India wants to ensure that its relations with all countries advance without seeking exclusivity, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said as he underlined that China falls into a somewhat different category because of the currently “abnormal” nature of ties which is an outcome of a violation of border management agreements by Beijing. Jaishankar, who […]

Inspector Nishantha Silva, who investigated disappearances blamed on the Navy, fled the country in late Nov. 2019. The CID officer secured political asylum in Switzerland with the blessings of the Switzerland embassy in Colombo. The failed bid by Swiss embassy employee, Garnier Francis (ex- Siriyalatha Perera) to leave for Switzerland after implicating security authorities with […]

India, in the last nine years, has been making big strides following Buddha teachings, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. Speaking at Global Buddhist Summit 2023 in New Delhi, Modi said that India has followed Buddha’s teachings including the path of Theory, Practice and Realisation. India has progressed rapidly on all these three points. […]

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva did not mince her words about emerging and heightening crisis tendencies in the global economy. She said, among other things recently, that the IMF’s projection of 2.8 percent global growth for 2023 “is not enough to bring opportunities to businesses and people

By Saman Gunatilake MBBS, MD, FRCP, FCCP, Hon FRACP Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Sri Jayewardenepura Consultant Neurologist One of the most quoted phrases of Karl Marx, the German philosopher and political theorist, popularly known as the ‘Father of Communism’, is “History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce”. This quote […]

While the days of good news are going on for India, the latest good news is that our country’s currency, the rupee, is gradually making its place and influence among countries of the world. Seeing the increasing role of India in international trade, the countries of the world are coming forward to do financial transactions […]

By Neville Ladduwahetty During his address to the “Economic Dialogue – IMF and Beyond”, the President “declared that Sri Lanka is at a crossroad and it was the nation’s last chance to forge ahead or fail (Daily FT, 31, 2023). Now that Sri Lanka has committed itself to the terms and conditions stipulated by the […]

‘Finland has made a dangerous historical mistake.’ So said Russia in reaction to Finland formally joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on April 4. The ominous pronouncement could have the effect of renewing fears among the publics of the world of another Europe-wide war. The hope of peace-loving peoples is likely to be that Russia […]

Tokyo [Japan], March 21 (ANI): In the world of fast-paced diplomatic activity, Japan and South Korea have shown that they can no longer remain strange bedfellows when China is racing against time to dictate its terms in the Indo-Pacific region. For the first time after a gap of 12 years, the two countries held their […]

Sri Lanka in the throes of the worst economic crisis since Independence has resorted to some desperate action; it has for the first time in its history declared bankruptcy, suspended debt repayment, secured an IMF bailout for the 17th time, and agreed to extremely stringent loan conditions

As should be expected, the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Russian President Vladimir Putin on war crimes allegations has given rise to a widespread debate on how effective it would be as an instrument of justice. What compounds the issue is the fact that Russia is not obliged to cooperate […]

India and Bangladesh on Saturday inaugurated a cross-border pipeline that will have the capacity to supply one million metric tonnes of diesel a year from Assam’s Numaligarh refinery to the northern parts of the neighbouring country. The India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline (IBFP), inaugurated during a virtual ceremony by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart Sheikh […]

Aljazeera reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Moscow for a state visit in a show of support for an increasingly isolated Russia Xi and Russia’s Vladimir Putin published separate articles on Monday; Xi said China’s proposal to end the Ukraine crisis reflects global views

The Ukraine crisis appears to be strengthening the cooperation between the US and its partners in the Asia Pacific more than ever, amid fears that China is inching closer toward forcefully reuniting Taiwan with the mainland. In the recent few months, Japan has decided to double its defense spending

CIA Chief’s cloak-and-dagger visit: By Shamindra Ferdinando Pivuthuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader, Udaya Gammanpila, MP, yesterday (06) said that the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government and the US embassy in Colombo should come clean on CIA Director William Joseph Burns’ Colombo visit. The former Power and Energy Minister said so in response to The Island query whether the […]

Washington, DC – There are no takers for China quoting the scriptures on global peace in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with the United States even warning the Asian giant of the consequences should it interfere in the conflict on the side of Russia. The visit of US President Joe Biden to Ukraine in […]