With the arrest of another Sri Lankan national for alleged spying for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, central security agencies have stepped up surveillance of vital installations including defence and foreign consulates in southern parts of the country.
Hours after three suspected Islamic State group suicide bombers targeted the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing at least 36 people and wounding many others, Rediff.com brings you some of the deadliest attacks at airports, which have left several dead and hundreds injured.
Voters in Sri Lanka's Tamil majority Northern Province on Saturday began voting in the first local elections in 25 years to elect a council to govern the former war zone, four years after the military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam after decades of bloody civil war.
US hands over evidence linking Pak national in consulate terror conspiracy
At a crowded beachfront mass, Pope Francis canonised Sri Lanka's first saint on Wednesday.
Fishermen staged a unique protest on Friday at the Rameswaram jetty demanding that their boats be returned by the Sri Lankan authorities.
British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday made a historic visit to the former war zone of Jaffna to "shine a light on the chilling events" during the last phase of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, hours after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa cautioned against turning the Commonwealth into a "punitive and judgemental body".
With some countries like Britain and Canada seeking to bring alleged human rights violations in the Sri Lankan civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam under the scanner during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting summit, President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday asked member nations not to turn the Commonwealth into a "punitive and judgmental" body and desist from introducing bilateral agendas.
If Indian PM boycotts the CHOGM, it is likely to add to Sri Lanka's bitterness. This would not help India's desire to add more depth and content to its relations with Sri Lanka but its ability to influence Sri Lanka's decision making process on the both strategic issues and on Tamil minority issues, says Colonel (retd) R Hariharan.
In a Sri Lankan House of 225 members, the cut-off figure comes to 113. With Wickremesinghe side touching 102 and Rajapaksa's team at 101, the three-party Tamil National Alliance with 16 members and the left-leaning Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna with 6 members hold the key. But with the latter declaring that they will not support either formation in a vote count,that leaves the TNA as the deciding factor, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
President Maithripala Sirisena's government in Colombo has clearly decided to restore some balance in its diplomatic outreach, which presents a great opportunity for India.
The Sri Lankan cartoon faux pas has revived the slackening pan-Tamil mood in Tamil Nadu, says N Sathiya Moorthy
The country has a fiendishly complicated electoral system that is a combination of population-based proportional representation and party-based national lists, says Aditi Phadnis
If India is to follow a smart cultural diplomacy, it has unmatched advantages over both China and Pakistan, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Since the US and India broadly share similar interests in Sri Lanka, they should coordinate closely to ensure that the country preserves its democratic institutions, says Lisa Curtis
Voicing concern over the fate of the 13th Amendment to Sri Lankan Constitution that agreed to devolve some authority to provinces, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday called for a "bold stand" by India, saying it cannot remain a "passive bystander."
In his last column for Rediff.com, Praful Bidwai joins issues with those lauding India's covert operation against Naga rebels based in Myanmarese territory.
In a conversation with R Ramasubramanian, Xavier said, "My documentary attempts to find answers to those frequently asked questions from Tamil refugees who are still in India."
In Muthuvel Karunanidhi's passing, Tamil Nadu has lost the last of its Titans.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday expressed satisfaction over External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit.
As the island heads for elections, two major factors worry Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. One is the division in the Sinhala vote and the other is the prospect of the Tamils and Muslims voting heavily against him.
Human rights abuses allegedly perpetrated in the war against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam haunted Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the sidelines of the CHOGM summit with UK Prime Minister David Cameron on Saturday giving the island country an ultimatum to conduct a credible probe into the war crimes by March, failing which he would seek an international investigation.
'Foreign policy-making cannot be shifted out of Delhi and the regional satraps, who do not have a national perspective, should not be allowed to dominate foreign policy. But regional inputs should be integral to foreign policy-making at every step of the way,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Those who know Shiv Shankar Menon will vouch that he did lots of things, substantial in the immediate neighbourhood and widespread in South Asia, but without making things public. Twenty per cent of Menon's job was visible, while 80 per cemt of his job was not known to the public, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
Narendra Modi's promise to allow states a bigger say in strategising and building foreign policy is unexceptionable, says TP Sreenivasan.
'Outsiders are the ones who have to make the biggest journey to realise themselves, to come back to some sense of normality.' Director Jacques Audiard and actor Jesuthasan Antonythasan discuss the human landscape behind the award-winning film, Dheepan, with Aseem Chhabra/Rediff.com
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