Sri Lanka PM’s private house

SRI LANKA UPRISING

Russian navy receives 1st submarine carrying nuke-powered drones

Moscow, July 9: The Russian navy has received the first submarine Belgorod which is designed to carry Poseidon nuclear-powered underwater drones. The submarine opens new opportunities for Russia to implement various scientific research tasks and conduct rescue operations in remote areas of the oceans, Xinhua news agency quoted Nikolay Yevmenov, commander-in-chief of the Navy, as saying at a ceremony on Friday. The nuclear-powered Belgorod was floated out in April 2019 and was initially planned to be delivered to the navy in 2020. Two more such submarines will be commissioned by 2027. According to an earlier report by the TASS News Agency, the Poseidon drone is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead with a yield of up to 2 megatonnes to destroy enemy naval bases. It can travel fast in an intercontinental range with an operational depth of over 1 km. Kiev, July 7 (IANS): Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said that over 21,000 war crimes and crimes of aggression allegedly committed by Russia since it began its invasion of Kiev on February 24 is being investigated. Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday, Venediktova claimed that she was

About 1 mn people defending Ukraine: Defence Minister

Kiev, July 9: Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that about 1 million people are participating in defending the country’s in the wake of Russia’s ongoing war. Some 700,000 soldiers of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, 100,000 officers of the National Police, 90,000 members of the National Guard and 60,000 border guards are involved in the activities of the security and defence sector in Ukraine, Xinhua news agency quoted Reznikov as saying. Ukraine is interested in attracting more investment in its military-industrial complex and creating joint ventures with partners to meet the needs of the defence forces, the Minister said. Due to the war which began on February 24, Ukraine has become a kind of “huge training facility” where new types of weapons and innovative solutions are used, Reznikov noted. receiving reports of between 200 to 300 war crimes on a daily basis. She admitted that many trials would be held in absentia, but stressed that it was “a question of justice” to continue with the prosecutions. Venediktova told the BBC that Russian soldiers who killed, tortured or raped civilians “should understand that it’s only a question of time when they all will be in court”. She said that although her team was working in regions across Ukraine, it was unable to investigate all cases “properly and effectively” because of a lack of access to some people and areas. In May, Venediktova had said that about 600 suspects had already been identified and 80 prosecutions had begun. The first Russian soldier to be put on trial in Ukraine, Sgt Vadim Shishimarin, was sentenced to life in prison for killing a civilian. The International Criminal Court has described Ukraine as a “crime scene”, dispatching its largest team of detectives ever to the country to assist in multiple investigations. Russia has however, repeatedly denied all war crimes allegations and claims of targeting civilians.

346 kids killed in Ukraine since beginning of war

Kiev, July 7 (IANS) Since Russia began its ongoing invasion of Kiev on February 24, at least 346 children have been killed in Ukraine. In its latest update on Thursday, the Office of the Prosecutor General said 645 children have also been injured, reports Ukrayinska Pravda. The Office however, said that the figures were “not final, as work continues to establish the data in places of active hostilities and in the temporarily occupied and liberated territories”. Due to the relentless bombing and shelling by the Russian forces, 2,108 educational institutions in Ukraine have been damaged, of which 215 are completely destroyed. In a report last month, the Unicef had said 3 million children inside Ukraine and over 2.2 million children in refugee-hosting countries are now in need of humanitarian assistance. Almost two out of every three children have been displaced by fighting, according to the UN agency. The Unicef further warned that the war has caused an acute child protection crisis. Children fleeing violence are at significant risk of family separation, violence, abuse, sexual exploitation, and trafficking.

Anti-govt protesters storm SL President’s house

Colombo, July 9 (IANS): Demanding the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, anti-government Sri Lankan protesters on Saturday stormed the President’s House in Colombo braving several police and military barricades and tear gas shells. Security forces fired teargas and water cannons to disperse the protesters but later withdrew and resorted to firing in the air. At least 20 people have been hospitalised following violent clashes between the police and the protesters. Since early Saturday night, there were attempts to disperse the protesters and university students who had occupied the area near the President’s House overnight. The President’s whereabouts are currently unknown but it is suspected that he is at the heavily-guarded Army headquarters in Battaramulla. A major people’s protest march to Colombo from around the island for Saturday has been planned by religious leaders, political parties, medical practitioners, university teachers, civil rights activists, farmers, and fishermen on Saturday demanding the resignation of President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. On Friday night, authorities enforced an indefinite curfew in entrance areas to Colombo and the Defence Ministry had warned police and military have been empowered to act against those engaging in any form of violence. Lawyers challenged the declaration of curfew as illegal and announced that people could ignore it. Since early Saturday, people from all the over the country starting pouring into Colombo in trains and buses, chanting slogans eGota go home’ and eGota a mad man’. In the wake of the island nation’s worst economic crisis since it gained independence in 1948, people have been protesting since March 31 against President Rajapaksa and his government, asking him to step down. In the wake of the violent protests, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, his brother former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa and several other family members who were in the cabinet and parliament resigned. With no fuel country’s transportation have been stopped completely for two weeks and Indian ocean island is virtually under lockdown. The island nation of 22 million people has witnessed its foreign exchange reserves shrink due to economic mismanagement and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result it has struggled to pay for imports of essential goods, including fuel, food and medicine. In May, it defaulted on its debts for the first time in its history after a 30-day grace period to come up with $78 million of unpaid debt interest payments expired.

