SL Banking Industry in deep trouble and turmoil- Standard and Poors International

Com Bank-HNB-Seylan have all been Rajapakised

 

 (Lanka-e-News-20.June.2012, 11.55PM) The Standard and Poors international loan classification Institution had stated that the SL Banking sector is facing a grave peril as regards its economy and lending . In its grading the mark 1 is given to countries where the least peril exists and 10 is given to those where the peril is greatest . The grade allotted to SL is 8 . Tunisia , Kazhakastan are also in this same category , according to the Standard and Poors International.

The SL banking sector had been driven into this perilous state because of excessive lending, and if this trend continues , the entire country’s economy would crash , the Institution points out.

The Govt. Banks owning over 50% of the shares of the commercial market , is a reason for this, it adds.

What is implied in this warning is at present SL’s main private commercial Banks have all been Rajapakised, with the operations of Seylan , Commercial, Hatton National Bank etc . being taken over and controlled by the Govt. The Govt. did this through diabolic tactics. Using the EPF funds , the regime purchased more shares of Commercial Bank and Hatton National Bank , and took over the control of appointing the chairpersons to those Banks .

One illustration is the appointment of Lakshman Hulugala a henchman of the Rajapakse regime to the Board of Commercial Bank who knows next to nothing about Banking and has no educational and professional knowledge, and who had only passed the GCE exam

When the private Banks are trying to recover the loans , by relaxing the rules, the Banks have been forced to waive the loan recoveries of the Govt. henchmen who have taken loans. Consequently the collapse faced by the State Banks are being faced by the private Banks too.
A case in point is the loan of Rs. 9 million granted by Hatton National Bank to a henchman of MaRa from Balapitiya . The President himself has intervened and compelled the Bank when recovering the loan to reduce the loan repayment to one million . Despite the Bank having filed legal action for recovery , because of MaRa ‘s pressure the Bank lost Rs. 8 million in capital and interest. 

The private Banking sector which had a history of growth and progress hitherto, is now owing to the Rajapakising fast heading towards disaster . This has been confirmed by the Standard and Poors Institution too in its report.

UP TO 75 FEARED DEAD IN AUSTRALIA BOAT CAPSIZE - POLICE

June 21, 2012 

 Australian police said Thursday that early reports suggested up to 75 asylum seekers had died after their boat capsized off remote Christmas Island en route from Sri Lanka.

Western Australia police commissioner Karl O’Callaghan said a “large number” of the 200 on board were feared to have perished.

“Some of the very early reports suggest that up to 75 people may have drowned, but I do stress that they are unconfirmed at this stage,” O’Callaghan told reporters.

“There were about 200 refugees on board we think. Currently there’s about 40 on the hull and the rest are in the water,” he added.

O’Callaghan said police were “very concerned for a large number of people who may have drowned” as a result of the capsize, which occurred in Indonesian waters 120 nautical miles north of Australia’s Christmas Island.

“We know from what we’ve been hearing from the aircraft that there’s not 200 life jackets on board,” he added.

O’Callaghan said it looked as though the operation “will have to go well into the night”, AFP reports.

Request for UN to Dis-Accredit Inner City Press Filed by UNCA Officer VOA, Big Media & Lanka Roots

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 21 -- The UN has received, but not disclosed to Inner City Press, a formal request from one of the Big Media officers of the UN Correspondents Association to have its Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit "review Mr. Lee's status as an accredited U.N. correspondent."

  This confirms the Press exclusion goals of the "Board of Examination" process initiated by Reuters' Louis Charbonneau, Agence France Presse' Timothy Witcher, Bloomberg's Flavia Krause-Jackson of Bloomberg, Al-Arabia's Talal Al-Haj and Margaret Besheer of Voice of America, which formally filed the complaint.

  Ironically, in terms of freedom of speech and of the press, VOA Executive Editor Steve Redisch on the very day that The Guardian (UK) mocked the UNCA process as one based on big media attempt to crush and exclude a smaller competitor which repeatedly scoops them, says Inner City Press "lacks proper judgment."

