BRICS summit: Kazan declaration

BRICS summit: Key takeaways from Kazan declaration 🔺

By Reuters October 24, 2024

MOSCOW, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Below are the key points from the Kazan declaration, opens new tab issued by the BRICS group after a summit in Russia.

ON UKRAINE:

"We emphasize that all states should act consistently with the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and interrelation. We note with appreciation relevant proposals of mediation and good offices, aimed at a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy."

ON THE MIDDLE EAST:

"We reiterate our grave concern at the deterioration of the situation and humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in particular the unprecedented escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip and in West Bank as a result of the Israeli military offensive, which led to mass killing and injury of civilians, forced displacement and widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure."

"We express alarm over the situation in Southern Lebanon. We condemn the loss of civilian lives and the immense damage to civilian infrastructure resulting from attacks by Israel in residential areas in Lebanon and call for immediate cessation of military acts."

ON WESTERN SANCTIONS:

"We are deeply concerned about the disruptive effect of unlawful unilateral coercive measures, including illegal sanctions, on the world economy, international trade, and the achievement of the sustainable development goals."

ON THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL SYSTEM'S REFORM:

"We underscore the need to reform the current international financial architecture to meet the global financial challenges including global economic governance to make the international financial architecture more inclusive and just."

ON BRICS GRAIN EXCHANGE:

"We welcome the initiative of the Russian side to establish a grain (commodities) trading platform within BRICS (the BRICS Grain Exchange) and to subsequently develop it including expanding it to other agricultural sectors."

ON BRICS CROSS-BORDER PAYMENT SYSTEM:

"We recognise the widespread benefits of faster, low cost, more efficient, transparent, safe and inclusive cross-border payment instruments built upon the principle of minimizing trade barriers and non-discriminatory access. We welcome the use of local currencies in financial transactions between BRICS countries and their trading partners."

ON BRICS CLEAR DEPOSITARY:

"We agree to discuss and study the feasibility of establishment of an independent cross-border settlement and depositary infrastructure, BRICS Clear, an initiative to complement the existing financial market infrastructure, as well as BRICS independent reinsurance capacity, including BRICS (Re)Insurance Company, with participation on a voluntary basis."

ON FINANCIAL INNOVATION:

"We welcome the BRICS Interbank Cooperation Mechanism (ICM) focus on facilitating and expanding innovative financial practices and approaches for projects and programmes, including finding acceptable mechanisms of financing in local currencies."

ON THE IMF:

"We reaffirm our commitment to maintaining a strong and effective Global Financial Safety Net with a quota-based and adequately resourced IMF at its centre."

ON G20:

"We recognise the importance of the continued and productive functioning of the G20, based on consensus with a focus on result-oriented outcomes."

ON PREVENTION OF FUTURE PANDEMICS:

"We support the initiatives of the BRICS R&D Vaccine Center, further development of the BRICS Integrated Early Warning System for preventing mass infectious diseases risks."

ON BIG CATS:

"While appreciating the efforts of our countries to preserve rare species and noting the high vulnerability of big cats, we take note of the Republic of India’s initiative to create an International Big Cats Alliance and encourage BRICS countries

to work together to make further contributions to the conservation of big cats."⍐

NPP Poised for Victory in Sri Lanka’s Parliamentary Election

The opposition has not fully understood the public demand for change.

By Rathindra Kuruwita October 23, 2024 The Diplomat

Less than two months after Sri Lankans elected a new president, they are set to vote in parliamentary elections on November 14. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s National People’s Power (NPP) seems poised for victory.

The NPP’s rivals are warning voters against voting for the NPP, drawing attention to the risks of giving the coalition too much power. They are calling on voters to ensure a strong opposition.  For example, former President Ranil Wickremesinghe has urged voters to elect experienced politicians from other parties. He warned that the NPP could dismantle the economy.

Based on the presidential election result, some are predicting that the general election will throw up a hung parliament. Dissanayake secured 43 percent of the vote in the presidential election. If the NPP gets a similar percentage of votes in the parliamentary election, it could fall short of the 113 seats needed for a simple majority in the 225-member parliament.

However, it seems almost certain that the NPP will secure more votes in the upcoming election than in the presidential election.

Several politicians and experts said that the presidential election was primarily about the economy.

But Dissanayake’s win was also a reflection of widespread anger toward the entrenched political establishment. Those prioritizing economic stability likely voted for Wickremesinghe or Sajith Premadasa, as both their parties, the United National Party (UNP) and the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), ran campaigns focused on fearmongering.

