Sri Lanka election: Polls open amid intimidation claims

Voting has begun in Sri Lanka's Northern Province for its first ever semi-autonomous council.

The poll takes place four years after the army defeated separatist Tamil Tiger rebels and decades after the the area was first promised such a body.

But the run-up to the vote has seen allegations of army intimidation - all denied by the authorities.

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Jaffna reports that a fake edition of a major newspaper has been printed, wrongly claiming a Tamil opposition candidate has defected to the government.