A united front by the media organizations

 Friday, 07 February 2014 

 The media organizations in Sri Lanka have joined forces and formed the Action Committee for Media Freedom (ACMF) to win rights for media personnel in the country.

The Committee will commence a campaign to demand legislation on right to information and proper investigations into the attacks, abductions and murder of media personnel in the past few years.

Holding its inaugural news conference, the ACMF has said that a seminar to create awareness will be held at the Public Library Auditorium on the 13th of this month. A second seminar is scheduled to be held in Kandy.

A petition to gather one million signatures demanding right to information legislation will be launched following the seminar.

A leaflet distribution campaign will also be carried out in public places and outside media institutions.

The Committee said that the right to information and publication is a right of media personnel as well as citizens and is key to post-war reconciliation and development.

The ACMF has also demanded the government to declare the results of investigations carried out on murders, abductions and harassment of journalists over the last few years.

“The people are rising against the regime”

 February 7, 2014 

i

Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the newly-elected Leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), vows to defeat communalism, religious extremism and separatism in the country. He asserts that the Marxist JVP will put more weight behind reaching and socialising with the Tamils in Northern and Eastern Provinces as an approach to solve the national question. Following are excerpts from an interview with the Daily FT:

“The people are rising against the regime” by nelvely

A pot-kettle tussle

Editorial-February 6, 2014, 8:39 pm 

A student union affiliated to the JVP splinter group, Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) has renewed its call for scrapping the government’s leadership training programme for university entrants in the wake of a participant’s death, as we reported on Wednesday. He was the second student to die while undergoing training. A Sabaragamuwa University undergrad died in 2011.

If FSP students want the leadership programme to stop because two participants have died in three years the question is why their party doesn’t publicly abjure its commitment to revolution—or, rather, its version thereof—as its past revolts have killed thousands of youth. They are also without any moral right to protest against military training for students. For, the JVP has a history of using child combatants. It roped in children and brainwashed them into carrying out subversive activities. Small children who could hardly mount bicycles were used to deliver chits, with which the JVP crippled the southern parts of the country in the late 1980s. It also gave military training to undergraduates and used them in guerrilla warfare.

Time was when brutal ragging left several undergrads dead and turned universities into hellholes for new entrants. But, the JVP never launched public protests against ragging. Political activities in universities have also led to bloody clashes where several undergrads perished. Will the JVP call for an end to party politics in universities?

However, it needs to be added that the JVP has, since its entry into mainstream politics, conducted itself much better than the two main political parties responsible for election related violence which has plagued the country since 1977. The SLFP and the UNP should emulate the JVP’s polls campaigns devoid of manape (preferential vote) battles and bloodletting. For the first time the JVP has had a parliamentarian as its leader—Anura Kumara Dissanayake—and the challenge before him is to ensure that past mistakes won’t be repeated besides shoring up his party’s troubled image.

One cannot but agree with the FSP student union that no undergrad should die due to leadership training at military camps or elsewhere. No training is worth dying for. The Higher Education Ministry has apparently sought to play down the two student deaths claiming that the deceased had been suffering from some ailments. But, the fact remains that they would have been among the living if they had not been made to undergo physical training.

FSP students are opposed to military training for school principals as well. Pointing out that it has already led to one death they demand an end to that programme. Some principals, in our opinion, need a different kind of training. Instead of being trained at military camps and given ranks, they need to be educated on anti-bribery/corruption laws. School admissions have become an unholy mess over the years mainly because of corrupt principals and meddlesome politicians. Officials of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) may be used as resource persons. Epaulet and accoutrement may give principals a sense of self-importance but what they need most is to be taught how to do their job properly without depending on private tuition centres to prepare their students for public examinations.

It defies comprehension why undergrads should be made to take strenuous exercises in the name of leadership training which has come in for criticism from university teachers as well. If such activity is a prerequisite for leadership then the Executive President and the Prime Minister—not to mention the Opposition Leader—should be made to undergo physical training daily at the Army Headquarters!

