740 km Expressway connecting Saudi Arabia and Oman opens
Saudi Arabia and Oman announced on Tuesday that they would open the first land crossing between the two Gulf neighbors. “The 740 km Saudi-Omani road … will contribute to the smooth running of the citizens of the two countries and the integration of supply chains,” a joint statement issued after the official visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said. The road runs from the Al-Bata road junction near the capital Riyadh to the empty quarter crossing on the Saudi-Omani border at a cost of more than $ 506 million.
Homosexual marriages leagalized
The Chilean Congress on Tuesday approved a long-debated bill that would allow only a handful of Catholic-majority Latin American countries to legalize same-sex marriage. Accordingly, same-sex marriage has been legalized. Among Latin American countries, same-sex couples can still get married Only in 14 out of 32 states in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. The new move is backed by President Sebastian Pinera, who will continue to sign it into law. The new rules will also allow same-sex couples to adopt children. The bill received the green light from the upper house of Congress or the Senate on Tuesday, and was immediately approved by the lower house, receiving 20 to 82 votes. With the December 19 presidential election in Chile looming, the adoption has been hastened to gain more than one faction. The project has consistently been opposed by the most conservative faction of Chile’s ruling right, but the opposition-dominated Congress has endorsed it at every step of the process.
Rohingya refugees in Myanmar have filed a lawsuit against Facebook
Rohingya refugees in Myanmar have filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc. ($ 150), claiming that social media did not take action against the Rohingya who were subjected to military violence during the violence in Myanmar last February and that no action was taken against them. A U.S. lawsuit filed by law firms Edelson PC and Fields PLC in California alleges that the company’s actions contributed to the real-world violence faced by the Rohingya community. As a co-ordinating action, the British lawyers also submitted a notice to the London office on Facebook. Facebook has not yet commented on the case. The company said it was “too slow to prevent misinformation and hatred in Myanmar” and that the military had taken steps to crack down on platform abuse in the region, including a ban on Facebook and Instagram, following the February 1 coup. In the above cases, Facebook has stated that the US Internet Act, also known as Article 230, which states that ‘online platforms’ such as Facebook are not responsible for content published by third parties, is protected from liability for content published by users. U.S. law can apply to foreign courts for alleged damages and actions by companies in other countries, but two legal experts quoted Reuters as saying they were unaware of a successful precedent for enforcing foreign law in lawsuits against social media companies.
Court gave the death sentence to three members of the same family
The Court of Appeal has upheld the death sentence handed down by the Kurunegala High Court to three members of the same family on charges of hacking to death and causing serious injuries to another person for allegedly spying for the police on the sale of illicit liquor. The death sentence was upheld by appeals filed by three convicts who were convicted of killing their own nephew in Polgahawela six years ago and seriously injuring his father. The death sentence was upheld by PD Pohorawatta, a resident of Polgahawela. Douglas Wickramasinghe, P.D. Senarath Samarasinghe and P.D. Pradeep Sanjeewa Jayaratne to three members of the same family. Court of Appeal Judge Priyantha Fernando and Court of Appeal Judge Sampath Abeykoon delivered the judgment. Senior Deputy Solicitor General Dileep Peiris said at the hearing that the judge had given the verdict ruling that the charges against the accused had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt based on the evidence presented in the High Court and that the petitioners had not pointed out that there were errors in that judgment.
Pakistan Defense Minister normalised killing an employee on the road
Sri Lankan Defense Minister Sarath Weerasekara has objected to a statement made by the Pakistani Defense Minister regarding the brutal assassination of Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana in Pakistan. He said that such incidents were normal and that there was information that the Pakistani Defense Minister had said that Muslim youths were doing such things impulsively and that it should not be taken into account. He said he would oppose the allegations if they were true and called on the Pakistani defense minister to immediately withdraw the statement and apologize to Sri Lankans. He said this while he was speaking to the media when he visited the house to pay his last respects to the late Panniyantha Kumara. https://youtu.be/AEQarWFuuOo
The rejected chinese Fertiliser ship unloaded in Sri lanka
Former JVP MP Wasantha Samarasinghe states that steps have been taken to unload the fertilizer ship imported from China. He said that it was not possible to find out where the stock of fertilizer had landed after paying more than Rs. 2 billion. He was speaking to the media after a program organized by the JVP.
Government Employees strikes requesting four demands
The Federation of Public Officers’ Trade Unions of Sri Lanka has stated that the profession of reporting sick leave will take action on 08.12.2021 based on the four main demands including Increase the salaries of public servants by ten thousand, Withdraw the proposal to raise the retirement age of public servants to 65 years, Withdraw the statement of the government which made public servants a burden to the country, Abolish circulars that encroach on the right to freedom of expression. The Federation of Public Officers’ Trade Unions of Sri Lanka (SLFCSL) has stated that all trade unions in the country will go on a continuous strike if they ignore the one-day strike action
Sri lankans protested infront of Pakistan Embassy
Ten national organizations staged a protest in front of the Embassy of Pakistan expressing their condolences over the brutal murder of a Sri Lankan engineer by Islamic extremists. Following the protest, the organization’s representatives met with the Pakistani ambassador and handed him a letter. The letter called on all extremists responsible for the killings to take strong legal action and to eradicate Islamic extremism from Pakistan in the wake of the incident. In addition, the letter called for compensation for the slain engineer. The protest was attended by the Patriotic Intellectuals Forum, Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Water, National Coalition of Organizations, Patriotic National Movement Representatives of 10 national organizations such as the Lakmawa Daughters Women’s Movement participated. The billboards commended the steps taken by the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan and criticized the Prime Minister for not taking action against Islamic extremism as a whole.
North-Western Province Governor Raja Collure has passed away this morning.
North-Western Province Governor Raja Collure has passed away this morning. According to family sources, he had passed away while receiving treatment in hospital. They said he was receiving treatment after testing positive for COVID-19 recently. Raja Collure was 83 at the time of his demise. He served as the Governor of the Uva Province, until recently being appointed as the Governor of the North-Western Province by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Update From CEB
The daily one-hour power cut between 06.00 pm to 09.00 pm will be imposed today and tomorrow (08), the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) announced today. Media Spokesman to the Ministry of Energy Sulakshana Jayawardena told NewsWire that the breakdown in two of the three generators at the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant has been fixed as of now. He said, however, the 2nd generator is yet to be completely fixed and will take another 2-days to be fully functional. Sulakshana Jayawardena further said that thereby, power disruptions will be imposed today and tomorrow as a result. Sri Lanka faced an islandwide power outage for several hours on Friday (03) due to a major breakdown at the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant. (NewsWire)