It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, July 15, 2022
CANADA
10/3 podcast: The undoing of Patrick Brown in the Conservative leadership race
Shawn Knox - Yesterday
The race to replace Erin O’Toole as leader of Canada’s Conservatives took a surprising turn with the party’s leadership committee removing Patrick Brown as a candidate.
It’s alleged that a private corporation had paid members of Brown’s campaign staff, which would be a violation of Canadian election law.
National Post political reporter Ryan Tumilty joins host Dave Breakenridge to discuss how these allegations came to light, whether Brown has any recourse, and how this changes the race in the remaining two months.
Drop time limit for Hong Kong graduates, urges NDP critic
An open letter from the NDP immigration critic is urging the federal government to drop a requirement for Hong Kong applicants looking to become permanent residents which she says is already excluding many.
“I urge that you amend the temporary public policy to drop the 5-year limit on the graduation requirement for Stream B (Canadian work experience) applicants and include all persons who hold an eligible education credential without the 5-year graduation limitation,” MP Jenny Kwan wrote on June 22 in an open letter addressed to Immigration Minister Sean Fraser.
The letter was sent just days ahead of the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from British control to Chinese jurisdiction on July 1, 1997 under what is known as the “one country, two systems” arrangement. Though Hong Kong is slated to officially become part of China in 2047, pro-democracy protests broke out in 2019, followed by government crackdowns that culminated in China’s national security law implemented on June 30, 2020.
In response to that in November 2020, Canada’s government began attracting Hong Kong students and youth through open work permits “and broadening their pathways to permanent residency” as a way to help those trying to leave, according to a press release. Read the press release here:
This year, beginning on June 21 until August 31, 2026, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) established two pathways to permanent residency for those already in the country. In-Canada graduates can apply under Stream A, while those with Canadian work experience can do so under Stream B.
Kwan’s letter takes issue with the fact that, among other things, all Stream B applicants must meet a requirement to have graduated with certain educational credentials in the immediate five years preceding the date when the application is received.
But that specific and “narrow” window of time leaves many out of the race altogether who would otherwise be eligible, says Kwan, who was born in Hong Kong and is currently MP for Vancouver East, in British Columbia.
“Simply put, there are many Hong Kongers who were active in the pro-democracy movement that have graduated more than five years ago,” she writes. “None of them will be eligible for this Lifeboat Scheme.” Major barrier
Additionally, even those who do meet the five-year graduation timeline when applying for an open-work permit may become ineligible to apply for permanent residence “by the time their work permit is received and they have fulfilled the hours of work requirement,” Kwan states in her letter.
“This is just one example of why the 5-year graduation criteria is too narrow to affect the goals of the Lifeboat Scheme. I am deeply concerned that limiting the program to only apply to people who have graduated within five years of the application date excludes far too many Hong Kongers who are desperately concerned about their safety given their involvement in the pro-democracy movement.”
To accentuate her point, Kwan also quoted Mr. Hui, described as a former pro-democracy legislator who fled Hong Kong and who served as an expert witness during a standing committee on the matter at the last Parliament.
“Many young protesters who now urgently need a safe place away from Hong Kong are in their twenties and thirties, just like me,” Hui is quoted as saying. “They’ll be barred from the scheme totally, even with having Canadian qualifications.”
In a phone conversation, Kwan told New Canadian Media many of her constituents in the Vancouver East riding in B.C. have pointed to the five-year requirement as a “major barrier” blocking them from the program, including people who’ve graduated as little as six years ago.
Even people in Hong Kong have contacted her letting her know that they won’t even try to apply because “it’s already clear to them they’re not going to meet the five-year requirement because they graduated six or seven years ago.”
Others have had trouble securing employment for the additional one-year work requirement, which means by the time they secure a job, they may have gone over the five-year graduation requirement.
“So, practically, on the ground, the program doesn’t work and is fraught with challenges, and that poses barriers for the applicants,” she told NCM.
“If the government’s intention is really to provide support to Hong Kong learners, they need to lift the five-year requirement…. It’s an easy fix.” Other measures
IRCC did not respond to direct questions about dropping the five-year graduation requirement. However, in an email statement, a spokesperson said those who are not eligible under the two streams can apply to one of the government’s other “existing immigration programs.” They also said applicants can use the Come to Canada Tool, an online portal that helps determine people’s eligibility.
The statement further said that while the government can’t “speculate on future policy decisions,” it will “continue to monitor developments and take action where needed to support those affected by the situation in Hong Kong.”
Finally, it said that in addition to the two streams to permanent residence in question, the government has put in place measures to “allow eligible Hong Kong residents in or outside Canada with recently completed post-secondary studies to apply for an open work permit, enabling individuals to work anywhere in Canada for a period of up to three years. As of April 30, IRCC had issued 10,469 open work permits and extensions under this policy.”