The government seems to think it could render university students malleable and ideologically sterile through a brief training aimed at enforcing a regimented lifestyle on them. It is sadly mistaken.

FUTA writes to Prof. Carlo

 Friday, 07 February 2014 

FUTA has written a letter to Prof. Carlo Fonseka who is the President of Sri Lanka Medical Council, and says, they concerned about the recent amendment made to the Universities Act which has specific consequences for medical education. The amendment made to the University Act no 16 of 1978 by means of Gazette notification published on 31st January 2014.

FUTA Writes to Prof. Carlo by nelvely

21 complaints of illegal transfers of Govt. officials 

February 7, 2014
Fifty-seven complaints had been lodged with the Complaints Unit set up at the Election Secretariat, with the majority of them pertaining to the illegal transfer of government officials.

According to a spokesman attached to the unit, of the 57 complaints which had been received to date, 21 pertain to the illegal transfer of State officials. Expressing his views to Ceylon Today, Executive Director of the Peoples' Action for a Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), Rohana Hettiarachchi, said his organization had received around 12 such complaints, which throws into serious doubt, the free and fair aspect of the impending polls.

"There have been several transfers and promotions of State officials during the pre-election period. By doing so, the government is indicating that they are yet again prepared to abuse the powers vested with them. These transfers are not of insignificant State officials. People such as directors and chairmen of various State-governed institutions have been either promoted or transferred. This is because the officials concerned support the government or on the other hand, they do not aid and abet the government to carry out certain actions during the pre-election period. If a particular head who is transferred or promoted is a zealot of the government, it would be easy for the regime to get its dirty work done through such an individual," Hettiarachchi opined.

Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the Campaign for a Free and Fair Election (CaFFE), Keerthi Tennakoon, said the election watchdog had received 14 complaints pertaining to transfers of government officials. He however said that, the Elections Commissioner is permitted to execute such transfers.

"Transfers and promotions of government officials during the pre-election stage would undoubtedly affect the electoral process. But however, one should bear in mind that the Elections Commissioner is endowed with the power to sanction such transfers should he consider they are necessary. On the other hand, some of these transfers do not affect the electoral process to such a great extent. Most of the transfers, which have taken place are in the sectors of education and transport. So there are two sides to this issue," Tennakoon said.

Among other complaints received, both by the Complaints Unit of the Elections Secretariat and the election watchdogs are the illegal use of State vehicles, riotous gatherings, and the pasting of posters and cut-outs.
According to the Media Unit of CaFFE, it has received several complaints regarding illegal protests in the run up to the polls. The complaints made in this regard are from Beruwala, Deniyaya, Aluthgama, Akmeemana,Wattala, Kadawatha and Aldeniya.

However, the most number of complaints at present according to the Complaints Unit of the Elections Secretariat had been reported from the Western Province.
In addition, a Superintendent of Police (SP) has been stationed at the Complains Unit and the public could also lodge their complaints on the telephone no. 0112 877616 or fax the same to 0112 877614.

Our Old Romeo, Beauties in the AIR and the losses.
(Lanka-e-News- 06.Feb.2014, 11.00PM) The old Chairman of Sri Lankan Airlines who is swayed and tuned by the young females of the flight crew has done it again. His body looks slim but his eye bags have the old Moses story written all over. Every time he comes out of his igloo the man shows his ignorance and people at meetings and functions never miss a laugh at his expense. The senior crew has stories to say and the young ladies call him Neesh…….No wonder the Paris bound flight took off leaving eighty French tourist all in hotels at the expense of loss making Sri Lankan Airlines. 

His legendary Rolex watch which was given by an Airline CEO of the Middle East origin, for uninterrupted traffic freedoms into Sri Lanka, was a famous topic in media. In fact the man in vain put his own son in Australia on a spot; the poor fellow had to do loads of explaining to his friends.

