President Donald Trump has named former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to his so-called “Board of Peace”, which is expected to oversee the United States president’s 20-point plan to end Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza.

The White House said on Friday that Blair would be among the board’s founding executive members, alongside Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.

The other members are Marc Rowan, the CEO of Apollo Global Management; World Bank Group President Ajay Banga; and Robert Gabriel, a US deputy national security adviser.

The board members “will oversee a defined portfolio critical to Gaza’s stabilization and long-term success”, the White House said, including “governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding, and capital mobilization “.

Bulgarian diplomat and former senior United Nations official Nickolav Mladenoy will serve as the High Representative for Gaza, according to the statement.

The announcement also named members of a Gaza Executive Board, aimed at supporting governance and services in Gaza. Blair, Kushner and Witkoff were also named to the board, along with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Qatari diplomat Ali Al Thawadi and others.

In addition, the White House said that US Major-General Jasper Jeffers has been appointed as Commander of the International Stabilisation Force for Gaza.

Jeffers, who is the current commander of US special forces, would lead the force in a range of areas, including security operations, delivering humanitarian aid and supporting “comprehensive demilitarization”, the White House said.

While the US has long supported Israel’s demand that Hamas surrender all of its weapons, the Palestinian group has said it wants guarantees before doing so.

The Gaza Executive Board will support the Office of the High Representative and a National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), headed up by Ali Shaath, which is expected to handle day-to-day governance in Gaza in lieu of Hamas.

Shaath is a former Deputy Minister of Transportation for the Palestinian Authority, who is from Khan Younis in Gaza but based in the occupied West Bank.

Hamas had previously said it was ready to abandon its governing duties in the enclave as outlined under the Trump plan.

There was no immediate response from Hamas and other Palestinian political factions to the makeup of the Board of Peace’s executive board.

The White House announcement on Friday comes just days after Witkoff announced the launch of the second phase of the US-brokered plan to end Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians since October 2023.

The US administration has said Trump’s plan is “moving from ceasefire to demilitarization, technocratic governance, and reconstruction”.

But Palestinians have questioned what that will mean in practice, as Israel continues to carry out deadly attacks across the coastal enclave and restrict deliveries of humanitarian aid, in violation of the US-brokered ceasefire deal that came into effect in October.

A 10-year-old girl, a 16-year-old boy and an elderly woman were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza on Friday, as members of a planned Palestinian technocratic committee sat down for the first time in Cairo to prepare for the rollout of phase two of Trump’s plan.

The participation of Blair, who served as British prime minister from 1997 to 2007, has also been a major point of contention, after his name was floated as a possible candidate for the Board of Peace months ago.

The former United Kingdom Labour Party leader strongly supported the US-led so-called “war on terror” in the early 2000s, and joined then-US President George W Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and another newly-named executive board member, is also a staunch supporter of Israel who previously suggested that Palestinians are incapable of self-governance.

Kushner’s family also has strong ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes committed in Gaza.

In 2024, Kushner underscored that Gaza has “very valuable” waterfront property, saying that Israel should “move the people out and then clean it up”.

Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from Washington, DC, noted that some of the people nominated by Trump will be “members of both the Board of Peace and of the executive board for Gaza”.

“It would appear from this structure outline that the Board of Peace has the overarching responsibility, but dealing with the nuts and bolts on the ground in transition will be the Gaza Executive Board,” Hanna said.

Hanna also noted that Mladenov’s role as the High Representative for Gaza shows that there will be a UN component, considering the Bulgarian diplomat was previously the UN’s top envoy to the region from 2015-2020.

“There is a UN component in this, which is very important, given the differences between the US and the UN in recent years,” Hanna said.

“To have the UN viably involved in the reconstruction of Gaza is utterly essential for these boards, the Board of Peace and the administration board, to have a semblance of credibility,” he added.

Criticism of the board also emerged swiftly.

Ashish Prashar, who worked as an aide to Blair between 2010 and 2012, called for rejecting international trusteeship over Gaza, stating in a post on social media that “the future of Palestine should only be decided by Palestinians”.

