Author: Latiamsar

MOU on visa exemption for holders of diplomatic, official and service passports is set to be signed between the two nations Bilateral discussions were held yesterday (19) between President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Vice President of the Republic of Benin Ms. Mariam Chabi Talata, yesterday (19) on the side lines of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Kampala, Uganda. Diplomatic ties between Sri Lanka and the Republic of Benin was established in 2012, took centre stage, with a focus on advancing economic and trade connections. Vice President Talata, identified the Republic of Benin as a notable cotton exporter, highlighted investment opportunities for…

Copenhagen (13/11 – 37.5) When Ranil Wickremesinghe took over as Sri Lanka’s president in July after a popular uprising ousted his predecessor, the South Asian island nation was engulfed in its worst economic meltdown in 75 years. Since then, President Wickremesinghe has managed to a keep a lid on mass protests, improve supplies of essentials and on Monday, secured a nearly $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that opens the door to restructuring about $58 billion of debt and receive funding from other lenders. He has done that despite a deeply unpopular government, his own party commanding just one…

A guided-missile attack by Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon killed a civilian in northern Israel on Thursday, Israel’s Channel 13 TV said. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it pronounced the death of a 60-year-old man at Fassuta, about 3 kilometers (1.5 miles) from Matat, a village abutting the Lebanese border which the Israeli military had reported coming under a missile attack. The cross-border exchanges of fire began after Hamas’s assault on Israel on October 7, which killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw about 240 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials. In response, Israel vowed to eliminate the…

Israel pressed on with its offensive in and around Gaza’s main cities on Friday, more than two months after Hamas’s deadly attack sparked a war that has claimed thousands of lives and left the Palestinian territory in ruins. The death toll in Gaza has soared above 17,000, mostly women and children, the Hamas-run health ministry said, and vast areas of the besieged territory have been reduced to a rubble-strewn wasteland of bombed-out and bullet-scarred buildings. Early Friday, the health ministry reported another 40 dead in strikes near Gaza City, and “dozens” more in Jabalia and Khan Younis. Israeli forces have encircled…

The Israeli military, responding on Friday to a Reuters investigation that determined its forces killed a Reuters journalist in southern Lebanon on October 13, said the incident took place in an active combat zone and was under review. Without directly addressing the death of visuals journalist Issam Abdallah, a military statement said Lebanese Hezbollah fighters had on that day attacked across the border and Israeli forces opened fire to prevent a suspected armed infiltration. A Reuters special report published on Thursday found that an Israeli tank crew killed Abdallah and wounded six reporters by firing two shells in quick succession from Israel…

Satellite imagery shows progress in the construction in Russia of a plant that will mass produce Iranian-designed kamikaze drones that Moscow is expected to target against Ukrainian energy facilities, a research organization said on Monday. Despite the headway, neither the United States nor its allies have imposed sanctions on the plant’s owner, JSC Alabuga, or its associated companies, said the Institute for Science and International Security report. The White House, the Russian embassy and Iran’s UN mission did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The report said a mid-September satellite image showed that new construction at the plant “directly” correlated with a leaked building…

Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh on Monday accused Western nations of giving Israel a “license to kill” in its war against the Gaza Strip’s rulers Hamas. Israel has been bombing Gaza since Hamas gunmen poured across its border with the Palestinian territory on October 7 and, according to Israeli officials, killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians. Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry on Monday said more than 5,000 people, also mainly civilians, have been killed in the Israeli bombardment. AFP has been unable to independently verify the tolls. “What we hear from the mouth of the occupation (Israeli) leaders on preparations…

Israel lacks the capability to unleash a regional war across the Middle East, Iran’s Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said on Tuesday. “Israel, so to speak, is incapable of fighting against a small territory like Gaza and a small group like Hamas. So, does it really want to start a regional war? I don’t think the Israeli regime has that kind of capability and that kind of power,” Jalali said as cited by state news agency TASS. The ambassador said Iran will “show resilience” in case a conflict with Israel breaks out. “We have never started a war. However, if someone carries out…

The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group held talks on Wednesday with senior Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad figures in a key meeting of three top anti-Israel militant groups amid the war raging in Gaza. A brief statement following the meeting said that Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah agreed with Hamas’ Saleh al-Arouri and Islamic Jihad’s leader Ziad al-Nakhleh on the next steps that the three — along with other Iran-backed militants — should take at this “sensitive stage.” Their goal, according to the statement that was carried on Hezbollah-run and Lebanese state media, was to achieve “a real victory for the resistance…

Between Hamas, Israel and Iran, Hezbollah treads carefully in the trenches, not to jump callously into war. Beirut, Lebanon – Hezbollah is well aware of Lebanon’s public opinion on widening the war with Israel for its relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip since Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 7, and that it has to tread carefully, analysts say. In spite of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s careful mixing of condemnations of Israel with words of restraint in a speech on Saturday, Israel’s defence minister issued dire warnings against the Lebanese people. Following that, there was a noticeable escalation in the attacks, which…