With the collapse of its economy in June, the situation is dire in Sri Lanka.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), Sri Lanka faces a “serious food crisis,” with 6.3 million people—close to 30% of the 22 million population—being food insecure. Food inflation has reached a record-high of 90%, making staples such as rice unaffordable for millions of people. Overall, inflation is running at 60%.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, speaking at an economic forum in Berlin, said that happy times for the West were over.

The head of the German government means stable economic growth and low inflation.

It is the growth of Asian economies that appears to be the real cause of the economic crisis in Europe, the German chancellor said. The coronavirus pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine could only catalyse those trends. They did not trigger the crisis that the EU found itself in.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has said his country does not want France to take part in its peace talks with Armenia, calling off a four-way meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council head Charles Michel in Brussels on December 7.

Aliyev said on Friday that Macron had “attacked” and “insulted” Baku and should not act as a go-between.

Josep Borrell’s plan to construct new transportation corridors between the European Union and Central Asia, which will bypass Russia, will be difficult to achieve due to issues of geography. The EU is already economically suffering because of their refusal to deal with Russia and it can be expected that any corridors bypassing the Eurasian Giant will also face the same issues.

Southeast Asia is right at the center of international relations for a whole week viz a viz three consecutive summits: Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Phnom Penh, the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Bali, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok.

Eighteen nations accounting for roughly half of the global economy represented at the first in-person ASEAN summit since the Covid-19 pandemic in Cambodia: the ASEAN 10, Japan, South Korea, China, India, US, Russia, Australia, and New Zealand.

 Armenia ’s Defence Ministry reported Thursday that an Armenian soldier was wounded and in critical condition after being shot by Azerbaijani forces on the eastern section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

Both sides accused each other of opening fire on border positions earlier in the week.

Outraged at the military’s toppling of Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government just 10 years after the start of a shaky transition to democracy, and horrified by a brutal crackdown on unarmed protesters in the immediate aftermath of the coup last year, the people of Myanmar have taken matters into their own hands.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called on other claimants to the South China Sea to “jointly resist” US pressure in the region, The South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.