Lebanon's descent into turmoil: assassinations, war, financial collapse


A man walks past posters depicting Lebanon's former Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri in Beirut

Sun, May 8, 2022, 

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon holds an election on May 15 that could see a shift of power that sends shockwaves far beyond this small country squeezed between Syria and Israel.

Here is a timeline of the nation's recent history, from assassinations and war to a devastating explosion and economic meltdown.

2005

Lebanon's billionaire former premier Rafik al-Hariri is killed on Feb. 14 when a huge bomb explodes as his motorcade travels through Beirut; 21 others also die.

Mass demonstrations erupt blaming the assassination on Syria, which had deployed troops during Lebanon's 15-year civil war and kept them there after it ended in 1990.


Shi'ite allies of Damascus stage their own big rallies in support of Syria, but international pressure forces the troops to withdraw.

2006

In July, armed movement Hezbollah crosses the border into Israel, kidnaps two Israeli soldiers and kills others, sparking a five-week war. At least 1,200 people in Lebanon and 158 Israelis are killed.

After the war, tensions in Lebanon simmer over Hezbollah's arsenal. In November, Hezbollah and its allies quit the cabinet led by Western-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and organise street protests against it.

Anti-Syria politician Pierre Gemayel is assassinated in November.

2007

Hezbollah and its allies maintain a sit-in protest in central Beirut against the Siniora government for the entire year. Their stated demand is veto power in the government.

2008

Wissam Eid, a police intelligence officer investigating the Hariri assassination, is killed by a car bomb in January.

In May, the government outlaws Hezbollah's telecom network. Hezbollah calls the government's move a declaration of war and takes control of mainly Muslim west Beirut in retaliation.

After mediation, rival leaders sign a deal in Qatar to end 18 months of political conflict.

2011

The government led by Hariri's son and political heir, Saad, is toppled when Hezbollah and its allies quit because of tensions over a U.N.-backed tribunal into the Rafik al-Hariri assassination.

2012

Hezbollah fighters deploy to Syria to aid President Bashar al-Assad's forces against a Sunni rebellion.

In October, a car bomb kills senior security official Wissam al-Hassan, whose intelligence service had arrested Michel Samaha, a pro-Syrian former minister charged with transporting Syrian-assembled bombs to wage attacks in Lebanon.

2017

Sunni regional superpower Saudi Arabia, increasingly frustrated with Hezbollah's expanding role in Lebanon, is accused of detaining Saad al-Hariri in Riyadh and forcing him to resign.

Both Riyadh and Hariri publicly deny this version of events, though French leader Emmanuel Macron later says Hariri was being held in Saudi Arabia.

2018

Lebanon holds its first parliamentary vote since 2009, after lawmakers repeatedly extended their four-year mandate, citing security concerns.

Hezbollah and allied groups and individuals win at least 69 of the 128 seats, consolidating their hold over the legislative branch.

2019

Despite a stagnant economy and slowing capital inflows, the government fails to enact reforms that might unlock foreign support, including cutting the state wage and pension bill.

In October, a government move to tax internet calls ignites mass cross-sectarian protests accusing the ruling elite of corruption and mismanagement.

Hariri quits on Oct. 29. The financial crisis accelerates. Depositors are frozen out of their savings amid a hard currency liquidity crunch and crashing currency.

2020

Hassan Diab, a little-known academic, becomes prime minister in January with backing from Hezbollah and its allies.

Lebanon defaults on its sovereign debt in March, the currency loses up to 80% of its value and poverty rates soar.

Talks with the International Monetary Fund flounder as the main parties and influential banks resist a financial recovery plan.

On Aug. 4, a vast quantity of ammonium nitrate explodes at Beirut port, killing more than 200 people, wounding 6,000 and devastating swathes of Beirut.

The Diab cabinet quits and Hariri is designated to form a new government but the parties remain at odds over portfolios.

A U.N.-backed tribunal convicts a Hezbollah member of conspiring to kill Rafik al-Hariri 15 years after his death.

2021

The economic meltdown deepens. Hariri abandons his effort to form a government and trades blame with President Michel Aoun for the failure.

In August, the central bank declares it can no longer finance subsidies for fuel imports, prompting power outages and fuel shortages that lead to long queues and sporadic violence at filling stations.

A tanker explodes in the north, killing more than 20 people.

In September, after more than a year of rows over cabinet posts, a new cabinet is finally agreed led by Najib Mikati.

Its work is quickly derailed by tensions over the investigation into the Beirut port explosion. Hezbollah and its ally Amal demand the removal of investigating judge Tarek Bitar after he charges some of their allies.

The Shi'ite parties call a protest against the judge. Six of their followers are shot dead when violence erupts. Hezbollah blames the Lebanese Forces, a Christian party.

The probe into the port blast grinds to a halt, impeded by a flood of legal complaints against the judge by officials whom he has charged over the disaster.

Gulf states recall their ambassadors and Saudi Arabia bans all Lebanese imports in protest at comments by a pro-Hezbollah minister criticising Saudi Arabia over the war in Yemen.

2022

In January, the pound sinks to 34,000 against the dollar before being strengthened by central bank intervention.

The World Bank blasts the ruling class for "orchestrating" one of the world's worst national economic depressions due to their exploitative grip on resources.

In April, Lebanon reaches a draft agreement with the IMF for a possible $3 billion in support, dependent on Beirut enacting long-delayed reforms.

The ambassadors of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia return. Saudi Arabia and France announce a joint 30 million euro ($32 million) fund to boost health and other services in Lebanon.

