Daily Archives: December 16, 2018

Protesting for democracy, in their own way

In the whirlwind seven weeks of political impasse, Colombo witnessed a string of incessant protests by concerned citizens, including women’s groups, members of the LGBTQ community, artistes and professionals.A little different from each other, the agitations — at the Liberty roundabout, Lipton Circus or Independence Square in the heart of …

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A truce, an arrest and a suicide

The Chinese establishment has been hit by three major interlocking incidents since the beginning of December. On December 1, a much awaited meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump, on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Argentina, ended in applause. A truce in a bruising …

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The PM in an economic labyrinth

the fiscal deficit is In a particularly trying moment of an interview on BBC’s Hard Talk last week, Pakistan’s Finance Minister Asad Umar seemed to lose his temper when asked about the U.S.’s statements on curbing the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s loans, given Pakistan’s debt to China.“We will worry about …

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Angela Merkel takes another victory

On December 6, Germany’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) held its party meeting to elect a leader to replace Angela Merkel when she steps down. Many observers had anticipated that Friedrich Merz, a politician and lobbyist who works with BlackRock, an American investment cooperation, would become Ms. Merkel’s successor.Mr. Merz …

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‘West hurts own values in Gulf crisis’

Western nations jeopardised their own values during the ongoing crisis in the Gulf region, Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said on Saturday. He was speaking at the 18th edition of the Doha Forum, a dialogue platform attended by leading global players.To a question whether Western nations had …

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Rajapaksa quits, vows to make comeback

After disputably holding on to the post of Prime Minister for weeks, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday said he had “resigned”, and vowed to clinch power in the next election. Backing down after the Supreme Court declined relief to an appeal court order restraining him from acting as PM, …

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NGT faults TNPCB’s ‘technical approach’

In its order on Saturday setting aside the Tamil Nadu government’s order on the closure of Sterlite’s copper smelter in Thoothukudi, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) said, “In the present case, TNPCB has adopted a hyper technical approach unmindful of object of law.” So long as establishment is complying with …

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France, India focus on energy sector

India and France are moving fast towards operationalising the nuclear power project at Jaitapur, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Saturday.Addressing presspersons after holding discussions with her French counterpart, Ms. Swaraj said both sides were working in the field of energy and also intensifying international developmental and counter-terrorism cooperation.The …

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Nations inch towards climate deal at UN summit

negotiator says delegates from nearly 200 nations have reached a ‘landing zone’ of agreement, but differences remain on issues of ambition Nations on Saturday inched towards a deal to implement the Paris climate goals, after all-night negotiations over a plan to limit global temperature rises exposed a range of conflicts.Speaking …

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