  The day before, Redisch and VOA were notified of other coverage of the free press controversy. Perhaps VOA viewssome American media as "harassing." Or did Redisch only go forward with the complaint after conferring with his UN interlocutor, Stephane Dujarric de la Riviere, the head of the UN's News & Media Division, formerly Kofi Annan's spokesman?        Full Story>>>

Cuba Hosted Sri Lanka Pres/War Criminal

By Ron Ridenour

Sri Lankan President Mahind Rajapaksa and Cuban President Raul Castro. File photo from colombopage.com

June 20, 2012

HAVANA TIMES — “Cuban President Receives Counterpart from Sri Lanka” read the Prensa Latina headline of June 17. The agency reported that the four-day official visit by President Mahinda Rajapaksa was at the invitation of President Raul Castro.

Does this mean that the “honored guest”—widely known to be one of the world’s most brutal government leaders, responsible for tens of thousands of deaths of the Tamil people, who is also selling much of his country to foreign multi-nationals corporations, and whose main export partner is the United States—is made of the same stuff as his “counterpart”?

“Cuba is acting immorally and in contradiction to its long-time solidarity with the oppressed and exploited peoples of the world,” I wrote in “Cuba outvoted at “UN Human Rights Council over Sri Lanka-Tamils”. (See also “Cuba’s Contradictory Stance on Tamils”)

There is ample evidence that Sri Lankan governments have long been discriminating against, oppressing and murdering Tamils. Besides physical violence, the government has passed laws making Tamils second-class citizens.

They are denied equal access to education and employment; their religions and language are not on an equal footing with Sinhalese and their aggressiv version of Buddhism. My recent book, “Tamil Nation in Sri Lanka”, outlines this sordid history.

So, why is the Cuban government supporting this and the previous Sinhalese chauvinist governments? Havana Times offers some answers in “Will Sri Lanka Tamils get justice from the UN?”

The foreign politics of the Cuban government is based, in large part and understandably so, on its rancor with the United States for its permanent intrusion in Cuban affairs as well as that of many other peoples and governments who do not buckle under its domination.

Recently, the US has leveled complaints that the Sri Lanka government overstepped its right to destroy the guerrilla organization Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by bombing civilians.

Most of the 47 governments on the Human Rights Council, including six Latin American governments, agreed.

This is not to be construed as an offering of applause to the world’s greatest terrorist state, for the US makes this “human rights” gesture for its own hypocritical geo-political reasons, which the writing above explains.

Since the US-UK axis makes an insignificant complaint about this, Cuba’s government, in a knee jerk fashion, is all the more enthusiastic about being chummy with a government that systematically eliminates Tamils in a genocidal pattern.

By so reacting, Cuba has turned its back on its own solidarity principles of standing beside all oppressed and exploited peoples. (1)

As a long-time supporter of the Cuban revolution—since my first demonstration, which took place in April 1961 in front of a US federal building as the Yankees invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, and through to working for Prensa Latina and Editorial José Martí in the 1980s-90s, and with hundreds of articles and six books on Cuba to my credit—I am sickened by the Cuban government’s hypocritical support of Rajapaksa and his family regime and, consequently, the immoral acceptance of the genocide against a minority people. I am certain that if Che Guevara were around he would rant and rave, and that is what I ask all solidarity supporters of Cuba to do.

Army denies abuse allegations

COLOMBO GAZETTEJune 20, 2012

The army today denied allegations raised by a European human rights group of women being abused by the military in the north and east.

Army Spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasuriya said the allegations are baseless and there are no police reports to back such claims.

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), in a press statement, said it has had discussions with three Special UN Rapporteurs as well as a Working Group of the United Nations on the plight of women and girls in the north and east.

ECCHR says the number of assaults on women and girls in these regions has risen and is attributable to the increased number of military and police presence in those areas.

ECCHR claims the military is increasingly taking over police duties and women and girls would have to make complaints directly to the perpetrators and therefore they avoid speaking out due to fear of stigmatization, threats and possible further attacks.

However Brigadier Wanigasuriya insisted that the military presence in the north has been drastically reduced as compared to previous years.

He said that ECCHR should visit the north and look at the actual ground situation without releasing reports or statements based on hearsay.

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) is an independent, non-profit legal and educational organization dedicated to protecting civil and human rights throughout Europe.

