US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks on Monday in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the escalating conflict with Hamas. It’s the top US diplomat’s second trip to Israel in just a week. During the meeting, Mr Blinken received an update on the situation on the ground, the State Department said. He […]

The first section of Kenya’s Chinese-built railway was opened with much fanfare in 2017 – but two years later work on the tracks stopped in the middle of the country and the master plan of linking it to other landlocked countries in East Africa seems to have derailed. This means the project is not bringing […]

Australia has decisively rejected a landmark referendum to recognise Indigenous people in its constitution. The proposal – known as the Voice – also sought to establish a First Nations body to advise the government on issues affecting their communities. ‘No’ campaigners labelled the vote as divisive, while ‘Yes’ advocates framed it as a historic chance […]

The International Olympic Committee’s executive board has suspended the Russian Olympic Committee “with immediate effect until further notice”. The move comes after the ROC recognised regional organisations from four Ukrainian territories illegally annexed by Russia since its full-scale invasion began in 2022. Olympic Councils from the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zap...

Israel was warned by Egypt of potential violence three days before Hamas’ deadly cross-border raid, a US congressional panel chairman has said. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee head Michael McCaul told reporters of the alleged warning. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu described the reports as “absolutely false”. Israeli intelligence services are under scrutiny for ...

Oil prices have jumped on concerns that the situation in Israel and Gaza could disrupt output from the Middle East. Brent crude, the international benchmark, climbed by $2.25 a barrel to $86.83, while US prices also rose. Israel and Palestinian territories are not oil producers but the Middle Eastern region accounts for almost a third […]

By Zinara Rathnayake When I was five years old, I would love to sit beside my loku amma, solving riddles while she worked in the kitchen making kalu dodol. Loku amma was married to my paternal uncle, my father’s older brother. As a young girl, I loved my chatty, always laughing, childlike loku amma for […]

A London court has thrown out a 145m euros (£126m) legal case brought by a former lover of the ex-king of Spain. Danish businesswoman Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn had accused Juan Carlos of directing a campaign of harassment against her after their relationship broke down in 2012. She alleged the intimidation – including spying and break […]

US President Joe Biden’s administration is to build a section of border wall in southern Texas in an effort to stop rising levels of immigration. Around 20 miles (32km) will be built in Starr County along its border with Mexico, where officials report high numbers of crossings. Building a border wall was a signature policy […]

At least 50 people have been killed and more than 50 injured in a suicide attack in Pakistan, police say. The blast happened near a mosque in the southwestern province of Balochistan on Friday as people gathered to celebrate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. Officials in Balochistan have declared a state of emergency. No […]

House Republicans have branded the first day of their impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden a success, saying they justified their case. But expert witnesses called by Republicans cautioned there was not yet enough proof for impeachment. Thursday’s hearing was dominated by the business dealings of the president’s son, Hunter, who Republicans allege was selling access […]

Zambia’s former President Edgar Lungu has been warned against jogging in public, as police describe his weekly workouts as “political activism”. His Saturday runs with ordinary members of the public and supporters of his Patriotic Front (PF) party have been attracting a lot of attention. Lungu has been told to seek police approval for future […]

The lower house of the Indian parliament has passed a bill guaranteeing a third of seats for women in the parliament and state assemblies. First proposed in 1996, the bill had been pending for decades amid opposition from some political parties. On Wednesday, the Lok Sabha passed it with near unanimity after hours of fierce […]

Rescue teams in Libya are struggling to retrieve the bodies of victims that have been swept out to sea in tsunami-like flood waters. At least 2,300 have been killed, according to the ambulance authority in Derna, the worst affected city. Two dams and four bridges collapsed in Derna, submerging much of the city when Storm […]

The death toll from floods in Libya in one city alone stands at more than 1,000, a senior official who visited the eastern port of Derna has said. “Bodies are lying everywhere,” the minister from the eastern-based government told Reuters news agency. Much of Derna, which has about 100,000 residents, is under water after two […]

The G20 joint declaration in Delhi is being described as a significant diplomatic win for India. The agreement of a joint statement looked almost impossible a few days ago, given how sharply divided the group was over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In the end, we had a declaration that garnered unanimous support from all G20 […]

‘Ram and Nagulan responsible for over 600 killings roaming free’ By Shamindra Ferdinando Sri Lanka Republican Front leader Patali Champika Ranawaka, MP, has questioned the circumstances under which the Rajapaksas granted amnesty to 12,600 LTTE cadres following the successful conclusion of the war in May 2009. However, some of them were released during the Yahapalana administration (2015-2019) [...

Mangosuthu Buthelezi, a towering figure in South African politics and outspoken Zulu chief, has died at the age of 95. During the racist apartheid regime, he founded the Zulu Inkatha party after becoming disillusioned with the African National Congress (ANC). Thousands were killed in clashes between supporters of the two parties in the early 1990s. […]

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. […]

Singaporeans have headed to the polls to vote in their first contested presidential election in over a decade. The president has a mainly ceremonial role in the city-state with few powers and little say in public affairs. But the result on Friday could be a marker of public sentiment on the long-term ruling People’s Action […]