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China on Monday congratulated the newly-elected Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, saying Beijing is ready to work with the new leadership for “high-quality” cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the ambitious intercontinental connectivity project launched by President Xi Jinping. The Rajapaksa family, including the new president and his elder brother, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, are considered close to Beijing. It was under the elder Rajapaksa’s presidential reign between 2005 and 2015 that Beijing emerged as a key economic ally and major investor of the war-torn country. “Sri Lanka has successfully held the presidential election, …

This project will not increase the country’s growth rate immediately. It will simply address solutions to some of the most critical constraints which the country’s economy faces today. It is a facilitator and not a final solution provider Intelligent children, unlike some of the adults, are curious, probing and questioning. They do not jump to conclusions until and unless they are convinced of facts that have been presented to them. Asani, a student in the Advanced Level class in a leading school, is such a curious child. She had heard and read much about the Millennium Challenge Corporation or MCC Compact Grant for Sri Lanka and had not been convinced of the argumen…

Share prices at the Colombo bourse were high by 12.30 pm having risen in early trade on Monday with brokers and investors cheering new President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s big victory. The All Share Price Index gained by 1.59 per cent to 6,118.37 by 12.30 pm while the S&P rose by 2.03 per cent. to 3,045.60. Turnover was a resounding Rs. 1.7 billion. The presidential election results remove much of the overhang from political uncertainty, analysts say. They say that the possibility of a stable government could lift private investment, a crucial factor for growth given fiscal constraints. Tourism is also likely to pick up after a sharp slowdown following the East…

Easter Sunday bombs had not been a factor which had determined the results of the presidential election in predominantly Catholic areas as there may have been other issues which led the people in the areas concerned to vote as they did, Catholic politicians in the area said today. Veteran Catholic politician, former Speaker Joseph Michael Perera told the Daily Mirror that there may have been other issues which led New Democratic Front (NDF) Candidate Sajith Premadasa to win Negombo and Wattala electorates at Saturday’s presidential election. “We cannot say that Catholics voted the way they did, defying the propaganda carried out by the SL…

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa won Sri Lanka’s bitterly contested presidential poll, bringing with him a family of strongmen that could shift the island nation back toward China and reignite racial tensions that have divided the country for decades. Rajapaksa, 70, won 52.3% of the vote, while the ruling alliance candidate Sajith Premadasa trailed with 42% at the final count, according to state-run television station Rupavahini. He is due to take the oath of office Monday where he will face a parliament led by rival and current Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, potentially setting off another constitutional standoff that may not be resolved until parliamentary elections due a…

இலங்கை 2019 தேர்தல் முடிவுகளும் எமது கடமையும் பெரும்பான்மை ஈழ எம்மக்கள் சஜித்திற்கு ஆதரவளித்த நிலையில், எமது மக்களின் சனநாயக விருப்பை எவ்வாறு புலம்பெயர் மக்கள் நாம் பிரதிபலிக்கலாம். ஆககுறைந்தது ஒரு கடிதம் எழுதலாம், உங்கள் நாட்டின் தலைவருக்கு இல்லை ஐ.நா. விற்கு .... ======================== To UN Secretary General =========================================== Fome can be found here : https://www.un.org/en/contact-us/ Dear Secretary General, As you may be aware that Sri Lanka has elected a new president, Mr. Gothabaya Rajabakse. He was the defense secretary leading into last phases of civil war where it is believed thousands of civilians wer…

1000 Days of Protest, No Action or New Information on War Disappeared in Sri Lanka Geneva Nov 15, 2019: The families of Tamil civilians who are the victims of enforced disappearances and who remain missing during and after the war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan government have been holding awareness rally in public now for 1000 consecutive days. They have received no new information about the fate of their loved ones and no action has taken against the perpetrators in all that time. Since the start of the campaign, 53 mothers and fathers of the disappeared have passed away, two of them this week, without knowing the fate of their so…

Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared victory on Sunday in Sri Lanka’s presidential election, signaling the return to power of a divisive family credited for ending the country’s long civil war through brutal means. Mr. Rajapaksa defeated his closest opponent, Sajith Premadasa, by about 10 percentage points, according to an official tally from Sri Lanka’s election commission. His party expects him to be sworn into office early this week. “As we usher in a new journey for Sri Lanka, we must remember that all Sri Lankans are part of this journey,” Mr. Rajapaksa wrote on Twitter in his first remarks about the victory. “Let us rejoice peacefully, with dignity and discipline i…

DAKAR, Senegal — Gambia, the smallest country in continental Africa, took an unprecedented step this week in the realm of international justice: It filed a lawsuit at the United Nations’ top court accusing Myanmar of genocide against Rohingya Muslims. The case at the International Court of Justice, which typically addresses disputes between states, raised eyebrows because Myanmar sits roughly 7,000 miles from Gambia, which lacks any tangible connection to the protracted crisis in Southeast Asia. But the story of why such a tiny player chose to tackle a distant conflict is personal. Abubacarr M. Tambadou, Gambia…

Intel® Edge AI Scholarship Program Application is due by December 10, 2019 (12pm Pacific Time) This scholarship is open to all applicants interested in learning how to work with computer vision deep learning models at the edge. Applicants 18 years of age or older are invited to apply. We’ll review all applications and select recipients to participate in the Intel® Edge AI Fundamentals Course. This is where your learning begins! Recipients will spend 3.5 months optimizing powerful computer vision deep learning models. The initial fundamentals course is intended for students with some background in AI and computer vision, with experience in either Python or C++ an…

Can You Control Your Destiny?

A local politician will appear when an election is close by: Krishnasamy “If we work we will be able to earn a living,” said T. Krishnasamy. “When an election is close by, a local politician would appear from nowhere and distribute some items for us. But if we go to get something done they won’t even remember us. This is what we have experienced and there will be no change even if a new candidate is elected as president.” No hopes on any politician : Sheela “It’s quite challenging to live inside these line rooms,” said Sheela. “We don’t have water and around six of us have to stay in two blocks. Life itself is a challenge, but we need to educate o…

Underscoring that presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa’s election manifesto is progressive on furthering democratic reforms, including key Tamil considerations such as continuing with the constitutional reform process, the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) urged the Tamil people in the Northern and Eastern Provinces and throughout Sri Lanka to freely exercise their franchise at the November 16 election. It said in a statement that SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s manifesto, on the other hand, has strong national security focus, but no serious commitment to expand the fledgling democratic space. “The refusal by all major presidential contestants to engage with Tamil…

Origins of Remembrance Day Why is this day special to Australians? At 11 am on 11 November 1918 the guns on the Western Front fell silent after more than four years of continuous warfare. The allied armies had driven the German invaders back, having inflicted heavy defeats upon them over the preceding four months. In November the Germans called for an armistice (suspension of fighting) in order to secure a peace settlement. They accepted allied terms that amounted to unconditional surrender. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month attained a special significance in the post-war years. The moment when hostilities ceased on the Western Front became un…

China to take over Uganda’s main assets over unpaid rising huge debt The Ugandan government is now at risk of losing its main state assets to China over unpaid huge increasing loans from the Chinese government. But according to the Ugandan government, the growing debt is sustainable, and the country is not at risk of losing state assets to China, the country’s finance minister, Matia Kasaija. African Stand reported in December last year that the Kenyan government risks losing the lucrative Mombasa port to China if the country fails to repay huge loans advanced by Chinese lenders, but both Chinese and Kenyan officials have dismissed t…

There was once a time in Sri Lanka when even despite the dictatorial rule of the Rajapakasas there was a glimmer of hope for the people because a law operated in the country. Continuing from that dark era, when democracy was virtually nonexistent, people saw the law receiving its deserving status as one of the three pillars on which democracy exists. At present under the Wickremesinghe government any person having a grievance has the right to seek the assistance of the law. This is what Prof. Chandragupta Thenuwara and Gamini Viyangoda did when they raised abjections about the citizenship status of president hopeful Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The issue here is that they ha…

