A female nail art instructor states that on September 10, 2024, she had unprotected sex with the Indian man who is alleged to be a serial STD spreader.
BANGKOK — A Thai woman from Samut Prakan reported being deceived by an Indian man claiming to be a businessman, resulting in sexual relationships and disease transmission.
On September 24, Miss B, age 24, sought help from Mr. Ekapop Luangprasert, advisor to the Minister of Interior and founder of the “Survive – Sai Mai Tong Rot” page. She reported being deceived by an Indian man who claimed to be an Arab businessman looking for true love but instead transmitted a sexually transmitted disease to her.
She said she works as a nail art instructor. In August, an Indian man drove by her workplace. He returned, saying he wanted to get his nails done. She initially refused, saying she was fully booked, but he persisted until she agreed.
Miss B, age 24, discloses her story at a press conference with Mr. Ekapop Luangprasert. Mr. Ekapop, advisor to the Minister of Interior and founder of the “Survive – Sai Mai Tong Rod” page, hosted the event at the Sai Mai Tong Rod office in Bangkok on September 24, 2024.
He then asked for her number to stay in contact, frequently reaching out to ask about her personal information and inviting her out. She eventually agreed to talk and date him.
After about a month of talking, on September 11, the man invited her out for dinner. They went drinking at a hotel before having unprotected sex. Afterward, the man blocked all communication with her.
She eventually managed to contact the Indian man’s girlfriend and learned the truth: the Indian man had a history of deceiving both attractive women and LGBTQ men for sexual encounters.
This woman also said that there were already about 100 victims in the areas of Bearing, Samrong, Bang Na, Bangkok, and Samut Prakan province. Additionally, she was contacted by some women who were tricked into oral sex and contracted herpes or had mouth sores.
Miss B, age 24, receives information from the Indian man’s girlfriend alleging that he is a serial STD spreader.
Based on the information received, Miss B said that she believes the Indian man is deceiving people to find sexual partners and spread infections, though the specific type of infection is unclear.
Her current symptoms include itching and burning in the genital area, as well as difficulty urinating – similar symptoms to those experienced by the man’s girlfriend. However, she hasn’t yet had a blood test or seen a doctor officially.
Mr. Ekapop revealed that he will take the woman to see a doctor for a medical examination to check for infections. He also explained that consensual sexual relations are not legally punishable, which is why the woman had not yet filed a police report.
However, the Sai Mai Tong Rod page team arranged for Miss B to hold a press conference today because they wanted to quickly warn other women about such cases so that they would not fall victim. He advises other women who suspect they’ve been deceived by men with similar behavior to report to the “Sai Mai Tong Rot” page.
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A group of Chinese female tourists wearing ancient Chinese costumes (Hanfu) visit Wat Phra Sri Rattana Satsadaram, or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, in Bangkok, on July 18, 2024. (Khaosod Photo/Phinyo Panmeesri)
BANGKOK — The strengthening Thai baht is casting a shadow over Thailand’s tourism industry, potentially derailing the country’s economic recovery plans.
Ronnarong Cheewinsiriamnuay, President of the Thai-Chinese Tourism Alliance Association (TCTA), revealed on September 24 that the strengthening of the Thai baht is certainly affecting the tourism sector, especially the travel decision-making atmosphere.
Currently, many countries are promoting to attract foreign tourists to visit their own countries, making tourism highly competitive. Several countries with weakening currencies are becoming more attractive to tourists, such as Japan with its weakened yen.
When tourists plan their trips and find that the Thai baht has strengthened, resulting in higher exchange rates, it will inevitably affect the psychology of tourists, whether it’s us or them.
Chinese tourists pose for a group photo at Ancient Siam in Samut Prakan, Thailand, March 1, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)
“Comparing with the Chinese market visiting Thailand, currently Chinese tourists who come here don’t just travel, but they also love shopping because prices in Thailand are cheaper than in China, and many Thai products are popular. They enjoy coming to buy in Thailand themselves,” he said.
