From ancient kings who disciplined errant monks to modern political battles over Gnanasara Thera, Sri Lanka’s history raises an uncomfortable question: should the saffron robe shield its wearer from accountability? The controversy
Myanmar’s informal money-transfer network is providing a financial lifeline to families struggling with economic hardship while enabling migrants abroad to bypass banking channels controlled by the military-backed government. Known as the hundi
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Sri Lanka’s state universities are struggling to recruit and retain senior academics as lecturers leave for overseas employment, creating staffing shortages that threaten their ability to accommodate a growing student population. The
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Iran has launched a nationwide civilian mobilisation campaign combining military training, emergency preparedness and financial incentives as the country faces a prolonged conflict with the United States, worsening economic hardship and renewed
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Europe’s latest passenger-rights initiative raises a fundamental question: should airlines merely compensate travellers when things go wrong, or empower them to take control? From rerouting and refunds to family seating, disability access
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The JVP’s journey from armed insurrection to democratic power raises a troubling question about political survival: can a movement built on resistance deliver meaningful change once it governs? This critique argues that
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Navi Pillay’s 2026 Nobel Peace Prize celebrates a lifetime of challenging impunity and defending human dignity. Yet her legacy also raises difficult questions about accountability, political power and the credibility of international
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Michel Foucault’s examination of how medical, legal and social institutions classify human bodies is returning to public debate with the publication of an unpublished text, The Hermaphrodites, as the French philosopher’s centenary
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The Canadian poet’s fusion of classical scholarship, experimental poetry, essays and performance has created new forms of contemporary literature, drawing international audiences to work that questions established ideas about language, identity and
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An alleged gang rape at Cornell University in New York has renewed scrutiny of male student fraternities in the United States, after messages reportedly exchanged in a fraternity group chat suggested that
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President Donald Trump and Iran’s leaders are preparing for the possibility of renewed military confrontation after the November 3 US midterm elections, while continuing to pursue a diplomatic resolution to the conflict,
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Mon dieu! Quel bordel, as say the French. France, the home of reason and logic, is consumed by riots. How can a nation with such advanced education be in such a mess?
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The suppression of Indigenous fire management after British colonisation probably transformed large areas of southeastern Australia into dense forests containing more combustible vegetation, contributing to the larger and more intense bushfires experienced
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Airlines and airports could play a significant role in detecting and containing a potential outbreak of pneumonic plague linked to a lab technician’s death in Russia, drawing on public-health measures developed during
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Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old Spanish woman whose eviction from her Madrid home last month triggered mass housing protests and contributed to the calling of an early election, has died, the Madrid tenants’
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Nearly 900 secondary schools across France were fully or partly closed this week as student protests over staff shortages and poor school conditions escalated into violence, leaving at least 215 pupils, almost
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