Suntharalingam receives 2014 Dalton Young Researchers Award

Liz McGrath

May 6, 2014

Kogularamanan "Rama" Suntharalingam has been selected by the Royal Society of Chemistry to receive the 2014 Dalton Young Researchers Award in Chemistry for his contributions to the design and development of new metallo-pharmaceuticals and to the understanding of their complex mechanisms of action.   Rama, who was born in 1986, is of Tamil origin and grew up in the U.K.  He attended Imperial College London for his undergraduate studies where, in 2008, he received a first-class MSci degree in Chemistry. He continued his studies at Imperial College and received a PhD in Chemistry in 2012.

Under the mentorship of his PhD advisor, Professor Ramon Vilar, Suntharalingam explored the interaction of metal complexes with quadruplex DNA. During that time, Rama published several high-impact papers in top-flight journals, and presented his findings at national and international conferences including the "Daltons Transaction Younger Researchers Symposium" in 2011. Rama has also co-authored three book chapters (one as a single author).

Rama is currently a postdoc in Professor Stephen J. Lippard's research group in the Department of Chemistry.  His current research combines facets of inorganic chemistry, nanotechnology, and molecular biology. Lippard refers to Suntharalingam as "a wonderfully creative addition to the laboratory."

There is a lectureship associated with the award and Rama will be delivering lectures at up to four universities within the UK over the period of September 2014 through May 2015.

SRI LANKA: G Piyal Sanjeewa Perera – being beaten up and tortured at this moment at the Panadura Police Station

May 12, 2014

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. G Piyal Sanjeewa Perera a  30 year old man and a  father of two children is being beaten up at the Pandura Police Station at this very  moment.  We are writing to urge you to act to intervene to stop the torture and either to have this person released or to have him produced before a Magistrate. 

CASE NARRATIVE:

Mr. G Piyal Sanjeewa Perera is a resident of Sarasi Patumaga, Dibbedda Road, Uturu Thalpitiya, Wadduwa, Sri Lanka.

SRI LANKA G Piyal Sanjeewa Perera – Being Beaten Up and Tortured at This Moment at the Panadura Police Stat... by Thavam Ratna

EU Warns Lanka At Risk

By Easwaran Rutnam- Monday, May 12, 2014

The European Union (EU), last week warned that there is a risk of grievances festering in Sri Lanka if they are not addressed soon and that could adversely affect the stability and prosperity of the country over the long term.

The Head of Delegation of the EU to Sri Lanka and Maldives David Daly said that the EU felt it was important to back the resolution on Sri Lanka submitted at the UNHRC as the concerns raised were serious.

“We feel that the issues raised in Geneva are very serious and if they are not sufficiently addressed by Sri Lanka, then they run the risk of allowing grievances to fester which could adversely affect the stability and prosperity of the country over the long term,” he said.

Speaking at an EU day function in Colombo last week, Daly said that the EU sees Sri Lanka as a good friend and it was as part of that friendship that the EU raised its concerns with Sri Lanka at the UNHRC.

“EU urges the government of Sri Lanka, and others, to strengthen their efforts to engage in a comprehensive reconciliation process in which HRs, political issues, justice and accountability and security issues all find their place,” he said.

Daly was speaking in front of several Ambassadors, diplomats, opposition parliamentarians and Government Ministers and officials including Ministers Douglas Devananda, Rajitha Senaratne, Tissa Vitarana and Deputy Minister Neomal Perera. The EU is the largest market for Sri Lanka’s exports – and a growing market too.

It is the largest source of foreign tourists to Sri Lanka and a key source of FDI into the country. In the 10 years up to 2015 the EU will have allocated over Rs 100 billion to Sri Lanka, most of it as grants.

Lanka, Maldives under scanner as transit point for terror

Indrani Bagchi,TNN | May 8, 2014,

NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka and Maldives are under the scanner of India's security establishment as sources and transit points for Pakistan-supported terror elements who may be used to target vital installations in southern India. 

Sources here said both countries were well aware of the emerging developments and have been coordinating more carefully in recent times. Maldives is a place of particular concern because of the radical elements, many of whom got indoctrinated in Pakistan. 

