The Daily Brief – 22nd April 2019

Malaysia has resumed a China-backed rail link project, after the Chinese contractor agreed to cut the construction cost by one third to 10.6 billion US dollars. It will also take up a multibillion-dollar property and transportation project in Kuala Lumpur involving a Chinese state company, calling it a contribution to China’s global “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative. The two projects are expected to boost Malaysia’s ties with China and add economic value.

The Central Board of Secondary Education has decided to allow students to use magnifying glasses and portable video magnifiers during the Class X final examination, from 2020. Alternative-type questions will be provided in lieu of questions having visual inputs for visually impaired candidates in social science. The schools have also been directed not to deny admission to children with special needs in mainstream education.

In Sri Lanka, at least 207 people were killed and more than 400 injured in a series of bomb blasts targeting churches and five-star hotels during Easter services on 21 April. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremsinghe held an emergency meeting to review the situation and requested general public to remain calm and united. This is the biggest such attack in Sri Lanka since the war against LTTE ended in 2009.

Ukraine elected a comedian with no political experience and few detailed policies as the next president of a country at war. The apparent landslide victory of Volodymyr Zelenskiy, 41, is a bitter blow for incumbent Petro Poroshenko who tried to rally Ukrainians around the flag by casting himself as a bulwark against Russian aggression and a champion of Ukrainian identity. Now it is important to see how he might try to end the war against pro-Russian separatists that has killed some 13,000 people.

The United States Department of Justice has released the special counsel Robert Mueller’s report titled “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election”. The Report says that it was unable to clear US President Donald Trump in the matter, stating that the President’s action and intent “present difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred”.

A Konkani translation of the Indian Constitution done by Professor Stephen Quadros Permude was released by the Mangaluru Bishop Peter Paul Saldanha at the Rosario Cathedral in Mangaluru on April 20. Its time to understand the Constitution, respect it, and strive to strengthen its provisions by designating the duty of its protection to the right people.