COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s new Marxist-leaning president swore in a 22-member Cabinet on Monday after his party secured a two-thirds parliamentary majority in last week’s election.
The margin of victory will allow President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to make sweeping reforms, including a campaign promise of a new constitution, without needing support from other parties.
Sri Lanka is struggling to emerge from the worst economic crisis in its history, having declared bankruptcy after defaulting on its external debt in 2022.
Dissanayake’s National People’s Power Party won 159 of the 225 seats in Thursday's vote.
He kept a pledge to have fewer than 25 Cabinet members, and a majority of the new ministers are first-time lawmakers. Dissanayake retained the post of defense and finance minister.
He also reappointed Harini Amarasuriya as prime minister. Amarasuriya, 54, was first appointed in September after Dissanayake won the presidential election and that made her the first woman to head the government in 24 years.
Vijitha Herath was reappointed as minister of foreign affairs and tourism.
Dissanayake was elected president on Sept. 21 in a rejection of traditional political parties that have governed the island nation since its independence from British rule in 1948.
He has promised he would propose significant changes to the targets set in the IMF bailout deal signed by his predecessor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, saying it placed too much burden on the people. However, he has since said Sri Lanka will go along with the agreement, with debt restructuring with international creditors nearly complete.
Voters were also drawn by the NPP’s cry for change in the political culture and an end to corruption, because they perceived the parties that ruled Sri Lanka so far caused the economic collapse.
Dissanayake’s promise to punish members of previous governments accused of corruption and to recover allegedly stolen assets also raised people's hopes.
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Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, center, leaves after casting his vote during the parliamentary election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024.(AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake shows his finger as he leaves after casting his vote during the parliamentary election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024.(AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
SYDNEY (AP) — Retired Sydney radio broadcaster and former Australian national rugby coach Alan Jones was charged Monday with multiple sex crimes against males over two decades, police said.
The 83-year-old will appear in a Sydney court on Dec. 18 on 24 charges relating to eight alleged victims from 2001 to 2019, Assistant Police Commissioner Michael Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald said the youngest of the alleged victims was 17 when the first offense allegedly occurred.
“In regards to the victims, we will allege that the accused knew some of them personally, some of them professionally. And we’ll also allege that some of the victims when the alleged offense took place, was the first time that they ever met the accused,” Fitzgerald told reporters.
Jones’ lawyer Bryan Wrench did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Jones was arrested Monday morning at his Sydney waterfront apartment and made no comment to media when he left a police station late Monday.
Jones hosted a popular Sydney breakfast radio from 2002 until he retired in 2020. He was regarded as one of the most powerful people in Australian media.
He was also a successful coach of the Australian national rugby team, the Wallabies, for four years from early 1984. The team won 86 of their 102 matches under his leadership.
Jones was also influential in conservative politics and was a speechwriter for Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. Fraser was in power from 1975 until 1983. Fraser died in 2015.
Police set up a strike force to investigate Jones after The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported in December last year allegations that Jones used his position of power, first as a school teacher and later as a popular broadcaster, to prey on a number of young men.
The charges include 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault and nine counts of assault with an act of indecency. There were also two charges of sexual touching and two charges of common assault.
EDITORS AND LIBRARIANS: KILL FROM YOUR SYSTEMS AND ARCHIVES PHOTO SYD802 (IMAGE ID 24323236753943), SLUGGED AUSTRALIA SEXUAL ASSAULT AND TRANSMITTED ON MONDAY, NOV. 18, 2024. THE PHOTO WAS SENT TO AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND MEMBERS BY ERROR. Retired Sydney broadcaster and former Australian national rugby coach Alan Jones, centre, walks past waiting media as he leaves a police station in Sydney, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP Image via AP)
Retired Sydney broadcaster and former Australian national rugby coach Alan Jones arrives for the funeral service for Helena Carr at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, Australia, on Nov. 14, 2023. (Dean Lewins/AAP Image via AP)
Retired Sydney broadcaster and former Australian national rugby coach Alan Jones is seen in the back of an unmarked police car as he is transferred to Day St Police Station in Sydney, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP Image via AP)
Retired Sydney broadcaster and former Australian national rugby coach Alan Jones, centre, walks past waiting media as he leaves a police station in Sydney, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP Image via AP)
