Senior General Min Aung Hlaing stressed that the university’s objective is to equip agricultural producers with the knowledge and skills in food production technologies that are beneficial to them, the nation, and the environment, ensuring sustainable practices. Chairman of the State Administration Council Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing attended the ceremony to inaugurate the centennial hall of Yezin University of Agriculture in conjunction with the centennial celebration at the university yesterday morning. Council Joint Secretary General Ye Win Oo, Union Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation U Min Naung and Union Minister for Education Dr Nyunt Pe cut the ribbon to mark the 100th anniversary of Yezin University of Agriculture. The Senior General unveiled the stone plaque and signboard of the centennial ceremony. The Senior General and party visited the centennial multipurpose hall. Along the route to the convocation hall where the centennial celebration of the university would be held, students and ethnic people welcomed the Senior General and attendees. The Senior General and party watched a documentary video clip on the history of the university. Speaking on the occasion, the Senor General said that it is necessary to widely disseminate practical and scientifically-based agricultural knowledge that will bring about effective results to rural farmers, and turn out agricultural graduates, as well as mid-level agricultural technicians and basic-level skilled agricultural workers. Currently, the government is implementing the three main processes of ‘education, research, and technology dissemination’. In carrying out these processes, he underlined that priority should be given to ensuring that the benefits of these efforts are effectively supported for rural communities, who rely most on agriculture for their livelihoods. Therefore, in addition to the previous agricultural institutes that awarded agricultural diplomas, as of the 2023-2024 academic year, 85 high schools across the country have also been opened to offer agricultural subjects. Furthermore, he said that it is gratifying to learn that the universities are working hard to identify and train outstanding individuals from these agricultural institutes and high schools, to develop them into agricultural professionals. The university’s objective is to equip agricultural producers with the knowledge and skills in food production technologies that are beneficial to them, the nation, and the environment, ensuring sustainable practices. Moreover, the university aims to help individuals understand the strengths and weaknesses of the nation’s agricultural and human resource foundations, so that experts can effectively apply their expertise to improve and address any shortcomings. The total area of crops in the country, which is 33 million acres, is being prioritized for important crops to ensure domestic food security, expand exports, and increase the production capacity to substitute imports. Efforts are being made to achieve the target output rate. Over the course of a century, the university has produced a significant number of highly skilled and knowledgeable individuals who are trusted by the nation. These include 13,197 graduates with a degree in agricultural science, 673 with a master’s degree, 85 with a doctoral degree, 70 with postgraduate diplomas, and 11 with M Phil degree. Due to the ability to produce such graduates, the country has benefited greatly from their contributions. The Senior General presented an award for production of Yezin Super Rice (YSR-1) to the Director General of the Agricultural Research Department. The Union minister explained the centennial celebration of the university and presented a commemorative gift to the Senior General. The Senior General and party enjoyed song and dance entertainment of students from the university and presented a flower basket to them. He cordially greeted retired rectors, pro-rectors of the university. After the ceremony, the Senior General visited the exhibition to mark the centennial celebration of the university.—MNA/TTA
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's current governor and his successor tacked on another lawsuit Monday disputing a key provision within a GOP law that erodes the powers of several incoming Democratic state leaders — the latest in a longstanding power struggle between North Carolina's executive and legislative branches over who controls the state's elections. The challenges one of the law's core power shifts that move the ability to appoint members of the North Carolina State Board of Elections from the governor's authority to the state auditor's office — which will be run by Republican Dave Boliek next year. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Gov.-elect Josh Stein, who currently serves as the state attorney general, filed the suit in Wake County Superior Court on Monday, saying in the complaint that the provision is unconstitutional and violates the separation of powers. The change to state election board appointments will take place next spring if it isn't blocked in court. The state elections board would likely remain under GOP control for the next few years and would trickle down to county boards as well. “We have had the same structure for our state board of elections for nearly a century and it has served North Carolina well, with fair and secure elections across our state through every cycle,” Cooper said in a news release Monday. “These blatantly partisan efforts to give control over elections boards to a newly elected Republican will create distrust in our elections process and serve no legitimate purpose.” The suit from Cooper and Stein is the the pair has levied against the GOP-controlled state legislature concerning the law. Cooper and Stein are also contesting another provision that prevents the governor from choosing his State Highway Patrol commander. Those alterations to the governor's powers were to several statewide offices that Democrats won in November and will preside over next year — such as attorney general, state schools