With miles of sandy beaches, quality reef breaks and consistent swells, Sri Lanka’s coasts are fast gaining a reputation as a premier surf destination.

Sri Lanka was a “hidden gem for travelling surfers until around five years ago when the surfing tourists, mostly from Europe, came flooding in,” Max Hepworth-Povey, a surf holiday advisor from UK-based Errant Surf Travel, told CNBC.

“Arugam Bay on the East Coast has one of the best waves in the world and the whole southwest coast from Hikkaduwa down to Matara is full of hidden, empty reef breaks.”

The crescent-shaped Arugam Bay is undoubtedly the most popular surfing spot in Sri Lanka because of its many good surf breaks with names such as Whiskey Point, Elephant Rock and Peanut Farm.

(A break is where a permanent or semi-permanent obstruction such as a reef, sandbar or a headland causes surf-able waves to break reasonably reliably at that location.)

Formerly known as Ceylon, Sri Lanka is a tropical island that sits south of India in the Indian Ocean and has eight UNESCO World Heritage sites.

It hosted close to 1.8 million tourists arrivals in 2015, up 41 per cent from figures in 2013, according to data from Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority.

Despite the big jump in visitor numbers, it’s not just the waves that have caught the attention of the global surfing community, but also Sri Lanka’s rich history and relatively undeveloped state, according to Jacqueline Brinck, the camp manager at Lapoint Camp, a Swedish travel company which runs surf camps in Sri Lanka.

“Sri Lanka is more for the surfer looking to meet new people and surf in an area that is local and unexploited,” she explained.

Brinck said Sri Lanka is also great for surfers who wanted world-class waves without the crowded line-ups seen in the more popular surfing destinations.

Another big perk of surfing around the teardrop-shaped island is the affordability factor.

“Sri Lanka is considered one of the most affordable Asian surfing destinations for both learners and pros,” Pamela Knaggs, Singapore and Malaysia marketing manager at Skyscanner, said.

The country featured on a Skyscanner list of “Budget surfing destinations in Asia” last year in part because surfing lesson cost only about $18 per hour.

Having undergone a lengthy civil war, as well as being badly hit by the devastating Boxing Day tsunami in 2004, Sri Lanka is one of the less-travelled countries in Asia.

But surfers shouldn’t expect to keep their favourite spots to themselves forever.

Martin Maddell, owner of Beach House Hiriketiya in Sri Lanka, said he’d observed more people at his local village “grabbing the chance to make money by renting out rooms or offering surfboard rentals.”

The country’s air carriers, leading travel agents and private railway operators began offering online bookings in late 2013, helping simplify the process of making reservations and bookings from outside the country, which boosted tourism, according to a 2015 Euromonitor report.

And since being elected in January 2015, Sri Lanka’s government has made the tourism industry a priority, announcing budgets for trade fairs in several countries and initiating private-public partnerships for the development of tourism in Sri Lanka, Euromonitor said.

MANILA – Islamist militants seized four Indonesian crew of a tugboat in the southern Philippines on Friday night, the third attack on slow moving vessels in about a month, a military spokesman said on Saturday, as troops battled Muslim rebels on a nearby island.

Major Filemon Tan said seven gunmen in a blue speed boat attacked two Indonesian flagged tugboats off the Philippines’southernmost island of Sitangkay in Tawi-tawi, near the border with Malaysia’s eastern Sabah state, and took the four crew.

“We don’t exactly know who took them but the only lawless group operating in that area is the Abu Sayyaf,” Tan said, adding 10 Indonesians and four Malaysians were also abducted in two separate incidents early this month in the south.

The Indonesian foreign ministry issued a statement said four Indonesian crew were taken captive after gunmen attacked two tugboats, TB Henry and TB Cristy, on their way to Kalimantan from Cebu.

Six other crew were left behind but one was shot.

“He is in stable condition now,” the foreign ministry said, adding Malaysian water police evacuated the wounded crew to a hospital in Lahad Datu in eastern Sabah state, where the two tugboats were towed to safety.

The military said the Islamist militants have been targeting foreign crew of slow moving tugboats because they could no longer penetrate resorts and coastal towns in Sabah due to increased security.

