Flight of the Rajapaksas: Sri Lankan dynasty faces reckoni...
May 25, 2022
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK -- As dawn broke in Sri Lanka on May 10, helicopters roared over the house of an elderly couple who had just sat down for tea. "There's s...
Broke, downgraded and begging: Sri Lanka pays price for mi...
April 30, 2022
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
People wait in a queue to buy kerosene oil at a fuel dispensing station on Tuesday in Gampola, Sri Lanka. © Getty Images
BANGKO...
Sri Lanka's international bondholders brace for a haircut
April 19, 2022
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK -- Debt-ridden Sri Lanka has stepped into uncharted waters. Negotiations begin this week in Washington between government officials and the In...
Sri Lanka rages against the Rajapaksas: 5 things to know
April 8, 2022
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family have become the focus of public anger over the country's worsening economic crisis. (Nikkei...
Public rage boils as Sri Lanka fumbles with faltering econ...
March 14, 2022
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa presided over the 74th Independence Day celebrations last month in Colombo. His popularity has plummeted as Sri La...
Sri Lanka faces food shortages and a meager New Year
March 1, 2022
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
RAMBEWA, Sri Lanka -- Gentle mounds of freshly harvested but sickly looking maize are spread over a black plastic sheet at a farmhouse in Rambewa, a v...
Sri Lanka has foreign lenders' interests 'at heart': centr...
February 22, 2022
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
Central Bank of Sri Lanka Gov. Nivard Cabraal said in an interview with Nikkei Asia that his nation has "never discussed debt relief with any c...
Maldives scrambles to silence anti-India campaign
February 14, 2022
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
The Maldives, South Asia's smallest nation, is returning as an important actor in the regional power struggle between China and India. (Source photo...
India gains foothold in Sri Lanka with Trincomalee oil tan...
January 29, 2022
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
Ceylon Petroleum Corp.'s oil refinery in Colombo. The CPC along with the government is overwhelmed by debt, giving India an entry point back in...
Dollar drought leaves Sri Lanka groping in the dark
January 25, 2022
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
A man counts change at a gas station on Oct. 18, 2021, in Colombo. © Getty Images
COLOMBO -- As Sri Lanka's dollar scarcity wor...
Sri Lanka pays foreign debt at expense of domestic economy
January 19, 2022
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
A man counts Sri Lankan rupee notes at a currency exchange shop in Colombo, Sri Lanka. A U.S. dollar can fetch about 40 more rupees on the stre...
China presses economic buttons to deepen Indian Ocean clou...
January 13, 2022
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, center, tours the Colombo Port City project during his visit to Sri Lanka on Jan. 9. &c...
Myanmar troops' northwest push fuels humanitarian crisis
December 2, 2021
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
A man holds up a photo of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a demonstration on Nov. 19 organized in New Delhi by the Chin Refugee Committe...
Myanmar shadow government reaps diplomatic harvest
September 10, 2021
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
The United Nations headquarters in New York and protesters in Yangon: Myanmar's military junta is battling the opposition for international recognit...
Russian tourists make big splash in the Maldives
August 3, 2021
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
The Maldivian government now expects to attract 1.5 million vacationers by the end of this year, nearing the 1.7 million tourists it received i...
Book review: Thai, Myanmar militaries bounded by politics,...
May 20, 2021
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
Myanmar's junta chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, presides over an Armed Forces Day parade in Naypyitaw on March 27. Like Thai lead...
Thai PM and Myanmar junta chief stay engaged via back chan...
May 12, 2021
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, left, and Myanmar Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing: Min Aung Hlaing was the first Southeast Asian military l...
Failed state: Myanmar collapses into chaos
By one count, over 700 citizens have been killed in Myanmar since the Feb. 1 coup. But the international community remains paralyzed, even as the cy...
China treads lightly on Myanmar coup with billions at stak...
March 8, 2021
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, left, with Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, in Naypyitaw. Wang traveled to Myanmar in January to s...
Myanmar embraces Russian arms to offset China's influence
February 11, 2021
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
Under Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar has bought Russian weaponry including MiG-29 jet fighters and the Pantsir-S1 missile system
The military conv...
Beijing expands Indian Ocean FTAs westward with Mauritius
February 3, 2021
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By: Marwaan Macan-Markar
Port Louis, the Mauritian capital, is getting busier as the free trade agreement with China comes into play, but observers are concerned that t...
latest News
Column
P.K. Balachandran
Colombo Chronicle
Takeaways from the Indian elections: an overview
Although the elections just held in four States and one Union Territory in India were provincial, they had immense national importance because national issues and national conditions impinged on them...
Ikram Sehgal
Karachi Canvas
Pandemic has sharpened geo-political conflicts
The Corona pandemic that the world is struggling with for the second year now has brought home to us some truths about ourselves. The first thing is that...
