(Sri Lanka’s) incumbent president Mahinda Rajapaksa has won the election as president. But his main rival is rejecting the vote results. Sri Lanka’s election commission (declared) Wednesday that Mr. Rajapaksa received nearly 56 percent of the vote. The panel said his closest competitor former military chief Sarath Fonseka received about 40 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s election. The United Nations says the Security Council Committee has removed 5 former senior Taliban officials from its international terrorist black list. A UN statement (issued) late Tuesday said all five were high-ranking members at the former Taliban government. A US newspaper’s reporting that US military and intelligence (agencies) are involved in secret joint operations with Yemeni troops that have killed 6 top leaders of the Yemen-based wing of al-Qaeda. The report comes just before a high-level international meeting is being held in London Wednesday to discuss Yemen’s fight against al-Qaeda. North Korea says it will continue to fire its heavy weapons in the waters along a maritime border it has (disputed) for decades. Voa’s Kurt Achion reports from Seoul. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported North Korea fired a second artillery barrage into its coastal waters Wednesday just hours after the first salvo. North Korea’s army warned it would continue to fire live ammunition in its costal waters as part of what it calls “an annual military drill.” South Korean officials say that Wednesday morning the North fired about 30 artillery shells into the ocean west off the Korean Peninsula. The South then fired about 100 shells into the air from a marine base on a (nearby) island as a warning to the North. South Koean officials say the North’s artillary shells did not reach southern territorial waters. No casualties have been reported. South Korean Unification ministry spokeswoman Lee Jeong-joo says Seoul is paying close attention to today’s events. South Korean president Lee Myung-bak is visiting India but his chief security ministers convened an (emergency) meeting in has absence. Kurt Achion voanews, Seoul. The Bangladesh Supreme Court has upheld sentences for five former army officers convicted of killing the nation’s (independence) leader in 1975. From New Delhi, Anjena Pasricha reports. The last legal bad deal for the execution of the five convicted for killing the country’s founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was removed Wednesday when the supreme court dismissed an appeal for their review of their death sentences. In november the court had upheld the death sentence handed out to the five men by a lower court. Lawyers say their executions are likey to be carried out in three to four weeks. It is a case that is woven with the young nation’s history. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, led an independent struggle which resulted in the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 following the war with Pakistan. Four years later he was an army coup along with his wife and three sons. The coup leaders (escaped) justice for 25 years. The military rulers who governed the country after the killing of Ugi Bernama granted their indemnity. The case against them began only in 1996 when the assassinated leader’s daughter Sheikh Hasina first came to bar. Anjena Pasricha, for voanews, New Delhi. US president Barack Obama is expected to focus on the (economy) in his state at the Union address Wednesday including a request to Congress for a three-year spending freeze on many domestic programs in an effort to reduce the soaring budget deficit. Mr. Obama will deliver the nationally televised address to Congress the time it is public (approval) credit of a declining within unemploy rate at ten percent. Tune in to the voa for specialized broadcast of the president’s address at two hours Univeral Time. Business leader gathered at the world economic forum in Davos Switzerland are voicing concerns that over regulation of financial industry counld do more harm than good. The theme of the economic forum is “(rethink), redesign, rebuild”---- a call to reform financial system following the economic crisis that began in 2008. But some bankers at the meeting are warning too much government intervention threatens to hamper economic growth. US stock prices are mixed in early trading Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrial (average) was down 16 points at 10,178. The S&P500 was almostly unchanged at 1,091 while the NASDAQ was up 1 point at 2,205. More details at voanews.com. I’m Frances Alonzo, voanews.