Sri Lanka is going through the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948. A crippling shortage of foreign reserves has led to long queues for fuel, cooking gas and other essentials while power cuts and soaring food prices heaped misery on the people.
'Clearly, Washington has all but given up hope following US Acting Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells's stormy visit to Colombo last month where she read the riot act to Sri Lankan leaders to sign the pending status of forces agreement allowing American troops to use Sri Lanka as a hub for operations in the Indian Ocean,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India has donated some 10,000 bicycles in Sri Lanka's war-torn north under an assistance programme to help in the rehabilitation of those displaced during nearly three-decade long conflict.
The presence of Vaz, parliamentarian from Indian-dominated Leicester East, and a fellow Labour MP, Joan Ryan, drew an angry response from the Sri Lankan High Commission, which released a statement claiming that the event was a 'clear violation of the UK terrorism laws.'
'If there is a push towards a Marxist oriented government it will be dangerous.' 'We have seen this in Nepal and Myanmar and it will be a concern for India if it is surrounded by countries with such political dispensations.'
Those requiring to undertake emergency travels can contact the High Commission of India in Colombo.
The newly inaugurated Pamban Bridge in Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu, is designed to withstand cyclones of greater intensity than the 1964 disaster that significantly damaged the old bridge. The new bridge features a vertical lift spanner and is built to withstand wind speeds of 230 kmph and considerable seismic loading, according to a senior official from the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL). The bridge's construction incorporated several safety protocols, including a seated lift spanner and girders positioned well above sea level, ensuring minimal risk from high tides and cyclones.
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.
Pompeo said that the United States was deeply saddened to learn about the passing of Mukherjee.
'For the common man, the economic conditions are not going to get better.'
The warship was to anchor outside the Chattogram port from August 7 to 10 on its journey from Shanghai to Karachi.
The arrest of Arun Selvarajan is another reminder of how the ISI is trying to push its south India agenda.
At least one person was killed and 12 others injured on Tuesday when the police opened fire to disperse angry anti-government protestors in Sri Lanka's southwestern region of Rambukkana, officials said.
Fawad Chaudhary, Pakistan's Minister for Science and Technology, had alleged that India was pressuring Sri Lankan players not to tour Pakistan. He had tweeted that Indian "sports authorities" were resorting to cheap tactics.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader M K Stalin and thousands of party workers were arrested on Tuesday when they attempted to picket the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission in Chennai, demanding a probe against the island government over alleged war crimes.
'During Congress rule, the government used to get both the fishermen and the boats released whenever the Sri Lankan navy apprehended them.' 'Under BJP rule, only the fishermen are being released.'
Students across Tamil Nadu, including in Chennai, continued their protests on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue while some fishermen in Nagapattinam district observed a fast mid-sea.
An "offensive" article on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa published on the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry website with an accompanying graphic image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked up a storm in India which acted with "alacrity" on Friday to force the island nation to tender an unqualified apology.
Sri Lanka on Thursday signed an agreement with India to jointly redevelop the strategic World War II-era oil tank farm in the island nation's eastern port district of Trincomalee, in a new milestone in bilateral economic and energy partnership.
The names of both Maregowda and Puttaraju had figured in the list of missing Janata Dal-Secular workers tweeted by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday.
Sri Lanka's signals -- that it is ready for 'joint fishing' initiatives -- and Tamil Nadu fishermen's sticking to commitments have paved the way for a negotiated settlement on a long festering issue, says N Sathiya Moorthy
Protests rocked different parts of Tamil Nadu for the second day on Friday against the capital punishment awarded by a Sri Lankan court to five Indian fishermen for alleged drug trafficking.
India's external affairs ministry has said that the government will appeal against the judgment of a court in Sri Lanka to sentence five Indian fishermen to death.
Dubbing the recent acts of violence targeting its citizens in Tamil Nadu as an attempt to tarnish its friendly ties with India, Sri Lanka has lodged a strong protest with New Delhi over the incidents of assaults on Buddhist monks.
The protests brought home the fact that the Sri Lankan public is in no mood for halfway measures, as voices against Rajapaksa 'family rule' and 'securitisation' of the civilian administration began sidestepping the more critical economic crisis, affecting the nation and afflicting the individual, observes Sri Lanka watcher N Sathiya Moorthy.
'It was the hostility of the Yunus regime that made India careful and wary of dealing with them.' 'They gradually backed off and lowered the noise, but the damage was done.' 'Their true colours had been exposed.'
The NIA had alerted the island nation that ISIS terrorists were planning to carry out strikes there.
Speaker's media secretary Indunil Abeywardena said a resignation letter from President Rajapaksa has been received through the Sri Lanka high commission in Singapore.
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.
The 73-year-old leader on Thursday emailed his resignation letter to the Speaker soon after he was allowed by Singapore to enter the city-state on a "private visit".
At least 38 Indian fishermen lodged in Sri Lanka's Jaffna prison for alleged poaching are on a fast unto death demanding their early release.
A 41-year-old man from Cuddalore district died after self-immolation while several pro-Tamil outfits tried to picket the Lankan deputy high commission in Chennai demanding action against the Rajapaksa government for alleged war crimes.
Swaraj saluted "brave Indian soldiers who gave up their lives protecting the cause of peace in Sri Lanka".
Seven persons had been arrested in connection with the blasts.
India has once again pressed for the devolution of powers to the provinces under the 13th amendment (13A) of the Sri Lankan constitution and the system of provincial councils as a meaningful step towards better representation of the island's Tamil minority.
India on Thursday dismissed reports that its missiles targeted strategic Sri Lankan locations, calling them "completely baseless and fabricated."
In his book Arun Bhatnagar, a retired IAS officer, makes a dig at Hardeep Singh Puri, former diplomat, Union minister and BJP nominee from Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, for Rajiv's faulty Sri Lankan policy, writes Rasheed Kidwai.
One shocking finding of the investigation was the extent to which sexual violence was committed against detainees, often extremely brutally, by the Sri Lankan security forces, with men as likely to be victims as women.
Twenty three fishermen from Tamil Nadu, arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on July 22 when they were fishing near Katchatheevu in the Palk Straits, have been released, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said on Friday.
India will be informing Sri Lanka about an official working with the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo who was allegedly playing a key role in planning terror strikes at the behest of ISI on the US and Israeli consulates in the southern part of this country.
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