Before COVID-19, a survey found that Chinese tourists coming to shop in Thailand reached up to 60%. So now, Thailand should have Chinese tourists coming to Thailand for travel and shopping exceeding 60%, but it has not reached that number yet, even though Thai government has implemented a visa-free measure to facilitate travel.
Ronnarong said that after discussions among the private sector, it is believed that if Thailand continues to let the foreign tourist market grow naturally like this, it will be difficult to reach the government’s targets, especially in terms of revenue, which the Tourism Authority of Thailand has set at 3 trillion baht.
This aerial drone photo taken on May 4, 2024 shows people visiting an ancient village in Yixian County in Huangshan City, east China’s Anhui Province. (Photo by Shi Yalei/Xinhua)
This means the government needs to support opening up the country by increasing flights to Thailand, particularly for the Chinese market. They should support direct flights from secondary Chinese cities to Thailand, whether they are major cities or tourist destinations, because we still see high demand for travel to Thailand.
“This needs to be done quickly because October 1st is China’s National Day, an important holiday when Chinese people travel abroad. If we don’t support direct flights soon, we may miss out on these tourists.”
He added that currently, we’re seeing Thai people traveling to China at unprecedented levels because the mutual visa-free arrangement makes travel easier and more convenient. With the strong baht, it may encourage more people to travel abroad, including to Thailand, as they can exchange for more foreign currency than before.
For example, previously 1 yuan would cost 5 baht, but now it only costs 4.67 baht. If the currency strengthens further, it will become even cheaper. The concern is that if the baht remains strong for a long time, it will lead to more Thais planning trips abroad, as they can now accumulate foreign currency for future use, making it easier to travel anytime.
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on villages in the Nabatiyeh district, seen from the southern town of Marjayoun, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
MARJAYOUN, Lebanon (AP) — Israeli strikes on Monday killed more than 270 Lebanese in the deadliest barrage since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war as the Israeli military warned residents in southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate their homes ahead of a widening air campaign against Hezbollah.
Thousands of Lebanese fled the south, and the main highway out of the southern port city of Sidon was jammed with cars heading toward Beirut in the biggest exodus since the 2006 fighting. More than 1,000 other people were wounded in the strikes — a staggering one-day toll for a country still reeling from a deadly attack on communication devices last week.
The toll surpassed that of Beirut’s devastating port explosion in 2020, when hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse detonated, killing at least 218 people and wounding more than 6,000.
Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad told a news conference in Beirut that the strikes hit hospitals, medical centers and ambulances. The government ordered schools and universities to close across most of the country and began preparing shelters for people displaced from the south.
The Israeli military announced that it hit some 800 targets, saying it was going after Hezbollah weapons sites. Some strikes hit in residential areas of towns in the south and the eastern Bekaa Valley. One strike hit a wooded area as far away as Byblos in central Lebanon, more than 80 miles from the border north of Beirut.
Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, in northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
The military said it was expanding the airstrikes to include areas of the valley along Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria. Hezbollah has long had an established presence in the valley, and it is where the group was founded in 1982 with the help of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari repeated warnings urging residents to immediately evacuate areas where Hezbollah is storing weapons, including in the valley. The warnings left open the possibility that some residents could live in or near targeted structures without knowing that they are risk.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said in a statement that it fired dozens of rockets toward Israel, including at military bases. It also targeted for a second day the facilities of the Rafael defense firm, headquartered in Haifa.
As Israel carried out the attacks, Israeli authorities reported a series of air-raid sirens in northern Israel warning of incoming rocket fire from Lebanon.
The evacuation warnings were the first of their kind in nearly a year of steadily escalating conflict and came after a particularly heavy exchange of fire on Sunday. Hezbollah launched around 150 rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in retaliation for strikes that killed a top commander and dozens of fighters.
