Mangala is ‘a liar’ – Tamara

March 21, 2015
Sri Lanka’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Tamara Kunanayakam, today accused Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera of playing on racist and chauvinist anti-Tamil sentiment and termed him as “unsuitable” to represent the country internationally.

The former Ambassador said it horrifies her that Sri Lanka should lose its credibility internationally simply because its foreign minister “is a liar.”

Last year, the ex-diplomat had alleged that a contract to renovate the official residence of the Sri Lankan Permanent Representative in Geneva had been awarded to an organisation affiliated with the LTTE and had called for an audit into the renovation work.

Ms Kunanayakam held a press conference in Colombo this morning to share her “concerns” regarding an “outrageous” statement made by the Minister to a television channel, while speaking regarding the audit report and the recent appointment of Kshenuka Seneviratne as Ambassador to Thailand.

The Minister has said: “We must find out about the person who is continuously making this accusation. Because this person Tamara Kunanayakam also is the one in 1989-1990 came forward on behalf of the LTTE at the United Nations and to the Human Rights Council, she is a well know person. Having functioned as a member of the pro-LTTE World Council for Churches I’m surprised that her pointing the finger at others saying they are pro-Tigers.

“However, if it is considered necessary I don’t mind going through the papers and conducting an inquiry into this. However, since we have to follow ‘Yaha Palanaya’ (Good Governance) just because some king or another person or a woman whose hopes have been dashed makes a complaint we can’t act upon it,” he had said.

Responding to what she termed as a “slanderous statement”, Ms Kunanayakam said that the minster has misused the fact that she is Tamil to brand her as having come forward on behalf of the LTTE.

“I believe that he has misused the fact that I’m a Tamil to automatically brand me as having come forward on behalf of the LTTE, an organization that I have consistently and relentlessly fought against and criticized throughout my private and professional life.”  

“The minister offered no arguments and no proof - because there is none. Why did the minister misuse public space and cast such a vicious accusation against me?” she asked.  

The former Permanent Reprehensive and Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva further said that only a day after having made this “defamatory statement”, Minister Mangala Samaraweera told Parliament that the government will review the ban on a list of Diaspora groups and individuals “as there was no tangible evidence to link them to the LTTE.”

“Now does this mean that he has tangible evidence that I came forward on behalf of the LTTE? Does this mean that my name appears on a list of LTTE terrorists? Or does the minister mean that he intends to draw up such a list and that he plans to put me in that new list of LTTE terrorists?”

Ms Kunanayakam stated that what troubles her more is that the minister represents her country abroad and that he is “abandoning the very promise that brought him and his government to power.” “The promise for a new and different Sri Lanka.”   

She said that it is indeed “shocking” that the Minister of External Affairs of the country should summarily dismiss the findings of the Auditor General of the country, simply as a complaint by a woman whose hopes have been dashed and say the government can’t act on it because it has to follow ‘Yaha Palanaya.’

“If that is the kind of ‘Yaha Palanaya’ the government has promised to the people of Sri Lanka and we see unfolding before our eyes - only some 70 days into the 100-day programme, then the people should be beware of surrendering their sovereignty to politicians who have nothing but contempt for ordinary citizens of this country,” she said.

“As a former Ambassador of Sri Lanka it horrifies me that this country should lose its credibility internationally simply because its foreign minister is a liar.”

“Playing on racist and chauvinist anti-Tamil sentiment just so he can eliminate the person that he considers dangerous, is not only week but it is devastating for the image of the country.”

“In my mind such a person is unsuitable to represent Sri Lanka internationally,” Tamara Kunanayakam said.