The crew says now the Chairman’s trips to Dubai also has minimised after the departure of his protected babe (SR) who had him by his collar running Dubai station and even his own life at one point. This was an entertaining topic in every Sri Lankan gathering in Dubai at the time. 

Airline knowledge is not required when a Chairman is placed there politically, like all other past Chairman’s had done. He can enjoy the company of all his favourite chicks, on either sides and light the traditional oil lamps all over the world but seniors says for God’s sake he should keep away from the airline business. He thinks he knows all about aviation and he selects people from no where to run key businesses and all senior managers keeps watching, letting him run the show. The Airline insiders say the airline has dropped in standards to, worse than Air Lanka days. 

Very soon Sri Lankan airline is joining one world alliance, on the other side the low cost Mihin Lanka is hanging on to it’s tail, another Mara’s egoistic ventures. Both these airlines are run with pure ignorance and little airline knowledge. Both airlines are losing value by hooking on to each other. Both run by one Chairman, one CEO, in Aviation this is wrong chemistry. Totally Different levels of product, most passengers walk away from both after their first joint travel experience. Both airlines cannot reach their own success in their own accord, focusing on an independent drive for its own good. 

Shamelessly, CEO is going on media requesting for another loan of USD250 million, who would want to risk money to a bed ridden airline run by pure politically interested parties to a politically drawn agenda. Already in gasping with losses over 20billion rupees, only a hawkish bank will come forward with plans to further drain the airline, may be to end up in litigation similar to the experience had with CPC hedging. If at all, let some one buy the airline and run with its own management and run it profitably, without ridiculing the pioneer aviation people in the airline, just watching it going to pits. 
Himadon.

Dr Buddhi Abeywardena secretly filmed up girls' skirts

A doctor has been given a community order for using a camera in a key fob to film up the skirts of young girls.

5 February 2014

Dr Buddhi Abeywardena, a 63-year-old GP from Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, was caught by security staff at the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham where he was "acting suspiciously", the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Abeywardena pleaded guilty at Birmingham Magistrates' Court to outraging public decency.

He was also given a three-month curfew.

In addition, Abeywardena was electronically tagged, given a supervision order, must complete a sex offenders' course and was told to pay £180 costs and a £60 victim surcharge.

'Stalked and filmed'

John Baker from the CPS said: "Dr Buddhi Abeywardena claimed that he was unaware that his actions and behaviour were an offence as he felt he was not hurting anyone.

"What this defendant was doing was committing a very serious criminal offence and this was not a victimless crime.

"Young females were being stalked by this man and then filmed without their knowledge or approval."

The General Medical Council confirmed Abeywardena, who qualified as a doctor in Sri Lanka in 1976, is currently banned from treating female patients.

A fitness to practise hearing is likely to be set within the next few months.

The Care Quality Commission said Abeywardena's NHS practice, Iver Heath Health Centre in Trewarden Avenue, Iver, Buckinghamshire, had not yet had a routine inspection.

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SOLDIER ARRESTED FOR MOLESTING UNDER-AGED GIRL

February 7, 2014 
An army soldier has been arrested in connection with molesting an under-aged girl, the Nawagattegama police stated.

The victim was a 15-year-old girl from the Iginimitiya area while the girl’s parents lodged a complaint with the police after which the soldier was arrested.

The suspect is a 20-year-old soldier from the Mahananneriya area in Nawagattegama who is attached to the Karainagar camp in Jaffna.

The two were allegedly engaged in an affair while the victim was said to have been molested at the house of an associate of the soldier.

The suspect will be presented to the Puttalam District Court while the Nawagattegama police will conduct further investigations.

Protest against Kosgoda OIC 





By Sanjeewa Manikkuwawadu-February 7, 2014

Residents of Kosgoda area in Galle road have commenced a protest against the OIC of Kosgoda police.

Reportedly the OIC of the Kosgoda Police has assaulted a male school student while the residents of the area were attempting to cause damages to a bus that hit a female school student of the area.

