India has done more for Sri Lanka than the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Union Minister for External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar, has told the Indian Express. The IE story, filed from Ahmedabad, said: The Modi government, he [Jaishankar] underlined, is working on developing an “extended neighbourhood” that involves islands in the Indian Ocean, Gulf countries and […]

By Natalia Antonova The fact that authoritarian societies are more brutal seems intuitive. Why shouldn’t a coercive state create coercive relationships between its citizens? Yet the mechanisms of how authoritarianism breeds intimate partner violence in particular are rarely considered—even though authoritarian regimes tend also to be reactionary and patriarchal ones. For many years, domestic viole...

China sought to forge closer economic and security ties with its Central Asian neighbours on Friday as the US and its allies met next door to build a common strategy to curb Beijing’s challenge to the Washington-led world order. Chinese President Xi Jinping rolled out the red carpet for his counterparts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in […]

Ireland’s embassy in Beijing has not removed visible displays of support for Kiev on its premises, despite the Chinese government’s request that all foreign embassies remove what it referred to as “politicized propaganda” on the exteriors of their buildings. Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs has insisted that it will continue to display “visual reminders&#...

Sri Lanka is among three South Asian governments that increased borrowing from domestic banks to finance their record debt, and, as a result, sovereign-bank nexus increased, heightening the financial sector’s vulnerability, according to a World Bank report. The other two countries are the Maldives and Pakistan, says a WB report, titled ‘A mixed bag for […]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s arrival at the G7 summit comes a day after winning long sought access to advanced US fighter jets and training for Ukrainian pilots. His surprise appearance in Japan follows shortly after he welcomed as “historic” Biden’s decision to allow Ukrainian pilots to train to fly F-16 fighters.  Until now the Biden […]

In a vital sense history could be considered as having come full circle in the Ukraine theatre. For those sections of international opinion that began to look upon military invasions of one country by another as things of the past, the brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russia came as a rude awakening

The symbolism will be palpable when leaders of the world s rich democracies sit down in Hiroshima, a city whose name evokes the tragedy of war, to tackle a host of challenges including Russia s invasion of Ukraine and rising tensions in Asia.

CPC, CEB need to recover costs until end of Fund’s loan package By Rathindra Kuruwita The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) had to recover costs until the end of the IMF programme, Sarwat Jahan, IMF Resident Representative in Sri Lanka, told a press conference in Colombo yesterday. The IMF also wanted the […]

Pope Francis has told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky he is constantly praying for peace after the two met privately at the Vatican. The pontiff also stressed on the urgent need to help “the most fragile people, innocent victims” of the full-scale invasion launched by Russia last year. Zelensky earlier met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni […]

AP photographers Eranga Jayawardena and Rafiq Maqbool were named finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography for images capturing anger over economic collapse in Sri Lanka. The AP images from Sri Lanka captured the full range of human emotion with protesters pumping their fists in the air shouting anti-government slogans, and also shielding […]

The Asian region’s steady rise to economic, political and military dominance in the current world order is bound to have substantial foreign policy implications for the global South in particular. For the more prominent of the region’s powers these foreign policy dilemmas could prove to be considerably challenging. This is particularly so in the case […]

Russia claimed it foiled an attack by Ukrainian drones on the Kremlin early Wednesday, calling it an unsuccessful assassination attempt against President Vladimir Putin and promising retaliation for what it termed a Âterrorist act. The Ukrainian president denied it, saying- ÂWe don t attack Putin or Moscow.Â

Russia accused Ukraine on Wednesday of attacking the Kremlin with drones overnight in a failed bid to kill President Vladimir Putin.

in a chaotic political environment. The Ukraine war slogs […]

The Vatican is involved in a peace mission to try to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Pope Francis has said, declining to give further details. “I am willing to do everything that has to be done. There is a mission in course now but it is not yet public. When it is public, […]

Pope Francis thanked Hungarians  for welcoming Ukrainian refugees and urged them to help anyone in need, as he called for a culture of charity in a country where the prime minister has justified firm anti-immigration policies with fears that migration threatens Christian culture in Europe. On the second day of a visit to Hungary, Pope […]