Hariri announces he and his Future Movement will not run in a May parliamentary election.

($1 = 0.9471 euros)

(Writing by Tom Perry and William Maclean; Editing by Maya Gebeily, Mike Collett-White and Pravin Char)

Video shows workers at an Apple and Tesla

plant in Shanghai clashing with security 

guards over fears of an onsite COVID 

lockdown

Weilun Soon

Sun, May 8, 2022, 

Workers at an Apple supplier in Shanghai are operating under a "closed loop" system where they work, live, eat, and sleep onsite.Qilai Shen/In Pictures via Getty Images Images

• Videos show workers at an Apple and Tesla plant in Shanghai clashing with quarantine officials.

• The workers were said to be frustrated with onsite COVID-19 measures.

• The clash underscores the frailty of Shanghai's plans to reopen its factories amid strict lockdowns.

More than a hundred workers at a major Apple and Tesla production plant in Shanghai clashed with quarantine officials and security guards in a stunning altercation on Thursday, videos on Twitter and YouTube show.

Workers at Quanta Shanghai Manufacturing City were filmed jumping over turnstiles, as officials in white protective gear tried to prevent them from breaching the building.

Some workers exchanged physical blows with the guards. At one point, a female worker appeared to smack someone in protective gear so that a male worker, who was locked in a struggle with the person in protective gear, could get away.

The skirmish happened when officials prevented workers from heading back to their dormitories after completing their shifts, Bloomberg and Reuters reported. Anonymous interviewees said the workers were frustrated with onsite Covid restrictions, per Bloomberg.

Some said that they were concerned about getting infected by workers who returned from quarantine centers, according to told Taiwanese news outlets USTV and UDN. They also feared that a spread of the virus on the factory floor would result in the campus going into a strict lockdown again, per the Taiwanese news reports.

Quanta, Apple, and Tesla did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comments.

The altercation underscores the fragility of Shanghai's attempts to get its factories up and running, even as large swathes of the 25-million-strong city have remained under strict lockdown for more than a month.

In an attempt to minimize the lockdown's impact on Shanghai's economy, authorities have allowed some factories, including Tesla's gigafactory, to continue operating under a "closed loop" system where workers work, live, eat, and sleep onsite and at nearby dormitories.

Taiwanese-owned Quanta produces three-quarters of Apple's MacBooks globally and assembles computer circuit boards for Tesla's cars. The Shanghai factory accounts for about 20% of Quanta's output for Apple, USTV reported. It also produces computer circuit boards for Tesla.

On April 13, Quanta temporarily suspended operations in Shanghai to comply with local COVID-19 prevention measures. That prompted TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo to say that delivery of MacBook Pros would be delayed by three to five weeks.

The factory gradually resumed operations starting April 18, with about 2,000 of its 40,000-person workforce returning to the plant, China's state media Xinhua reported.

While news of the clash at Quanta's Shanghai factory spread on Twitter and YouTube, and was widely reported by Taiwanese media outlets, there was barely any mention of it on Chinese social media platforms and in Chinese media.

According to the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, the city reported 3,625 asymptomatic Covid cases, 322 symptomatic cases, and 11 deaths on Sunday. Some of these patients worked at factories operating under a closed-loop system

What Pushed Apple Factory Workers to Riot?

Workers at a Shanghai technology factory crashed through barriers erected to keep them from leaving the plant and struggled with guards trying to keep them inside.

KIRK O’NEIL
MAY 7, 2022

A resurgence of a Covid-19 outbreak in China in March led to a lockdown in the nation's largest city Shanghai, disrupting work at technology and electric vehicle plants and other industries' factories, causing major supply chain, logistics and production issues.

Tesla on March 28 shut its Shanghai Gigafactory, but was allowed to reopen its plant on April 19. Volkswagen shut its Shanghai-area factory on April 1, but General Motors decided not to shut its plant and instead was allowed to remain open under so-called "closed loop" operations.

Closed-loop measures require employees to live, work and sleep at the plant while it continues to operate, but they are not allowed to leave the plant to ensure they do not transmit the Covid- 19 virus to the community outside of the factory or bring it into the plant from outside during the lockdown.


Closed-Loop Measures Keep Plant Open

Taiwan-based Quanta Computer, which assembles MacBooks and other products for Apple in Shanghai, adopted the closed-loop system in April for its employees to enable the company to remain open during the region's lockdown.

The Covid-19 lockdown in China, which began in March, finally reached a boiling point with frustrated technology workers at Quanta's Shanghai factory, Bloomberg reported on May 6. One worker said that employees were worried about further tightening of measures as a result of positive Covid cases inside the factory's campus, according to the report.

Quanta did not comment on the riot, Bloomberg said, but an employee at the factory said that the Chinese government was taking a central role in managing the factory's operations. On the evening of May 5, Quanta workers battled with factory guards and crashed through isolation barriers after being locked down at the factory for many weeks.

Tensions at the factory in the Songjiang district of Shanghai sparked the conflict after workers tried to return to dormitories after their shifts, according to Taiwan media outlet UDN, Bloomberg reported. Over 100 employees jumped over a barrier and ran past guards, ignoring their warnings. Employees had become tired and frustrated by the controlled environment at the plant, a worker said.

The factory resumed normal operations by the morning of May 6, the report said.

Shanghai's lockdowns have led to protests and complaints that culminated in the uprising at the Quanta plant. The implementation of closed-loop measures had also resulted in more than 70% of Shanghai's industrial manufacturing facilities restarting production. Officials said that 90% of 660 key industrial companies have resumed output, according to Bloomberg.

