This raises the prospect of Britain keeping up with the March 29 deadline The British Cabinet is set to have a crucial meeting on Wednesday, after U.K. and EU negotiators agreed on the text of a draft withdrawal agreement in Brussels on Tuesday. A Downing Street spokesperson confirmed that a …
Read More »Sri Lanka court stays dissolution, snap elections
Speaker convenes Parliament today Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed President Maithripala Sirisena’s dissolution of Parliament and restrained the Election Commission from preparing for snap elections. After hearing 11 petitioners and respondents for two days, the top court suspended until December 7, the proclamation issued by Mr. Sirisena last …
Read More »Top election official, parties challenge Sirisena’s move
Apex court seeks explanation from government on dissolution of Parliament One of Sri Lanka’s independent Election Commissioners joined a host of political parties in challenging President Maithripala Sirisena’s recent dissolution of Parliament, in the country’s Supreme Court on Monday. The court asked the Attorney-General to explain the President’s decision at …
Read More »India helped Maldives restore democracy, says Gayoom
‘India-first policy will continue under the new government’ India played a “positive” role in restoration of democracy in Maldives by “exerting pressure” on the ruling regime, and the new government in the island nation would be “sensitive” towards New Delhi’s “concerns”, said former Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom on Sunday. …
Read More »Pittsburgh shooting suspect wrote anti-Semitic posts
Evidence suggests attack on synagogue was motivated by his anti-Jewish views The gunman who killed eight men and three women during the Shabbat services at a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday morning has been charged with 29 counts of federal crimes related to firearm offences. Meanwhile, the chief medical examiner of …
Read More »Protect Ranil’s privileges as PM, Speaker urges Sirisena
Cites serious constitutional crisis, requests President to reconvene Parliament The Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament, Karu Jayasuriya, on Sunday urged President Maithripala Sirisena to protect the rights and privileges of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe until his majority in the House was challenged by another member. Further, citing possible “serious …
Read More »Race, sexual abuses and the far right agenda
Last week, Britain’s Home Secretary Sajid Javid tweeted about a case of a gang of men (commonly referred to as a “grooming gang”), who had sexually assaulted and abused young girls, and had been found guilty by a court in northern England of over 120 offences. “These sick Asian paedophiles …
Read More »Fears of ethnic tensions grip Bosnia
An assumed saviour for Croat ethnic identity versus a saviour for all of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) who happens to be a Croat — this is the new political fault-line in the racially tense country. For a country with a tripartite presidency to represent each of the three major ethnic …
Read More »Political crisis leaves TNA in a quandary
Sri Lanka’s first ever Northern Provincial Council completed its five-year term last week. About 25 years after the erstwhile North-Eastern Council lapsed, people living in the Tamil-majority areas had propelled their preferred political representatives to power in September 2013, sensing new hope post-war. Just as the Tamil National Alliance’s (TNA) …
Read More »A troubled start for Opposition alliance
Bangladesh has rediscovered Kamal Hossain, a jurist of international fame, as the face of the political Opposition in the country. From a rally in the northeastern city of Sylhet on October 24, Mr. Hossain, 81, announced a campaign for what he said was the revival of democracy. The rally was …
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