Author: Jonathan Roy

Sri Lanka’s presidential election is scheduled for 21 September. Ranil Wickremesinghe, whom parliament elected president when Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled in July 2022, would have preferred to postpone the polls. His government’s measures to stabilise the economy in line with International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommendations and his aversion to sidelining the most corrupt members of the Rajapaksa family have made him unpopular. Wickremesinghe belongs to the United National Party, but holds sway in parliament thanks to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party controlled by the Rajapaksas. The president and SLPP leaders postponed the local government elections scheduled for March 2023…

Brussels/London (16/6 – 33.33) The defeat of the Russian Federation is a foregone conclusion. It is a reality. It is a must. Victory for Ukraine is non-negotiable. It is an absolute necessity. As ironclad as Brussels, London, Berlin or Washington. As ironclad as the Normandy battlefield, Waterloo, Verdun, or many other spots on the planet. We, the ones living in this generation that saw the war erupted right in front of our eyes, owe it to the young men and women in the Ukraine who gave their lives for this conviction. An excessive number of sceptics advocate for surrender. We…

Dubai/Astana (10 June – 60). The Pamiris are an ethnic minority group in Tajikistan, culturally distinct from the majority Tajik population. They have faced persecution and discrimination in their mountain homeland bordering Afghanistan that some experts say amounts to ethnic cleansing and even genocide. One of the lead persecutors is Ministry of Internal Affairs “Maj. Gen.” Shorukh Syedzada, a former football team manager with no law enforcement experience and a confidante of the president’s son and heir designate. The Pamiris continue to be marginalized and oppressed by the authorities. As a result, many Pamiris have been forced to flee their…

ISTANBUL Türkiye and the Arab world can do business together in Africa and Central Asia and contribute to the region, the Turkish treasury and finance minister said on Thursday. Speaking at the International Arab Banking Summit in Istanbul, Mehmet Simsek said Türkiye and the Arab world have strong presence but are not utilizing their full potential. The two-day event that ends on Friday is organized by the Union of Arab Banks under the auspices of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Simsek said Türkiye serves as a gateway to the EU and Central Asia and the Arab world also has a great…

Enrique Roig, the Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, led the U.S. delegation for the annual U.S.-Argentina Human Rights Dialogue (HRD) with Foreign Ministry counterparts in Buenos Aires. The annual HRD follows the February visit of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who discussed the shared commitment to human rights and democracy with President Javier Milei and Foreign Minister Diana Mondino. DAS Roig, Undersecretary for Foreign Policy Marcia Levaggi, and their delegations discussed increasing cooperation on shared regional and international priorities. These include strengthening democracy in the region, including support to democratic actors in Venezuela…

The Museum of the Future will mark its second anniversary on February 22nd. With over 2 million visitors from 172 countries, the museum has become a global hub for innovation and envisioning the future, aligning with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. During the past two years, the museum has become a centre for innovation, education, and future foresight as well as a beacon for knowledge and creativity. It has hosted more than 280 prominent events attracting more than 20,000 participants from around the world. It has…

COLOMBO, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) — Sri Lanka has rolled out infrastructure development projects and innovative tourism promotion programs in a bid to attract high-end tourists, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said on Saturday. The PMD said in a press release that President Ranil Wickremesinghe conducted a tour of Tangalle and Galle areas on Saturday to assess tourism industry resurgence on the southern coast of the country. During the tour, the president visited several tourist hotels, talking with owners to understand their challenges first hand, the PMD said. The PMD said the tourism sector in Sri Lanka faced a rapid downturn…

The Western Australian government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Babcock Australasia, focused on industry expansion and workforce development. The MoU will help the government in creating high paying, skilled jobs for decades at the Australian Marine Complex (AMC) in Henderson, as well as at HMAS Stirling on Garden Island. “The WA Government continues to show its support and investment in the defence industry with this latest Memorandum of Understanding,” said Paul Papalia, Defence Industry Minister. “I am confident this MoU will help place Western Australia at the forefront of the latest developments in the maritime defence industry.”…

New Delhi — U.S. officials have spoken with their counterparts in India about allegations that the South Asian nation may have been involved in a plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader on U.S. soil, the U.S. National Security Council said Wednesday. The plot targeted Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a U.S.-Canadian dual national designated a terrorist by India’s government, according to the Financial Times, which first reported on the story Wednesday. The FT, citing anonymous sources, said “U.S. authorities thwarted” the murder conspiracy and “issued a warning to India’s government over concerns it was involved in the plot.” The NSC, in a statement…

A former Pennsylvania veterinary technician-turned-nurse and suspected serial killer who lost 17 patients and injured more, had a “murderous rage” and could have been a “budding serial killer” before she got her nursing license, according to a former detective and a criminal profiler who have followed the case and others like it. Heather Irene Pressdee was first accused of injecting three patients with insulin, killing two and injuring a third in November 2022 and later claiming she “felt bad for their quality of life,” according to a criminal complaint. Authorities tacked on more than a dozen new charges Friday. Between 2018 and…