Colombo (LNW): The budget proposal of the Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha, currently under the governance of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), encountered a substantial defeat today (05), with a majority of 09 votes opposing it.
Chairman Karunasena Ponnamperuma presented the budget proposal to the council, with only 10 councilors from the SLPP casting affirmative votes.
Conversely, 19 councilors voted against the proposal, comprising 7 MPs from the SLPP itself, 7 MPs from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), 3 MPs from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), and 2 MPs from the National Peoples’ Power (NPP).
Colombo (LNW): A demonstration was staged by the Alliance of Teachers and Principals Unions adjacent to the Parliament Roundabout this afternoon (05), expressing disapproval of the 2024 Budget.
The organised protest serves as a response to the government’s decision to refrain from allocating funds in the budget to address prevailing educational issues, specifically the disparities in teacher and principal salaries.
This advocacy campaign has garnered endorsement from a coalition of educators, including teachers, principals, school counselors, and Piriven Guru.
Colombo (LNW): The Court of Appeal has rescheduled the hearing on the petition related to the appointment of the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) interim committee and the stay order inhibiting its functions. The court will address the case on Wednesday, December 13, 2023.
The postponement occurred as the new Sports Minister, Harin Fernando, requested additional time to communicate his stance regarding the Gazette issued on the interim committee.
Minister Fernando assured the court that no further action would be taken regarding the Gazette notification issued by the former Sports Minister until the specified date.
The case revolves around a motion filed by former Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe, seeking an order to revoke the stay order imposed on the recently appointed SLC Interim Committee. The stay order was initiated following a motion filed by SLC President Shammi Silva.
Former Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe appointed the interim committee, alleging financial malpractices in cricket administration, a claim refuted by the SLC.
The dispute between Ranasinghe and SLC gained parliamentary attention, resulting in the International Cricket Council (ICC) imposing a ban on Sri Lanka Cricket.
Consequently, President Ranil Wickremesinghe removed Roshan Ranasinghe from his ministerial portfolio and appointed Tourism and Lands Minister Harin Fernando to the post.
Colombo (LNW): November 2023 witnessed a surge in tourist arrivals, surpassing 150,000 and marking the highest for the year, according to Sri Lanka’s Tourism Ministry.
The month recorded a total of 151,496 tourist arrivals. India remained the leading source market, contributing 20 per cent , followed by Russia at 16 per cent and Germany at 8 per cent.
Other notable contributors included the United Kingdom, Australia, China, the United States, and France.
With these November arrivals, Sri Lanka’s total tourist count for the initial 11 months of the year reached 1.27 million.
Colombo (LNW): The Central Province Civil Appellate High Court has handed down a death sentence to two individuals, Saman Kumara Dissanayake and Samarakoon Bandara Wijekoon, residents of Gurubedda, Kandy, who were found guilty of the murder of a person in 2010.
The verdict was delivered by High Court Judge Sumudu Premachandra, who emphasised that the prosecution successfully established the allegations against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Attorney General had brought forth the case before the Kandy High Court, charging the duo with murdering Samy Aiya Dhana Balasinham by assaulting him in July 2010 in the Kande Handiya area of Kandy, using punches, kicks, and clubs. The case had 14 witnesses, including seven eyewitnesses.
Colombo (LNW): Defence State Minister Premitha Bandara Tennakoon today (05) announced plans for the government to empower women to lead the tri forces in the country.
Currently, women in Sri Lanka can only attain the rank of major, particularly in the army.
Accordingly, the government intends to amend military laws to facilitate the promotion of women, ultimately allowing them to head all three forces, Minister Tennakoon said.
Emphasising the historical roles women have played in Sri Lanka, Tennakoon stressed the need for greater efforts to ensure gender equality and equal status for women.
Colombo (LNW): The Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR) today (05) indicates a slight fluctuation against the US Dollar in comparison to yesterday, as per the official exchange rates issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lank (CBSL).
Accordingly, the buying price of the US Dollar has increased to Rs. 323 from Rs. 322.89, and the selling price has dropped to Rs. 333.20 from Rs. 333.32.
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Rupee indicates a slight appreciation against several other foreign currencies.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is greatly concerned over the disappearance of Minnie Chan, a reporter for Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post, who went missing in China in late October after she covered Beijing’s security forum.
Some friends of Minnie Chan, asenior reporter working for Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post (SCMP)and specialised in defence issues, publicly expressed concerns that she might be detained as they hadn’t been able to reach her since late October, when she covered a Xiangshan Forum, a three-day security conference held in Beijing.
Chan’s latest story, looking at China’s response to the war in Gaza, was published on the SCMP‘s website on 1 November 2023. In answer to an inquiry by Kyodo News, an SCMP executive stated that the journalist was “on personal leave” in Beijing “to handle a private matter”, and refused to give more details over “privacy concerns”. On the same day, SCMPalso threatened to take legal action against independent media outlet Hong Kong Free Press following its coverage of the reporter’s disappearance.