This was brought to sharper attention after a Sri Lankan national, Shakir Husain, arrested in Chennai last week. He reportedly admitted to conducting surveillance of US and Israeli consulates in Chennai and Bangalore, something David Headley had done before the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes. Hussain's arrest, officials said, was a multi-national operation, including Sri Lanka and a southeast Asian nation. Police told a Chennai court on Monday Hussain had made almost 20 trips to India on reconnaissance missions and had apparently kept Indian Navy's Kochi and Vizag ports under his radar. 

Indian officials are now being extra careful with Afghan nationals coming to India for medical treatment or vacations, holding Indian currency from in Kabul. On condition of anonymity, some officials said Afghan travellers were being tricked with fake currency, which they believed was being distributed by Pakistani agencies. Indian hospitals and establishments catering to Afghans have been instructed to receive payment either by cheques or card, or with proper documentation that the cash was procured in India. 

While Indians have traditionally focused on north India as points of infiltration by Pakistan-supported elements, south India poses a particular danger. Officials claimed the arrested Lankan had told them that he was hired by a diplomat in the Pakistani high commission in Sri Lanka to facilitate the arrival of two people from Maldives to Chennai. Indian agencies reckoned they may be used for terror attacks.

CB pays huge amount as legal fees on hedging deal

Monday, 12 May 2014 

Despite repeated denials about  the Central Bank’ involvement in the controversial   hedging deal, it had paid as much as Rs. 480 million as lawyers’ fees regarding the transaction referred to the international arbitration panels, the Daily Mirror learns.

The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) discussed the financial reports of the Central Bank last week at its meeting conducted in the parliamentary complex.

Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) struck a deal to hedge its purchases of crude and refined products on the international market in 2007.   It was done when the oil prices were hitting US $ 147 a barrel in 2008.  

However, the prices crashed to less than US $ 40 a barrel later, compelling the CPC to make payments to various banks with whom the hedging deal was signed with.

The deals were later taken to the Supreme Court with a ruling that the payments should not be made.

These banks sought international arbitration afterwards.

CPC struck this deal with Standard Charted Bank, Deutsche Bank, Citibank, Commercial Bank and the People’s Bank.

The role of the Central Bank was implicated in this transaction which caused huge losses to the government.

However, the report of the Auditor General said that the Central Bank paid Rs. 420 million on behalf of the CPC, but only Rs. 147.5 million had been recovered up to the end of 2013.  

Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said this payment had been made on behalf of the government and CPC and it would be reimbursed.  

Also, the rep[ort of the Auditor General says the Central bank lost Rs. 36 billion in the gold transactions due to the diminishing prices in the world market and it was a global phenomenon well beyond the control of Sri Lanka.

Sadness and fear: what the drawings by children in detention showed us

We spent a week on Christmas Island as medical consultants – we were shocked by the pervasive sadness, the despair in children and in adults, and the lack of dignity offered to detainees

In March, 356 children were on Christmas Island. Photographs: Sarah Mares and Karen Zwi

Sarah Mares and Karen Zwi

 Monday 12 May 2014

The recent announcement that most Australian detention centres will close and all asylum seekers will be transferred offshore to Nauru and Manus Island confirms the fears of children currently detained on Christmas Island. 

Sadness and Fear What the Drawings by Children in Detention Showed Us by Thavam Ratna

VIDEO: Court permits to cover 50-60% of cigarette packet with warning

May 12, 2014 
Court of Appeal today permitted the Health Ministry to cover 50-60% of the cigarette packet with a pictorial warning.

The government issued a special gazette on August 8, 2012 making it compulsory to display eight graphic warnings on cigarette packets.

The parliament passed three regulations under the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol Act on February 19 this year to discourage the smoking. However, the implementation of the legislation was delayed due to lawsuit.

Ceylon Tobacco Company, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco, filed a petition against Minister of Health Maithripala Sirisena and National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol over the new regulation.