Quanta generates more than 50% of its revenue through its partnership with Apple, the report said. The company also does business with Hewlett Packard Inc. (HPQ) - Get HP Inc. Report, Dell Technologies (DELL) - Get Dell Technologies Inc Class C Report, and Microsoft (MSFT) - Get Microsoft Corporation Report.
Other Apple Factories Shut Down

Foxconn Technology Group on March 14 shut down its factories in Shenzhen in southern China near Hong Kong after city officials implemented a Covid-19 lockdown. Foxconn also on April 15 announced a Covid-19 lockdown in the Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone where Apple's largest iPhone factory is located. The lockdown has led the company to require its employees to have mandatory Covid testing.

The China Covid-19 lockdowns could result in a loss in production of 6 million to 10 million iPhone units analysts said, according to 9to5Mac. Other Apple products affected by the lockdowns include MacBook Pro and iPad Air.

Chaos at Apple supplier Quanta shows strains of Shanghai COVID lockdown

Sat, May 7, 2022, 

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Quanta Shanghai Manufacturing City would seem like an ideal site to implement China's "closed-loop" management system to prevent the spread of COVID that requires staff to live and work on-site in a secure bubble.

Sprawled over land the size of 20 football fields, the campus houses factories, living quarters for 40,000 workers, some living 12 per room, and even a supermarket.

But as COVID-19 breeched Quanta's defences, the system broke down into chaos on Thursday.

Videos posted online showed more than a hundred Quanta workers physically overwhelming security guards in hazmat suits and vaulting over factory gates to escape being trapped inside the factory amid rumours that workers on the floor that day tested positive for COVID.

The turmoil at Quanta underscores the struggles Shanghai faces to get its factories, many of them key links in global supply chains, back up to speed even as much of the city of 25 million remains locked down under China's "dynamic-zero" COVID policy.

Taiwan-based Quanta puts together about three-quarters of Apple's global MacBook production and also manufactures computer circuit boards for Tesla.

Quanta did not respond to a request for comment on the videos, which appeared on Chinese social media platforms before being taken down. Apple declined to comment and Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

Quanta set up its closed-loop to restart work at the factory on April 18 with about 5% of its workforce, or 2,000 employees, with plans to triple that by April 22. Chinese state media touted the restart as an example of how Shanghai was keeping business open in the country's biggest economic hub, while adhering to stringent COVID measures.

DAILY CASES

But cases have been reported daily at an address belonging to the campus from March 26 to May 4, according to Shanghai government data. Quanta has not disclosed the number of cases among its workers.

Calls seeking help to bring attention to positive cases which were not being isolated at Quanta began appearing on Weibo from April 6, five days after Shanghai implemented a city-wide lockdown.

More appeared throughout the month and employees began posting photos and accounts on Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok, that showed dozens of workers queuing for buses to be taken to central quarantine facilities.

They also took videos of themselves resting in Shanghai's National Exhibition and Convention Center, one of the city's largest quarantine centres, as well as at a facility purpose-built to house Quanta workers.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the footage, but two employees and a person with direct knowledge of the campus's operations said there were multiple infections there.

"Each dormitory reported a few positive cases a day, and eventually everyone became positive," said one of the two workers, who gave his surname as Li, adding that there were eight cases in his room, including him.

Employees said that cases were often not isolated for days after testing positive and the person with direct knowledge of the campus's operations said there were not enough isolation spaces, resulting in continued infections.

That was a trigger for Thursday night's chaos, employees said, as rumours spread that positive cases had been found among those working in the factories.

The workers were spooked by an order telling them not to return to their dormitories, raising fears that they could be locked down inside the plant.

While the videos of the fray were taken down by this weekend, discussion continued on Weibo and Douyin, with one user simply saying, "What a mess".

(Reporting by Brenda Goh and Zhang Yan; Additional reporting by Sarah Wu in Taipei; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

Protests in New Delhi halt demolition in Muslim neighborhood

Residents of Shaheen Bagh watch as officials and policemen arrive for a demolition drive in New Delhi, Monday, May 9, 2022. Authorities in New Delhi stopped a demolition drive in a Muslim-dominated neighborhood after hundreds of residents and a number of opposition party workers gathered in protest Monday. No buildings were razed down before the bulldozers retreated. 

(AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

NEW DELHI
Mon, May 9, 2022, 4:00 AM·2 min read

Authorities in New Delhi stopped a demolition drive in a Muslim-dominated neighborhood after hundreds of residents and a number of opposition party workers gathered in protest Monday.

No buildings were razed down before the bulldozers retreated.

Anti-Muslim sentiment and attacks have risen across India in the past month, including stone throwing between Hindu and Muslim groups during religious processions, followed by demolition drives in a few states where many Muslim-owned properties were razed down by local authorities.

This was most recently seen last month in a northwest neighborhood in New Delhi where bulldozers destroyed several Muslim properties before the Supreme Court halted the drive. The demolitions were carried out days after communal violence there left several injured and sparked arrests.

Amid heavy police presence Monday, bulldozers arrived in Shaheen Bagh, a neighborhood that in 2020 became a site of intense protest after the Parliament passed a controversial bill the previous year that amended the country's citizenship law. The new law would fast-track naturalization for persecuted religious minorities from some neighboring Islamic countries, but excludes Muslims, sparking many to call it discriminatory.

It unleashed months of demonstrations from across India and Shaheen Bagh quickly became a symbol of the resistance, with the protests there led by a peaceful sit-in by Muslim women along a highway that passed through the neighborhood.

