Submit your Article

India on Saturday supplied another 40,000 MT consignment of diesel to Sri Lanka to help ease the fuel shortage in the country, which is reeling under a severe economic and energy crisis.

The High Commission of India in Sri Lanka took to its Twitter handle to make the announcement of the consignment.
"Pumping diesel into #SriLanka!!! Another 40,000 MT consignment of diesel under the credit line from #India reached #Colombo today," tweeted India High Commission in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, a consignment carrying rice, milk powder and medicines worth more than LKR 2 billion from India is scheduled to reach Colombo on Sunday. The consignment was flagged off from Chennai by Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M K Stalin on Wednesday.

"The Hon'ble Chief Minister @mkstalin flagged off 9000 metric tons of rice, 200 metric tons of spirit powder and 24 metric tons of essential medicines in a cargo ship to Sri Lanka to help the people of Sri Lanka," Chief Minister Office tweeted.

Indian High Commission also tweeted: "People of #India, standing by their bretheren in #SriLanka. Rice, milk powder and medicines worth more than SLR 2billion is scheduled to reach #Colombo on Sunday. The consignment was flagged off from #Chennai by CM of Tamil Nadu @mkstalin on Wednesday."

Moreover, India has promised to provide over USD 3 billion to the debt-ridden island country in loans, credit swaps, and also credit lines since the beginning of the year. India has also expressed its desire to work with the new Sri Lankan government.

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since independence with food and fuel shortages, soaring prices and power cuts affecting a large number of the people, resulting in massive protests over the government's handling of the situation.
India is becoming a stronger and more mutually beneficial partner to Sri Lanka. Apart from assistance during the pandemic and fertilizer chaos, in which India delivered nano fertilizer to save Sri Lankan farmers, now New Delhi has pledged nearly USD 3 billion to cash-strapped Colombo through currency swaps, credit lines for essential goods and repayment of loans since January 2022 to help Sri Lanka amid one of the worst economic crises in history. (ANI)

CPN (Maoist Centre) mayoral candidate Renu Dahal is leading by 7, 415 votes in Bharatpur Metropolitan City.

Out of 89, 508 votes counted, she garnered 35, 098 votes. Bijay Subedi of CPN-UML secured 27, 683 votes. 

Independent candidate Jagannath Paudel got 11, 835 votes.

Similarly, deputy mayoral candidate Chitrasen Adhikari is ahead of Himala Gurung of Rastriya Prajantra Party by 15, 426 votes.

Adhikari received 37, 326 votes while Gurung got 21, 900 votes.

As many as 33 have people died in 16 districts of Bihar due to gale storms, lightning and heavy rains, The Indian Express reported.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday announced financial aid of Rs 4 lakh each to the kin of the people who lost their lives in the hailstorm. The CM’s office said that after assessing crop and house damage, instructions will be given to provide assistance to the affected families.

Heavy rains accompanied by strong winds and lightning have hit several districts of Bihar since the afternoon of May 19, leaving a trail of destruction, including uprooted trees, which have obstructed roads and damaged electric poles, interrupted vehicular travel and power supply.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday expressed grief over the incidents, and said, “I am deeply saddened to see that many people died in the incidents of thunderstorm and lightning in several districts of Bihar. May God give strength to the bereaved families to bear this immense loss.”

PM Modi also said the local administration under the supervision of the state government was actively engaged in relief and rescue work, according to The Indian Express.

The Patna Meteorological Centre has forecast thunderstorm with lightning with a gusty wind speed between 30/40 kmph at isolated places across Bihar for the next two days. It has also issued a ‘yellow’ warning for lightning and thunderstorm activity in West Champaran, East Champaran, Gopalganj, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Saharsa, Madhepura, Supaul, Araria, Kishanganj, Purnea, and Katihar.

A woman died in a lightning strike in Udayapur on Sunday.

The deceased has been identified as Bhakta Kumari Budhathoki (45) of Gothdanda, Katari Municipality-11.

Critically injured in the incident, she breathed her last during the course of treatment, Inspector Mohan Thapa of the District Police Office said.

The chair of the fisheries subsidies negotiations, Ambassador Santiago Wills of Colombia, on 20 May reported to members on the progress made in intensive negotiations held on 16-20 May.

Members have adopted a positive tone and shown some new flexibility in the discussions, paving the way for decisions to be made to close the remaining gaps ahead of the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) next month, the chair said.

Some 50 delegations representing a broad spectrum of views took part in various discussions on 16-20 May, which concluded with a stock-taking meeting of the Negotiating Group on Rules at the level of heads of delegations. 

