Palestinian rights lawyer killed in Israel West Bank clashes




Israeli troops clash with Palestinians in Nablus after entering the West Bank city with Jewish builders to carry out repairs at a flashpoint religious site (AFP/-)


The brother of Palestinian lawyer Muhammad Hassan Muhammad Assaf mourns over his body during the funeral in the village of Kafr Laqif near Qalqilya in the northwest of the occupied West Bank 

(AFP/JAAFAR ASHTIYEH)\

Israel has poured in additional forces and is reinforcing its wall and fence barrier with the occupied territory after four deadly attacks have claimed 14 lives in Israel, most of them civilians, in the past three weeks (AFP/JACK GUEZ)


Jaafar Ashtiyeh with Daniella Cheslow in Tel Aviv
Wed, April 13, 2022

A Palestinian lawyer was killed Wednesday, the fifth day of Israeli raids in the West Bank following deadly attacks in the Jewish state, amid heightened tensions after a flashpoint religious site was vandalised.

Israel has poured in additional forces and is reinforcing its wall and fence barrier with the occupied territory after four deadly attacks have claimed 14 lives in Israel, most of them civilians, in the past three weeks.

Violent clashes erupted in the West Bank city of Nablus where Israeli forces were escorting a work crew that came to repair Joseph's Tomb, which is sacred to Jews and which was smashed in an act of vandalism last weekend.

Israeli troops racing through the city's streets in an armoured convoy opened fire as a crowd pelted them with rocks and incendiary devices.

"Hundreds of Palestinians instigated a violent riot, burned tyres and hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at the soldiers" who responded with "riot dispersal means and live ammunition," the army said.

The Palestinian health ministry said human rights lawyer Muhammad Hassan Muhammad Assaf, 34, "died after being shot in the chest by the Israeli occupation army during the aggression on the city of Nablus".

The Israeli army did not confirm its forces had shot the lawyer, whose death brought to 16 the number of Palestinian fatalities in the ongoing escalation.

- 'On the offensive' -

Witnesses told AFP Assaf was standing by the roadside, having just taken his nephews to school, when he was hit by a bullet as Israeli forces fired while pulling out of Nablus.

Assaf was mourned as a "fierce defender of his people" by his employer, the Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh charged that Israeli soldiers "murder for the sake of murder, with a license granted by the prime minister of the occupying state, Naftali Bennett, without the slightest regard for international law".

Bennett has warned that Israel is now "on the offensive" and determined to arrest militant suspects.

The latest major attack Israel suffered was a shooting rampage last Thursday in Tel Aviv that claimed three lives and wounded over a dozen more. The gunman, from Jenin, died in a shootout with Israeli forces following an all-night manhunt.

The Israeli army said Wednesday it also carried out "counterterrorist operations" in the Palestinian militant bastion of Jenin and other West Bank cities.

In the city of Tulkarem, Israeli border police said they shot and wounded "a suspect in terrorist activity" who fled special forces trying to arrest him.

Violence flared near Joseph's Tomb as Israeli forces escorted the Jewish settler construction crew sent in to repair the damaged site.

- 'Restore the honour' -

Bennett had vowed on Sunday that "we will not abide such an assault on a place that is holy to us -- on the eve of Passover", the Jewish festival.

The operation's commander could be heard in a video telling his soldiers that "we get to restore the honour to this land and the people of Israel", and that they would enter the site "as sons of kings".

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported 31 people wounded around the Nablus site and a nearby village, including 10 hit by live rounds.

The holy site, where Jews say the Biblical patriarch Joseph is buried, is a frequent flashpoint between Israelis and Palestinians. It was partially destroyed in 2000 during a Palestinian uprising and also torched in 2015.


Palestinian authorities consider the wider site an Islamic archaeological monument where a revered cleric was buried two centuries ago.

The clashes have come during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and ahead of the start of Passover Friday, an overlap that can heighten tensions around sacred sites in Jerusalem's Old City.

