Drug rackets: UNP asks JHU, NFF to vote for its No Confidence Motion

John

By Shamindra Ferdinando-February 23, 2014

Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunga yesterday said that the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and the National Freedom Front (NFF) as well as those UPFA members who had been vociferously campaigning against heroin kingpins would be exposed when a motion condemning the failure on the part of the government to eliminate the narcotics trade was taken up.

The former Interior Minister said that the JHU at loggerheads with Premier D. M. Jayaratne over a letter seeking the port clearance of container which was later found to have heroin could vote for the motion.

NFF leader Wimal Weerawansa recently urged President Mahinda Rajapaksa to hang drug kingpins. MP Weerawansa declared that there was no alternative but to implement the death penalty to eliminate heroin cartels.

MP Amaratunga said that the UNP was confident both the JVP and the TNA would support its no faith motion against the government over its failure to arrest the increasing trend of the country becoming the hub of international narcotic trade and to secure and promote the welfare of its citizens.

The motion signed by 31 UNP MPs was handed over to Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dassanayake by Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunga.Asked whether the UNP had discussed the move with the JVP and the TNA, Gampaha District MP Amaratunga said that Opposition political parties were confident of reaching an agreement on this. Responding to another query, the MP acknowledged that JVP and TNA members weren’t among the signatories to the motion.

Amaratunga said that they expected the motion would be placed in the Order Book and taken up for debate by the government without delay. The UNPer said that a vote on the motion would reveal the identities of those backing the narcotics trade.

The UNPer said: "We have now given an opportunity to those who are genuinely interested in eliminating the heroin menace to voice their position in Parliament. Those who are genuinely concerned about the deteriorating situation will support the motion and those playing politics with the issue will turn the other way."

The signatories were John Amaratunga, Eran Wickremaratne, Ajith Mannapperuma, Buddhika Pathirana, P. Harrison, Ranjith Maddumabandara, Gamini Jayawickrema Perera, Mangala Samaraweera, Lakshman Kiriella, Ruwan Wijewardene, Harin Fernando, Ranjan Ramanayake, Rosy Senanayake, Akila Wiraj Kariyawasam, Wasantha Aluvihare, Dr Harsha De Silva, Ajith P. Perera, M. H. M. Halim, Nalin Bandara, P. Yogarajan, Nalin Bandara, Chandrani Bandara, Ravi Karunanayake, Karu Jayasuriya, Tissa Attanayake, Wijedasa Rajapakshe, Kabir Hashim, Joseph Michael Perera, Gayantha Karunathilake, Chamipka Premadasa and D.M.Swaminathan.

Gota's new defense system in SL

 Monday, 24 February 2014

Sri Lankan Police department says that an automated fingerprint system would be introduced soon under the consultation of Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapksha.

This system enables a policeman stationed anywhere in the island to use the software with him to ascertain whether a person is a criminal or not.

Speaking at a special media briefing at the police headquarters yesterday (23),  Police spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said this sophisticated system, which will be the only of its kind in South Asia, would enable police to obtain details of any person within three minutes.

Noting that the police has details of around 500,000 criminals, the police spokesman said that 130,000 of this figure are already dead or unable to be found. According to present facilities, it can be done soon.

The new system would easily enable public to obtain police reports required when applying for a passport or for an interview, the police spokesman further said.

Govt. to go ahead with casinos 

By Ravi Ladduwahetty-February 24, 2014 

The government will proceed with its casino plans as a part of its overall plan to develop tourism, which was unveiled last week.

This follows the Cabinet approving a new US$ 15 million tourism promotion drive, with a large-scale increase in tourist arrivals, in the post-conflict era and with new efforts to promote Sri Lanka in markets such as India, the Gulf, China and other parts of the world.

"We will use all aspects of tourism to develop the industry and if we are to develop the industry for up market tourists, then casinos would also be an integral part of it, Government Spokesman and Media Minister, Keheliya Rambukwella, told Ceylon Today. However, he added there were certain business aspects of tourism that the government could not proceed with, due to the cultural and religious backgrounds of the country, but casinos were nothing new to Sri Lanka.

Casinos were an integral part of the development of the tourism industry, and whether it is a part of government policy is another matter, he noted, adding that there are various ways of handling it.
"Maybe we could have secluded areas that are away from the cities and the villagers and confine the gaming aspects only to passport holders and residents of those premises.

"Look at Singapore, where even their Prime Minister was vehemently opposed to it, but today, the casino industry in that country has developed into something larger than Las Vegas, and maybe there would be casinos in the Gulf and they would call it offshore.

