Fear of food shortage haunts Lankan PM
COLOMBO: The Sri Lanka’s prime minister has warned of a food shortage as the island nation battles a devastating economic crisis and vowed the government will buy enough fertiliser for the next planting season to boost harvests. A decision in April last year by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to ban all chemical fertilisers drastically cut crop […]
Afghan TV presenters asked to cover faces on air
KABUL: Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have asked television broadcasters to ensure that female presenters on local stations cover their faces when on air, an official said on Thursday. The move comes days after authorities ordered women to cover their faces in public, a return to a policy of the Taliban’s past hardline rule and an […]
US Embassy in Kyiv resumes operations
US has officially resumed its operations at the US Embassy in Kyiv on Wednesday after shutting down it for three months, just days before Russia started its military operation in Ukraine, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. Price said that when they suspended the operation, they made it clear that even though […]
South Asia heat not caused by climate change alone: WMO chief
ISLAMABAD: Although the current heatwave sweeping across India and Pakistan was consistent with what experts have come to expect in a changing climate, the head of the global weather body has said that it was premature to attribute the extreme heat in South Asia solely to the phenomenon of climate change. “But heatwaves are more […]
Sri Lankan opposition, protesters push anti-govt campaign despite new PM
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s main opposition party joined anti-government protesters on Friday in rejecting the appointment of a new prime minister and insisted the president resign to take responsibility for the country’s disastrous economic crisis. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed five-time prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to his sixth term late on Thursday, but opposition comments signalled it […]
UN launches probe into Russian abuses in Ukraine
GENEVA: The United Nations Human Rights Council voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to launch an inquiry into alleged serious violations committed by Russian troops in Ukraine, putting their conduct further under the microscope. Concerned by extrajudicial executions, civilian casualties, the use of torture and abuses against children, the council voted 33-2 to create an investigation into […]
Amid crisis, Lanka president vows to curtail own powers
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa pledged on Wednesday to give up most of his executive powers but stopped short of yielding to demands for his resignation over the country’s economic crisis. The 72-year-old, in his first address to the nation since the start of a month-long protest campaign calling on him to quit, […]
Shoot-on-sight orders amid further unrest in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan authorities issued shoot-on-sight orders on Tuesday to quell further unrest a day after the island was rocked by deadly violence and rioting. With thousands of security forces enforcing a curfew, the defence ministry said troops “have been ordered to shoot on sight anyone looting public property or causing harm to life”. On […]
Putin invokes WWII victory to spur army in Ukraine
LONDON: Russian President Vladimir Putin evoked the memory of Soviet heroism in World War II to inspire his army fighting in Ukraine, but offered no new road map to victory and acknowledged the cost in Russian soldiers’ lives. Addressing massed ranks of service personnel on Red Square on the 77th anniversary of victory over Germany, […]
12.3 million children need aid in Syria, says UN
BEIRUT: More Syrian children are in need than at any time since a devastating civil war erupted over a decade ago, but funding for them is “dwindling”, the United Nations warned on Sunday. “Syria’s children have suffered for far too long and should not suffer any longer,” the UN children’s agency said in a statement, […]
