Colombo opposition prepares for bee attacks

Sri Lanka's main opposition party says it's planning to deploy insect repellent at a mass rally on Sunday in case government activists carry out reported threats to release swarms of bees.

The rally by the United National Party in the central city of Kandy marks the fifty-third anniversary of independence.

It will be followed by a five-day march to the capital Colombo in protest at rising prices and the slow pace of reform.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga has urged governing party activists not to disrupt the rally, though the Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake has criticised the UNP for calling a protest on independence day.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service