The world is on course to miss its 2030 target for ending extreme poverty, with 826 million people already affected. Experts warn that widening inequality, war, declining aid and political inaction are
The terrorist threat confronting Asia is becoming more complex even as some of the world’s most prominent extremist organisations face sustained pressure, according to a new United Nations assessment. The threat level
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Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, has called for the killing of “30 to 40” people in Gaza each night and advocated the re-establishment of Jewish settlements across the Palestinian enclave.
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The language of Russia’s war in Ukraine is changing, creating a vocabulary in which ordinary words and numbers have acquired stark new meanings. Terms such as “meat”, “arrival”, “zero” and “business trip”
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US President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” an annual round of joint military exercises with South Korea, arguing that the drills are costly and send an inappropriate and
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There are lies that depend on falsehood and collapse when confronted with evidence. And there are more durable contradictions: those built on principles that are true, admirable, even indispensable, but applied selectively
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At least 613 people were killed and another 375 injured in Haiti between March and July as criminal gangs fought for control and security forces carried out operations against them, according to
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Around 30 prisoners convicted of serious offences in Sweden are preparing to serve their sentences in Estonia, hundreds of kilometres from where they were tried. They will form the first group transferred
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The departure of hundreds of thousands of Cambodian workers following last year’s border conflict has exposed how heavily parts of Thailand’s economy depend on migrant labour from neighbouring countries. Industries ranging from
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Africa is emerging as an important testing ground for China’s effort to expand the international role of the yuan and reduce dependence on the US dollar. An increasing number of African financial
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his commitment to strengthening ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a message marking the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan, North Korea’s state news
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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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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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“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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