DEATH PENALTY RETURNS

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka said on Wednesday it would start hanging drug criminals, ending a near-half century moratorium on capital punishment as officials promised to “replicate the success” of the Philippines drug war. President Maithripala Sirisena told the cabinet he “was ready to sign the death warrants” of repeat drug offenders and deploy the military to tackle drug crime. “We will hang drug offenders without commuting their death sentences,” spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said. – AFP