Former Chancellor Kohl Evacuated from Sri Lanka

Former German chancellor Helmut Kohl was airlifted Tuesday by a military helicopter from the southern district of Galle where he had been stranded since the tsunami struck Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan air force sent a helicopter to Kohl's guesthouse at Talpe, a suburb of Galle, and dropped him off at the nearby airbase of Katukurunda, south of Colombo, from where he was later brought to the capital by road. Military officials said they evacuated him as he was unable to use the main road which was impassable. Kohl was chancellor from 1982 to 1998. He fell from grace when it was discovered in 1999 that his Christian Democratic Party (CDU) was engulfed in a massive party financing scandal. The party had received and maintained illegal funding under Kohl's leadership.