Rodney Perera appointed as Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the EU and Belgium

Thursday, 14 August 2014 

According to Internet edition of Lakadeepa newspaper on 07th  August 2014, Mr. Rodney Perera has been appointed as Sri Lanka’s new ambassador to European Union and Belgium. Rodney Perera is younger son of late UNP Minister Paul Perera. Paul Perera was behind the infamous murder of “Wawulkele” of 1989 during JVP insurrection.

Rodney Perera has entered the Foreign Service through back door in 1988 during the last days of JR government. There is a talk in the Foreign Ministry that even Rodney Perera did not sit for the Foreign Service examination! He is an extremely loyal UNP supporter and has always been working for UNP being in the Foreign Ministry.

He worked as Acting High Commissioner in Kenya during Ranil Wickramasinghe government (2000-2001). During this period he obtained millions of rupees of funds from the Ministry saying that it was for renovation of the government own Embassy buildings in Nairobi. But like present day Jaliya Wickramasuriya Perera misused these funds and in fact deposited them in his account. The audit inspection done by the Foreign Ministry found Rodney Perera guilty of corruption but then Director General of OAD Mr. Poolokasingham, another very corrupt officer, saved Rodney Perera.  Mr. Raveendran, Counsellor of Sri Lanka Embassy in Kenya at that time and very honest officer exposed these corrupt activities. Rodney Perera by using his political powers transferred Raveendran to Colombo and Raveendran almost lost his job!      

During his time as Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Norway (2009 to 2012), Rodney Perera was an informant and a supporter of the LTTE. Many LTTE activists in Norway visited his home (official residence of Ambassador) and had discussions against Sri Lanka. Rodney Perera also arranged meetings in Norway for LTTE activists who came from Sri Lanka including Rev. Rayappu Joseph. Rodney Perera never went and brief Norwegian authorities on the good work done by government for Tamil people. In Norway, Rodney Perera used his accounts clerk I P Wickramasooriya to misuse public funds. Together they managed to misappropriate millions of dollars. An audit inspection on these things was done by another corrupt officer, Mr. Abeyrathne Rathnayake, Additional Secretary, sent from Foreign Ministry. Rathnayake stayed at Rodney Perera’s house during the audit. Rodney Perera sent his account clerk on leave to Sri Lanka to cover up everything and hide all files. Rathnayake was given everyday picnics, city sightseeing tours in Oslo by Perera. Even after 02 years of audit no report has been submitted by Rathnayake on his inspection. The Deputy Ambassador in Norway, Mr. C V Rajapakse is well aware of all these activities and he has informed the President but no action has been taken against Perera!

When Rodney Perera was working as Ambassador in Italy he closely associated with LTTE activists in the island of Sicily and most of the key LTTE leaders were given Sri Lankan documents including passports without any problem. They paid millions of Euros as bribes to Perera. In the same manner he also associated with human smugglers in Cyprus. In Italy he also misused petrol coupons given to the Embassy by Italian authorities and sold duty free petrol and diesel in black market.

In recent months he has become a permanent passenger of the vehicles of Sajin Vass Gunawardena, Monitoring MP of Foreign Ministry, and the unofficial Foreign Minister. Perera has used Sajin Vass to recall Ambassador Amza from Brussels and got him appointed in Amza’s place. Amza is considered as a brilliant officer and during the war in 2009 he has managed Chennai mission without any problem by winning hearts and minds of Tamilnadu politicians and the public.

Rodney Perera is also considered as an officer who does not work but carry tales against other officers to get favours from politicians. He is also considered as an excellent and expert viewer of porn websites which is pastime.

The Officers of the Foreign Ministry are now wondering why Mahinda Rajapakse has appointed an anti Sri Lankan UNP supporter to a very important Embassy in Brussels to represent Sri Lanka at EU at the time of an international war crime investigation by UNHRC is underway against Sri Lanka. EU is supporting this investigation.

Rodeny’s brother, lawyer Ronald Perera represented Gen Sarath Fonseka in various court cases. Very recently Ronald Perera appeared for UNP when the UNP filed a case against Elections Commissioner on change of provincial council seats of Monaragala.                

Foreign Policy By Psychotics

| by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“Amma! I have committed a big mistake; Forgive me; Give me life.”