During the campaign, fake videos misrepresenting the words of NPP members and warning voters that the NPP would confiscate their bank deposits, land, and extra vehicles circulated on social media. There was also an organized effort to convince the public that Dissanayake would be rejected by the international community, without whose support Sri Lanka could not finalize debt restructuring or attract foreign direct investment. These tactics particularly influenced middle-aged and senior voters, who refrained from voting for the NPP due to these fears.

The fact that 4.3 million Sri Lankans voted for Dissanayake shows that a large portion of the population was exhausted by the existing political culture in Sri Lanka. Wickremesinghe may have stabilized the economy, albeit at the cost of future growth and a decline in living standards, but he failed to address the broader demand for political reform — a key issue raised by protesters who ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2022. Instead of responding to calls for greater checks and balances, reduced corruption, and increased transparency, Wickremesinghe’s administration oversaw a rise in corruption and crime, with important agreements being signed with foreign companies behind closed doors. His MPs also shielded corrupt colleagues, engaging in practices previously unheard of in Sri Lankan politics, such as the import of substandard medicines under the emergency procurement system.

Like Rajapaksa before him, Wickremesinghe failed to gauge the public mood, and as a result, those opposed to Dissanayake were left with only fearmongering as their strategy.

A month has now passed since Dissanayake assumed office, and the dire predictions by their political opponents mentioned above have not materialized. The average Sri Lankan is satisfied with the steps the NPP government has taken so far. Farmers and fishermen have received fuel and fertilizer subsidies, pensioners have seen a modest pay rise, and underutilized land has been distributed to farmers who will work it under the guidance of the Department of Agriculture. There have been no shortages of goods, and many believe that corrupt individuals will soon be brought to justice. As promised, the NPP has continued with the IMF program, and diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka’s key partners remain cordial.

Given these developments, it is likely that many who did not vote for Dissanayake in September, particularly Wickremesinghe’s supporters, will now vote for the NPP in November.

Wickremesinghe, along with many senior political figures, has announced that he will not contest the general election. The Rajapaksa family has similarly opted out. This leaves Sajith Premadasa’s SJB as the main challenger to the NPP.

However, the SJB’s position heading into the November 14 election is significantly weaker than it was during the presidential race for two reasons. First, the party, which remained united during the presidential campaign due to a belief that Premadasa had a chance of winning, has begun to fracture since his defeat. In mid-October, Hirunika Premachandra, leader of the SJB women’s wing, resigned following an argument with Premadasa’s wife.

SJB MP Ajith Mannapperuma also announced that he would not contest the general election, despite figuring on the Gampaha District Nomination List. Mannapperuma explained that his decision was prompted by his removal as Gampaha District Organizer without prior consultation, just 24 hours after signing his nomination papers.

Earlier, popular actress Damitha Abeyratne, who played a key role in Premadasa’s presidential campaign, was denied a nomination due to a dispute with SJB Ratnapura District leader Hesha Vithanage. These internal rifts have disillusioned SJB supporters.

More crucially, the SJB leadership has not fully grasped why they lost the presidential election. Many within the party believe they were defeated because Wickremesinghe took a significant portion of their votes. They point to the fact that Dissanayake’s margin of victory over Premadasa was 1.3 million votes, while Wickremesinghe secured 2.2 million. SJB MPs believe that had Wickremesinghe not contested, those votes would have gone to Premadasa. Now that Wickremesinghe is not running in the general election, they are convinced they will attract those 2.2 million votes and potentially match or even surpass the NPP’s vote count on November 14.

However, analysts who have studied voting patterns suggest that this simplistic arithmetic is unlikely to hold.

Uditha Devapriya, chief international relations analyst at Factum, an Asia-Pacific-focused foreign policy think tank based in Colombo, told The Diplomat that Wickremesinghe’s voters are unlikely to support Premadasa this time.

“Many Sri Lankan politicians mistakenly believe that public sentiment can be reduced to simple arithmetic. During the run-up to the presidential election, many SJB members insisted that it would be impossible for the NPP, which secured only 3 percent of the vote in the 2019 presidential election, to surpass them, given that they had received over five million votes. But we all saw what happened,” he said.

“We must also remember that Premadasa received significant support from the North and East in September — those were not SJB votes but Tamil National Alliance (TNA) votes. The TNA will contest separately in this election. It’s likely that the NPP will see a substantial increase in its share of the Northern and Eastern vote in November,” Devapriya added.

The inability of the NPP’s opponents to understand the public’s desire for change has severely undermined their chances. By continuing to view elections through outdated frameworks, they have failed to address the electorate’s demand for new political practices, leaving them ill-prepared to compete against the NPP in the upcoming election⍐.