There is a widespread belief that Sri Lankan presidential candidate Gota played a crucial role in mass killings of thousands of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka. One could argue that if he is elected, the IC, International Community, will be in a tough spot. On one hand he is an elected leader of a democratic country. On other hand, IC does not want to be seen shaking hands with an accused. If the diaspora and other activists around the world can learn from other examples. One would be that of UN peace forces and Sri Lanka where recent appointment of Mr. C Silva as army chief. Also, one could work to impose to ban an individual for crimes against humanity and…

Army in pre-schools = PsyOps http://www.cimicjaffna.com/Cimicnews_2019_10_07.php A New Building for the Pre-School in Ariyalai [2019-10-06: 18:05:32] A brief ceremony was organized by the 52 Division to lay the foundation stone for the new building of Shanmuga Pre-school at Pumpukar, Ariyalai on Monday, 07 October 2019, on the directions of the Commander, Security Forces - Jaffna Major General Ruwan Wanigasooriya. The Commander, Security Forces - Jaffna laid the foundation stone for the new building in accordance with Hindu religious customs. Commander of the Army Li…

Refugees are not all in the same ‘boat’ By Harini SivalingamContributor Ten years ago, a rickety boat filled with the hopes and dreams of 76 Tamil men, who fled horrors in their homeland in search of safety, security, and stability, was intercepted off the coast of Vancouver. The arrival of the MV Ocean Lady on Oct. 17, 2009 sent shock waves throughout Canada. The government at the time sought to attribute sinister motives toward those on board; the media raced to gather information about their origins; refugee rights activists scrambled to respond to media inquiries; and the Tamil-Canadian community mob…

Police have charged a New Zealand man with five counts of murder following the mysterious “witchcraft” deaths of a Fijian family last month. Husband and wife Nirmal Kumar, 63, and Usha Devi, 54, their daughter Nileshni Kajal, 34, and Kajal’s daughters Sana, 11, and Samara, eight, were all found dead in the Nausori Highlands in August. According to reports and police testimony, a one-year-old baby was found alive among the bodies. The case has shocked Fijians. With no visible injuries present on the bodies of the five family members, police suspected poisoning as their cause of death. The father of the two dead children told the Fiji Sun that his father…

Israel has tremendously strong economy

Twenty years ago, 15-year-old Sharmini Anandavel disappeared on her way to a job that police believe didn’t exist. Four months later, her remains were found in a Toronto ravine. https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/sharmini?fbclid=IwAR3mIrFMYGli2GywZg52yfkY1x4ocomUFNU2QczFa1UPW8O0GIf9-s6YGko

“I freaked out,” 17-year-old Maitreyi Ramakrishnan said about nabbing the lead role in the as-yet-unnamed Netflix comedy series. Kaling held open casting for the part in April. The show is inspired by Kaling’s own childhood, centring on Devi, a modern-day, first-generation Indian-American teen. The teen spoke to CBC’s Metro Morning about taking on the role.

Matthew Hayden In Conversation with Sadhguru 4:47 Is there a specific reason why we all gathered here today ? 12:12 Discussion on the spirit of collaboration 24:38 If our strength is our intelligence, why are we committing so many atrocities ? 27:42 Are humans guided by false expectations ? 31:45 Testing Sadhguru's knowledge on some local Aussie jargon.. 35:15 What were you first impressions about Australia ? 46:17 What's your vision for the conservation of water ? 1:00:49 At an individual level, what can we do about water wastage ? 1:12:53 How to be happy not being affected by the environment and the surroundings ? 1:20:20 Sometimes I feel I have ti…

Alexandra Mae Jones, CTVNews.ca Published Saturday, August 31, 2019 7:28PM EDT Toronto is the safest city in North America, according to a new report on cities worldwide, which also ranks the Ontario capital as the sixth safest city overall. This year’s Safe Cities Index, a report put out by The Economist Intelligence Unit, looked at 60 cities across five different continents. The criteria for scoring was split into four major categories: digital safety, infrastructure, health and pe…