Scientists from China and Sri Lanka are conducting joint “marine scientific” activities on board a Chinese research vessel, a senior official said Tuesday, amidst concerns voiced by India and the US.

The Chinese ship ‘Shi Yan 6’ arrived at the Colombo port last week. According to sources, Sri Lanka was delaying granting permission for the arrival of the vessel due to concerns raised by India. However, there is no official confirmation of the same.

“Clearance was granted to carry out marine scientific research on October 30 and 31,” a spokesman for the Colombo Foreign Ministry said.

The vessel is currently located off the western waters, he said.

Scientists from the National Aquatic Research Agency (NARA), personnel from the Navy, and the University of Ruhuna were given clearance to go on board, he added.

Director General of NARA, Dr Kamal Tennakoon, said the vessel is engaged in research activities in the seas off Bentara in Colombo.

The Chinese geophysical scientific research vessel commenced research operations in the Sea of Sri Lanka on Monday.

Described as a research and survey vessel with a carrying capacity of 1,115 DWT, the vessel is reported to be 5.3 meters in length, overall 90.6 meters, and 17 meters in width.

It is said to be China’s first scientific research vessel focusing on geophysical exploration.

NARA said the temperature of the seawater, the condition of the sea waves, how they affect fish, and climate change will be studied during the research, NewsFirst Lanka reported.

NARA said samples of different seawater levels will also be tested.

Four NARA officials joined the research activities, while two Navy officers also joined the research team.

The ship was expected to bring back the Sri Lankan personnel on board to Colombo off the western waters tomorrow at the conclusion of the activities, the spokesman said.

The vessel had applied to do a joint survey of Sri Lanka’s marine borders, officials said. However, the research would now be limited to western waters.

In August, permission was sought by the Chinese research vessel to conduct marine research activities in October.

The arrival of Shi Yan 6 followed President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to China last week.

Last month, the US expressed concern to Sri Lanka about the scheduled visit of the Chinese research ship to the island nation.

US Under Secretary Victoria Nuland, who met Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, had reportedly raised concerns about the visit of ‘SHI YAN 6’.

China dispatches its research/surveillance vessels to Sri Lanka on a regular basis.

India has been raising concerns over the visits of Chinese vessels to Lanka.

The Government of India raised concern over the visit of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy warship HAI YANG 24 in mid-August.

On a similar visit by a Chinese satellite tracking ship in early 2022, the Indians protested strongly.

However, after a considerable delay, Sri Lanka allowed the ship to dock at the southern port of Hambantota, a port in Sri Lanka’s south, under a 99-year lease to the Chinese company that built it after Colombo was unable to service a USD 1.4 billion loan taken for the project.

In August last year, a similar visit by the Chinese ballistic missile and satellite tracking ship ‘Yuan Wang 5′, which arrived in the southern Sri Lankan port of Hambantota, elicited strong reactions from India.

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka considers both India and China equally important partners in its task to restructure its external debt. China is one of the top lenders to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka owes USD 7.1 billion to bilateral creditors, including USD 3 billion to China.

The island nation was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves.

Bangladeshi police clashed on Tuesday with thousands of garment workers demanding fair wages for the clothing they make for major Western brands, a day after similar protests left at least two people dead. Police said tens of thousands of workers at dozens of factories had launched strikes in Ashulia and Gazipur, the country’s largest industrial city, with authorities firing tear gas and rubber bullets as crowds smashed up factories and blocked roads.

Gazipur alone is home to more than a thousand plants that make clothing for brands such as H&M and Gap.

“Workers hit the streets as their salaries can no longer cover rising food expenses,” said Al Kamran, a senior garment union leader in Ashulia.

Bangladesh is one of the world’s largest garment exporters, with the industry accounting for 85 percent of the South Asian country’s $55 billion in annual exports.

But conditions are dire for many of its four million apparel workers.

“Some 15,000 of the workers joined protests for a wage hike at separate places in Ashulia,” Mahmud Naser, deputy police chief of the Ashulia industrial area, told AFP.

Union leader Kamran disputed those figures, reporting some 50,000 workers had downed tools in Ashulia alone, with soaring prices a key driver.

The cost of some basic foodstuffs, like potatoes and onions, had more than doubled since last year, Kamran said.

“House rents have also spiked. The only thing that has not increased is salaries.” 

Taslima Akter, the head of the Garment Sramik Samhati union, has said the compensation manufacturers are offering is “less than what a worker got in 2017” once inflation and currency depreciation were taken into account.

Police said protesters had set fire to tyres, broken windows at factories and blocked a key highway connecting the industrial area with the capital Dhaka.

Officers responded by firing “rubber bullets and tear gas”, said Naser, the deputy chief in Ashulia, adding there were no reports of injuries.

The protests erupted early last week, but violence escalated on Monday when tens of thousands left their shifts and staged protests in Gazipur, where a six-storey factory was torched by workers, leading to the death of one labourer. 

Another worker was killed during clashes between police and protesters.

Bangladesh is home to around 3,500 garment factories making clothing for some of the world’s largest retailers and brands, but the basic monthly wage for workers is just 8,300 taka ($75).

Unions said the workers vented their anger on the streets after the powerful manufacturers’ association offered a 25 percent raise, ignoring demands for a new monthly minimum basic wage of 23,000 taka — nearly a threefold increase.

The South Asian country of nearly 170 million has overtaken its neighbour India in per capita income, with the garment industry at the centre of its impressive growth over the past two decades.

But wage protests pose a major challenge to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since 2009. A resurgent opposition has challenged her rule as she readies for elections due before January.

Her government set up a panel this year to set a new minimum wage.

Unions say that garment factory owners — who include ministers and influential lawmakers — have played a role in fixing the minimum wage during past negotiations.

A Hindu temple in the US State of California has been raided by burglars who stole a donation box from the premises, leaving the Indian community in a state of shock.

The incident took place on Monday at the Hari Om Radha Krishna Mandir in the Parkway neighbourhood, at about 2:15 am, the Sacramento Bee newspaper reported.

The Sacramento Police Department is investigating the burglary at the Hindu Temple.

Police did not disclose what was stolen, but dispatch audio indicated a donation collection box was taken.

Dispatchers told people that six suspects were seen on the grounds through surveillance video, including two who were inside the temple, when police were called, the report added.

Police said no arrests have been made, but the incident remains under investigation.

Meanwhile, condemning the incident, the US-based advocacy organisation Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA) has asked the Sacramento Police to take this issue very seriously and investigate it as a potential hate crime.

“Disturbing news from Sacramento, California where a #HinduTemple has been broken into. We ask @SacPolice to take this issue very seriously and investigate it as a potential hate crime and the violation of a sacred space. Police are asking for public help in identifying the suspects,” they posted on X.

Guru Maharaj and his wife were at home when they received an alert.

“The first thing I saw was the curtains blowing and I said, ‘Oh, my God. Somebody is in the building,’ ” Maharaj’s wife was quoted as saying by the CBS news.

As footage from the temple showed, someone tried to break through three doors and a car.

“They went right through to the donation box in darkness,” Maharaj said.

The footage shows the thieves lifting the box up and carrying it out behind the building. They hoisted the box, which reportedly weighed close to 100 pounds, over the fence then shoved it in a getaway car and took off.

“It’s a very big hit to our community and we’re here to help people out,” Maharaj said.