The Presidential Security Division Under Chandrika

By Rajan Hoole –March 21, 2015

Dr. Rajan Hoole

Law Enforcement and the Security Services: Politicisation and Demoralisation – 5

The old PSD trained by the Israelis became inactive after President Premadasa’s assassination. When Chandrika Kumaratunga contested the provincial council elections in 1993, those close to her were on the lookout for an unofficial security team apart from the official police security team. A notable member of the former was Morris Amarasinghe alias Baddegana Sanjeewa, a vehicle seizer for a finance company, and persons associated with him. Many such persons, after Kumaratunga became president, were absorbed into the PSD, the reserve or were discharged with favours – liquor licences have been cited in the Press. Chief Inspector Nihal Karunaratne who had served in the BSO under DIG Udugampola came into her security team, as ASP, PSD and became responsible for her security.

The original reasons for Chandrika Kumaratunga looking for additional security personnel, often thugs linked to the SLFP or SLMP, are understandable. She was vulnerable in 1993. But once such an outfit was put together under the auspices of the State in the form of the PSD, the temptation to use it for unlawful purposes was bound to be strong. Arming thugs as auxiliaries under the State was practised during the UNP regime. Under the Jayewardene regime for example, Gonawela Sunil was given a government job. Under Premadasa, Sothi Upali is said to have been a sub-inspector in the Police Reserve. The PSD then, however, did not generally get involved in scandal. There were others for dirty work. Under Kumaratunga, personnel from the PSD have acquired a reputation for thuggery, corrupt practices and worse.

Nihal Karunaratne

A man central to the controversy surrounding the presidential circle is the President’s media advisor Sanath Gunatileke, an actor, former Premadasa supporter and UNP provincial councillor. Following the 1994 presidential election he was appointed to that position at a salary of Rs.25,000/= per month – the same as the President’s. He seems to have rather played a role in exacerbating the President’s problems with the media.

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Fraudulent assets Sajin before court

Fraudulent assets Sajin before court

By Niranjala Ariyawansha-2015-03-21

 
The Bribery Commission filed a case in the Colombo Magistrate's Court yesterday charging Sajin de Vaas Gunawardene, former monitoring MP for External Affairs, with fraudulent accumulation of assets.
The case filed in Court yesterday came in sequel to investigations conducted into allegations against Vass Gunawardene by the Bribery Commission. Earlier on 22 January, they asked the Immigration Controller Nihal Ranasinghe to impound Gunawardene's passport to prevent him leaving the country.

Damayanthi Gunawardene, the former monitoring MP's wife, was also questioned by the CID on allegations of money laundering but no outcome is yet known on those investigations.
Dilrukshi Dias Wickremasinghe, Director General of the Bribery Commission told Ceylon Today that the case was filed under the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Act No 126 of 1975

She said the Commission had received many complaints against the MP relating to alleged unlawful accumulation of assets.
Commission sources said the case filed yesterday related to only one of the allegation filed against him.
Last week, Gunawardene was summoned by the Commission and quizzed for over six hours. He was first questioned on 3 March.

Fort Magistrate transferred

Saturday, 21 March 2015 

Fort Magistate Thilina Gamage has been transferred with immediate effect to the Colombo Magistrate Court as an additional magistrate. The transferred is effected from today.

Thilana Gamage was accused for being partial for bailing out pro Rajapaksa politicians and the latter was under severe criticism of the new government.

It is reported due to the pressure exerted by the politicians inconsistent B reports were drafted by the CID so that there is no option for the magistrates to bail out the accused.

Colombo additional Magistrate Priyantha Liyanage has been succeeded as the Fort Magistrate.

Gun battle as militants attack Kashmir army camp

BY FAYAZ BUKHARI-Sat Mar 21, 2015

(Reuters) - Two militants opened fire at an army camp in Kashmir on Saturday but were killed in a gun battle, an army official said, with the second attack against security forces in two days piling pressure on the federal government after it swore to end the violence.

Saturday's attack happened on the Pathankote-Jammu National Highway, around 20 km (12 miles) from the police station in Kathua district where six people, including two militants, were killed in a militant attack on Friday.

Kathua district is about 15 km from the border with Pakistan, which India has long blamed for pushing militants into its part of the disputed region.

"The identity of the terrorists is being ascertained. It is not clear yet whether they infiltrated recently or had infiltrated earlier. We have recovered arms and ammunition from them," Brigadier R. S. Rana of the Indian Army said.

