The key leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, was killed by an American drone strike, the Afghan intelligence agency said. The fact that yet another ‘most wanted terrorist’ has been bumped off by the US on Pakistani soil hasn’t gone unnoticed in India. There was some uncomfortable silence from Pakistan till […]
Is it a storm in a tea-cup? Or is it an expansion of the Saudi Sultanate? Has Maldives become a Saudi protectorate? The tiny state of Maldives’ decision to sever diplomatic ties with Iran on Tuesday has sent ‘shockwaves across South Asia’ says a Colombo newspaper, but Tehran has chosen to snub the Indian Ocean […]
After harassing Sri Lanka, reports say that Cyclone Roanu battered the coast of southern Bangladesh and Chittagong on Saturday, forcing half a million people to flee their homes and leaving 20 people dead in floods and rain-triggered landslides. Winds were as strong as 88 kilometres per hour. The cyclone damaged hundreds of shanties in two […]
COLOMBO: Desperation in Sri Lanka’s capital. People scrambling for rubber dinghies and makeshift rafts on Friday (May 20) to escape monster floods in the capital Colombo. Half a million people have fled their homes across the island. The heaviest rains in 25 years have pounded the island since a week now, sparking huge landslides that […]
Colombian authorities have found eight tonnes of cocaine along the border of Panama. The president of Columbia describes it as the biggest seizure of drugs in history as describes by the authorities as well. The amount of cocaine seized has an estimated worth of $240 million. This scandal was happening on a banana plantation. The […]
What’s the way to address the prime minister? Media outlets in Cambodia have been told they must refer to PM Hun Sen as “Lord Prime Minister and Supreme Military Commander”. In a three-hour briefing at the information ministry, reporters were told full titles must be used on first reference from August for the PM, the […]
New Delhi: The Indian government was severely critical of an official US government report that claimed religious freedom in India was on a “negative trajectory” in 2015 as religious tolerance had “deteriorated” and that violations of religious freedom had “increased”. The report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom also named some top BJP […]
Transgender Mothers received recognition in US President Barak Obama’s ‘Mothers’ Day Proclamation’. In his 2016 Mother’s Day proclamation, President Obama included a new class of mothers in his announcement: transgenders. “On Mother’s Day, we celebrate those who are first to welcome us into the world,” Obama began. “Performing the most important work there is, mothers […]
For the first time ever, a Pakistan court will hear a Sikh man’s case against Muslims for ‘blasphemy’. In this Islamic country, it’s usually the non-Muslims who are tried under this controversial law,. Five people have appeared in a Pakistani court accused of blasphemy after a Sikh man complained they had desecrated his turban during […]
Sri Lanka will prohibit HIV discrimination in educational settings, says its Supreme Court. This is the first court in South Asia to make a general pronouncement recognizing human rights of those living with HIV, and sets a precedent for future cases in Sri Lanka challenging HIV discrimination experienced in settings other than education. The court […]
Beer drinkers of the world, you are in for some really tough times, this extraordinarily hot summer! Craft beer companies may be facing tough times after a dry, sweltering summer scourged much of Europe, reducing the continent’s hop harvest and driving up prices for the ever-important crop, which is one of the four main ingredients […]
Yesterday, May 3rd was Press Freedom Day. But is the press really free? It is estimated that 199 journalists were jailed last year and 110 killed (2015). Each year on World Press Freedom Day we hear the horrific stories of endangered journalists. In addition to news, the internet brings us dispatches of attacks on journalists […]
