Sri Lankan Ambassador To UK Having Good Time

July 21, 2014

Dr. Chris Nonis Sri Lankan Ambassador to United Kingdom was having good time at yesterday’s London Festival of Cricket. Festival of Cricket was established in the year 1989, consisting of Sri Lankan Old Boys Associations (OBA’s) in the United Kingdom. This is the biggest annual gathering of the Sri Lankan community in the UK.

Photography by © Praneeth Hettiarachchi

Ban the cults

By Gagani Weerakoon-July 21, 2014 
 
The leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF), Minister Wimal Weerawansa, has proposed that the government ban all religious sects and denominations of recent origin – That is, 'not older than five centuries'.
 
He said such a ban would 'end communal, religious and sectarian violence in the future'.
Article 10 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka guarantees religious freedom, and 'freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.'
 
However, Weerawansa insisted that only the mainstream religions should be allowed in the country.
"Until and unless the government takes steps to ban all those groups spreading extremism in the name of protecting the religion, this problem will not end. There are three or four main religions that people of this country have practised for at least 500 years.
 
Leaving aside all those traditionally practised religions, all other sects funded by America and Saudi Arabia and those who spread Mahayana Buddhism should be banned from the country." Weerawansa said.
He was responding to a question raised by Ceylon Today on whether it was not the lack of action from the government towards reconciliation that is fuelling communalism in the country.
 
"With the end of war, the government is taking steps towards reconciliation, but this is the only shortcoming that happened on the part of the government. Unless groups like Thoufeek Jamath and other Christian and Buddhist groups are banned, fundamental groups will keep on mushrooming," he added.

He alleged, while Sinhala Buddhist extremism is being highlighted, the extremism of other religions are tolerated.
"Everybody is blaming those so called Sinhala extremist groups, while cleverly mollycoddling the Muslim extremist groups. either types of extremism are not good for the country and what the government is attempting now is to defeat both. But, now both accuse the government of supporting the other. Muslim extremists accuse the government of supporting Sinhala extremists and vice versa. Truth is that the government is being targeted by both parties because it has nothing to do with either."
 
Minister Weerawansa alleged though, there was opposition by Sinhala Buddhists to Sinhala Buddhist extremism, there is no such phenomenon amongst Muslims.
"Even Minister Rauff Hakeem is busy pointing a finger at Sinhala Buddhists but does not speak a word against those Muslim extremists operating with funds received from Saudi Arabia. This problem could not be solved without banning all sorts of extremist groups," he asserted.

Astrologer P.D. Perera gets astrology advice from Tiran!

 On Monday, 21 July 2014 

‘Mawbima’ owner Tiran Alles has reportedly given advice on astrology to senior astrologer P.D. Perera of Nattandiya recently.

Giving a call to the astrologer, Tiran has told him that he could once again be given an opportunity to write articles on astrology for ‘Mawbima’, and also his programmes can be broadcast over popular television and radio channels, on condition that he should write an article that defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was certain to become the prime minister.

P.D. Perera has responded, “Mister, I cannot make false predictions for money. I will not betray my profession for money. I wrote to Lankadeepa that Mr. Fonseka would go to jail, but that was not for money. I foresaw that. At that time, people came and threatened me at gunpoint. But, I did not withdraw my prediction. In the end, those who threatened me too, went to jail. Therefore, I cannot write falsehoods. I cannot see such a future for Mr. Gotabhaya at the moment.”

An embarrassed Tiran’s reply was “99 per cent of the predictions in newspapers are false. Not that we publish them without knowing that”, and disconnected the line.

Video: Don’t expect any compensation from Govt. – Anura

MONDAY, 21 JULY 2014

No compensation has been paid for the property that was destroyed in clashes that occurred in Dharga Town in 2006 despite Rs.20 million was approved by the cabinet says the Leader of the JVP Parliamentarian Anura Dissanayaka.

He said the government did not pay this compensation stating it did not have money to do so and added that no compensation from the government could be expected for the destruction that was carried out during the incidents that occurred in Aluthgama and Dharga Town recently.

மட்டு முந்திரிகை காட்டிலிருந்து இளைஞனின் சடலம் மீட்பு (படங்கள்)

July 20, 2014

மட்டக்களப்பு, தாளங்குடா அடர்ந்த முந்திரிகை காட்டிலிருந்து இளைஞர் ஒருவரின் சடலம் மீட்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. 

