COLOMBO: Crisis-hit Sri Lanka announced weekly fuel quotas for motorists on Sunday, as an acute shortage worsened and longer queues formed outside the few pumping stations still operating.
Energy minister Kanchana Wijesekera said the state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation was struggling to finance oil imports, while consumption had shot up due to shortages of electricity and liquefied petroleum gas.
“We have no choice but to register consumers at filling stations and give them a guaranteed weekly quota until we are able to strengthen the financial situation,” the minister said.
“I hope to have this system in place by the first week of July.”
He did not say how much fuel motorists will be allowed to buy under the new system.
Sri Lanka has been struggling with its worst economic crisis in decades, with the country unable to import basic necessities such as food, fuel and medication due to a lack of foreign exchange reserves.
In mid-April, the government ordered all fuel stations not to pump more than four liters of petrol for a motorcycle, five for a three-wheeler and 19.5 liters of gasoline or diesel for cars and SUVs.
Under that system, many motorists would top up, drain fuel into cans to build a buffer stock, and then return to the queue for more.
This week, queues at fuel stations had become longer, with hundreds of cars and thousands of motorcycles waiting in line, sometimes for days.
Two weeks ago, Sri Lanka received a shipment of Russian crude oil to be refined on the island, but the finished product from the Sapugaskanda refinery was less than a tenth of the country’s daily requirement.
Around 90,000 tons of Siberian light crude was sent to Sri Lanka’s lone refinery after the shipment was acquired on credit from Dubai-based intermediary Coral Energy last month.
The Sri Lankan government has also approached Moscow’s envoy in Colombo to help secure direct supplies of Russian oil, Energy Minister Wijesekera said.
Sri Lanka defaulted on its $51 billion foreign debt in mid-April and has since opened talks with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout.
The United Nations has issued an appeal for $47 million to buy essential food for 1.7 million Sri Lankans in the next four months.
The worst economic crisis since the country gained independence in 1948 has sparked widespread protests calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down.
He has refused, and instead got his brother Mahinda to step down as prime minister on May 9.
President Rajapaksa then appointed opposition politician Ranil Wickremesinghe to succeed Mahinda and help lead the country out of the unprecedented economic chaos.
Cash-strapped Sri Lanka announces weekly fuel quotas
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Cash-strapped Sri Lanka announces weekly fuel quotas
- Sri Lanka is struggling with its worst economic crisis in decades
- Colombo defaulted on its $51 billion foreign debt in mid-April
Marcos wishes Muslims jubilant celebration as Philippines observes Eid Al-Adha
- Muslims constitute around 10 percent of the nearly 120 million population
- June 17 was declared a national holiday to observe Eid Al-Adha in the Philippines
MANILA: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wished Muslims a fruitful celebration on Monday as the Catholic-majority Southeast Asian nation observed Eid Al-Adha.
Muslims make up around 10 percent of the nearly 120 million, predominantly Catholic population, according to 2024 data from the National Commission for Muslim Filipinos.
The minority community is collectively referred to as the Moro people, in reference to the 13 ethnolinguistic groups that form the largest non-Christian group in the country. Most live on the island of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago in the Philippines’ south, as well in the capital Manila and the central-western province of Palawan.
Earlier this month, Marcos declared June 17 a national holiday to observe Eid Al-Adha, the second of the two main holidays observed in Islam.
“As we observe Eid Al-Adha, let us embrace the lessons of sacrifice and unconditional faith. May this celebration inspire us to uplift lives and create a Bagong Pilipinas rooted in righteousness and peace,” Marcos said in a statement issued on Monday, referring to his New Philippines slogan.
“I wish you a jubilant celebration of your faith and vows of sacrifice. Eid Mubarak!”
Eid Al-Adha commemorates the Prophet Ibrahim’s test of faith when he was commanded by God to sacrifice his son, and also marks the culmination of Hajj, the annual pilgrimage that is one of the five pillars of Islam.
For Muslim Filipinos, like other Muslims across the world, Eid is an “opportunity to learn to rekindle the spirit of faith, self-sacrifice, kindness and generosity,” said former NCMF commissioner Yusoph Mando.
Mando said he spent the holiday with family and friends, as Eid for many was about learning to cherish the time spent with loved ones.
Though much of Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Bangladesh, observed Eid Al-Adha on Monday, Filipinos joined Muslims in other parts of the globe, including in Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen, in starting the celebrations on Sunday.
Ebra Moxsir, a retired police colonel and national president of the Imam Council of the Philippines, said that Eid Al-Adha was “a time for unity and solidarity among Muslims.”
But for others, Eid celebrations are quieter this year as they reflect on the sufferings of Palestinians in Gaza.
“We did not spend time with a lot of relatives like before because we could not feel complete happiness with the genocide going on in Gaza,” Enisha Alin Guro, a resident of Marawi City, told Arab News.
Guro said her celebrations are muted “out of sympathy for the people of Gaza who will not be celebrating Eid as a complete family or with food on the table or a home to go home to.”
Vladimir Putin to visit Kim Jong Un in North Korea this week
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un extended an invite to Putin during a visit to Russia’s Far East last September
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit North Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Kremlin said, an extremely rare trip that underscores Moscow’s burgeoning partnership with the reclusive nuclear-armed state.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un extended an invite to Putin during a visit to Russia’s Far East last September. Putin has not visited Pyongyang since July 2000.