The two militants were killed after a gun battle that lasted for hours on Saturday. "We went slowly to prevent any casualties," Rana told Reuters.

"We cannot rule out terrorists' presence, that's why we are still sanitising the area."

Security agencies believe that the two militants belonged to the same group that carried out the attack on Friday.

The national highway has been closed and state school examinations in the district have been called off.

The previous big attack in Kashmir was in December, when militants struck at an army camp in Uri, also near the border with Pakistan but further up the Kashmir valley.

"If (this) is indeed a terrorist strike, it marks a sharp departure from past attacks. Two attacks in two days in (the) same area of Jammu (is) very unusual," Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said in a Twitter post.

Pakistan denies allegations that it supports the militants and instead calls for talks to resolve the dispute at the heart of six decades of hostility with India.

(Writing by Malini Menon; Editing by Paul Tait and Clelia Oziel)

As Iraq forces push back Islamic State, a lucky few make it home

Iraqi Sunni refugees return back to Alam, northeast of Tikrit, after the town was recaptured by Sunni and Shiite fighters. (Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images)

By Loveday Morris-March 21 at 3:30 AM
ALAM, Iraq — Sabha al-Jabbouri gingerly opened the door to her family home to see a kitchen strewn with dirty pots and pans and rubbish. On the table was a half-eaten meal, indicating that the unwelcome guests who had lived here for eight months had left in a hurry.

On the wall outside was scrawled: “Property of the Islamic State.” Seized after Jabbouri’s family had fled in late June, the home had been used as an administrative office by the militant Sunni group. Printed forms from its “Department of Prisons” had been tossed around downstairs bedrooms that were filled 

As Iraq Forces Push Back Islamic State, A Lucky Few Make It Home by Thavam Ratna

The Iranian ‘bomb’ and its questions

The Iranians are offering a reasonably good deal, which the US must now grab if it is to avoid being left with, what some would say, no alternative but to bomb

• Jonathan Power -March 18, 2015

Where do Iran’s grand ideas about itself come from? From the history of its once great empire but also from the fact that the US encouraged Iran at the time of the Shah to both build up a nuclear industry and to become the regional power in the Gulf. Where does all the misleading information about Iran’s apparent desire to build a nuclear weapon come from? Mainly from the politicians of Israel. But not always from Israeli intelligence; two of its former bosses have cast doubt on the views of the politicians.

Where does the conviction of most of the US Congress that Iran is well on the way to building a bomb come from? US intelligence concluded in 2007 and has reaffirmed twice since that Iran abandoned its weapons programme 12 years ago. Iran is, of course, enriching uranium, for use, it says, in its civilian power plants to enable it to use nuclear power when its oil reserves start to fall. It has also invested large amounts of money in wind and solar power.

Why have negotiations never gotten off the ground until now? Initially, because President Bill Clinton was up to his eyes in negotiations with Israel and Palestine, and also North Korea. Why did his successor, George W Bush, rule out cooperation with a country he regarded as part of “the axis of evil”, even refusing to respond to a conciliatory hand of friendship offered by Iran? Because, at the back of his mind, he thought if it became clear that Iran was set on building nuclear weapons the US could bomb to bits its nuclear research and development plants. Why did the advocates of bombing get Bush’s ear? That is the kind of thing he liked to hear. But the fact is that military action would set back Iran’s programme for only a couple of years.

Why also did Bush sabotage anti-bomb negotiations with North Korea, which under Clinton had advanced to within sight of completion? Clinton was preparing to visit North Korea when he got bogged down in Israel-Palestine negotiations. Clinton had already succeeded in persuading North Korea to freeze its plutonium production infrastructure. The Bush position was that its nuclear programmes had to be completely dismantled, not frozen, even though the country was desperate for energy. The result of Bush’s shortsighted attitude to compromise was that North Korea stockpiled plutonium and tested a nuclear bomb.