இச்சம்பவம் இன்று (20) மதியம் 12.00 மணியளவில் இம்பெற்றுள்ளதாக காத்தான்குடி பொலிஸார் தெரிவித்தனர். 

தாளங்குடா சமுர்த்தி வங்கி வீதியிலுள்ள முந்திரிகை காட்டினுள் கழுத்தில் கட்டப்பட்ட நிலையில் இச்சடலம் மீட்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. 

சடலமாக மீட்கப்பட்டவர் 22 வயதுடைய நல்லரெட்ணம் உதயகுமார் என அடையாளம் காணப்பட்டுள்ளதாக பொலிஸார் தெரிவித்தனர். 

இன்று காலை 9 மணிக்கு வீட்டிலிருந்து தனது துவிச்சக்கர வண்டியில் வந்தவர் சடலமாக காணப்பட்டதாகவும் உறவினர்கள் தெரிவித்தனர். 

காத்தான்குடி பொலிஸார் மேலதிக விசாரணைகளை மேற்கொண்டுள்ளனர். 

Young Buddhist monk commits suicide inside temple

July 20, 2014  

A 19-year-old Buddhist monk has committed suicide at the Godella Dhammikarama Viharaya in Aluthgama. 

Police said the monk had used a rope to hang himself from the ceiling fan in his room at around 11.30pm last night.

Nuwara Eliye Sudewa Thero, 19, who had been residing at a temple in Walapana, Beruwala, only arrived at the Dhammikarama Viharaya last evening to attend a ‘Bakthi Gee’ programme.

Police have also discovered a letter written by the Buddhist monk about his depression and requesting that his parents be looked after. 

President not coming for C’wealth Games

 Sunday, 20 July 2014 

President Mahinda Rajapaksa will not attend the inauguration of the Commonwealth Games that will open on July 23 at Glasgow in Scotland, a top official of the president’s office told Lanka News Web.

He responded to a question by LNW as to whether the president was frightened by the massive protest to be organized in Glasgow by the Tamil Diaspora against his visit, even though he is the head of the Commonwealth.

Organizers were told about his inability to attend about two months ago, said the official, adding the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office too, has known that from that time.

This Games is not one attended by heads of state, said the official. No head of state or foreign minister of the South Asian region will be attending the Games, and only the sports ministers of the Commonwealth member nations have been invited. Therefore, the Sri Lankan sports minister will be the only person attending. The president has no intention of at least making an appearance during the Games or at the closing ceremony, the official added.

Basil rebuked by BBS?

 Monday, 21 July 2014 

Minister Basil Rajapaksa says that he is being strongly rebuked by the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS).

Speaking to the media, he has stated, "It is the government which mostly comes under the tongue lashing of the BBS. Even I, myself was severely rebuked. Saying that the BBS is the work of the government is wrong."

However, opposition parliamentarians as well as government ministers allege that the BBS is continued under the blessings of the Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Making a public statement recently, United National Party parliamentarian Mangala Samaraweera said that the coordinating activities between BBS and the Defence Secretary are being carried out by Minister Milinda Moragoda.

Afghan presidential vote audit halted over which ballots to throw out

Deal to resolve political crisis in jeopardy after election workers walk out just days after large-scale audit of disputed poll begins

Ballot boxes unloaded for transfer to Kabul for the audit of the presidential runoff. Less than 2% of 22,000 boxes have been checked so far by audit teams. Photograph: Jalil Rezayee/EPA

Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul

Sunday 20 July 2014

Afghanistan's tenuous deal to resolve its presidential election crisis fell into jeopardy over the weekend when an ambitious audit was halted just days after it began.

Election workers began looking for irregularities before agreeing rules about which ballots should be thrown out, but a dispute over invalidation led one audit team to walk out of the recount on Saturday afternoon, Afghan and foreign sources said.

The team agreed to go back to work nearly 24 hours later, but still do not have a deal on what constitutes fraud. Progress has been slow for a country that has been in a dangerous political limbo for months.

After three days of counting, the audit teams of election workers, international and Afghan observers and agents for the two presidential candidates, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, had only made their way through 435 boxes of ballot papers.

With more than 22,000 boxes to be checked in the unprecedented recount of all votes cast, the teams must speed up dramatically or Afghanistan will not have a new president until 2015.

The economy has been left on hold by months of election wrangling, and foreign security support vital to holding off the Taliban will only be available if there is a new leader by the autumn.

Hamid Karzai, the outgoing president, has refused to sign a long-term security deal with the US, despite widespread backing from senior Afghans and Washington's clear warning that without it all forces will leave by the end of this year.

