The blockade of Facebook and WhatsApp has been imposed from mid-night following violent incidents between the minority Muslim and majority Sinhalese communities, officials said.
The 59-year-old Vikram Misri assumed charge of the key position at a time India is looking to navigate various geo-political challenges, including its frosty ties with China following the lingering eastern Ladakh border row and the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Sirisena's sacking of Wickremesinghe was the culmination of an year of bitter relations between them on several policy matters. The president has been critical of the prime minister and his policies, especially on economy and security.
Early on March 26, 2024, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States collapsed after it was struck by a container ship, the Dali.
Elsewhere, the guerrillas abducted 21 students and later freed them.
Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe, a military spokesman, said a suicide bomber rammed a truck filled with explosives into the naval convoy that was carrying sailors to the north-eastern port city of Trincomalee after they had finished their leave.
The navy said that so far the 270,000 metric tonnes of crude oil it was carrying had not been affected by the fire.
The unlikely and newly-discovered star on the Jharkhand campaign trail is a 39-year-old feisty army brat, who is married to the state's chief minister. Wearing only saris, always sporting sindhoor, a tikka and bangles, Jharkhand political rallies haven't seen anyone like Kalpana Murmu Soren before! She brings both lively energy and style to the podiums/stages she graces, arriving like a breath of fresh air to make fiery speeches that ignite the crowd.
Navy Chief Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda said he believed the LTTE were bringing three light aircraft, artillery and a bullet-proof vehicle in the ships sunk some 600 km off the island's south-eastern coast.
Rain and thundershower are likely to lash many parts of coastal Odisha and some other areas under the impact of the cyclonic storm 'Mahasen', centered about 760 km south of Paradip on Tuesday, the meteorological centre in Bhubaneswar said.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said India faces a 'very complicated challenge' from China, and the Narendra Modi government has taken steps to ensure no attempts are made to change the status quo in the border areas unilaterally.
Deepak Chahar is the first Indian bowler ever to hold the record of best bowling figures in any format of international cricket (Test/ODI/T20I), points out Rajneesh Gupta.
Building relations in the Indian Ocean, New Delhi has gifted naval vessels to Mauritius, the Maldives and Sri Lanka, even as China eyes the same locales.
Twenty-two Tamil Tiger rebels were killed and five soldiers injured on Friday in a major pre-dawn assault by the Sri Lanka Army in the eastern district of Batticaloa.
Disengagement from the LAC will remain a chimera because China has given enough indications that the PLA will not move back any more. China has even deployed drones to monitor and deny any patrolling by Indian troops even in the buffer zones which are all in Indian Territory, explains Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
'Given China's past behaviour and their territorial claims, should we be sceptical regarding China's willingness to adhere to these agreements fully? The answer is yes.' 'As Ronald Reagan famously said in the context of the SALT talks, 'Trust, but verify!' India should also do the same.' 'This has already begun with foot patrolling, drones, satellite imagery and so on. India's military deployment did mirror China's and will continue to do so in the future.'
China does not have to give up what it took in 2020, it will never give up its claim to Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh and other areas, and it has all the time now to plan its next surprise, points out Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
"My heart goes out to the families of the victims and the injured," Modi said.
The Sittwe deal is more significant than Chabahar in Iran, where India has rights to operate only two terminals and not the port itself.
It is time the political leaderships in this country arrived at a common ground over issues of foreign and security policy concerns. There has to be a greater communication between the government and the Opposition leaderships for the nation to present a unified face against the rest of the world, advises N Sathiya Moorthy.
'We should expect a cold-blooded, transactional relation that requires a lot of engagement and mutual trust to sustain,' says Constantino Xavier, Fellow, foreign policy, Brookings India.
Unlike Asia's other populous giant China, India have never made much of a splash at the Olympics, their seven-medal haul at the Tokyo Games a record for the nation. Adding cricket to the Olympic programme -- as is expected for the 2028 Los Angeles Games -- could help boost the tally.
Scotland Yard's War Crimes Team, which is part of its Counter-Terrorism Command, has launched an investigation into the role of British mercenaries in fighting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels in Sri Lanka during the 1980s.
'With continued focus on votes, upcoming by-polls and purchasing politicians, the political hierarchy has little time for national defence.' 'They would do well to heed a veteran scholar, who says, "There will be war with China in the next few years. The next full scale war will have the involvement of Pakistan and terror elements, insurgents and intelligence assets operating inside India",' warns Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
After nearly two days of political deadlock, the stakeholders are engaged in prolonged talks to try and appoint a successor to Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The Sri Lankan Navy on Thursday arrested 32 Indian fishermen for alleged illegal fishing off the east coast, taking the total number of fishermen arrested during the last two days to nearly 70.
Pakistan may want to undertake a 'false flag' operation in J&K to divert attention from the situation in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but infiltrating one SSG battalion into J&K and having two SSG battalions waiting to follow suit means war, which Pakistan cannot afford in its current economic crisis, notes Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
Terror groups are building a base in south India and using the sea route to smuggle in arms and drugs.
The BJP's Karnataka unit shared photographs of the artworks inside the new Parliament House, including the murals of ancient India, Chanakya, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and B R Ambedkar and the cultural diversity of the country.
While acknowledging Shivaji's naval contributions, questions are being raised about the inadequate acknowledgement of Chola sea-power in southern Tamil Nadu, which dates back by a few centuries, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
Virat Kohli's men will play 11 one-day internationals, nine Twenty20 matches and three Tests against Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka between late September and December.
'Rajapaksa's victory poses a serious foreign policy challenge for the Modi government,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
If India is to follow a smart cultural diplomacy, it has unmatched advantages over both China and Pakistan, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Former Sri Lanka cricketer and current Rajasthan Royals coach and Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara expressed happiness on wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel earning the India call-up for the Test series against England at home, saying that the player understands pressure well and has a fine work ethic.
Dealing with the Sirisena government in Sri Lanka, says G Ganapathy Subramaniam, is a lot easier for India than engaging with the Rajapaksa regime.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi last appeared in 2014 during a sermon at the Great Mosque in Mosul. The speech marked the rise of self-declared "caliphate" of IS in Iraq and Syria.
'While Prabhakaran made LTTE cadres consume cyanide in the face of imminent capture, he did not do so himself when he was cornered. This exposes Prabhakaran's hypocrisy,' says Varadaraja Perumal.
IT services major HCL Technologies is looking at hiring about 20,000 people over the next two quarters to meet the demand coming in on the back of strong growth in deal signing and adoption of digital services. The Noida-based company, which crossed $10 billion milestone in the calendar year 2020, had 159,682 employees at the end of December 31, 2020. It saw a gross addition of 12,422 people, while net addition during the December 2020 quarter was of 6,597 people. Attrition for IT services (on last 12 month basis) was at 10.2 per cent.
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