“At the invitation of the Chairman of State Affairs of the DPRK, Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin will pay a friendly state visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on June 18-19,” the Kremlin said.
After North Korea, Putin will visit Vietnam on June 19-20, the Kremlin said.
Russia has gone out of its way to publicize the renaissance of its relationship with North Korea since the start of the war in Ukraine, which has triggered the biggest crisis for more than 60 years in Moscow’s relationship with the West.
For Putin, who says Russia is locked in an existential battle with the West over Ukraine, courting Kim allows him to needle Washington and its Asian allies while securing a deep supply of artillery for the Ukraine war.
The United States and its allies say North Korea has supplied weapons to Russia to help it fight in Ukraine, though North Korea has repeatedly denied the claims as a fiction invented by Western propagandists.
Philippine captain vows to return to sea after Houthi attack
- Tutor’s captain Christian Domarique: ‘We first need to rest because of the trauma’
- Houthis claimed responsibility for a missile strike on the Liberia flagged, Greek-owned coal carrier Tutor
MANILA: The Philippine crew of a vessel attacked by Yemen’s Houthi militants was repatriated to the Philippines from Bahrain on Monday, with the ship’s captain vowing to return to the seas after the crew had recovered from the experience.
Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility for a missile strike on the Liberia flagged, Greek-owned, coal carrier Tutor near the Yemeni port of Hodeidah on June 12. The ship was carrying 22 crew from the Philippines and one is still missing in the flooded engine room.
“We first need to rest because of the trauma,” the Tutor’s Captain Christian Domarique told a press conference at Manila airport. “We will recover for a few months before returning.”
Houthi attacks have struck three vessels crewed by Filipino seafarers since last year, killing two sailors, with 17 still being held captive by militants, government data showed.
A tearful Domarique thanked God, his company, and government agencies for assisting him and his fellow seafarers to get back to the Philippines.
The government has pledged financial and psychological assistance for the 21 crew members.
“The captain has good working years ahead of him so with the crew that is relatively young, they will still have more seafaring years ahead of them,” Hans Leo Cacdac, the Philippines’ migrant workers minister, told a press conference.
The vessel’s owner pledged to continue the search for the missing sailor alongside a salvaging operation to tow the stranded ship, Cacdac said, which on Friday was adrift in the Red Sea.
The Houthis, who have said their attacks are in support of Palestinians in Gaza, have disrupted global shipping, causing delays and costs to cascade through supply chains.
At least 65 countries and major energy and shipping companies — including Shell, BP, Maersk and Cosco — have been affected, according to a report by the US Defense Intelligence Agency.
Biden’s reelection team launches $50 million ad campaign targeting Trump before the first debate
- The costly advertising push comes with Election Day still more than four and a half months away
- The new ad campaign includes more than $1 million geared toward media reaching Black, Hispanic and Asian American voters
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign said Monday it will spend $50 million through the end of June on a new ad campaign that includes efforts to spotlight Republican Donald Trump’s felony conviction.
The costly advertising push comes with Election Day still more than four and a half months away. But Biden’s campaign says it wants to more clearly define the choice between the two candidates ahead of the first debate between them in Atlanta on June 27.
A central part of Biden’s campaign strategy is highlighting Trump’s far-reaching policy proposals for a second term and firing up disaffected Democrats and independent voters. The campaign producing an ad that leans heavily into Trump’s conviction, and including it in such a large advertising buy, indicates a renewed effort to make Trump’s legal problems an election issue in ways Biden’s team previously resisted.
The new ad campaign includes more than $1 million geared toward media reaching Black, Hispanic and Asian American voters, and an ad highlighting Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts in a New York hush money case. That spot will air on general market television and connected TV on streaming devices and cell phones in battleground states, as well as on national cable.
In addition to Trump’s criminal conviction, the ad, titled “Character Matters,” notes the former president also was found liable for sexual assault and financial fraud in separate proceedings. Trump also faces felony charges in three separate criminal cases, none of which may go to trial before the November election.
“This election is between a convicted criminal who’s only out for himself and a president who’s fighting for your family,” intones the ad’s narrator over images of a Trump mug shot and Biden high-fiving supporters.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment Sunday night. But Trump has denied any wrongdoing and argued without evidence that Biden or Justice Department officials orchestrated the New York case against him for political reasons. He and his allies also have raised the prospect of prosecuting political opponents in revenge if he returns to the White House.
China says G7 statement ‘full of arrogance, prejudice and lies’
- Summit statement said China was sending dual-use materials to Russia which were helping Moscow’s war in Ukraine
- China’s foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the statement had ‘slandered and attacked China’
BEIJING: China hit back on Monday after G7 leaders warned Beijing to stop sending weapons components to Russia, saying their end-of-summit statement was “full of arrogance, prejudice and lies.”
When Group of Seven leaders met last week in Italy, souring trade relations with Beijing as well as tensions over Ukraine and the South China Sea were a focus of their discussions.
The statement released at the end of the summit said China was sending dual-use materials to Russia which were helping Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Using stronger language than at last year’s summit, the G7 statement also criticized China’s “militarization, and coercive and intimidation activities” in the South China Sea.
On Monday China’s foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the statement had “slandered and attacked China.”
It had “rehashed cliches that have no factual basis, no legal basis, and no moral justification, and are full of arrogance, prejudice and lies,” he said at a regular press briefing.