Last year Hamas, the Islamist group that runs the Gaza Strip, fired rockets toward Jerusalem following disturbances at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, setting off a devastating 11-day war.

dac/jjm/fz/lg

With M16s and Telegram, West Bank militants vow to resist Israel

AFP - The Nation press
2022-04-13 | 

Palestinian children burn tyres following an Israeli military raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on April 12, 2022(AFP)

Armed with M16 rifles and encrypted messaging apps, Palestinian militants are resisting Israeli forces in Jenin, the West Bank home of the gunman behind last week's deadly Tel Aviv shooting rampage.

Heaps of car tyres are piled high, to be turned into burning road barricades next time the Israeli army jeeps roll in for another incursion into this long-time bastion of resistance to occupation.

"Who are you?" Khaled asks a visiting AFP team through his car window, while on guard duty outside the flashpoint Jenin refugee camp. "What are you doing here? Are you Israelis?"

His job is to be on the lookout outside the town of 13,000 for Israeli forces, and pass on any sightings to the heavily armed fighters hidden deep within the camp, a concrete maze of narrow alleyways.

After Israel has suffered a three-week wave of attacks that has claimed 14 lives and appalled the nation, its army has focused its response on this restive camp since Saturday.

But Jenin is determined to resist.

Israel's aim is to apprehend relatives and supporters of the 28-year-old Tel Aviv shooter, Raad Hazem, the camp's new "hero" who killed three Israeli civilians, and wounded over a dozen more in Tel Aviv last week.

Huge images celebrating Hazem -- who was shot dead after a massive manhunt -- adorn the walls. Sometimes, they are plastered over yellowing pictures of "martyrs" since the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, of the early 2000s.

Since the Tel Aviv attack, seven young Palestinians from Jenin, including armed fighters, have been killed in Israeli raids.

If Israel, bereaved by the attacks on its soil, has "gone on the offensive", as Prime Minister Naftali Bennett vowed, then the fighters of Jenin are orchestrating a defence of their own.



A masked spokesperson of the Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades, a faction 

affiliated to the Fateh movement, is pictured holding a M16 assault rifle 

in the West Bank town of Jenin on April 12(AFP)


- Fear of covert units -


"We're here defending all of Jenin, all of its villages," said another guard, who did not give his name to avoid being targeted by Israel.

"If there's any problem, if the army is coming in, on Telegram you'll get a message -- 'the army is in this area, in that area' -- and we gather to defend our country," he said.

Another guard, who used the pseudonym Mohammed, said "we try to identify unknown cars and strangers and relay this information on Telegram.

"We are afraid of the mistaravim -- Israeli units who pretend to be people from our country, who speak Arabic and dress like us. We fear they will be admitted to Telegram groups and share false information."

Over the past few days, the Israeli security services have demanded that the father of Hazem surrender, threatening a larger operation if he doesn't.

On Sunday, soldiers opened fire on the car of the gunman's brother, Hamam Fathi Hazem.

Since then, Hazem's father has gone into hiding.

Hamam is also in hiding, but he gets out on occasion, to drive the camp's narrow streets in a battered car that is decorated with posters of his late brother.

"Sometimes I hide, sometimes I go out. If the Israelis catch me it will be God's will," he whispered, pointing to a bullet hole in his car from a near-miss at the weekend.



Map locating Jenin, in the West Bank.(AFP)


- 'Martyr, prisoner or disabled' -

Modern weapons circulate widely in the camp, and the fighters are ready for battle, says a masked spokesman of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a faction affiliated to the Fatah movement, and whose movement coexists with the Islamists of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

M16s and similar assault rifles looted from Israeli supplies trade for around 15,000 euros ($16,200) here.

"The combat units are deployed in the streets and alleys of the camp," the spokesman said. "The camp is full of weapons.

"We confirm our commitment inside the camp to repel this occupation through all means and all combat tactics," he added, a checked keffiyeh scarf across his face and an automatic weapon in his hand.

Jenin has seen intense battles before. In April 2002, bloody urban warfare with Israeli forces left dozens dead and much of the camp reduced to rubble.

Twenty years later "nothing has changed" for the young people here, said Ahmed Tobasi, director of a performance space in the camp, the Freedom Theatre.

"There is a constant state of frustration", said the 37-year-old, who lost many friends in the 2002 siege.

"I'm not married, and today I'm thinking about whether I want to bring children into this," he said.

"Today, as a child in Jenin camp, you grow up knowing my future is limited to three choices: become a martyr, a prisoner, or disabled".