It was founded in 2007 by a small group of renowned human rights lawyers, in order to protect and enforce the rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as other declarations of human rights and national constitutions, by juridical means.  (Colombo Gazette)

Sri Lanka Accused Of Discriminating Against Women

Thursday, June 21, 2012

By Maryam Azwer

A European human rights watchdog has accused Sri Lanka of violating a United Nations (UN) convention on discrimination against women.
The European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) in a recent media statement said that women and girls in the North and East are subject to harassment by police and military personnel.
These incidents are linked to the Prevention of Terrorism
Act (PTA), which, the statement said, “makes it easier for police and military members to carry out body inspections and ‘searches’ without having to justify doing so. These searches are often carried out alongside sexual harassment and violence that is specifically of a sexual nature.”
It is therefore required to eliminate all laws that may lead to direct or indirect forms of discrimination,” said the ECCHR.
The ECCHR also called on the UN to conduct inquiries into the prevailing conditions surrounding women and girls in the North and East, and to “encourage Sri Lanka to reconcile the PTA with the Convention.”
The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), recognizes violence on the grounds of gender as a form of discrimination.
“Sri Lanka ratified this agreement and is thus currently disregarding the obligation it accepted  to fight any forms of discrimination and to ensure the effective prosecution of perpetrators of gender-based violence.

The United Nations and Freedom of the Press: Good for Thee, But Not For Me?

Location: The Heritage Foundation’s Allison Auditorium

The human rights bodies of the United Nations have long been advocates for freedom of the press. In recent years, however, the United Nations has come under increased scrutiny from the press, resulting in a number of embarrassing news stories focusing on the organization and its activities. This increased scrutiny has resulted occasionally in strained relations between the UN and the press. Earlier this year, a news outlet called “Inner City Press” was de-listed from Google news after repeatedly publishing stories embarrassing to the United Nations, particularly the United Nations Development Program. Reporter Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press was subsequently harangued and threatened by a senior UN official. Based on a relationship between Google and the UN, questions were raised about whether the de-listing was linked to critical news stories on the UN by Inner City Press. How transparent and cooperative is the UN to press inquiries and investigations? Is the UN pursuing a double standard in urging its members to support press freedom while seeking to shield itself from press inquiries? What can and should be done to enhance journalistic access to the UN and its activities? Join us as our distinguished panelists discuss these issues.
 Location: The Heritage Foundation’s Lehrman Auditorium 
The human rights bodies of the United Nations have long been advocates for freedom of the press. In recent years, however, the United Nations has come under increased scrutiny from the press, resulting in a number of embarrassing news stories focusing on the organization and its activities. This increased scrutiny has resulted occasionally in strained relations between the UN and the press. Earlier this year, a news outlet called “Inner City Press” was de-listed from Google news after repeatedly publishing stories embarrassing to the United Nations, particularly the United Nations Development Program. Reporter Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press was subsequently harangued and threatened by a senior UN official. Based on a relationship between Google and the UN, questions were raised about whether the de-listing was linked to critical news stories on the UN by Inner City Press. How transparent and cooperative is the UN to press inquiries and investigations? Is the UN pursuing a double standard in urging its members to support press freedom while seeking to shield itself from press inquiries? What can and should be done to enhance journalistic access to the UN and its activities? Join us as our distinguished panelists discuss these issues.

Journalist Who Exposes U.N. Corruption Disappears From Google

Written By Michael Y. Park

Published February 18, 2008

FoxNews.com

How big do you have to be to earn the wrath of the United Nations and Internet giant Google?

If you're journalist Matthew Lee, all it takes are some critical articles and a scrappy little Web site.

Lee is the editor-in-chief, Webmaster and pretty much the only reporter for Inner City Press, a pint-sized Internet news operation that's taken on Goliath-sized entities like Citigroup since 1987.

Click here to view the Inner City Press Web site.

Since 2005, he's been focusing almost entirely on stories that deal with internal corruption inside the U.N., posting several stories online almost daily.

He's been especially interested in the inner workings of what could be called the practical-applications arm of the international organization, the United Nations Development Programme.

Many of Lee's stories were featured prominently whenever Web users looked for news about the U.N. using the powerful Google News search engine, a vital way for media outlets both large and small to get their articles read.

But beginning Feb. 13, Google News users could no longer find new stories from the Inner City Press.

"I think they said, 'If we can't get this guy out of the U.N., let's disappear him from the Internet,'" Lee said.

It began with an innocuous-sounding yet chilling form letter from Google to Lee, e-mailed on Feb. 8:

"We periodically review news sources, particularly following user complaints, to ensure Google News offers a high quality experience for our users," it said. "When we reviewed your site we've found that we can no longer include it in Google News."

As soon as he read it, Lee immediately suspected one thing: That someone at the UNDP had pressured Google into "de-listing" him from Google News — essentially preventing Inner City Press from being classified on Google News as a legitimate news source and from having its stories pop up when someone conducts a Google News search.