Kwan says while her constituents have come to her seeking answers, many are reluctant to take the issue publicly out of fear of repercussions against their applications from IRCC, while others fear family members back home may be targeted.
The solution, Kwan reiterates, is an easy one.
“If the government lifts that (five-year education) requirement, a great number of people will be able to qualify, and they will also be able to take the time that’s necessary to meet that one-year work requirement,” she says. “So, it’s a win-win solution for all of us.”
Kwan states that her letter has not received a response as of yet.
Fernando Arce, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, New Canadian Media
U.S. mining giant purchasing Yukon's Alexco Resources
Yesterday
Yukon’s Alexco Resources is about to be purchased by America’s largest silver producer, Hecla Mining.
The news came in a July 5 press release.
“There are no changes at Keno Hill in terms of day-to-day operations,” said Brad Thrall, president of Alexco Resources, in an email on July 7. “There are no changes to any of the plans or agreements.”
Both streams of Alexco Resources’s business activities — mine development and operations, along with their reclamation and remediation side through Elsa Reclamation and Development (ERDC) — will be acquired by the Hecla Mining Company.
“Since Hecla Mining is purchasing the outstanding shares of the corporate entity (Alexco) everything remains in place,” explained Thrall.
Alexco has a lot of moving parts. The property spans 17,000 hectares with leaky old mine entrances, also known as adits, historical buildings and many claims, some exhausted and others promising. The company is engaged in a complicated mix of active mining and concurrent remediation on sites that are scattered and sometimes adjacent. Licences for the active sites are different than for the historic sites, but staffing is optimized between the two.
Decisions pending
Decisions are expected on ERDC’s application to renew its water licence for the major remediation on the historic United Keno Hill Mine (UKHM) properties, and on Alexco’s remediation and closure plan for its active mining properties.
ERDC’s water licence is set to expire on Aug. 8. Their application for a 20-year renewal for remediation is before the Yukon Water Board. The complex water treatment plan was 15 years in development and cost the federal government $34 million.
The required remediation work and construction is estimated to take 15 years with a price tag of over $100 million to be paid by the federal government. Following that, the water that springs from UKHM’s historic audits will still need to be treated in perpetuity.
Alexco also has its remediation and closure plan before the Yukon Water Board. The public comment period recently closed and the board has sent a letter to Alexco requesting more information and flagged some items for potential lack of adherence to water licence conditions. These are the same type of plans that resulted in financial security increases for Minto and Victoria Gold mines recently.
Alexco has estimated their financial security deposit at $8.5 million, which is less than the $10 million already reserved with the government.
Operations temporarily suspended
On June 22, the company announced a temporary shutdown of its milling operations. The company said in its news release that it could not produce enough ore from its underground sources to adequately sustain the mill operations.
“Mill operations were temporarily suspended for five to six months so the company could focus all efforts on advancing underground development,” reads the release.
The stock price of Alexco Resource Corp. (AXU on the stock market) dropped on this announcement from .81 cents on June 21 to .48 cents the next day, according to Yahoo Finance.
Last year the company also announced a temporary shutdown of the company’s Bellekeno property so they could focus their efforts on other deposits. Mines can be placed in temporary closure for up to five years before needing to formally shut down operations. A myriad of reasons
In the news release about the sale, Clynton Nauman, chairman and CEO of Alexco said, “There is no doubt that we have fallen well behind the development and production plan at Keno Hill — and our original estimate of achieving commercial production in early 2022.
“There are myriad reasons for those challenges, but fundamentally, they all led to an increasing level of stress across our business, which was having a negative impact on the share price, our finances, our employees and other stakeholders.”
This is why the purchase is viewed in a positive light by the company. And, with nothing bound to change on the ground and the operations manager staying in place, Thrall believes that the relationships that have been established and fostered by the company over the years will endure. It is only the ownership that will change.
“Keno Hill will be in excellent hands to unlock the full potential of the district and maximize benefits to NND [First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun] and local communities including Keno City,” he told the News.
Hecla Mining said in the release that it had been eyeing the Keno Hill project for many years.
The transaction provides Hecla with “a fully permitted property with infrastructure that includes a 400 tonne per day mill, on-site camp facility, all-season highway access and connection to the hydropower grid.” It also “increases Hecla’s silver exposure by increasing proven and probable silver reserves” and could enable the company to be not just America’s largest silver producer, but Canada’s as well.
But the deal is not done yet. The terms that are proposed include a combination of a US$30 million operating loan and share purchase at 50 cents, and a yet to be determined number of Hecla shares.
The acquisition transaction will need to be implemented by a court-approved plan, and some regulatory approvals are required. A special meeting will be held in late September and the acquisition is expected to close later that month.