"Overall, I sensed a positive vibe during this week's meetings and noticed members' willingness to constructively engage in discussions. I was also encouraged to see some movements in positions," the chair told heads of delegations, adding that all members further expressed a desire for an effective and ambitious outcome. 

The chair reported that much of the work over the week in meetings with different configurations focused on some of the outstanding issues in the draft Agreement that need to be resolved, such as: the treatment of non-specific fuel subsidies; the balance and ambition related to overcapacity and overfishing, including special and differential treatment for developing country members and least-developed country members; the issue of reflagging; transparency requirements related to forced labour; and territoriality. 

"However, we are not done yet. It is clear that to reach an agreement before MC12, we must get this done not later than the week of 30 May, which I see as 'fish decision week,'" the chair said. "I have heard some members say that it is 'now or never' for a fish agreement, and I tend to agree. We need to do everything we can to ensure that it is 'now'."

"Director-General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and I will be keeping in touch regarding activities to facilitate the decision-making that needs to happen," he said.

Under the mandate from the previous Ministerial Conference and the UN Sustainable Development Goal Target 14.6, negotiators have been given the task of securing agreement on disciplines to eliminate subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and to prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, with special and differential treatment being an integral part of the negotiations. MC12 will be held on 12-15 June in Geneva.

Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights and US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues Uzra Zeya called on Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka on Sunday.

During the meeting, she discussed Nepal-US relations and human rights of Tibetan refugees living in Nepal with Minister Khadka.

Independent candidate Gopal Hamal has been elected as the mayor of Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City.

Out of 63, 647 votes cast, he garnered 26, 865 votes.

His closest contender Nrip Bahadur Od of Nepali Congress secured 14, 817 votes.

CPN-UML mayoral candidate Rana Bahadur Chand received 9, 115 votes.

Similarly, Kandakala Rana of CPN-UML has been elected as the deputy mayor with 15, 479 votes. Her closest rival Shanti Adhikari Chhetri of CPN (Maoist Centre) got 12, 670 votes.

Sri Lanka has defaulted on its debt for the first time in its history as the country struggles with its worst financial crisis in more than 70 years, BBC reported.

A 30-day grace period to come up with $78m (£63m) of unpaid debt interest payments expired on Wednesday.

The governor of the South Asian nation's central bank said the country was now in a "pre-emptive default".

Later on Thursday, two of the world's biggest credit rating agencies also said Sri Lanka had defaulted.

Defaults happen when governments are unable to meet some or all of their debt payments to creditors.

It can damage a country's reputation with investors, making it harder for it to borrow the money it needs on international markets, which can further harm confidence in its currency and economy. 

Asked on Thursday whether the country was now in default, central bank governor P Nandalal Weerasinghe said: "Our position is very clear, we said that until they come to the restructure [of our debts], we will not be able to pay. So that's what you call pre-emptive default, according to BBC.

"There can be technical definitions... from their side they can consider it a default. Our position is very clear, until there is a debt restructure, we cannot repay," he added.

Sri Lanka is seeking to restructure debts of more than $50bn it owes to foreign creditors, to make it more manageable to repay. 

The country's economy has been hit hard by the pandemic and rising energy prices, but critics say the current crisis has been of the previous government's own making.

A chronic shortage of foreign currency and soaring inflation have led to a severe shortage of medicines, fuel and other essentials. 

Professor Mick Moore from the University of Sussex and former consultant on Sri Lanka for the Asian Development Bank said even though it looked like Sri Lanka was struggling from the effects of global economic problems, it was "emphatically not that".

"This is the most man-made and voluntary economic crisis of which I know," he told the BBC's Today programme.

Prof Moore said the previous administration had borrowed money for infrastructure projects and then "insisted in this very macho fashion" on repaying mounting the debts, rather than restructuring them with creditors. 

He said the then government "went along in this way until about six months ago and basically they had given away virtually all the foreign exchange they could command".

"This is egregious incompetence," he added.

Prof Moore said the country faced a "very critical situation".

In recent weeks, there have been large, sometimes violent, protests against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family due to the growing crisis.

The country has already started talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over a bailout and needs to renegotiate its debt agreements with creditors, BBC reported.

Later on Thursday, an IMF spokesman said the current talks on a potential loan programme were expected to conclude on Tuesday. 

Sri Lanka's government has said previously that it needs as much as $4bn this year.

Mr Weerasinghe warned that Sri Lanka's already very high rate of inflation was likely to rise further.

"Inflation obviously is around 30%. It will go even [higher], headline inflation will go [up] around 40% in the next couple of months," he said.

He was speaking after Sri Lanka's central bank held its two key interest rates steady following a seven percentage points rise at its last meeting.

The country's main lending rate remained at 14.5%, while the deposit rate was kept at 13.5%, according to BBC reported.