The wording on Tamilnadu billboards depicting Mahinda Rajapaksa craving forgiveness from Chief Minister Jeyalalitha

( August 14, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, ‘One of these days,’ is set in a small town. The town’s mayor is also its military-torturer. When the dentist refuses to treat the mayor’s toothache, the mayor pulls out a gun and threatens to shoot him. The dentist too has a hidden gun but decides not to use it. Unlike the mayor, he is not a killer and is unwilling to become one.

The Rajapaksas rule like Marquez’s mayor, using violence and the threat of violence to have their arbitrary way. Nationally it works because the Siblings have a near complete stranglehold on the state. 

Foreign Policy by Psychotics by Thavam

9 Ministers meet with both mahanayakes who endorse their views –Agree to take action against MaRa’s robed monks of naked terror
(Lanka-e-News- 14.Aug.2013, 8.30PM) Following the threats and accusations mounted against Minister Rajitha Senaratne by the Rajapakse ‘hounding dogs’ in the form of monks wearing robes led by a blood thirsty Gnanassara who are considered as a paramilitary team of the government but confirmed internationally as terrorists, nine Ministers set out to the sacred city Kandy last morning to meet with the Mahanayakes there and explain to them the dire prevalent situation in the country.

Among the Ministers and M.Ps who went to meet the Mahanayakes were : Ministers Rajitha Senaratne , Janaka Bandara Tennekoon ,Salinda Dissanayake, Mervyn Silva ,Duminda Dissanayake , Thilanga Sumathipala M.P., and provincial councilors , Thilini Tennekoon and Pramitha Tennekoon.

Thilanga Sumathipala of the Sumathipala family who is the President of the Sri Lanka Buddhist Conference , which is the main Buddhist organization of Sri Lanka (SL) participating in these meetings was something most conspicuous. 

Two senior Ministers of the government Maithripala Sirisena and Nimal Siripala De Silva who were also to join this group had expressed their regrets over their inability to participate to Rajitha via phone. However they have confirmed they will eagerly participate in any discussion in the future , and that they have to be excused since this meeting was a sudden arrangement.

The delegation had met with Ven. Udugama Sri Buddha Rakkhitha Thero the Mahanayake of Asgiriya chapter in the morning ,and later with Ven.Thibbotuwewa Sidhartha Sri Sumangala Thero , the mahanayake of Malwatte chapter at 6.00 p.m.

The delegation had explained to the Mahanayakes the threats , intimidations and accusations mounted against Minister Rajitha Senaratne . The Ven. Mahanayakes after listening to them have replied , they understand fully what had been explained to them ,while expressing their resentment against Gnanassara . They have also told they would summon Gnanassara and issue him a warning.

The Mahanayakes at the meetings had told in no uncertain terms that the actions of Gnanassara as a monk are sans discipline and deplorable. They had therefore advised the Ministers to take any course of legal action against Gnanassara and his group. They would also have consultations with the mahanayakes , and take action against this group which is acting in breach of the true Buddhist tenets and the monk order. Ramanya nikaye and Amarapura nikaye mahanayakes too are thoroughly disappointed with these terrorist activities of the monks , they had added .

The two Mahanayakes pointed out , the mahanayakes of the nikayas are thoroughly disgusted of and disillusioned with these terror spreading Gnanassara and his group. 

The two mahanayakes urged the laity too take concerted action and organize themselves against these disgraceful activities aimed at destroying the Buddha sasana .

Minister Mervyn Silva speaking to the media after the discussions had this to say :

''Even late Meegettuwathe Gunananda hamaduruwo (prelate) used a civilized language when he spoke. That is what you call 'wadheeba singha.' It is not using contemptible words like ‘aru’, ‘Moo’,’tho’, gahanawa (assault), maranawa (murder), kotanawa(cut and chop) when speaking. This is certainly an insidious conspiracy to destroy Buddhism after gobbling up colossal funds received from some quarter that has provided them with that aim,'' Mervyn Silva asserted.

Media were not allowed access to the discussions with the Mahanayakes .

In the photograph is the Mahanayake of Asgiriya chapter having discussions this morning with the delegation.

Gota gave details to attack Rajitha!

Thursday, 07 August 2014 

It is defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa who had advised Bodu Bala Sena general secretary Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thera to hold a media conference and attack fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne.