NPP says strong govt. required to carry out its programme

 NPP says strong govt. required to carry out its programme

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake yesterday (23) said at a public rally in Polonnaruwa that the electorate should help the National People’s Power (NPP) to build a strong government that could face whatever challenges.

Addressing the rally held in support of NPP candidates contesting the Polonnaruwa district, President Dissanayake dismissed calls for building up of a strong Opposition.

Referring to their triumph at the Presidential Election, President Dissanayake said that the NPP needed an overwhelming parliamentary majority to implement planned programmes to meet the public needs⍐.

WSJ- India And China Resume Border Patrols

 

WSJ-Movement to Reoccupy Gaza Strip Gains Momentum

 

Anti-Israeli fight to last until occupation ends,

Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, head of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah's Executive Council

Anti-Israeli fight to last until occupation ends, Foreign Ministry on senior Hezbollah leader’s martyrdom

Wednesday, 23 October 2024 Press TV

The Foreign Ministry offers its condolences and strong condemnation following the martyrdom of a senior Hezbollah leader as a result of Israeli aggression against Lebanon.

The ministry made the remarks in a statement published on its official website on Wednesday on the occasion of the martyrdom of Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, head of the Lebanese resistance movement's Executive Council and a group of his companions during the aggression.

It condoled with the martyrs’ survivors, the regional peoples and resistance groups, the world’s Muslim nations, and Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

The statement denounced the deadly aggression as “an unforgiveable crime,” while also lambasting “the direct complicity of the US government and other governments supporting the occupying regime in this crime.”

It, however, asserted that “without a doubt, the martyrdom of the leaders of the resistance will not weaken an iota the determination, faith, and will of their leaders, the zealous fighters of the resistance front, and the free Muslim nations of the region to fight against the occupation, oppression, and aggression of the Zionist regime.”

The struggle, the ministry added, would last “until the end of the sinister phenomenon of the Zionist occupation and the realization of the rights of the Palestinian people and the region's nations, especially the fundamental right to self-determination.”

It hailed Safieddine as one of Hezbollah’s leaders and founders, and a close and loyal companion to the movement’s Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who was martyred during intense Israeli attacks against the Lebanese capital Beirut in late September.

The Hezbollah leader left behind a brilliant legacy of resistance in the path of Islam and the fight against oppression and tyranny, says President Pezeshkian.

Safieddine “spent his whole honorable life pursuing the freedom of holy al-Quds and the defense of Lebanon's honor and territorial integrity against the aggression and crimes of the Zionist occupation regime, and he was finally martyred on this holy path,” the statement noted.

Hezbollah confirmed the resistance official’s martyrdom in a statement earlier in the day, saying he had ascended to martyrdom in "a brutal and aggressive Zionist airstrike."

The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has confirmed the martyrdom of the head of its Executive Council, Sayyed Hashem Safieddine.

Safieddine was widely expected to be formally elected as Hezbollah’s next secretary general after Nasrallah.

The Israeli regime has escalated its deadly attacks against Lebanon since last October after it launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

At least 2,574 Lebanese people have been killed as a result of the aggression.

Hezbollah has been responding to the atrocities by launching hundreds of retaliatory strikes against sensitive targets across the occupied Palestinian territories both in defense of Lebanon and support of war-hit Gazans.

Fighters from Hezbollah have carried out a series of operations, aiming at various Israeli military positions in the occupied territories.

The movement has vowed to keep up its retaliation until the regime ceases the aggression and genocide.

Confirming Safieddine’s martyrdom, the group likewise pledged “to our great martyr and his fellow martyrs to continue the path of Resistance and jihad until the goals of freedom and victory are achieved.⍐”

Highlights of Chinese President Xi Jinping's statement at the 16th BRICS Summit

 Highlights of Chinese President Xi Jinping's statement at the 16th BRICS Summit

By Global TimesPublished: Oct 23, 2024

தினப்பொறி 19 - நிலப் பறிப்பு, இருப்பின் மறுப்பு.

 

Cannot forcibly, illegally occupy our lands - SJB candidate tells Israelis

A fisherman throws his line in the morning in Arugam Bay, east of Colombo, Sri Lanka. REUTERS/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/File Photo

Cannot forcibly, illegally occupy our lands - SJB candidate tells Israelis

23 October 2024 

Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) candidate Rehan Jayawickrama today cautioned against Israeli nationals running illegal business activities in some parts of Sri Lanka. 

He said the following in his X message: 

"The illegal activities of certain Israeli business owners have persisted for far too long. Despite numerous appeals to various governments to put an end to this and ensure fair play, these requests have been ignored. Now, we are facing a serious security threat that could derail Sri Lanka’s tourism recovery efforts.