Officials have said these demolition drives target illegal buildings and not any particular religious group. But critics argue such moves are the latest attempt to harass and marginalize Muslims, who are 14% of India’s 1.4 billion population, and point to a pattern of rising religious polarization under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

As the bulldozers drove away, Mohammed Niyaz, a 47-year-old resident in the neighborhood, called it “vote-bank politics” intended to divide the Hindu and Muslim communities.

Residents in Shaheen Bagh also questioned the timing of the move to bring in bulldozers, saying many buildings in the neighborhood have existed for decades with no interference from local authorities. Previously, officials termed the recent demolition drives as “routine exercises” to bring down illegal properties.

Image of Sri Lankan rally doctored to add Tamil Tigers symbol


AFP Sri Lanka
Mon, May 9, 2022,

An image has been shared hundreds of times in Facebook posts that claim it shows Sri Lankan anti-government protesters waving flags bearing the symbol of the Tamil Tigers, separatist rebels who waged a decades-long civil war against the island nation’s government. The image, however, has been doctored to add the Tamil Tigers symbol to the flags. The original image shows demonstrators at a May Day rally waving flags featuring a labour union's logo.

The image was shared here on Facebook on May 2, 2022.

It has been shared more than 270 times.

The image appears to show a group of protesters waving red flags that bear the symbol of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant separatist group also known as the Tamil Tigers.

The group was crushed by government forces in 2009 -- when current President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the island nation's top defence official -- bringing an end to a decades-long ethnic civil war that claimed the lives of at least 100,000 people.

Sinhala-language text on the image appears to suggest that protesters calling for "Gota" -- President Gotabaya Rajapaksa -- to resign over his government's handling of an unprecedented economic crisis are LTTE supporters.

"Independent LTTE representation of the non-partisan protest ground. May 1, 2022, Galle Face #gotagohome #prabhakarancomeback," reads the text.

The post's caption reads: "Was there not one [person] with a backbone at the protest site?"

Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, captured on May 3, 2022

It circulated after May Day demonstrations in which Sri Lanka's fractious opposition joined together to call for the ouster of Rajapaksa and his powerful ruling family.

The image was also alongside a similar claim here and here.

The claim, however, is false; the flags have been doctored to add the symbol of the rebel group.

A keyword search on Facebook found this photo published on May 1 by Thilina Kaluthotage -- a photographer who has been covering the public protest at Galle Face, near the embattled president's office.

In his photo, the flags do not feature the LTTE symbol.

Below is a screenshot comparison between the image in the misleading Facebook posts (left) and the original photo (right):

A screenshot comparison of the flags in the misleading posts (left) and the flags in the original photo (right).

Thilina told AFP his photo had been doctored.

"The red flags in the picture were carried by free trade zone workers who joined the May Day commemoration at Gotagogama," he explained.

"Gotagogama" translates as "Gota Go Village" -- the name protesters have given to the stretch of Galle Face near the president's office.

More photos of the workers' rally were published in this album on their Facebook page.

A closer examination of Thilina's original image confirmed it shows flags featuring the logo for the Free Trade Zone Workers' union, as seen in the comparison below:

The logo in the misleading posts' image (above) was confirmed as that of the Free Trade Zone Workers' Union (below).

The flags can also be seen in this live stream from Gotagogama titled "May Day of the protest! At the protest site!"

Anton Marcus, general secretary of the Free Trade Zone Workers' union, told AFP that the red flags in the image feature their logo.

AFP has debunked a wave of misinformation since protests flared up in early April 2022 over the Sri Lankan government's handling of the country's economic crisis -- including here, here, and here.

PROVOCATUERS

Sri Lanka's ruling party supporters storm anti-govt protest camp, at least 9 injured


People block a main road as they wait for the gas trucks to arrive, in Colombo

Mon, May 9, 2022
By Alasdair Pal and Uditha Jayasinghe

COLOMBO (Reuters) -Supporters of Sri Lanka's ruling party stormed a major protest site in the country's commercial capital Colombo on Monday, attacking anti-government demonstrators and clashing with police who used tear gas and water cannon to drive them back.

Protests against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's government have raged for weeks amid the country's worst financial crisis since independence, with thousands demanding Rajapaksa and his influential family quit for mishandling the economy.

On Monday, hundreds of ruling party supporters rallied outside the official residence of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president's elder brother, before marching to a anti-government protest site outside the presidential office.

At the "Gota Go Gama" protest site, a tent village that emerged that last month to become the focal point of national protests, pro-government supporters - some armed with iron bars - attacked anti-government demonstrators, according to a Reuters witness.

Police used dozens of tear gas rounds and water cannon to break up the confrontation, the first major clash between pro-and anti-government camps after a wave of nationwide protests began in late March.

At least nine people injured in the clashes and facing breathing difficulties after inhaling tear were taken to Colombo's National Hospital, a hospital official said, declining to be named.

"This is a peaceful protest," Pasindu Senanayaka, an anti-government protestor told Reuters. "They attacked Gota Go Gama and set fire to our tents."

"We are helpless now, we are begging for help," Senanayaka said, as rings of black smoke spiralled out of a burning tent nearby and parts of the protest camp lay in disarray.

Dozens of paramilitary troops with riot shield and helmets were deployed to keep both groups apart after the initial clashes, and a curfew has been imposed across Sri Lanka's Western Province, which includes Colombo, a police spokesman said.

'BANKRUPT NATION'

Facing escalating anti-government protests, Rajapaksa's government last week declared a state of emergency for the second time in five weeks, but public discontent has steadily simmered, most recently because of a lack of cooking gas.

