Colombo: The death toll in the violent clashes in Sri Lanka, that erupted after supporters of former PM Mahinda Rajapaksa attacked anti-government protesters rose to eight on Tuesday, even as Rajapaksa and his family allegedly fled to a naval base. The island nation, that has been struggling with an unprecedented economic crisis, deployed thousands of...

Colombo: With protests continuing to intensify in crisis-hit Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned on Monday. The development only further intensified violent clashes in the island nation that is witnessing its worst economic crisis since independence. On Monday morning, protesters held a demonstration opposite the Temple Trees, the official residence of the...

CM MK Stalin had moved a resolution to urge Centre for permission to send essential commodities to the crisis-hit country Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin moved a resolution in the state Assembly to urge the Centre to allow Tamil Nadu to send essential commodities to crisis-hit Tamil Nadu. The resolution was passed unanimously...

Colombo: With the condition of its economy deteriorating, Sri Lanka said it was defaulting on all external debt. It has said that its creditors were free to capitalise the interest payments due to them. The government has called it a last resort. In a statement, the finance ministry said that the creditors, including foreign governments,...

Day after appointment, Ali Sabry quits as FM   Colombo: Following the resignation of the entire Cabinet of the Sri Lanka government amid the escalating economic crisis, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa invited the Opposition to join a unity government to run the country. However, his offer has been rejected by the latter, which called it “nonsensical”...

Colombo: The Sri Lankan navy captured as many as 11 fishermen, along with their trawlers, after they allegedly ventured in the Lankan waters. As per a statement by the Sri Lankan navy, they had taken “hold” of 3 Indian trawlers that were “poaching” in their territory. The statement said that on the night of February...

The terrorist, a native of Sri Lanka, had come to New Zealand in 2011 Auckland: A terrorist, who was said to be inspired by the Islamic State, went on a rampage at a super market in suburban Auckland in New Zealand on Friday, stabbing six persons. He was shot dead by the police within a...

Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that India has proposed air bubbles with five neighboring countries. The five countries with which India wants to resume commercial flight services are Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bhutan. Conspicuously, Pakistan is missing from the list. “Air bubbles have also been proposed with our...

Sri Lanka has requested India for a special $1.1 billion currency swap facility to help arrest the country’s draining foreign exchange reserves. A news agency reported that the request was necessitated in view of the economic slowdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office made the request during a telephone conversation with Indian...

The global coronavirus pandemic will hit South Asia very hard and the significant gains made in poverty alleviation in the region are likely to be wiped out due to the impact of the deadly disease, the World Bank warned on Sunday. In its twice-a-year regional update, the bank said that South Asian governments must ramp...

India on Friday said the degree of seriousness of each member nation of the SAARC in collectively fighting the coronavirus pandemic can be gauged by their behaviour, in a clear reference to Pakistan’s opposition to New Delhi’s leadership in dealing with the crisis in the region. India’s reaction came a day after Pakistan pledged to...

India has proposed setting up of a common electronic platform for all SAARC nations to share expertise and best practices to jointly combat the spread of coronavirus, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly pitched for a regional approach to deal with the pandemic. India made the proposal at a video conference of senior health...