"Authorities must address this situation with urgency. If these warnings continue to be dismissed, the repercussions for Sri Lanka could be more severe than we anticipate.

"As the Arugam Bay season winds down, the Southern season begins. However, the presence of heavy roadblocks in Weligama is already causing fear among tourists, casting a shadow over their sense of safety.

"To those Israelis fueling this instability, let me make one thing clear. You cannot forcibly or illegally occupy our lands as you have done elsewhere. You cannot conduct illegal business practices and ruin opportunities for others. Even though we have welcomed you to this beautiful island, this is not your country, and you must respect the laws of this land."

------------------------

Israel issues travel warning to parts of Sri Lanka over 'terrorism threat'

By Reuters

October 23, 2024

JERUSALEM/COLOMBO, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Israel's national security council called on Israelis on Wednesday to immediately leave some tourist areas in southern Sri Lanka over the threat of a possible terrorist attack.

The agency said the warning pertained to the area of Arugam Bay and beaches in the south and west of Sri Lanka, and stemmed from "current information about a terrorist threat focused on tourist areas and beaches".

The security council did not specify the exact nature of the threat and called on Israelis in the rest of Sri Lanka to be cautious and refrain from holding large gatherings in public areas.

"The Israeli security establishment ... is in close contact with the security authorities in Sri Lanka and is following the developments," it said.

The U.S. embassy in Sri Lanka also released a security alert stating it had received "credible information warning of an attack targeting popular tourist locations in the Arugam Bay area".

"U.S. citizens are strongly urged to avoid the Arugam Bay area until further notice," it added but did not give details.

Police security has been beefed up in the area and officials are on high alert, police spokesperson Nihal Thalduwa said in a video statement released in Colombo.

"This area is a popular spot for surfing and this has attracted a large number of Israeli tourists. We are working to ensure they remain safe," Thalduwa said.

Sri Lanka, famed for its pristine beaches, tea plantations and historic temples, is seeing a resurgence in tourists as the island nation recovers from a severe financial crisis.

In the first eight months of this year, 1.5 million tourists arrived in Sri Lanka, including a total of 20,515 from Israel, government data showed. 

இந்திய உயர்ஸ்தானிகருக்கும் ஜனாதிபதி செயலாளருக்குமிடையில் சந்திப்பு

 இந்திய உயர்ஸ்தானிகருக்கும் ஜனாதிபதி செயலாளருக்கும் இடையில் சந்திப்பு

– வடக்குக் கடலில் மீன்பிடி தொடர்பான பிரச்சினைகள் மற்றும் இந்திய திட்டங்கள் குறித்து கலந்துரையாடல்

இலங்கைக்கான இந்திய உயர்ஸ்தானிகர் சந்தோஷ் ஜா (Santhosh Jha)ஜனாதிபதியின் செயலாளர் கலாநிதி நந்திக குமாநாயக்கவை இன்று (22) ஜனாதிபதி அலுவலகத்தில் சந்தித்தார்.

வடக்குக் கடலில் தற்போது நிலவும் கடற்றொழில் பிரச்சினைகளை தீர்ப்பது தொடர்பில் விசேட கவனம் செலுத்தப்பட்டது.

இதன்படி, ஒத்துழைப்பை மேம்படுத்துவதன் மூலம் இரு நாட்டு மீனவர்களின் பிரச்சினைகளுக்கு நீண்டகால தீர்வு காணப்பட வேண்டியதன் அவசியத்தை இரு தரப்பினரும் வலியுறுத்தினர்.

மேலும், இரு நாடுகளும் எதிர்கொள்ளும் பொதுவான சவால்களை வெற்றிகொள்வதற்கு எடுக்க வேண்டிய நடவடிக்கைகள் குறித்தும் ஆராயப்பட்டது.

இச்சந்திப்பில் இலங்கையில் தற்போது முன்னெடுக்கப்பட்டு வரும் இந்திய திட்டங்கள் தொடர்பிலும் மீளாய்வு நடத்தப்பட்டது.

இந்தியக் கடன்உதவிகள் மூலம் நிதியளிக்கப்பட்ட திட்டங்களின் தற்போதைய முன்னேற்றம் குறித்து மேலும் ஆராயப்பட்டதுடன், திட்டப்பணிகளை உரிய நேரத்தில் நிறைவுசெய்வதற்காக அந்தப் பணிகளை விரைவுபடுத்த வேண்டியதன் அவசியம் குறித்தும் ஆராயப்பட்டது⍐.

PMD அக்டோபர் 22, 2024