Uncovered: The macabre sex chamber of Libya's Colonel Gaddafi where he raped girls - and boys - as young as 14

• irls - and boys - as young as 14

  • Colonel Muhammar Gaddafi kept several 'sex dungeons' at his palaces
  • Libyan tyrant forced hundreds of young girls to become his sex slaves
  • Gaddafi also had a 'harem' of young men called 'the services group'
  • Dictator visited schools and 'chose' his victims with a pat on the head
  • Gaddafi was killed in October 2011 after 42 years of dictatorship
  By OLGA CRAIG and NIKKI MURFITT
  PUBLISHED: 22:00 GMT, 25 January 2014 | UPDATED: 09:19 GMT, 26 January 2014
  
  
  
  
  
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Uncovered the Macabre Sex Chamber of Libya's Colonel Gaddafi Where He Raped Girls - And Boys - As Young as... by nelvely

Violence in Kiev: Ukraine protest leaders reject job offers

SUNDAY 26 JANUARY 2014

Violent protests erupt in Kiev overnight, following a decision by opposition leaders to reject the offer of senior positions in the Ukrainian government.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk, head of the second largest party in Ukraine, and former boxing champion Vitaly Kitschko, had been offered the posts of prime minister and deputy prime minister in charge of humanitarian affairs respectively.

This was a poisoned offer by Yanukovich to divide our protest movement.Vitaly Klitschko

However, both men said protests would continue until all their demands, including signing a trade deal with the EU and holding early presidential elections, had been met.

Mr Klitschko, who leads the Ukrainian Alliance for Democratic Reform party, said the offer from resident Viktor Yanukovich was "poisoned".

"This was a poisoned offer by Yanukovich to divide our protest movement," he told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

"We will keep on negotiating and continue to demand early elections.The protest by Ukrainians against the corrupt president must not have been in vain."

Overnight demonstrators threw firebombs into the Ukrainian House convention centre in central Kiev, where police were stationed. On Sunday morning anti-government protesters set about cleaning up the debris.

Police responded with teargas to the attack from a large crowd of protesters, which took place amid protester fears that police inside were preparing to disperse demonstrators.

Ukraine's interior ministry also said that a police officer was shot in the head overnight. Three protesters have been killed in the past week's clashes, two of them from gunshot wounds and a third of unspecified injuries.

China sentences legal activist to 4 years in jail

By AP News Jan 26, 2014

Zhang Qingfang, lawyer of legal scholar and founder of the New Citizens movement Xu Zhiyong, center, speaks to the medias near the No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, where Xu stood for his verdict in Beijing Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. A Beijing court on Sunday sentenced a legal scholar and founder of a social movement to four years in jail for disrupting order in public places, in a case that the U.S. government and other critics say is retribution against his push to fight corruption and create equal educational opportunities. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

BEIJING (AP) — A Beijing court on Sunday sentenced a legal scholar and founder of a social movement to four years in prison for disrupting order in public places, a case that the U.S. government and other critics say is retribution for his push to fight corruption and create equal educational opportunities.

China Sentences Legal Activist to 4 Years in Jail by nelvely

Blair: West needs new strategy for religious extremism

SUNDAY 26 JANUARY 2014

Tony Blair warns that extreme religion, not politics, is at the heart of global terrorist acts and that the West needs to change its strategy to deal with radical beliefs.

The former prime minister wrote in the Observer that the battles of the 21st century will no longer be dominated by extreme political ideology, as they were in the last century.

There is no doubt that those who commit the violence often do so by reference to their faith.Tony Blair

"The fact is that, though of course there are individual grievances or reasons for the violence in each country, there is one thing self-evidently in common: the acts of terrorism are perpetrated by people motivated by an abuse of religion," he wrote.

"It is a perversion of faith. But there is no doubt that those who commit the violence often do so by reference to their faith and the sectarian nature of the conflict is a sectarianism based on religion.

"There is no doubt either that this phenomenon is growing, not abating."

He said recent terror attacks and violence, from Syria to Iraq, Pakistan to Russia, cannot be viewed as separate acts of killing but need a global strategy.