Pictorial warnings: SC verdict today

By Don Asoka Wijewardena-May 11, 2014

Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena said yesterday that President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Cabinet and Parliament had unanimously approved the printing of pictorial warnings on 80 percent of the display area of packets of cigarettes and had issued the gazette notification to that effect. As the tobacco industry had filed a case against the government in the Supreme court, the whole country would be anxious to know the verdict today.

Around 65 individuals between 40 and 50 years of age were dying of smoking-related diseases per day in Sri Lanka and as a result 65 families were losing their breadwinners. Around 21,000 people were dying of smoking-related diseases per annum in Sri Lanka and 21,000 families were left in the lurch.

About 60 per cent of cancer patients had developed various forms of cancers such as oral, lung, colon and anal due to smoking in the country, he said at a function held in connection with the anti-smoking walk organised by the Kottee Municipal Council.

Minister Sirisena said that smoking had not only caused problems in Sri Lanka but all over the World. According to the WHO, about 100 countries in the world had implemented pictorial warnings on cigarette packs. In 2012 he was instrumental in preparing a gazette notification ordering pictorial warnings to cover 80 percent of cigarette packs. But the tobacco industry had filed a case in the Appeal court against his action. Fortunately the Appeal court had given a verdict to print 80 per cent pictorial warnings on cigarette packs. The tobacco industry then filed a case in the supreme court against the government. Today was a very momentous day for all the Sri Lankans as the court order would be given.

Urgent letter to President from Wimal

 Monday, 12 May 2014 

The National Freedom Front (NFF) leader of the party Minister Wimal Weerawansa  sent a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and informed that the consumers and dairy farmers should be benefited from the decrease of milk powder price in the world market.

The Minister Wimal Weerawansa has also informed the President that in order to limit the importation of milk powder and increase the local production, ' a method of importation licensing ‘ must be introduced indicating a definite amount of milk powder which can be imported from multinational milk powder companies.

In his letter to the President Minister Weerawansa has further stated that with the increase of milk powder prices in February and the decrease of import taxes the multinational milk powder companies were able to swindle Rs 15000 from the public and Rs 5000 million worth taxes from the government. If the government only allowed the increase of the price preventing the tax relief, the above Rs 5000 million could have used for providing relief for dairy farmers, the minister has indicated.

The multinational companies which make a fake uproar if the milk powder price in the world market was increased even slightly and request the government to increase the local price of milk powder , are not ready  to provide the public with the benefits of decreased milk powder price in the world market , when the price has fallen largely.

On work-to-rule
 May 12, 2014
Office trains are likely to get delayed today owing the work-to-rule action launched by locomotive drivers, retaliating against being held responsible for train accident by the General Manager of Sri Lanka Railways (SLR).
The decision taken by the Locomotive Operations Engineers' Union, will see locomotive drivers strictly adhering to the rules and regulations, which is likely to result in a number of trains being delayed.
Locomotive drivers have also asked for police protection after several drivers were attacked by angry passengers. Police protection has now been provided to the drivers.

Urban Councilor gunned down…

May 12, 2014 

UPFA member of the Peliyagoda Urban Council, J. Chamila Sandaruwan, was shot dead in his car at Tyre Corporation Junction in Dalugama, Kelaniya today (May 12). The Urban Councilor was driving when he reportedly shot several times by an unknown gunman causing the vehicle to crash into a wall. (Pic by Eranga Perera) 

Palestinians protest detention in Sri Lanka

Four Palestinian refugees were stopped at the Sri Lankan airport and risk being returned to Syria, rights group says.

The ongoing civil war in Syria has killed tens of thousands of residents and displaced millions [Reuters]

Megan O'Toole Last updated: 11 May 2014

Four Palestinian refugees have been detained in Sri Lanka for more than two weeks and risk being expelled back to Syria, according to a human rights group.

The Palestinian League for Human Rights - Syria says the four men were stopped at Sri Lanka's international airport on April 26 on suspicion of presenting false passports, and transported to a detention centre in the capital Colombo.

"They were directly taken to the military prison, where they described the treatment as inhuman," league spokesman Salim Salamah told Al Jazeera. Citing communications from the detained men, Salamah said they were being held in a cockroach-infested warehouse that heated up "like an oven" in the scorching sun.