The female student had been admitted to the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital.

Rajapaksa Daily News Calls Mangala A “Silly Poofter”, Moron And Imbecile

February 7, 2014 

Striking a brutal blow to the fight for gay rights in the country, the Rajapaksa state media yesterday has referred to an opposition parliamentarian as a “poor poofter”, language hitherto unprecedented in a national English language newspaper.

Rajpal

The Daily News, state controlled newspaper headlined a rebuttal to UNP ParliamentarianMangala Samaraweera“Mangy lost it, the silly poofter“.

Referring to the Parliamentarian as a ‘moron’ and an ‘imbecile’ Daily News Editor Rajpal Abeynayakeasked Samaraweera to take up his issues with the CID after the MP reacted an article in the newspaper that alleged he had been a part of a major import scandal.

“It is the CID that opened the investigation against you, you imbecile! You got a beef with that take it up with the CID and while you are at it remember it will take a lot more than a teeth gnashing idiot who thought he can run Lake House from the lower board room to intimidate journalists for reporting on an investigation that obviously has him losing all his marbles probably — we wager — due to the credibility of the CID’s case file,” the country’s state media said, revealing that the culture of writing and reporting at the institution had reached a nadir.

Accusing the MP of being unable to understand English, the Daily News charged that Samaraweera goes to the Galle Literary Festival “to show off his double chin to the hairy volunteers there as his comprehension of the Engish (sic) language is limited to the few words he shouts out, thinking it makes up a vocabulary!”

The Daily News also takes a parting shot at former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who it refers to as Samaraweera’s “platonic” girlfriend.

“Ask his platonic girlfriend, CBK (ugh!) who also goes there to, well, fall asleep,” the report concludes.

Conspiracy to murder Ranil : Thevaraperuma with sharp knife makes first move though futile

(Lanka-e-News- 06.Feb.2014, 11.00PM) Kalutara district UNP M.P. PalithaThevaraperuma had scolded opposition and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe in foul language in Parliament yesterday and on two occasions tried to assault the latter . Based on information reaching Lanka e news , this is part of a conspiracy to assassinate the opposition leader and behind this is Sujeewa Senasinghe .

This is the first time attempts were made at a Parliament group meeting of the UNP to attack its own leader . It was the grouse of Thevaraperuma that while his son is seeking candidature for Matugama provincial council (PC) at the forthcoming PC elections , another candidate is being given nomination. Thevaraperuma was under the influence of liquor at the time he acted violent .

The nomination list is not discussed at the parliamentary group meeting and such discussions are held at the Sri Kotha meetings . When Thevaraperuma was therefore talking out of point and place , the opposition chief organizer has pointed this out , whereupon Thevaraperuma has flown into a rage and tried to assault Ranil while abusing him in filth. Ranjan Ramanayake and John Amaratunge have then taken Ranil away from the scene.

Thereafter a second incident had occurred near the entrance to the speaker’s chamber in the second floor . Thevaraperuma who came with his arms around the shoulder of Range Bandara had taken his arms off and again attempted to assault Ranil while scolding him. With him were Anoma Gamage , Thalatha Atukorale and some others .Ranjan Ramanayake , Gayantha Karunatileke and some other MPs have then taken Ranil along safely for meals which was being served at that time. Later on , Thevaraperuuma while leaving had exclaimed to the Parliament working staff ‘ I could not kill him.’

It has been discovered that Thevaraperuma had brought a sharp knife with a detachable handle made of a horn of a bull . He had stealthily taken it into the Parliament by hiding the blade of the knife like a bookmark hidden inside a book while concealing the detachable handle inside his pocket . After taking them in he had fixed them together .

