Sunday, April 6, 2014

Hunt for MH370 continues after three 'acoustic events' heard

SUNDAY 06 APRIL 2014

Chinese and Australian search teams are scouring the vast Indian Ocean trying to verify if any one of three acoustic signals detected could have been from flight MH370's black boxes.

Chinese and Australian vessels are searching the vast Indian Ocean trying to verify if any one of three acoustic signals detected could have been from flight MH370's black boxes.

The Chinese patrol vessel, the Haixun 01, says it detected a fleeting "ping" twice in recent days while it was searching waters west of Perth. It is believed Malaysia Flight MH370 went down in this area on 8 March.

However an Australian vessel, the HMAS Ocean Shield, also reported detecting a separate "acoustic event" over 350 miles away.

The Haixun 01 picked up a signal with a frequency of 37.5kHz per second, which is at the same frequency as those used by the plane's two black box flight recorders. The approximate locations of the signal are thought to be around 25 degrees south and 101 degrees east.

However both Chinese and Australian search teams are stressing that although the signal could possibly be from the plane's equipment, it was not conclusive evidence.

"We are treating each of them seriously. We need to ensure before we leave any of those areas that this does not have any connection with MH370," Retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, head of the Australian agency coordinating the operation, told the press.

The company behind the equipment being used to locate the black box devices explained further.

"The 37.5kHz is the specific frequency that these locator pingers operate on," said Anish Patel, president of Sarasota, Florida-based Dukane Seacom, which made the black box locator.

"It's a very unique frequency, typically not found in background ocean noise," such as whales or other marine mammals."

'Real interest' in Haixun 01's findings

Australia's Houston said analysis of earlier satellite data had again led investigators to refine the search area towards the southern part of the corridor.

"The area of the highest probability is, what we think, the southern part where Haixun 01 is operating. That is why we are really interested in the two acoustic encounters that Haixun 01 has had."

However the ocean there was over four kilometres deep.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said: "This is the most difficult search in human history. We are searching for an aircraft which is at the bottom of a very deep ocean and it is a very, very wide search area," Abbott told reporters in Tokyo, where he is on a visit.

Up to a dozen planes and 13 ships will be scouring three separate areas about 2,000 km (1,240 miles) northwest of Perth, according to Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre.

Israel may take 'unilateral action' over Palestinians' UN move, says PM

Netanyahu blames Palestinians for talks impasse after president signs conventions paving way for attempt to gain UN statehood

Binyamin Netanyahu said Palestinians had a lot to lose from attempting to gain UN statehood. Photograph: Gali Tibbon/AP

Orlando Crowcroft in Jerusalem

Sunday 6 April 2014

The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has said Israel may take "unilateral action" against the Palestinians after the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, signed 15 international conventions that could pave the way for a renewed attempt to gain United Nationsstatehood.

Speaking at his weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said: "Unilateral actions from the Palestinians will be answered with unilateral actions from our side". He blamed the Palestinians for the current impasse over the US-sponsored peace talks.

He said Israel was not afraid of UN intervention and that the Palestinians had "a lot to lose" if they were to pursue their attempt to gain UN statehood, which was shelved last year as a concession to the Israelis, who released 104 Palestinian prisoners in return.

His comments come before a crucial Knesset debate on Monday, called by 25 members of the Israeli parliament, to discuss the progress – or lack of it – of the peace initiative sponsored by the US secretary of state,John Kerry, and the government's failure to secure the release of the Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard.

There is no clear indication yet of what form Israeli unilateral action could take, but the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that it could include the withholding of taxes collected by Israel from the Palestinian Authority (PA). Israel last did so in 2012, sparking unrest in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Meanwhile, Palestinian and Israeli sources said on Saturday that a meeting would be held on Sunday between the US envoy Martin Indyk, the chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and the Israeli negotiator Tzipi Livni to try to breath new life into the faltering peace process.

"We will have to struggle to see how we fix it, how we make progress and what we must do to move forward. It is not simple. It is very complicated. It is a real crisis," Livni said.

The news came just hours after Kerry – who has made several trips to the region to meet both Abbas and Netanyahu – hinted that the talks were close to collapse and said the Obama administration would reassess its participation in them.

"It is regrettable that in the last few days both sides have taken steps that are not helpful and that's evident to everybody," he told reporters in Morocco.

