By D.B.S.Jeyaraj/Daily Mirror Colombo, April 20: Ranil has been able to achieve this with the support and solidarity of  his Government. Most ministers and state ministers in this Government  were appointed by President Gotabaya. President Wickremesinghe has not  intervened too much with the set-up he inherited He has been content to work with what he had or got. Ranil’s ministers and state ministers  consist of MPs from the SLPP, SJB,  SLPP, CWC, EPDP and TMVP. He has  been able to get the best out ofthis assorted group Furthermore  Ranil’s stock has been ri ..read more

By P.K.Balachandran Colombo, April 20: The Maldivian parliamentary elections due to be held on April 21 differ from those held in the recent past in a striking way: there is no party or leader that the voters can bet on. Parties in the fray have either split or are faction-ridden. There are no towering leaders who can set appealing agendas and inspire voters to support them. There are no over-riding issues firing the imagination of the people and stirring political action.   Observers say that there is indifference or fatigue among the voters, as successive governments have failed to give ..read more

By P.K.Balachandran Colombo, April 19: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is considered the winning house in the elections to the Indian parliament beginning on Friday, is facing tough cultural, ideological and historical challenges in the Southern State of Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu sends 39 members to the 543-member Lower House of  parliament called the Lok Sabha. It is in Tamil Nadu that a washout is on the cards for the BJP. Barring hard core BJP supporters, most observers predict 37 or 38 out of 39 seats for the DMK-Congress alliance, one or two for the AIADMK and nil for the BJP. T ..read more

April 19 (SCMP) – A retail tycoon in China has introduced “unhappy leave” days to help employees achieve a better work-life balance. During 2024’s China Supermarket Week in late March, Yu Donglai, who is the founder and chairman of Pang Dong Lai, a retail chain in central China’s Henan province, announced that employees would be eligible to request 10 days of additional leave at their discretion. For similar articles, join our Telegram channel for the latest updates. – click here The event is a six-day gathering to promote the development of the country’s supermarket sector ..read more

April 19 (CNN) – Ali versus Frazier. The Red Sox versus the Yankees. Doha versus Singapore. For the last decade, Singapore’s Changi International Airport and Doha’s Hamad International Airport have been going back and forth, battling over the title of ‘world’s best’. Every year, UK-based airline and airport review and ranking site Skytrax surveys travelers from around the globe to compile its list of the best airports in the world, and for 2024 the honor goes to Qatar’s airport, which is known for its ultra-modern design, easy-to-navigate terminals and high-end shopping. Singapore (SIN) h ..read more

April 19 (CNN) – Polls opened Friday for the first and largest phase of India’s marathon general election, kicking off a vote in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking to win a rare third consecutive term. About 969 million people are eligible to vote in the biggest election in human history, with polling taking place in seven phases over the next six weeks in the world’s most populous country. Subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates from around the world The nationwide vote is considered among the most consequential in decades as Modi’s powerful right-wi ..read more

April 19 (Reuters) – Israeli missiles have hit a site in Iran, ABC News reported late on Thursday, citing a U.S. official, days after Iran launched a drone strike on Israel in response to an attack at the Iranian embassy in Syria. Iran’s Fars news agency said an explosion was heard at an airport in the Iranian city of Isfahan but the cause was not immediately known. Several Iranian nuclear sites are located in Isfahan province, including Natanz, centerpiece of Iran’s uranium enrichment program. For similar articles, join our Telegram channel for the latest updates. – click ..read more

April 19 (BBC) – Ukraine’s prime minister has told the BBC there will be a “Third World War” if Ukraine loses its conflict with Russia, as he urged the US Congress to pass a long-stalled foreign aid bill. Denys Shmyhal expressed “careful optimism” that US lawmakers would pass the hotly contested measure, which has $61bn (£49bn) earmarked for Kyiv. For similar articles, join our Telegram channel for the latest updates. – click here The House of Representatives is set to vote on the package this Saturday. The proposal includes funding for Israel as well as the Indo-Pacific. S ..read more

April 17 (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday warned that the U.S. intends to hit Iran with new sanctions in coming days over its unprecedented attack on Israel, and these actions could seek to reduce Iran’s capacity to export oil. “With respect to sanctions, I fully expect that we will take additional sanctions action against Iran in the coming days,” Yellen said told a news conference on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings in Washington. For similar articles, join our Telegram channel for the latest updates.  ..read more

Colombo, April 17 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka on Tuesday rejected international bondholders’ proposal to restructure more than $12 billion in debt, putting at risk critical International Monetary Fund support and delaying its efforts to resolve a two-year-long debt crisis. Some of the proposal’s “baseline” assessments and a lack of a contingency option in the case of continued economic weakness were the two main reasons the deal was not agreed, the government said in a statement. For similar articles, join our Telegram channel for the latest updates. – click here Colombo said it ..read more