Thevaraperuma prior to his plan to stab the opposition leader has along with 11 others taken liquor and incited them. All of them have been identified by now. The suspicion that Senasinghe was behind this was confirmed when he had been earlier on proudly announcing that a serious incident is going to take place in Parliament today. Moreover, at the group meeting , it was Senasinghe who had first made provocative statements and dragged the nomination list issue into the discussion . It is then and only then Thevareperuma who was drunk had tried to stab Ranil , but the knife kept hidden by him by that time had been taken into the possession of Range Bandara without Thevaraperuma’s knowledge. Ranil had received a shot to his arm when Thevaraperuma turned aggressive.

It is worthy of note that although Thevaraperuma was trying to attack Ranil on the ground that his son was not given nomination at the forthcoming PC election , the opposition leader had nothing to do with the nomination list. The nomination list was prepared by the leadership council via the nomination committee appointed by it.

Meanwhile Thevaraperuma’s son had not met lawyer Ajith P. Perera in charge of nominations for Kalutara even by noon yesterday to sign his nomination paper . He had finally arrived late , but without the necessary birth certificate . 

In the circumstances , it is a clear index that yesterday’s episode is part of a calculated premeditated conspiracy to assassinate the opposition leader , and Senasinghe had been fully aware of it ahead. A snake (Le mapilla) found some time ago in the official opposition room of Ranil Wickremesinghe is also strongly suggestive there is a cold conspiracy to murder the opposition leader . We shall reveal the behind the scene conspirators as and when we receive information in that connection.

Muzammils Declare War On Ranil, Cosy Up To Sirasa

February 7, 2014 

Colombo Mayor A.J.M. Muzammil and his wife Firoza have virtually declared war on the United National Party after the party’s nomination board refused to grant Colombo’s First lady a nomination to contest on the party ticket at the Western provincial Council elections.

A.J.M. Muzammil and his wife Firoza

The Mayor, who has long been suspected of major liaisons with the Rajapaksa administration and particularly the Defence and Urban development SecretaryGotabaya Rajapaksa, yesterday sacked his coordinating secretary who had been nominated to serve the UNP mayor by Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Mayor Muzammil has publicly vowed to ensure the UNP is defeated in Colombo at the Western provincial Council elections in March after his wife was refused a nomination. Firoza Muzammil resigned from the UNP national executive committee. Soon after Mrs. Muzammil sent her letter of resignation to Wickremesinghe, she released the letter to the Sirasa Media Network, through its chairman Kili Rajamahendran. The Sirasa Media Network and its chairman have declared war on Wickremesinghe and remain committed to the UNP’s defeat at the WPC election.Believing Wickremesinghe to have denied Mrs Muzammil a nomination for the election, the Muzammils have been in regular contact with the Sirasa Media Group.

Having tasted the power of mayoral office and the privileges of proximity to the Rajapaksa Administration through the Defence Secretary, the Muzammils looked to expanding their power base with Firoza Muzammil also hoping to attain public office. The Muzammil family dynasty has been expanding since he assumed office in 2011, with the Mayor’s daughter in law now in the employ of Rajapaksa acolyte and big time businessman, Dhammika Perera.

Last year, in defiance of a UNP boycott of the Commonwealth Summit, Mayor Muzammil attended CHOGM in his capacity as First citizen of Colombo.

David Cameron sets out 'emotional, patriotic' case to keep Scotland in UK

Prime minister uses speech at Olympic Park to make personal plea in run-up to Scottish independence referendum

The prime minister, David Cameron, told people in the rest of the UK to lobby their friends and family in Scotland with one message: 'We want you to stay.' Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Patrick Wintour, political editor-Friday 7 February 2014

The United Kingdom has just seven months to "save the most extraordinary, buccaneering, brilliant country in history", David Cameron warned on Friday in a passionate and personal plea to stop Scotland from breaking away.

David Cameron Sets Out 'Emotional, Patriotic' Case to Keep Scotland in UK by nelvely

Report: Development bank’s Cambodia rail project left thousands in poverty

By Marta Kasztelan Feb 07, 2014 

Today in Manila, Philippines, the internal watchdog of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) – the Complaints Review Panel (CRP) – released its investigation report of the Cambodian Railway Rehabilitation Project. In what some experts claim to be the “most damning“ probe into  the ADB’s practices to date, the panel noted the bank must undergo a “mind shift“ in the way it treats people impacted by its projects.

