Schumer is next top Senate Democrat, adds Sanders to leadership ranks

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York will succeed Harry Reid as Democratic Party leader in the Senate. In a statement, Schumer vowed to go 'toe to toe against the president-elect whenever our values or the progress we've made is under assault.' (The Washington Post)

By Ed O'Keefe and Mike DeBonis November 16 at 11:31 AM

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) was elected as the next leader of Senate Democrats on Wednesday, establishing him as one of his party’s most senior officials in Washington and Democrats’ primary partisan counterweight to a Trump administration.

Schumer promised a “bigger, bolder, sharper-edged economic message” in his first remarks after his election and said Democrats would remain focused on the middle class “and those struggling to join it.”

“We heard the American people loud and clear,” he said. “They felt that the government wasn’t working for them. They felt that the economy was rigged against them in many places and that the government was too beholden to big money and special interests.”

In a gesture to his party’s progressive wing, Schumer added Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to a junior role in his newly expanded leadership team.

[Schumer is focusing on the big prize: Senate majority leader]

The New York Democrat and his leadership team were elected unanimously by the caucus, aides said. He had hoped to become Senate majority leader if Democrats recaptured the Senate majority this year, working closely with a Hillary Clinton administration. Yet the former head of the Senate campaign arm may agree with some of the new president’s priorities, including an infrastructure proposal to rebuild the country’s roads, tunnels and bridges.

Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) will serve as party whip and Schumer’s chief deputy, maintaining a role he held under outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.).

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) will serve as the third-ranking Democrat, forgoing a challenge to Durbin but assuming a new title of assistant Democratic leader.

Among Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was reelected unanimously by colleagues on Wednesday morning. He has faced no public challenges to his leadership. During a closed-door organizing meeting, his unanimous reelection was greeted by a standing ovation of fellow Republican senators, aides said.

Schumer also expanded the Democratic leadership team to 10 members, with Sens. Sanders, Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) adding to the team’s ideological, geographic and gender balance. Baldwin is also the first lesbian senator to hold a leadership role.

The move, Schumer said, “shows we can unite the disparate factions of our party and our country.”

Manchin will help with messaging, and Sanders will handle outreach to key party constituencies, while Baldwin plays an organizational role.

Manchin said he was pleased to take the position and denied speculation that he was given the post as a way to keep him from leaving the Democratic caucus. A moderate Democrat and former West Virginia governor, Manchin has been especially critical of Reid’s leadership and his recent comments denouncing Trump’s victory.


He has been holding interviews and meeting with Congress and the president as he prepares to transition into the White House.

On Wednesday, he said he plans to be a partisan bridge-builder — and that he hopes his fellow Democrats play nice with the opposition.

“If President-elect Trump comes with good policies, I’m going to be 1,000 percent behind him. Okay? 

Maybe the rest of my caucus will not, but I’m going to find a pathway forward,” he said

Manchin also blasted national Democrats and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign for dismissing the plight of his home state and other rural areas. People in his home state “were mad,” he said. “They were so mad that the social rhetoric was so offensive, it didn’t bother them because they were so mad at everything else. And if that’s not a wake-up call, I don’t know what is.” He added later that in West Virginia, “we feel like the returning Vietnam veteran. My little state of West Virginia has done everything this country has asked of it and they turned their backs on us and said, ‘Thank you, we don’t need you now.’ They’re not going to stand for it, and I’m going to make sure I’m their voice.”

One key party post remains unfilled: chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, who will be tasked with electing Senate Democrats in 2018, a year when they will be defending 25 seats and will have scant pickup opportunities among eight GOP-held seats.

“It’s no longer what it used to be,” Durbin said of the job, citing the new leading role of super PACs in Senate campaigns.

One potential pick is not even a senator yet: Sen.-elect Chris Van Hollen of Maryland would not confirm or deny Wednesday that he is in talks to assume the post. As a House member, Van Hollen chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2008 and 2010 election cycles.

Schumer, 65, was born and raised in Brooklyn and has an undergraduate and law degree from Harvard. He is the first Jewish man and first New Yorker to serve as a Senate leader, capping a legislative career that began with his election to a New York Assembly seat in 1975. He served three terms in the state Assembly before winning a U.S. House race in 1980 and his Senate seat in 1998.