Sri Lankan energy companies said on Monday they were running low on stocks of liquid petroleum gas mainly used in cooking, as shortages of foreign exchange put renewed pressure on the island nation.

Hit hard by the pandemic, rising oil prices and tax cuts, Sri Lanka has as little as $50 million of useable foreign reserves, Finance Minister Ali Sabry said last week.

State-run Litro Gas chairman Vijitha Herath told Reuters Sri Lanka's foreign exchange crisis was causing a severe gas shortage with the company struggling to find adequate dollars for payments.

"With the involvement of the President we will get $7 million from the central bank to pay for a 3,500 metric tonne (MT) shipment, which is expected to arrive on Tuesday," he said.

Sri Lanka needs a minimum 40,000 MT a month for gas, which at current prices costs about $40m.

Long queues for cooking gas seen in recent days have frequently turned into impromptu protests as frustrated consumers block roads.

The second player in Sri Lanka's duopoly, Laugfs Gas, has less than 2000 MT of gas, which has been reserved for industries and hospitals. The company is also struggling to find dollars and is currently in talks to use its overseas assets to open letters of credit.

"We are a bankrupt nation. Banks don't have sufficient dollars for us to open lines of credit and we cannot go to the black market. We are struggling to keep our businesses afloat," Laugfs chairman W.H.K Wegapitiya said.

He estimated it would take at least another week for the company to secure a gas shipment.

Sri Lanka has approached the International Monetary Fund for a bailout, and will begin a virtual summit on Monday with officials from the multilateral lender aimed at securing emergency assistance.

(Reporting by Alasdair Pal and Uditha Jayasinghe in Colombo; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Sri Lanka deploys troops to capital after clash at protest



Sri Lankan man pushes his bicycle as people demanding for cooking gas sit with their empty gas cylinders blocking a busy intersection for the second consecutive day in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, May 8, 2022. Diplomats and rights groups expressed concern Saturday after Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency and police used force against peaceful protesters amid the country's worst economic crisis in recent memory. 

(AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

KRISHAN FRANCIS and BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI
Mon, May 9, 2022, 

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) —

Authorities deployed armed troops in the capital Colombo on Monday hours after government supporters attacked protesters outside the offices of the president and prime minister of Sri Lanka.

Hundreds of armed soldiers were deployed in Colombo as protesters made accusations on local TV that police did not interfere to prevent the attack, despite using tear gas and water cannons on protesters as recently as Friday.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Authorities deployed armed troops in the capital Colombo on Monday hours after government supporters attacked protesters outside the offices of the president and prime minister of Sri Lanka.


Hundreds of armed soldiers were deployed in Colombo as protesters made accusations on local TV that police did not interfere to prevent the attack, despite using tear gas and water cannons on protesters as recently as Friday.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

___

Government supporters on Monday attacked protesters who have been camped outside the offices of Sri Lanka's president and prime minster, as trade unions began a “Week of Protests” demanding the government change and its president to step down over the country’s worst economic crisis in memory.

The Indian Ocean island nation is on the brink of bankruptcy and has suspended payments on its foreign loans. Its economic woes have brought on a political crisis, with the government facing widespread protests and a no-confidence motion in Parliament.

Supporters of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa rallied inside his office earlier Monday, urging him to ignore the protesters' demand to step down and requesting he remain in office.

After the meeting, they went to the front of the office where protesters have been demonstrating for several days. Local television channel Sirasa showed pro-government supporters attacking protesters with clubs and iron bars, demolishing and later burning down their tents.

Protesters made accusations on Sirasa TV that police did not interfere to prevent the attack, despite using tear gas and water cannons on protesters as recently as Friday.

At the main hospital in the capital Colombo, 23 wounded people have been admitted and their condition is not critical, an official said on condition of anonymity as she is not authorized to speak to the media.

The attack came as protesters marked their 31st day outside the president’s and prime minister's offices. They have been demanding that the president, his older brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and other powerful Rajapaksa family members quit. Similar protests have spread to other locations, with people setting up camps opposite the prime minister’s residence and in other towns across the country.

So far, the Rajapaksa brothers have resisted calls to resign, though three Rajapaksas out of the five who were lawmakers stepped down from their Cabinet posts in April.

Meanwhile, trade unions on Monday called for protests throughout this week, trade union activist Saman Rathnapriya said, and more than 1,000 unions representing health, port, education, and other key service sectors have joined the “Week of Protests" movement.

He said during the week, the workers will stage demonstrations at their workplaces across the country. At the end of the week, they will launch a huge march up to Parliament, demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's removal and a new government.

For several months, Sri Lankans have endured long lines to buy fuel, cooking gas, food and medicine, most of which come from abroad. Shortages of hard currency have also hindered imports of raw materials for manufacturing and worsened inflation, which surged to 18.7% in March.

People blocked main roads to demand gas and fuel. On Sunday, local television channel Hiru showed people in some areas fighting over fuel.

Sri Lanka was due to pay $7 billion of its foreign debt this year out of nearly $25 billion it must pay by 2026. Its total foreign debt is $51 billion.

Sri Lanka’s finance minister announced earlier this week that the country’s usable foreign reserves have plummeted below $50 million.

As oil prices soar during the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Sri Lanka’s fuel stocks are running out. Authorities have announced countrywide power cuts will increase to about four a day because they can’t supply enough fuel to power generating stations.

Protesters have crowded the streets since March, maintaining that Rajapaksa and his family — who have dominated nearly every aspect of life in Sri Lanka for most of the last 20 years — are responsible for the crisis.