The al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, which is known for extortion, kidnappings, beheadings and bombings, is one of several brutal Muslim rebel factions, has stepped up activities on the remote islands.

Last week, the militants killed 18 soldiers and wounded more than 50 others in an ambush on Basilan island, prompting a massive army offensive with artillery and aerial bombings.

The military said 28 rebels had died in the week-long fighting.

On nearby Jolo island, the militants gave a final deadline on April 25 for payment of 300 million pesos (S$8.8 million) ransom for each of the two Canadians and a Norwegian captive or they will behead the three foreign captives.

Security is precarious in the resource-rich south of the largely Christian Philippines, despite a 2014 peace pact between the government and the largest Muslim rebel group that ended 45 years of conflict.

Update: Prince William and his wife Kate arrived at the Taj Mahal Saturday, wrapping up their week-long trip to India and Bhutan with a visit that carries poignant echoes for Britain’s royal family.

When the late Princess Diana was photographed sitting alone outside the tragic monument to love in 1992, it sparked much media speculation and later became a symbol of her failing marriage.

“It’s a beautiful place, stunning designs in there,” Prince William told reporters after the couple spent about half an hour inside the mausoleum, famous for its pure white marble.

The Duchess said it had been “incredible learning about the romance of the building and its really beautiful architecture”.

New Delhi – Prince William and his wife Kate will wrap up their trip to India and Bhutan Saturday with a visit to the Taj Mahal that carries poignant echoes for Britain’s royal family.

When the late Princess Diana was photographed sitting alone outside the tragic monument to love in 1992, it sparked much media speculation and later became a symbol of her failing marriage.

Photo: Reuters

India’s most famous landmark holds a special significance for the young royals, with Kensington Palace saying Prince William feels “incredibly lucky” to visit a site where his mother’s memory is so alive.

It follows a whirlwind week that saw the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge feed baby rhinos in northeastern Assam and trek to a mountain monastery in Bhutan – retracing the footsteps of Prince Charles.

When they reach Agra, home of the Taj, waiting for them will be a 73-year-old fan whose family memories stretch back even further, to the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1961.

“I have been dreaming of meeting the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge ever since I got to know they would be coming to the Taj,” Surendra Sharma told AFP.

Sharma’s late uncle Kailash Nath Sharma, a keen photographer whose studio in the city is still thriving, took several black-and-white pictures of the Queen and Prince Philip.

In one, the Queen is shown dressed in an elegant overcoat and a knee-length dress, sitting next to her husband in an open-top car.

Britain’s William and Kate head for taste of India

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AFP, Reuters

Sharma may have reason to hope – in Mumbai, the couple took time out from engagements to meet with a 93-year-old admirer, Boman Kohinoor.

The Britannia & Company restaurant owner became the star of a social media campaign that saw arrangements made for him to meet the royals at the last minute.

Agra wore a festive look Saturday, with roads decked out in fairy lights and flowers as it prepared to welcome the high-profile guests.

Security has been beefed up around the monument, with several paramilitary personnel standing guard with sniffer dogs.

The Duke and Duchess will arrive in a private jet before heading out to the Taj, a UNESCO world heritage site, after lunch.

Kate Middleton’s Asian-inspired wardrobe in India

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AFP, Jetsun Pema Facebook

The mausoleum is currently undergoing renovation work, with scaffolding covering two of the minarets – and a senior archaeological official told AFP it would not be dismantled for the visit.

It marks the final stop on a hectic itinerary for the royal couple, on their first official trip to the country that the British ruled for close to 200 years.

Their whistlestop tour has seen them hobnob with Bollywood stars in Mumbai and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi for lunch at a former palace in New Delhi.

They then spent two days in Bhutan, meeting the king and the queen of the remote Himalayan kingdom, trying their hand at the national sport of archery, and taking a mountain hike.

The couple are set to return to England on Sunday in time for the Queen’s 90th birthday on April 21.

Crafted in white marble and inlaid with precious stones, India’s most famous monument was built between 1631 and 1648 under Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, in memory of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

A woman in China had a son with her father-in-law after he allegedly raped her. 

But the father-in-law is saying that she was a willing party to bring a grandson to the family as her husband is infertile. 

