An unprecedented explosion of violence in Sri Lanka: street clashes, pogroms, there are dead

Hour ago The BBC News Russian Service app is available for IOS and Android . You can also subscribe to our Telegram channel. image copyrightAFP At least…

Running on empty: Rocketing fertiliser prices leaves Sri Lanka’s farmers starving and cropless

Global demand has rapidly outstripped supply; major exporter China has stockpiled fertiliser, sanctions have limited exports from Russia, while the war in Ukraine has caused the price…

China under fire as Sri Lanka teeters on brink of default

Critics say Beijing is to blame for Sri Lanka’s issues, which it is now failing to solve, and accuse it of using projects such as Colombo Port…

Sri Lanka’s desperate hunt for drugs as doctors warn of ‘catastrophic deaths’ in economic crisis

Across Colombo, doctors remain determined to deliver the best healthcare that they can but anger and frustration is rising that they don’t have the tools to do…

The 20 best family holidays abroad for 2022

How to do it: Red Savannah (01242 787800; redsavannah.com) has several beautiful gulets for charter, sleeping up to 20; while Blue Cruise (020 8968 7770; bluecruise.co.uk) offers affordable…

15 of the world’s best holidays for foodies

BBQ bound United States Racking up the awards for best brisket in Texas, Franklin Barbecue restaurant has made Austin a global pilgrimage destination for barbecue lovers. Join…

How safety-first Asia is finally reopening – China and Japan excluded

Two years into the pandemic and travel has finally normalised across much of the world. With the UK scrapping all of its Covid-related restrictions and mask rules…

Anger grows over Sri Lanka’s deepening economic crisis as two men die queuing for basic essentials

Angry Sri Lankans have called on the country’s president to resign after two men collapsed and died over the weekend in separate incidents while queuing for scarce…

The luxurious Indian Ocean holidays that cost as little as £62 a day

With miles of bone-white sand, scalloped bays, coral-hooped lagoons and clotted-cream island specks lapped by liquid Hockney blues, the islands of the Indian Ocean have store cupboard…

The most romantic places on Earth are not necessarily where you think

In those heady early days of infatuation, romance can be found wherever you go. Love is blind to candle­wick bedspreads, rude waiters and stale cigarette smoke. Indeed,…

The on-trend country that offers five-star winter sun at three-star prices

There’s not much to do around the Marino Beach except soak up the rays and the hotel curries (and a fine fish curry, plus dhal, chutneys, coconut…

Why Scotland and France hold the secret to holiday romance

In those heady early days of infatuation, romance can be found wherever you go. Love is blind to candle­wick bedspreads, rude waiters and stale cigarette smoke. Indeed,…

The Good Karma Hospital, series 4, review: a sun-kissed Casualty in the subcontinent

Did you know that Netflix has a stock of fireplace videos? You choose from the classic or birchwood editions, then have the image and sound of a…

What in-the-know travellers are booking for 2022

Take the Trip As restriction-free travel to Costa Rica returns, so too do British Airways’ direct Gatwick-San Jose flights, relaunching this month. Those with the time to…

20 fabulous family holidays for 2022

The first weekend of January, as tradition dictates, is spent vacuuming up pine needles and poring over calendars at the kitchen table for the annual family holiday…

10 predictions for travel in 2022

Take the Trip As restriction-free travel to Costa Rica returns, so too do British Airways’ direct Gatwick-San Jose flights, relaunching this month. Those with the time to…

Sri Lanka sends Ceylon tea to pay $250m Iranian oil bill

 Lanka is to pay off a $251m (£188m) Iranian oil debt by sending the country millions of dollars worth of tea every month. The country will ship…

The captivating story of one of Sri Lanka’s great architects

Lunuganga grew slowly. First the rubber trees had to be cleared, then the land moulded; a hill was lowered to reveal ravishing views. Bawa had no plan,…

Travel to Sri Lanka: latest Covid rules and holiday advice

Sri Lanka is starting to see some return to normalcy after a difficult six months. Despite handling the situation relatively well throughout 2020, a rise in cases…