Former  President Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrived in Thailand today evening from Singapore marking his third stop since he left the country a month back. He was granted entry following a request from the Sri Lankan government. Local media in Bangkok reported that he is believed to have arrived at Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport around 8 pm Bangkok time, via a charter plane from Singapore’s Seletar airport. Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat said in a statement on Wednesday that temporary entry was granted on the grounds that he does not intend to seek political asylum. According ..read more

Gotabaya Rajapaksa made mistakes as President. However, he should not be treated like a Pariah. There are other opportunists riding the wave of discontentment, who should wear the hat of a Pariah before Gotabaya. by Raj Gonsalkorale Gotabaya Rajapaksa made mistakes as the President of the country, and grave ones at that too. Some of his decisions were ill timed and ill informed. Some decisions he should have taken, were not taken. The country is witnessing the aftermath of these decisions and non-decisions. However, he cannot be held solely responsible for the disastrous economic situation in ..read more

   The U.S. blockade of Cuba fuels the fire that rages on in the country, despite denials by authorities in the United States.  by Vijay Prashad and Manolo De Los Santos On August 5, a major oil storage facility in Matanzas, Cuba, 65 miles east of Havana, was hit by lightning. A tank that contained 25,000 cubic meters of crude oil caught fire after being struck. Since then, an enormous fire has been raging in Matanzas. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Ávalos Jorge, deputy head of Cuba’s fire department, said that it was impossible to estimate when the fire would be completely exting ..read more

After the publication of a study conducted by scientists, Taiwan announces the appearance of a new virus in Chinese provinces. The pathogen appears similar to the coronavirus and is believed to be transmitted from animals to humans. While surrounded by Chinese armed forces, Taiwan has announced that a new virus has been discovered in China. Her name? Langya-Henipavirus (LayV). This would be transmitted from animals to humans. Dogs and goats are the main carriers of the virus. According to Taiwan, the new pathogen could lead to organ failure in humans. At least 35 people have been infected with ..read more

 The partition of India in 1947 created two independent nations namely, India and Pakistan. At that time Kashmir was ruled by a King, named Maharaja Hari Singh. Under the Indian Independence Act of 1947, Kashmir was free to accede to either India or Pakistan. by Mass L. Usuf “By the time we woke up this morning, the internet was gone and we now have no mobile connectivity.  If people step out of their homes, they see paramilitary forces on every street. Almost every major road is shut. No-one knows what is happening in other parts of the state - we can't talk to anyone else. People a ..read more

 With no national force with the vision and power to offer an emancipatory alternative to the poisonous politics, sometimes with fascist elements, that turns neighbours against each other, the country is on a knife edge. by Richard Pithouse Xenophobia is a global crisis, but in South Africa, it takes a particularly violent form. The day-to-day accumulation of insults and harassment from within the state and society periodically mutates into open-street violence in which people are beaten, hacked and burned to death. If there is a useful point of global comparison, it may be with the commu ..read more

Despite getting regular information from RAW, IB, and other agencies, the DGMI did not submit analyses that may have aided IPKF operations. Similarly, the headquarters of the Southern Command failed to give relevant analyses or inputs. by Lt Col Manoj K Channan India’s engagement in Sri Lanka in July 1987 was the country’s first foreign deployment outside of the UN charter since independence. When this operation is analyzed, several problems in the planning and execution are still apparent. Suppose war is the continuation of politics via other methods. In that case, it is critical first to est ..read more

  My biggest concern is that lack of identity can be an imponderable problem when it comes to healthcare. But, what choices are available?  Life in Sri Lanka at present is difficult. Life abroad is equally treacherous.  by Victor Cherubim Is it that bad, or are we being driven by vested interests to seek asylum abroad, jump ship, escape or abscond at the first opportunity which arises, now that we have no easy employment opportunities, due to our present state of affairs in our land? We are not the only ones who have tried this escape route! Hundreds do this every week by cross ..read more

 After abrogating Article 370, the next step was to restore normalcy in Kashmir but three years hence that is still a far cry by Ashok K Mehta Three years after reading down Article 370 of the constitution the government has not achieved its stated objectives of eradicating terrorism from J&K, winning the hearts and minds of the Kashmiris, integrating Kashmir with the mainstream, and ushering in development. Internationalizing the Kashmir issue has not isolated Pakistan diplomatically. Instead, China has been brought into the bilateral issue. GoI cannot wish away issues that have fest ..read more

 Scientific advances are not always linear; they zigzag in unexpected ways. This is particularly true of genetics, which has a dark history of being coopted into eugenics and race science. by Prabir Purkayastha In July, the world celebrated 200 years since the birth of Gregor Mendel, who is widely accepted as the “father of modern genetics” for his discovery of the laws of inheritance. His experiments with peas, published in 1866 under the title “Experiments in Plant Hybridization,” identified dominant and recessive traits and how recessive traits would reappear in future generations and ..read more