The men, who hailed from different Palestinian refugee camps in Syria, include 22-year-old aid worker Husam al-Shihabi, along with Muhammad Hussein, 20; Ali al-Skafi, 25; and Bahaa al-Dali, 26.

Salamah says the detainees - who were originally hoping to reach Sweden - have received conflicting information about their fate, with Sri Lankan authorities variously saying they would be tried in Sri Lanka, deported to Lebanon or returned to Syria.

Sri Lankan border officials did not respond to Al Jazeera's repeated requests for comment.

According to Salamah, the four men have undertaken a hunger strike to protest their conditions, and were surviving on water, salt and a beverage similar to hot chocolate.

"The Palestinian League for Human Rights - Syria calls for deporting them to a country where their rights will be respected and where they will not be subject to any threat," Salamah said, urging the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) to step in.

"[UNHCR] needs to start considering including the Palestinians of Syria in their mandate... Also, we call on the EU countries to take into consideration the crisis of those four young men and to offer them a safe shelter," he added.

UNHCR declined to comment on the case, citing the organisation's confidentiality policy. "In general, those seeking asylum should have access to asylum procedures to assess their international protection needs," spokesperson Babar Baloch said. "UNHCR will be concerned if asylum-seekers are returned to a place where their life is in danger."

The ongoing civil war in Syria has killed more than 150,000 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and displaced millions.

Former Bangladesh parliament member charged with war crimes

©  WikiMedia (Rossi101)

11 May 2014

[JURIST] The International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICTB) [official website; JURIST news archive] officially charged Abdul Jabbar, a former Jatiya Party lawmaker, with war crimes on Sunday. The charges, which include genocide, come at the conclusion of a year-long probe into allegations against the former member of Bangladesh's parliament. The probe produced evidence of Jabbar's involvement [Daily Star report] in the murder of 36 people, along with the forceful conversion of 200 Hindus to Islam and the looting and burning of 557 houses in Mathbaria during Bangladesh's war for independence. Leaders of the investigation say that 46 people have been made witnesses[Bangladesh News 24 Hours report] in the case against Jabbar.

The ICTB, which was established in 2009 under the International Crimes Act [text], is charged with investigating and prosecuting war crimes committed during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War [Bangladesh Newsbackgrounder; JURIST news archive], in which about 3 million people were killed. In January, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) [party website; Global Security backgrounder] party leader Abdus Subhan was charged with war crimes [JURIST report] in connection with the war, but members of the party allege that the tribunal is being used politically. The Assistant Secretary General of JI was executed [JURIST report] in December, following his conviction on charges of war crimes. Former JI leader ATM Azharul Islam was indicted [JURIST report] in November on six charges of crimes against humanity.

Afghan presidential candidate wins powerful backing for runoff

Abdullah Abdullah receives endorsement from two failed but influential candidates who have strong support in Kandahar

Abdullah Abdullah's strongest support base is still in the north and centre of Afghanistan. Photograph: Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Images

Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul

Sunday 11 May 2014

The frontrunner after the preliminary round of Afghanistan's presidential election, Abdullah Abdullah, has strengthened his position in advance of next month's runoff, with endorsements from two failed but influential candidates.

Zalmai Rassoul and Gul Agha Sherzai, who have lined up behind Abdullah, have strong support in southern Kandahar province, where Abdullah has struggled to win votes partly because of his background. Both said they were backing Abdullah for the sake of national and ethnic unity, although they are also likely to have secured verbal promises of powerful government posts for their teams.

The son of Pashtun and Tajik parents, Abdullah spent years during the Soviet occupation and civil war at the side of the mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, whose base was in the northern Panjshir valley. Abdullah's strongest support base is still in the north and centre of the country.

Pashtuns, who dominate the south and east of Afghanistan, have for centuries provided most of the country's rulers, including incumbent Hamid Karzai, and many are wary of where Abdullah's loyalties lie. Nationwide he claimed nearly 45% of the vote, but came fourth in Kandahar.

