Sri Lanka outlaws strikes as unions cripple hospitals

A man leaves a hospital as health workers hold a work strike in Colombo on February 11, 2022. (AFP)
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Updated 13 February 2022
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Sri Lanka outlaws strikes as unions cripple hospitals

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s president banned strikes in the health and electricity sectors on Saturday as trade union action that has crippled state-run hospitals entered its sixth day.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa invoked a 1979 law prohibiting stoppages in the two sectors, declaring all related work “essential public services,” his office said.

The tough regulations allow courts to hand down five-year jail terms and confiscate the assets of those refusing work.

The move followed health unions ignoring a court order on Thursday instructing them to suspend their strike pending a hearing of a petition against their action.

Sri Lanka is in the grip of a foreign exchange crisis that has crippled the economy, and the unions are demanding better promotional prospects, restructuring of their pay scales and higher allowances.

The government has refused, saying the current economic situation did not allow it to increase the salaries budget.

Thousands of health workers have been taking part in the strike action, leaving only emergency services functioning at state hospitals and many routine services put off.

Electricity sector workers are not on strike, but they too have threatened trade union action if the government goes ahead with plans to sell a thermal power plant to a US company.


South Korea prosecutors file request to detain ex-president Yoon

Updated 56 sec ago
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South Korea prosecutors file request to detain ex-president Yoon

  • Former leader facing charges related to insurrection from when he declared martial law last year
SEOUL: South Korean special prosecutors on Sunday filed a request to detain former President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges related to insurrection from when he declared martial law last year, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
“Detention request is related to allegations of abuse of power and obstruction of justice,” the statement from the special counsel of prosecutors investigating the December 3 incident said.
Yoon’s martial law decree was lifted about six hours after it was announced when lawmakers, who had been forced to scale the walls of the assembly building to make it through a ring of security forces, voted the decree down.
Yoon was summoned on Saturday for hours of questioning by the special counsel as part of the probe over the insurrection charges, according to the counsel officials.
Yoon’s lawyer was not immediately available for comment on Sunday.

Switzerland reopens its embassy in Tehran after two-week closure

Updated 14 sec ago
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Switzerland reopens its embassy in Tehran after two-week closure

VIENNA: Switzerland, which also represents US interests in Iran, has reopened its embassy in Tehran after a closure due to the air war between Israel and Iran, the Swiss foreign ministry said on Sunday.
“Ambassador Nadine Olivieri Lozano and a small team returned to Tehran yesterday overland via Azerbaijan. The embassy will gradually resume operations,” the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. It had been closed since June 20.


Taiwan says China opening flight path raises regional unease

Updated 06 July 2025
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Taiwan says China opening flight path raises regional unease

  • Chinese civil aviation authority opened another west-to-east connecting route above the sensitive waterway
  • Statement: China ‘unilaterally violated the consensus’ three times by launching the routes without consulting Taiwan

TAIPEI: Taipei condemned Sunday China’s move to open a sensitive aviation route that runs through the Taiwan Strait, warning the change could increase tensions between the two sides and “regional unease.”

Taiwan’s top China policy body criticized Beijing after its civil aviation authority opened another west-to-east connecting route above the sensitive waterway.

China has shown “complete disregard for the consensus of both sides and Taiwan’s public opinion, using unilateral actions to change the status quo and increase cross-strait and regional unease,” Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said.

Beijing adjusted the M503 north-to-south route through the Taiwan Strait in January 2024 and opened two west-to-east connecting flight paths months later.

The newly-activated west-to-east route is intended to “alleviate the pressure caused by the increase of flights,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhua said Sunday, quoted by state news agency Xinhua.

But Taipei’s Mainland Affairs Council denied there had been an increase in air traffic.

It said China had “unilaterally violated the consensus” three times by launching the routes without consulting Taiwan and urged Beijing to engage in negotiations.

“The current cross-strait and Asia-Pacific situation is complex, the Mainland’s unilateral actions will escalate regional tensions, which no party wishes to see,” the Council said.

Beijing insists democratic Taiwan is part of its territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the self-ruled island under its control.

Beijing regularly deploys fighter jets, warships and coast guard ships near Taiwan, and has held several major military exercises around the island in recent years.


Japan PM says won’t ‘easily compromise’ to Trump on tariffs

Updated 06 July 2025
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Japan PM says won’t ‘easily compromise’ to Trump on tariffs

  • American President Trump has said he was going to write a letter to Japan, asking it to “pay a 30 percent, 35 percent or whatever the number is that we determine,” and called the bilateral trade relation “unfair”

TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Sunday he won’t “easily compromise” in talks with Washington as Tokyo seeks to avert President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs of up to 35 percent on Japanese goods.
“We will not easily compromise. That’s why it is taking time and why it is tough,” Ishiba told a television talk show.
His comments came as Japan rushes to negotiate with the Trump administration before the Wednesday deadline for trade deals.
While Trump imposed a sweeping 10 percent tariff on imports from most trading partners in April, he unveiled — then paused — higher rates on dozens of economies including Japan to allow room for negotiations.
This pause will expire July 9, meaning the elevated rates are due to kick in if countries fail to reach agreements with Washington to avert them.
Trump has said he was going to write a letter to Japan, asking it to “pay a 30 percent, 35 percent or whatever the number is that we determine,” and called the bilateral trade relation “unfair.”
He has particularly pressed Japan to accept more US automobiles and rice.
Ryosei Akazawa, Tokyo’s trade envoy, held telephone calls with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Thursday and Saturday.
In the Sunday television show, Ishiba reiterated that Japan, as the biggest investor nation in the US economy, should be treated differently from other countries.
“What is unfair? How is it unfair? We need to examine each one” of the US claims, he said.
“We are allies, but we have to say what we have to say. We are the world’s largest investor nation and the largest job creator (in the US). We are different,” he said.
On another Sunday television show, Ishiba said Japan was “preparing to deal with all kinds of situations,” when asked about how he plans to deal with Trump’s letter.


Colombia arrests man suspected of organizing hit on politician

Updated 06 July 2025
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Colombia arrests man suspected of organizing hit on politician

  • Arteaga Hernandez, who has a long criminal record and a file with Interpol, coordinated the attack, hired the shooter and provided him with a gun, police said

BOGOTA: Colombian police probing the attempted assassination of a prominent right-wing presidential candidate arrested on Saturday a man they believe hired the teenager accused of pulling the trigger.
Elder Jose Arteaga Hernandez was described by police as a key planner of the June 7 attack on conservative senator Miguel Uribe, who remains hospitalized in serious condition.
Arteaga Hernandez organized “the before of the attack, the during, and the after,” said police chief Carlos Fernando Triana Beltran.
Uribe, 39, was shot three times, including twice in the head, during a campaign rally in a park in Bogota.
Police have now arrested five suspects, including the 15-year-old alleged hitman.
Arteaga Hernandez, who has a long criminal record and a file with Interpol, coordinated the attack, hired the shooter and provided him with a gun, police said.
The shooter is believed to belong to a network of contract killers.
Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said that Arteaga Hernandez “had allegedly negotiated the execution of the crime” for the equivalent of about $250,000.
“He planned the cover, the movements, and even ordered one of his accomplices to be silenced after the incident,” Sanchez posted on X.
Uribe’s attorney, Victor Mosquera, has said the probe had revealed a “structured organization” with a “history of attacks on right-wing leaders.”
Uribe, a member of the Democratic Center party, announced his intention last October to run in the May 2026 presidential election.