"The battles of this century are less likely to be the product of extreme political ideology - like those of the 20th century - but they could easily be fought around the questions of cultural or religious difference," he added.

Mr Blair, who has faced strong criticism as the head of the government that took Britain into war with Iraq, said that education must be used by the West to battle global extremism.

He wrote: "The answer is to promote views that are open-minded and tolerant towards those who are different, and to fight the formal, informal and internet propagation of closed-minded intolerance.

"In the 21st century, education is a security issue."

Philippines, Muslim rebels clear final peace deal hurdle to end decade-long insurgency

Updated Sun 26 Jan 2014, 1:11pm AEDT

PHOTO: Government of the Philippines chief negotiator Miriam Coronel Ferer shake hands with Moro Islamic Liberation Front chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal (R) as they exchange peace agreements between both parties. (Reuters: Samsul Said )

The Philippines government and Muslim rebels says they have cleared the last hurdle in long-running peace negotiations, paving the way to end a deadly decades-old insurgency in the country's south.

President Benigno Aquino hopes to secure a final peace settlement before leaving office in mid-2016 to end the rebellion by Muslim groups, which has left 150,000 people dead.                                                   AFP

Human Rights Ambassador Congratulates Parties in Philippines on Negotiation of Peace Agreement

Salem-News.com-Jan-25-2014 

"I congratulate President Aquino and the courage and sincerity of the Leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front" - William Nicholas Gomes

Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com, William Nicholas Gomes

William Nicholas Gomes said, "I welcome the comprehensive peace agreement between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front."(WASHINGTON, DC) - Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com, William Nicholas Gomes congratulates parties in Philippines on negotiation of peace agreement.

Philippines, Muslim Rebels Clear Final Peace Deal Hurdle to End Decade-long Insurgency by nelvely

தமிழர் ஒருவர் இலங்கையை ஆட்சி செய்ய முடியாது 

25 ஜனவரி 2014, சனி
தமிழர் ஒருவர் ஜனாதிபதியானால் எக் காலத்திலும் இலங்கையை ஆட்சி செய்ய முடியாது என பிரதி அமைச்சர் விநாயகமூர்த்தி முரளிதரன் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

மேலும் இலங்கையின்  சனத்தொகையில் 100 வீதத்தில் 18 வீதமானவர்களே தமிழ் மக்கள். இவ்வாறான ஓர் நிலைமையில் எக்காலத்திலும் தமிழர் ஜனாதிபதியாக ஆட்சி வகிப்பது நடைமுறைச்சாத்தியமற்ற விடயமாகும்

போர்க் குற்றச் செயல் விசாரணை குறித்து கோருவதன் மூலம் இலங்கை இன்னும் நெருக்கடிகளையே எதிர்நோக்க நேரிடுகின்றது. புலிகள் அமைப்பு எவரையம் பாவம் பார்க்கவில்லை. இவ்வாறு இருக்கையில் இலங்கை அரசாங்கம் போர்க்குற்றச் செயல்களில் ஈடுபட்டதாக எவ்வாறு குற்றம் சுமத்தப்பட முடியும். எனவும் அவர் கேள்வியெழுப்பியுள்ளார்.

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One can not rule the Tamils ​​in Sri Lanka 

In such a situation, the rule will always hold presidential நடைமுறைச்சாத்தியமற்ற Tamil issue by calling for an investigation of war crime in Sri Lanka face a crisis that is happening. The LTTE did not see evaraiyam sin. Such is how the Sri Lankan government accused of involvement in acts can be charged with war crimes. He asked. , and this time the Human Rights Council in Geneva to take part in the conference, he added.

- See more at: http://onlineuthayan.com/News_More.php?id=610432600226307135#sthash.0ylYcQ4r.dpuf

Dr Jude Lal Fernando on PPT verdict

Published on Jan 25, 2014

Dr Jude Lal Fernando of the Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka interviewed on the recent verdict of genocide by J. Moya for TamilNet