"We have to evaluate whether there would be deleterious aspects of casinos, and whether this would be a mere slogan shouting match that political opponents of the government would be proceeding with for their advantage."
Meanwhile, JHU Parliamentary Group Leader, Ven. Athuraliye Ratana Thera, said his party and the people of this country would answer these issues after the 29 March Western and Southern Provincial Council elections.

SI AMONG 5 HELD FOR ASSAULTING THREE-WHEELER DRIVER

February 24, 2014 

Five persons including a Police Sub-Inspector (SI) have been arrested for allegedly assaulting a three-wheeler driver and attempting to forcefully enter him into a van in Alawathugoda last night, police said. 

The Sub-Inspector, who is the officer-in-charge of the police checkpoint at Kandenuwara in Matale, was traveling in a van with four other persons when they were involved in an argument with a three-wheeler driver at around 10.00pm yesterday. 

The suspects had then proceeded to assault the three-wheeler driver and forcefully take him away in their van, when residents in the area had apprehended them and handed over to the Alawathugoda Police.

It has been revealed that all the arrested suspects were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident. 

Container with 11 MILLION cigarettes 


 February 24, 2014
Treasure hunters have been warned to stay away from a Devon beach after a shipping container washed up - filled with 11 million cigarettes.

The 40 foot long box - which contains some 14 tonnes of fags - was just one of 517 washed off a cargo ship during storms earlier this month.
 
Police are currently patrolling the area to prevent people from trying to pocket a crafty box of soggy cigarettes and have warned they will prosecute.
 
The Danish container is bobbing in shallow water at Seaton, Devon, and could be the first of many to wash up on the Lyme Bay coast.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is arranging recovery of the Maersk container which landed early this morning but have been delayed by the high tide.

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said: "At the moment the container is still in shallow water and is floating, so is not accessible.
 
"It was reported by a member of the public at 8.10am this morning and officers are on scene to make sure no one puts themselves at risk to recover anything.
 
"The contents belong initially to the original owner of the container, and then to the official Receiver of Wrecks, so anyone taking anything that washes ashore, even one packet of cigarettes, is effectively committing theft and will be prosecuted.
 
"So the message to anyone intending to go down there looking for free fags is don't bother."
It is estimated the shipping container could have contained as many as 11 MILLION cigarettes.
 
If full, the 40ft shipping container could have had 55,511 cartons of cigarettes, meaning there could be 11,102,200 cigarettes floating just feet from the beach.
 
The ship was heading from Rotterdam to Sri Lanka when it hit storms in the Bay of Biscay on Valentines Day.
Hundreds of containers fell into the water when six compartments of the ship tilted over after winds forced the ship to roll up to 40 degrees.
 
None of the crew was injured but it is reported to be the biggest loss of containers that Maersk has ever suffered.
Many of the containers have probably already sunk or made their way to France.
 
The police and the MCA were expecting the box to wash up but did not know where on the coast it would arrive. (express.co.ok)

US tells Russia to keep troops out of Ukraine as Crimea flashpoint looms

Turmoil in Ukraine is turning attention to Moscow's claims to the Crimea, where Russia keeps its Black Sea fleet

A protestor waits with a bat at the entrance of Independence square in Kiev Photo: AFP/Getty Images

By Ben Farmer, Defence Correspondent-23 Feb 2014

Human rights and asylum seeker advocates are condemning a decision to employ a former Sri Lankan military officer as the acting operations manager of the Manus Island detention centre.

The ABC has confirmed that Dinesh Perera has been running the offshore processing centre (OPC) for the G4S security company.

When approached by the ABC, G4S issued a statement saying:
By Ben Farmer, Defence Correspondent-23 Feb 2014

US Tells Russia to Keep Troops Out of Ukraine as Crimea Flashpoint Looms by nelvely

What are sinkholes and what triggers them?

TUESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2014

Sinkholes are appearing across Britain as rain batters the UK and floods continue to swamp some areas - but what are they, and is heavy rain really to blame for that sinking feeling?