Military intelligence had provided Gnanasara Thera with the files to make the exposures there against the minister. A top SIS official has explained to the Thera about one Kadireshan, a businessman who had been very close to Senaratne.

This Kadireshan had close connections with the LTTE leaders and was also a close associate of Senaratne. It was him who had sent messages to the LTTE leadership on behalf of several politicians in the south. One of them is president Mahinda Rajapaksa. Kadireshan had been selling vehicle spare parts at Panchikawatte.

After leaving the UNP and joining the government to strengthen the president’s hands, Senaratne introduced Kadireshan to the president. The man was used to send messages to the LTTE leadership and other leaders prior to the final war against the LTTE. In the early 2009, at the president’s request, Senaratne sent Kadireshan to India.

Once the war was over, Kadireshan was brought to Sri Lanka with the mediation of the defence secretary and was arrested a few days later. That is because minister Senaratne has criticized the defence secretary while in the company of several ministers. This incident has resurfaced after minister Senaratne criticized the defence secretary, without directly mentioning his name, over the Aluthgama incident.

The SIS, on the orders of the defence secretary, is investigating a luxury upstairs house in London, which Kadireshan and another Tamil businessman have bought and gifted to minister Senaratne. Soon after receiving that information, the BBS general secretary is ready to hold his next media conference against the minister.

Mob storms meeting of relatives of the disappeared - pt 2

14/08/2014

This is part two of a three part series on the incidents surrounding the storming of a meeting in Colombo by a mob of Government supporters last Tuesday. In part one we provided a narrative of events and some photos and footage from the scene. In this part we analyse these events, and in part three we will talk about the aftermath of the event and reactions from both sides.

Our Campaigns Director has recently written at length about the Sri Lankan government’s growing campaign of intimidation against critics and human rights activists – and in particular its strategy of seeking to silence society in a manner which it can avoid the opprobrium of the international community. Two key elements of this strategy can be seen in these events.

The first is the targeting of prominent and outspoken human rights activists, and in particular those looking to make links between Colombo and grassroots victims and relatives groups in the North. This can be seen in the manner in which these events were used to spread false allegations about named senior human rights activists, and to erroneously suggest that they are giving information to the United Nations (giving information to the UN is not a crime, but in Sri Lanka it places you at significant risk of meeting a violent end).

The second is the way these events are used to intimidate and terrify grassroots Tamil activists. While many of the Colombo based activists who were mentioned by name have been put at greater risk as a result, by and large they have effective protection strategies and many people looking out for their welfare. Not so those who have to return to villages in the North, where they are out of sight and mind of the international community and almost entirely at the mercy of the local military commander.

Furthermore it is depressing to note that this incident only received the attention it did because it happened in Colombo and because western diplomats were present. The breaking up of such meetings is an entirely commonplace occurrence in the north and the coverage this event received, welcome though it is, will once again play to the understandable perception that the international community does not care if such things happen, provided they only happen in the north and the east.

There is a third element to the strategy which we have not previously discussed, and that is the extent to which, in order to avoid censure by the international community, the Government are increasingly not acting against the human rights community directly but through proxy groups – and the mob in question must be regarded as precisely that, if for no other reason than because they are doing the Government of Sri Lanka’s work for them while enjoying the benefits of the culture of impunity that the Government have engendered.

Moreover several aspects of this latest incident would appear to suggest that there is a more active collusion between these groups and the state:

• The failures of the police. They arrived quickly, but appeared to then allow the mob to continue to disrupt the meeting. They would only say that ‘peace had been broken’ and closed the event rather than arresting the intruders. This was raised as a matter of concern by the USA but disappointingly not by the EU.
• The identity of the intruding party. The self-described Dead and Missing Persons Parents Front (DMPPF) appeared to come together specifically for this meeting, but the presence of several extremely nationalistic Buddhist monks suggests they come from the same ideological space as the BBS, the far right group linked to both anti-Muslim pogroms and to the President’s brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
• The filming of activists. The fact that the mob who broke in started to film activists was clearly an intimidatory tactic, but it only works as such if you assume collusion with the state. A civil society group such as the Dead and Missing Persons Parents Front presumably has no need for footage of human rights defenders - the intimation was that the footage would be shared with Sri Lankan intelligence.
• The actions of state-sponsored and state-friendly media. State-sponsored and state-friendly outlets arrived quickly on the scene but many did not conduct responsible journalism. They colluded with the Government’s attempt to mischaracterize events as a simple spat between NGOs, they allowed dangerous lies (such as that the group were working with the UN) to go unchallenged, and they gave a platform for vicious hate speech – including the assertion that human rights activists should be hanged.
• The Government’s response. In a highly inaccurate official statement the Minister of External Affairs mischaracterized the event and blamed the organisers, participants and the diplomatic community for the incident. The Sri Lankan Lawyers’ Collective wrote an articulate rebuttal.
• The highly orchestrated nature of the intrusion. Many aspects of this attack appeared to be surprisingly well planned. For example it came to light that members of the media were invited to the meeting by a fake press release which was faxed from an unknown number to various media outlets at 2.29pm (i.e. after the event had started). The forged press release was constructed as an appeal from Brito Fernando for media coverage of an event being held to train those from Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka to give evidence to international investigations – yet again a lie, and a dangerous one.