Report Development bank’s Cambodia rail project left thousands in poverty by nelvely

11 arrested for running hotel which allegedly cooked and sold human meat to guests

Reports have come in today that a Nigerian hotel has been closed and its owners arrested on suspicion of cooking and selling human meat to guests.

By Morgan Flanagan Creagh-Thursday 6th February 2014

Nigerian news site the Osun Defender reports that police arrested 11 people after they discovered two fresh human heads in the Anambra state hotel.

Authorities also found 2 AK47 rifles, two army caps, 40 rounds of ammunition and a lot of mobile phones.

The hotel’s owner, four men and six women were arrested following a tip off from local residents.

A local vegetable seller told the Osun Defender:

“Each time I came to market, because the hotel is very close to the market, I always noticed funny movements in and out of the hotel; dirty people with dirty characters always come into the hotel. So, I was not surprised when the police made this discovery in the early hours of yesterday,”

A priest who was one of those who reported the hotel said “: I went to the hotel early this year, after eating, I was told that a lump of meat was being sold at N700 (€3), I was surprised.”

Gwynne Dyer: Even the magnificent John Kerry likely can’t bring a peace deal on Israel and Palestine

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has had some luck easing tensions of the conflict in Syria but he likely won’t have the same success with Israel and the Palestinian territories.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

by GWYNNE DYER on FEB 5, 2014
JOHN KERRY HAS been U.S. Secretary of State for precisely one year, and he has already 1) rescued President Obama from his ill-considered promise to bomb Syria if it crossed the “red line” and used poison gas; 2) opened serious negotiations with Iran on its alleged attempt to build nuclear weapons; and 3) taken on the job of brokering an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord.

Gwynne Dyer Even the magnificent John Kerry likely can’t bring a peace deal on Israel and Palestine by nelvely

Citizenship bill tightens rules for new citizens, takes aim at fraud

By JOSH WINGROVE AND JOE FRIESEN- Feb. 06 2014, 

Bill would give government the new power to strip citizenship in certain extreme cases

Canada is overhauling its citizenship laws, raising the bar for people to apply to become Canadian and increasing penalties for those who scam the system.

Citizenship Bill Tightens Rules for New Citizens, Takes Aim at Fraud by nelvely

New book on Rajiv killing picks holes in probe

Business Times Bureau | Feb 6, 2014
CHENNAI: Another book on the Rajiv Gandhi assassination, released here on Wednesday, has raised serious allegations against the Congress. 'Mysteries and Secrets Behind the Rajiv Gandhi Murder' by S Doraisamy, counsel for Nalini, one of the convicts in the case, says the conspiracy to kill the former Prime Minister was hatched in Delhi. 

The leading criminal lawyer, who fought the case in the designated TADA court, said a detailed study of the entire investigation by a team headed by former CBI director D R Karthikeyan would reveal the truth. 

Pieces of evidence went missing during the investigation and some were left behind deliberately, said Doraisamy. The book, published by Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam, poses critical questions like: How three people were sentenced to death while little headway was made in the matter relating to the actual making of the bomb ? Why a DMK meeting was cancelled hours before the assassination despite heavy security arrangements ? And why information regarding assassin Dhanu's stay at a Congress leader's house was not investigated ? 

Doraisamy also said the CBI did not investigate the source of RDX because it was arranged in Delhi. "Not just RDX, money paid for the assassins also came from Delhi. SIT chief Karthikeyan and the political masters who controlled the agency during that period wouldknowwhowasthe actual conspirator," he said. 

Receiving the first copy of the book, former Madras high court judge K Chandru said a Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) to investigate the conspiracy angles of the assassination had served no purposeother than wasting crores of money.