Vladimir Putin began his fifth term Tuesday as Russian leader at a glittering Kremlin inauguration, setting out on another six years in office after destroying his political opponents, launching a devastating war in Ukraine and concentrating all power in his hands.

For the fifth time Vladimir Putin will be taking the long walk through the Grand Kremlin Palace to the St Andrew’s Throne Hall. There he will take the oath of office and be sworn in as Russia’s president for a new six-year term The route may be familiar, but much has changed since Putin’s first […]

by Jehan Perera The visit of Japan’s foreign minister Yoko Kamikawa to Sri Lanka is an indication that the relationship between the two countries is on the mend.  The manner in which Japan was ousted from the special status it had once held by the previous government headed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa would have caused […]

A special workshop for the youth representatives selected to represent the Sectoral Oversight Committees (SOCs) of the Parliament was successfully held recently at the Water’s Edge Hotel, Battaramulla. Organized by the Parliament with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the main objectives of this workshop were to give the youth representatives a […]

President Xi Jinping has hailed “new vistas” in China’s relationship with France on his first trip to Europe in five years – one that feels much like a charm offensive. Mr Xi will be looking to avert the trade war that is looming with Brussels, driven by fears of cheap Chinese electric vehicles entering the […]

by Jayasri Priyalal Jayasripriyalal59@gmail.com The greatest challenges confronting the nation-states in the current era revolve around; deplorable debt, depleted natural resources, and degraded environment. Economic growth and future prosperity for all living beings are stalled due to the varying degrees of the 3D problems emerging out of ill-conceived policy divergences propelling the linear eco...

Monday 6th May, 2024 Fear is being expressed in some quarters that the upcoming elections may bring the country under a pall of political uncertainty again, adversely impacting the ongoing economic recovery efforts in the event of a regime change and/or an unstable government. The SJB and the NPP have declared their intention to renegotiate […]

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) has resumed ratcheting up pressure on President Ranil Wickremesinghe to call early parliamentary polls. Political sources say the SLPP had made its move in the wake of the UNP’s failure to engineer a sizeable section of the breakaway Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) parliamentary group to join President Wickremesinghe on the UNP’s […]

Failure to prevent Easter carnage: by Shamindra Ferdinando The SLPP-UNP government owes an explanation as to why action hasn’t been instituted against 15 persons, including former President Maithripala Sirisena and Yahapalana Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is incumbent President, for their failure to prevent the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide attacks, says Eksath Janaraja Peramuna (EJP) lead...

As the sun rises over the mountains surrounding the Magastota Estate in Nuwara Eliya, G.P.D. Padmakanthi, a dedicated midwife with over 35 years of experience, is making her way to visit a mother who is expecting her second baby. As a midwife, Padmakanthi has been a constant source of strength and guidance for the estate […]

As Pakistan celebrated Eid this year, the streets of Balochistan were painted crimson – not with the joyous hues of festivities but with the blood of innocent protesters.[1] The Baloch people, yearning for answers about their forcibly disappeared loved ones, took to the streets in a powerful display of resistance against the Pakistani state’s brutality […]

The suppressive nature of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been well studied ever since the Party accumulated power in late 1940s. The unsettling case of Uyghur’s in China however surpasses every other suppressing strategy deployed by the Party. Within the Xinjiang region of China, the Uyghur minority population has been facing systematic suppression and […]

By Rathindra Kuruwita Election monitoring body People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) Friday said that the government was misusing state property at a time when a crucial election is only a few months away. PAFFREL executive director, Rohana Hettiarachchi said that the government has launched a number of initiatives aimed at the coming […]

by Rajan Philips May Day this week lived up to expectations as pregame to the presidential election that is expected before the end of October. Political parties strutted their wares and prospective candidates made their pitches. Little was said that was not already known but what was said by each contender does give clues to […]

May Day falling last week, as is very well known, has long lost its Labour Day intent and flavour certainly in this country, degenerating into the political carnival all Lankans are familiar with. With a presidential election due later this year, predictably the various contending parties made the occasion one of trying to demonstrate their […]