“We are deeply concerned by Minnie Chan’s disappearance as it has become a common practice for the Chinese regime to kidnap journalists and arbitrarily detain them for months in black jails, where they are deprived of their rights and often tortured. We urge Beijing to immediately disclose her whereabouts and, in case she is detained, to proceed with her immediate release.”
Cédric Alviani RSF Asia-Pacific Bureau Director
Frequent disappearances of journalists
It is reportedly not the first time a journalist from SCMP, a media outlet owned by the Chinese technology company Alibaba, goes silent after a work trip to China. According to TV channel Al Jazeera, one of Chan’s colleagues went missing for nine months in 2022, and was later assigned to another department covering less “politically sensitive” news.
In recent years, several journalists and press freedom defenders had been kidnaped or secretly detained incommunicado, to be later confirmed as held in custody by the regime, including publisher Gui Minhai, who was kidnapped in Thailand in 2015, journalist Yang Zewei, who was kidnapped in Laos in May 2023, and publisher Lü Hua, who was revealed to be detained, four months after his disappearance in April 2023.
Since Chinese leader Xi Jinping took power in 2012, he has been conducting a large-scale crusade against journalism, as revealed in RSF’s report The Great Leap Backwards of Journalism in China published in December 2021, which details Beijing’s efforts to control information and media within and outside its borders.
Hong Kong ranks 140th out of 180 in RSF’s 2023 World Press Freedom Index, having plummeted down from 18th place in the span of two decades. China itself ranks 179th out of 180 in the 2023 RSF World Press Freedom Index and is the world’s largest captor of journalists and press freedom defenders with at least 121 detained.
REPORTERS SANS FRONTIÈRES / REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS (RSF)
Colombo (LNW): The Education Ministry has announced a reduction in school grades from 13 to 12 as part of new educational reforms, Minister Susil Premajayantha revealed.
Presenting the progress for 2023 and plans for 2024 during the Ministry of Education’s budget presentation, it was revealed that the reforms aim to provide every child with the opportunity to complete school in 17 years.
Under the proposed changes, the age classification for education includes 4 years for pre-school, Grades 1-5 for the primary section, Grades 6-8 for the junior section, and Grades 9 to 12 for the senior section.
The Ministry of Education plans to allocate a percentage of marks for the Grade 5 scholarship exam from school-based evaluations and exams, with a proposal to simplify the exam and eliminate competition.
Additionally, the reforms include the introduction of general level examinations in Grade 10 and advanced level examinations in Grade 12.
The number of subjects for O/L exams will be reduced from 9 to 7, focusing on Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Technical and Professional Skills, and Religion and Values.
Officials highlighted that over 80,000 students fail the Ordinary Level examination annually and assured that no child would fail under the new reforms. All students passing the Ordinary Level exam will have the opportunity to pursue vocational training courses.
A-level subjects will be categorised into academic and vocational education, providing a path for each student to obtain a degree. The Ministry of Education added two new subjects to academic studies, increasing the total from 6 to 8.
Additionally, 10 subject areas under practical studies will offer opportunities for children to obtain degrees in vocational fields.
Colombo (LNW): The container port terminal being built in Colombo by India’s Adani Group is mostly being paid for with funds from a US government agency.
Analysts say it unveils a new type of public-private partnership being rolled out as part of the Quad grouping’s infrastructure push.
A US-funded port project in Sri Lanka that is partly owned by a private group close to India’s ruling party could signal a new form of partnership to counter growing Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Adani Group, controlled by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and with businesses ranging from ports to edible oils, is developing the Colombo West International Terminal project in Sri Lanka’s capital and holds a 51 per cent stake in the project, backed by more than US$500 million in funding from a US government agency.
Sri Lankan conglomerate John Keells Holdings and the state-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority hold the remaining stakes.
India and the United States – alongside Australia and Japan – form the Quad diplomatic network, whose leaders have said they are focused on providing an alternative to Chinese infrastructure projects for developing nations.
The new Sri Lankan port terminal, resembling a public-private partnership, would appear to be their first such endeavour.
Analysts say the move signals a new determination on the Quad’s part to guard against smaller nations leaning too heavily on China and its arterial trade and military routes. Another terminal at the port is run by China Merchants Port Holdings Co Ltd.
Cedomir Nestrovic, a professor of geopolitics at the ESSEC Business School Asia-Pacific in Singapore, said it would be too simplistic to characterise the US-funded project as just another business deal.
He said geopolitical interests could be seen in the fact that the US$553 million in financing from the US International Development Finance Corporation, a federal government agency, represents nearly four-fifths of the US$700 million required to build the terminal.
There are not many other cases “where America has invested institutionally in this way, with this amount of money,” Nestrovic said. “The political motivation is part of the larger rivalry that exists between the United States and China.”
US efforts to contain China militarily through the presence of American troops in South Korea and Japan have been expanded into the economic sphere via the larger Quad grouping and the push “to ‘cut the grass’ of Chinese investments”, Nestrovic said.