The Fall Of The Tiger, The Rise Of The Sinhala Roar, And Geneva Anxieties

By Rajan Philips -January 26, 2014 

Rajan Philips

It is as though the fall of the tiger has directly led to the rise of Sinhala Roar, or Ravaya, literally speaking.  Looked at it another way, just as there is talk aboutLTTE remnants floating around the globe, it is possible to talk about Sinhala Ravaya and other organizations of its ilk as being the remnants of the wave of triumphalism that the Rajapaksa government unleashed in the south after crushing the LTTE in the north.  The Sinhala Ravaya seems to have earned special notoriety after trying to storm the Prime Minister’s office on Flower Road.  Not long after came the attacks on Christian churches in Hikkaduwa, this time by an outfit called the Hela Bodu Pawra, adding to the negative reactions in the media.  But for quite a while these remnants of triumphalism have been on a free roll with open blessings from higher echelons of the regime.  Their free ride may not be over yet, but their senseless and hateful antics are making them more a liability than an asset to the regime.  Their liability is all the more magnified now, with the onset of Geneva anxieties in government circles.

A responsible and, in these senseless political times, a path-breaking response appears to be coming from former President Chandrika Kumaratunga.  She recently confirmed to the Venerable Mahanayake Theros that she has no intention of reentering politics and that her only intention is to stop “Buddhist extremist organizations attacking Christian and Muslim places of worship” and destroying Sri Lanka’s religious harmony. To that end, the former President has invited leaders of all faiths/religions for a meeting in Colombo, at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, on Tuesday, January 28.  Hopefully, the meeting will go ahead without running into nutty protestors, and something worthwhile would come out of her initiative.  This is also an opportunity to uplift her rather lopsided legacy; running for President would only drag it down.

Let us take our eye from the former to the current President.  Could we ever hear such a commitment from President Rajapaksa – to castigate the extremist organizations in order to protect religious harmony?  And he, in case anybody forgot, has no intention whatsoever to leave the presidency or politics any time soon.  I cannot recall President Rajapaksa ever taking to task the “Buddhist extremist organizations” like the way his favourite predecessor is starting to be doing.  But other voices are belatedly emanating within government ranks not so much as questioning the legitimacy, purpose and the method of these organizations, but expressing concern over the damage these organizations are causing to the Rajapaksa government internationally.  All are symptoms of Geneva anxieties.

Rhyme and Reason                                                 Read More                           

Veteran lawyer urges China to ensure UN investigation on Tamil plight

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 January 2014, 23:49 GMT]

A veteran legal and social activist in Malaysia, Mr A. Kanesalingam urged the government of China on Thursday to ensure international conventions that could facilitate an independent international investigation conducted by the UN on the genocide in Sri Lanka. “I ask that China as a world leader and permanent member of he UN Security Council propose that an investigation be conducted by the UN under Chapter 7 of the Charter of the United Nations,” said, Mr A. Kanesalingam, in a letter sent to the Foreign Minister of China, Mr. Wang Yi. The Malaysian Tamils beseeching China on the issue is significant, commented diaspora Tamil political observers. 

Veteran Lawyer Urges China to Ensure UN Investigation on Tamil Plight by nelvely

Re-Thinking The Ethnic Imbroglio

By Izeth Hussain -January 25, 2014

Izeth Hussain

It is always difficult to see things as they are. Somerset Maugham, a shrewd observer of human frailty in his best work, claimed that the transcendental geniuses such as Shakespeare and Dostoevsky – I am not sure of the names he actually used – could see through a brick wall, whereas he himself, unlike average humanity, could clearly see what was directly under his nose. Wyndham Lewis was even more scathing about the limitations of average humanity: he wrote that only a few people of very exceptional intelligence can see that the cow is in the field. Many readers will write all that off as misanthropic hyperbole. But most will agree that in general we are usually reluctant to see things as they are when they are unpleasant.

An example is provided by the question of the prospects for a political solution of the ethnic problem. The prospects are nil, or almost nil. The realistic prospect is that the ethnic imbroglio will continue indefinitely into the future. Such is the situation after 25 years of war and four years of peace. Our expectation that peace would lead, sooner rather than later, to noon-tide glory in the resplendent isle, has led instead to what looks like darkness at noon. This is the situation, the horribly unpleasant situation, which most of us, including myself, have been unwilling to face. What this situation demands, above all, is that we rethink the fundamentals of the ethnic imbroglio. It is a process that could lead to our posing the right questions which could lead eventually to the right answers.