Angry protesters set fire to Sri Lanka PM’s private house

Colombo, July 9 (IANS): Antigovernment protesters on Saturday set fire to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence in the heart of Colombo after his security attacked them. The protesters, who marched to Colombo on Saturday morning demanding resignation of President Gotobaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, stormed the President’s official residence, braving police, and later occupied the Prime Minister’s official resident, the Temple Trees. Later, the protesters marched to Wickremesinghe’s private residence in Colombo 7 and surrounded it, demanding that he step down. However, the police’s elite Special Task Force (STF) attacked the protesters and six journalists from a private television station. Angered by the attack, the protesters had set fire to the house of Wickremesinghe who had left it with his wife. “Protesters have broken into the private residence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and have set it on fire,” the PM’s office announced. At the party leaders meeting summoned by the Speaker to solve the current crisis, Wickremesinghe had refused to resign from his post. Later he announced that he would resign once an all-party government is formed and a political group proved its majority in the parliament.

China employed ‘Debt Trap Diplomacy’ to gain strategic edge over SL: Think tank

New Delhi, July 10: China employed its devious ‘Debt Trap Diplomacy’ to gain a strategic edge over Sri Lanka, an independent foreign policy think tank said on Saturday after Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe resigned making way for an all-party cabinet to assume control of the country. “In response to Sri Lanka’s financial crisis, China employed its devious ‘Debt Trap Diplomacy’ to gain a strategic edge over the nation and hold its economy hostage. The port cities of Hambantota and Colombo have been leased to China for 100 years. China is now the second largest lender to Sri Lanka, holding more than 10 per cent of Sri Lanka’s outstanding foreign debt in 2019,” Red Lantern Analytica said in a statement. It added that Sri Lanka has fallen apart as a country because of the economic disaster caused by the poor governance, lack of transparency, the Chinese debt trap, and corruption. Sri Lanka’s GDP-to-Debt ratio has been continuously increasing since 2010, when the island nation’s financial downward spiral began, the statement said, adding that an increase in the current account deficit and a steep decline in exports precipitated a full-blown economic crisis in 2019. However, when China took advantage of the situation to increase Sri Lanka’s debt burden, India gave a helping hand by offering financial packages consisting of a $500 million credit facility for gasoline imports and a $1 billion credit facility for imports of critical products from India, the think tank asserted. Additionally, India has sent $2.4 billion through currency swaps, loan deferrals, and other credit lines. However, it was unable to save Sri Lanka, which was entirely enslaved by Chinese debt and ultimately succumbed to it, added the statement. The think tank also said that China’s economic help to Sri Lanka was mostly a plan to get political and security leverage against India, and move forward with its expansionist goals along the Indian Ocean Rim. “The nations of the world must learn from the fall of Colombo and avoid falling into China’s debt trap. In addition, other major powers must devise development plans and infrastructure projects for underdeveloped nations to halt the expansion of China’s BRI,” the statement noted.

Amidst public protest, SL President decides to resign on July 13

Colombo, July 9 (IANS): After a months-long massive public agitation, Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaska on Saturday informed the Speaker that he would resign from the Presidency on July 13. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene announced that President Rajapaksa had informed him about his decision to resign. People set off fire-crackers as soon as the news broke. Following a massive public march to Colombo on Saturday morning and forcible occupation of the President’s House, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe asked the Speaker to summon the leaders of all political parties and decide on the way to resolve the crisis. A majority of party leaders had decided to remove the President and the Prime Minister and appoint a temporary President and all-party government for a specific period until a fresh election is held to form a government. President Rajapaksa, who had not appeared publicly since Friday night, had announced he would agree any decision taken by the party leaders. Following the all-party meeting, the Speaker had sent a letter to the President and the Prime Minister, urging them to step down for a peaceful transfer of power. Starting from March 31, when President Rajapaksa’s private residence outside Colombo was surround by protesters who demand he step down amidst the growing financial crisis, protests continued throughout the island with one slogan “Gota go home”. On April 2, the protesters surrounded the President’s office at Galle Face Green and blocked its entrance as they continued to demand that he step down. With no fuel, the country was virtually locked down for two weeks from June 27 but people planned to come to Colombo to demand that the President step down.