On Thursday last week, Israel scrapped the scheduled release of a group of Palestinian prisoners, which was a condition of Palestinian participation in the talks.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Crimes cannot be committed behind the façade of sovereignty: ICC does not pass death sentence- Dr.Nimalka Fernando on Geneva outcome

(Lanka-e-News -05.April.2014, 11.30PM) While the Rajapakse regime stooges, pretenders of ‘clean slate’ and the asinine hypocritical historians are distorting the truths via the media regarding the international investigation that is to be conducted , Lanka e news that has always stood by the truth and made every effort all along to publish nothing but the truth in spite of monumental odds and bans against it had been able to greet and meet Dr. Nimalka Fernando who has a balanced mind and a personality possessed of strength of character so much so as to be out of the murky and muddy waters in which the other government stooges and scoundrels are wallowing .

Crimes cannot be committed behind the façade of sovereignty ICC does not pass death sentence- Dr.Nimalka F... by nelvely

UNHRC Resolution – What The Voting And The Pattern Signify

By S. Sivathasan -April 5, 2014

S. Sivathasan

Introduction

To foster peace the UNO was founded. It established a Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in 1946, which drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the period 1947 to 1967 the Commission concentrated on sovereignty in keeping with the spate of decolonization in Asia and Africa. After the mid-sixties when violations increased, emphasis shifted by 1967 to action on violators and a policy of interventionism came about. It implied that investigation and report were assuming weightage in the CHR. As the tasks of the Commission took on a different orientation and a new dimension, the UNCHR was superseded by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in 2006.

Sri Lanka’s Opportunities

Like most emergent countries which embarked on nation building, Ceylon too had her opportunity. When no problems blocked her way, she created them beginning with partial ethnic cleansing. It took the iniquitous form of Citizenship Laws to repatriate nearly half the Tamils of recent Indian origin. The remaining Tamils of Indian origin were deprived of their franchise and denied representation in Parliament and other civic institutions. The Sinhala Only Act followed to marginalize the Tamils. Since then acts of state terrorism were set afoot for no less than 30 years forcing a third of the Tamils to expatriate themselves in pursuit of life and liberty. Sri Lanka’s creation was an infuriated Diaspora instead of a contented multi-ethnic nation.

The end of the war in 2009 provided an occasion for a Kalinga, a penitent Asoka and a prosperous Singapore. An opportunity arose to build afresh by putting the past behind. But it was not to be and the path of Zimbabwe was chosen as the ‘best practice’. Value was placed on internecine warfare and a programme was drawn up to lay the country to waste. The malpractices caught the attention of UNHRC in 2009 in just three years of its creation.

From 2009 – 14, the Council has methodically gone through the motions providing opportunities for Sri Lanka to change the Human Rights situation in the island for the better. However disdaining to do anything and engaging in denial and defiance were the mode of reaction. The wrath of the UN body was invited by Sri Lanka and as of March this year, a due process stands initiated.

The attention of the UN continues to remain riveted with little letting up and no escape route. A quarrel between two ethnic entities in an island nation has travelled to the League of Nations building, to the glare of the world. Enmity with the world entails root and branch destruction, goes a Tamil saying. Yet the Tamil side eschewed it and paid a heavy price. The contesting side takes the same course to pay a heavier price.Read More

மாகாண சபை உறுப்பினர்களுக்கு அச்சுறுத்தலாம்; அவைத்தலைவரிடம் முறையீடு

04 ஏப்ரல் 2014, வெள்ளி

வடக்கு மாகாண சபை உறுப்பினர்கள் சிலருக்கு தொலைபேசி மூலம் இனந்தெரியாத நபர்களால் அச்சுறுத்தல் விடுக்கப்பட்டு வருவதாக உறுப்பினர்கள் என்னிடம் முறையிட்டுள்ளனர் என வடக்கு மாகாண அவைத் தலைவர் சீ.வி.கே சிவஞானம் தெரிவித்தார்.

இது குறித்து உதயன் இணையத்தளத்திற்கு அவர் தகவல் தருகையில்,

வடக்கு மாகாண சபையில் உள்ள 38 உறுப்பினர்களில் சிலருக்கு இனந்தெரியாத நபர்களினால் தொலைபேசி மூலம் மிரட்டல் விடுக்கப்பட்டு வருவதாக என்னிடம் முறையிட்டுள்ளனர்.

அதன்படி அச்சுறுத்தல்தொடர்பில் உரிய பொலிஸ் நிலையங்களில் முறைப்பாட்டினை பதிவு செய்யுமாறும் சம்பந்தப்பட்ட உறுப்பினர்களுக்கு அறிவுறுத்தியுள்ளேன்.