In a recent interview, he admitted to feeling a bit listless and disregarded earlier in his career in a chamber led by then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and flirted with a New York gubernatorial bid. But when Reid became the chamber’s top Democrat, he tapped Schumer to lead the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2005 to 2009, and Schumer directed his political and fundraising acumen at electing 14 new Democratic senators in the 2006 and 2008 cycles.

Most of those senators are still in office and have enthusiastically backed Schumer’s bid to serve as Democratic leader since well before Reid announced his retirement plans last year.

Schumer and Reid have developed a close bond, with Schumer describing Reid as his best friend in the Senate and a brother. They were spotted conferring on the Senate floor Monday evening with aides, likely preparing for Wednesday’s leadership elections.

In his first remarks as leader-elect, Schumer acknowledged he would be grappling with a debate inside the Democratic Party over whether to make a new appeal to white working-class voters who flocked to Trump, perhaps at the expense of other parts of the Democratic coalition.

“I believe there does not have to be a division,” he said. “In fact, there must not be a division. We need to be the party that works on behalf of all Americans. And a bigger, bolder, sharper-edged economic message that talks about how people in the middle class and those struggling to make it there can do better, but also deals directly with the unfairness in the American economic system, will unite our caucus and speak to the blue-collar worker in West Virginia and Michigan, as well as the people who live along the coasts.”

In addition to filling out their leadership team, Democrats also rearranged who would serve as their top members on several committees. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), the chamber’s longest-serving Democrat, will be the party’s top member on the Appropriations Committee. That allows Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to become ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee — setting her up to be a key partisan critic of whomever Trump nominates to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) will become the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, giving him oversight of the CIA, which is based in his home state.

Could Trump's win boost Le Pen's chances in France?

France's far-right leader is likely to reach second round of presidential run-off, but the race could be tougher than Trump's.

by

Tristan Redman

-10 NOVEMBER 2016

Nobody is rushing to make political predictions now. But with the French presidential election less than six months away, shockwaves from Donald Trump's victory are already striking Paris.

Inevitably, Marine Le Pen is being touted as the main benefactor. Like Trump, she's a populist nationalist, and a far-right political outsider. Few people now doubt she will reach the second round presidential run-off.

Whether she can win the thing is another matter. I will preface what comes next with the usual caveats about the electoral unpredictability of our time.

But the French electoral system does not favour Le Pen in the same way that the Electoral College favoured Trump.

For two reasons: First, the French president is elected by popular vote. Second, France has more than two credible parties and these have a long tradition of setting aside their differences to block Le Pen from winning.

This happened in 2002 when Jean-Marie Le Pen lost to Jacques Chirac. He was crushed 82-18 percent by a "Republican Front". You would not expect Marine Le Pen to poll as low as that in 2017. But it is a big leap to 50 percent from there.

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OPINION: Marine Le Pen's victory is a bigger threat than ISIL

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The real beneficiary of Trump’s victory could be Nicolas Sarkozy. His political comeback is sputtering. He's well behind former prime minister Alain Juppé in the primary race for the Republican Party nomination. But Juppe is the establishment pick, a safe pair of hands.

After Trump, that looks anything but a selling point. Sarkozy is seen as a maverick with the political edge to veer strongly to the right and engage with Le Pen on her own turf. He did it in 2012 and will now be emboldened to push that tactic even further.

That could energise the party base to pick Sarkozy over Juppé. They’re fearful of Marine Le Pen and may now question whether Juppé has the muscle to take her on and appeal to angry voters.

And angry they most certainly are. A prominent former minister said on Wednesday that 11 million French people finish every month with less than $15 in their bank account. That precariousness will drive the election.

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 READ MORE: Dutch, French far-right parties call for EU referenda

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So the clearest lesson of all to take from Trump is that the mainstream candidates need to listen, and fast. If not, they could be heading for the same fate as Hillary.

Essayist Ivan Rioufol wrote on Wednesday that to hear one presidential hopeful propose post-Trump that a "digital economy policy" might be the solution to the current crisis is to "measure the blindness of France’s centrist politicians".

Marine Le Pen isn't the favourite to win the Elysee in the wake of Donald Trump. But the French presidential race has been energised since Tuesday.

It's looking increasingly certain it will be fought over hard right approaches to immigration and security, and that Le Pen will be an actor on the stage until the very final moments of the race.

