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 ...
Coronavirus slows China's major belt and road projects in Asia
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
After 16 years in Japan, Sri Lankan woman still classified as an exchange student
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 ...
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.
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 ...
Chandika Hathurusingha insisted Monday he would remain Sri Lanka's cricket coach despite pressure to step down after their World Cup exit. Sri Lanka started the tournament as a rank outsider and finished sixth of the nine teams, registering one of three wins against the world's ...
Wahhabism confronted: Sri Lanka curbs Saudi influence after bombings
Sri Lanka is moving to curtail Saudi Arabian influence, after some politicians and Buddhist monks blamed the spread of the kingdom's ultraconservative Wahhabi school of Islam for planting the seeds of militancy that culminated in deadly Easter bomb attacks. On April 21, nine Sri Lankans ...