Rassoul, who announced his backing for Abdullah on Sunday, won Kandahar province, which is generally regarded as the Taliban's birthplace. Related to Afghanistan's deposed royal family, he was believed to have had Karzai's tacit backing in the first round.

Some key members of Rassoul's team were conspicuous by their absence when the alliance was announced, among them Karzai's two brothers Mahmoud and Qayoum, raising the possibility that Abdullah's rival in the runoff, Ashraf Ghani, may still woo them to his team for June's showdown.

Despite high turnout from determined voters, polling day also brought bloodshed and fraud, and there have been calls for the two candidates to broker a deal to avoid more violence. Both have so far insisted they are determined to see the next leader chosen at the ballot box.

Rassoul campaigned with a message of continuity and said he was backing Abdullah for the same reasons, along with Habiba Sarabi, the only female vice-presidential candidate in the race. "The main reason we have joined Dr Abdullah's team is to protect Afghan politics from ethnic divisions. We need national politics," said spokesman Javid Faisal.

He took to the stage in Kabul's plush Intercontinental hotel with Abdullah and fellow contender Gul Agha Sherzai, once the governor of Kandahar, who came in second in the province. Pictures of the trio linking hands in a purposeful show of ethnic unity raced round Facebook and Twitter within minutes of the news conference starting.

"There has been a lot of talk about the north and south dividing, a step like this will put an end to this gossip," said Sherzai's spokesman, Ahmad Zia Abdulzai.

Ghani has also won endorsements from important political players, but no one as high-profile as Rassoul. He is also lagging over 10 percentage points behind Abdullah in the first round, so if southern leaders are gathering behind a man once seen as the northern candidate, he may have a harder fight in June.

Ukraine: eastern rebels claim victory in referendum

MONDAY 12 MAY 2014
Pro-Russian separatists declare victory in a referendum on self-rule for eastern Ukraine, with some saying that it could eventually lead to a union with Russia.

Organisers in the main region of Donetsk, holding the makeshift vote on Sunday, said nearly 90 per cent had voted in favour.

Well before polls closed, one separatist leader said the region would form its own state bodies and military after the referendum, formalising a split that began with the armed takeover of state buildings in a dozen eastern towns last month.

'Soaked in blood'

Another said the vote simply showed that the east wanted to decide its own fate, whether in Ukraine, on its own, or as part of Russia.

"Eighty-nine percent, that's it," the head of the separatist electoral commission in Donetsk, Roman Lyagin, said.

Ukraine's interior ministry called the referendum a criminal farce, its ballot papers "soaked in blood". One official said two-thirds of the territory had not participated.

alex thomson @alextomo

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Bit the see- thru ballot box bears the People's Republic of Donetsk flag and the vote is about whether it shd exist!

3:23 AM - 11 May 2014

Sunday's vote went ahead despite a call by Russian President Vladimir Putin to postpone it - a move that briefly raised hopes for an easing of tension.

A festive atmosphere at makeshift polling stations in some areas belied the potentially grave implications of the event. In others, clashes broke out between separatists and troops over ballot papers and control of a television tower.

'Falsified ballot papers'

Zhenya Denyesh, a 20-year-old student voting early at a university building in the rebel stronghold of Slaviansk, said: "We all want to live in our own country". But asked what he thought would follow, he replied: "It will still be war."

In the south-eastern port of Mariupol, scene of fierce fighting last week, there were only eight polling centres for a population of half a million.

Queues grew to hundreds of yards in bright sunshine, with spirits high as one centre overflowed and ballot boxes were brought onto the street.

On the eastern outskirts, a little over an hour after polls opened, soldiers from Kiev seized what they said were falsified ballot papers, marked with yes votes, and detained two men.

They refused to hand the men over to policemen who came to take them away, saying they did not trust them. Instead, they waited for state security officers to interview and arrest them.

On the edge of Slaviansk, fighting broke out around a television tower shortly before people began making their way through barricades of felled trees, tyres and machinery for a vote the west says is being orchestrated by Moscow. The Ukrainian defence ministry said one serviceman was wounded.