The increasing strikes and counterstrikes have raised fears of an all-out war, even as Israel is still battling Hamas in Gaza and trying to return scores of hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Hezbollah has vowed to continue its strikes in solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas, a fellow Iran-backed militant group. Israel says it is committed to returning calm to its northern border.
Associated Press journalists in southern Lebanon reported heavy airstrikes targeting many areas Monday morning, including some far from the border.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the strikes hit a forested area in the central province of Byblos, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) north of the Israeli-Lebanese border, for the first time since the exchanges began in October.
Israel also bombed targets in the northeastern Baalbek and Hermel regions, where a shepherd was killed and two family members were wounded, according to the news agency. It said a total of 30 people were wounded in strikes.
Cars sit in traffic as people flee the southern villages amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes, in Sidon, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
The Lebanese Health Ministry put the death toll at 274. It asked hospitals in southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley to postpone surgeries that could be done later. The ministry said in a statement that its request aimed to keep hospitals ready to deal with people wounded by “Israel’s expanding aggression on Lebanon.”
An Israeli military official said Israel is focused on aerial operations and has no immediate plans for a ground operation. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with regulations, said the strikes are aimed at curbing Hezbollah’s ability to launch more strikes into Israel.
Lebanese media reported that residents received text messages urging them to move away from any building where Hezbollah stores arms until further notice.
“If you are in a building housing weapons for Hezbollah, move away from the village until further notice,” the Arabic message reads, according to Lebanese media.
Lebanon’s information minister, Ziad Makary, said in a statement that his office in Beirut had received a recorded message telling people to leave the building.
“This comes in the framework of the psychological war implemented by the enemy,” Makary said, and urged people “not to give the matter more attention than it deserves.”
It was not immediately clear how many people would be affected by the Israeli orders. Communities on both sides of the border have largely emptied out because of the near-daily exchanges of fire.
Israel has accused Hezbollah of transforming entire communities in the south into militant bases, with hidden rocket launchers and other infrastructure. That could lead the Israeli military to wage an especially heavy bombing campaign, even if no ground forces move in.
The military said it had targeted more than 150 militant sites early Monday. Residents of different villages in southern Lebanon posted photos on social media of airstrikes and large plumes of smoke. The state-run National News Agency also reported airstrikes on different areas.
An Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb on Friday killed a top Hezbollah military commander and more than a dozen fighters, as well as dozens of civilians, including women and children.
Civil defense workers carry an elderly, fleeing the south, as he arrives at a school turned into a shelter in Beirut, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Last week, thousands of communications devices, used mainly by Hezbollah members, exploded in different parts of Lebanon, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000. Lebanon blamed Israel for the attacks, but Israel did not confirm or deny any responsibility.
Hezbollah began firing into Israel a day after the Oct. 7 attack in what it said was an attempt to pin down Israeli forces to help Palestinian fighters in Gaza. Israel has retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict has steadily intensified over the past year.
The fighting has killed hundreds of people in Lebanon, dozens in Israel and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border.
Israel has vowed to push Hezbollah back from the border so its citizens can return to their homes, saying it prefers to do so diplomatically but is willing to use force. Hezbollah has said it will keep up its attacks until there is a cease-fire in Gaza, but that appears increasingly elusive as the war nears its anniversary.
Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Some 100 captives are still held in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead, after most of the rest were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and fighters in its count. It says women and children make up a little over half of those killed. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Gumball 3000 Rally Marks 25th Anniversary with Charity-Focused Journey from “Saigon to Singapore”, Featuring a Special Stop at Monsoon Valley Vineyard
Hua Hin, Thailand — Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the iconic Gumball 3000 Rally embarks on an exhilarating 3,000 km journey through Southeast Asia, starting in Vietnam and concluding in Singapore during the F1 weekend.
From September 14 to 22, participants navigate a vibrant route through cities like Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Bangkok, Hua Hin, Krabi, and Kuala Lumpur, before reaching the grand finale at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands on September 21.
