Sri Lanka's Marxist politician Anura Kumara Dissanayaka took an early lead in Saturday's presidential election during the counting of postal ballots, official results showed. Dissanayaka had 60.21 percent of the 164,000 votes counted, out of just over 700,000. Public servants involved in conducting the election are entitled to post their ballots, which are the first to be counted. About 76 percent of the 17.1 million person electorate turned out for Saturday's vote, and final results are expected later Sunday. The election has turned into a referendum on incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe's austerity measures, implemented in line with a $2.9 billion bailout loan he secured from the IMF early last year. The 55-year-old Dissanayaka had vowed to renegotiate the unpopular IMF agreement under which Wickremesinghe had doubled income taxes, removed energy subsidies and raised prices. The initial results showed opposition leader Sajith Premadasa had 19.98, almost neck-and-neck with Wickremesinghe who had 18.59 percent. If elected, Dissanayaka would be Sri Lanka's first Marxist head of state The authorities declared an eight-hour evening curfew across the country while results were being announced via manual counts, as Sri Lanka does not have electronic voting. Wickremesinghe is seeking a fresh term to press ahead with his austerity measures after claiming credit for stabilising the economy after a crushing default on the national debt in 2022. © Agence France-Presse

Mogadishu (HOL) — Egypt has reportedly issued an urgent advisory for all Egyptian nationals in Somaliland to leave the region immediately, citing worsening security conditions. The statement, published on Sunday by Egyptian news outlets, urged citizens to depart as soon as possible through Hargeisa International Airport.

The St Mary police are probing a double murder in Free Hill early this morning. Killed were 48-year-old firefighter Gary Samuels and 26-year-old Barrington Clarke. It is reported that the attack was carried out by men posing as the police. The...

Sections of Rivoli in Spanish Town, St Catherine are under a curfew. The security measure came amid tension in the area following the fatal shooting of two men by the police during an alleged confrontation on Saturday. Upset residents mounted...

The City of Calgary ended water restrictions for the city at a Sunday morning update.

No one was hurt, a spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee’s Western interregional investigative department for transport said

Sixty-six delegates voted in favor of consultations with the IOC and IPC on the partial qualification of Russian and Belarussian chess players

According to the Russian State Duma press service, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union State of Russia and Belarus will hold a meeting in Mogilev on September 23

Russian diplomats were not hurt

«The United Nations had infringed upon its own principles to pander to a group of delegations from the ‘beautiful garden,’ who have usurped the talks from the very beginning,» Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said

SINGAPORE – McLaren reigned supreme in Singapore for the first time since 2009, as Lando Norris won the Formula One Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix on Sept 22. The papaya-clad McLaren driver turned his pole position into victory, marking the British team’s first win here in over a decade. As fireworks lit up the Marina Bay skyline, Norris took the chequered flag in 1hr 40min 52.571sec, finishing 20.945sec ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and 41.823sec ahead of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.  It is the 10th time in 15 editions of the night race that the pole-sitter has gone on to win the race. After a strong start, Norris was rarely troubled as he led from start to finish in a drama-free grand prix. The 24-year-old also improves his record, having won only one race from his previous five pole positions, and becomes the seventh different winner of the Singapore Grand Prix. The 2023 winner, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, was fifth, behind Mercedes’ George Russell. This was McLaren’s second consecutive victory of the season – Piastri was the winner at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sept 15 – and their fifth of the 2024 campaign.

So-called circular economy shops are becoming increasingly popular in this country, and in most of them, you have to book a stand several months in advance. A circular economy shop is a store where you can shop and sell used items such as clothing, shoes, and household goods. Usually the seller rents a booth, and sets up the products, but does not have to be on duty himself. The service to the seller then varies between stores.

The sleepy Sussex seaside village of Camber is being blighted by a so-called Phantom Pooper who is allegedly going around the area defecating in public places.

SHOALWATER BAY, AUSTRALIA - There were tearful scenes at Changi Airport when Third Warrant Officer (3WO) Rohaizeman Sulaiman left for reservist on Wednesday (Sept 18). «My kids cried and asked why I had to go so far away from them for so long,» the 39-year-old told AsiaOne at Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland, Australia. «I'm very thankful that my wife has been very supportive, she has been holding the fort to take care of them.» Father of two Rohaizeman is one of the 6,200 Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) personnel who are involved in Exercise Wallaby - the SAF's largest unilateral overseas exercise.  Exercise Wallaby kicked off on Sept 8 and will run until Nov 3. With an increase from six to nine weeks, this year's edition is also the longest since it started in 1990. Despite missing home and family, Rohaizeman said that the experience of training overseas has been an «eye-opening» experience. The regimental sergeant major at 33rd Combat Service Support Battalion, who last participated in Exercise Wallaby in 2010, is returning to Singapore in two days.

Get the latest news from the 2024 campaign trail in the contest between Vice President Harris and former president Donald Trump.

Mogadishu (HOL) – Deputy Executive Secretary of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Mohamed Abdi Ware, stated that Somalia has no interest in siding with either Ethiopia or Egypt amid their ongoing dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

Israeli soldiers have raided Al Jazeera’s bureau in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank and ordered the Doha-based news network to shut down operations amid a widening Israeli crackdown on media freedom.

Enemy lost up to 420 troops

We have developed a missile program, Ukrainian Defense Minister said

At least 20 people were injured, Tasnim news agency reported

More than 95,800 people being wounded

Russian warplanes hit 13 settlement in the Sumy Region as well, the Russian defense ministry said

The British Columbia election campaign is set to officially start today, with Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin issuing the writ for the Oct. 19 vote.

In the first two months of her campaign, Harris has met or exceeded expectations, but she has to do more to pull ahead of Donald Trump in the battleground states.

The former president, who has shifted his positions over the years, is now planning to lead the GOP charge on gender identity if he returns to the White House.

Child-care costs are a major issue for Nevada parents as the election approaches.

The crew of an Iskander tactical missile system of the Russian Armed Forces carried out a missile strike on the position of an M142 HIMARS of Ukrainian forces in the settlement of Shaposhnikovo

The inauguration of Sri Lanka's next president will take place on Sunday, after the official results are announced

The Kiev regime made an attempt to carry out a terrorist attack with a fixed-wing drone on sites on the territory of the Russian Federation

Peskov was commenting on NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg's recent statement that there is no need to be afraid of using Western weapons for strikes deep inside Russia

YOU WILL defeat your enemies. This is one of the covenant promises that God gave to Abraham at that phenomenal divine encounter at Moriah. He told Abraham that his descendants shall conquer (overcome, uproot, defeat, displace) their enemies. But,...

WESTERN BUREAU: LAST WEEKEND was chock-full of activities at the Sandy Bay Seventh-day Adventist [SDA] Church in Sandy Bay, Hanover, as the church engaged in several community outreach endeavours and worship to mark its 90th anniversary. The...

THE PASSING of a family member, especially a well-beloved one, can be an emotional and psychological experience, especially under certain conditions. The period of grieving can be very long, while some people recover in a matter of months. It...

KAVUMU, Congo (AP): Health authorities have struggled to contain outbreaks of mpox in Congo, a huge central African country where a myriad of existing problems makes stemming the spread particularly hard. Last month, the World Health Organisation...