What Are Sinkholes and What Triggers Them by nelvely

Ukraine: warrant out for Viktor Yanukovych's arrest, says interior minister

Calls grow for former president, last seen in Crimea on Sunday, to face charges relating to deaths of civilians
• Ukraine protests: all the latest developments

Howard Amos in Balaclava, Shaun Walker in Kiev and agencies-Monday 24 February 2014

People gathered at Kiev's Independence Square at the weekend: calls are growing in Ukraine to put Yanukovych on trial. Photograph: Vesa Moilanen/REX

The hunt is on for Ukraine's fugitive president, Viktor Yanukovych, who is believed to be hiding in the pro-Russian Crimean peninsula. The country's new acting government has issued a warrant for his arrest, accusing him of the mass murder of protesters who died in street clashes last week.

Ukraine's acting interior minister, Arsen Avakhov, said on his official Facebook page on Monday that a warrant had been issued for the arrest of Yanukovych and several other officials for the "mass killing of civilians". At least 82 people, primarily protesters, were killed in clashes in the capital, Kiev, last week.

After signing an agreement with the opposition, Yanukovych fled the capital for eastern Ukraine. Avakhov said he tried to fly out of Donetsk but was stopped, then went to Crimea. Yanukovych appeared in a video address on Saturday evening claiming he was still the president, but he has lost the support of most of his party and his main goal now will probably be to flee the country without being arrested.

Avakhov said Yanukovych arrived in Crimea on Sunday, relinquished his official security detail and then drove off to an unknown location. There were rumours that a yacht named the Bandido, believed to belong to Yanukovych's son, was spotted in the harbour in the Crimean port of Balaclava.

In Balaclava on Monday there was no sign of either the yacht or the president, and locals claimed they had not seen Yanukovych in recent days. Officials in Sevastopol also professed ignorance. In Kiev, western diplomats said they had no idea of the president's location.

Calls are mounting in Ukraine to put Yanukovych on trial after a tumultuous presidency in which he amassed powers, enriched his allies and cracked down on demonstrators. Anger boiled over last week aftersnipers attacked protesters in the bloodiest violence in Ukraine's post-Soviet history.

The turmoil has raised fears that the country, with a population of 46 million, could split apart. The economy is on the brink of default and loyalties are torn between Europe and Russia.

Tensions have been mounting in Crimea, where pro-Russian protestersraised a Russian flag on a city hall in one town and scuffled with police. Russia maintains a big naval base in Sevastopol that has complicated relations between the countries for two decades.

The protests were sparked in November when Yanukovych shelved an agreement with the EU and turned towards Russia. The movement quickly expanded its grievances to alleged corruption and human rights abuses, and called for Yanukovych's resignation.

"We must find Yanukovych and put him on trial," said Leonid Shovtak, a 50-year-old farmer from the western Ivano-Frankivsk region who came to Kiev's Independence Square to take part in the three-month protest movement. "All the criminals with him should be in prison."

The parliamentary speaker assumed the president's powers on Sunday, even though a presidential aide told the Associated Press on Sunday that Yanukovych planned to stay in power.

The speaker, Oleksandr Turchinov, said top priorities included saving the economy and "returning to the path of European integration", according to news agencies. The latter phrase is certain to displease Moscow, which wants Ukraine to be part of a customs union that would rival the EU and bolster Russia's influence. Russia granted Ukraine a $15bn (£9bn) bailout after Yanukovych backed away from the EU deal.

The US ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt said America was ready to help Ukraine get aid from the International Monetary Fund. The EU is reviving efforts to strike a deal with Ukraine that could involve billions of euros in economic perks. The EU foreign policy chief, Lady Ashton, is visiting Kiev on Monday and Tuesday.

The protest movement has been in large part a fight for the country's economic future – for better jobs and prosperity. Ukraine has struggled with corruption, bad government and short-sighted reliance on cheap gas from Russia. Political unrest has worsened the deficit and caused volatile exchange rates, and may have pushed the economy back into a recession.

Per capita economic output is only around $7,300, even adjusted for the lower cost of living, compared with $22,200 in Poland and around $51,700 in the US. Ukraine ranks 137th in the world for output, behind El Salvador, Namibia, and Guyana.

This Woman Invented a Way to Run 30 Lab Tests on Only One Drop of Blood

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  WIRED Science-

 Mathew Scott; Hair and makeup by Raina Antle

Phlebotomy. Even the word sounds archaic—and that’s nothing compared to the slow, expensive, and inefficient reality of drawing blood and having it tested. As a college sophomore, Elizabeth Holmes envisioned a way to reinvent old-fashioned phlebotomy and, in the process, usher in an era of comprehensive superfast diagnosis and preventive medicine. That was a decade ago. Holmes, now 30, dropped out of Stanford and founded a company called Theranos with her tuition money. Last fall it finally introduced its radical blood-testing service in a 

This Woman Invented a Way to Run 30 Lab Tests on Only One Drop of Blood by nelvely

No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka

Sunday, February 23, 2014

No Fire Zone is the definitive story of the final awful months of the 26-year long Sri Lankan civil war told by the people who lived through it. A chilling expose of some of the worst war crimes and crimes against humanity of recent time.