“Hecla has the organizational expertise and financial strength to build Keno Hill to the level and capacity required,” said Nauman.
“[They will be] able to continue to invest in exploration across the district, something that we, as Alexco, independently would likely struggle to achieve."
Lawrie Crawford, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Yukon News
The country's fourth-largest income-generator in terms of sales, roses alone earned nearly a billion US dollars in 2021 -- a record haul of $927 million to be exact.
With hundreds of companies growing 450 rose varieties, Ecuador is the world's third-biggest flower exporter after the Netherlands and Colombia.
But this year's prognosis is unclear after 18 days of sometimes-violent mass protests against rising fuel prices that included burning roadblocks and arson, and resulted in six deaths.
"The protests meant much larger losses than all that was lost during two years of pandemic," said Marcelo Echeverria, Ecuador commercial representative for the Dummen Orange international flower firm.
"That has slowed down a lot of things that were planned, a lot of projects that were planned for the second half of the year."
The protests, led by a powerful Indigenous people's group, saw cut flowers among the export products targeted by arsonists.
"They are BURNING our flowers," the Expoflores association of producers and exporters exclaimed on Twitter as the contents of delivery trucks were being set on fire last month.
"They are burning our income and that of our families."
Expoflores said other flowers rotted as they could not be harvested and moved for export, and ended up in "the garbage."
The government estimated the cost of the uprising at about $1 billion -- some two-thirds of it borne by the private sector, including the flower industry.
Related video: Rising prices cause 'inflation rebellion' in Ecuador
"There were innumerable losses in terms of flowers that could not be exported (and) damage to private property," said Socorro Martinez, Ecuador's Dummen Orange boss.
"It was a very sad issue because... it widened the gap between some producers and ordinary people who were part of the community, people who we considered very close to us." - Necessity -
But those who are part of it say the industry is a resilient one, with flowers never going out of fashion, whether it be for happy events or sad ones.
"We have experienced many local and international crises. We live in crisis, but we know how to manage them," said Eduardo Letort, manager of the firm Hoja Verde, which produces about 35 million stems of 120 rose varieties each year.
"It’s been a tough few years, but... we have managed to adapt" by looking for new markets or making better use of dwindling fertilizer stocks as shortages bit during the pandemic and more recently with the war in Ukraine, he told AFP on his farm in the Andean town of Cayambe.
In 2020, Ecuador's flower industry recorded sales of $827 million -- a smaller decline than had been expected from pre-pandemic 2019 when it was $880 million.
"We saw that flowers... became a product of necessity. People wanted to have colors, scents in their homes" during lockdown, said Letort.
There was also a sharp rise in demand for flowers for pandemic funeral wreaths.
- More complicated -
Between January and May this year, flower exports brought in $432 million, compared to $417 million in the same period of 2021.
The rest of the year "had looked very good despite Russia (and its war on Ukraine) with forecasts for a dip followed by a recovery by year end," said Expoflores president Alejandro Martinez.
"But with the protests, things now seem more complicated," he added.
Russia was Ecuador's second-biggest country client for flowers in 2021, behind the United States.
Since the start of the war, Russia's share of the market fell from 20 percent to 10 percent, said Letort, who is also president of Expoflores in Cayambe.
"The flower business is already complicated, it does not need protests, pandemics or wars to make it complicated," said Marco Penaherrera, who sends about 120,000 roses to the United States every week.
"It is good business, but it is complicated."
sp/vel/mlr/caw
THE GREAT GAME
The Red Sea islands caught between Egypt, Saudi and Israel
By AFP Published July 14, 2022 This handout satellite image made available by the European Space Agency and captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission on July 9, 2022 shows the islands of Tiran and Sanafir - Copyright Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery/AFP -
As US President Joe Biden visits the Middle East this week, one issue on the table will be the status of two small Red Sea islands that are uninhabited but of key strategic value.
Resolving the tricky status that stems from their location and turbulent history would help build trust between Israel and Saudi Arabia, two US allies now taking gradual steps that Washington hopes could one day lead to diplomatic ties.
For now, the two barren desert islands — Tiran and Sanafir — are home only to some soldiers of a decades-old multinational peacekeeping force, their waters occasionally visited by divers for their coral reefs.
But the islands have been fought over in the past, thanks to their key location at the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, on which Jordan’s only seaport of the same name, and Israel’s Eilat harbour are located.
Egypt ceded the islands, located east of its resort town Sharm El-Sheikh, to Saudi Arabia in 2016. But the deal still requires Israel’s green light, at a time when the Jewish state and Saudi Arabia have no formal ties.