UK Tory MPs hold Johnson's political fate in their hands


Joe JACKSON
Wed, 13 April 2022,


Recent polling suggests many people are still angry at Johnson over the 'partygate' affair 

(AFP/Tolga Akmen)

Boris Johnson has survived the initial fallout from becoming the first British prime minister to be fined for breaking the law, but his long-term position remains precarious, analysts said Wednesday.

The embattled UK leader offered a "full apology" Tuesday after being penalised for breaching Covid lockdown laws by attending a brief celebration of his birthday in 2020, but defied calls to resign.

However, the so-called "partygate" scandal shows little sign of abating.

Johnson faces further possible fines as police continue their probe into numerous rules-breaching events in Downing Street, while his ruling Conservatives look set to be punished in local elections next month.

And once police have concluded their investigation, a senior civil servant's detailed report on the scandal will be published in full, which seems likely to increase the political pressure.

Once-mutinous Conservative MPs have in recent weeks rallied around their leader as the war in Ukraine and the growing cost-of-living crisis diverted attention away from the furore.

But commentators are questioning whether Johnson, 57, can maintain that support if he is repeatedly fined, his party fares poorly in the May 5 nationwide polls and further lurid details of parties emerge.

"A lot more fines and a lot more headlines might change the view of more voters and that in turn might change the mind of Conservative MPs if they do very badly in the elections," Anand Menon, a politics professor at King's College London, told AFP.

"He's clearly willing and able to brazen some things out in a way other, earlier prime ministers probably weren't... I don't think he's superhuman, though."

- 'His fate' -

Johnson's position was hanging by a thread earlier this year following a stream of controversies since last summer that culminated in "partygate" and an increasingly rebellious mood among his MPs.

Several Conservative lawmakers publicly withdrew their support for his leadership, with more reportedly writing letters of no-confidence in him to the party's 1922 Committee.

If the grouping of backbenchers receives at least 54 such letters from Johnson's 360 MPs, it would spark a confidence vote and his possible removal as leader.

"Boris Johnson will remain PM so long as he... retains the confidence of the Conservative group of MPs," Robert Hazell, of University College London's Constitution Unit, explained.

"It is they who will decide his fate."

Johnson is expected to face lawmakers when they return from their Easter break next week to explain why he repeatedly insisted in the House of Commons that no lockdown rules had been broken.

Knowingly misleading parliament is a breach of government ministers' code of conduct, which states they should resign as a result.

Hannah White, of the Institute for Government think tank, told the BBC that Johnson's refusal to do so "puts us in a very difficult situation".

"If it is now henceforth precedent that if you break the law as a minister, you don't automatically have to resign, that's... quite a difficult precedent to have been set," she said.

- 'Anger' -

White noted that Johnson was hoping voters' anger over "partygate" had dissipated.

But Britons across the country made huge sacrifices during the pandemic, including not being able to attend loved one's funerals. Opinion polls suggest that many remain furious at the behaviour in Downing Street.

A snap survey Tuesday by YouGov found 57 percent of respondents thought Johnson should resign after having been fined.

"They are able to see that Boris Johnson has done a good job on Ukraine but that anger about 'partygate' has continued throughout the entire time," James Johnson, a Conservative pollster, told BBC radio.

"I think we're going to see this really light that anger up all over again," he said. It would be "deluded" to think the Tories could avoid fallout from the scandal at the ballot box, he added on Twitter.

London Metropolitan Police, which is conducting the "partygate" probe, said Tuesday over 50 fines had been issued so far. The initial March 29 announcement had referred to just 20.

Johnson's wife Carrie and finance minister Rishi Sunak have also been fined, and the British leader attended several more of the events under investigation.

That has led to a widespread expectation that more fines are imminent -- possibly as voters head to the polls in three weeks.

Sebastian Payne, the Financial Times' Whitehall editor, predicted that a poor Conservative electoral performance paired with the prime minister being fined again could be "the final straw" for its lawmakers.