No Fire Zone is the culmination of three years journalistic investigation which began with Channel 4 News’s exposure of atrocities committed by government forces at the end of the war.

The film also addresses the culpability of the Tamil Tigers, themselves responsible for committing war crimes and for preventing civilians from trying to escape the carnage. Since 2009 there has been no independent judicial investigation into what happened and the Government of Sri Lanka continues to say the video evidence of war crimes is faked. A UN Panel of Experts reported to Ban Ki Moon that as many as 40,000 civilians may have died during the first few months of 2009 – mostly as a result of government shelling. A more recent internal UN review concluded the figure could be higher - 70,000 or even more.

No Fire Zone also brings this story up to date. This is still a live story – the brutal repression and ethnic restructuring of the Tamil homelands in the north of Sri Lanka continues – journalists and government critics are still disappearing.

‘The war is not over’ - No Fire Zone screening at King’s College London


23 February 2014
The conflict on the island of Sri Lanka continues today, stated Alan Keenan of the International Crisis Group and Callum Macrae, director of “No Fire Zone”, at a screening of the documentary in King’s College London earlier this week.

Hosted by the War Crimes Research Group at King’s College London, director Callum Macrae introduced the documentary, stressing the need for immediate action on the issue. He stated,

‘The war is not over’ - No Fire Zone screening at King’s College London by nelvely

Sri Lanka war film released online in India after censorship

All India | Agence France-Presse | Updated: February 23, 2014 

In this photograph taken on November 11, 2013, British Channel 4 television director of "No Fire Zone: Sri Lanka Killing Fields", Callum Macrae (C), speaks to reporters following his arrival at Sri Lanka's main international airport in Katunayake

New Delhi:  The director of a controversial war film on Sri Lanka streamed it free online in India today, after censors banned its theatrical release over fears it may strain friendly ties with Colombo.

Callum Macrae, the British director of "No Fire Zone: The killing fields of Sri Lanka", said the film will also be available free in Malaysia, Nepal and Sri Lanka - the other countries where its general screening has been banned.

The 93-minute film is a collection of footage recorded in Sri Lanka's northeast by doctors, civilians, rebels and soldiers as the government allegedly bombarded areas teeming with refugees trying to flee the fighting.

The documentary has been contested by the Sri Lankan government as propaganda to discredit Colombo in the eyes of the international community.

In a statement, the producers of the film said the Indian censor board had banned its release on the grounds it "may strain friendly relations with Sri Lanka".

Macrae said India's reluctance to release the film hurt him the most, given the country's deep-rooted tradition of democracy and free speech.

"I find it very disturbing that a country whose independent history is rooted in the struggle for democratic rights and free speech should have taken what is, in effect, an act of overt political censorship," he was quoted as saying in the statement.

In protest against the ban, the documentary was screened today in Chennai by a student's group.

Chennai is the capital of Tamil Nadu where millions of ethnic Tamils share close cultural and religious ties with their counterparts in Sri Lanka.

Officials of the Central Board of Film Certification, the censor board, were not immediately available for comment.

The ban on the film comes after the government last year refused to grant a visa to Macrae to attend the premiere of the documentary which was screened in private in New Delhi and Mumbai.

Rights groups say up to 40,000 civilians were killed by security forces in the final months of a no-holds-barred offensive in 2009 that ended Sri Lanka's decades-long fight against Tamil separatists.

Sri Lanka denies causing civilian deaths and President Mahindra Rajapakse sees himself as having brought peace to the Indian Ocean island.

Macrae said he hoped the film's release online will spur a debate ahead of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva starting March 3.

The council will hear calls for the setting up of an international commission of enquiry into alleged crimes committed in the last stages of the war in Sri Lanka.

"As national delegations prepare to meet in Geneva... we hope making the film available in India, Malaysia, Nepal and Sri Lanka will stimulate debate on these vital issues," Macrae said.