PM’s chief of staff drawn into election expenses scandal

Prime Minister’s chief of staff Nick Timothy “provided assistance” to a controversial election campaign now under investigation by police, Channel 4 News has established.

15 NOV 2016

Prime Minister’s chief of staff Nick Timothy “provided assistance” to a controversial election campaign now under investigation by police, Channel 4 News has established.

Theresa May’s Downing Street aide is in the spotlight amid questions over the Conservatives, campaign to stop Nigel Farage winning a seat in Parliament at the last election.

Channel 4 News, which has been investigating the party’s election spending since February, has obtained new evidence suggesting a “crack team” of Tories including Mr Timothy were involved in Craig Mackinlay’s local campaign from a hotel in Ramsgate.

Kent Police and the Electoral Commission are currently investigating whether the Conservative Party broke the law by failing to properly declare tens of thousands of pounds in hotel bills, including approximately £14,000 at the Royal Harbour Hotel in Ramsgate where Mr Timothy stayed.

Election law states that any expenses incurred for “the promotion of the candidate” must be declared locally and are subject to tightly defined limits. None of the expenses incurred at the Royal Harbour Hotel were declared as local expenses by their candidate, Craig Mackinlay or his agent.

A Conservative spokesman confirmed to Channel 4 News that Mr Timothy was based in South Thanet and “assisted” the team, but said he was working as a “volunteer” on the “national” campaign.

 

 

 

The party told the programme Mr Timothy’s duties during the campaign included “briefing policy and political work on Home Office policy, briefing party spokespeople on Home Office policy, supporting Theresa May, and working on a variety of other matters for the Conservative Party during the campaign.”

But the spokesman did not explain why Mr Timothy needed to carry out those activities from a hotel in Ramsgate.

New evidence

The new evidence obtained by Channel 4 News also suggests that Conservative staff staying at the Royal Harbour Hotel were working on Craig Mackinlay’s local campaign.

The programme has obtained a large number of press releases sent out on behalf of Mr Mackinlay by the former Conservative Party Head of Press, Henry Macrory. Mr Macrory was part of the team who were guests at the Royal Harbour.

The press releases are branded “Craig Mackinlay – Conservative Candidate for South Thanet”. They contain Mr Mackinlay’s twitter handle and Facebook page. All say “For further information please call Henry Macrory”. The press releases were promoted by his local agent.

The programme has also obtained emails showing Mr Macrory acting as Mr Mackinlay’s press officer. In one email sent in March 2016, Mr Macrory told local journalists: “I will be helping out with Craig Mackinlay’s media during the election campaign.

“Please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can assist in any way. In the next few days or so I will start sending you a regular e-mail giving you an outline of what Craig will be up to during the week ahead.”

Channel 4 News can also reveal that another Conservative worker, Sam Armstrong, who stayed at the Royal Harbour Hotel was actively involved in Mr Mackinlay’s local campaign.

Mr Armstrong registered a website called “whereisnigel.com” which highlighted Mr Farage’s absence from the constituency during the campaign. The website was launched by Mr Mackinlay, and a press release was sent out by Mr Macrory to publicise it.

In 2016 Mr Armstrong was appointed as Mr Mackinlay’s chief-of-staff at Westminster. He was arrested in October in relation to an allegation of rape.

Police investigation

Channel 4 News has obtained correspondence between officers at the Serious Crime Directorate at Kent Police and Craig Mackinlay MP.

The letters, exchanged in March, reveal detectives were trying to establish whether Conservative staff staying at the Royal Harbour Hotel, were working on the local campaign.

Detective Sergeant Brian Gilham wrote to Mr Mackinlay asking: “Whether any of those persons who stayed at the Royal Harbour Hotel were engaged on the local campaign at any time, or whether they were engaged solely on the national campaign?”

Mr Mackinlay replied: “I can confirm that nobody staying at the hotel was subject to my, or my agent’s, control or direction, any national Conservative Party staff based in the Royal Harbour Hotel were part of a national campaign team and were engaged in activities at the direction of Conservative Central Headquarters.”

Mr Mackinlay failed to disclose that Mr Macrory, Mr Armstrong and Ms Little were all “engaged” in his local campaign.

Today Kent Police told Channel 4 News: “The Kent Police investigation into this complex matter is ongoing and officers continue to follow lines of enquiry. Therefore it would not be appropriate to comment further.

