# Srilanka

• Srilanka in Saturday cleared the arrival of Chinese space and satellite tracking vessel Yuan Wang 5 on August 16 at the southern Hambantota port, a day after New Delhi reiterated its security concerns over the vessels entry earlier scheduled on August 11.
• Colombo was put on a delicate diplomatic spot, dealing with two of its close partners with competing geostrategic interests on the Island.
• The ministry stated that when it had cleared the scheduled visit earlier in July, it was based on the Defense ministry’s conditions that the visiting Chinese vessel’s automatic identification (AIS) be kept switched on within the exclusive economic zone of Srilanka and that no scientific research be conducted in Srilankan waters.

# Taliban

• The foreign ministry of the Taliban dispensation in Afghanistan on Saturday said it welcomed India’s diplomatic presence in Kabul and promised to ensure security to the Indian mission in the Afghan capital.
• Taliban said in an statement that India’s diplomatic presence in Afghanistan would result in the completion of “unfinished projects” that India had initiated and the commencement of new ones.

# Kerala

• The Kerala government’s move to revise the curriculum framework for school education has riled muslim organizations including a pro left Sunni organization.
• A vision document for the framework, being revised after around a decade, is still not within the public domain and officials involved in the process are amused at the hostile reactions.
• According to sources, a section of the media carried reports based on the draft approach paper to the Kerala curriculum framework 2022, sometimes ago.
• It was pointed out that there were proposals to include lessons on gender justice, social media and the pandemic in school textbooks.
• The officials believe that the muslim organizations are annoyed with the part on gender justice, which they claim, could turn out to be against their “religious convictions “.
• Some organizations who were against this upcoming decision argued that God has made men and women differently.