Interview with Director Lenin M Sivam on his new film 'A Gun And A Ring'

A Gun and a Ring  Lenin M. Sivam-19 February 2014 Touching upon controversial social issues that affect the Tamil diaspora, independent Canadian-Tamil film ‘A Gun and a Ring’ has been impressing audiences in various film festivals around the globe. ‘A Gun and a Ring’ premiered at the Shanghai International Film Festival in June 2013, and was nominated for the Golden Goblet Award at the festival. It has since been screened at film festivals in Montreal, Louisville and Hamilton, and the Cinerockom International Film Festival where it picked up four awards. With the film set to premiere in London this weekend, Tamil Guardian spoke to director Lenin M. Sivam about his inspirations for the film and the way the war and Tamil struggle has affected him and the world he has grown up in. Interview With Director Lenin M Sivam on His New Film 'a Gun and a Ring' by nelvely

Pillay report next week: Western powers likely to base resolution on it

By Our Political Editor-Sunday, February 23, 2014

President seeks aid from deities while Govt. team discusses possibility of TRC with South Africa; TNA makes no commitment Rajapaksa tells ministers to mind their tongue; UNP's no-confidence motion will focus on PM and the heroin imports

Even the help of deities is being sought to defeat the latest United States backed resolution on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva next month. President Mahinda Rajapaksa flew from Colombo to Nuwara Eliya in his Air Force helicopter on Friday to take part in a special Pooja according to Hindu rites.

The ten-day long ritual including the lighting up of the sacrificial fire has been playing out at the private residence of Minister Arumugam Thondaman, leader of the Ceylon Workers Congress, at his tea plantation, Wavendon Estate. Nine Nambudiri Brahmins have been specially flown in from Kerala in South India to officiate in the ceremonies, costing a lot of money. Helping in arranging it was a businesswoman from that Indian state. It was Thondaman who invited Rajapaksa to the event since he was also dedicating it for victory to Sri Lanka in Geneva. Whilst in Nuwara Eliya, Rajapaksa also drove to the Punduloya bazaar where sections of the shops were gutted by fire recently due to an electrical short circuit.

Pillay Report Next Week Western Powers Likely to Base Resolution on It by nelvely

‘Only A Pawn In Their Game?’

By Tisaranee Gunasekara -February 23, 2014 |

“There are not two Germanies, a good one and a bad one, but only one whose best turned into evil through devilish cunning.” - Thomas Mann (Germany and the Germans)

Commenting on the wave of popular unrests which began in 2011 and swept across countries from orient to occident, Joseph Stiglitz opined that “there was a common understanding that in many ways the economic and political system had failed and that both were fundamentally unfair”.[i]

2011 was, in general, a quiet year in Sri Lanka. The majority Sinhala community still dreamed of the peace dividend and believed that the regime would deliver developmental success just as it did martial victory. As the CPA Survey on post-war Sri Lanka reveals, in 2011, a colossal 70% of Sinhalese thought that the general economic situation will get better in the next two years. This delusive confidence in an economically better future stemmed from two interrelated beliefs: in 2011, a majority of Sinhalese thought that both their own financial situation and the general economic situation got better, post-war.[ii]

This sense of wellbeing, confidence and hope would begin to evaporate in the next two years. But by then the Rajapaksa had built enough dams to divert public discontent along ethno-religious channels. The BBS and other extremist organisations, with the full backing of the Ruling Siblings, had started creating a new politico-economic-social commonsense which would, in the next two years, inform public discourse and divert public attention to a sufficient degree. The Sinhala public was told that the unfairness of the political and economic system was sourced in its ‘minority-bias’ and that the peace dividend could not materialise so long as the ‘minority threats’ to ‘Sinhala security’ remained.                          Read More  

Sri Lanka's Northern Provincial Council adopts resolution against the alleged Sinhala colonization in the North 

Sat, Feb 22, 2014, 02:26 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Feb 22, Colombo: The Northern Provincial Council in Sri Lanka has adopted a resolution against the alleged 'Sinhala colonizations' carried out in the North.
Northern Provincial Councilor T. Raviharan had presented the resolution against the 'Sinhala colonization' in the Mullaitivu District and grabbing lands of people in the Northern Province. The resolution was seconded by Councilor M.K. Sivajilingam.
Raviharan has reportedly informed the Council that 29,311 acres of land has been forcibly grabbed and used for illegal settlements.
Raviharan told an English daily that the resolution proposed by him highlighted that illegal colonization and land grabbing will change the ethnic ratio in the North.
He noted that there are many people still struggling to resettle in their own lands, but a large number of lands has been taken away by illegal colonization and land grabbing.

He added that the Council has received many complaints on this matter from residents in the North.