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Saudi Arabia employs highest number of Sri Lankan workers in 2023

Saudi Arabia employs highest number of Sri Lankan workers in 2023
Passengers stand in queues at the Colombo International Airport in Katunayake, Sri Lanka, on Sept. 26, 2022. (AFP)
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Updated 30 December 2023
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Saudi Arabia employs highest number of Sri Lankan workers in 2023

Saudi Arabia employs highest number of Sri Lankan workers in 2023
  • Workers employed in the Kingdom contributed 15-20% of Sri Lanka’s remittances
  • Every year, more than 200,000 migrant workers leave Sri Lanka to work abroad
Updated 30 December 2023
Mohammed Rasooldeen
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COLOMBO: Saudi Arabia has ranked first in providing work opportunities to Sri Lankan expats in 2023, as more than 63,000 of them found employment in the Kingdom.

Every year, more than 200,000 migrant workers leave Sri Lanka to work abroad.
They are a main source of foreign exchange for the country, which since last year was gripped by its worst ever financial crisis.

P.M. Amza, Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, estimated that in 2023 remittances amounted to over $7 billion, of which a significant portion was contributed by expat workers in the Kingdom.

“During the year 2023, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has become the number one country, generating 63,000 employment (opportunities) for Sri Lankans,” he told Arab News on Saturday.

“Of the annual remittances amounting to $7-8 billion a year, a sizable portion has been generated from the Kingdom, which is in the region of 15 to 20 percent of the total remittances.”

Gulf Cooperation Council countries are a preferred choice for Sri Lankan workers, with Saudi Arabia being their key destination, lately also attracting skilled professionals to its megaprojects under Vision 2030.

These projects, in addition to a new employment scheme under the Skill Verification Program, were the main factors making the Kingdom increasingly attractive to Sri Lankans, according to Amza.

The SVP agreement signed in March aims to improve the professional competence of employees in the Saudi labor market and ease the recruitment process of skilled workers from the island nation.

Under the deal — which covers 23 professions — Saudi employers recognize accreditations issued by Sri Lanka’s Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission.

“The year 2023 has seen the qualitative and quantitative increase of employment opportunities for Sri Lankans in the Kingdom,” Amza said, adding that while half of Sri Lankan expats have been employed in the domestic sector, this year showed growth in the number of those working in the construction and hospitality sector.

“The signing of the agreement on the Skill Verification Program between the two countries has also contributed to this increase of skill and professional categories of employment, which stood as nearly 12,000 during 2023.”

Topics: Sri Lanka Saudi Arabia

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Zelensky says NATO offer for Ukraine-controlled territory could end ‘hot stage’ of war

Zelensky says NATO offer for Ukraine-controlled territory could end ‘hot stage’ of war
Updated 30 November 2024
AP
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Zelensky says NATO offer for Ukraine-controlled territory could end ‘hot stage’ of war

Zelensky says NATO offer for Ukraine-controlled territory could end ‘hot stage’ of war
  • “You can’t give an invitation to just one part of a country,” the Ukrainian president said
  • “So legally, by law, we have no right to recognize the occupied territory as territory of Russia”
Updated 30 November 2024
AP