superintendent and lieutenant governor. If the law withstands the court challenges, it would further underscore the over the other two branches of government since Republicans took control of the General Assembly more than a decade ago. Last year, GOP supermajorities in both the House and Senate firmed up power even more. Pending , Republicans could lose their supermajority if Democratic challenger Bryan Cohn's attempt to oust incumbent Republican Rep. Frank Sossamon proves successful. That would give Stein a slightly more effective veto stamp on future Republican legislation if Democratic lawmakers stay unified. Republican legislators passed the in both chambers earlier this month — not without scathing disapproval from crowds of protesters in the building. The bill drew the ire of House and Senate Democrats, as well as some community organizers, who denounced it as a “power grab.” They also criticized Republican lawmakers for tying the power shifts to disaster relief funding for western North Carolina in Hurricane Helene's aftermath. Most of the $252 million in recovery funds included in the law can't be spent until the next time the General Assembly acts. But GOP legislators defended the bill, with incoming House Speaker Destin Hall saying during the House vote that the changes are within the legislature's constitutional right. Republicans also point to , such as weakening the state’s first GOP governor in 1972, as reasons necessitating the legislation. Spokespeople for Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore — who are both defendants listed in the lawsuit — did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday evening. A state elections board spokesperson also did not immediately respond. Changes to the state elections board aren't a first for GOP lawmakers. Previous attempts have been , including a suit last year that would move board appointment authority . Berger and Moore's attorneys moved to dismiss that case last week, and the new lawsuit from Cooper and Stein seeks to replace it. Makiya Seminera, The Associated Press
President Yoon's impeachment vote set for Saturday Published: 07 Dec. 2024, 07:00 LIM JEONG-WON [email protected] Protesters hold rallies calling for President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment in front of the National Assembly building in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Friday. [YONHAP] The impeachment vote against President Yoon Suk Yeol over the declaration of martial law this week will take place at the National Assembly on Saturday at 5 p.m., with Korea’s major political parties holding emergency meetings on Friday. Six opposition parties including the Democratic Party (DP) submitted to the parliament an impeachment bill against Yoon at 2:40 p.m. Wednesday. According to the National Assembly Act, impeachment bills must be voted on within 24 to 72 hours after the plenary session report. Assuming that lawmakers of all opposition parties attend the plenary session on Saturday and vote in favor of the motion, a total of 192 votes will be cast. Even if all of the opposition parties attend, they will still need to encourage eight members of the president's own party to cross party lines to receive the total 200 votes needed to impeach. Related Article After meeting with Yoon, PPP head Han still convinced president should be suspended NIS deputy director claims Yoon ordered 'arrests and cleanup' under martial law Head of President Yoon’s own party calls for ‘immediate suspension of duty’ 70% support Yoon's impeachment after martial law debacle: Survey Impeachment crisis looms as DP leads charge against Yoon People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon, having previously opposed the idea of impeaching Yoon, declared on Friday during the party’s emergency supreme council meeting that Yoon’s “immediate suspension from duty” is necessary to “protect the country and its people,” foreshadowing that a rift within the PPP could potentially form. Han stuck to this position even after a private meeting with Yoon Friday afternoon, saying he “had not heard any remarks to reverse a judgment of suspending Yoon from presidential duty.” “Although it would be hard to change the party's stance on Yoon's impeachment vote, my opinion is that Yoon should be suspended from duty,” Han reiterated after the meeting. Some opposition lawmakers have communicated with their PPP colleagues across the aisle and have gathered intel that the eight additional votes needed for impeachment could come, according to multiple reports. DP leader Lee Jae-myung said after his party’s emergency meeting on Friday that he had talked to Han about the impeachment bill earlier, saying that the two parties “need to communicate.” Rep. Chun Ha-ram, floor leader of the minor New Reform Party, said Friday that Rep. Lee Jun-seok had “individually confirmed” several PPP lawmakers’ intentions to support the impeachment the day before. PPP Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo posted on his social media that “the ruling and opposition parties must reach an agreement for orderly change and Yoon’s resignation.” Rep. Cho Kyoung-tae, also of the PPP, made the first definitive statement as a ruling party member to declare his support for the impeachment of Yoon on Friday. “It is a matter for politicians to decide whether to stand on the side of the people by suspending the president from his duties or to become an accomplice of the forces that declared martial law," Cho said. "I hope that all PPP members will become politicians who stand on the side of the people.” Nationwide, street protests demanding Yoon’s resignation have continued since Wednesday, while a joint prosecution-police-military probe into the circumstances of the martial law was announced on Friday. BY LIM JEONG-WON [ [email protected] ] var admarutag = admarutag || {} admarutag.cmd = admarutag.cmd || [] admarutag.cmd.push(function () { admarutag.pageview('3bf9fc17-6e70-4776-9d65-ca3bb0c17cb7'); });By Kaushalya Perera Sri Lankans love their educational qualifications. Qualifications permit envious comparisons of value, similar to the