Luna al-Shibl rose from television presenter to one of Bashar al-Assad’s most powerful advisers, but her sudden death in 2024 exposed the dangers of proximity to a regime whose inner workings she
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The death of Cambridge professor Jason Arday has intensified questions about proportionality, race and journalistic responsibility after weeks of relentless coverage over allegations concerning his academic record and the wider story of
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Afghanistan’s expanding CCTV network is giving the Taliban new power to monitor public life, while women, activists and political opponents describe a growing climate of fear five years after the fall of
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The world witnessed the fall of the Afghan republic on 15 August 2021, with a shocking degree of rapidity. With Taliban fighters marching into Kabul, President Ghani fleeing from his post, and
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China’s first national rules governing emotionally engaging AI seek to prevent chatbots from replacing human relationships, as millions of users increasingly turn to artificial companions for intimacy, reassurance and companionship. For Yuan
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On July 1, 2026, the day China’s new Ethnic Unity law went into effect, a storm of criticism ensued. All major Western media, governments, politicians and human rights groups raced to denounce
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Ihave been emphasizing the importance of a liberal arts college education for a long time. I had such an education back in the late 1950s, and I’ve been thankful ever since. Back
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On August 13, 2026, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president and former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal was injured in a sword/kirpan attack inside Gurdwara Mata Sahib Devan Ji Mugat near Nanded in Maharashtra.
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Once again, the spectre of the hangman has returned to Sri Lanka’s policy discourse. At the “Ratama Ekata” National Operations Council convened at the Presidential Secretariat on 10 August 2026, the imposition
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Sell airlines: buy airports ~ Attributed to Rigas Doganis Recently, a distinguished colleague in the airport industry brought to my attention the fact that there are certain airlines in the world that own
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Note From the Editorial Team Nineteen years ago today, on 16 August 2007, we began. Nineteen years after we began during Sri Lanka’s civil war, governments have changed, crises have multiplied and
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The Bar Association of Sri Lanka has asked the government to provide the complete and unedited video recording of a meeting held between President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and representatives of the association
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“I have two minutes of phone time left. I don’t know if I will still be alive tomorrow. If we speak again, I will be very grateful to you.” Those were the
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A two-month negotiating period between the United States and Iran has ended without a final agreement, with the prospects for renewed diplomacy appearing increasingly uncertain. Instead, tensions have intensified over Iran’s nuclear
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