President Vladimir Putin says Russia can work with Mitt Romney if he’s elected U.S. president, even though Romney has called Russia the United States’ “No. 1 geopolitical foe.”In an interview broadcast yesterday by the Kremlin-funded Russia Today TV channel, Putin

Reuters: Holders Spain set up a European Championship semi-final with Iberian rivals Portugal after an uninspiring 2-0 win over France on Saturday which featured yet another headed goal but prompted boos from a sometimes bored crowd. The tournament has generally been graced by high quality, exciting soccer so far but for all Spain’s skill at ...

News Butterfly, the unique TV programme from the US’ FOX news network, is now filming in Colombo for an exclusive segment on Sri Lanka’s new upswing. News Butterfly Market Place (NBMP) is described as a ‘unique women’s movement on TV’. According to NBMP, ‘the programme is a TV Channel venture for beautiful and talented women ...

NEW YORK (Reuters): Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim retained his position atop Forbes magazine’s annual list of the world’s billionaires on Wednesday with an estimated worth of $ 69 billion, while his Mexican rival Ricardo Salinas Pliego enjoyed the largest increase in wealth. Microsoft Corp cofounder Bill Gates ranked second at $ 61 billion and Warren ...

Harsh rhetoric and emotional outbursts before the commencement of the19th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council next week in Geneva have obfuscated the objectives of the resolution to be moved against Sri Lanka at the sessions. The issue on alleged war crimes committed by Sri Lankan servicemen has polarised into a debate of ...

Reuters: Iran, facing sanctions that could cripple its oil exports, has told world powers it wants to resume long-stalled talks with “new initiatives”, and France said it might be open to addressing suspicions about its nuclear programme. Tehran made the offer in a letter to the EU’s foreign policy chief obtained by Reuters on Thursday, ...

Reuters: Tens of thousands of flag-waving and chanting protesters called on Saturday for a disputed parliamentary election to be rerun and an end to Vladimir Putin’s rule, increasing pressure on the Russian leader as he tries to win back the presidency. The protesters shouted “Russia

SEOUL, South Korea — Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s mercurial and enigmatic leader whose iron rule and nuclear ambitions dominated world security fears for more than a decade, has died. He was 69. Kim’s death 17 years after he inherited power from his father was announced today by the state television from the North Korean capital,Pyongyang. ...

to China and Russia and in numerous trips around the country carefully documented by state media.The leade...

Reuters: Arab foreign ministers stopped short of suspending Syria from their regional organisation on Sunday over its military crackdown on dissent, instead urging the government and opposition to negotiate an end to the violence. “We will call all of the parties of the opposition and government to hold a dialogue within 15 days,” the League’s ...

Reuters: England piled more misery on India with a thrilling six-wicket victory in a one-off Twenty20 match at Old Trafford on Wednesday. After losing the test series 4-0, India started brightly in the shortest version of the game and racked up 165 all out, only to see England reach their target with three balls to ...

By S. V. Kirubaharan - in France Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.” — Julius Henry, Groucho Marx, American comedian and film star (1890-1977). When life is smooth and everything goes in the right direction, normal civilians can become President, Prime Minister ...

By Dushy Ranetunge in London The Sinhalese and Tamil Diaspora periodically launch protests in their host countries galvanised by events that affect their particular tribe. Often they are financed, organised or encouraged by their political formations. The ones perceived as “Tamil” protests are often organised/encouraged by the LTTE or organisations which are affiliated/sympathetic to the Tamil ...

A true blue SLFPer, Abalang Ruhunuputra, was resting his weary limbs and shredded vocal chords after the exhaustive march from Campbell Place to the Town Hall lawns on Sunday when he received an invigourating shot of adrenaline from the TV screen. Barack Obama himself delivered a personal message: American commandos had raided Osama bin Laden’s ...

A number countries in the west including the US have launched a massive attack on Libya with an eye on its oil resource. Libyan leader Col. Gaddafi has said that arms depots will be opened for the people to defend their country. International reports say that a series of missile attacks were directed towards the ...

The Director of the London School of Economics has stepped down over his association with the Libyan regime. Sri Lanka’s President, however, has no problem associating with repressive leaders from Libya, Iran, Burma, Russia and China. In the days of hypocritical realpolitik this may have made sense

By Malathi De Alwis On 18 May 2009, Sri Lanka officially declared the end of a 30-year civil war fought between. Sri Lankan government forces (GoSL) and Tamil militants, namely the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE). Such a sea...

by Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka “The contest is never over, the field never quite ours.”- Dave Robicheaux in James Lee Burke, ‘The Tin Roof Blowdown’ (2007) Is it only me, or is not sad that there is no review in the Sri Lankan public space, of the first decade of the 21st century and the new millennium? Should we not be looking back at the road that has been travelled by the world, by our co...

by Ranil Wickremesinghe By the 4th century BC, Asia had begun its first cycle of economic growth and power. This was the reason why Alexander the Great decided to travel eastward to establish an empire. At that time there was...

Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe has said that barren land will be given to unemployed youth to cultivate tea. The Minister stressed that the Government hopes to produce quality tea through the Tea Shakthi Programme. He said that factories were setup to set an example to the private sector. The Tea Shakthi programme was launched to maintain ...

Thus spake Barak Hussein Obama at the Big Apple gathering: “In times of economic unease there can be an anxiety about human rights.” “Today, as in the past times of economic downturn, some place human rights aside for the  promise of short term stability or the false notion that economic growth can come at the ...

By D.B.S.Jeyaraj The  tragic history of post-independence records that the Tamils of Sri Lanka have been subjected to mass-scale mob violence in the years 1956, 1958, 1977, 1981 and 1983. The anti-Tamil violence of July 1983 was the most terrible and horrible of them all. It remains etched in memory even after 27 years. Twenty ...

By Rajan Philips On May 17 in Tehran, the foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey, and Brazil announced that they had reached a deal on exchanging uranium fuel for use in the Tehran Research Reactor....

MIA is the most provocative pop star of her age. Here, the rapper discusses her new multifaceted album, the absence of her father during childhood and having the video to her latest song, in which a child is 'murdered', censored...