"If they see electoral evidence that things are not going in their direction and that the 'partygate' situation is causing them to lose votes, that could change their thinking," he told BBC News.

jj/jwp/jj

Amnesty accuses Mali of impunity over stalled war crimes cases

 

Amnesty International accused Malian authorities Wednesday of making little progress in investigating war crimes or civilian abuses in the Sahel state, arguing that "impunity still prevails" in such cases. In a report, the rights group said that instances of war crimes and violence against civilians had risen since 2018, particularly in conflict-torn central Mali. Ousmane Diallo, Researcher at Amnesty International Office for West and Central Africa, speaks to FRANCE 24.

California start-up sending tiny robots on fantastic voyage into brains

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Sending miniature robots deep inside the human skull to treat brain disorders has long been the stuff of science fiction—but it could soon become reality, according to a California start-up.

Bionaut Labs plans its first clinical trials on humans in just two years for its tiny injectable robots, which can be carefully guided through the brain using magnets.

"The idea of the micro robot came about way before I was born," said co-founder and CEO Michael Shpigelmacher.

"One of the most famous examples is a book by Isaac Asimov and a film called 'Fantastic Voyage,' where a crew of scientists goes inside a miniaturized spaceship into the brain, to treat a blood clot."

Just as cellphones now contain extremely powerful components that are smaller than a grain of rice, the tech behind micro-robots "that used to be science fiction in the 1950s and 60s" is now "science fact," said Shpigelmacher.

"We want to take that old idea and turn it into reality," the 53-year-old scientist told AFP during a tour of his company's Los Angeles research and development center.

Working with Germany's prestigious Max Planck research institutes, Bionaut Labs settled on using magnetic energy to propel the robots—rather than optical or ultrasonic techniques—because it does not harm the human body.

Magnetic coils placed outside the patient's skull are linked up to a computer that can remotely and delicately maneuver the micro-robot into the affected part of the brain, before removing it via the same route.

The entire apparatus is easily transportable, unlike an MRI, and uses 10 to 100 times less electricity.

'You're stuck'

In a simulation watched by AFP, the robot—a metal cylinder just a few millimeters long, in the shape of a tiny bullet—slowly follows a pre-programed trajectory through a gel-filled container, which emulates the density of the human brain.

Once it nears a pouch filled with blue liquid, the robot is swiftly propelled like a rocket and pierces the sack with its pointed end, allowing liquid to flow out.

Inventors hope to use the robot to pierce fluid-filled cysts within the brain when clinical trials begin in two years.

If successful, the process could be used to treat Dandy-Walker Syndrome, a rare brain malformation affecting children.

Sufferers of the congenital ailment can experience cysts the size of a golf ball, which swell and increase pressure on the brain, triggering a host of dangerous neurological conditions.

Bionaut Labs has already tested its robots on large animals such as sheep and pigs, and "the data shows that the technology is safe for us" human beings, said Shpigelmacher.

If approved, the robots could offer key advantages over existing treatments for brain disorders.

"Today, most brain surgery and brain intervention is limited to straight lines—if you don't have a straight line to the target, you're stuck, you're not going to get there," said Shpigelmacher.

Micro-robotic tech "allows you to reach targets you were not able to reach, and reaching them repeatedly in the safest trajectory possible," he added.

'Heating up'

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last year granted Bionaut Labs approvals that pave the way for clinical trials to treat Dandy-Walker Syndrome, as well as malignant gliomas—cancerous brain tumors often considered to be inoperable.

In the latter case, the micro-robots will be used to inject anti-cancer drugs directly into brain tumors in a "surgical strike."

Existing treatment methods involve bombarding the whole body with drugs, leading to potential severe side effects and loss of effectiveness, said Shpigelmacher.

The micro-robots can also take measurements and collect tissue samples while inside the brain.

Bionaut Labs—which has around 30 employees—has held discussions with partners for the use of its tech to treat other conditions affecting the brain including Parkinson's, epilepsy or strokes.

"To the best of my knowledge, we are the first commercial effort" to design a product of this type with "a clear path to the clinic trials," said Shpigelmacher.

"But I don't think that we will be the only one... This area is heating up."This start-up is building tiny injectable robots to attack tumors

© 2022 AFP

'Screwed' either way: Macron-Le Pen presidential duel leaves young Mélenchon voters cold

Bahar MAKOOI 
\
French far-leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Sunday fell just short of advancing to the presidential run-off, leaving far-right flagbearer Marine Le Pen to challenge Emmanuel Macron again for France's top job. But among 18-to-25 year-olds, it was Mélenchon, 70, who won the night with 29 percent of their vote. What his supporters do next will be critical on April 24. FRANCE 24 met with students north of Paris who voted for Mélenchon. None were keen to help re-elect Macron, even against the far right.