A senior Israeli official said late Thursday Israel would have “no objection” to greenlighting Egypt handing over the islands to Saudi Arabia as a step towards any normalisation of ties between Riyadh and the Jewish state.
The issue is set to be on the agenda Friday when Biden, after his Israel visit, meets Gulf leaders in Jeddah for a conference where Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is also expected.
Tiran — which hosts a small airport for the peacekeepers — measures about 61 square kilometres (24 square miles), while Sanafir, to the east, is only about half that size.
The islands were under Egyptian sovereignty from 1950, but invaded by Israeli troops during the 1956 Suez Crisis that came after Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the canal that is key to trade between Europe and Asia.
– Deal in the making? –
Nasser’s 1967 closure of the Strait of Tiran, which cut off maritime access to Eilat and Aqaba, precipitated the Six Day War, after which Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula and the two small islands.
In 1979, the landmark Camp David peace agreement provided for Egypt to recover the territories.
As part of the Sinai’s demilitarisation, Cairo was not allowed to station troops on the islands, where only peacekeepers were based for the so-called Multinational Force and Observers.
In 2016 a Cairo-Riyadh agreement ceded the islands to Saudi Arabia in a controversial decision that sparked nationalist protests in Egypt, which were quickly stifled.
Critics accused Sisi of ceding the islands in return for Saudi aid and investment largesse. The government argued the islands were originally Saudi but leased to Egypt in the 1950s.
Egyptian courts handed down a series of contradictory rulings before the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled in favour of the handover.
But because the issue is governed by the Camp David agreement, the status of the islands has yet to be finalised, requiring Israel to ratify the transfer of sovereignty.
It is this final hurdle that Biden could negotiate with Israeli, Saudi and Egyptian leaders this week, observers say.
The Israeli press has reported that Riyadh has pledged to keep the islands demilitarised, and to allow Israeli vessels to keep traversing the strait.
Experts have pointed to the significance of a potential deal as a step towards official normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, who along with the United States are fierce enemies of Iran.
Mexican sex workers fight injustice with the pen
Jennifer Gonzalez Covarrubias
Paloma Paz puts on a wig and pink heels before heading onto Mexico City's streets for sex work -- a precarious profession that she combines with journalism to decry injustices.
She began writing articles after seeing fellow sex workers thrown onto the street when the hotels where they lived and worked closed due to the pandemic.
Journalism "is a way of shouting at society, at the authorities, about what's happening to us," the 28-year-old transgender woman said.
"It's not a hobby," she added, combing her long black wig at her home in the Mexican capital.
Paz and 10 other women write for a free monthly magazine called Noticalle published by the non-governmental organization Brigada Callejera (Street Brigade).
"It's a means of communication mainly produced by sex workers for sex workers," who felt misrepresented by the mass media, said the NGO's founder, Elvira Madrid.
Around 1,000 copies of the magazine are printed each month, made of three letter-size sheets of paper folded in half and stapled together.
On the cover there is a cartoon of two sex workers with the word Noticalle in the background. The letter O is a represented by a condom.
- 'Community journalism' -
Members of the magazine's team distribute copies each month by hand to sex workers in Mexico City.
"This is community journalism," Paz told one women.
"We report everything that we see on a daily basis. Read it at your leisure," she added.
Leaning against a wall perusing the latest issue, the woman welcomed the publication as a useful window into the lives of sex workers elsewhere in the city.
"It helps us to find out what's happening in other areas where colleagues are," she said, asking not to be named.
In its June issue -- the 26th -- the magazine reported that sex workers had lost up to 70 percent of their income due to the pandemic.
Other topics included extortion by organized crime and the case of an indigenous transgender sex worker sentenced to 14 years in prison after she was "unjustly" convicted of murdering her partner.
Madrid selects the articles that are published and an external collaborator acts as designer and proofreader.
Paz and her colleagues regularly hone their skills at a journalism workshop, Madrid said.
"You have to take care about the sources of information," a teacher tells them in one class.
- 'Sharper vision' -
Krisna, a 51-year-old transgender sex worker, was trained at another journalism workshop and now sometimes reports for the digital media Disinformemonos.
On one recent day, she patiently interviewed displaced indigenous people outside the National Palace demanding housing from the government, tactfully extracting the information needed for her article.
Learning journalism "has given me a sharper vision of the news. I have the ability to analyze texts, to see the social and political situation in the world," said Krisna.
One of the best things that the profession has given her is a different, peaceful way of defending against police abuse, she said.
In 2014, the Mexico City government began issuing credentials to sex workers to protect them from police officers who asked for money or sexual favors.
Using her new skills, Krisna also co-edited a book of interviews by sex workers of colleagues involved in journalism.
