Sri Lanka is facing a severe crisis after Cyclone Ditwah caused widespread flooding and landslides, resulting in numerous deaths and displacement. India has launched 'Operation Sagar Bandhu' to provide relief. The situation is expected to remain critical with rising river levels and continued rainfall.
For India to view the new Sri Lankan leadership only through the prism of the past or through their narrow view on China, is fraught with possibilities that should be avoided, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
A Sri Lankan parliamentarian of the ruling party of the Rajapaksas and his personal security officer were killed on Monday in clashes between anti- and pro-government protesters in the country.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena's youngest brother died on Saturday in a hospital after being attacked by a man wielding an axe two days earlier, police said.
The suspicious van was wanted over the terror attacks and was taken into custody at Sungavila.
Polls opened at 7 am local time and would close at 5 pm with some 12,845 polling stations being set up throughout the country for 15.9 million voters, who will choose a successor to President Maithripala Sirisina.
'Rajapaksa's victory poses a serious foreign policy challenge for the Modi government,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Maithripala Sirisena was considered so meek and self-effacing that he appeared no threat to anyone. What a mistake his rivals made!
Maithripala Sirisena, Sri Lanka's president-elect, was a low-profile cabinet colleague of longtime president Mahinda Rajapaksa until he switched sides to become joint opposition candidate and emerge as the proverbial dark horse in the presidential polls.
A look at films that were shot in Sri Lanka.
'It is a diamond which has a very long competitive history.'
Sri Lankans on Thursday voted in large numbers in the bitterly contested presidential election in which incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa is seeking a record third term against his friend-turned-foe Maithripala Sirisena, with an unusually high voter turnout in Tamil and Muslim areas.
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