© AFP/File

"Macron or Le Pen, we're screwed in any case. For my first election, I'd hoped for better," mused Esteban, one hand in his pocket, the other resting against a Vélib bike-share stand outside Paris 8-Saint-Denis University, north of the French capital. Voting in Sunday's first round, the 18-year-old cast his vote for Mélenchon. "It was the vote closest to my convictions. I'm not going to lie to you: It makes me lose hope in a better world, or at least one with more social progress," he lamented after his candidate's narrow defeat.

The film student is waiting for a professor who asked his class to come in despite the strike action under way, unrelated to the dramatic contest for the Élysée Palace. The university's entrance is blocked off by a chain of bins linked together. It's 2pm and the picketing students have left their morning posts. The school had decided anyway to close for the day. The posters and flyers in the bins shed light on the strikers' demands: "The presidency of the university refuses to register students fleeing the war in Ukraine. There are still 23 students without residency papers that the school is refusing to admit!"

'Blank ballot or Le Pen vote'

Esteban's friend Bruno (not his real name) wants to talk, too. He jumps in to finish his mate's sentences. An 18-year-old student from Paris, Bruno hails from a very politically aware family, he explained. "My grandfather was a Communist member of the French Resistance and my father was steeped in that culture," he boasted. "I especially do not want to see Macron in power again, so for the second round I'm hesitating between casting a blank ballot and voting Le Pen. Marine Le Pen is better than Macron on social issues. And Macron, after all, put cabinet ministers in office who conducted far-right policies," Bruno said, accusing Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin of hardline repression.

Esteban concurred. He resents the incumbent for going back on his environmental promises. "There was yet another report [by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] recently saying we have three years to take action on climate change," he explained. Neither friend said he could identify with the run-off candidates' stances on environmental issues.

"However, I find the protectionism that Marine Le Pen is proposing more interesting than Macron's ultra-liberalism," Bruno said. Having a far-right National Rally leader as president of France doesn't scare him, he explained. "The zero immigration policy doesn't work, it can't be applied. It's obvious. Even Macron hasn't managed to see through deportations. It'll be like it was for Donald Trump – did you know he deported fewer migrants than Barack Obama had?"

'I'll have to pick up Le Pen's platform'

"I don't like Macron and the favours he does for his mates on the sly, like for his friends at McKinsey," Esteban said, citing the consulting firm the French government has hired for its services, not without controversy, adding yet another line to the student's laundry list of grievances.

The French financial prosecutor's office on March 31 opened a preliminary probe against the US consulting firm McKinsey over possible tax fraud. But neither student is reserving their judgement in the meantime. "He doesn't leave anything to chance," Esteban said of Macron. "He's someone who seeks to profit from everything."

While he is certain not to vote for Macron, Esteban begins expressing doubts about voting for Le Pen over the course of the conversation. "I'll have to pick up Marine Le Pen's platform anyway to see what ballot I put in the box," he said.

Esteban is comfortable talking politics with his mother, who strings together odd jobs in the south of France. "My mother is an actress. She's over 50, but she is a waitress, a home-care worker. She serves lunches in school canteens to earn a wage because she had problems with getting [the unemployment insurance agency] to recognise her status as a temporary entertainment worker," he explained, with a worried look. "She voted for Mélenchon and she'll cast a blank ballot in the second round."

'I'll still go to the ballot box'

Not everyone shares their parents' politics, though. Nineteen-year-old Lilou, for one. Waiting outside the university for her film professor, too, she explained choosing Mélenchon in the first round, initially for his environmental proposals. "In my family, votes were always kept secret. But I think my parents voted for Macron," she said, before hesitating. "Which candidate proposed raising the minimum pension?" she asked. The topic is front and centre in Lilou's family; everything rests on her father's pension. "My mother stopped working at the age of 25 to raise my sister, my brother and me," she explained.