The two candidates are feuding over how many votes to throw out. Ghani, a former World Bank technocrat who is leading in preliminary results, wants a cautious approach to elimination, arguing that the young democracy cannot afford to disenfranchise voters.

Abdullah, a former mujahideen doctor, has called for more aggressive rules to root out what he says are 2m fraudulent ballots cast for his rival.

The debate is complicated by a lack of reliable demographic data and registration rules that allow any Afghan to vote in any polling station.

This makes it hard to assess if some dramatic leaps in turnout during the second round of voting were a realistic reflection of greater enthusiasm or a warning sign of fraud.

Also, the country's voting patterns are driven in many rural areas by tribal, ethnic or other group loyalties that can make it harder to spot or isolate fraud.

So while in most elections observers would be highly suspicious of a ballot box with perhaps 95% of votes cast for one candidate and just 5% for the other, in many areas of Afghanistan this could be a legitimate reflection of local sentiment.

Mokhtar Amiri contributed reporting

Genocide In Gaza

| by Rifai

( July 21, 2014, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Barbaric Israel forces are killing hundreds of Palestinians indiscriminately in Gaza Strip. This is indeed a collective punishment of the entire 1.8 million people in Gaza in the pretext of defending its land. This is indeed a disproportionate attack by Israel. Israel has been arguing that it has right to defend its land. Yet, look at the way it is killing hundreds of people in the pretext of hunting Hamas fighters. Who on this earth would agree with what Israel is doing right now. No human being would accept this sort of logic. The western world is maintaining silence on this issue and Arab & Muslim world could do anything to stop this genocide. It is shame on the Arab leaders to watch that theirs brothers are being butchered in front of their eyes in this modern world. Physiological and emotional scars of this war would stay in the minds and hearts of 1.6 billion Muslims forever.

The western political leaders and journalists have been unconditionally supporting Israel in its aggression and transgression. What crime those children, women and elderly people did to kill them in this barbaric and inhuman ways. What crime they have done to Israel to demolish houses of these people? What crimes these people have done to punish them collectively and yet, today in this modern world, with all so called human right commission there is no one to question these barbaric acts of Israel. 

Let us assume that Israel is haunting Hamas fighting then it should go for them and fight them directly and there is no excuse to kill children, women and elderly in this barbaric way. If this is not a barbarism what would be barbarism then? Coward Israel forces with its all modern weaponries do have courage to face Hamas face to face. That is why they are shelling indiscriminately on people.

It is really shame that humanity today watches this type of mass murders and killing on their TV screen and yet, their sense of humanism and consciences do not any human sentiments. It is shame that our children have to watch these cruel images of massacres in their TV screen. One wonders what type of world we are living today? Is it a world dominated by inhumanity, aggression and transgression? Where is the concept of universal Islamic brotherhood? Where is the Muslim leadership and what happened to Islamic notion of faith and unity within Muslim ummah? Where are so called Islamic preachers and Imams? By Allah these Imams and preachers of today will have to answer lots of questions in front of Allah in the Day of Judgment for their continuous complicity and ineptitude in the case of Palestine for many decades. Most of them have become agents of corrupted rulers and dictators rather than working for the course of Islam and Muslims they have become servants of nepotistic rulers. Otherwise, how could the conditions of Muslim communities descend to this low level of ebb? 

By the grace of Allah, Ummah is not weakened by this sort of genocide rather aggression like this has united Ummah from every corner of Muslim world. Today a large numbers of British people demonstrated against killing of Palestine people in Gaza Strip. More than 50.000 British people crowded at 10 Downing Street demanding British government to end the killing of innocent people in Palestine. This was one the largest demonstrations in support of Gaza. Despite of the fact that Muslims are fasting for more than 19 hours many Muslims people from all over Britain got together to demand British government to stop supporting Israel. This demonstration was organised by a number of British organisations.

The following organisations called upon British people to show their solidarity with people of Gaza. Stop the War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, CND, Friends of Al Aqsa, British Muslim Initiative, War on Want, Islamic Forum of Europe, Palestinian Forum in Britain and many others organisations participated in this demonstration. They would march from number 10 Down Street to Israel embassy demanding to stop war on Gaza. 

People different faiths and different political ideologies got together in this demonstration. All kinds of people old and young, men and women, Muslims and non-Muslims actively participated in this demonstration. All raised their voice loudly against unconditionally support that British government give to the Zionist regime. 