This spectacular route not only showcases the region’s stunning landscapes and cultures but also unites people from all nationalities on an incredible adventure—while raising funds to support youth-focused charity programs, providing greater opportunities for the next generation.
As part of this milestone event, the Gumball 3000 Rally made a special stop at Monsoon Valley Vineyard in Hua Hin, Thailand, on September 18th. Nestled in the hills of Hua Hin, Monsoon Valley is renowned for its award-winning wines and scenic landscapes. Participants enjoyed a taste of Thailand’s finest foods in the midst of a beautiful vineyard setting before continuing their journey to Krabi.
The rally boasts an incredible roster of participants, featuring sports legends, YouTubers, musicians, and global influencers. Notable drivers include US streamer IShowSpeed in a Lamborghini Huracan STO, football legend Patrice Evra in a Rolls Royce Cullinan, YouTubers Lazarbeam and Vikkstar, and US rappers Ja Rule and Bun B. A lineup of supercars from Bugatti to Koenigsegg will make their way across the region.
Maximillion Cooper, founder of Gumball 3000, expressed his excitement about the stop at Monsoon Valley Vineyard, “Monsoon Valley Vineyard is the perfect spot to pause and appreciate the beauty of Thailand. This vineyard is truly one of Southeast Asia’s hidden gems and is a destination that reflects the adventurous spirit of Gumball 3000.”
Beyond the supercars and celebrities, Gumball 3000 is also committed to giving back through the Gumball 3000 Foundation. The foundation supports global youth-focused programs, partnering with organizations like The Skatepark Project to create opportunities in sports, music, and education for underserved communities.
This year’s charitable initiatives include building a floating sports pitch in Kampong Kleang in Cambodia and donating skateboard equipment to local communities along the rally route. The foundation continues its mission to inspire and empower the next generation through creative and impactful projects.
For more information on the Gumball 3000 Rally and its 25th-anniversary celebrations, visit www.gumball3000.com
Sorawong Thienthong, Minister of Tourism and Sports
BANGKOK — Thai government aims to create a welfare system for freelancers or self-employed people such as tour guides, Grab drivers, content creators (YouTubers, TikTokers), and sex workers (those working in the sex trade).
Sorawong Thienthong, Minister of Tourism and Sports, announced on Monday that the government is holding talks with the relevant authorities on the welfare of Thai citizens for this plan.
This initiative will ensure that freelancers are provided for by the state, including healthcare rights and other protections similar to those of the social security system. However, once they join the system, they will have to pay taxes accordingly.
As far as social benefits for freelancers are concerned, initial discussions have taken place with the SWING foundation, particularly with regard to sex workers. In these discussions, the group emphasized that they do not want sex work to become a legal profession or for their identity and profession to be registered in the system.
Pattaya
They do not seek legal recognition, but only want legal protection in cases where clients refuse to pay for their services or when they are exposed to physical harm, so that they can claim their rights before the law. This is in line with the Pheu Thai Party’s policy of extending welfare to all freelance professions.
As far as tour guides are concerned, discussions have been held with the Professional Guide Association of Thailand, which has expressed the desire for the government to support the profession.
They said that tour guides make an important contribution to the tourism industry and the private sector has proposed that the government include tour guides in the social security system. A draft bill to this effect has already been submitted to the Pheu Thai Party.
A group of Thai tour guides talks to the Minister of Tourism and Sports, Mr. Sorrawong Thienthong, on September 16, 2024.
The progress of this popular bill, which aims to become government legislation, will be reviewed before it is submitted to Parliament. Ideally, the draft would be ready for the next parliamentary session, which is expected between December 2024 and February 2025.
As for the details of the Pheu Thai Party-led government’s draft bill to include freelancers in the social security system, discussions are underway to finalize various relevant aspects, including the name of the bill. Once freelancers are included in the system, they will also have to pay taxes properly.
Earlier, on September 16, Sorawong held a meeting with the private sector to explain their problems and obstacles. At the meeting, Wasanpol Attaponthanaset, president of the Professional Guide Association of Thailand, suggested that the government should take care of the welfare of tour guides.