For Lilou, one worry is money. "Macron wants students to pay for university, to raise registration fees. That won't be possible," she said. While that proposal does not actually feature clearly in Macron's campaign platform, it was attributed to him in January after remarks he made to a conference of university presidents, saying "we will not be able to remain lastingly in a system where higher education has no price for the near-entirety of students". The comment set off fierce reactions from student unions, after which the incumbent went back on his equivocal remarks. "When one wants to fight students' economic insecurity, one doesn't raise registration fees," he said later that month. But to hear Lilou tell it, fears remain.

One thing is certain: Lilou won't be voting for Macron. "I'll still go to the ballot box. It's important. But since I don't like either of the candidates, I prefer not to take part in this vote. I will cast a blank ballot," she explained.

Clinging to leftist hopes for parliament

More students are arriving outside the shuttered university. A group is due to attend a political science talk on preventing inequality, set to take place outdoors in a nearby square.

Before joining the rest of the group, one student shared her disappointment with a reporter. She voted for Mélenchon and said she refuses to cast a Macron ballot in the April 24 run-off. "It would be lending him legitimacy, when he didn't manage to stand in the way of the rise of the far right. Quite the opposite," she contended. "I'm angry with him for his increasingly repressive politics, for the police violence he couldn't put a stop to, for his disdainful line against the poorest people," she said.

The 21-year-old prefers to sit out the second-round vote, she said. But she is anxious for the next election after that: French voters go back to the polls on June 12 and 19 to elect their lower-house National Assembly lawmakers. "I'm clinging to the legislative elections to get a left-wing majority. I will have no relief before I'm sure we can counter the future president's power," she said, before turning to join her friends.

This article has been translated from the original in French.

Sri Lanka PM offers protesters talks as opposition eyes no-confidence vote



Nationwide Anti-Government Protests continue, in Sri Lanka


Nationwide Anti-Government Protests continue, in Colombo

Nationwide Anti-Government Protests continue, in Sri Lanka



Gota-Go village run by protestors, in Colombo

Gota-Go village run by protestors, in Colombo

Wed, April 13, 2022
By Uditha Jayasinghe and Devjyot Ghoshal

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's prime minister offered talks on Wednesday with protesters calling for the government to step down over its handing of an economic crisis as the opposition threatened to bring a no-confidence motion against it in parliament.

The island nation of 22 million people is in the throes of its worst financial crisis since independence in 1948, with a foreign currency shortage stalling imports of fuel and medicines and bringing hours of power cuts a day.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets, many staging a sit-in in the commercial capital, Colombo, to denounce the government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his elder brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

"The prime minister is ready to start talks with the protesters at Galle Face Green," his office said in a statement, referring to a protest site that has become the focus of discontent.

"If protesters are ready to discuss their proposals to resolve the challenges currently facing the nation, then the prime minister is ready to invite their representatives for talks," the office said.

Some of the protesters at the tent encampment, which has been growing over recent days with food stalls, medical facilities and phone charging stations, said this week they would only leave if the Rajapaksas stepped down.

Sri Lanka is due to begin negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) next week for a loan programme, after months of delay as the crisis worsened.

On Tuesday, the central bank chief said he was suspending foreign debt payments and diverting dwindling foreign reserves to importing essentials.

Analysts at JP Morgan have underlined political instability as a key risk as the government scrambles to secure external assistance.

Adding to the uncertainty, the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) alliance said it would give the president and prime minister a week to step down before moving a no-confidence motion in parliament.

"Political stability is a pre-condition for IMF talks. The people have no confidence in this government," the SJB's national organiser, Eran Wickramaratne, told Reuters.

"The president and the prime minister must resign," Wickramaratne said, adding that the opposition had the necessary numbers in parliament.

The government has said it holds a majority in the 225-member parliament, which is scheduled to meet next week, despite more than two dozen lawmakers leaving the ruling coalition and declaring themselves independent last week.

The roots of the crisis lie in mismanagement of public finances that critics say has been exacerbated by tax cuts enacted by the government just before the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Reporting Uditha Jayasinghe and Devjyot Ghoshal in COLOMBO; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Sri Lankan students in Canada struggle with homeland cash crisis

Yesterday 

Sri Lankan international student Dehan Kumburugala came to Canada three years ago to fulfill his ambition of becoming a doctor.