What is the problem? It is not just a Sri Lankan ethnic problem, but an Indo-Sri Lankan ethnic problem, as I have argued in an earlier article. The fall-out in Tamil Nadu of what happens to the Tamils in Sri Lanka can never be ignored by the Delhi Government because that fall-out can take the form of restiveness and even a rebelliousness that spawns separatist movements that under certain unforeseeable contingencies could even threaten the very unity of India. It seems to be a unique problem because I can think of no parallel case where an ethnic problem in one country can threaten the unity of another. If Turkey had not intervened in Cyprus and there had been a blood-bath of the Cypriot Muslims, the Turkish Government would have fallen, but there would have been no threat to the unity of Turkey. We must face up to the unpleasant fact that no Government in Delhi can remain uninvolved in what happens to the Tamils here. The external Indian dimension of our ethnic problem is not of an ancillary order but is integral to our ethnic problem. And that fact is not going to change because of unalterable geographical propinquity and the common ethnicity of the two groups of Tamils. General Zia-ul Huq of Pakistan, one of the most sympathetic friends of Sri Lanka, was quite right in advising us repeatedly – not in his exact words: “If you try to solve your ethnic problem regardless of the wishes of India, you will sink into a bottomless pit”.

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House of Commons debates FCO report on Sri Lanka

House of Commons debates FCO report on Sri Lanka

Human Rights

   

 We will use our position on the UN Human Rights Council to work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and call for an international investigation. We will play an active role in building international support for that approach ahead of the March meeting. However, that we face an uphill struggle to secure the passage of an appropriately robust resolution at the UN Human Rights Council, but I assure him that the FCO network is already hard at work with the resolution’s main sponsor, the United States, to mobilise opinion and the necessary majority, and that our campaign at the Human Rights Council will be led at ministerial level. This was stated by the British Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Mark Simmonds  in the House of Commons during the debate on the “Fourth Report of the Foreign Affairs Committee” on 23 Jan 2014.

Sir Richard Ottaway (Croydon South) (Con):  

House of Commons Debates FCO Report on Sri Lanka by nelvely

GR lambastes foreign interference as US 

envoy meets Elilan’s wife

By Shamindra Ferdinando-January 24, 2014

US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Michele J. Sisson met Northern Provincial Councillor Ananthi Sasitharan in Jaffna while the Defence Ministry was exploring the possibility of rehabilitating her in view of her alleged LTTE links.

Gota –LTTE secret arms deal detected by International intelligence organisations

(Lanka-e-News- 10.Jan.2014, 8.30PM) An illicit arms deal concluded between Sri Lanka’s (SL) criminal defense secretary Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapakse and the LTTE has been detected by the International intelligence organisations. This deal is as dangerous as is disgraceful because Gotabaya had transacted this deal with a former LTTE illegal weapon dealer -Yogaraja of the LTTE living in Czechoslavakia which is now Czech republic was Gotabaya’s weapon supplier .

GR lambastes foreign interference as US envoy meets Elilan’s wife by nelvely

Child Ordination – A Different Perspective

By Mahendra De Silva -January 25, 2014

Sharmini Serasinghe as usual has written a thought provoking and interesting article on child ordination in Sri Lanka. I agree with some of the reasons she gives to explain why it is wrong.  I myself was fully against it for a long time until I change my views after speaking to some learned monks on the subject. The purpose of this article is to look it from a different angle and suggest the best possible way this could be accomplish to satisfy everyone, if a child really wants to ordain as a priest at any age.

First of all if we take the 10 training principle Sharmini has provided, I do not think it could do any harm to a child if they decide to accept and follow the precepts.