Take these events together and what we have is a concerted attempt to warn civil society away from having any interaction with the UN investigation. But unwittingly in so doing the Government and its allies are making the need for the UN investigation ever clearer – by outlining how impossible it is to conduct these processes within Sri Lanka. Furthermore the new message the Government and its allies have been using (including in this confused piece by militant anti human rights journalist Shamindra Fernando) is a misstep. When demanding that the current international investigation must address rights violations committed by the LTTE they will find not the antagonism they expect but enthusiastic agreement from the international human rights community. It is precisely this all-encompassing approach that UN investigators will be seeking, and rightly so. The only difference is that while Shamindra Fernando and the DMPPF seem to think that one can only investigate war crimes by one side or by the other, we would argue that you can look at both.

In conclusion, this might seem like a lot of fuss to make over some shouting and shoving, a few dangerous lies, and half a punch – particularly when compared to the deaths of tens of thousands in 2009 and the ongoing oppression of Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka. But these events are important, because they form part of an ongoing and systematic attempt to control Sri Lankan civil society, the side effect of which is that it becomes virtually impossible to have meetings in which victims can mourn, reflect and above all, reconcile. Without the space in which these basic first steps of reconciliation can take place, the prospect of a return to conflict will remain.

Buddhist and Muslim extremists of Sri Lanka in a near clash in capital Colombo 

Wed, Aug 13, 2014, 09:30 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.


Aug 13, Colombo: Sri Lanka police today dispersed a group of extremist Buddhist monks led by Bodu Bala Sena secretary Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero who arrived in Muslim-dominated Maligawatte area to clash with a Muslim organization protesting against Israel.

The BBS monks argued with the police not to allow the Muslims to hold protest demonstration from Maligawatte to Colombo Fort.

Police had obtained an injunction against demonstrations in Colombo Fort and Pettah areas today and did not allow the demonstrators to enter the prohibited area.

Colombo Magistrate's Court yesterday issued restraining orders on the Thowheed Jamath, Bodu Bala Sena and Sihala Ravaya organizations preventing them from holding demonstrations and protests in Colombo and the Colombo Fort area today

The Buddhist monks had a heated argument with the police and the police removed th3e monks were removed amidst tension.

The Muslims belonging to Thowheed Jamath demonstrating against Israel attacks in Gaza strip blocked the road and held a rally against Israel.


Leaders of the Muslim organization attack BBS as pro-Israelites while the BBS says Thowheed Jamath is a dangerous organization that has links to jihadists in Tamil Nadu.

Mobitel official transferred for not giving ads to ‘Divaina’!

 Thursday, 14 August 2014 14:

Sri Lanka Telecom chairman Nimal Welgama has removed Mobitel channel head (marketing and advertising) Rukshan de Silva after he had ordered the reduction of the number of advertisements to ‘Divaina’ newspaper as its sale is on the decline, say internal sources of Mobitel.

Welgama is also chairman of Upali Newspapers, the publisher of ‘Divaina.’

A marketing survey island wide by Rukshan de Silva has shown that the sale of ‘Divaina’ has come down by 50 per cent. Therefore, he has ordered that the number of advertisements given to the newspaper be reduced by 50 pc. Angered by that order, Welgama has transferred him to the consumers division, whose head Chanaka Withanage has been appointed in his place. Chanaka is facing a disciplinary inquiry over a financial fraud.

