Sri Lanka: former head of secret service linked to 2019 Easter attacks arrested

Today's news: new clashes on the border between Thailand and Cambodia, Bangkok opens fire and stops three Cambodian fishermen at sea. Modi visits Israel: security and economic agreements discussed. South Korea's birth rate rises for the second consecutive year. Malaysia has blocked the Grindr and Blued dating sites for LGBTQ+ people.

SRI LANKA

Suresh Sallay, former head of the secret service in Sri Lanka, has been arrested in connection with the series of attacks on Easter Sunday 2019, which killed 279 people. Sallay, who was promoted to head of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) in 2019 after Gotabaya Rajapaksa took office, had been accused of involvement in the coordinated suicide bombings, a charge he denied. British broadcaster Channel 4 reported in 2023 that Sallay was linked to the attackers and had met with them prior to the attack, with the intention of influencing that year's presidential election in favour of Rajapaksa.

THAILAND - CAMBODIA

Thailand opened fire on Cambodian soldiers at the border, claiming to be responding to a grenade attack. Tensions between the two neighbours have temporarily flared up again - after the Thai navy captured three Cambodian fishermen - threatening the fragile ceasefire reached on 27 December, which had ended a six-month border conflict. This is the most serious incident reported since the Christmas ceasefire, which followed diplomatic pressure from the United States and China.

ISRAEL - INDIA

Indian Prime Minister Modi begins a two-day visit to Israel today. Modi's first trip to Israel was in 2017, the first time for an Indian leader. Modi is expected to discuss with Netanyahu the strengthening of security and economic agreements. The countries signed a new bilateral investment treaty in September 2025 to provide “certainty and protection” to investors. India is Israel's second largest trading partner in Asia after China.

SOUTH KOREA

According to the government, South Korea's birth rate, the worst in the world, rose for the second consecutive year in 2025, a further sign that the country, which has been grappling with a demographic crisis for nearly a decade, may have begun to overcome the crisis. South Korea's total fertility rate - the average number of children a woman is expected to have during her reproductive life - stood at 0.80 in 2025, up from 0.75 in 2024.

MALAYSIA

Malaysia has blocked the dating sites Grindr and Blued - used by LGBTQ+ people - and will consider legal measures against their presence in app stores. This was announced by Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil, who specified that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has not received any requests to remove the mobile versions of Grindr and Blued from digital stores, highlighting the difficulties due to the fact that these apps are foreign-owned.

RUSSIA - UKRAINE

Since the end of December, taking advantage of Russia's exclusion from Starlink satellites, the Ukrainians have recaptured over 400 square kilometres of territory, as confirmed by Chief of Staff Aleksandr Syrskij at a meeting of Ukrainian army division commanders, with whom he discussed the next steps in the counterattack strategy, particularly in the areas of logistics, evacuation of the wounded and supplies of weapons and ammunition.

KAZAKHSTAN

Female students at the Technical-Industrial College in the city of Turkestan in Kazakhstan are posting videos on social media about the humiliation they suffer when they are forced by the management to wash the corridors and toilets throughout the building, especially the male areas, before health checks, under threat of being expelled from the college and their studies, given the shortage of cleaning staff, but “we came here to study, not to be servants”.