Cash-strapped Sri Lanka yesterday appointed nine more ministers to an “all-party government” tasked with trying to steer the country out of its economic crisis, but the crucial finance portfolio remains vacant.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe took over earlier this month after Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president’s elder brother, resigned as escalating protests blamed his administration for leading the economy to the brink of collapse. Wickremesinghe had pledged to put together a cross-party coalition after the previous Cabinet was dissolved.
The new ministers — for health, education and justice, among others — were sworn in before Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at his tightly-guarded official residence in Colombo, the government said in a brief statement.
Photo: Reuters
Two legislators from the main opposition SJB party broke ranks to join the new government. Another opposition party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, agreed to support President Rajapaksa and was yesterday given one portfolio.
The finance position — which will bring with it responsibility for leading negotiations with the IMF over a bailout — remains vacant. However, the new prime minister’s office said that someone would be appointed next week.
The delay in getting a finance minister could hinder the IMF negotiations, the central bank chief said on Thursday.
Sri Lanka is facing its worst-ever shortage of foreign exchange with the government unable to finance even the most essential imports such as food, fuel and medicines.
The government yesterday shut offices and schools as the fuel shortage crippled transport across the country.
However, officials said the government had managed to raise the US$53 million necessary to pay for a gasoline shipment which arrived at the Colombo port this week.
Retail pumping stations could be supplied over the weekend, officials said.
The central bank on Thursday announced that it would not be able to resume foreign debt repayments for at least another six months until the nation’s external debt of US$51 billion is restructured.
PHISHING: The con might appear convincing, as the scam e-mails can coincide with genuine messages from Apple saying you have run out of storage For a while you have been getting messages from Apple saying “your iCloud storage is full.” They say you have exceeded your storage plan, so documents are no longer being backed up, and photos you take are not being uploaded. You have been resisting Apple’s efforts to get you to pay a minimum of ￡0.99 (US$1.33) a month for more storage, but it seems that you cannot keep putting off the inevitable: You have received an e-mail which says your iCloud account has been blocked, and your photos and videos would be deleted very soon. To keep them you need
For two decades, researchers observed members of the Ngogo chimpanzee group of Kibale National Park in Uganda spend their days eating fruits and leaves, resting, traveling and grooming in their tropical rainforest abode, but this stable community then fractured and descended into years of deadly violence. The researchers are now describing the first clearly documented example of a group of wild chimpanzees splitting into two separate factions, with one launching a series of coordinated attacks against the other. Adult males and infants were targeted, with 28 deaths. “Biting, pounding the victim with their hands, dragging them, kicking them — mostly adult males,
The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported more mass detonations in other border villages, but satellite imagery was not readily available to verify these claims. The demolitions came after Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz called for the destruction of
SUPERFAN: The Japanese PM played keyboard in a Deep Purple tribute band in middle school and then switched to drums at university, she told the British rock band Legendary British rock band Deep Purple yesterday made Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s day with a brief visit to their high-profile superfan as they returned to the nation they first toured more than half a century ago. Takaichi’s reputation as an amateur drummer, and a fan of hard rock and heavy metal has been well documented, and she has referred to Deep Purple as one of her favorite bands along with the likes of Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. “You are my god,” a giddy Takaichi said in English to Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice, presenting him with a set of made-in-Japan
RSS