Reporting "helps me with my self-esteem and my value as a human being," she said.
jg-dr/caw
'True balance': Japan's quiet telework revolution
Etienne Balmer and Nils Marie
Thu, July 14, 2022
Posted far from home for his job at Japanese conglomerate Hitachi, father of two Tsutomu Kojima was "really lonely" until he began working remotely during the pandemic for the first time.
Covid-19 has upended office routines worldwide, but in Japan -- where punishing hours and reliance on paper files, ink stamps and fax machines has long been the norm -- some say the shake-up was sorely needed.
Pre-pandemic, just nine percent of the Japanese workforce had ever teleworked, compared with 32 percent in the United States and 22 percent in Germany, according to Tokyo-based consultancy firm Nomura Research Institute.
But a quiet revolution in the country's rigid business culture is underway, with firms working to digitise operations and offer more flexibility to staff who were once expected to stay late, go drinking with the boss and accept far-flung transfers.
Kojima used to live alone in accommodation provided by Hitachi near Tokyo, an hour and a half by bullet train from his family in Nagoya.
Back then he would return only twice a month, but now the 44-year-old works exclusively from home, and says he is more productive and closer to his teenage daughters.
"I have more time to help them with their studies. My youngest told me she hopes things stay like this," he told AFP.
"I used to feel really lonely" in Tokyo, Kojima said, but he has since realised that "true balance means not giving up on family".
- Old habits -
Nearly a third of jobs in Japan were done remotely during the first Covid wave in spring 2020, the Japan Productivity Center says, even though the government never imposed strict stay-at-home orders.
The rate has since fallen to 20 percent, but that is still far higher than before the pandemic, according to quarterly surveys by the non-profit organisation.
To encourage telework, the government and some companies made efforts to phase out personalised ink stamps used to certify documents, as well as the ubiquitous fax machine.
Often in Japan, "business has to be done in person, on paper", habits dating back to the 1970s and 80s, when the Japanese economy was booming, said Hiroshi Ono, a professor at Hitotsubashi University specialising in human resources.
"One of the things Covid has done is bring those barriers down: work doesn't have to be done at the office, men can work at home," he told AFP.
Companies are realising that new ways of working can be more efficient, he added.
"Before Covid, it was so important for employees to show that they're working hard, instead of actually producing results."
- 'New balance' -
Reflecting trends elsewhere, people are also fleeing the big city.
A record number of company headquarters moved out of Tokyo last year, according to Teikoku Databank, while the capital's population decreased for the first time in 26 years.
Among those who have upped sticks are Kazuki and Shizuka Kimura, who left their cramped Tokyo apartment for a custom-built house near the sea.
The couple now mostly do their jobs in communication and marketing remotely from Fujisawa, southwest of the capital, having struggled to both work from home in Tokyo.
"It was really Covid that made us take this decision," said Kazuki Kimura, who used to seek out other places to do meetings -- at his parents' home or in cafes, remote-work boxes set up in train stations, and even karaoke booths.
"Sometimes you could hear singing from the booth next door," which made it difficult to concentrate, recalls the 33-year-old, who is now learning to surf.
Shizuka Kimura, 29, thinks "more and more people are now prioritising their wellbeing, rather than their job", but questions how quickly things will change on a wider scale.
This is a concern shared by Hiromi Murata, an expert at Recruit Works Institute, who says smaller companies may be slower to adapt to new work styles than big firms like Hitachi, Panasonic or telecoms giant NTT.
Remote work can also pose a problem for training new recruits, because "you learn on the job", Murata said.
"Before, it was so important to meet in the office... each business must find a new balance, in their own way and time."
etb-str/kaf/sah/dan/smw
China pushes UN to ban small arms to Haiti amid gang violence
China has asked the United Nations Security Council to vote on banning small arms to Haiti, sanctioning the Caribbean nation's gang leaders, and even sending a regional police force to the violence-plagued island, diplomatic sources said Thursday.
The proposal comes as Council members consider renewing a UN political mission to Haiti which expires on Friday night.
And it also comes as the impoverished country slides into chaos, with deadly gang violence soaring, fuel shortages and food prices climbing.
The individual sanctions would include travel bans and asset freezes, according to a draft text seen by AFP.
China has taken an increasingly prominent role in issues relating to Haiti at the UN in recent years, largely because Port-au-Prince has recognized Taiwan -- the self-ruled, democratic island that Beijing views as its own territory and has vowed to seize one day, by force if needed.
Countries that have diplomatic relations with China usually refrain from having official exchanges with Taiwan.
At the UN, Beijing has taken a harder line on Haiti, though it denies any link between its stance and the Taiwan issue.
A Chinese diplomatic source told AFP that it was necessary to push political authorities in Haiti to act, and to put those responsible for the violence on notice with legal sanctions.