Back in 2010, the family found out that the woman’s husband was impotent.

Bent on having a grand child, the woman’s mother-in-law apparently forced her to have sex with male strangers.

But the woman refused and escaped south, all the way to Guangdong.  

While the woman was at work in Guangdong, her father-in-law, who was supposedly also opposed to his wife’s arrangement, came to take her home.

He had promised that she would not be forced into sleeping with strangers any more. But, he reportedly raped her at a hostel near the train station, reported South China Morning Post.

The woman then became pregnant with his child. 

According to the report, the father-in-law accused the woman of seducing him. 

He also claimed they continued to have a sexual relationship that lasted a few years. 

The family is going to court to settle the dispute. 

a1admin@sph.com.sg

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SINGAPORE – The River Safari could soon be home to a baby panda after artificial insemination was carried out on giant panda Jia Jia on Wednesday (April 13).

This followed another failed attempt at natural mating with male panda Kai Kai and a decision was made to carry out artificial insemination to help Jia Jia conceive, Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) said in a statement on Friday (April 15).

Assisting the vets at River Safari was a team led by Prof Ng Soon Chye, an obstetrics and gynaecology specialist internationally renowned for his expertise in reproductive medicine.

From now until around September, vets and keepers will have to wait to conclude if Jia Jia is pregnant through ultrasound scans.

Giant pandas have delayed implantation during pregnancy and vets cannot confirm pregnancy until the later part of the panda’s gestation period.

Dr Cheng Wen-Haur, chief life sciences officer at WRS, said: “The past few days have involved very intensive observation and monitoring of the pairs which culminated in the artificial insemination of Jia Jia. Our female panda is timid by nature and our focus now is on her after care.”

After a failed attempt last year, the giant pandas had started to show signs that they were entering mating season at the end of March, said WRS.

It noted that the duo had displayed classic courtship behaviour for weeks. Kai Kai was scent-marking his exhibit and chirping to get the female’s attention, while Jia Jia was sleeping more and, when awake, would be restlessly pacing about.

Artificial insemination being carried out on Jia Jia. PHOTO: WILDLIFE RESERVES SINGAPORE

These displays were encouraging signs to the keepers and vets that their methods of stimulating breeding cycles and interest had been successful.

Mating season for giant pandas is typically from February to May, and the couple, here on a 10-year loan from China, showed signs in January that their breeding season was starting.

Pandas’ mating instincts are brought on by hormonal changes in response to seasonal variations, such as temperature changes and increasing day length from winter to spring.

River Safari’s keepers and vets have employed a number of measures since November to trigger the breeding cycles of the pandas.

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Wildlife Reserves Singapore, The Straits Times, The New Paper, My Paper

These included varying the daylight hours and temperature in the panda exhibit to simulate the transition from winter to spring in the pandas’ homeland in Sichuan, China.

In addition, keepers introduced each panda to the other’s exhibit and den, as well as placed them side-by-side for short periods of time so that the pair could smell each other’s scent. Their reaction would indicate their receptiveness to the opposite sex.

Urine samples from Jia Jia were also collected to check the hormonal levels which would also indicate when she is ready to mate.

This article was first published on April 15, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

 SEOUL/WASHINGTON – The possibility of North Korea conducting a fifth nuclear test, possibly within weeks, has been heightened by a failed missile launch on Friday that was an embarrassing setback for leader Kim Jong Un, South Korean officials and international experts said.

North Korea holds a ruling Workers Party congress in early May, at which Kim is likely to trumpet his achievements in building up Pyongyang’s weapons prowess.

South Korean officials and experts say he will be keen to go into the congress with a show of strength, and n ot a failed rocket launch. “

North Korea is capable of conducting an additional nuclear test at any time if there is a decision by Kim Jong Un,” said a senior South Korean official involved in national security policies involving the North, its bitter rival.

When asked if the failed missile launch had increased the possibility that Kim would order a nuclear test, the official said the North is likely to “engage in additional provocations.”

“Such a nuclear test and the missile launch believed to be a failure this morning are both among the provocations that North Korea would have reasonably tried,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity since he was not authorised to speak to the media on the matter.