On Friday, Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency, which empowers him to authorize detentions, property seizure and search of any premises. He can also change or suspend any law in the interests of public security and for the maintenance of essential supplies. Diplomats and rights groups have expressed concern over the move.

Sri Lanka has been holding talks with the International Monetary Fund to get an immediate funding facility as well as a long-term rescue plan but was told its progress would depend on negotiations on debt restructuring with creditors.

Any long-term plan would take at least six months to get underway.

Chinese tech firms pull out of Russia: report


Lexi Lonas
Fri, May 6, 2022

Chinese tech firms are leaving Russia amid crippling sanctions the international community has put on the region, people familiar with the issue told The Wall Street Journal.

Tech companies such as Lenovo Group Ltd. and Xiaomi Corp. are restricting shipments to Russia as sanctions have made it difficult to operate financially in the country, sources told the outlet.

A number of Chinese companies have avoided publicly announcing why they are pulling business from Russia after the Chinese government said businesses had to fight against Western sanctions.

China’s Ministry of Commerce told companies in April “not to submit to external coercion and make improper external statements,” according to the Journal.

SZ DJI Technology Co. is one of the few Chinese companies that said they will be halting business in Russia and Ukraine until further notice.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there was an exodus of Western companies who were condemning Russia’s attack.

However, Chinese companies have a hard line to toe, as China is one of the few nations that have stood by Russia’s side.

China has refused to put Russia at blame for the war and has condemned the West’s response to isolate Russia.

Despite the condemnation of the West, companies have had to work to stay in compliance as U.S. chip businesses have threatened not to supply Chinese companies if they don’t abide by international sanctions, the Journal noted.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.

New Charter School Rules Are an Assault on the Rights of Families of Color

Dr. Howard Fuller
Sun, May 8, 2022,


It has been obvious since his presidential campaign that President Joe Biden is not a supporter of charter schools. The reason has never been clear to me. Does he oppose the movement for philosophical reasons, or does he believe it is the most politically advantageous path to travel? No matter what his reasons are, his administration is pursuing a path to act on his disdain for charter schools. On March 11, his Department of Education put forth a new set of rules that, if adopted, will cripple and maybe even eventually help kill the chartering effort.

The department claims the rules will improve charter schools and “hold them accountable.” But, in fact, it is proposing onerous regulations as a way to remove the ability of charter schools to sustain what was the very bargain the movement was founded upon. Specifically, the idea of freedom in exchange for accountability. These new proposed rules are supposedly bringing about accountability, but what they will truly do is stifle the freedom charter schools need to be successful. This is not just a veiled effort against the charter movement, I believe it is an intentional strategy to deny access of low-income and working-class Black families to an educational option that has been a positive lifeline for their children. It is clear that Biden has chosen to side with the organized special interests of the traditional public school system rather than those families. He has chosen to be a protector of the traditional system and not the families whom he sometimes gives lip service to supporting.

Since the first charter school law was passed in Minnesota in 1991, charters have been a welcome opportunity for families who historically have been poorly served by the traditional public school system. By proposing these new rules, the administration has bought into the argument that by protecting the traditional public school system, he is protecting public education. The fact is the traditional system is not public education; it is one delivery system for public education. Biden and his administration are conveniently ignoring the fact that charter schools are public entities and that they are an important element in the delivery systems aimed at achieving the goal of educating the public.

Related: Open Letter to Joe Biden: The Votes of Black and Brown Charter School Parents Matter. Ignore Us at Your Own Peril

Let me be very clear that my objection to what is being done here is not meant to be an attack on the Biden administration writ large. I happen to agree with many actions that have been taken by the administration on other fronts. But this misguided effort is an assault on the right of self-determination for low-income and working-class Black and brown families and communities in two ways: It attacks the rights of families who intentionally choose these schools for their children; and it attacks Brown and black people who govern and lead some of these schools.

Let me cite some of the specific concerns I have:

First, the proposed rule to demand that charter schools partner with a local district is obviously aimed at ending their independence and forcing them under the control of the traditional public school system. Charters should be free to determine whether partnering with a school district is in the best interests of the students and families they serve. Historically, charter schools have thrived when they are independent of their local district — particularly where, as is the case in so many places, the local districts have been hostile to the charter school efforts in their locale. This rule would put an end to that freedom.

Related: Watch: A Conversation about Charter Schools, the Biden Administration & the Uncertain Future of Parental Choice

Second, the proposed “diversity” requirement, under which charter schools would need to have the same socio-economic and racial makeup as the local district, is a serious problem. What happens if a charter school is located in a district that is predominantly white, but the children who are falling through the cracks are Black and brown kids from low-income and working-class families? This rule would prevent a charter school from serving those students.

The Biden administration is attempting to reverse the pro-chartering stance of the Clinton and Obama administrations, to return to the days when teachers unions’ interests were placed ahead of the interests of the families that supposedly this administration cares about. It is crucial that the Education Department continue to support policies on a variety of fronts that will aid the families who have chosen charter schools as the best educational option for their children. I urge the administration to back down on this assault.

Dr. Howard Fuller is a distinguished professor emeritus at Marquette University and former superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools.

THEY ARE OXYMORONS
Sunny Hostin: ‘I don’t understand Black Republicans and I don’t understand Latino Republicans’



Natalie Prieb
Fri, May 6, 2022,

“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin went after Black and Latino Republicans during the talk show Friday, saying that Black Republicans are an “oxymoron” and that she doesn’t understand how people who are Black or Latino can affiliate themselves with the Republican Party.