"The situation in Haiti can't be worse. As we conduct the negotiations here, the gang violence is escalating in Port-au-Prince," a spokeswoman for the Chinese mission to the UN said.
"An embargo of weapons against criminal gangs are the minimum the Council should do in response to the appalling situation," she added.
The United States is not necessarily against such sanctions, but they must be the right fit, an American diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
It wouldn't make much sense to implement an arms embargo without a sanctions committee or a group of UN experts to oversee it, the diplomat said, adding that further information about the proposed sanctions against individuals was necessary to discuss the idea.
It would all "need more work," the source said. At least 89 people have been killed in Port-au-Prince alone this week after days of gang violence, and aid agencies have said the region is dangerous to access.
The crushing poverty and widespread violence is causing many Haitians to flee to the Dominican Republic, with which Haiti shares a border, or to the United States.
The Security Council is debating whether to extend the special UN political mission to Haiti, known by its acronym BINUH, to 2023.
A vote had initially been scheduled for Wednesday, but with Council members debating China's proposal, it could be pushed back to Friday.
(AFP)
PEOPLE POWER, ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
Sri Lankan speaker says president's resignation accepted
Issued on: 15/07/2022
Protesters have forced Sri Lanka's president from office
Arun SANKAR AFP
Colombo (AFP) – The resignation of Sri Lanka's president has been accepted, the crisis-hit country's parliamentary speaker announced Friday, after he fled the country earlier this week and notified him from Singapore that he was stepping down.
The formal declaration makes Gotabaya Rajapaksa -- once known as 'The Terminator' for his ruthless crushing of Tamil rebels -- the first Sri Lankan head of state to resign since it adopted an executive presidency in 1978.
He emailed in his resignation from Singapore after flying to the city-state from the Maldives, where he initially escaped after demonstrators overran his palace at the weekend.
"Gotabaya has legally resigned" with effect from Thursday, speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana told reporters. "I have accepted the resignation."
Under Sri Lanka's constitution, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe -- whose departure is also being demanded by protesters -- will automatically become acting president until parliament can elect an MP to succeed Rajapaksa for the rest of his term.
The legislature will be summoned on Saturday, Abeywardana told reporters at his residence, adding he hoped to complete the election process "within seven days".
Rajapaksa's departure came after months of protests over what critics said was his mismanagement of the island nation's economy, leading to severe hardships for its 22 million people.
At a seafront boulevard that has served as the headquarters of the protest movement that ousted him, a small crowd gathered its remaining strength late Thursday to celebrate his resignation.
Only a few hundred people were there to mark the milestone, with many veterans of the protest movement exhausted after enduring tear gas barrages and tense confrontations with security forces in the preceding days.
"I certainly feel, I think the crowd here definitely does feel, quite happy about it," activist Vraie Balthaazar told AFP.
'Private visit' to Singapore
Rajapaksa, his wife Ioma and their two bodyguards arrived in Singapore from the Maldives on board a Saudia airline flight.
As president, Rajapaksa enjoyed immunity from arrest, and he is understood to have wanted to go abroad before stepping down to avoid the possibility of being detained.
The former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed is believed to have played a behind-the-scenes role in getting him out of the country, and said Rajapaksa feared he would be killed if he remained.
"I believe the President would not have resigned if he were still in Sri Lanka, and fearful of losing his life," Nasheed tweeted.
Singapore's foreign ministry confirmed Rajapaksa had been allowed to enter the city-state for a "private visit", adding: "He has not asked for asylum and neither has he been granted any asylum."
He is expected to look to stay in Singapore for some time, according to Sri Lankan security sources, before potentially moving to the United Arab Emirates.
The spiralling economic crisis led to Sri Lanka defaulting on its $51-billion foreign debt in April, and it is in talks with the IMF for a possible bailout.
But the talks have been thrown off course by the political upheaval, and an IMF spokesman said Thursday the fund hoped the unrest can be resolved soon so negotiations can resume.
The island has nearly exhausted its already scarce supplies of petrol, with the government ordering the closure of non-essential offices and schools to reduce commuting and save fuel.
Protesters exit
In Colombo, demonstrators on Thursday left several of the emblematic state buildings they had occupied in recent days after Wickremesinghe instructed security forces to restore order and declared a state of emergency.
Witnesses saw dozens of activists leave Wickremesinghe's office as armed police and security forces moved in.
The capital was put under curfew and armoured personnel carriers patrolled some areas.
Hundreds of thousands of people had visited the prime minister's compound since it was opened to the public after he fled and his security guards backed down.
By Thursday afternoon, the gates were closed, with armed guards posted both inside and outside.
Police said a soldier and a constable were injured in clashes with protesters outside the national parliament as security forces beat back an attempt to storm the legislature.