The director of Palestine solidarity campaign Sarah Colborne said that;

“Today’s national demonstration will give people across the country the chance to say enough is enough, Israel’s siege of Gaza and it’s occupation of Palestine land has to end now and people want justice and freedom for Palestinians”.

Not only in London across the globe are people demonstrating against this aggression of Israel government. For the last 70 years people of Palestine have been suffering at the hands of Zionists. Their lands have been grabbed and their houses have been demolished and their life has been ruined by aggressive Israel occupation: one of the supporters of Palestinians and British MP Mr George Galloway put this question. What right Britain has got to grab the lands of Palestine and give it to Israel? He argues that this was one of the greatest injustices in the world today and British government should not support Israel rather it should say sorry for what happened before 65 years ago and compensate Palestinians for their mistake and wrong doing

This is indeed a wakeup call for Muslim community around the world. This type of aggression would increase radicalism and extremism among Muslim youths. Most of the western powers have openly supported Israel disproportionate attack on Palestinians. Obama openly said the Israel has got right to defend and British PM too said the same thing and yet, they do not see that Palestinians have been victimised for 70 years now. They are really supporting the aggressor in this case of Israel and Palestinian conflict.

Indeed, American weapons and arms are used by Israel in these barbaric attacks on innocent people: children, women, elderly, sick and disable all are being targeted by this coward Israel forces. They have been targeting all people without any human remorse and these forces are like animals without human hearts and companions. They would kill anyone without any kindness. They have indeed killed hundreds of Palestinian children in recent attack and Gaza has been under siege for many years: people are deprived of basic needs and facilities. Water was cut off and electrify supply was limited, food supply was limited and basic medicine supply was restricted by Israel. 

Where are all human right commissions and world organisations for protecting poor and victims? Why they do not speak out? What has UN done for Palestinians for the last 60 years? Nothing is done but just talks and negotiations. With the support of USA and Western power Israel could manage to manipulate all UN resolutions on Palestine issue. Where do we live? Are we live in this so called modern and civilised world or are we live in an animal kingdom? Animals would do better justice than this racist Israel. Justice is unconditional. Yet, Israel has got one type of justice and for Palestine there is another type of justice. 

How long this gross injustice and bias attitude could continue. When will Devine Punishment descend on these people? It can be said God give them time to prolong their aggression and yet, His punishment would come abruptly sooner or later. Humanity is going see it soon. That is what we could say in this genocide of innocent people.

More than 700 killed in Syria as ISIS tightens grip on east

People inspect the damages at the site of a reported barrel-bomb attack by Syrian government forces in the northern city of Aleppo on July 20, 2014. (AFP Photo/AMC/Zein Al-Rifai)

Sunday, 20 Jul, 2014

Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat—More than 700 people were killed in Syria over the course of Thursday and Friday, in what activists say were the bloodiest 48 hours of fighting in the conflict to date.

The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Rami Abdul Rahman, told Asharq Al-Awsat that this was the first time casualties had topped 700 in the space of two days since the conflict began in 2011. He contrasted the violence to the gas attack in the Ghouta region close to Damascus last year, which he said killed around 500 people.

The UK-based SOHR tracks casualties on both sides of the Syrian conflict by collating reports from a network of observers on the ground in the country.

The final toll was announced after the SOHR reported that 270 people had been killed in fighting between pro-Syrian government forces and militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), when the latter seized the Shaar gas field east of the city of Homs on Friday.

Abdul Rahman said the death toll of Thursday’s clashes was 396 people, while Friday’s total reached 314, adding that 90 more people were still unaccounted for, although they were also expected to have been killed.

At the end of June, ISIS declared that it had formed an “Islamic State” on territory it controls in Iraq and Syria, and had appointed its leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi as a new “caliph,” or spiritual and political leader of the world’s Muslims.

While this, and its role at the vanguard of the rebellion against the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, has gained the most attention in recent weeks, the group has also continued its attempts to win more territory in Syria. In particular, it is continuing to strengthen its hold on provinces in eastern Syrian territories like Deir Ezzor, expelling or killing members of other Syrian rebel groups and battling to take territory controlled by Syrian Kurds.

As well as expanding territory under its control, ISIS is also reported to be cracking down on activities it deems contrary to its radical interpretation of Islamic law, including execution by public stoning.

ISIS reportedly carried out the stoning of a woman charged with adultery in the main stadium of the city of Tabqa on Thursday. SOHR said ISIS fighters brought a car filled with rocks and stoned the woman they accused of adultery to death, adding that residents refused to participate in the stoning.