Hostin’s comments came as the panel was discussing the news that Karine Jean-Pierre, the current White House deputy press secretary, will replace Jen Psaki as the White House press secretary upon her departure, making Jean-Pierre the first openly gay person and first Black woman to hold the position.

The co-hosts were discussing whether it was a conflict of interest for Jean-Pierre to step into the job given that she is in a relationship with CNN reporter Suzanne Malveaux when guest co-host Lindsey Granger said “we have to be realistic about what happens when you’re in bed with somebody and that’s your partner or your best friend.”

Hostin pushed back against Granger’s argument, arguing that Republicans shouldn’t “mention anything about pillow talks or conflicts of interest” due to the recent news that Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, texted White House chief of staff Mark Meadows leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot urging him to keep former President Trump in office.

Later in the conversation, Hostin asked Granger, a Black woman, if she’s a Republican, to which Granger responded that she is.

“I feel like that’s an oxymoron, a Black Republican,” Hostin said.

“You feel like it’s an oxymoron? Why? Your friend right here is a Republican,” Granger said, gesturing to co-host Ana Navarro, who is Nicaraguan-American.

Granger then argued that it’s an oxymoron that Hostin is Catholic and disagrees with abortion due to her faith but also believes abortion should be legal.

“I don’t understand either of you,” Hostin said.

“You don’t understand yourself then,” Granger responded.

“I don’t understand either of you,” Hostin repeated as the segment came to a close. “I don’t understand Black Republicans, and I don’t understand Latino Republicans.”

Ted Cruz Said Jan. 6 Wasn’t a ‘Violent Insurrection.’ Now He Labels Peaceful Pro-Choice Protesters ‘Mob Violence’

Peter Wade

ROLLING STONE
Sun, May 8, 2022,

PNG-image - Credit: Fox News

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz seems very confused about the definition of violence. In a Sunday interview, he characterized peaceful pro-choice protesters standing outside the homes of Supreme Court justices as “violent.” But when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 a “violent insurrection,” Cruz said he strongly disagreed.

Crowds of activists opposed to the Supreme Court’s voting to overturn Roe v. Wade — news that broke when someone leaked a draft opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito — have gathered outside the homes of Justice Bret Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts to voice their opposition. But reports from the scene have shown around 100 protesters marching peacefully from Kavanaugh’s home to Roberts’ home and have not reported incidents of violence.

In a Sunday interview with Maria Bartiromo, Cruz tried to paint those activists as violent. “Now they’re embracing mob violence to get their partisan outcome,” Cruz said, not of the Jan. 6 mob, but of the pro-choice protesters.

The senator went on to say that Americans are “sharply divided” on the issue of abortion. But according to a CNN poll from just a few months ago, seven in ten Americans do not want Roe v. Wade overturned.

Later in the interview, Cruz claimed without a shred of evidence that the leak came from “almost certainly one of the 12 law clerks that are clerking for the three liberal justices.” So while Cruz is opposed to people gathering outside the homes of justices, he has no problem with singling out the clerks working for justices appointed by Democratic presidents.

But it’s clear that all Cruz’s bluster is play-acting. He’s aware that these are peaceful pro-choice protests, just as he at one point knew and admitted that Jan. 6 was indeed violent, calling the events of Jan. 6 a “violent terrorist attack.” But when that truth became politically damaging, Lyin’ Ted backtracked, and insisted that there was no violence in people who fought past police lines to storm the U.S. Capitol, promising to take lawmakers lives.

More from Rolling Stone

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Matt Gaetz Lashes Out At 'Over-Educated' Women Protesting For Abortion Rights

DRAMA QUEEN WILL DEFEND SLAVERY NEXT 
Graham says Roe v. Wade created ‘constitutional right that didn’t exist’


Brad Dress

THE HILL
Sun, May 8, 2022

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C) on Sunday said the 1973 Supreme Court precedent Roe v. Wade “created a constitutional right that didn’t exist” when justices ruled Americans have a right to privacy and legalized abortion in the U.S.

Graham told “Fox News Sunday” anchor Bret Baier the ruling has divided the public since its inception.

“Roe v. Wade created a constitutional right that didn’t exist in the writ constitution,” Graham said. “This created division from the day it was decided until now.”

Last week’s leak of a draft opinion from Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito showed the court’s conservative majority was ready to overturn the precedent, which has drawn fierce debate on abortion rights.

Graham on Sunday said Roe v. Wade has long shut out debate on abortion rights and prevented challenges to limiting abortions.

“You had no avenue,” he said, adding a handful of judges had “determined when life begins and how it ends.”

“If it does get repealed, which I hope it will, the issue will go back to the states,” Graham said. “The abortion debate will not go away in the country, it will be decided by the people, not a handful of judges.

“Now finally elected officials have a say about life and the conditions of an abortion,” the senator added.

Supreme Court Justices See Pro-Choice Activist Protests Outside Their Homes

Bruce Haring
Sun, May 8, 2022,


Saturday night saw pro-choice activists take to the streets outside the homes of Supreme Court justices Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts, Bloomberg reported. .

The gathering of about 100 demonstrators armed with signs and chanting slogans marched from Kavanaugh’s house in Maryland to Roberts’ nearby home. They were ordered to disperse after returning to Kavanaugh’s residence. It is unclear if either Justice was at home.

Both incidents come days after the leak of a draft opinion indicating the Supreme Court is considering overturning Roe v. Wade, the federal opinion govering abortion rights.

“The time for civility is over, man,” protests organizer Lacie Wooten-Holway, 39, told Bloomberg. “Being polite doesn’t get you anywhere.”