• I undertake to abstain from harming or taking life
• I undertake to abstain from taking what is not given
• I undertake to abstain from any sexual contact
• I undertake to abstain from false speech
• I undertake to abstain from the use of intoxicants
• I undertake to abstain from taking food after midday
• I undertake to abstain from dancing, singing, music or any kind of entertainment
• I undertake to abstain from the use of garlands, perfumes, unguents and adornments
• I undertake to abstain from using luxurious seats
• I undertake to abstain from accepting and holding money

Sharmini claims that abstaining taking food after midday will harm a growing up kid. But if we see the Samanera monks in temples, most of them appear to be healthy and happy. We hardly see any sign of malnutrition on them.  It is a fact that most of the kids (except for the kids living in extreme poverty) eat much more than their requirement.  The parents in general provides maximum for their kids and they want them to be happy at any cost. This desire very often spoils our kids. Since there are no restrictions in eating not only kids, even adults overeat and have to face obesity and other health problems.  Human body is quite capable of managing with 2 meals if the mind can be trained to accept it and be happy with it.  If a Kid could undergo this training happily it is a discipline that would help him throughout his life. It would also be an achievement which even adults find it difficult to practice.              Read More

Honour for a fellow journalist

 Saturday, 25 January 2014 

Date: Wednesday, February 

19, 2014 at 4:00-5:30 p.m.
Venue: Carr Center Conference Room (R-219) Rubenstein Building, second floor

Study Group on The Global Movement to End Violence Against Women

Topic: The Status of Violence Against Women, Laws in Place and Campaigns Carried Out to Create Awareness in Sri Lanka

Presenter: Dushiyanthini Pillai, award winning journalist and photo journalist from Sri Lanka

About the Session:

tba

Suggested Readings:

"Prevention of Domestic Violence Act," Gazette of the Democratic
Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, October 07, 2005.
 More about the presenter:

Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai is an award winning courageous journalist cum photojournalist from Sri Lanka. She has an extensive 20 years of experience in the field of journalism. She has covered various issues including human rights, women’s rights, war widows, violence against women, ex combatants and their hardships, land and sea grab in the name of development, families of the disappeared and families of the surrendees, and so on. She has worked for numerous renowned news outlets worldwide.

She had been trained locally and globally in journalism, human rights and women’s rights. She has captured many thought provoking photos, which have been published widely, and have been displayed at various exhibitions. Apart from being a passionate journalist, she also trains journalists in Sri Lanka, and in abroad with dedication.

She is also an avid blogger. Her non partisan blog has been selected, and shared at various international panels. Her engrossing stories with photos can be read online at www.PassionParade.blogspot.com

Additional links for Dushiyanthani Pillai:

www.flickr.com/photos/PassionParade
www.twitter.com/DushiYanthini
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Passion-Parade/152559238267945

Reversal on land sales to establish a private university

 Saturday, 25 January 2014 

The Government has sought Cabinet approval for legal exemption to sell 25 acres of land in Negombo, 44 acres in Kimbulapitiya and two roods, 26 perches from Bambalapitiya to a Singaporean Company to establish a private university and related infrastructure.

The present law does not provide for the selling of private or crown land to a foreign national or a foreign company. Such properties can only be leased out for 99 years under the prevailing regulations.

Investment Promotion Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardane submitted a Cabinet memorandum on January 2 seeking approval for the outright sale of these blocks of land to Raffles Education Corporation Limited of Singapore for the establishment of a private university and related infrastructure facilities by-passing the existing laws. It is a company which has no equity share with Sri Lanka.

The Board of Investment (BoI) had permitted this company to purchase this land on January 16, 2013. The relevant taxes, involved in the land transfer or purchases have also been waived off. The Finance Ministry had in a new regulation effective from January 1 last year had banned such outright sales.

However, the Cabinet paper says the Finance Minister has the power to validate such transactions with foreigners or foreign companies, subject to the volume of foreign exchange being brought in through the proposed investments and the related economic benefits to the country. Cabinet approval has to be obtained for this purpose.

Therefore the government has sought an exemption for the outright sale of the land in Negombo, Kimbulapitiya and Bambalapitiya to this company.
The company is a leading private education group in the Asia-Pacific region. Since establishing its first college in Singapore in 1990, the Group has grown to operate 31 colleges in 29 cities across 12 countries in Asia-Pacific.

The Cabinet paper says the company will put up a campus with proper classrooms, lecture halls, a modern library, hostels, administrative blocks, computer laboratories, a sports complex, and a music and art theatre. It is expected to cater to about 4,000 students. There are plans to establish a students’ village as well.

By Kelum Bandara

Daily Mirror

Heading from LNW