Lifestyle Jun 20, 2020
Sri Lankan asparagus farmer puts down roots in Nara village
by Toma Mochizuki
As her operation has grown, Udara Kametani has been able to provide fresh produce to around 50 stores around the Kansai region.
Asia Pacific / Social Issues Apr 29, 2020
'Should I buy a mask or food?': South Asia's poor face stark choice
by Shihar Aneez and Shadi Khan Saif
Buy a mask and let his family go hungry, or buy food and go out into the crowded city without one — that is the stark choice facing Hayatullah Khan, an Afghan labourer whose daily earnings have fallen below $1.50 during the coronavirus pandemic. Like ...
Asia Pacific / Social Issues Mar 6, 2020
Sri Lankan Tamil women fight for land a decade after war's end
Chandraleela Jasinthan was a school teacher in a northern Sri Lankan village when, in the last days of the civil war, she and her neighbors were forced by the army to flee their homes. More than a decade later, their land is still held by ...
Business | ANALYSIS Feb 28, 2020
Coronavirus slows China's major belt and road projects in Asia
by Poornima Weerasekara
From an artificial island in Sri Lanka to a bridge in Bangladesh and hydropower projects in Nepal and Indonesia, China's trillion-dollar Belt and Road plan is stuttering under the effects of the deadly coronavirus. The outbreak that emerged in China in late December and spread ...
Business Feb 3, 2020
Sri Lanka to probe aircraft deal after Airbus corruption settlement
Sri Lanka's president ordered a fresh investigation Sunday into a multi-billion dollar aircraft purchase involving the island's loss-making national carrier, days after Airbus settled corruption probes in Europe and the U.S. A French court on Friday approved a deal allowing Airbus to pay €3.6 billion ...
Asia Pacific / Science & Health Jan 28, 2020
Chinese woman Sri Lanka's first confirmed case of coronavirus
Sri Lanka has confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the country, a senior Sri Lankan health official said on Monday. "A Chinese lady, who is in her 40s, arrived on the 19th as a tourist and fell ill on the 25th and was confirmed ...
Asia Pacific Dec 26, 2019
230,000 people lost in a day: Asia remembers Indian Ocean tsunami
Communities across Asia commemorated the 230,000 victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami on Thursday, the 15th anniversary of one of the world's deadliest disasters. On the morning after Christmas Day in 2004, a 9.1 magnitude quake off northern Sumatra triggered tsunami as high as 17.4 ...
Asia Pacific Dec 25, 2019
100,000 who fled Sri Lankan war can't get Indian citizenship under new law
Nearly 100,000 Sri Lankan refugees who are living in India are not eligible for citizenship under a new law, sparking concerns that they may be forced to return to the island nation they fled during a decadeslong civil war, many with no homes to ...
Asia Pacific / Politics Dec 20, 2019
Sri Lanka president says he is 'victim' of Swiss kidnap claim
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said Thursday the alleged kidnapping of a Swiss Embassy staffer that triggered a diplomatic spat between Colombo and Bern had been concocted to discredit his election victory. A Sri Lankan national working for the Swiss mission in Colombo was arrested ...
National / Social Issues Dec 4, 2019
After 16 years in Japan, Sri Lankan woman still classified as an exchange student
by Chisato Tanaka
Dakshini Siriwardena never expected that the failure of her father's business in Japan would leave her with no choice but to live here as an exchange student — despite having resided in the country for more than 16 years. "It's ridiculous that I had the ...
Editorials Nov 21, 2019
The return to power of the Rajapaksa clan could redirect the country's geopolitical orientation toward China, a potentially important shift given the island's location astride vital sea lanes.
Asia Pacific / Politics Nov 17, 2019
Tamil-taming, China-friendly Rajapaksa clan make presidential comeback in Sri Lanka
A family of strongmen who tilted Sri Lanka toward a deep reliance on China claimed victory on Sunday in a tightly fought presidential election. With two-thirds of the polling divisions declared, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, 70, whose brother Mahinda had close ties with Beijing during his 10-year ...