Over the last couple of years, Lee has proved to be a constant — and controversial — thorn in the U.N.'s side.

Though his writing is clunky, his methods unorthodox (and often highly annoying) and his news judgment sometimes more than a little off the mark, Lee has hit his share of bull's-eyes and became an outlet for whistleblowers inside the U.N.

In 2006, for example, he drew attention to human-rights abuses by the Ugandan People's Defense Force during a U.N. disarmament program, including incidents in which four people were killed and over 100 homes destroyed.

In November 2007, during a press conference in which Google announced its partnership with the UNDP to achieve anti-poverty goals, Lee earned a less-than-friendly response when he asked why the Internet company hadn't signed a global human-rights and anti-censorship compact —elements in the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals.

[Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker told FOXNews.com that "Google generally does not sign petitions or join coalitions but prefers to support public-engagement and advocacy efforts through the work of Google.org and by leveraging our products, such as Google Earth."]

It was this incident, Lee said, that put him in the crosshairs. Lee said he felt certain that the Internet company and the international agency had now joined forces to make his work less accessible to the public.

"I've been covering ... U.N. stories, three to four a day, for two years, and for the last two years there's been no problem at all," Lee said. "Then that Friday, I received the e-mail. There's something a little skeezy here. I think that Google got involved with the U.N. on these Millennium goals and thought, this is the United Nations, if they tell you some small Web site is a thorn in their side and there's a credible reason you could remove them from your news service, you do it."

According to Stricker, on Feb. 1 someone e-mailed Google a complaint about Lee's Web site, alleging that Inner City Press was a one-man operation, thus violating the Google News ground rule that news organizations it lists must have two or more employees.

Lee is vague about how many people work for the Inner City Press, but said there's at least one woman who works for the organization full-time, as well as "about half a dozen" volunteers.

"If people work for us as volunteers, why does it not count?" he said. "Is it their business?"

Stricker said it is the only complaint that Google has ever received about Inner City Press and doesn't publish the qualifications it requires for being included, to thwart those who want to abuse the system.

But on Feb. 8 Google notified Lee about his new "de-listing" status.

When Lee received the e-mail from Google, he responded immediately, noting that Inner City Press had been accredited by the U.N. and was mentioned frequently in other media as an important U.N. watchdog.

A Google representative answered that Inner City Press would be restored to the Google News service as usual, but that the process might take "a couple weeks," according to Lee. Still, from Feb. 13 on, Inner City Press stories stopped showing up on Google News, something Google attributes to a technical error.

"We acknowledged our misunderstanding ... but it takes time for the restoration to occur," Stricker said. "The glitch will be resolved as soon as possible. We're working on it."

The reaction to the de-listing, however temporary, has been furious. The non-profit Government Accountability Project lambasted the company, calling Inner City Press "the most effective and important media organization for UN whistleblowers."

"We're alarmed," said Bea Edwards, GAP's international-program director. "The question is, is what user sent the complaint? And it's probably not too hard to guess. We would guess the complaints came from the UNDP."

Tuyet Nguyen, president of the U.N. Correspondents Association, said he was fully behind Lee, who was elected first vice president of the association in December 2006.

"The sad story about Google is that they're shutting people up and not doing a good thing for society by only defending their business interests," he said. "They have a responsibility to society in letting people speak out. And I'm not surprised that those U.N. agencies are trying to hide."

But UNDP spokesman David Morrison called allegations of the agency's involvement preposterous.

"It wasn't us," he said. "We did not contact Google."

Google refuses to reveal who sent the complaint against Inner City Press, citing privacy concerns.

Lee, who hasn't stopped writing his U.N. exposes despite the temporary de-listing, said that he's taken aback by the lengths to which, according to him, an international organization ostensibly dedicated to world peace will go to silence a critic as obscure to the general public as himself.

"It's a little weird," he said. "I guess they're just so unused to being covered like a public organization."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,331106,00.html#ixzz1yOhzqr3D

Good Journalism at the U.N.? 