He pointed out that the profession has never received attention from the government and urged for the enforcement of laws, as the profession of tour guiding is reserved for Thai nationals and requires examinations and training. Currently, there is an increasing number of illegal tour guides and foreign tour guides and the government needs to take action to tackle this.
Lydia Ko, center, of New Zealand, waves to a cheering crowd as she walks to the 18th hole, followed by Yan Liu, second from left, China, and Jeeno Thitikul, front right, of Thailand, during the final round of the LPGA Kroger Queen City Championship golf tournament at TPC River's Bend in Maineville, Ohio, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
MAINEVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Lydia Ko extended her amazing summer run when she turned a two-shot deficit into a rout by closing with a 9-under 63 to win the Kroger Queen City Championship for her third LPGA Tour title of the season.
Ko won for the third time in her last four starts, which includes her Olympic gold medal that gave the 27-year-old from New Zealand enough points for the LPGA Hall of Fame.
It also includes another major in the Women’s British Open, this one at St. Andrews.
“It’s been pretty surreal,” Ko said after her five-shot victory at the TPC River’s Bend over Jeeno Thitikul, who closed with a 70 and simply couldn’t keep up.
Thitikul was two shots ahead after eight holes of the final round. Three holes later, the Thai was chasing the hottest player in women’s golf.
Thitikul made bogey on the par-4 ninth. Ko made a 10-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole to tie for the lead, and then pulled ahead by two shots with a 12-foot eagle putt on the par-5 11th.
Jeeno Thitikul, of Thailand, hits out of a bunker on the 17th hole during the final round of the LPGA Kroger Queen City Championship golf tournament at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)Jeeno Thitikul, of Thailand, reacts to her putt second hole during the final round of the LPGA Kroger Queen City Championship golf tournament at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Ko seized control for good with a pair of two-shot swings — she made birdie and Thitikul made bogey on the 13th and 15th holes.
Thitikul two-putted for birdie on the par-5 closing hole to at least finish alone in second, one shot ahead of Haeran Ryu (67).
“It’s just like insane — it’s super insane. Her putter was on fire today,” Thitikul said of playing alongside Ko. “I respect her as like my older sister, as a legend, and also as my role model. It was such a really good experience watching her in my eyes on the same tee box, on the same greens, just like VIP seat.”
Nelly Korda, the No. 1 player in women’s golf who still has a comfortable lead in the Race to CME Globe with her six victories this year, had a 68 and tied for fifth, nine shots behind.
Ko, who finished at 23-under 265, now has 22 career LPGA victories. It was the fifth time she has at least three wins in the same season on the LPGA, her biggest year coming with five wins when she was 18 and reached No. 1 in the world.
Ko also won the season opener in Florida in January, but there were times early in the summer when she wondered if she would ever get the final victory needed for the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Lydia Ko of New Zealand plays her shot from the fifth tee during the final round of the LPGA Kroger Queen City Championship golf tournament at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)Lydia Ko, of New Zealand, poses for photos with the trophy and a golf ball after winning the LPGA Kroger Queen City Championship golf tournament at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
She took care of that with Olympic gold in Paris, won at St. Andrews for her third major and, after a three-week break, picked up as though nothing had changed.
“I had the most unbelievable three weeks in Europe. And now after having another three weeks off here, not entirely sure what it’s going to be like,” Ko said.
She was two shots behind Thitikul going into the final round and was expecting Thitikul to keep going strong. The Thai did, but she fell back with bogeys on the ninth, 13th and 15th holes and Ko was on her way to another victory.
Ko had the low round of the week at the TPC River’s Bend, which was used this year while Kenwood Country Club goes through some course improvements.
“To have a round like this to cap off a win is pretty special,” she said.
Ko next week heads to South Korea to play in the Hana Financial Group Championship. It will be a chance for her to reach 30 career titles worldwide, including victories on the Korea LPGA, the Ladies European Tour and the ALPG Tour in Australia.
