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By Sanjeewa Jayaweera The English cricketer Moeen Ali, who incidentally is also the vice-captain of the team, posted on his Instagram page a thought-provoking quote: “If you are not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing”. The quote is attributed […]

This week, China is throwing a huge party to celebrate one of its biggest experiments in engaging with the world: its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Officials and leaders from all over the globe are in Beijing to attend a high-level summit marking the BRI’s 10th anniversary. Participants expected to show up range from Vladimir […]

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana Though responding to those who criticise cloaked in anonymity may be considered an act of futility, after much thought I decided to respond to Interested Woman’s opinion piece “Ranil’s undiplomatic DW interview” (The Island, 9 October) as there are many inaccuracies and, more importantly, her concluding remarks raise a vital issue. […]

Gabon has been partially suspended from the Commonwealth after military commanders carried out a coup ousting President Ali Bongo. The decision was made by Commonwealth foreign ministers meeting on the margins of the United Nations general assembly. Leaders called on Gabon to uphold the values and principles of the Commonwealth. They asked the country to […]

The speaker of Poland’s upper house of parliament has called on the government to reveal what it knew about an escalating cash for visas scandal. Tomasz Grodzki said the issue was ruining the country’s international reputation as a responsible democracy. The government has released few details but media reports say migrants paid up to $5,000 […]

Singaporeans have chosen Tharman Shanmugaratnam as their next president – but many would have let out a small sigh of disappointment as they did so. On Friday, the former top minister won a record 70.4% of the votes, comfortably beating two other candidates in the country’s first contested presidential election in more than a decade. […]

The former prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, has been barred from holding public office for five years by the country’s electoral authorities. The decision was announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan three days after the former Prime Minister was sentenced to three years in prison for corruption. Tuesday’s announcement also means Imran Khan […]

By Jayantha Somasundaram (This articlecontinued from yesterday (25) is based on reporting by the international media on the events in Sri Lanka forty years ago.) “For day after day Tamils were beaten, hacked or burned to death in the streets, on buses, on trains – sometimes in the sight of horrified foreign tourists. Their homes […]

(Excerpted from volume ii of the Sarath Amunugama autobiography) During one of my visits to Colombo I got a call to see the President at ‘Breamar’. Gamini Dissanayake had told him of my friendship with Parathasarathy and he wanted me to help him repair the damage done to their friendship due to the abuse heaped […]

Udeni Kaluthantri, a 54-year-old port worker, became an overnight sensation last year for reasons that had nothing to do with his job. Days after protesters stormed the presidential palace in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, a video surfaced of Mr Kaluthantri lounging on a bed draped with the presidential flag. Pictures of young men jumping […]

Brazil’s Supreme Electoral Court has voted 5-2 to bar ex-president Jair Bolsonaro from running for office for eight years. Bolsonaro was found guilty of abusing his power ahead of last year’s presidential poll. He had been accused of undermining Brazilian democracy by falsely claiming that the electronic ballots used were vulnerable to hacking and fraud. […]

The muted, panicked voice came through the phone of a friend who croaked she was very confidentially warning Cassandra and advising her. Yours truly was immediately panic infected. With deep emphasis and concern the friend took her time to advise that Cass withdraws all money from banks. Cass was for once glad she was poor […]

BBC reported that Cambodia’s most prominent opposition leader has been sentenced to 27 years under house arrest for treason. Kem Sokha, the former leader of the now-dissolved Cambodian National Rescue Party, has also been barred from standing or voting in elections. He was accused

The winter morning was cloaked in thick fog. Our car swerved past horse-drawn carriages, a mode of transport still popular in the rural reaches of the eastern Indian state of Bihar, the trotting horses and turbaned coachmen looking like shadowy apparitions in the pearly-white mist. After spending a night in the town of Bodhgaya, the […]