Protesters also left the studios of the main state television station after breaking in on Wednesday.
The main hospital in Colombo said about 85 people were admitted with injuries on Wednesday, with one man suffocating to death after being tear-gassed at the premier's office.
But student Chirath Chathuranga Jayalath, 26, said: "You cannot stop this protest by killing people. They'll shoot our heads but we do this from our hearts."
Biden brings Palestinians aid but no new peace plan
Yesterday 9:11 PM
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will not come with a plan to restart the stalled Israel-Palestinian peace process when he visits the West Bank on Friday, at the end of the first leg of his Middle East trip, a senior administration official said.
Biden will restate his backing for a two-state solution to the decades-long conflict and will unveil a fresh package of economic and technical assistance for the Palestinians, but there are no expectations of any major political breakthrough.
"[There] are practical realities on the ground that we are very mindful of so we have not come in with a top-down plan but we have always said that if the parties are ready to talk, and we think they should, we will be there, right beside them," the official said.
Biden is expected to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem before leaving for Saudi Arabia on the second stage of his trip.
Even before his visit, Palestinian leaders had accused Biden's administration of prioritizing Israel's integration into a regional security arrangement with Arab countries above their concerns, including self-determination and continued Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinians take part in a protest against the visit of U.S. President Joe Biden to West Bank
On Thursday, as Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid announced deepening security ties in their so-called "Jerusalem Declaration," there were protests in the West Bank and Gaza against his visit.
Biden administration officials have rejected Palestinian charges of inaction, pointing to a reversal of the funding cuts and diplomatic freeze imposed by former President Donald Trump.
"There was really no connection whatsoever, no discussions with the Palestinians, funding had been entirely severed, there was really no prospect of any political discussions of any kind," the official said.
He said the move to deepen Israel's regional integration "is not ... an end run around that fundamental issue."
Palestinians take part in a protest against the visit of U.S. President Joe Biden to West Bank
With little prospect of political progress, the focus is likely to be on the new funding and technical assistance measures Biden will unveil.
As well as a multi-year contribution of up to $100 million for hospitals in East Jerusalem, he will announce measures to upgrade telecoms networks in the West Bank and Gaza to high speed 4G standards by the end of 2023 and other measures to ease travel between the West Bank and neighbouring Jordan.
In addition, there will be a separate $201 million funding package provided through the UN relief agency UNRWA to help Palestinian refugees.
A two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state sitting alongside the existing state of Israel has long been the favoured solution for the international community. But it has appeared an increasingly distant prospect, with hardening attitudes and waning support on both sides.
On Thursday, both Biden and Lapid voiced support for the two-state model. But with Israel heading for elections in November and little backing for stopping the expansion of Israeli settlements on West Bank land that Palestinians want for a future state, immediate prospects for agreement appear remote.
Palestinians take part in a protest against the visit of U.S. President Joe Biden to West Bank
(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Biden heads to West Bank, with little to offer Palestinians
By AAMER MADHANI, JOSEPH KRAUSS and CHRIS MEGERIAN 1 of 6
A mural by Palestinian artist Taqi Spateen depicts slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on part of Israel's controversial separation barrier, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, July 6, 2022. On Thursday, July 14, 2022, Lina Abu Akleh, the niece of the slain Al Jazeera journalist, is criticizing President Joe Biden for not meeting with her family as it presses the U.S. to hold Israel accountable for her death. (AP Photo/ Mahmoud Illean, File)
JERUSALEM (AP) — When President Joe Biden heads to the occupied West Bank on Friday for talks with Palestinian leaders, he will have little to offer beyond U.S. money aimed at buying calm.
He’s expected to announce $316 million in financial assistance — about a third of which will require congressional approval — and a commitment from Israel to modernize wireless access for Palestinians.
But although Biden will reiterate his support for an independent Palestinian state, there’s no clear path to one. The last round of serious peace talks broke down more than a decade ago, leaving millions of Palestinians living under Israeli military rule.
Israel’s outgoing government has taken steps to improve economic conditions in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. But Yair Lapid, the caretaker prime minister, does not have a mandate to hold peace negotiations, and Nov. 1 elections could bring to power a right-wing government that is opposed to Palestinian statehood.
Meanwhile, the 86-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Palestinian Authority administers parts of the occupied West Bank and cooperates with Israel on security, is more representative of the status quo than Palestinian aspirations.
His Fatah party lost an election, and control of Gaza, to the Islamic militant group Hamas more than 15 years ago. He called off the first national elections since then last year — blaming Israel — when Fatah appeared to be heading for another crushing defeat. Polls over the past year have consistently found that nearly 80% of Palestinians want him to resign.