Similarly, because of all the delay in refusing negotiations unless Iran was prepared to give up all its enrichment activity — a policy nullified by President Barack Obama — Iran advanced from having 164 centrifuges in 2006 to over 15,000 today, happily spinning away to enrich its uranium stockpile at a rapid rate.

Thus, late in the day, when the time for true compromise is water under the bridge, there are no “good” deals on offer with either North Korea or with Iran, ones that could have been obtained if not for the flawed priorities of Clinton and Bush. Nevertheless, the Iranians are offering a reasonably good deal, which the US must now grab if it is to avoid being left with, what some would say, including the Republicans in Congress, no alternative but to bomb.

As Obama keeps saying, there is no other way forward but this deal. War, he believes, is not an option. Its consequences are dangerously unknowable. It is very doubtful if the US public would support one more Middle East war. The negotiations that should conclude at the end of this month have two outstanding issues to be settled: when western and Russian sanctions will be lifted and how inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities should be conducted. The differences are not huge enough to sabotage a deal that the world now expects. Indeed, if it is not clinched and relations begin to deteriorate the Europeans and Russians could well break with the US. Obama has already indicated he will sign an agreement by executive fiat, if Congress is not willing to approve the deal. However, the Republicans are boasting that they will have enough votes to override a veto by Obama of a Congressional resolution meant to block the agreement.

The Republicans do not seem to care that this is not just a US-Iranian deal and say that if made it can be undone at a later date. However, European and Russian signatures — the US’s negotiating partners — will be added to the US’s. The UN Security Council will be asked to approve it and there will be a unanimous vote in favour. If the US later decides to buck the Security Council’s authority such a serious, unprecedented, breaking of international law would profoundly undermine world order.

Not least, Republicans need to be reminded that if the US walks away from an accord, so will Iran. If building a bomb was its intention all along it will build it.

The writer has been a foreign affairs columnist for the International Herald Tribune for 20 years and author of the much acclaimed new book, Conundrums of Humanity — the Big Foreign Policy Questions of Our Age. He may be contacted at jonathanpower95@gmail.com

Iran claims nuclear deal in reach as Kerry warns of hard decisions ahead

Negotiations with Iran resume next week. John Kerry said ‘we have an opportunity to get this right’ as Iran’s president says ‘there is nothing that can’t be resolved’

 In Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was more optimistic. ‘Achieving a deal is possible,’ he said. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP

Associated Press in Lausanne, Switzerland-Saturday 21 March 2015

The United States and Iran reported significant progress Saturday toward a nuclear agreement, with the Iranian president declaring a deal within reach. However, America’s top diplomat was more reserved, leaving open whether world powers and Tehran would meet a 31 March deadline.

Speaking after a week of nuclear negotiations in Switzerland, US Secretary of State John Kerry challenged Iran to make “fundamental decisions” that prove to the world it has no interest in atomic weapons. Amid conflicting statements by officials about how close the sides were, Kerry said, “We have an opportunity to try to get this right.”

The talks “have made substantial progress”, Kerry told reporters, “though important gaps remain.” Talks with Iran resume next week.

In Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was more optimistic. “Achieving a deal is possible,” he said. “There is nothing that can’t be resolved.”

Other negotiators offered both positive and negative assessments. Top Russian negotiator Sergey Ryabkov and Iran’s atomic energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi said in recent days that technical work was nearly done. But French officials said the opposite, declaring the sides far from any agreement.

Kerry was departing later Saturday to meet with European allies in London, before returning to Washington, in part to ensure unity. Kerry said the US and its five negotiating partners Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia are “united in our goal, our approach, our resolve and our determination”.

But France, which raised last minute objections to an interim agreement reached with Iran in 2013, could threaten a deal again. It is particularly opposed to providing Iran with quick relief from international sanctions and wants a longer timeframe for restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activity.

On Twitter Friday, France’s ambassador to the US called talk about needing a deal by 31 March a “bad tactic” that is “counterproductive and dangerous.” Gerard Araud called it an “artificial deadline” and said negotiators should focus instead on the next phase reaching a complete agreement by the end of June.