Now the third-year Biology student at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan is packing his bags to return to his homeland because he is unable to pay his tuition fees due to the worsening economic crisis in Sri Lanka.

“With the critical state that Sri Lanka is in, it’s way too tough on paying the tuition fees…With no source in Canada willing to help, completing my degree is not a possibility,” Kumburugala told New Canadian Media.

Supun Weerasinghe, a fourth-year Business studies undergraduate at the University of New Brunswick said his parents can’t send money to cover his tuition fees because the Sri Lankan rupee has collapsed to historic lows.

“I don’t know what to do except try my best to cut down my expenses even further,” he said.

The pair are among an estimated 10,000 Sri Lankan international students in Canada who are in desperate need of help to pay rent, tuition fees and buy food, said Kaushalya Rathnayake, who is mobilizing the diaspora to support the students.

“The central bank of Sri Lanka is severely limiting money transfers to students overseas. Therefore, parents can no longer support students financially or send adequate money to pay for their studies and living expenses,” said Rathnayake, a Ph.D. student at the University of New Brunswick

“Many Sri Lankan students are leaving Canada as they do not have a way to make ends meet,” he told NCM.

Others, he said, have cancelled their plans for studies in Canada, because of the crisis.

Canada is home to approximately 200,000 individuals of Sri Lankan descent and is a top source country for international students. According to Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) data, 2,750 Sri Lankan students were granted study permits in 2021, representing a whopping 65.7 per cent increase compared to the previous year.

Coupled with rising inflation, shortages of fuel and essential goods, and prolonged power cuts, Sri Lanka is in a dire situation over access to food and health, said the United Nations, adding that this has prompted thousands of Sri Lankans to take to the streets in protest – calling for political and economic reforms. In response, a defiant President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a nationwide public state of emergency earlier this month, which has since been revoked, empowering him to override most laws while authorities blocked access to several social media platforms.

Yesterday, Sri Lanka suspended its repayment of foreign debt, pending the completion of a loan restructuring program with the International Monetary Fund.

“Every day more and more people are coming out to protest in Sri Lanka and in countries around the world, including in Canada where we have seen rallies in Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary,” said Rathnayake.

“The president and his family are responsible for this crisis, and they need to go…in the meantime the people of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan students here need help,” he said.

“We ask all education institutes to support Sri Lankan students studying in their institutions and extend their financial and mental health support resources to them.”

Among those lending a helping hand is Nishadi Liyanage, a Vancouver-based specialist in sustainability reporting, who has started a GoFundMe page to support 600 Sri Lankan families.

“Being away from family, I was looking for ways to help. So instead of feeling helpless, I connected the Global Shapers Colombo hub with the Global Shapers Vancouver hub to raise funds to provide dry rations and care packages to 600 families in dire need, ahead of the Sinhala and Tamil new year,” she said.

The Global Shapers Community, supported by the World Economic Forum is a network of 14,000 young people in 150 countries driving dialogue, action and change.

“While the general population in Sri Lanka engages in protest, demanding systemic change and an end to nepotism and corruption, we hope to provide immediate relief for those in dire need of meals,” said Liyanage, whose donation drive has raised about $15,000 so far.

Fabian Dawson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, New Canadian Media

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka defaults on foreign debt

AFP - 

Sri Lanka announced a default on its $51 billion foreign debt Tuesday as the island nation grapples with its worst economic crisis in memory and escalating protests demanding the government's resignation.

Acute food and fuel shortages, as well as long daily electricity blackouts, have brought widespread suffering to the country's 22 million people in its most painful downturn since independence in 1948.

The government has struggled to service foreign loans and Tuesday's decision comes ahead of negotiations for an International Monetary Fund bailout aimed at preventing a more catastrophic hard default that would see Sri Lanka completely repudiate its debts.


© Ishara S. KODIKARA

Food and fuel shortages have stoked public anger, with protesters coming out daily since Saturday to call for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down

"We have lost the ability to repay foreign debt," Sri Lanka's Central Bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghe told reporters in Colombo.

"This is a pre-emptive negotiated default. We have announced (it) to the creditors."

Officials say the move will free up foreign currency to finance desperately needed food, fuel and medicine imports after months of scarce supplies.