Ajantha Seneviratne, the chief marketing officer during the period Leisha Chandrasena de Silva was head of SLT, was removed from the position and confined to a teleshop at Slave Island soon after Welgama took over office. Ajantha is an official who had saved between Rs. 300 million and 500 million for the institution during the period of the previous chairperson. The present chief marketing officer is Roshan Kaluarachchi, another official accused of financial fraud.

It is through Roshan that Welgama and Telecom director Shavindra Rajapaksa, second son of Chamal Rajapaksa, have given all SLT advertisements to Phoenix Advertising owned by Erwin Weerakkody.  By giving that advertising contract, both Welgama and Shavindra are obtaining financial gains, say the sources further.

Come on Nalini – Give more loans!

On Thursday, 14 August 2014

The National Savings Bank, considered the backbone of the nation’s saving, is setting yet another record in the Sri Lankan banking sector, say trade union sources of the bank. That record is that the NSB is running to the wants of its chairperson, who is without executive powers, while the bank is also without a chief executive or a general manager.

Incumbent chairperson W.A. Nalini had served as the NSB’s general manager for some time parallel to her posting at the Bank of Ceylon, and after Pradeep Kariyawasam, the husband of 43rd chief justice Shirani Bandaranayake, resigned as chairman, she was appointed to succeed him. This appointment was made by finance ministry Dr. Punchi Banda Jayasundara without approval from the president. That was because she was a batchmate of him at university.

After making her the chairperson, PB is directing the NSB unofficially through her. As his wishes, various persons are being given loans, loans are written off when not repaid, international bonds are issued in breach of the banking act, but in accordance with the ‘Punch Banda theory’. But, PB and Nalini had faced a barrier in their path in former GM and chief executive Hennayake Bandara.

He has pointblank refused to dance to their tune. An experienced banker, Hennayake Bandara has been performing his duties to safeguard the trust of hundreds of thousands of NSB customers and in accordance with the banking act, but that has not gone well with PB and Nalini. Therefore, their intention was to send him home as soon as possible. For that they had made plans.

As a result of this conspiracy by PB and Nalini, Hennanayake Bandara had been sent on forced retirement on June 17, six months before the date he was to retire. With the barrier in their path now cleared, PB and Nalini are enforcing the ‘Punchi Banda theory’ at their will and taking the NSB to ruin, say the bank’s TU sources further.

Asylum seekers & refugees in Sri Lanka: rubbish to throw out or persons to take care of?

by Ruki 

- on 08/14/2014 

When asylum seekers come to Sri Lanka, I feel proud to be a Sri Lankan. Because they have thought we, Sri Lankans, would show our love, care and concern for them and protect them at the time they needed it most – such as when face death threats and can’t practice their religion. Because they thought they could find hope for a safer and dignified life here with us, at least for a short time. Because they would have thought that our spiritual, religious and cultural values will make us welcome them, not throw them out in their hour of desperation. That our country would have laws, policies that would be sympathetic to their plight.

Asylum Seekers & Refugees in Sri Lanka Rubbish to Throw Out or Persons to Take Care Of by Thavam

Gaza conflict: Israel and Hamas agree to extend ceasefire by five days

A Palestinian man looks at the damage to a building in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Photograph: Ibrahim Khatib/Demotix/Corbis

Jason Burke in Gaza City, Patrick Kingsley in Cairo, and Orlando Crowcroft in Tel Aviv

Wednesday 13 August 2014 

Hamas and Israel have agreed five more days' truce to allow further talks after a tense final countdown to the end of the current 72-hour ceasefire on Wednesday night.
Gaza Conflict Israel and Hamas Agree to Extend Ceasefire by Five Days by Thavam

Britain to 'play a role' in Yazidi rescue mission in Iraq

WEDNESDAY 13 AUGUST 2014
David Cameron says "detailed plans are now being put in place" for an international mission to Iraq but will they be enough to help the thousands of Yazidi refugees still stranded on Mount Sinar?

The prime minister, David Cameron, spoke on Wednesday after returning from his family holiday to chair a meeting of the government's Cobra emergency committee to discuss the crisis.