KYIV: An offer of NATO membership to territory under Kyiv’s control would end “the hot stage of the war” in Ukraine, but any proposal to join the military alliance should be extended to all parts of the country that fall under internationally recognized borders, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a broadcast interview.
Zelensky’s remarks on Friday signaled a possible way forward to the difficult path Ukraine faces to future NATO membership. At their summit in Washington in July, the 32 members declared Ukraine on an “irreversible” path to membership. However, one obstacle to moving forward has been the view that Ukraine’s borders would need to be clearly demarcated before it could join so that there can be no mistaking where the alliance’s pact of mutual defense would come into effect.
“You can’t give an invitation to just one part of a country,” the Ukrainian president said in an excerpt of the interview with Sky News, dubbed by the UK broadcaster. “Why? Because thus you would recognize that Ukraine is only that territory of Ukraine and the other one is Russia.”
Under the Ukrainian constitution, Ukraine cannot recognize territory occupied by Russia as Russian.
“So legally, by law, we have no right to recognize the occupied territory as territory of Russia,” he said.
Since the start of the war in 2022, Russia has been expending huge amounts of weaponry and human life to make small-but-steady territorial gains to the nearly one-fifth of Ukraine it already controls in east and southern Ukraine.
“If we want to stop the hot stage of the war, we should take under the NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control. That’s what we need to do, fast. And then Ukraine can get back the other part of its territory diplomatically,” he said.
An invitation for Ukraine to join NATO is one key point of Zelensky’s “victory plan”, which he presented to Western allies and the Ukrainian people in October. The plan is seen as a way for Ukraine to strengthen its hand in any negotiations with Moscow.
Earlier this week, NATO’s new Secretary General Mark Rutte said that the alliance “needs to go further” to support Ukraine in its fight against a Russian invasion. Military aid to Kyiv and steps toward ending the war are expected to be high on the agenda when NATO members’ foreign ministers meet in Brussels for a two-day gathering starting on December 3.
However, any decision for Ukraine to join the military alliance would require a lengthier process and the agreement of all member states.
There is also uncertainty as to the foreign policy stance of President-elect Donald Trump. While Trump vowed on the campaign trail to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a single day, he has not publicly discussed how this could happen. Trump also announced Wednesday that Keith Kellogg, an 80-year-old, highly decorated retired three-star general, would serve as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
In April, Kellog wrote that “bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties.”
Meanwhile, during his only campaign debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump twice refused to directly answer a question about whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war — raising concerns that Kyiv could be forced to accept unfavorable terms in any negotiations.
Zelensky’s statement comes as Ukraine faces increasing pressure along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) frontline. In its latest report, the Washington-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War said Saturday that Russian forces had recently advanced near Kupiansk, in Toretsk, and near Pokrovsk and Velyka Novosilka, a key logistics route for the Ukrainian military.
Ukraine’s air force announced Saturday that the country had come under attack from ten Russian drones, of which eight were shot down over the Kyiv, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kherson regions. One drone returned to Russian-occupied territory, while the final drone disappeared from radar, often a sign of the use of electronic defenses.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said that 11 Ukrainian drones had been shot down by the country’s air defense systems. Both the mayor of Sochi, Andrey Proshunin, and the head of Russia’s Dagestan region, Sergey Melikov, both in Russia’s southwest, said that drones had been destroyed in their regions overnight. No casualties were reported.
On Friday, the Ukrainian president announced a number of changes to military leadership, saying that changes in personnel management were needed to improve the situation on the battlefield.
General Mykhailo Drapatyi, who led the defense of Kharkiv during Russia’s new offensive on Ukraine’s second-largest city this year, was appointed the new head of Ukraine’s Ground Forces. Oleh Apostol was named as the new Deputy Commander-in-Chief responsible for improving military training.
Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi also announced Friday that he would bolster units in Donetsk, Pokrovsk and Kurakhove with additional reserves, ammunition, weapons and military equipment.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict NATO Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

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North Korean leader calls for expanding his nuclear forces in the face of alleged US threats

North Korean leader calls for expanding his nuclear forces in the face of alleged US threats
Updated 30 November 2024
AP
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North Korean leader calls for expanding his nuclear forces in the face of alleged US threats