June 25 Issue

By Brett D. Schaefer

JUNE 18, 2012 12:00 P.M. Good Journalism at the U.N.? It might become harder to find. By Brett D. Schaefer Matthew Lee, reporter for Inner City Pres   Brett D. Schaefer  With all the corruption at the United Nations, you might think that the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) would have better things to do than pick a fight with a single reporter. But you would be wrong. Matthew Lee is the only reporter for Inner City Press, a Bronx-based nonprofit group known mainly for investigations of financial institutions and advocacy for the poor. Lee has broken a number of stories about the U.N., but now he himself is the story. In fact, he could become the first journalist ever expelled from UNCA. Last week, UNCA announced that it would investigate Lee for unethical and unprofessional behavior. Few reporters with knowledge of the situation wish to comment on the record, but journalists both inside and outside the UNCA say the situation is one in which personal animosity has overridden professional judgment. Regarded as abrasive by some of his colleagues, Lee has had volatile arguments with other UNCA reporters, and has frequently complained about other journalists’ failing to credit him for breaking news. He has also written stories accusing the UNCA president, Giampaolo Pioli, of a conflict of interest involving Sri Lanka. These personal disputes lie at the heart of the UNCA investigation. UNCA is a self-governing body. Thus, whether Lee remains a member is entirely up to the organization. UNCA membership is not a prerequisite for obtaining U.N. press credentials, which are granted by the U.N. Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit (MALU) — so Lee’s expulsion would not automatically deprive him of U.N. access. According to the Guidelines on Media Access at United Nations Headquarters: The United Nations Department of Public Information as well as the Safety & Security Service reserve the right to deny or withdraw accreditation of journalists from media organizations whose activities run counter to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations or who abuse the privileges so extended or put the accreditation to improper use or act in a way not consistent with the principles of the Organization or established journalism ethics and standards. A MALU spokesperson acknowledged that the U.N. has rescinded press credentials in the past, but she added that UNCA’s investigation of Lee would not directly influence MALU. Lee’s grammar and style are often unusual, and he sometimes fails to observe journalistic niceties. Although these traits are not uncommon among small media outlets, some journalists have expressed concern that they — along with an unfavorable UNCA decision — could allow the U.N. to deny Lee’s reapplication for press credentials on the basis that his actions are inconsistent with “established journalism ethics and standards.” His current credentials expire in August.

Even ghouls will show better sympathy to the dead than MaRa and goons –white flags, funeral leaflets banned

(Lanka-e-News -19.June.2012, 11.30PM) We witnessed in the recent past how the Govt. after killing innocent civilians, also got an injunction from its MaRadhikaranaya (MaRa courts) against the funeral proceedings and obstructed the funeral activities. This same action was resorted to by this ghoulish Govt. in connection with the death of Malini and Nimantha who were most ruthlessly killed by a Govt. affiliated underworld criminal when they were participating in a JVP meeting with the public at Katuwana. The Govt. as in the past so in these cases , obstructed the funeral arrangements and proceedings by securing a Magistrate court injunction , which prohibited even flags signifying mourning , posters and banners from the funeral venue and vicinity . Distribution of leaflets of mourning or funeral too were banned. This clearly is testimony to what barbaric level this country has hurtled down to owing to the MaRa regime and its MaRadhikaranaya ( MaRa court). Even ghouls will have better sympathy to the dead than the MaRa goons. Herein is the court injunction order . The comic feature in this court order is , the Magistrate while issuing this prohibition notice against using white flags and distribution of leaflets of mourning and sorrow says not to defile the dead. This judge must be a clown from a foreign circus and not a judge of the local court , for he does not know the customs of the Sri Lankans . White flags are hoisted not to vilify the dead , but as a mark of respect to the dead and as an expression of sorrow. Instead of seeing to it that the criminal is arrested and showing respect thereby to the dead , this judge is showing disrespect to the dead by even disallowing white flags being hoisted . Is it because he is a ghoul like Mara who fa

Who killed cock robin and thousands of Tamil civilians

I, said, Gota and Fonseka in unison

| by Pearl Thevanayagam

Tamil civilians lie on a cardboard box on the ground in the Manik Farm refugee camp - File Photo

(June 19, 2012, London, Sri Lank Guardian) War was over three years ago. Three years on, the euphoria of the government has not abated. All in the name of wiping out terrorism, thousands perished in Mullivaikkal but war victory is celebrated more often than the Trooping of the Colours for the Queen's official birthday which brought the royal extended family, public and the royal guards for a day of pomp and pageant three days ago.

The queen is the embodiment of enduring a very long reign and the public love her. As Head of the Commonwealth and the longest serving monarch after Queen Victoria she is still held in reverence not for conquering countries by sheer brutal force or handing out Bibles and taking over them but for accommodating her Commonwealth citizens and treating them as equals.