A video showing a foreign man speaking English and a female interpreter translating into Thai, instructing students to perform gestures similar to mental therapy exercises and praising Jesus.
ANG THONG — With good intentions to help Buddhist novices learn English, a temple in Ang Thong Province invited foreigners to teach. However, it ended up inviting an Evangelist to spread Christianity in the temple instead.
On September 23, Phra Maha Tonod Kantapho, the district ecclesiastical chief of Pho Thong District, Ang Thong Province, addressed the case of a post criticizing a temple in Pho Thong District for bringing in foreign instructors to teach English to novices in the general education section of the Phrapariyattidham School. It turned out to be propagating teachings of another religion.
Phra Maha Tonod said this is a lesson for the temple and will serve as an example for other temples to be more careful.
A Facebook page called “Big Grian” shared a video showing a foreign man speaking English and a female interpreter translating into Thai, instructing students to perform gestures similar to mental therapy exercises and praising Jesus. The poster questioned whether this was appropriate and how the Office of Buddhism, Ministry of Education, and police would respond.
“The incident arose from well-meaning monks who didn’t fully understand the situation. It was like an English camp to help novices and students improve their language skills, but they didn’t expect this to happen. We consider this a lesson for the first time. The district has sent a letter to the ecclesiastical authorities and the Ang Thong Provincial Office of Buddhism, apologized for the oversight, and considers this a lesson for other educational institutions in case someone comes to request teaching. The temple has promised to rectify the situation,” said Phra Maha Tonod.
The venue for the training session at Wat Tha Klong, where foreigners came to propagate another religion
Phra Palad Sarawut Thanawaro, assistant abbot of Wat Tha Klong, revealed that initially, the temple was contacted by foreigners offering to teach languages. The temple agreed, thinking it would be beneficial for novices and students to learn from native speakers.
However, they didn’t expect these foreigners to secretly introduce teachings from another religion, having novices and students practice along. Some novices and students who couldn’t fully understand the language just followed along. In the future, the temple will have to consider and inquire more thoroughly before allowing such events to happen again. They have reported the incident to senior monks and relevant agencies.
A novice named Kai recounted that the group came to teach in the classroom with foreigners and interpreters. They called novices to ask questions and had them recite praises while following the foreigners’ instructions. Many novices and students who didn’t understand the language just followed along. Afterwards, books related to teachings of a particular religion were distributed to novices and students.
They were told that if anyone wanted autographs, they could bring the books to the foreign teachers to sign. After the temple became aware of the situation, they requested that the teaching be stopped.
The religious instructor in question writes in Burmese and English. He has a page promoting his religious outreach activities at various schools in Thailand. He identifies himself as an Evangelist, Revivalist, Musician, and Digital creator.
Leader and the presidential candidate of National People's Power Anura Kumara Dissanayake arrives at a polling station to cast his vote in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Marxist lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake won Sri Lanka’s presidential election, the Election Commission announced Sunday, after voters rejected the old political guard that has been widely accused of pushing the South Asian nation toward economic ruin.
Dissanayake, whose pro-working class and anti-political elite campaigning made him popular among youth, secured victory over opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and incumbent liberal President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took over the country two years ago after its economy hit bottom.
Dissanayake received 5,740,179 votes, followed by Premadasa with 4,530,902, Election Commission data showed.
“This achievement is not the result of any single person’s work, but the collective effort of hundreds of thousands of you. Your commitment has brought us this far, and for that, I am deeply grateful. This victory belongs to all of us,” Dissanayake said in a post on X.
Marxist lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake waves as he arrives at the election commission office after winning Sri Lankan presidential election, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardane)
The election was a virtual referendum on Wickremesinghe’s leadership of a fragile recovery, including restructuring Sri Lanka’s debt under an International Monetary Fund bailout program after it defaulted in 2022.