“It appears the only qualification for joining the Gaza ‘peace board’ is to have a strong track record of endorsing (and arming) Israel’s project of genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, and criminalising those who oppose it,” Prashar told Al Jazeera in a statement.

“Trump’s Gaza ‘Board of Peace’ was just a pilot project. All states who signed off on it are the ones who paved the way for Trump’s next ‘Boards of Peace’ in Venezuela, Ukraine and any other place the extractionist American regime wants to take next,” he said.

[Aljazeera]

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that the Government is taking steps to maintain early childhood education within an appropriate regulatory framework, while ensuring quality education by enhancing the professionalism of preschool teachers.

The Prime Minister made these remarks while participating in the awareness programme for preschool teachers of the Puttalam District on the National Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework, held under the theme “A Safe World for Children, A Creative Future Generation” on Friday [16th of January] at the Sudasuna Hall in Chilaw.

The Prime Minister stated,

“The main objective of our government in 2024 was to bring about a transformative change in this country. We bear a major responsibility in achieving that transformation. When we assumed office, one of our primary responsibilities was to build a stable and resilient economy. However, I believe that with equal responsibility and commitment, our government has prioritized creating a transformative change in the education system of the country. We assumed office with that objective in mind. The discussions within our party and political movement on the necessary changes in education did not begin recently. They are the result of a long-standing process.

This transformation cannot be achieved overnight or within a single year. It is a step-by-step process. When implementing this decisive and qualitative change within the education system, it is essential to consider the system as a whole. We made this intervention by examining every stage of a child’s educational journey. Therefore, we have recognized early childhood education, from age one to age five, as an integral part of education and development.

Thereby, Early childhood development is viewed as the very first step of our education structure. At present, early childhood education exists in an unregulated manner. Our aim is to develop this early childhood education in an organized and systematic way, while enhancing the professionalism of teachers and ensuring quality education within an appropriate regulatory framework.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs and the Ministry of Education have jointly appointed a committee and initiated discussions to formulate a policy and curriculum framework for early childhood education. During the past year, we developed the preschool curriculum framework. We are working towards implementing a unified curriculum across all preschools in a structured manner. It is essential to integrate early childhood development with primary, secondary, and university education. Early childhood development is one of the most critical stages of an individual’s life. The responsibility of socializing the child, introducing them to society in a structured manner, and nurturing a disciplined, empathetic individual lies with you. This is not something that can be achieved at the primary level or beyond.

There is a common criticism that children are not taught letters and numbers at preschool. However, early childhood development is not about formal schooling. It is about helping children to develop their social skills.

It is also an objective of our government to ensure that both preschools and schools become places where parents can confidently leave their children, knowing they are safe.

We are aware of the issues relating to your allowances and pensions. Discussions have been held in this regard between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs. Granting due recognition to preschool certificates during school admissions is also very important, and the government’s attention has been drawn to all these matters”.

The event was attended by Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government prof. Chandan Abayarathna; Members of Parliament Gayan Janaka, Hiruni Wijesinghe, and Mohamed Faisal; officials of the North Western Province Early Childhood Education Development Authority; and a large number of preschool teachers from the Puttalam District.

[Prime Minister’s Media Division]

The ICC has decided to send officials to Dhaka this weekend to meet the BCB’s top brass in a bid to resolve the impasse over Bangladesh travelling to India for the T20 World Cup that starts in three weeks.

The ICC’s team is expected to provide the BCB with security details including an independent assessment as part of the discussions. The development comes days after the BCB reiterated its stance of not sending Bangladesh to play in co-hosts India’s venues owing to “security concerns.” So far meetings and discussions have taken place via video conference; this will be the first time the two parties will meet in person.

During the January 13 virtual meeting, the BCB asked the ICC to move Bangladesh, who are placed in Group C, outside India. However, the ICC said it would not tweak the original schedule, with the tournament start date – February 7 – less than a month away. Bangladesh are scheduled to play on that opening day, against West Indies, in Kolkata.