“A number of police officers continue to work on this investigation. Officers from Kent Police continue to work with the Electoral Commission as the investigation continues.”

In a statement, a spokesman for Craig Mackinlay said: “Our understanding is that there continues to be an ongoing investigation into the matters raised by the ITN report by both Kent Police and the Electoral Commission. As such it is inappropriate to comment at this time. We maintain that the South Thanet general election return was both lawful and proper.”

Why Russia Just Withdrew from the ICC

BY ROBBIE GRAMER-NOVEMBER 16, 2016

The International Criminal Court has had a rough year, and Russia just made things worse. On Wednesday, Moscow announced it was cutting ties with the international tribunal, withdrawing its signature from the founding treaty.

“The court did not live up to the hopes associated with it and did not become truly independent,” Russia’s foreign ministry explained, after President Vladimir Putin issued a decree announcing his country’s intentions to “no longer be a party” to the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute.

The timing is no coincidence. On Monday, the ICC’s lead prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, issued a report saying for the first time that the conflict in Ukraine amounts to an armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “The information available suggests that the situation within the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol amounts to an international armed conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation,” the report said. It goes on to say that Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian peninsula Crimea “factually amounts to an on-going state of occupation.” Putin clearly wasn’t too thrilled about that, as itthrows cold water on his official narrative Russia has no troops in Ukraine and Crimea voluntarily joined Russia in a free and fair referendum — a narrative pretty much everyone in the West and Kiev says is false.

Russia first signed the Rome Statute in 2000 but never ratified the treaty for the Netherlands-based international court that investigates war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity when national courts fall short.

Withdrawing from the ICC’s treaty has become en vogue lately. In the past two months, Burundi, Gambia, and South Africa all withdrew from the Rome Statute, citing alleged bias against African countries. The ICC currently has 10 ongoing investigations, of which nine are in Africa and one in Georgia.Uganda, Kenya, and Namibia have also signaled they are considering pulling out of the ICC.

“The ICC withdrawals risk becoming a bargaining chip by countries looking to make the world safer for abusive dictators,” said Elizabeth Evenson of Human Rights Watch. “Opting out or crippling the ICC’s ability to try sitting officials will only curtail justice for victims of the worst crimes,” she added.

Putin also could’ve had Syria in mind when he issued his decree; Russia has been accused of war crimes and ‘barbarism’ for its heavy-handed military intervention in Syria. And it just launched a new offensive in the war-torn country this week, which could have opened up to new ICC scrutiny.

The ICC doesn’t play favorites, however. As Foreign Policy first reported on Oct. 31, the court is also poised to investigate the United States for war crimes in Afghanistan. The United States first signed the ICC treaty under President Bill Clinton, but his successor George W. Bush revoked the signature over concerns that ICC prosecutions could turn political and unfairly target Americans.

Photo credit: VINCENT JANNINK/AFP/Getty Images

Malaysia: Ex-PM Dr Mahathir appears in protest shirt, urges public to join mass rally

Malaysia's former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed. Image via Youtube

 16th November 2016 

MALAYSIA’s still-influential statesman Dr Mahathir Mohamad has made a rare appearance in a promotional video for “Bersih 5”, urging the public to join the mass protest seeking Prime Minister Najib Razak’s early resignation.

The outspoken 91-year-old, who has been at the forefront of the nationwide campaign to unseat Najib, donned a T-shirt in Bersih’s signature yellow that had the words “Bersih 5” emblazoned across and in his message, told Malaysians to reject his former protege’s leadership that is now embroiled in a multi-billion dollar scandal involving state funds.

“Malaysia is now in distress. (Prime minister) Najib (Razak)’s administration has caused the country to incur billions of ringgit in debt, which cannot be paid by the government and state.

“That is why we must express our dissatisfaction with the government through participation in the rally by Bersih at Dataran Merdeka and any other location,” Dr Mahathir said in the one-minute-37-second video message.

He was referring to this Saturday’s mass protest organised by the Coalition of Free and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0). Like the group’s previous protests, Bersih 5 is expected to draw tens of thousands of Malaysians to the streets of the capital demanding, among others, reforms to the election process, an end to systemic corruption and Najib’s resignation.