US and South Korean officials have said the North attempted and failed to launch what was believed to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile on Friday as it celebrated the “Day of the Sun” birthday of the country’s founder Kim Il Sung, the current leader’s grandfather.

The US Defence Department called the test of the road-mobile missile a “fiery, catastrophic” failure, while North Korea has not made any public comment on the issue.

The senior South Korean official said Kim’s military aides would try to compensate for the failed missile launch and another official in Seoul said South Korea’s military was on high alert for an additional missile launch, or a nuclear test.

Michael Elleman, a US-based rocket expert with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said another missile test was unlikely any time soon.

“Given that this test failed, North Korea might elect to conduct another nuclear test,” he said.

John Schilling, an aerospace expert contributing to the 38 North website, said he would not expect North Korea to attempt another launch until it had figured out the problem.

“That would be several months at a minimum, possibly much longer,” he said.

Failure on the launch pad was in some respects an advantage as it was easy to examine the wreckage, he said, adding: “Failed tests are always learning experiences, and North Korea has demonstrated the ability to persevere and eventually develop an operational system.”

IMPATIENT FOR SUCCESS

The missile that failed on Friday was likely a Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile, experts and South Korean media said. The Musudan has a design range of more than 3,000 km (1,800 miles) that can be fired from a road-mobile launcher.

It has never been flight-tested, although many experts believe that the North may launch it as part of its effort to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

An Chan-il, a former North Korean military officer who now heads a think tank in the South, said ordinarily the North would repeat the failed missile launch to try to perfect it, but the impending party congress may mean Kim and his military aides will be impatient to show off success.

“What if they try the Musudan and fail again? That will look so bad, so I would say a nuclear test is more likely next,” An said.

North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in January and said it was a successful hydrogen bomb test, a claim disputed by experts and the South Korean and US governments.

The UN Security Council imposed new sanctions on the North in March, for its nuclear and rocket tests this year.

The US-based 38 North website, which monitors North Korea, said this week that satellite imagery showed there had been activity at the country’s nuclear site and the possibility of a fifth nuclear test “could not be ruled out”.

It said in a new report on Friday it had seen fresh activity in satellite images of North Korea’s main nuclear complex suggesting that reprocessing may be underway to produce more plutonium for atomic bombs.

In February last year, 38 North predicted that North Korea’s nuclear stockpile could grow to 20, 50 or 100 bombs within five years, from an estimated 10 to 16 weapons at that time.

PARIS – Spending on luxury goods by Chinese shoppers abroad fell last month for the first time since such records began in 2010, leading to the worst ever monthly result for the luxury goods industry’s tourist sales, retail tax-refund services company Global Blue said on Friday.

Spending by Chinese tourists in March tumbled 24 per cent, dragged down by a 35 per cent year-on-year drop in Europe, where the Paris and Brussels attacks have kept some tourists away.

A reduction in the price gap with Europe has also lifted spending within China.

“The slowdown in Europe is due to a tougher comparison, the impact of the terrorist strikes and the effect of the introduction of biometric visas, although the overall growth of the Chinese consumer globally has slowed and remains a concern,”Barclays analysts said of the figures.

Global Blue data showed that overall tourist spending on luxury items fell 14 per cent in March after rising 4 per cent in February.

The firm’s figures do not include tourism spending in the United States, Hong Kong and Dubai, which do not have value-added tax refund systems.

Luxury goods industry leader LVMH and British luxury fashion brand Burberry both said this week that they had seen a drop in tourist spending in continental Europe.

For some big luxury brands such as Cartier and Louis Vuitton tourists account for more than 50 per cent of customers in certain European markets. Chinese consumers account for almost a third of the global luxury goods market.

After the attacks on Brussels and Paris, LVMH said there had been fewer visitors travelling to Europe “from the East”, its term for Russia and Asia. Burberry added that tough market conditions would hit profit in the year ahead.

Global Blue said Russian tourist spending fell 22 per cent last month, weighed on by a drop in the value of the rouble and the weak home economy which has been hit by lower oil prices and continuing international sanctions over Ukraine.

Last week consultancy Bain & Co forecast that the luxury goods market would reach a low point this year, due to lower levels of tourists travelling to Europe, depressed trading in Hong Kong, weaker demand in China and a relatively subdued US market.