He insisted the UK involvement remained a humanitarian mission as he faced calls to directly arm Kurdish forces or join the US in air strikes against Islamic State (IS) fighters.
Britain to 'Play a Role' in Yazidi Rescue Mission in Iraq by Thavam

Yazidis still reported trapped on mountain in northern Iraq despite U.S. assessment

By Liz Sly August 14 at 6:36 AM  

DAHUK, Iraq — Kurdish officials and Yazidi refugees said Thursday that thousands of desperate Yazidis remain trapped on a mountain in northwestern Iraq, even as the Pentagon appeared to back away from launching a rescue mission to save them.
Yazidis Still Reported Trapped on Mountain in Northern Iraq Despite U.S. Assessment by Thavam

Ukraine crisis sends NATO 'back to basics'

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen (R) attend a NATO-Ukraine foreign ministers meeting at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels June 25, 2014.

BY PAUL TAYLOR-PARIS Thu Aug 14, 2014

(Reuters) - More than two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union brought an end to the Cold War, Ukraine's crisis is driving the U.S.-led defense alliance back to its original purpose: To protect its members against a perceived Russian threat.
Ukraine Crisis Sends NATO 'Back to Basics' by Thavam

Labour party candidate 'killed at random by terrorists' in Afghanistan

Del Singh was shot in head and chest while eating at a restaurant in Kabul, an inquest hears

Steven Morris and agency

Wednesday 13 August 2014 

Dharmender Singh Phangurha, better known as Del, died in an attack on the Taverna du Liban restaurant in Kabul. Photograph: Adam Smith International/PA

A British aid expert and Labour party candidate was shot in the head and chest by terrorists while eating at a restaurant in Afghanistan, an inquest has heard.

Del Singh, who was in Kabul to help ensure aid reached its intended destination, was dining in a restaurant frequently used by visitors because it was considered secure.

The inquest in Winchester, Hampshire, was told that two insurgents armed with AK47 rifles were able to get into the Taverna du Liban restaurant after a suicide bomber set off a device outside. The explosion killed two men standing guard, and breached the steel security gate.

A total of 21 people died in the attack, including senior UN officials, Afghan dignitaries and restaurant staff. The gunmen also died in the incident on 17 January.

Central Hampshire coroner Grahame Short was told that Singh, 39, from Southampton, was an international development specialist who had extensive experience managing EU and UN projects in post-conflict countries including Afghanistan and Sierra Leone.

At the time of his death, he was working as an aid adviser for an organisation called Tour Afghanistan and was monitoring the flow of aid into the country.

A statement from Richard Ironside, a manager with Tour Afghanistan, said Singh and his team would always report their movements.

He said the Taverna du Liban was deemed a safe place because it had a steel reinforced entry gate, security guards, strict searches and alternative exit points.

Ironside said he received a phone call from Singh as the shooting unfolded. He said: "A call then came in from Del. He was saying 'I am at the restaurant, I am at the restaurant. I can hear firing in the background'."

Ironside said he could hear gunfire before the phone went dead, the hearing was told.

A postmortem examination showed that Singh had suffered four gunshot wounds – two to the head and two to the chest – that would have killed him immediately.

Acting DI Matthew Potts, a British counter-terrorism officer, said it was believed the bomb outside had allowed the two gunmen to breach security and gain access to the restaurant.

He said: "It does look like it was more of an indiscriminate attack on the occupants. Some staff and diners managed to escape the restaurant through the kitchen."

Dishi Kaur, Singh's younger sister, broke down as she told the coroner her brother was "a really great man".

Recording his verdict of unlawful killing, the coroner said: "I think Del was killed at random and deliberately by terrorists. I suspect they were trying to disrupt the government and election that was in progress.

"The insurgents themselves were killed but I believe their intention was to kill as many people in the restaurant as they could, knowing that they would die. Del was trying to help the government and people of Afghanistan and it is clearly a great tragedy that he died in this way."

Singh had been a Labour candidate for 2013's European elections. Ed Miliband paid tribute to him after the incident, saying: "He dedicated his life to working with people across the world who needed his support."

'Boys Will Be Boys'

In India's largest state, a misogynistic family-run political dynasty wants to pretend a rape epidemic doesn't exist.

• BY ANKITA RAO , VIVEK NEMANA-AUGUST 13, 2014

On the morning of May 27, villagers in the Badaun district in India's Uttar Pradesh state found two teenage girls, raped and murdered, hanging from a mango tree. The girls had disappeared the night before, never returning after wandering into the fields near their home to go to the bathroom. 

'Boys Will Be Boys' by Thavam