Just under half of Sri Lanka's debt is market borrowings through international sovereign bonds, including one worth $1 billion that was maturing on July 25.

China is Sri Lanka's largest bilateral lender and owns about 10 percent of the island's foreign debt, followed by Japan and India.

The government has borrowed heavily from Beijing since 2005 for infrastructure projects, many of which became white elephants.

Sri Lanka also leased its strategic Hambantota port to a Chinese company in 2017 after it became unable to service the $1.4 billion debt from Beijing used to build it.

This sparked concerns from Western countries and neighbour India that the strategically located South Asian nation was falling victim to a debt trap.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Tuesday's default would not stop Beijing from lending support to Sri Lanka's beleaguered economy.

"China has always done its best in providing assistance to Sri Lanka's economic and social development. We will continue to do so in the future," he said.

- 'Frightened of the future' -

Sri Lanka's snowballing economic crisis began to be felt after the coronavirus pandemic torpedoed vital revenue from tourism and remittances.

The government imposed a wide import ban to conserve dwindling foreign currency reserves and use them to service the debts it has now defaulted on.

But the resulting shortages have stoked public anger. At least eight people have died while waiting in fuel queues since March 20, with two of the deaths reported on Monday.

"It's been depressing to be so frightened of the future and where it's going," protester Vasi Samudra Devi told AFP at an anti-government rally in Colombo Monday.

"There are already people who are suffering... We are all here because we are being affected by the economic problems."

Crowds have attempted to storm the homes of government leaders and security forces have dispersed protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets.

Thousands of people were camped outside President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's seafront office in the capital Colombo in the fourth straight day of protests calling for him to step down.

Economists say the crisis has been made worse by government mismanagement, years of accumulated borrowing and ill-advised tax cuts.

International rating agencies also downgraded Sri Lanka last year, effectively blocking the country from accessing foreign capital markets to raise new loans.

- 'Last resort' -

Sri Lanka's finance ministry said Tuesday's default was "a last resort in order to prevent further deterioration of the republic's financial position".

Creditors were free to capitalise any interest payments due to them or opt for payback in Sri Lankan rupees, the ministry added.

The government is seeking around $3 billion in IMF support over the next three years to revive the economy, finance minister Ali Sabry told parliament on Friday.

Ministry officials told AFP last week the government was preparing a programme for sovereign bond holders and other creditors to take a haircut and avoid a hard default.

Sri Lanka had sought debt relief from India and China this year, but both countries instead offered more credit lines to buy commodities from them.

Estimates showed Sri Lanka needed $7 billion to service its debt load this year, against just $1.9 billion in reserves at the end of March.

AXA Investment Managers analyst Claire Dissaux told AFP that markets had already priced in an anticipated default, despite the government's efforts to remain solvent.

"Sri Lanka has shown a willingness to pay right up to the last minute, even to the detriment, the expense of its people," she said.

aj/gle/axn

Chevron, union meet as California refinery strike enters third week -official

Dow Jones Industrial Average listed company Chevron (CVX)'s logo

 is seen in Los Angeles

Mon, April 11, 2022,
By Erwin Seba

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Chevron Corp and the United Steelworkers union (USW) met on Monday to seek an end to a three-week-old strike by 500 workers at the company's Richmond, California, refinery, a union official said.

B.K. White, first vice president of USW Local 12-5, said the union had received a proposal from the company and was preparing a reply.

Chevron spokesperson Tyler Kruzich did not reply to a request for comment.

Monday's meeting is the first face-to-face discussion between the two sides in two weeks.

Chevron has continued operating the 245,271-barrel-per-day (bpd) with managers and supervisors but has begun advertising for temporary replacement workers in ads placed online.

The ads list pay of $70 an hour for the temporary replacement workers who will be hired for up to five months, according to the advertisements.

"Our personnel working onsite are being compensated appropriately for their time and expertise," Kruzich said prior to the meeting between the two sides.

The national average pay for a union refinery worker after four years is about $45 an hour, the USW has said.

"They are throwing money at the scabs trying to break our union," White said.

Retirees, former employees and recent graduate of process operations programs are among those usually recruited to be temporary replacement workers.

The strike began after the Local 12-5 twice rejected contract offers from Chevron.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Sandra Maler)