“I hope all Malaysians will join this rally by Bersih because they aim to find a way to heal our country, change the government, so that it would be no longer led by a person who has been accused of stealing so much money…

“This is my hope and I hope all Malaysians will give their full support and participate in the Bersih rally,” Dr Mahathir said.

Malaysia: Dr Mahathir says couldn’t convince king to act on anti-Najib declaration

According to MalaysiaKini, the video was shared by an opposition party politician Chang Lih Kang on his Facebook page.

While in office, Dr Mahathir — who was the country’s longest-serving prime minister between 1981 to 2003 — had himself been tough on street protests and dissidents.

But since the emergence of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal two years ago, Dr Mahathir has joined anti-government dissidents in their campaign against Najib, who they believe is corruptly involved in the issue.

Dr Mahathir even left the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), country’s ruling party, to form his own opposition group.

The former premier has also reconciled with his former deputy and now opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who was jailed for alleged sexual misconduct and graft during his term in office, in the bid to boot Najib out of office.

SEE ALSO: Malaysia: ‘Frenemies’ Mahathir and Anwar unite against new security law

1MDB, an investment company fully owned by the Malaysian government, was created in 2009 by Najib to promote economic development projects.

But following numerous exposes by foreign media and local opposition lawmakers, it was revealed that billions of dollars from the firm had been misappropriated.

According to U.S. prosecutors, fund officials have diverted more than US$3.5 billion through a web of shell companies and bank accounts abroad.

In July, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit seeking the seizure of more than US$1 billion in assets allegedly bought with money siphoned from 1MDB.

The lawsuit only named “Malaysian Official 1” and did not directly mention Najib but the prime minister’s critics believe it refers to him. Abdul Rahman Dahlan, a key leader in Najib’s ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, recently told a BBC interview that “MO1” refers to Najib.

Pluto's icy surface may conceal a vast ocean, say researchers

The position of the dwarf planet’s heart has long been a puzzle. Now two research teams suggest Pluto tipped over - potentially aided by a huge ocean

 The 1,000-kilometre-wide plain known as Sputnik Planitia. Photograph: Nasa/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

Nicola Davis-Wednesday 16 November 2016 

Pluto may have a vast ocean beneath its frozen crust, according to researchers studying a heart-shaped feature on the dwarf planet’s surface.

Captured in high resolution by the New Horizon’s spacecraft in 2015, the bright, heart-shaped expanse is known as Tombaugh Regio, the left lobe of which is formed by the 1,000-kilometre-wide Sputnik Planitia. This plain is thought to have arisen after a meteorite slammed into Pluto’s surface billions of years ago, producing a crater that later filled with nitrogen ice.

But scientists have been puzzled as to why Sputnik Planitia lies near Pluto’s equator and faces almost directly away from Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, pointing out there is only a 5% likelihood that it could have ended up in such a position by chance.

Now, in a pair of papers published in the journal Nature, two teams of researchers say they have the answer: Pluto tipped over , potentially aided by a vast ocean beneath its icy surface.

“Roughly speaking it has got the same volume as the Earth’s oceans, because it is a lot deeper - it might be 100 km deep - but Pluto is smaller,” said Francis Nimmo from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a co-author of one of the studies, adding that the ocean likely stretches all the way around Pluto.

According to Nimmo, the meteorite impact on Pluto ejected a huge quantity of water ice, leaving a crater with only a thin layer of ice at its bottom. If an ocean existed beneath this layer, possibly kept liquid - or at least slushy- by the presence of ammonia, it would push upwards against the remaining thin crust, creating a bulge. And as water is denser than ice, this bulge would compensate for the mass of the ejected material.

As frozen nitrogen built up in the basin over time, adds Nimmo, the mass of the region would become greater than it was before the impact, causing Pluto to tip over.

 An ocean could explain why Sputnik Planitia - the left lobe of the bright, heart-shaped expanse on the dwarf planet’s surface - lies near Pluto’s equator, facing away from Pluto’s largest moon. Photograph: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

“There are two things that are happening,” said Nimmo. “Pluto’s rotation is pulling that extra mass towards the equator and the gravitational effect of Charon is to push it towards either the point directly underneath Charon or the point directly opposite [it], whichever is closer.” The result is that Sputnik Planitia ended up in its current location, near Pluto’s equator and facing away from Charon.