Kerry said the U.S. wasn’t rushing into a pact, stressing that the latest stab at a diplomatic settlement with Iran has gone on for 2 ½ years. “We don’t want just any deal,” he said. “If we had, we could have announced something a long time ago.”

But, he added, decisions “don’t get any easier as time goes by”.

“It’s time to make hard decisions,” Kerry said. “We want the right deal that would make the world, including the United States and our closest allies and partners, safer and more secure. And that is our test.”

Washington has yet to say what it will do if talks miss the March deadline, but the stakes are high. The Obama administration has warned that a diplomatic failure could lead to an ever tougher dilemma: Whether to launch a military attack on Iran or allow it to reach nuclear weapons capacity.

A more immediate challenge may be intervention from Congress. If American lawmakers pass new economic sanctions on Iran, the Islamic Republic could respond by busting through the interim limits on its nuclear program it agreed to 16 months ago. Thus far, it has stuck to that agreement.

Meanwhile, in a speech on Saturday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused the US of using economic pressure to try to turn Iranians against Islamic rule, underscoring a long-held mistrust of Tehran’s main negotiating partner in nuclear talks.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Netanyahu deserves the Israeli people, and they deserve him

If after everything, the Israeli phoenix succeeded in rising from the ashes and getting reelected, something is truly broken, possibly beyond repair.

Behind a voting booth at an army base in southern Israel, March 15, 2015. Photo by AFP 

By Gideon Levy-Mar. 18, 2015

The first conclusion that arose just minutes after the announcement of the exit polls was particularly discouraging: The nation must be replaced. Not another election for the country’s leadership, but general elections to choose a new Israeli people – immediately. The country urgently needs that. It won’t be able to stand another term for Benjamin Netanyahu, who emerged last night as the man who will form the next government.

If after six years of nothing, if after six years of sowing fear and anxiety, hatred and despair, this is the nation’s choice, then it is very ill indeed. If after everything that has been revealed in recent months, if after everything that has been written and said, if after all this, the Israeli phoenix succeeded in rising from the ashes and getting reelected, if after all this the Israeli people chose him to lead for another four years, something is truly broken, possibly beyond repair.

Netanyahu deserves the Israeli people and they deserve him. The results are indicative of the direction the country is headed: A significant proportion of Israelis has finally grown detached from reality. This is the result of years’ worth of brainwashing and incitement. These Israelis voted for the man who will lead the United States to adopt harsh measures against Israel, for the man whom the world long ago grew sick of. They voted for the man who admitted to having duped half the world during his Bar-Ilan speech; now he has torn off his mask and disavowed those words once and for all. Israel said “yes” to the man who said “no” to a Palestinian state. Dear Likud voters, what the hell do you say “yes” to? Another 50 years of occupation and ostracism? Do you really believe in that?

On Tuesday the foundations were laid for the apartheid state that is to come. If Netanyahu succeeds in forming the next government in his spirit and image, then the two-state solution will finally be buried and the struggle over the character of a binational state will begin. If Netanyahu is the next prime minister, then Israel has not only divorced the peace process, but also the world. Piss off, dear world, we’re on our own. Please don’t interfere, we’re asleep, the people are with Netanyahu. The Palestinians can warm the benches at the International Criminal Court at The Hague, the Israel boycotters can swing into high gear and Gaza can wait for the next cruel attack by the Israeli army.

The battle for all these has yet to be officially decided. The next prime minister will be crowned by Moshe Kahlon and the heads of other small parties. At the time of this writing, Kahlon has yet to declare his intention. The ball is in these parties’ court; they will decide if Netanyahu continues. Most of them despise him, but it’s doubtful whether they will have the courage to turn their backs on the public. That will be their test. That will be the test of their courage and integrity. Moshe Kahlon and Aryeh Dery, do you truly believe Netanyahu is better than Isaac Herzog for the society and social welfare you purport to care for? Does the country’s decent and courageous president, Reuven Rivlin, believe Netanyahu will be a better prime minister than Herzog? There is a lot resting on his shoulders now – but the fact that a figure like Netanyahu and a party like Likud succeeded in maintaining power as the country’s leading faction already says a great deal.

