Black Immigrant Daily News

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced Thursday it has reached a preliminary agreement to provide Sri Lanka with $2.9 billion over four years to help it recover from its worst economic crisis.

The arrangement will help restore financial and macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability as well as enable the country’s growth potential, an IMF team visiting Sri Lanka said in a statement.

The package is contingent on approval from the IMF management and executive board, as well as on receiving assurances from Sri Lanka’s creditors, which include China, India and Japan, that debt sustainability will be restored.

Speaking to reporters in Colombo, the IMF’s Peter Breuer said that since Sri Lanka’s debt is currently unsustainable, the lender will need to see an engagement between the country and its creditors before it can commit resources. “If creditors are not willing to provide these assurances, that will deepen the crisis in Sri Lanka and would undermine its repayment capacity,” he said.

He said a collaboration between the creditors and Sri Lanka will help the nation emerge from the crisis faster, and suggested holding a forum between the two sides on restructuring its debts.

Sri Lanka is in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis with acute months-long shortages of essentials such as fuel, medicine and cooking gas due to a severe shortage of foreign currency. Though cooking gas supplies were restored through World Bank support, shortages of fuel, critical medicines and some food items continue.

The island nation has suspended repayment of nearly $7 billion in foreign debt due this year. The country’s total foreign debt amounts to more than $51 billion, of which $28 billion has to be repaid by 2028.

Sri Lanka’s economy is expected to shrink by 8.7 per cent in 2022 with inflation rising above 60%, the IMF said, adding that the impact is greatest on the poor and vulnerable.

The lender said its package will focus on stabilizing the economy, protecting the livelihoods of citizens and helping spur growth. Key elements include major tax and energy pricing reforms, raising social spending, replenishing foreign exchange reserves and introducing a stronger anti-corruption legal framework.

On Tuesday, Sri Lanka’s president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, said talks with the IMF had successfully reached final stages as he presented an interim budget aimed at obtaining a rescue package. Measures outlined included raising some taxes, slashing capital expenditures, taming inflation and bolstering relief programmes.

Wickremesinghe delivered his first budget proposal after being elected by Parliament in July to fill the rest of the five-year term of ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country in July and resigned after protesters who blame him and his family for the crisis stormed his official residence.

Wickremesinghe said the United Nations and other international organizations have launched a program to ensure food security. Schools have reopened and universities have resumed classes after long closures, he said. However, long fuel lines have reappeared after a quota system seemed to have brought them under control over the past weeks.

In his budget speech, Wickremesinghe said his administration’s fiscal program will strive to increase government revenue to around 15 per cent of GDP by 2025, cut public sector debt, control inflation and increase the value-added tax to 15 per cent from the current 12 per cent.

The new budget came amid a relative calm following months of public protests that ousted the once-powerful Rajapaksa political dynasty. Sri Lanka’s crisis was made worse by global factors such as the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but many have accused the Rajapaksas of severe economic mismanagement and corruption that pushed the country into bankruptcy.

Rajapaksa is now in Thailand. Leaders of his political party say he is expected to return from exile early in September and have asked Wickremesinghe to provide him with security and facilities to which a former president is legally entitled.

Since becoming president, Wickremesinghe has cracked down on protesters and dismantled their main camp outside the president’s office. The use of a harsh anti-terror law to detain a protest leader led to the United States and European Union raising human rights concerns.

By Bharatha Malawarchi

AP journalists Krishan Francis in Colombo and Krutika Pathi in New Delhi contributed to this report.

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Dale Baxter –

Independence Day celebrations on Wednesday for the Baxter family of Balmain, Couva, became funeral plans after a member was gunned down.

Dale Baxter, 52, died at the Couva Health Centre at around 9.30 pm on Tuesday.

The father of one was employed with the National Energy Corporation.

His sister Delia Baxter-Parpit said the family preplanned a barbeque lime for Wednesday, and Baxter was in charge of organising the drinks.