ownership of gold jewellery, an expensive watch or a branded pair of shoes, resulting in exactly the same questions of provenance, worth and authenticity, but from a much higher moral ground. For the past two weeks we, the people, have watched as allegations that the (now) ex-Speaker’s educational qualifications were faked, proliferated across the news and social media. We waited for him to prove otherwise, all the while observing how his party and his current place of work (the Parliament) seemed to have neither the will nor the means to verify these claims. As I write, the ‘qualifications war’ has turned into an Absurd play. Why were the ex-Speaker’s qualifications so important? This is a two-fold problem related to the unhealthy relationship that Sri Lankans have with qualifications, coupled with NPP’s self-branding as a ‘clean’ party. Let’s take the second part first. One of the NPP’s pledges was that they would give ‘sudussata sudusu thaena’, i.e., appropriate positions to suitable individuals. This was a constant thread of their election rhetoric and it was accepted as a counter to the rampant nepotism and cronyism we have been seeing. After the (ex) Speaker stepped down, the Prime Minister said in Parliament that her Party includes members with no certificates, as well as those with many qualifications; that all are equally valued because her party values all types of knowledge; and that knowledge cannot be understood narrowly. I fully agree. It is the kind of vision I expect from a Minister of Education. At the same time, it cannot be denied that the NPP knowingly played the qualifications game during their long drawn-out campaign. The JVP’s image—associated in public discourse with ragging, student protests and workers’ strikes—was subsumed into the NPP’s much-vaunted membership of professionals, academics and artists. And the reason why the ‘qualifications game’ was so effective as election currency is precisely because Sri Lankans value qualifications so highly, in such a problematic way. It provided legitimacy to the NPP’s portrayal of themselves as a party standing against a host of corrupt charlatans. This brings us to the first part of the problem – our love of qualifications. In the education sectors, we’re all familiar with that little line: ‘A certificate will be provided’, which is included to increase participant numbers. Also familiar are instances of people registering for a specific course disappearing from the actual class and turning up at the ‘certificate-awarding ceremony’. Further, degrees are often demanded in some sectors for jobs that do not require one. This love of qualifications is not a new phenomenon. In an interesting article, titled ‘The growth of foreign qualification suppliers in Sri Lanka’, published in 2005, Angela W. Little and Jane Evans describe the growth of the ‘qualification marketplace’ in Sri Lanka. They found that advertisements by ‘qualification-suppliers’ in three national newspapers (Sinhala, Tamil and English) grew steeply over three decades, rising from 15 qualification-suppliers in 1965 to 153 in 2000. One can only imagine what a post-2000 study would reveal! The authors chart the rise of the qualifications industry in parallel with the economic liberalisation and economic growth that occurred post-1980. Though they did not make this link, we can connect this rise to the failure to expand higher and vocational education to a growing population and a fast-changing economy, during two decades of political upheaval. During this period, public funds for education declined, and declined even more sharply post-2000, despite large loans from international financial organisations. This is the context for both the deterioration of public education and the rise of privately-funded education, which is symbolised by the desire for a qualification, rather than an education. Qualification versus education Re-creating a society that values learning and education over a certificate of qualification would involve a protracted and difficult journey. It would require a few decades of high quality, widely-accessible education as well as moral re-socialisation: a simple-sounding solution, yet one that is very difficult to initiate and achieve. Indeed, it would be illogical to expect any kind of moral or ethical socialisation from an underfunded and damaged education system, embedded in a decaying society. The fact remains that the education sector desperately needs actual physical resources. Today, while a small proportion of schools in Sri Lanka contemplate installing computer labs, other schools are deprived of the basics; school meals, electricity, running water, uniforms, chairs, desks and books. We also need more and better paid teachers, plus national regulations and explicit minimum standards for the teaching profession, regardless of whether they are in the state, private or international sectors. A larger issue that is not discussed is that we actually do not know enough about our own education system. Our attention has for too long been focused on the state education system, resulting in a lack of attention towards other sectors, e.g., early education, private and international education. The education ecosystem in the country needs urgent study, and researchers across disciplines can contribute to this need. And while the education sector has accepted multiple donations and loans, it is not at all clear if these funds are used in a manner that best fits the purpose. In summary, it is vitally important that the fundamentals must be fixed. But we need to also re-think the way we over-estimate the value of a qualification, as against a wholesome education. A re-examination of values and ethics The fact that we value qualifications rather than an education has been apparent for a long time now. The prevalence of forged certificates and honorary doctorates is not the only indicator. Long before ChatGPT arrived, newspapers and social media were advertising ghostwriting services, i.e., the writing of assignments and dissertations for a fee. This is a business that is clearly unethical and must surely be illegal, but it is