Ballot papers in the referendum in the regions of Donetsk and the much smaller Luhansk, were printed without security provision, voter registration was patchy and there was confusion over what the vote was for. Separatists in Luhansk said only 5 per cent had voted against.

More fighting

A man was later reported killed in a clash in the eastern town of Krasnoarmeisk, Interfax-Ukraine news agency said, adding to a toll so far in the dozens but creeping higher by the day.

Two civilian were also killed as the National Guard started shooting at protesters and voters, who had gathered around a seized polling station in Krasnoarmeisk, according to Russia Today.

The National Guard entered the city in the Donetsk region earlier on Sunday and occupied several polling stations, the city council building among them. First reports on shooting appeared on Twitter.

"I just saw the National Guard kill one and injure several others," Russian journalist Ilya Azar toldRussia Today.

With First Images Since Kidnapping, Boko Haram Offers to Swap Nigerian Schoolgirls for Prisoners

MONDAY, MAY 12, 2014
The Boko Haram has released a video showing the first images of the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls since their abduction nearly one month ago. Close to half of the nearly 300 girls are seen on the tape, chanting what appears to be a verse from the Koran. The Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau appears to offer the girls’ freedom in exchange for the Nigerian government’s release of all the group’s prisoners. We speak with Nigerian journalist Omoyele Sowore, publisher of the online news site Sahara Reporters.

Boko Haram leader offers to free schoolgirls in exchange for prisoners

Shiv Malik and agencies- Monday 12 May 2014
New video purportedly shows kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls for the first time and claims they have now converted to Islam
Boko Haram has released a video claiming to show the missing Nigerian schoolgirls, alleging the teenagers had converted to Islam and warning that they would not be released until all militant prisoners were freed.

In the 17-minute film, about 130 girls wearing full veils can be seen praying in an undisclosed location. Sitting on scrubland near trees, reciting the first chapter of the Qu'ran and holding their palms upwards in prayer, two girls say they were Christian but had converted.

A total of 276 girls were abducted by Boko Haram on 14 April from the north-eastern town of Chibok, in Borno state, which has a sizeable Christian community. Some 223 are still missing.

In the video, the leader of the Islamist group, Abubakar Shekau, said he would release the girls in exchange for Boko Haram prisoners.

Speaking in Hausa and Arabic, Shekau restates his claim of responsibility made in a video released last Monday: "These girls, these girls you occupy yourselves with … we have indeed liberated them. These girls have become Muslims."

Speaking about his terms to end the kidnapping, he said: "We will never release them [the girls] until after you release our brethren. Here I mean those girls who have not submitted [converted to Islam]," he added.

International efforts to trace the girls have widened in recent days. On Sunday, Israel joined the bid to find the hundreds of teenagers abducted from their dormitory in Nigeria's restive north-east.

Nigeria's president, Goodluck Jonathan, has accepted an offer of assistance from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Jonathan told Netanyahu: "Nigeria would be pleased to have Israel's globally acknowledged anti-terrorism expertise deployed to support its ongoing operations", according to the president's spokesman, Reuben Abati.

Britain, the US and France have already sent specialist teams and equipment to help Nigeria's military in the search concentrated in the remote north-east, which has been hit by five years of deadly violence.

Some of the kidnapped victims managed to flee their abductors. Science student Sarah Lawan, 19, told the Associated Press on Sunday that more young women who were seized could have escaped but they were frightened by their captors' threats to shoot them.

Speaking via telephone from Chibok, she said: "I am pained that others could not summon the courage to run away with me," she said. "Now I cry each time I come across their parents and see how they weep when they see me."

Boko Haram, whose name translates loosely from the Hausa language spoken widely in northern Nigeria as "western education is sin", has attacked schools, churches, government installations and, increasingly since 2009, civilians.

This year more than 1,500 people have been killed, despite a state of emergency imposed in three north-east states in May last year that was designed to put down the insurgency but has failed to stem the bloodshed.

The kidnapping of young girls and women has been used as a previous tactic, but the scale of these abductions – and threats from Shekau to sell the girls as slaves – has galvanised the international community into action.