Without the influence of an ocean the research suggests the nitrogen ice would need to be more than 40km thick before the change in mass would be enough to trigger Pluto’s reorientation - a scenario the authors describe as implausible.

The second study, from researchers in the US and Japan, also suggests that Pluto tipped over, revealing that the pattern of cracks in Pluto’s ice crust fits with its reorientation, together with a slow freezing of an ocean beneath its surface.

But, they add, there could be several explanations as to exactly why the planet tipped, besides the idea of a bulge of water. Among the possibilities is that material ejected by the meteorite impact might have simply fallen around the edge of the crater, in effect cancelling out the presence of the hole, with later build-up of nitrogen ice adding enough mass for Pluto to tip.

And the dwarf planet may yet be on the move. According to James Keane of the University of Arizona, a co-author of the second study, Sputnik Planitia might still be accumulating nitrogen ice, with seasonal variations potentially causing Pluto to wobble. “I think that Pluto has astonished almost everyone, even the New Horizons team and even those who have been studying Pluto for the last several decades, with how geologically active [it] is,” he said.

Wesley Fraser, a planetary astronomer from Queen’s University Belfast who was not involved in the research, pointed out that it is not the first time a subsurface ocean on Pluto has been mooted, but said that the new studies were convincing. “All in all actually I think the idea is perfectly sound, it kinda solves a weird thing,” he said.

Breast cancer 'more often advanced' in black women

16 November 2016

Black women in England are almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with advanced breast cancer as white women, according to a new analysis by Cancer Research UK and Public Health England.

Late-stage disease is found in about 25% of black African and 22% of black Caribbean breast cancer patients.

In white breast cancer patients, the figure is 13%.

Experts say there are many reasons for this. Vital ones to change are low awareness of symptoms and screening.

According to Cancer Research UK, black women are less likely than white women to go for a mammogram when invited by the NHS.

Spotting cancer early is important because the sooner it can be treated, the better the outcome.

Beverley attends the BME Cancer Voice support group in Leeds

A support group in Leeds helps women of black African and Caribbean descent who have either had breast cancer themselves or have loved ones who have.

One woman there told the BBC: "A lot of us black people bury our head in the sand. 'Oh, me, well, I don't need to go, there's nothing wrong with me.'"

Another said: "I find a lot of people, they'll find out something is wrong but they keep it to themselves and they're praying. They're praying that God will heal them."

Heather Nelson, who works for BME Cancer Voice, said: "Women, especially women of colour, are less likely to go for screening.

"You'll get leaflets through your door and they will be predominantly of white, middle-class women. There's no representation of South Asian, African descent et cetera.

"If you get information like that, you're going to look and think, 'That's not about me.'"

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Most breast cancers are still diagnosed at an early stage, across all ethnic groups, the data for 2012-13 shows.

Dr Julie Sharp, of Cancer Research UK, said: "If you notice something that isn't normal for you, or you've a symptom that's not gone away or has got worse, getting it checked out promptly could save your life."

Lumps are not the only sign of possible breast cancer.

Women should also get checked if they notice any changes to their breasts such as nipple discharge or changes to the skin.

Breast screening (mammogram) is offered to all women in England aged 50-70.

The NHS is in the process of extending the programme as a trial, offering screening to some women aged 47-73.

Women over the age of 70 will stop receiving screening invitations but can arrange an appointment by contacting their local screening unit.

Follow our Pinterest board Shining a Light on Cancer

36 Tamil Victims Of European Countries Underwent Torture, Detention Under Yahapalanya

November 15, 2016

Testimony from 36 Tamil victims in three European countries, who have suffered abduction, illegal detention, torture and/or sexual violence at the hands of intelligence and security officers under the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government, it has been revealed.

File photo| Sri Lankan Tamil Torture Victim – Photo by Uvindu Kurukulasuriya

In 10 of these cases the victims have already been granted asylum, meaning their cases have already been found credible by foreign governments.

This confirms that secret torture sites still operating in Sri Lanka, the International Truth and Justice Projectsaid.

They also called upon the UN Committee Against Torture to visit Sri Lanka to conduct an independent investigation into the continued “white van” abductions, torture and sexual violence committed by the Sri Lankan security forces. The committee meets in Geneva this week to examine torture in Sri Lanka.

