the "greatest threats" to global security and pitched for concrete collective steps to deal with this challenge.

Addressing the Nuclear Security Summit here, Obama said the world would need "a new manner of thinking and action" to deal with the real problem facing the world peace and stability.

"Terrorist networks such as al-Qaeda have tried to acquire the material for a nuclear weapon. And if they ever succeeded, they would surely use it.

Rajapaksa's ruling coalition gains early lead in Lanka polls

V Sriram

Colombo, Apr 9 (PTI) Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's party gained early leads today against a divided opposition, winning 15 of the 20 parliamentary seats for which results were declared.

Rajapaksa's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) won 15 seats while former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe's United National Party (UNP) managed to win five seats, election officials said.

On the other hand, detained former army chief Sarath Fonseka led Democratic National Alliance (DNA) was yet to register a victory in the results declared so far.

The Unicameral Sri Lankan Parliament has 225 seats out of which 196 is contested directly and the rest 29 are nominated based on the percentage of votes polled by various National political parties and groups.

Rajapaksa's party is involved in a three-cornered contest with the main opposition UNF alliance and the JVP and Fonseka's DNA, and was favoured in the opinion polls.