North Korean leader calls for expanding his nuclear forces in the face of alleged US threats
  • Kim Jong Un condemns the US for updating its nuclear deterrence strategies with South Korea
  • He also criticized American support of Ukraine against a prolonged Russian invasion
Updated 30 November 2024
AP
SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un renewed his call for a “limitless” expansion of his military nuclear program to counter US-led threats in comments reported Monday that were his first direct criticism toward Washington since Donald Trump’s win in the US presidential election.
At a conference with army officials on Friday, Kim condemned the United States for updating its nuclear deterrence strategies with South Korea and solidifying three-way military cooperation involving Japan, which he portrayed as an “Asian NATO” that was escalating tensions and instability in the region.
Kim also criticized the United States over its support of Ukraine against a prolonged Russian invasion. He insisted that Washington and its Western allies were using Ukraine as their “shock troops” to wage a war against Moscow and expand the scope of US military influence, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.
Kim has prioritized his country’s ties to Russia in recent months, embracing the idea of a “new Cold War” and displaying a united front in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s broader conflicts with the West.
He has used Russia’s war on Ukraine as a distraction to accelerate the development of his nuclear-armed military, which now has various nuclear-capable systems targeting South Korea and intercontinental ballistic missiles that can potentially reach the US mainland.
Kim has yet to directly acknowledge that he has been providing military equipment and troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine and the KCNA’s report didn’t mention whether Kim made any comments toward Trump, whose election win has yet to be reported in the North’s state media.
Kim met Trump three times in 2018 and 2019 in Trump’s first presidency, but their diplomacy quickly collapsed over disagreements in exchanging the release of US-led sanctions and North Korean steps to wind down its nuclear and missile program. North Korea has since suspended any meaningful talks with Washington and Seoul as Kim ramped up his testing activity and military demonstrations in the face of what he portrayed as “gangster-like US threats.” There’s concern in Seoul that Kim in exchange for his military support of Russia would receive Russian technology in return to further develop his arsenal.
Trump’s election win has touched off speculation about a resumption of a summit-driven diplomacy with Kim, which was described by critics as a “bromance.” But some experts say a quick return to 2018 is highly unlikely, as too much has changed about the regional security situation and broader geopolitics since then.
While the North Korean nuclear problem was relatively an independent issue during Trump’s first term, it is now connected with broader challenges created by Russia’s war on Ukraine and further complicated by weakened sanctions enforcement against Pyongyang, Hwang Ildo, a professor at South Korea’s National Diplomatic Academy, wrote in a study last week.
North Korea’s nuclear and missile program is now much more advanced, which would increase Kim’s perception of his bargaining powers. Kim’s efforts to boost North Korea’s presence in a united front against Washington could also gain strength if Trump spikes tariffs and rekindles a trade war with China, the North’s main ally and economic lifeline, Hwang said.
Amid the stalemate in larger nuclear negotiations with Washington, Kim has been dialing up pressure on South Korea, abandoning his country’s long-standing goal of inter-Korean reconciliation and verbally threatening to attack the South with nukes if provoked.
Kim has also engaged in psychological and electronic warfare against South Korea, such as flying thousands of balloons to drop trash in the South and disrupting GPS signals from border areas near the South’s biggest airport.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea again flew trash-laden balloons toward the South early Monday and issued a statement warning the North “not to test our military’s patience any further.” The North has launched about 7,000 balloons toward the South since May, causing property damage but so far no injuries. On at least two occasions, trash carried by North Korea’s balloons fell on Seoul’s presidential compound, raising concerns about the vulnerability of key sites.

Prime Minister says Georgia will not allow revolution in face of pro-EU protests

Prime Minister says Georgia will not allow revolution in face of pro-EU protests
Updated 30 November 2024
Reuters
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Prime Minister says Georgia will not allow revolution in face of pro-EU protests

Prime Minister says Georgia will not allow revolution in face of pro-EU protests
  • Kobakhidze’s Georgian Dream party said on Thursday that it was halting European Union accession talks for the next four years over what it called “blackmail” of Georgia by the bloc
  • The freezing of application talks has been met with widespread anger in the country
Updated 30 November 2024
Reuters