மேலும் முறைப்பாடு செய்யப்படும் இடத்து உறுப்பினர்கள் தமக்கு தனியான பொலிஸ் பாதுகாப்பினையும் கோரக்கூடும் என்றும் அவர் மேலும் தெரிவித்தார்.

- See more at: http://onlineuthayan.com/News_More.php?id=477682829405663578#sthash.qxpwvOX1.dpuf

FIB probes employment racketeer: He sold Namal's name to hoodwink victims

Kumudu by Upul Shantha

A person, claiming to be an acquaintance of Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa, has been taken in for questioning, by the Colombo Fraud Investigation Bureau (fib), over an alleged scam involving over Rs 1.3 million.

The suspect is alleged to have Secure Money From Five Women claiming that he could taken for overseas employment through them Rajapaksa MP.

Victim A, G. Indrani, a Resident of Elpitiya the Issue Brought to the Attention of the CFIBShe had said the suspect, a member of the Foreign employment Training Centre in Ratmalana had told her to him and she had done so to introduce Four More Women hoping to gain foreign employment.

thereafter, the suspect had demanded large sums of Money From All Five Women, promising jobs in Korea, claiming that IT would be done with the Assistance of Rajapaksa MP.

Biography at It was that the suspect had been carrying out the scam When using an alias and that his real name is SisiraKumara Dikkumburuge. He had lured the victims to the Official residence of Members of Parliament, in Madiwela, where he had taken the money from them

OHCHR is calling for Info on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity

Friday, April 04, 2014

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is calling for information On the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of impunity to be includitur in the UNSG report to be presented to the General Assembly.

The email sent out by the OHCHR follows:

This message is in reference to the General Assembly resolution 68/163 On the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of impunity .

OHCHR is Calling for Info on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity by nelvely

Nurses' threat to bring Indian trainers irks Sri Lanka docs Labour room tussle

April 4, 2014, 9:23 PM
Dr GMOA Committee member. Navin de Soyza addressing the media.Pic by Jude Denzil Pathiraja

By Don Asoka Wijewardena

The Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) yesterday accused the Public Service United Nurses Union (PSUNU) of having conspired with Indian doctors in advance to train Sri Lankan nurses in midwifery.

The PSUNU has said that it will have to bring Indian doctors to train Sri Lanka nurses in midwifery.

The proposed programme was not practical at all though the nurses' union had said that it had funds to pay Indian doctors, GMOA committee member Dr. Navin de Soyza told the media at the Association head office.

Dr. Soyza pointed out that the PSUNU had been instigating the nurses to work in the labour rooms in violation of Section 54 of the Sri Lanka Medical Ordinance. That section stipulated that there could not be 'nurse midwife'. It was only the midwife who was permitted to assist pregnant mothers at deliveries. When the country was undergoing international threats due to the Geneva Human Rights resolution, the PSUNU was trying to fish in troubled waters by resorting to trade union action, the GMOA member said.

The College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists had never consented to train nurses in midwifery, Dr. de Soyza said.

It would also exacerbate the shortage of nurses and it would create a conflict between the nurses and the midwives, he said.

GMOA President Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya said that the GMOA had held a meeting with the College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (COG) yesterday and brought the issue to them. The COG had unanimously decided against training nurses in midwifery. According to the President of the College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the nurses were not supposed to assist mothers in deliveries. However, the trainee nurses would be given only six months training at the Kalutara National Institute of Health Sciences. That programme would continue as usual.

UN vote and reconciliation in Sri Lanka

Experts debate whether UN resolution will help bring reconciliation between majority Sinhala community and Tamils.

Last updated: 05 Apr 2014 14:08

Al Jazeera Debate

The UN Human Rights Council at its session in Geneva passed a resolution against Sri Lanka that paves the way for an international investigation into allegations of war crimes in the final phases of the civil war in 2009.
Both the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam rebels have been accused of committing atrocities during the war, but the conduct of government troops have been criticised due to the high level of casualties, with one UN report saying that about 40,000 civilians were killed by troops.