The demonstration Saturday follows similar protests in cities nationwide following the leak of the draft opinion. There were also counter-protest gatherings in support of the Justices in some locations.

The actual Supreme Court ruling is expected in June.

More from Deadline

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SAG-AFTRA & IATSE Join Chorus Of Hollywood Unions Condemning Supreme Court's Draft Ruling On Roe v. Wade


New York Gov. Kathy Hochul "Absolutely Horrified" As Supreme Court Poised To Reverse Roe V. Wade

FAUX NEWS OUTRAGED

Activist group threatens to 'burn Eucharist' in display of 'disgust' toward Catholics: 'Bigotry'


Jon Brown

FOX NEWS
Sun, May 8, 2022

Pro-choice group Ruth Sent Us, a reference to late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, threatened to burn the Eucharist in response to a Twitter user who offered to pray for them after they called for protests at Catholic churches and justices' homes.

"Stuff your rosaries and your weaponized prayer. We will remain outraged after this weekend, so keep praying. We’ll be burning the Eucharist to show our disgust for the abuse Catholic Churches have condoned for centuries," tweeted the organization, which has called on abortion supporters to protest at Catholic churches across the country over the Mother's Day weekend.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church and St. Peter's Church Catholic Church, both of which are on Capitol Hill, reportedly requested increased police presence amid fears that protesters will attempt to disrupt Sunday morning Mass.

The tweet, which also included an image of Jesus chasing moneychangers out of the temple and a woman wearing the red garb from "The Handmaid's Tale," was in a response to a user who said she would be praying the rosary for the protection of the clergy, parishioners, police, and "for the safety and change-of-heart" of pro-abortion protesters.

Anti-abortion activists and church members are confronted by a pro-choice activist outside of a Catholic church in downtown Manhattan on May 7, 2022. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

The reaction to the latest tweet from Ruth Sent Us was overwhelmingly negative, with many Twitter users denouncing it as "evil" or "demonic."

NYC CHURCH SWARMED BY PRO-ABORTION PROTESTERS: ‘I’M KILLING THE BABIES'

"A pro-abortion group is not only calling for the targeting of justices at their homes for protests but declaring ‘We’ll be burning the Eucharist’ to protest the Catholic Church's view of abortion as a sin," wrote Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley. "It is the liberating license of rage."

"Promises to ‘burn the Eucharist’? Fighting words. This is NOT a peaceful protest," wrote NewsBusters executive editor Tim Graham.

PENCE DECRIES PLANNED ABORTION ACTIVIST DISRUPTIONS OF MOTHER'S DAY CHURCH SERVICES: 'TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE'

"The Catholic Church is the moral foundation of the West. Nowhere in the history of humanity have women achieved more equality than in the West," wrote journalist David Marcus. "This isn’t a coincidence."

"Bigotry and idiocy aside, how does this help their cause? How many supporters does it gain compared to how many it loses?" asked author Jonah Goldberg. "[Its] self indulgence is what amazes me."

"This is pure evil, and it’s not surprising from those who treat abortion like a sacrament," said journalist Alexandra DeSanctis Marr.

"I actually feel sad for these creeps," commentator Liz Wheeler wrote. "Even though they’re blaspheming Christ, someday they’re going to get to hell & realize eternal damnation is very real. And it makes me sad to think of anyone missing eternity with Christ."

"And we will pray for all of you. Even when you kill a child you are its mother forever and this is also your day. These truths are unavoidable. Happy Mothers Day," wrote Matt Schlapp. "See you at church today."

Ruth Sent Us did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Abortion rights activists gather outside of a Catholic church in downtown Manhattan to voice their support for a woman's right to choose on May 7, 2022, in New York City. Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

The Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) told Fox News Digital they are "aware of potential disruptions associated with First Amendment demonstrations."

"MPD will be monitoring, assessing and planning accordingly with our local and federal partners. We have increased available resources, including the activation of our Civil Disturbance Units, in preparation for these activities," they said in a statement.

Of wombs and chambers: 

The Supreme Court is poised to 

go in radically different directions

 on abortion and guns

Daily News Editorial Board, 

New York Daily News

Sat, May 7, 2022

For 49 years, under a ruling of the nation’s highest court and subsequent precedent, Americans have gotten used to the idea that women have the freedom to terminate a pregnancy until the point of fetal viability. They don’t have to travel from state to state to access a right that, while not explicitly named in the Constitution, courts have consistently said springs from its protections for privacy and due process.

Now, unless a draft Supreme Court majority ruling is dramatically revised or becomes a dissenting opinion, Justice Samuel Alito and his band of not-so-merry conservatives are poised to de-nationalize that right, making reproductive liberty wholly contingent on the state in which a woman happens to live and the disposable income she happens to have at the ready. A New Yorker will be able to get an abortion in the 12th or 20th week. An Oklahoman won’t be able to get one after the sixth week, not even if her pregnancy is the product of a rape.

It should not be lost on Americans that on another life-and-death question, the very same court looks poised to rush in the exact opposite direction, barring states from legislating as they deem necessary.

The Second Amendment says, “a well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Those words have been interpreted variously over the generations (with judges increasingly tuning out those first 12 words), but since the very start of the Republic, different states have had wide latitude to put different curbs on firearm possession. New York’s firearm law, stating that concealed weapon permits are granted only after demonstrated need, has been on the books since 1913. That’s different than Wyoming’s statute, and understandably so. Wyoming’s biggest city has one-fortieth the population of Brooklyn.

If the court in one breath creates a state-by-state abortion-rights free-for-all, and in the next cuffs state gun laws by making the right to carry a concealed weapon uniform, it will beclown itself.