Netanyahu is threatening to surpass David Ben-Gurion as Israel’s longest running leader. He is already in second place, and yet it’s hard to think of one significant achievement on his part. The list of damage he has done is long. But he is the nation’s, or much of the nation’s, chosen one. That choice must be respected, even if it makes it difficult to hope for a good outcome. The only consolation is that another Netanyahu term will prompt the world to act. That possibility is our only refuge.

Gideon Levy tweets at @levy_haaretz

Embracing New Afghan President, U.S. Says Ghani Is No Hamid Karzai

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's visit to Washington is expected to reflect a new, cooperative relationship between his country and the United States.

BY KATE BRANNEN-MARCH 20, 2015

Washington is gearing up for Sunday’s arrival of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, whose message to the Obama administration and Congress on his first trip to the United States is: I am not Hamid Karzai.

Instead, Ghani will be eager to show that he is an “adequate strategic partner,” the phrase former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberryused to describe what Karzai was not. Rather than wanting U.S. troops out sooner rather than later, as Karzai insisted, Ghani doesn’t want to see them go.

With such a willing partner to work with, the Obama administration hasindicated that changes to its current troop withdrawal plans are likely.

“This is a qualitatively different relationship than we had with President Karzai,” said Jeff Eggers, senior director for Afghanistan and Pakistan on the National Security Council (NSC).

Simply put: It’s better, Eggers said in a call with reporters Friday.

But no decisions have been made yet with regard to troop levels, according to Eggers. However, he said, the NSC discussed options this week that were created by Gen. John Campbell, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, in preparation for Ghani’s visit.

Ghani’s presidency is a big reason why the White House is considering slowing down its exit from Afghanistan. But another decisive factor is the fierce fighting that continues between the Taliban and government forces. The United Nations foundthat 2014 was the deadliest year for Afghan civilians since it began keeping track of casualties in 2009.

Also contributing to the change in approach is the emergence of the Islamic State, and the concern that any gains made over the last 13 years in Afghanistan could disappear as they did in Iraq after U.S. troops left in 2011 and the U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces collapsed last summer.

Today, the United States has roughly 10,000 troops still deployed in Afghanistan, with plans to reduce that to 5,500 by the end of this year. By 2017, the current plan calls for all troops to leave except a small, residual force located at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

Ghani has not been shy about his desire for the United States to reconsider its withdrawal plan, telling CBS’s 60 Minutes in January that “deadlines should not be dogmas.”

If Karzai were still president, “then I would have been the first to say remove U.S. troops,” said Andrew Wilder, vice president for South and Central Asia at the United States Institute of Peace, where Ghani is scheduled to speak Wednesday evening.

The United States “was working at cross-purposes with Karzai, but now we have partners that want to make this work,” Wilder said.

Washington also needs to wait and see what happens during this year’s “fighting season,” which starts in a few months when the weather gets warmer, Wilder added.

Other big factors that could shape U.S. withdrawal plans are peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government that are rumored to be resuming soon. The United States is also waiting to see how well the unity government between Ghani and his political competitor-turned-partner, Abdullah Abdullah, operates. Abdullah, who lost to Ghani in last summer’s hotly contested presidential election, is now serving as Afghanistan’s chief executive officer, a position created for him to ensure peace in the country. Many cabinet positions and governorships remain unfilled, though, while concerns growthat Ghani may be consolidating too much power.

In the meantime, a new spirit of partnership between Afghanistan and the United States is expected to permeate Ghani’s trip, and perhaps where it will be most evident is during his Monday visit to the Pentagon, where he’ll thank U.S. troops for the sacrifices they’ve made for his country.

This is in stark contrast to Karzai, whose comments at times were so inflammatory that U.S. 

commanders worried they would incite attacks against American troops in the country.

