Sri Lanka’s economy is going through a severe crisis as key exports including garment and tea significantly drop with buyers staying away.

As the people of Aceh prepare to go to the polls, tension is building in the region.

Until Somaliland gets official international recognition it cannot exploit its rich reserves of natural resources.

The BBC provide an insight into the West Papuan Independence struggle.

The Sri Lankan Tamils Protection Movement, an umbrella organisation of outfits like PMK, MDMK, VCK, CPI and the Tamil Nationalist Movement, has launched campaign to collect 20 million signatures for a petition calling to save Tamils in Sri Lanka.

The Tamil case for genocide has been extensively discussed in a series of articles in this paper among others. We have shown structural similarities between the genocide of the Tamils and other historic genocides including the Nazi and Rwandan examples.

Tamils across the world held demonstrations and rallies highlighting the ongoing genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka and urging the international community to intervene to stop the suffering of their kin and kith back home.

Sri Lanka’s credit rating outlook was downgraded to negative following the ‘marked’ decline in the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

Sri Lanka may need a bailout from international donors to help pay its debts as the island’s 26- year civil war draws to a close.

The position taken by UN Security Council Friday, February 27, indicating no go beyond ‘hearing’, and the considerate briefing of John Holmes largely endorsing and trusting Colombo’s agenda and assurances for civilians, are read between the lines by international political observers as a ‘knowing wink’ at Colombo to pursue its offensive.

The United Nations Agreement on Human Rights states, amongst other things, that individuals have the “right to life”, “the right to equality before the law” and “the freedom of assembly and association”.

The gathering momentum of global Tamil protest against Sri Lanka’s genocidal war has included acts of self immolation by Tamil activists in India and Europe. This form of protest appears at first sight to be exceptional and unusual; in need of explanation when sitting alongside the other more accepted forms of public dissent.

India has urged the Sri Lankan government to ‘seize the opportunity provided by LTTE's ceasefire offer to bring about a pause in hostilities’, indicating another shift in its policy on its southern neighbour and the ongoing conflict.

Urging International Community to effect a ceasefire and initiate a political solution as a priority than insisting LTTE to lay down arms, the Political Head of the LTTE, B. Nadesan, made an appeal Sunday, February 22, to the heads of the Co-chairs.