Source: BBC
Security & Justice
Southern Lebanon Endures Massive Damage: 40,000 Homes Leveled Across 37 Towns
Israeli forces have systematically destroyed entire neighborhoods in southern Lebanon, leveling more than 37 towns and wiping out over 40,000 residential units, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Gaps in Coastal Radar Enabled Israeli Raid in Batroun, Army Commander Says
Lebanon’s army chief, General Joseph Aoun, detailed to Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati how Israeli forces likely exploited gaps in the country's coastal radar system during the recent raid carried out in Batroun. The briefing comes as Lebanese officials seek answers on how Israel’s elite Shayetet 13 unit carried out the landing undetected.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Opinion
The Emptying of Baalbek Is a Moment to Take Stock
“Large numbers of people continue to flee their homes every day, as Israel’s military operations in Lebanon have been going on unabated.” These disturbing words could be from almost any news report about Israel’s invasion of its northern neighbour over the past month. However, they can be found in a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre issued on July 27, 2006.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
A Future Without Hezbollah
At the end of September, when Israel’s campaign to destroy Hezbollah was reaching its height, I met one of the group’s supporters in a seaside café in western Beirut. He was a middle-aged man with a thin white beard and the spent look of someone who had not slept for days. He was an academic of sorts, not a fighter, but his ties to Hezbollah were deep and long-standing.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Sports
Tottenham Forward Son Heung-min Crowned Asia’s International Player of the Year
Tottenham forward Son Heung-min was crowned as Asia’s International Player of the Year for the fourth time by the Asian Football Confederation at its annual awards ceremony Tuesday.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Real Madrid Launch Investigation into Racist Insults After El Clasico Defeat
Real Madrid has launched an investigation into racist insults directed at players during Saturday’s 4-0 home loss to Barcelona in LaLiga, it said on Sunday.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Wednesday 20 July 2022 16:02:26
Sri Lanka: Ranil Wickremesinghe Elected President
Sri Lankan MPs have elected prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the country's new president, despite his unpopularity with the public.
Mr Wickremesinghe faces the task of leading the country out of its economic collapse and restoring order after months of mass protests.
He roundly defeated his main rival for the job, Dullus Alahapperuma, with 134 votes to 82 in a parliamentary vote.
Sri Lanka's ex-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country last week.
He bolted to the Maldives and then Singapore after thousands of protesters stormed his presidential residences and other government buildings, calling for his resignation.
They had also called for the resignation of Mr Wickremesinghe, a close ally of the Rajapaksa political family who was appointed prime minister in May.
Protesters last week burnt down his private home and also stormed his prime ministerial office in Colombo in demonstrations against his leadership.
On Wednesday, many expressed despair and disappointment over his win.
"I am absolutely disgusted at the result… I cannot believe that 134 people - MPs that are supposed to represent the people- have completely disregarded the wants of the people," one activist Jeana De Zoysa told the BBC.
Mr Wickremesinghe is viewed by many as a shrewd political operator who's managed to cling on in parliament despite his party losing all but one of their seats in the 2020 election.
A former six-time prime minister, he failed in his previous two runs for the presidency. His victory on Wednesday means he will serve out the rest of the presidential term until November 2024.
But on Wednesday, after sweeping the vote with the backing of the Rajapaksa's ruling party, he called for unity and bipartisanship moving forward.
He told parliament the nation was "in a very difficult situation" and there were "big challenges ahead". Sri Lanka has been wracked with protests for months because the country is effectively bankrupt and facing acute shortages of food, fuel and other basic supplies.
Mr Wickremesinghe is aiming to restore political stability so the country can resume negotiations with the International Monetary fund for a bailout package.
He was involved in these talks last month, and the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramnua (SLPP) party said most of their members had backed him because of his economic credentials.
"We feel that Ranil Wickremesinghe is the only person with the experience, the know-how and the capacity to provide solutions to the economic crisis," General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam told the Reuters news agency.
However, it remains unclear whether he will be accepted by protesters - many of whom say he's part of the political elite behind the country's economic mismanagement.
On Wednesday, ahead of the results, barricades were set up around the parliament and soldiers lined the perimeter anticipating crowds.
But protesters remained fairly subdued. After the result, some gathered at the Galle Face Green protest site chanted "Ranil Go Home".
There are fears among some that Mr Wickremesinghe will now crack down on the movement, which has brought hundreds of thousands of ordinary people onto the streets demanding change.
When he assumed the job of acting president last week, he ordered the military to do whatever was necessary to restore public order, following protesters storming and occupying government buildings.
He also extended a national state of emergency order this week to stamp out any flare-ups.
However, his immediate challenges include sourcing fuel supplies and managing the public discontent - which will mean working on removing the bitterness, anger and disappointment within society.
His main challenger in Wednesday's vote was Mr Alahapperuma, a dissident MP in the ruling party who gained the backing of the main opposition. He had pledged to bring a cross-party government to Sri Lanka that would "put an end to the deceitful political culture" but failed to muster enough support.