TBILISI: Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said on Saturday that the state would not allow a revolution to take place, after protests against his government’s sudden freezing this week of Georgia’s EU accession process.
Kobakhidze’s Georgian Dream party said on Thursday that it was halting European Union accession talks for the next four years over what it called “blackmail” of Georgia by the bloc, abruptly reversing a long-standing national goal.
EU membership is overwhelmingly popular in Georgia, with opinion polls consistently showing strong public support.
The freezing of application talks has been met with widespread anger in the country, which has the aim of EU membership written into its constitution.
The prime minister accused opponents of the halt to EU accession of plotting a revolution, along the lines of Ukraine’s 2014 Maidan protest, which ousted a pro-Russian president.
“In Georgia, the Maidan scenario cannot be realized. Georgia is a state, and the state will not, of course, permit this,” Kobakhidze was quoted as saying by Georgian media.
The country’s interior ministry said on Saturday that it had detained 107 people in the capital city of Tbilisi overnight during a protest which saw demonstrators build barricades along the central Rustaveli Avenue, and throw fireworks at riot police, who used water cannon and tear gas to disperse them.
Fresh protests are planned for Saturday night.
Hundreds of employees of Georgia’s foreign, defense, justice and education ministries, along with the country’s central bank have signed open letters condemning the decision to freeze talks.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, a star of Georgia’s national soccer team spoke out in favor of the protesters.
“My country hurts, my people hurt — it’s painful and emotional to watch the videos that are circulating, stop the violence and aggression! Georgia deserves Europe today more than ever!” Kvaratskhelia wrote on Facebook on Saturday.
The halt to EU accession caps months of deteriorating relations between Georgian Dream, which has faced allegations of authoritarian and pro-Russian tendencies, and the West.
The party is dominated by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire ex-prime minister who has taken increasingly anti-Western positions.
Georgian Dream won almost 54 percent of the vote in an October election that opposition parties say was falsified.
Both the ruling party and Georgia’s electoral commission say the poll was free and fair. Western countries have called for an investigation into violations.
The EU had already said Georgia’s application was stalled over laws against “foreign agents” and LGBT rights that it has described as draconian and pro-Russian.
Meanwhile, Georgian Dream has moved to build ties with neighboring Russia, from which Georgia gained independence in 1991.
The two countries have no diplomatic ties since a brief war over a Moscow-backed rebel region in 2008, but restored direct flights in 2023, while Moscow lifted visa restrictions on Georgian nationals earlier this year.

Topics: Georgia European Union

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Indigenous Australian lawmaker who heckled King Charles censured

Indigenous Australian lawmaker who heckled King Charles censured
Updated 30 November 2024
AFP
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Indigenous Australian lawmaker who heckled King Charles censured

Indigenous Australian lawmaker who heckled King Charles censured
  • Independent senator Lidia Thorpe’s censure carries no practical punishment but passed the Senate Monday with 46 votes in favor and 12 against
Updated 30 November 2024
AFP
SYDNEY: An Indigenous lawmaker was censured by Australia’s parliament Monday for heckling King Charles about the legacy of European settlement during his October visit to Canberra.
The censure carries no practical punishment but passed the Senate Monday with 46 votes in favor and 12 against.
During the king’s visit to parliament, independent senator Lidia Thorpe screamed: “This is not your land, you are not my king,” decrying what she said was a “genocide” of Indigenous Australians by European settlers.
She also turned her back on the king as dignitaries stood for the national anthem.
The censure motion condemned Thorpe’s actions as “disruptive and disrespectful.”
It also said the Senate no longer regarded it “appropriate” for Thorpe to be a member of any delegation “during the life of this parliament.”
A censure motion is a symbolic gesture when parliamentarians are dissatisfied with the behavior of one of their own.
Thorpe – sporting a gold chain with ‘Not My King’ around her neck – said she did not “give a damn” about the censure and would most likely use the document as “kindling” later in the week.
She told national broadcaster ABC she would “do it again” if the monarch returned.
“I will resist colonization in this country. I swear my allegiance to the real sovereigns of these lands: First Peoples are the real sovereigns,” she said.
Green Senator Mehreen Faruqi voted against Thorpe’s censure, saying the lawmaker was telling Australia’s history “the way she wants to.”
Thorpe is known for her attention-grabbing political stunts and fierce opposition to the monarchy.
When she was sworn into office in 2022, Thorpe raised her right fist as she begrudgingly swore to serve Queen Elizabeth II, who was then Australia’s head of state.
Australia was a British colony for more than 100 years, during which time thousands of Aboriginal Australians were killed and entire communities displaced.
The country gained de facto independence in 1901, but has never become a fully-fledged republic.
King Charles is the current head of state.
The issue of a republic reared its head during the king’s visit Down Under earlier this year, but the issue remains a political non-starter.
A recent poll showed about a third of Australians would like to ditch the monarchy, a third would keep it and a third are ambivalent.
In 1999, Australians narrowly voted against removing the queen, amid a row over whether her replacement would be chosen by members of parliament, not the public.
Topics: Australia King Charles