“I don’t expect there to be a contentious part of this visit,” said Dan Feldman, the State Department’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“We have two extremely able, competent partners, with a very different approach toward the bilateral relationship with the U.S., and a very different vision for what’s best for Afghanistan, and one that is very much in alignment with what we have laid out from security to economics to international partnerships to reconciliation,” Feldman said.

Reintroducing Afghanistan as a willing and grateful partner will also be a theme during Ghani’s address to a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday, Wilder said.

The Afghan delegation arrives Sunday and will have a small dinner that evening with Secretary of State John Kerry, according to the White House.

After the visit to the Pentagon on Monday morning, the Afghan delegation will travel to Camp David, where they will be hosted by Kerry. Joining them will be Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, and Gen. Campbell.

At Camp David, there will be three separate sessions. The first will be chaired by Carter and will focus on Afghanistan’s strategic security overview. During a working lunch, Kerry will lead a discussion on regional engagement. Finally, Lew will chair the last session, on Afghanistan’s economic transition.

On Tuesday morning, Ghani will have a breakfast meeting with Vice President Joe Biden and then will make a trip to Arlington Cemetery. After that, the delegation will head to the White House for about five hours’ worth of meetings, and then will attend a dinner hosted by Kerry.

On Wednesday, Ghani will address Congress, a visit coordinated with the White House.

US climate change envoy: China, US working closer on deal

 By JACK CHANG

BEIJING (AP) — A U.S. envoy for climate change said Friday that China and the U.S. are working more closely than ever ahead of a conference this year in Paris that raises hopes for a global plan to cut greenhouse emissions.

Special Envoy Todd Stern told reporters in Beijing that he still expects hard negotiations between many countries in advance of the U.N. summit. But he told reporters there's "a greater level of convergence on some very important structural issues" compared to the months before the last major U.N. climate summit, which ended without a significant agreement in 2009.

With China emitting more greenhouse gases than any other country, and the U.S. a distant second, many are watching if the two countries can agree to a plan before the Paris meeting.

"I think we're on the same page on some issues, not every issue probably," Stern said of the U.S. and China. "But we are working I think in a closer and more cooperative basis than we ever have before."

Similar bilateral meetings resulted in major announcements by both countries in November of landmark climate change plans, including China's pledge to peak carbon emissions by around 2030.

In response to a reporter's question, Stern said he hadn't seen any sign from his Chinese counterparts that they planned to advance that deadline, although some experts say China's emissions need to peak much earlier to stave off major climate consequences.

"We didn't have any sense from within the (Chinese) government that there were views on their readiness to announce 2025 or 2020" as a peak date, Stern said.

He said Chinese and U.S. negotiators also hadn't discussed how quickly, or even if, Chinese emissions would begin dropping after reaching their peak.

Stern said the U.S. would like a Paris deal to set hard immediate carbon reduction targets and then a series of future reduction targets as well as pledges to generally move economies away from fossil fuels and other sources of carbon emissions.

CAUTION: Improper Sitting on the Toilet Can Cause Colon Cancer! Here’s Why… 

In today’s era of luxurious habits, the squat with bowel movements is referred to as old-fashioned and uncomfortable position. However, according to the latest research, the sitting position while sitting on the toilet is responsible for numerous diseases of our time.

Posted by Ivan Andreevski on March 20, 2015

The Israeli newspaper “Journal of Medical Sciences” published a study that is about the sitting position with bowel movements to blame for the high rate of morbidity from hemorrhoids, inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer and Crohn’s disease.

Israeli doctor, Dov Sikirov, conducted a research on the diseases of the digestive system and the benefits of squatting, which included 28 healthy adult volunteers, arranged in three separated toilets. In the first, volunteers used the toilet standard height of 41 cm, the second was flown at a height of 31 cm, and in the third, volunteers relieve themselves in the privy. Using a digital timer they recorded the time required to fully discharge the intestines.

Sikirov discovered that the volunteers crouching needed only 51 seconds, as opposed to those who have used a standard toilet and finished in 130 seconds.