UN Vote and Reconciliation in Sri Lanka by nelvely

Minority As Nation: The Politics Of Collective Delusion - Rejoinder To Mahendran ThiruvaranganMinority As Nation: The Politics Of Collective Delusion - Rejoinder To Mahendran Thiruvarangan

By Dayan Jayatilleka - April 5, 2014

Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka

Mr Thiruvarangan 's views in his article " Should Minorities remain Forever All Insurances? A Response To Dayan Jayatilleka's Response "in Colombo Telegraph , represents the subjectivism and emotionalism that has dominated (but not monopolised) Tamil Politics in Sri Lanka From the outset. He seems to think that a minority need not remain one and can redefine itself as a nation if it so wishes.

He completely ignores the fact that even in those few countries in which nations are recognised within a state / country - and these belonged or belong to the socialist tradition-the status of nation was accorded to those compact ethnic groups which were roughly comparable in size to the main ethnic group. Indeed many of these societies were composed of several ethnic blocs of roughly equivalent or comparable size. As such recognised nations were enjoying the right of self-determination and were accorded the status of structural Autonomous republics .

However, this was only one of the types of categories for ethnic groups and one of the several structural arrangements. Groups that were large but not significant for ethnic As the Main One of comparable size, was the classification of (All Insurances) Nationalities , and was the structural space of Autonomous regions , not republics.

For still smaller ethnic Groups, was the designation of National Minorities who were accorded the structural space of Autonomous Areas .

If one were to go by this paradigm, the Tamils of Sri Lanka would fall into the third category or at best, the second.

If one were to avoid this neo-Leninist paradigm and use a paradigm of liberal universalism, then the Sri Lankan Tamils would be regarded (as did Asbjorn Eide) as an ethnic group or a community which constituted an ethnic minority. Indeed the initial international focus on the predicament of the Tamils was in the report by Walter Schwartz for the Minority Rights Group (London) in 1972 entitled 'The Tamils of Sri Lanka'.Read More

Medamulana Rajapakse family reserves and modifies plane for their junkets-madness that characterized dictators

(Lanka-e-News-05.April.2014, 11.30 PM) Medamulana Rajapkse regime is in the process of modifying the interior of a plane belonging to the Sri Lankan (SL) national airlines to make it a luxurious plane and reserve it for Medamulana Rajapakse of the family, according to reports reaching Lanka e News Inside information division.

The plane bears the Registration number for this modification pinili 4 R - DF and is a Model 340 A Bus air. The SL Airlines owns 22 air Planes, Off and Two of them have been taken for the repairs service. IT will be the repairs are completed by the Time Two years.

Repairs are taking this National airline Long period Because the SL is the Cash strapped to Import Spares, and Efforts are being made to do the Repair Within the country with the available RESOURCES. It is one such plane that has been reserved for the Rajapakse family. The latter is now arranging to repair this plane and make it luxurious spending colossal amounts of money. Part of this is the Madness of King Fantasy Rajapakse's eccentric.

IT would perhaps have done immense good to the country if this was AMOUNT of Money spent towards repairing the Brains of the eccentric Rajapakses moth eaten. At least the raving Madness of theirs which is plunging the country into irretrievable Doom and gloom could be averted.

Interestingly, IT is Medamulana mara's brother in Law Nishantha Wickremesinghe having not even the GCE O / L Qualification, who is the chairman of the SL National Airlines.

In the year 2011, the loss incurred by this airline was Rs. 19 billion!

In 2012 the loss was Rs. 29.97 billion.

In 2013 the loss was Rs1575 billion

Incidentally, the loss incurred by Mihin Air in 2011 was Rs. 94.5 billion

In 2012 the loss was Rs. 89.65 billion

in just Three years These Airlines have incurred a loss of over Rs. 250 billion.! It is in such a country under this lunatic regime this eccentric 'King' MahaRaja pakse had deemed it fit to spend colossal sums of money to repair the plane with modifications for his and his family's junkets. IT is hoped and prayed that the modified plane will take them at least Somewhere and Modify Their Brains Via MAD Hatter As a lobotomy.

There had been characterized One trait that every dictator and despot in the world, that is to have a Luxury Their Passion plane of their own at public expense for their private pleasures. This is a mental defect of all dictators. This cruel Mental ailment afflicts those who have gone Crazy On power drunkenness, following height of self conceit and chronic idiocy.

One such dictator's Mental defect was attempted to be cured by the people of that country When he Finally had to Go and Hide in a culvert. Unfortunately for him and fortunately for the people, before he could be cured, he was so brutally As he lived Cursed As he got killed.

Herein depicted the so MANY dictators who are restless for themselves and aircrafts for air Planes Their jaunts and junkets while PLEASURE their people were kept trampled under their iron boots.