Sri Lankan police arrest rights activists

SRI Lankan anti-terrorist police have arrested two prominent human rights activists in the country's former war zone in the latest crackdown on rights defenders.

Both Ruki Fernando, an adviser for the Human Rights Documentation Center, and Catholic priest Praveen of the Center for Peace and Reconciliation have been prominent in promoting human rights and media freedom in the island's north, where government forces defeated separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.

The charges under which they were arrested were not disclosed, according to their colleagues and the Free Media Movement, a local rights group.

Sunil Jayasekara of the Free Media Movement urged authorities to release them immediately.

Attempts to contact a police spokesman for comment were unsuccessful on Monday.

Sri Lanka faces criticism for cracking down on rights activists and has rejected calls for an international inquiry into the conduct of the final months of the civil war.

The US has sponsored a third resolution on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council calling for an international probe of alleged war crimes if the nation fails to conduct one of its own.

Last week, authorities arrested an outspoken activist, Balendran Jeyakumari, and her 13-year-old daughter who were campaigning for the release of relatives missing from the war.

Military spokesman Ruwan Wanigasooriya said they were arrested for harbouring a former rebel who shot at police and fled when they tried to catch him. He said one policeman was wounded.

The US expressed concern over the arrests and detention of the activists and urged authorities "to ensure that all those detained are given transparent and due legal process, including full access to legal counsel".

"Both previous and on-going human rights concerns have led many in the international community to push for a UN Human Rights Council resolution on the situation in Sri Lanka.

"With these latest actions, we remain convinced that continued scrutiny by the Human Rights Council is necessary," the US Embassy in Colombo said in a statement.

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Woman found dead in Qld river named

A WOMAN found dead in a river at the Queensland-NSW border has been identified, with police treating her death as suspicious.

The body of Goondiwindi woman Alexis Jeffery, 24, was found in the Macintyre River, in her home town, late on Sunday morning.

The woman was last seen alive in Goondiwindi's town centre at 3.30am on Sunday.

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Earthquake rattles Los Angeles

A PRE-DAWN earthquake has rolled across the Los Angeles basin, rattling houses from the San Fernando Valley to Long Beach.

The 4.4-magnitude quake was centred 10km northwest of Beverly Hills and struck at 6.25am on Monday (0025 AEDT Tuesday), according to the US Geological Survey.

"It felt like a bomb going off underneath our house," said George McQuade, a West Hills resident.

"Nothing was damaged, but it sure woke everyone up. It was an eye-opener."

Residents of the Hollywood neighbourhood said they were shaken by the quake, which lasted just a few seconds.

Burglar alarms went off but there did not appear to be any damage in the area.

"I was getting ready in the bathroom and all of a sudden I felt it jolt," LA resident Yvonne Villanueva told the KTLA TV station, adding: "You always have the big one in the back of your head."

Wes Lashley told KTLA: "I woke up to feel the building swaying from side to side."

The quake came a week after a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern California, the biggest in years.

California has long braced for the "Big One".

The western state is on the so-called Ring of Fire, which circles the Pacific and has produced a number of devastating quakes including Japan's March 2011 quake-tsunami, which killed thousands of people.

Geologists say a quake capable of causing widespread destruction is 99 per cent certain of hitting California in the next 30 years.

A 7.8-magnitude quake could kill 1800 people, injure 50,000 more and damage 300,000 buildings.

A 6.7-magnitude earthquake in Los Angeles left at least 60 people dead and did an estimated $US10 billion ($A11 billion) damage in 1994, while a 6.9 quake in San Francisco in 1989 claimed the lives of 67 people.

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