It was found, also, that the seat improves the appearance of hemorrhoids, which occur due to inflamed veins of the lower part of the large intestine and anus. They arise, inter alia, as a consequence of stresses during emptying the bowel.

Also, the remaining contents in the intestine favor the development of infection, which can lead to inflammation and cancer of the intestine.
Crohn’s syndrome is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory bowel disease in which the immune system attacks the body’s own digestive system. It belongs to the group of IBD (inflammatory bowel diseases).

Australian researcher Wallace Bovls found that there is a relationship of human health and the bowel movement.

“It has been shown that intestinal inflammatory conditions respond positively to bowel movements in a squatting position. People with Crohn’s disease have confirmed the significant improvement after several weeks, and eventually disappeared all symptoms of this disease, “wrote Wallace Bovls.

Just like for bowel movements, squatting is the best position for the complete emptying of the bladder. Women’s urine flow is stronger and lighter when they urinate in a squatting position. In a sitting position the bladder is never completely empty, and urinary retention can lead to multiplication of bacteria or infection of the urinary tract.

The evidence is in favor of the old-fashioned positions and those people who are more in touch with the natural way of life. Those who choose crouching stance than the usual sitting on the toilet seat suffer much less from bowel disease.

The fecal matter that remains in our intestines may be the beginning of major problems. Causes accumulation of toxins and makes the rectum narrower. Our body is not designed for prolonged exposure to the substances that should be thrown out. Necessity is full of toxins that can cause malignant changes in the walls of the colon.

It is assumed that 80 percent of all cancers of the colon are because of the position, because the bladder cannot be completely emptied in a sitting position.

Benefits of the squatting position

Jonathan Isbit, who has launched a special chair for squatting wrote an elaborate article on the topic of health benefits from a seated position. It represents the seven most important advantages of a crouching attitude:

• Faster, easier and complete elimination (remember that, if all is well, you should not spend more than a couple of minutes using the toilet).
• Protection of the nerves that control the bladder, prostate and uterus, so that it does not stretch or damage.
• Support the valve, which closes the small intestine and prevents contamination during cleansing. If you sit, the valve cannot do its job properly, which can result in returning the fecal matter back into the small intestine.
• Relaxation of the pub rectal muscle, so the bladder can be emptied.
• If you are in a squatting position, using your thighs and effort will be much smaller. The stress can cause a number of disorders of the gut. Thigh muscle strain and a good exercise.
• Pregnant women can benefit from a crouching position to prepare for a natural birth. Also, this position creates less pressure on the uterus.
• According to recent studies, the position affects the prevention of hemorrhoids.

Conditions related to the sitting position

Health problems that may stem from inadequate use of toilets in a sitting position include some of the following problems:

• Constipation
• Hemorrhoids
• Colitis (inflammation of the colon)
• Colon Cancer
• Crohn’s disease (a type of inflammatory bowel disease)
• Incontinence
• Diverticulitis (forming a pouch in the wall of the colon and subsequent inflammation of one of these pouches)
• Prostate Disorders
• Hernia in the abdomen
• Stomach acid flowing back into the esophagus
• Sexual dysfunction

It is interesting to note that countries that are not western and where the squat is still practiced have a much lower incidence of these problems.

Squat and hemorrhoids

Research shows that stress is one of the factors that contribute to the development of hemorrhoids. The Israeli study conducted by Dr. Berko Sikiri shows that the hemorrhoids are successfully cured simply by adopting different positions in the toilet. When patients are transferred from a seated position in the squat, the problems were eliminated because they did not have the need for so much stress.

Natural Remedy for Constipation

Constipation and hemorrhoids are often linked, and people who have hemorrhoids often suffer from chronic constipation.
Squat can help with constipation. The muscles are relaxed, while the valve remains sealed. This creates pressure in the colon, which works as a natural laxative. When you are in a squatting position, gravity does most of the work for you.

For both of the above conditions of the bowel movement, it is important to consume enough dietary fiber, regularly drink plenty of water and exercise.