“Intelligence and security operatives continue to target Tamils for illegal detention in secret sites and inflict on them horrific torture and sexual violence with impunity, despite the change of government in January 2015,” said the executive director of the International Truth and Justice Project, Yasmin Sooka. “Torture and abduction are so systematic and entrenched in the DNA of the security forces that even a realignment of political parties in parliament and the new government under President Sirisena are not able to stop these crimes. It requires political will and a commitment on the part of the Government of Sri Lanka to carry out a comprehensive security sector reform programme which is sadly missing in Sri Lanka.”

The ITJP has collected testimony from 36 Tamil victims in three European countries, who have suffered abduction, illegal detention, torture and/or sexual violence at the hands of intelligence and security officers under the Sirisena government. Overall ITJP has more than two hundred statements from Sri Lankan victims of alleged war crimes and post-war torture and sexual violence who have fled the country. The orgnisation has also begun to identify some alleged perpetrators. “I want the outside world to know that torture is still happening in Sri Lanka and the torture that I suffered,” said a young Tamil woman abducted in a “white van” and gang raped this year in illegal detention in the north of Sri Lanka. “I was tortured and I want people to know what happened to me and to ensure that nothing like this will happen to anyone else again,” said a young male victim, “I have nightmares most of the time where I fear that they will come with guns to kill me. The day I attempted suicide I had been having these nightmares”.

Read More

Democracy: Direct vs Representative

by Neville Ladduwahetty-November 15, 2016, 8:02 pm 

The outcome of the recently held Presidential Election in the US and the Referendum in UK demonstrate the gulf that exists between Direct Democracy that operates on the direct vote of the People, and Representative Democracy that operates on the vote of elected representatives. The outcomes in the US and UK were based on Direct Democracy because issues were determined directly by the People, even though in the case of the US Direct Democracy was expressed through the Electoral College.

In the US and UK the predictions of the pollsters, analysts and media were so completely off-base that the world was stunned by final outcomes. In the case of the US, the Republican Party was searching for alternative candidates because they were embarrassed by the positions taken and expressed by Donald Trump on several issues. Notwithstanding this divide, the fact the Trump was elected demonstrated the stark disconnect between Party hierarchy and the People who voted for him.

Similarly, in the UK 3/4th of the UK Parliament was for remaining within the European Union. However, the fact that the British People voted to defy their elected representatives reflects a disturbing disconnect between all those associated with the political establishment including the elected representatives and their People, thus projecting a shocking breakdown in Representative Democracy.

What is alarming from outcomes in the US and UK is that if such disconnects prevail in so called advanced Democracies how appropriate and relevant are the decisions taken by their elected representatives in the name of the People in these countries, not to mention the decisions taken by elected representatives in less advanced Democracies.

Referring to the vote on Brexit, an article in The Washington Post stated: "The gap between the people and their representatives has never before, at least on an issue of this significance, been so wide. You do not speak for us, voters said. And we hold you in some contempt for your failure to represent, or even understand our concerns" (June 26, 20160. As in the UK referendum, the US Presidential election also demonstrated that the political establishment in the US also failed to "even understand" the concerns of the majority within each state.

LESSONS for SRI LANKA

The Preamble to the 1978 Constitution commits Sri Lanka to the immutable republican principles of REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY. In addition the Constitution requires several Articles that define the core values of Sri Lanka to be amended with the consent of the People, thereby recognizing that special instances exist that require both Direct and Representative Democracy to operate.

The opportunity for Direct and Representative Democracy to operate was presented when the 13th Amendment was introduced because it was a radical departure from the centralized governing structure of the State to one where certain defined powers were to be devolved to peripheral units. Due to an abdication of responsibility by the Supreme Court to come up with a single determination, the Court issued multiple determinations, thus giving Parliament the opportunity to delete the requirement for a referendum by the People. To deny the opportunity for the People to participate in an issue that so dramatically altered the political structure of the State and to constitutionally recognize the Province as a political unit for the first time, was treacherous.

Since then, the opportunity for the People to participate in a referendum presented itself when the 19th Amendment was tabled. This was avoided by deleting all the provisions in the 19th Amendment that would have required a determination by the People at a referendum. The expectation now is that the Constitutional reforms currently underway would require the People to express their opinion at a referendum. However, whether the Government would resort to the subterfuges resorted to by former Governments and avoid the need for a referendum citing the supremacy of Parliament coupled with a flawed interpretation of what constitutes a mandate, is any body’s guess.