now so common that both the suppliers and their clients appear to consider it perfectly normal. We have come to value quantity over quality: two degrees simultaneously, more qualifications, promotions and rankings based on numerical criteria and so on. Start somewhere It is obvious that ethics socialisation has not happened through education in Sri Lanka. This is a major problem that has no simple or quick solution. When the Parliament that is supposed to be discussing the interim budget of a financially distressed country spends that time trading accusations with each other about each other’s educational qualifications; when an MP is unable to prove – even after a week – the qualifications he claims to possess and then imagines that it is sufficient to resign from his position but not from his seat in Parliament; when a party that has pledged immediate action on corruption-related issues takes several days to effect a resignation from a powerful position; and when the Prime Minister and Cabinet Spokesperson are angered when questioned about matters of veracity and authenticity – we know we still have a long way to go to re-socialise a population into ethical beliefs and conduct. It is not enough to prevent bribes and reduce wasteful spending. We also need to start looking at providing meaningful and broad-based public education, where learning and integrity go hand in hand. (Kaushalya Perera teaches at the Department of English, University of Colombo.) Kuppi is a politics and pedagogy happening on the margins of the lecture hall that parodies, subverts, and simultaneously reaffirms social hierarchies.Social media reacts to Trump 'dominating world leaders' with Macron handshake during meeting in France
ED busts 640 crore cyber fraud racket run by CAs & CSsAfter two months since going on a labor strike, the union representing mental health workers and Kaiser Permanente will return to the bargaining table on Jan. 9, officials announced Monday. Nearly 2,400 Kaiser mental health therapists, social workers, psychiatric nurses and psychologists — represented by National Union of Healthcare Workers — began their strike on Oct. 21 and held their last negotiating session two days later. Due to mounting political pressure from state elected leaders within recent weeks, Kaiser is ready to renegotiate, union officials said during an online media briefing. “Kaiser is creating a patient care crisis by keeping patients away from their therapists, and there is still no sign that it sees any urgency in reaching a fair agreement to end the strike,” Sal Rosselli, president emeritus of the union, said. “It’s deeply troubling that Kaiser still seems intent on slow-walking negotiations when it has never been clearer that patients are suffering from Kaiser’s refusal to bargain in good faith,” he added. According to the union, the key issues remain Kaiser’s “unwillingness” to provides its mental health professionals in Southern California the “same amount of time for critical patient care duties that can’t be done during appoints as their counterparts in Northern California — as well as the same wage levels and retirement benefits as comparable workers throughout the Kaiser system.” In a statement, the company called the strike “unnecessary” and maintained patients are receiving timely access to mental health care and services through an “extensive, high-quality” network of 13,000 therapists across SoCal. Kaiser noted more than 45% of its therapists have returned to work and are caring for patients and members. “NUHW continues to demand that we settle a contract agreement so therapists would spend almost 50% of their time in non-patient care,” Kaiser said in its statement. “This is not logical and would result in 15,000 clinical appointments per month not being staffed.” The company argued that the union’s demand would result in its members receiving more than 40% above their peers in the market — describing it as “not logical.” Employees already earn at market or up to 10% above the market rate, according to Kaiser. Therapists are paid at 18% above the market, and the company is offering more. We have launched our year-end campaign. Our goal: Raise $50,000 by Dec. 31. Help us get there. Times of San Diego is devoted to producing timely, comprehensive news about San Diego County. Your donation helps keep our work free-to-read, funds reporters who cover local issues and allows us to write stories that hold public officials accountable. Join the growing list of donors investing in our community's long-term future. The company also refuted a claim made by the union that therapists do not receive a pension. Kaiser Permanente said they offer a pension plan in which they match up to 9% almost double the national average. A majority of state senators and assembly members have signed letters urging Kaiser CEO Greg Adams to settle negotiations. California Treasurer Fiona Ma and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond have sent similar letters. Kaiser said it appreciates that “they have asked both sides to reconvene and seek a solution.” “We have been deeply disappointed by the union’s lack of engagement in bargaining to this point,” Kaiser said in its statement. “We are pleased that they have agreed to return to the bargaining table on Jan. 9.” “We hope that NUHW is returning to the bargaining table with a sincere interest in reaching an agreement that is good for our therapists and members,” the statement continued. According to the union, there will be no picket lines on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Other than those days, picket lines will continue as scheduled weekdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be a lunchtime rally with community and elected leaders at all strike locations including San Diego County. A full list of picket line locations is available here . Get Our Free Daily Email Newsletter Get the latest local and California news from Times of San Diego delivered to your inbox at 8 a.m. daily. Sign up for our free email newsletter and be fully informed of the most important developments.AP Business SummaryBrief at 2:02 p.m. EST