The get-together was supposed to have fun activities like the electric dance. Instead, people gathered and offered condolences to the family on Wednesday.

She said the close-knit family saw and spoke to each other regularly.

Baxter’s house and his deceased parents’ home were decked in red, white and black decorations to commemorate the holiday.

Delia Baxter-Parpit –

From what relatives were told, Baxter went to a friend’s home at Capildeo Block, Couva. He usually visited the house to play cards and lime with friends.

Baxter was standing next to his van and a car drove past him.

The car turned around and headed out of the road after 9 pm when residents heard gunshots. The car then drove away.

Baxter was hit at the back of his head and fell into a nearby drain. He was put into the back of his van and taken to the health facility.

No one else was injured.

Baxter-Parpit said Baxter did not get a chance to use his licensed gun.

She added, “We are on a family WhatsApp group. He always shared safety videos and messages. We always spend time together, and everyone is living close by.”

Another relative said Baxter was loved by his family, friends, coworkers, neighbours, and anyone who knew him.

A friend added, “He was the life of the party.”

He was the only son of his late parents.

His father was justice of the peace, Desmond Baxter, who died in 2016. Desmond was a well-known elder in the community

Homicide Bureau Region III police are continuing investigations.

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Gary Griffith. File photo/Sureash Cholai

FORMER commissioner of police Gary Griffith has instructed his attorney Larry Lalla to apply for judicial review before the High Court to have a report on the conduct of the police’s Firearm Department struck down and declared null and void and of no effect. The audit, meant to examine the way the department issues firearms users licences (FULs), was done by retired police officers ACP Wellington Virgil, ACP Raymond Craig and Inspector Lennard Charles.

The Prime Minister, at a PNM public meeting, promised to lay parts of the audit report in Parliament.

In a ten-page letter to Dr Rowley on Monday, Griffith, through his attorney, cautioned the Prime Minister to hold his hand on laying the report or any part of it in Parliament or publishing it, pending the determination of the court application for judicial review.

Rowley has until September 4 to respond to the letter before Griffith’s attorney seeks an injunction against the Prime Minister.

Griffith’s lawyer raised concern over the provenance and basis of the appointment of the committee appointed, the basis on which the committee was selected and the time frame to have the investigation done and the procedure used to carry out the investigation.

At a PNM public meeting on August 23, Rowley said he regretted appointing Griffith as commissioner in 2018. He said it was his biggest mistake.

Rowley went on to talk about the report saying it was disturbing and troublesome but he had no intention of publicising its contents.

But, on Monday, Lalla said, “What is clearly disturbing and troublesome is: at no time during the conduct of its investigative exercise and compilation of the report did the members of the audit committee act fairly and observe the principals of natural justice.

“Any move to lay the report would disregard the constitutional rights of Griffith to approach the court to question the legality of the audit report which forms a cornerstone of our democracy.”

Lalla said the integrity of the report had been seriously compromised owing to Rowley’s prior public criticism of Griffith. Lalla also claimed the report had been leaked to the media.

The 17-page report, however, is expected to be laid in Parliament.

But Lalla said such a move will open the government to serious litigation and so the report must be removed.

Lalla also wrote to the Police Service Commission asking for Griffith to be allowed to see and respond to the contents of the report if a copy is sent to the commission.

In a text message on Tuesday, Griffith said, “PM Rowley should be the first to understand natural justice and give fair opportunity to be heard. Failure to do so makes him the ultimate hypocrite. This is exactly what he used, and rightly so, in the Landate matter when allegations were hurled at him and forwarded but under natural justice, he was not given the opportunity to be heard and the matter was thrown out.

“So to now have selectively hand-picked non-law enforcement personnel to investigate matters during a period when I was in command, and these individuals refused to communicate with me in any way, is identical to his rightful justification to rubbish the Landate report. Do so ent like so.”

