The party of Sri Lanka’s new Marxist-leaning President Anura Kumara Dissanayake won a two-thirds majority in parliament, according to official election results Friday, providing a strong mandate for his program for economic revival. Dissanayake’s National People’s Power Party won 159 of the 225 seats, according to the Elections Commission. The Samagi Jana
World
US$1T climate fund needed for developing nations: Experts say at COP29
One million migrants in US may become Trump’s target
Maribel Hidalgo fled her native Venezuela a year ago with a 1-year-old son, trudging for days through Panama's Darien Gap, then riding the rails across Mexico to the United States. They were living in the U.S. when the Biden administration announced Venezuelans would be offered Temporary Protected Status, which allows people
EU top diplomat wants Israel dialogue suspended over Gaza war
The EU's outgoing foreign policy chief has urged the bloc to suspend a political dialogue with Israel over human rights concerns in Gaza but it is likely to be vetoed, diplomats said Thursday. Josep Borrell raised his proposal during a meeting of ambassadors on Wednesday, according to four diplomats involved, and
UN faces uncertainty as Trump returns to US presidency
The United Nations and other international organizations are bracing for four more years of Donald Trump, who famously tweeted before becoming president the first time that the 193-member U.N. was “just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.” In his first term, Trump suspended funding
HRW accuses Israel of ‘war crime’ with ‘forcible transfer’ in Gaza
Human Rights Watch said in a report released Thursday that Israel's repeated evacuation orders in Gaza amount to the "war crime of forcible transfer", and to "ethnic cleansing" in parts of the Palestinian territory. "Human Rights Watch has amassed evidence that Israeli officials are... committing the war crime offorcible transfer," the
Biden, Xi arrive in Peru ahead of face-to-face at Asia-Pacific summit
US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping arrive Thursday in Lima for an Asia-Pacific summit overshadowed by the prospect of a world embroiled in trade wars under Donald Trump. Saturday's face-to-face will likely be the last meeting between the sitting leaders of the world's largest economies before Biden
UN Council condemns attacks on peacekeepers in Lebanon
The UN Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday condemned recent attacks on the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL), calling on all parties to respect the safety of members of that force. In a statement, the Council condemned the attacks on October 29, November 7 and November 8, which wounded several Blue
Sri Lanka president eyes parliament win in snap election
Sri Lankans began voting Thursday in snap parliamentary elections, with new leftist President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's party expected to secure a big majority to drive through economic reforms. The 55-year-old hopes to grab two-thirds of the legislature's 225 seats to press ahead with reforms after the country's economic meltdown in 2022,
46 dead in Gaza, 33 dead in Lebanon in a Israeli strikes
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 46 people in the Gaza Strip in the past day, including 11 at a makeshift cafeteria in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone, medics said. In Lebanon, warplanes struck Beirut's southern suburbs and killed 33 people elsewhere in the country on Tuesday. The latest bombardment came as the