General Fonseka is sparing no breath after his release from prison to regurgitate his claim to the war victory hoping to enter the fray in the next presidential election which is not due until 2016 thanks to the executive presidency which the late President Junius Richard Jayewardene introduced and despite promises by successive presidents to abolish continues to give absolute oligarchical powers to the Head of the State. It is quite naïve for the voting populace to expect a party in power to do away with this coveted prize handed on a golden platter. Four years is ample time to stash away the wealth of the nation in Swiss Banks for President Mahinda Rajapaksa, his extended family and his cohorts, who form the government to pay for lawyers to plead their cases for war crimes when their turn comes.

Then there is Defence Secretary and brother of the President, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who insists that he ordered the killings of LTTE hierarchy and thousands of Tamil civilians who surrendered with white flags as they fled for their lives. If these are not war crimes according to UNHRC could they count as wiping out terrorism and preserving Sinhala hegemony? This was eugenics in unadulterated form if truth be told.

Either way both General Fonseka and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya have established UNHRC's substantiated claim that they committed war crimes and this government needs to account for its complicity in war crimes. Heaping on lies from Day One when UN started investigating with some moronic ambassadors stating that there were zero civilian casualties initially and later admitting several thousands could have been killed by the security forces smacks of blatant and foolish cover-up which no self-respecting government would resort to.

Dubya appears intelligent compared to these jokers and Tony Blair seems genuine when he supported the former on Iraq invasion on the pretext it had WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) notwithstanding the mysterious death of Dr David Kelly who declared there was not a shred of evidence in Iraq of WMD. Tony Blair could not still come up with refuting his complicity into Dr Kelly's death/murder at the Hutton Inquiry although MI6, UK's equal to CIA, was implicated. Evidence is out there his was not suicide as was popularly touted.

War was over years ago. Three years is ample time to kick-start the economy and reconstruct war zones but the government has no money for such trivia. The government needs to be vigilant about the resurgence of Tamil militancy and it had better keep a check on BTF (British Tamil Forum), GTF (Global Tamil Forum) the neophyte of TGTE (Trans-national Government of Tamil Eelam) and the Tamil diaspora for who knows they could be more virulent than the vanquished LTTE. Talk about manufactured paranoia and a weak excuse to position redundant soldiers in the North and East in the serendipitous hope the public would buy this canard.

Democracy, socialism, communism in toto become meaningless unless they transmogrify into action. These fancy pedagogue titles do not cut much ice with the populace unless it sees some tangible benefits such as adequate food, clothing, shelter and health-care. Democracy ceases to exist when a majority of the population are living below the poverty line. Per capita income is not calculated on the majority below average income. It is calculated on an average which spells GDP. One takes into account the upper income bracket along with those with the least income and we all know the divide between the rich and the poor in our country is wider and deeper than heaven and hell.

The contentment of a nation is not embodied in its economic growth but rather in its PQLI (Physical Quality of Life Index) as per UN definition which simplified means how satisfied a citizen is with his/her income and the sustenance for his/her well-being.

First came democracy, then communism and now the Occupy Movement spreading across the world which is agitating and asking for accountability of governments why they are in debt long after all the wars were won. Wars have been lame-ducks of excuses for all the ills that common masses were burdened with. Why should the European Union bail out the lavish spending of Greece and Spain? And why should US Treasury or British government bail out floundering banks?

Political campaigns are dependent on big bucks from big companies which include banks. Barack Obama cannot win a second term in November unless he panders to big-time corporations. And he would wipe the floor with these corporations to stay in power as the first Black to lead America. But at what price?

Cock robin was murdered and from sparrows to fowls claimed a part in its death not unlike Gota and Fonseka. But the death of Velupillai Pirabhakaran, the LTTE leader, and his cadres along with thousands of civilians would remain a conscience on the President and the government and they cannot crow victory forever since their time of reckoning is approaching much too sooner than they thought. Beware the UPR (Universal Periodic Review) in October and the international community is watching.