Griffith was referring to allegations made against Rowley in 2004 in relation to the behaviour of contracting firm NH International (Caribbean) Ltd (NHIC) as it simultaneously carried out works on government’s Scarborough Hospital Development project and the Landate housing project owned by Rowley’s wife, Sharon Rowley. Dr Rowley, a government minister at the time, was accused of instructing NHIC to corruptly remove material from the hospital project site and use it to complete his wife’s housing project.

The allegations were investigated by the Integrity Commission in 2004 but the commission completed its investigation without properly informing Rowley of it or requesting his input. The commission went on to produce a report that was then forwarded to the then director of public prosecutions in 2006.

Rowley challenged the actions of the Integrity Commission in court in 2007.

In 2009, the High Court ruled that the commission’s decision to conduct and complete the Landate probe without properly informing Rowley or giving him an opportunity to defend himself against the allegations was in contravention of the Integrity in Public Life Act that governs its operation. The commission’s report, as a result, was deemed illegal and thrown out. Rowley was awarded $100,000 and legal costs as compensation.

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Un oficial mató a tiros la madrugada del martes a un joven afroamericano desarmado que se encontraba tendido en la cama en un apartamento, donde la Policía de Columbus (Ohio, EE.UU.) cumplía una orden judicial.  

En un video policial grabado con cámaras corporales se puede ver que, tras esposar a dos hombres que salieron de la vivienda, un perro policía alerta que en el lugar se encuentra otra persona.

Uno de los policías prosigue a abrir la puerta del cuarto y dispara al joven, quien se ve iluminado por la luz de la pistola de otro agente. Tras el disparo, el joven cae boca abajo sobre la cama mientras un oficial grita repetidamente “¡manos!”, antes de exigir a la víctima que “se arrastre” hasta la puerta. 

Luego de entrar al cuarto, uno de los agentes esposa al joven mientras otro oficial le exige que “deje de resistirse”. Posteriormente, varios policías sacan a la víctima del apartamento y le prestan primeros auxilios antes de ser trasladado a un hospital, donde murió menos de una hora después.

Yesterday on 8/30/21 Columbus Ohio police fatally shot Donovan Lewis. Who is only 20 years old, during a search warrant. He was fatally shot while holding a Vape Pen that police said was a gun. pic.twitter.com/DUQYSecKXx

— TheFamily’sSoup TV (@FamilysSoupTV) August 31, 2022

Los agentes cumplían con una orden de arresto por un delito grave de violencia doméstica, agresión y manejo inadecuado de arma de fuego, explicó la Policía sin precisar para quién era la orden.

La jefa de la Policía de Columbus, Elaine Bryant, declaró que el oficial Ricky Anderson, quien está de licencia pendiente de investigación, disparó su arma cuando la víctima, identificada como Donovan Lewis, de 20 años, pareció levantar una mano sosteniendo “algo”. No se halló ningún arma, y el objeto sospechoso aparentemente era un vaporizador que se “encontró en la cama, justo al lado” del joven, informa The Columbus Dispatch.

“Donovan Lewis perdió su vida. Como madre, me solidarizo, y me apeno con su madre”, lamentó Bryant, asegurando que la investigación se llevará a cabo “de forma exhaustiva”. “Es una indagación externa para garantizar la ausencia de prejuicios”, agregó.

This is 20year old #DonovanLewis. He was murdered by police in Columbus, Ohio within one second of his bedroom door opening. He was unarmed and it was 2AM. The media and city has been quiet. #SayHisName pic.twitter.com/pMp8roINQS

— Erick Bellomy (@erickbellomy) August 31, 2022

Por su parte, el abogado de la familia Lewis, Rex Elliott, tachó de “imprudente” el comportamiento de Anderson y se comprometió a “conseguir justicia” para el joven, recoge NBC 4. “Literalmente, en un abrir y cerrar de ojos, un oficial de policía de Columbus disparó y mató a Donovan Lewis, un joven negro desarmado que estaba solo en su cama en medio de la noche”, expresó. “Como resultado de este comportamiento totalmente imprudente […] una familia se ve obligada a llorar la pérdida de un alma tan joven”, aseveró.

Noticia original de RT en Español.

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