It is thus evident that the People never had the opportunity to determine whether a majority of them would accept or reject devolution. Consequently, no Government is aware whether People would endorse devolution as a governing concept or not. Despite this ignorance attempts have been made and are being made on the assumption that People accept devolution as a concept of governance.

Such assumptions may come as a rude shock as it did in the US Presidential Election and in the vote on Brexit. If it does, it would confirm the gap in the perceptions between elected representatives along with their chosen experts and the People. The outcomes in the US and UK demonstrated that gaps existed because the people who were supposed to assess the concerns of the People were so remote from the People that they got it wrong. If the experts and the elected representatives currently engaged in Constitutional reforms in Sri Lanka are as remote from the People, they too would get it wrong.

CURRENT APPROACH

The current approach is focused on meeting the concerns of the Tamil community. This is reflected in the comments made by the President during the course of an interview reported in the Daily Mirror of November 12, 2016. To a question whether the new Constitution would meet the "call from the Tamils for Federalism", the comment of the President as reported was:

"People of the South are scared of the word ‘federal’. People of the North are scared of the word ‘unitary’. What we should do is not fight over these two words. We should come up with a formula that is acceptable to all. It takes maturity to understand devolution. We cannot satisfy the extremist elements in the North or in the South. We have to do what is good for, and acceptable to the majority of the people".

The issue is: Acceptable to which majority? Is it the majorities of the North, the South or the collective majorities in the North and the South? The majorities in the US and in UK were the disenfranchised white People. The lesson from the US and the UK is that the concerns of the majority are seldom heard. This is so in Sri Lanka too because opportunities for that majority to express their concerns have been denied. What is heard instead is the voice of the leaders of the Tamil community, and national and international experts. They all say unitary and federal are mere words. What they do not understand and therefore fail to understand is that to the South words such as unitary have dimensions far beyond being mere words.

To the South, unitary and territorial integrity are words that embody their sense of security and felt security to their unique civilizational identity as to who they are as a People. Consequently, the South sees both words from an emotional perspective because security and palpable threats to security coupled with identity, cannot be explained in terms of law or political science. To them, devolution represents a threat to a territory they identify with, and no matter with whatever degree of maturity one attempts to understand devolution, one cannot explain an emotionally felt threat. Therefore, it would have been more productive if the question is asked and answered as to whether the people are for or against devolution, before engaging in a journey of Constitutional reform.

The opportunity to test this out during the entire period that the 13th Amendment has operated in, was never attempted. This means that no one knows what the outcome would have been had it been tested. Without assuming that devolution would be acceptable, had the Constitutional reform process started out to know the pulse of the South through a referendum, the ongoing efforts would be based on fact and not on conjectured assumptions.

CONCLUSION

The outcomes of the Presidential Election in the US, and the Referendum in UK whether to leave or stay in the European Union, demonstrated the gulf that exists between the opinions of the silent majority expressed through Direct Democracy and the opinions and predictions of a vocal minority and their elected representatives in Representative Democracy. Whether such gulfs exist or not in Sri Lanka with regard to devolution has never been tested.

Without knowing the pulse of the People, the Constitutional reform process in Sri Lanka is being driven based on opinions of experts both national and international in the hope of addressing the concerns of the Tamil minority and fulfilling political obligations of elected representatives. If the intention is to address the concerns of the Tamil minority at the expense of the concerns of the majority, the process pursued would be untenable because they defy all norms of natural justice.

It appears that the experts have convinced the political establishment that words such as ‘Unitary’ and ‘Federal’ have no material significance. Such perspectives reflect the gulfs that exist in Sri Lanka. What these experts fail to realize is that to the majority, words such as Unitary and Territorial Integrity define the parameters of their security and felt threats to their distinct civilizational identity as to who they are as a People. Consequently, to them such words contain within them notions that cannot be explained legally or understood no matter one’s maturity. The inability to appreciate such emotions reflects the gulf that exists in Sri Lanka between the opinions of the political establishment influenced by their experts, and the silent majority who have never had the opportunity to express their deep seated concerns. This gulf is no different to the shocking outcomes demonstrated in the US and UK recently.

Neville Ladduwahetty

November 14, 2016