The writer is Asia Pacific Journalism Fellow at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, California and a print journalist for 22 years. She can be reached at pearltheva@hotmail.com

SL Minister Devananda threatens civil protest 

in Jaffna

SL minister and leader of EPDP paramilitary, Douglas Devananda, threatens protesting volunteer teachers of Vanni not to stage protests

Speaking in line with the SL courts in Jaffna on Monday, EPDP paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda, who is a minister in Mahinda Rajapaksa’s cabinet, threatened protesting volunteer teachers from Vanni, declaring that if he uttered the word ‘postpone’ to the SL authorities, their appointments would be put on hold forever. Seating besides Maj. Gen. (retd) GA Chandrasiri, the colonial military governor of North, Mr Devananda, in a discriminating tone, said that the SL president doesn’t like those who protest. The volunteer teachers, who have served for more than 12 years without SL government salary in Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts, have been promised permanent employment each time they were staging protests, but find them discriminated on every occasion. On Monday, they were protesting outside the provincial education ministry situated in Nalloor, Jaffna.

The volunteer teachers from Vanni have been demanding permanent employment for a long time. Throughout the last three years after the genocidal war on Vanni, they were staging their protests in Ki’linochchi and Jaffna.

The volunteer teachers have been serving the schools in the districts of Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu throughout the difficult times for more than 12 years, have been systematically excluded from permanent employment while teachers who served as volunteers in Jaffna and Vavuniyaa districts have been provided permanent employment.

Sri Lanka government which had been appointing the volunteer teachers in all parts of the country permanent in a systematic procedure had completely ignored the volunteer teachers in Vanni saying that Vanni was not in their control.

The Tamil civil administration in Vanni under the LTTE appointed the teachers to the vacancies, and was paying their salaries as there was no appointments made by the SL government.

Many of the teachers have lost their family members in the genocidal onslaught on Vanni and are struggling without proper assistance. 

The performance by Devananda on Monday also had a gender discrimination connotation, in complete contrast to what his group claimed to have achieved, before it became a paramilitary group, ex-militant sources in Jaffna said. 

UN journalists threaten to expel reporter

An extraordinary row has broken out among journalists who cover theUnited Nations at its New York headquarters. A reporter who works for a small investigative news site, Inner City Press, is in danger of being ejected from the UN correspondents association (UNCA) at the behest of journalistic colleagues.

According to an article in the National Review, Matthew Lee is being investigated for alleged unethical and unprofessional behaviour by a so-called "board of examination" set up by UNCA.

The Review's writer, Brett Schaefer, says: "Journalists both inside and outside the UNCA say the situation is one in which personal animosity has overridden professional judgment."

Lee, who has been responsible for breaking several stories about the UN, has often complained about other journalists failing to credit him for his work.

He has also written stories accusing the UNCA president, Giampaolo Pioli, of a conflict of interest involving Sri Lanka (see here). It is these personal disputes that lie at the heart of the UNCA investigation.

In an email to me from Inner City Press, the organisation concedes that "it isn't always as polite as other journalists would like us to be. We cover unpopular issues like... corruption within the UN's own agencies... We report on conflicts of interest within the press corps..." But, it adds, "is this a reason to eject us?"

Inner City Press argues that "big media is leading the charge against independent journalism" and points out that the examining board includes the UN bureau chiefs of Reuters, Bloomberg and AFP.

UNCA is a self-governing body and membership is not a prerequisite for obtaining UN press credentials, which are granted by the UN media accreditation and liaison unit (MALU).

So Lee's expulsion would not automatically deprive him of UN access. However, it is possible that it might weigh in the balance when he next applies for credentials, due in August.

A MALU spokesperson told Schaefer that UNCA's investigation of Lee would not directly influence its decision.

Lee is regarded as the UN department of public information's least-favourite journalist because he is persistent, is willing to ask uncomfortable questions, and has cultivated an impressive network of sources within the UN. In short, writes Schaefer, "he's a pain in their neck at every press briefing."

But several reporters admit that Lee's reporting is valuable. "Matthew covers the UN like no one else, often scooping much larger news organisations," says the New York Post's Benny Avni. "Matthew digs into how it works — and often into how it doesn't."

And Claudia Rosett, journalist-in-residence at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, notes that Lee "has broken a series of important stories over the years — stories that without his efforts might have gone unnoticed."

Inner City Press, a not-for-profit media outlet based in the Bronx, has been a member of UNCA for five years.

Lee's reporting has been cited in articles about the Middle East in The Guardian (examples here, here and here).

As Schaefer writes: "With all the corruption at the United Nations, you might think that UNCA would have better things to do than pick a fight with a single reporter."

Sources: National Review/Inner City Press