Dissanayake, 55, had said he would renegotiate the IMF deal to make austerity measures more bearable. Wickremesinghe had warned that any move to alter the basics of the agreement could delay the release of a fourth tranche of nearly $3 billion that is crucial to maintaining stability.
Neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote. Under the Sri Lankan election system that allows voters to select three candidates in the order of their preference, the top two are retained and the ballots of the eliminated candidates are checked for preferences given to either of the top two vote-getters. The one with the highest number of votes is declared the winner.
It was a strong showing for Dissanayake, who won just over 3% of votes in a previous presidential election in 2019, and suggests voters are fatigued with the old guard.
Sri Lankan opposition leader Sajith Premadasa waves as he arrives at the election commission office, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardane)
Dissanayake’s National People’s Power coalition is led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, or People’s Liberation Front, a Marxist party that waged two unsuccessful armed insurrections in 1970s and 1980s to capture power through socialist revolution. After its defeat, the JVP entered democratic politics in 1994 and mostly played a key role in the opposition. However, they have supported several presidents and been part of governments briefly.
The NPP grouping also includes academics, civil society movements, artists, lawyers and students.
Dissanayake was first elected to Parliament in 2000 and briefly held the portfolio of agriculture and irrigation minister under then-President Chandrika Kumaratunga. He ran for president for the first time in 2019 and lost to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was ousted in a public protest over the economic crisis two years later.
Political analyst Jehan Perera said Dissanayake represented the spirit of the 2022 uprising during which angry Sri Lankans ousted Rajapaksa and called for a “system change” and “new faces in politics.”
Dissanayake’s immediate challenge would be to steady the economy “in the face of anxieties felt by business and financial groups about his Marxist and revolutionary background,” Perera said.
Wickremesinghe’s Foreign Minister Ali Sabry congratulated Dissanayake and said he hopes he will “lead with a commitment to transparency, integrity, and the long-term good of the country.”
The government announced Thursday that it passed the final hurdle in debt restructuring by reaching an agreement in principle with private bond holders. At the time of its default, Sri Lanka’s local and foreign debt totaled $83 billion. The government says it has now restructured more than $17 billion.
A police officer sits next to a sealed ballot box as polling officials prepare to return it to a counting center at the end of voting during presidential election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Despite a significant improvement in key economic figures, Sri Lankans are struggling with high taxes and living costs.
Sri Lanka’s economic crisis resulted largely from excessive borrowing on projects that did not generate revenue. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s insistence on using scarce foreign reserves to prop up the currency, the rupee, contributed to the economy’s free fall.
The economic collapse brought a severe shortage of essentials such as medicine, food, cooking gas and fuel, with people spending days waiting in line to obtain them. It led to rioting in which protesters took over key buildings including the president’s house, his office and the prime minister’s office, forcing Rajapaksa to flee the country and resign.
The outgoing President Wickremesinghe was elected by a parliamentary vote in July 2022 to cover the remainder of Rajapaksa’s five-year term.
Israeli security and rescue forces work at the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gil Nechushtan)
NAHARIYA, Israel (AP) — Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets early Sunday across a wider and deeper area of northern Israel, with some landing near the city of Haifa, as Israel launched hundreds of strikes on Lebanon. The sides appeared to be spiraling toward all-out war following months of escalating tensions.
The rocket barrage overnight set off air raid sirens across northern Israel, sending thousands of people scrambling into shelters. The Israeli military said that rockets had been fired “toward civilian areas,” pointing to a possible escalation after previous barrages had mainly been aimed at military targets.
One rocket struck near a residential building in Kiryat Bialik, a community near Haifa, wounding at least three people and setting buildings and cars on fire. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said that a total of four people were wounded by shrapnel in the barrage.
Avi Vazana raced to a shelter with his wife and 9-month-old baby before he heard the boom of the rocket hitting in Kiryat Bialik. Then he went back outside to see if anyone was hurt.