Biden acknowledged this week that while he supports a two-state solution, it won’t happen “in the near-term.” The U.S. also appears to have accepted defeat in its more modest push to reopen a Jerusalem consulate serving the Palestinians that was closed when President Donald Trump recognized the contested city as Israel’s capital.
Palestinian leaders also fear being further undermined by the Abraham Accords, a diplomatic vehicle for Arab nations to normalize relations with Israel despite the continuing occupation. Biden, who heads next to Saudi Arabia to attend a summit of Arab leaders, hopes to broaden that process, which began under Trump.
Hours before Biden was set to become the first U.S. leader to fly directly from Israel to the kingdom, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation announced early Friday “the decision to open the Kingdom’s airspace for all air carriers that meet the requirements of the Authority for overflying.”
It signaled the end of its longstanding ban on Israeli flights overflying its territory — an incremental step toward the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel that builds on the strong, but informal ties the erstwhile foes have developed in recent years over their shared concerns about Iran’s growing influence in the region.
“President Biden welcomes and commends the historic decision by the leadership of Saudi Arabia to open Saudi airspace to all civilian carriers without discrimination, a decision that includes flights to and from Israel,” said U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in a statement early Friday.
There’s been hardly any mention of the Palestinians over the past two days, as Biden has showered Israel with praise, holding it up as a democracy that shares American values. At a press conference with Biden, Lapid evoked the U.S. civil rights movement to portray Israel as a bastion of freedom.
It all reeked of hypocrisy to Palestinians, who have endured 55 years of military occupation with no end in sight.
“The idea of shared values actually makes me sick to my stomach,” said Diana Buttu, a Palestinian lawyer and political analyst. “I don’t think Israeli values are anything that people should be striving towards.”
Both Biden and Lapid said they supported an eventual two-state solution in order to ensure that Israel remains a Jewish-majority state. But Biden is expected to announce little beyond financial assistance, including $201 million for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.
Biden proposed $100 million, subject to congressional approval, for hospitals in east Jerusalem that serve Palestinians. Another $15 million is for humanitarian assistance, plus $7.2 million for programs to promote cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians.
His approach, often referred to as “economic peace,” has limitations.
“You can’t buy a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former U.S. State Department official. “It doesn’t work, because that’s not what drives this conflict.”
That sentiment was on display in the West Bank on Thursday, where dozens of Palestinians gathered to protest Biden. More protests were expected Friday.
“Mr. Biden is trying to marginalize the Palestinian issue,” said Mustafa Barghouti, a veteran Palestinian activist. “If he does not allow Palestinians to have their rights, then he is helping Israel kill and end the very last possibility of peace.”
At this point, the Palestinian goal of an independent state in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza — territories Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war — appears more distant than ever.
Israel is expanding settlements in annexed east Jerusalem and the West Bank, which are now home to some 700,000 Jewish settlers. The Palestinian view the settlements — many of which resemble sprawling suburbs — as the main obstacle to peace, because they carve up the land on which a Palestinian state would be established. Most of the world considers them illegal.
Military rule in the West Bank has sown widespread despair, contributing to a recent wave of violence. A 15-year blockade of Gaza, which Israel says is needed to contain Hamas, has helped fuel four devastating wars. Jerusalem, home to famed holy sites and the emotional heart of the conflict, is as volatile as ever.
Israel has its own grievances — including Palestinian Authority payments to the families of prisoners and slain attackers, which Israel says incentivize violence. The PA defends the payments as a form of welfare for those it sees as victims of the conflict.
It’s unclear if eliminating the “martyrs’ fund” would advance the goal of statehood. Israel is dominated by nationalist and religious parties that are opposed to a Palestinian state and view the West Bank as the biblical and historical heartland of the Jewish people.
Well-known human rights groups have concluded that Israel’s seemingly permanent control over millions of Palestinians amounts to apartheid. One of those groups, Israel’s own B’Tselem, hung banners in the West Bank ahead of Biden’s visit.
Israel rejects that label as an attack on its very existence, even though two former Israeli prime ministers warned years ago that their country would be seen that way if it did not reach a two-state agreement with the Palestinians. The U.S. also rejects the apartheid allegations.
Biden will also likely see banners calling for justice for Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank in May. Israel says she might have been struck by Palestinian gunfire, while investigations by The Associated Press and other media outlets support Palestinian witnesses who say she was shot by Israeli forces.
The U.S. says she was likely killed by Israeli troops but that it appeared to be unintentional, without saying how it reached those conclusions. That angered many Palestinians, including Abu Akleh’s family, who accused the U.S. of trying to help Israel evade responsibility for her death.
___
Krauss reported from Ottawa, Ontario. Megerian reported from Washington. AP writer Zeke Miller in Washington contributed.
Crisis in Sri Lanka Cléa PÉCULIER AFP