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Bangladesh prepares to send Hajj pilgrims by sea after 40 years

Bangladesh prepares to send Hajj pilgrims by sea after 40 years
Updated 30 November 2024
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Bangladesh prepares to send Hajj pilgrims by sea after 40 years

Bangladesh prepares to send Hajj pilgrims by sea after 40 years
  • Bangladesh has been struggling to meet its Hajj pilgrim quota due to high airfares
  • Travel by sea estimated to help decrease the cost of pilgrimage package by about $900
Updated 30 November 2024
SHEHAB SUMON

DHAKA: Bangladeshi authorities are preparing to resume sending Hajj pilgrims via the sea route, aiming to significantly reduce travel costs starting next year.

For the past few years, Bangladesh, one of the most populous Muslim-majority countries, has struggled to meet its Hajj quota, as fewer people have been able to afford the pilgrimage since international airfares surged after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The possibility of pilgrimage by sea was discussed during Bangladeshi Religious Affairs Adviser Khalid Hossain’s meeting with Saudi Hajj and Umrah Minister Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah in Jeddah last month.

Dhaka’s envoy to the Kingdom, Brig. Gen. S.M. Rakibullah, told Arab News on Thursday that the first session on the logistics was set to take place next week.

“We have received confirmation from (the) Saudi authority regarding the transportation of pilgrims by sea. A coordination meeting on this issue will be held in Jeddah on the 3rd of December,” he said.

Targeting to start sending pilgrims by sea already during next year’s Hajj season — which will take place between June 4 and June 9 — Bangladeshi authorities are planning to reduce the cost of pilgrimage packages.

The price of the current 2025 package is about $4,000.

“We will declare a new Hajj package for the pilgrims who are interested in taking the sea route,” Matiul Islam, additional secretary at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told Arab News.

“This new sea route will help us in fulfilling the Hajj quota ... Our assigned shipping company is working on sourcing the ship. If we get ship on time, there is no other problem at our end.”

Hajj travel by sea will take place for the first time in four decades.

“To the best of my knowledge, in 1984, Bangladeshi pilgrims traveled to the Kingdom by ship to perform the Hajj rituals for the last time,” Islam said.

Karnaphuli Ship Builders, the shipping company chosen by the Bangladeshi government to operate the route, expects that the new mode of transport will reduce the cost of the current pilgrimage package by more than 20 percent.

It plans to purchase a 32-story ship to carry pilgrims from the southern Bangladeshi port of Chottogram to Jeddah.

“The costs of the Hajj journey will be reduced by around $900,” said M.A. Rashid, the company’s managing director.

“We have already sourced a Caribbean cruise ... The ship will carry up to 3,000 pilgrims at a time. It will take eight days to reach from Chottogram Port to Jeddah.”

Last year, Saudi Arabia granted Bangladesh a quota of 127,000 pilgrims, but because of high inflation and the cost of flights to the Middle East, only 85,000 were able to embark on the spiritual journey that is one of the five pillars of Islam.

Topics: hajj Bangladesh

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