“I ran without shoes, without a shirt, only with pants. I ran to this house when everything was still on fire to try to find if there are other people,” he said.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that two people were killed and another was wounded in Israeli strikes near the border, without elaborating.
Israeli security forces examine the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
The barrage came after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday killed at least 45 people, including one of Hezbollah’s top leaders as well as women and children. Hezbollah was already reeling from a sophisticated attack that caused thousands of personal devices to explode just days earlier.
The Israeli military said that it carried out a wave of strikes across southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours, hitting about 400 militant sites, including rocket launchers. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said those strikes had thwarted an even larger attack.
“Hundreds of thousands of civilians have come under fire across a lot of northern Isreal. They spent the night and now the morning in bomb shelters,” he said. “Today we saw fire that was deeper into Israel than before.”
The military also said it had intercepted multiple aerial devices fired from the direction of Iraq, after Iran-backed militant groups there claimed to have launched a drone attack on Israel.
Israel’s Health Ministry said that all hospitals in the north would begin moving operations to protected areas or shelters within the medical centers.
In a separate development, Israeli forces raided the West Bank bureau of Al-Jazeera, which it had banned earlier this year, accusing it of serving as a mouthpiece for militant groups, allegations denied by the pan-Arab broadcaster.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire since the outbreak of the war in Gaza nearly a year ago, when the militant group began firing rockets in solidarity with the Palestinians and its fellow Iran-backed ally Hamas. The low-level fighting has killed dozens of people in Israel, hundreds in Lebanon, and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the frontier.
Until recently, neither side was believed to be seeking an all-out war, and Hezbollah has so far stopped short of targeting Tel Aviv or major civilian infrastructure. But in recent weeks, Israel has shifted its focus from Gaza to Lebanon and vowed to bring back calm to the border so that its citizens can return to their homes. Hezbollah has said that it would only halt its attacks if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which appears increasingly elusive.
The war in Gaza began with Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people and took around 250 others hostage. They are still holding around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead. Over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It doesn’t say how many were fighters, but says women and children make up more than half of the dead.
Families of the hostages have raised fears that a war in the north would distract from their plight and further complicate the negotiations over their release.
The U.N. envoy for Lebanon called on all parties to pull back.
“With the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer,” Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said in an X post.
Israeli media reported that rockets fired from Lebanon early Sunday were intercepted in the areas of Haifa and Nazareth, which are further south than most of the rocket fire to date. Israel canceled school across the north, deepening the sense of crisis.
Hezbollah said that it had launched dozens of Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 missiles — a new type of weapon the group hadn’t used before — at the Ramat David airbase, southeast of Haifa, “in response to the repeated Israeli attacks that targeted various Lebanese regions and led to the fall of many civilian martyrs.”
Israeli security forces work at a house hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo//Ariel Schalit)
In July, the group released a video with what it said was footage it had filmed of the base with surveillance drones.
Hezbollah also said it had targeted the facilities of the Rafael defense firm, which is headquartered in Haifa, calling it retaliation for the wireless devices attack. It didn’t provide evidence, and the Israeli military declined to comment on the statement.
Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel for a wave of explosions that hit pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least 37 people — including two children — and wounding around 3,000. The attacks were widely blamed on Israel, which hasn’t confirmed or denied responsibility.
On Friday, an Israeli airstrike took down an eight-story building in a densely populated neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs as Hezbollah members were meeting in the basement, according to Israel. Among those killed was Ibrahim Akil, a top Hezbollah official who commanded the group’s special forces unit, known as the Radwan Force.
Lebanese authorities say at least seven women and three children were killed in Friday’s airstrike and that dozens more were wounded. It was the deadliest strike on Beirut since the monthlong war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that the attack broke up the group’s chain of command while taking out Akil, who he said was responsible for Israeli deaths.
Akil had been on the U.S. most wanted list for years, with a $7 million reward, over his alleged role in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and the taking of American and German hostages in Lebanon during the civil war in the 1980s.
