News in Brief(2023-08-10)

FE Team | Published: August 09, 2023 23:25:17

Sri Lankan president to boost provincial
govts to share power with Tamils
COLOMBO, Aug 09 (AP): Sri Lanka's president said Wednesday he will strengthen provincial governments to meet long-standing demands for self-rule from the ethnic Tamil minority, an issue that led to a bloody quarter-century civil war in the island nation. The provincial councils were introduced in Sri Lanka in 1987 after neighboring India intervened to resolve the ethnic conflict. But the system has not been fully functional because Tamil separatist rebels rejected the deal and successive governments usurped powers given to the provinces. President Ranil Wickremesinghe in a speech to Parliament said he will take steps to prevent confusion, overlap and intervention from the central government in provinces exercising their powers. —AP
Thai alliance expands effort to form govt
BANGKOK, Aug 09: Thailand's Pheu Thai party announced on Wednesday it had the support of six more parties in its attempt to form a government, still short of the required backing, as the country remained in political deadlock nearly three months after an election.Thailand has been under a caretaker government for 142 days and faces prolonged uncertainty after election winners Move Forward were blocked from forming a government by conservative legislators allied with the royalist military. Second-place Pheu Thai, a political heavyweight that was driven from power in coups in 2006 and 2014, withdrew its backing for Move Forward last week but faces an uphill battle to win support from a parliament.—Reuters
Biden will visit Vietnam 'shortly' to improve ties
WASHINGTON, Aug 09: US President Joe Biden said Tuesday he would travel to Vietnam "shortly" as part of an effort to improve ties with Hanoi, as Washington seeks to counter China's influence in the region. "I'm going to be going to Vietnam shortly because Vietnam wants to change our relationship and become a partner," Biden said during remarks in New Mexico. "We find ourselves in a situation where all these changes around the world are taking place at a time we have an opportunity ... to change the dynamic," he added. The United States and Vietnam have increasingly close trade links, while both share concern over China's growing strength in the region. —AFP
Heat warning as forest fires rage in Spain, Portugal
MADRID, Aug 09: Temperatures are expected to hit 44 degrees Centigrade (111 Fahrenheit) in Spain and Portugal on Wednesday as the two countries boil under their third heatwave of the summer. With huge forest fires raging across southern Portugal for the fifth successive day, Spain's weather service warned that the average temperature across the country could hit a 70-year record. "This will probably be the hottest five August days in 73 years," said AEMET, the state meteorological agency, with almost the whole country under red weather alerts. —AFP