Sri Lankan MPs who are demanding the convening of parliament cheer after a meeting with the speaker in Colombo on November 2, 2018. AP Photo
Sri Lankan MPs who are demanding the convening of parliament cheer after a meeting with the speaker in Colombo on November 2, 2018. AP Photo
Sri Lankan MPs who are demanding the convening of parliament cheer after a meeting with the speaker in Colombo on November 2, 2018. AP Photo
Sri Lankan MPs who are demanding the convening of parliament cheer after a meeting with the speaker in Colombo on November 2, 2018. AP Photo

Sri Lanka speaker defies president and summons parliament


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Sri Lanka's parliament speaker on Friday summoned the assembly to meet next week in defiance of the president as a constitutional crisis darkened with an MP saying he was offered millions of dollars and a minister's post to defect to a rival camp.

With the Indian Ocean nation torn between rival prime ministers Ranil Wickremesinghe and Mahinda Rajapakse, speaker Karu Jayasuriya said he could no longer ignore demands for parliament to meet to end the week-old feud.

Amid growing international concern over the standoff, Mr Jayasuriya convened parliament to meet next Wednesday.

President Maithripala Sirisena suspended parliament until November 16 after sacking Mr Wickremesinghe as premier and replacing him with former authoritarian president Mr Rajapakse.

Mr Wickremesinghe has refused to accept the dismissal and has remained at the prime minister's official residence for the past week amid nearly daily twists in the saga.

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Read more: Sri Lanka crisis: everything you need to know

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Mr Sirisena at first lifted the suspension, but with observers saying his candidate Mr Rajapakse did not have enough support to win a parliamentary vote, the president's party said late on Thursday that the assembly would remain shut.

"The speaker met a majority of MPs at a committee room today and promised he will open parliament on November 7," Mr Jayasuriya's spokesman said.

The meeting was attended by 118 of the 225 members of parliament in a new sign that Mr Sirisena would not win a vote on Mr Rajapakse, whose decade as president up to 2015 was marked by the brutal end of the Tamil civil war and corruption claims.

Mr Wickremesinghe and his allies are confident they can prove a majority. But intense behind-the-scenes lobbying to tempt defectors broke into the open on Friday.

A senior member of Mr Wickremesinghe's United National Party, Range Bandara, said he was offered US$2.8 million (Dh10.3m) and a ministry to switch sides and would go to the anti-graft commission.

"I have a phone recording of a former minister in the Rajapakse camp trying to approach me," Mr Bandara told reporters. "A broker offered me the $2.8 million and the ministry of law and order."

Another Wickremesinghe loyalist, deputy minister Ranjan Ramanayake has already accused China of financing the defection of MPs to the Rajapakse-Sirisena camp. China has strongly rejected the claims.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) party, which has seven MPs, said its members had also rejected offers to join the Sirisena-Rajapakse camp.

"There are dealers and brokers trying to buy over MPs both wholesale and retail," SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem said. "This is a disgrace, an assault on the dignity of honourable members of parliament."

Mr Hakeem said only an early parliament meeting could end the horse trading.

Mr Jayasuriya said he told Mr Sirisena in a meeting this week that he had not been consulted on the suspension of parliament.

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Read more:

Sri Lanka's political dramas expose its wider vulnerabilities

Opinion: Example of Sri Lanka handing over a port shows the Belt and Road was never about altruism

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"I have been getting numerous appeals from diplomats and civil society groups to intervene and end this crisis," he said.

Mr Wickremesinghe's party says that the president wants to shut parliament for as long as possible to give himself more time to secure votes for Mr Rajapakse.

"It is clear that Rajapakse does not have the numbers in parliament to justify getting the prime minister post," UNP spokesman Harsha de Silva said. "They are now trying to wriggle out of this crisis."

Mr De Silva said Mr Rajapakse's brother, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, met Mr Wickremesinghe on Thursday to discuss ending the standoff but no accord was reached.

"The PM's position is clear. No compromise," Mr de Silva said.

There was no immediate reaction from Mr Rajapakse or his party to the speaker's move to call parliament, nor to the allegations of offers to MPs.

In the meantime, Mr Rajapakse's administration ordered cuts to prices of essential food and taxes in what was seen as a bid to woo public support.

The cuts were applied on Friday, but MPs who met with the speaker in parliament vowed that any decisions made by Mr Rajapakse would not be honoured.

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GROUP RESULTS

Group A
Results

Ireland beat UAE by 226 runs
West Indies beat Netherlands by 54 runs

Group B
Results

Zimbabwe tied with Scotland
Nepal beat Hong Kong by five wickets

Dolittle

Director: Stephen Gaghan

Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Michael Sheen

One-and-a-half out of five stars

The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
PROFILE OF SWVL

Started: April 2017

Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh

Based: Cairo, Egypt

Sector: transport

Size: 450 employees

Investment: approximately $80 million

Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani

In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
John Heminway, Knopff

Test

Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
LILO & STITCH

Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders

Director: Dean Fleischer Camp

Rating: 4.5/5

The biog

Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia

Favourite books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Good to be Great by Jim Collins

Favourite dish: Grilled fish

Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.

Info

What: 11th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship

When: December 27-29, 2018

Confirmed: men: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung, Karen Khachanov; women: Venus Williams

Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae, Virgin megastores or call 800 86 823

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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World Series

Game 1: Red Sox 8, Dodgers 4
Game 2: Red Sox 4, Dodgers 2
Game 3: Saturday (UAE)

* if needed

Game 4: Sunday
Game 5: Monday
Game 6: Wednesday
Game 7: Thursday

Analysis

Maros Sefcovic is juggling multiple international trade agreement files, but his message was clear when he spoke to The National on Wednesday.

The EU-UAE bilateral trade deal will be finalised soon, he said. It is in everyone’s interests to do so. Both sides want to move quickly and are in alignment. He said the UAE is a very important partner for the EU. It’s full speed ahead - and with some lofty ambitions - on the road to a free trade agreement. 

We also talked about US-EU tariffs. He answered that both sides need to talk more and more often, but he is prepared to defend Europe's position and said diplomacy should be a guiding principle through the current moment. 

 

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Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
JAPAN SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Masaaki Higashiguchi, Shuichi Gonda, Daniel Schmidt
Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo, Tomoaki Makino, Maya Yoshida, Sho Sasaki, Hiroki Sakai, Sei Muroya, Genta Miura, Takehiro Tomiyasu
Midfielders: Toshihiro Aoyama, Genki Haraguchi, Gaku Shibasaki, Wataru Endo, Junya Ito, Shoya Nakajima, Takumi Minamino, Hidemasa Morita, Ritsu Doan
Forwards: Yuya Osako, Takuma Asano, Koya Kitagawa

The specs

Engine: 2.3-litre, turbo four-cylinder

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Power: 300hp

Torque: 420Nm

Price: Dh189,900

On sale: now

Indoor cricket in a nutshell

Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai

16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side

8 There are eight players per team

There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.

5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls

Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership

Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.

Zones

A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs

B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run

Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs

Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full

Defence review at a glance

• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”

• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems

• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.

• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%

• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade

• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels

WISH
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Sarfira

Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal 

Rating: 2/5

Three ways to get a gratitude glow

By committing to at least one of these daily, you can bring more gratitude into your life, says Ong.

  • During your morning skincare routine, name five things you are thankful for about yourself.
  • As you finish your skincare routine, look yourself in the eye and speak an affirmation, such as: “I am grateful for every part of me, including my ability to take care of my skin.”
  • In the evening, take some deep breaths, notice how your skin feels, and listen for what your skin is grateful for.