Iga Swiatek beat Coco Gauff 6-4 6-3 to secure her place in the Italian Open final in Rome. Gauff went up by an early break, but world number one Swiatek quickly retrieved the deficit before going on to take the opening set.  Swiatek broke the American’s serve in the fifth game of the second set […]

දශක තුනක් පැවති සිවිල් යුද්ධය නිමා කර, 15 වැනි සැමරුමට අපි පැමිණ සිටිමු. එහෙත් තමන් තවමත් 'අනාථයින්' ලෙස ජීවත්වෙන බව මුලතිව්, කෝකිලායි මොට්ටුආරම ගම්මානයේ ජනතාව BBC සිංහල සේවයට පැවසූහ. මේ ගම්මානයේ පවුල් 300ක් පමණ ජීවත් වෙන අතර බහුතරය සිංහල ජාතිකයන් වේ.

A British diplomat has been given a week to leave Russia in an escalation of a diplomatic spat over spying. The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement the removal of Capt Adrian Coghill was in response to “unfriendly anti-Russian actions” from Britain. On 8 May the Russian defence attache was expelled from London for […]

Tensions – and voices – rose on Thursday as Donald Trump’s lawyer hit back against prosecutors, accusing their star witness repeatedly of lying. On the most tense day yet of cross-examination, Michael Cohen, Mr Trump’s former fixer, described talking to the former president directly about a hush-money payment to an adult-film star. But attorney Todd […]

Minister Tomas Taraba told the BBC he believed the operation had […]

A least 14 people have been killed and dozens more injured after a giant billboard collapsed during a sudden storm in the Indian city of Mumbai. The billboard, measuring 70m by 50m according to the police, fell onto houses and a petrol station in the city on Monday. Emergency services say a few people are […]

One of Europe’s most notorious people-smugglers has been arrested in Iraq following a BBC investigation. Barzan Majeed was arrested in Iraqi Kurdistan on Sunday morning, a senior government official said. For several years, he and his gang were heavily involved in the people-smuggling trade –

A recent report in the U.S.-national daily, the Washington Post, alleges that a plot to kill Khalistani activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, wanted on terror charges in India, was ordered by the previous chief of the Indian Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), with official sanction from senior intelligence officials tied to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inner […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to replace his long-standing ally Sergei Shoigu as defence minister, the Kremlin has announced. The 68-year-old has been in the role since 2012 and is to be appointed the head of Russia’s Security Council. Papers published by the upper chamber of the Russian parliament said  Shoigu will be replaced […]

Swiss singer Nemo has won the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden, with their song The Code. A compelling hybrid of opera and hip-hop, it topped the jury vote, helping the 24-year-old gain an impressive score of 591 points. The singer becomes the first non-binary artist to win Eurovision. Fittingly, they wrote the song to explain […]

Large parts of the world got a rare glimpse of the Northern Lights on Friday night, after one of the strongest geomagnetic storms to hit Earth for years. These events increase chances of the lights being visible, and the last time there was such a strong storm was in 2003. Here are some of the […]

Novak Djokovic was hit on the head by a water bottle as he signed autographs after his win at the Italian Open. A video on social media showed world number one Djokovic falling to the floor after being hit by the object, which came from the stands. Tournament organisers said the hard bottle had fallen […]

President Joe Biden has warned Israel that the US will stop supplying some weapons if it launches a major ground operation in the Gaza city of Rafah. “If they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah,” he said during an interview with CNN. He added […]

Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump have been locked in a years-long public battle over an alleged sexual encounter, a hush-money deal paid by the former president’s fixer, and their respective efforts to own the very public narrative. Those tensions – and the salacious details that surround them – spilled out in court on Tuesday when […]

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 […]

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 […]

Israel’s government has moved to shut down the operations of the Al Jazeera television network in the country, branding it a mouthpiece for Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the cabinet agreed to the closure while the war in Gaza is ongoing. Police raided the Qatari broadcaster’s office at the Ambassador hotel in Jerusalem on […]