Israel kills militants entering from Gaza; death toll tops 500

 OF 2. A wounded Palestinian man reacts after the death of his relatives, who medics said were killed during heavy Israeli shelling at the Shejaia district, at a hospital in Gaza City July 20, 2014.

BY NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI AND CRISPIAN BALMER-GAZA/JERUSALEM Mon Jul 21, 2014 

(Reuters) - Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinian militants who slipped across the border from Gaza through hidden tunnels on Monday, the military said, as the death toll from the two-week conflict passed 500 amid growing international calls for an end.

Israel Kills Militants Entering From Gaza Death Toll Tops 500 by Maria Anderson

The assault on Gaza: A historic crime

21 July 2014

At least 100 Palestinians were killed Sunday as Israel escalated its savage land, sea and air attack on Gaza. In a single neighborhood on the east side of Gaza City, Shejaiya, Israeli bombs and artillery shells killed at least 62 people and wounded nearly 300 others. Among the dead were 17 women, 14 children and four elderly people. The corpses of women and children lined the streets of Shejaiya as people fled on foot and in overloaded vehicles

The Assault on Gaza a Historic Crime by Maria Anderson

In Gaza, 'we saw things that will forever be hard to unsee'

JONATHAN MILLER Foreign Affairs Correspondent-SUNDAY 20 JULY 2014

Suburban slaughter? Are civilians paying the ultimate price as Israel steps up its war against Hamas, who it accuses of using civilians as human shields. Jonathan Miller reports.

Fighting intensifies in Gaza - and the death toll mounts

Published on Jul 20, 2014

Israel launched more airstrikes in Gaza. Palestinian officials claim more than 300 people have now been killed in the violence. Two Israeli soldiers were also killed in a clash with Hamas fighters who emerged from a tunnel. Jonathan Miller reports.Sign up for Snowmail, your daily preview of what is on Channel 4 News, sent straight to your inbox, .

Putin demands access for experts at Ukraine crash site

Russia's President Vladimir Putin talks to reporters during a meeting in Brasilia July 16, 2014.

MOSCOW Mon Jul 21, 2014 ,

(Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday the downing of a Malaysian airliner in east Ukraine must not be used for political ends and urged separatists to allow international experts access to the crash site.

"Everything must be done to guarantee the security of international experts at the site of the tragedy," Putin, wearing a dark suit and tie, said in an unusual televised address standing alone by a desk in an office.

Putin, who looked drawn, reiterated his belief that the incident would not have happened if Ukrainian government forces had not ended a truce and resumed a military campaign against the pro-Russian rebellion in eastern Ukraine.

"However, nobody should - and no one has the right to - use this tragedy to achieve selfish political ends. Such events should not divide people but unite them," he said.

Putin's comments, following a flurry of telephone diplomacy, appeared aimed at countering criticism by Western leaders who accused him of doing little to persuade separatists whom they believe shot down the airliner to stop fighting.

Putin defended his role in the crisis and reiterated calls for an end to hostilities in eastern Ukraine.

"We have more than once called on all sides in the conflict to immediately stop the bloodshed and begin negotiations," he said.

He called for a "humanitarian corridor" to allow experts access to the site where the airliner was brought down, killing all 298 people on board, in rebel-controlled territory but stopped short of issuing a public appeal to the separatists.

U.S. and European leaders, who have imposed sanctions on Moscow over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and its role in the east, say weapons and fighters flowing across Russia's border into Ukraine are fuelling the violence.

Criticism of Russia's role has turned to anger in Western capitals over gruesome accounts of bodies and evidence being manhandled by fighters and residents.

Despite calls for an end to fighting, clashes broke on Monday out in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk near a railway station, with artillery fire sending plumes of smoke skywards in what separatists said was an attempt by government forces to enter the city they seized in April.

(Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel Editing by Timothy Heritage)

MH17 – the absence of bodies, valuables and diplomacy - See more at: 

Matt Frei-Sunday 20 Jul 2014

Four days after the downing of flight MH17 this remains the biggest crime scene in the world, with the suspected criminals in charge of guarding it.

That is one of the many astonishing facts about this unspeakable tragedy. Today has been a story of glaring absences. First there is the absence of the dozens of bodies that littered the fields where they fell since Thursday until the early hours of this morning.

They have been spirited away in black body bags, loaded onto cattle trucks with not even a modicum of decorum or dignity. Then driven to a nearby railway siding where they were loaded onto refrigerator carriages and taken to an undisclosed location.

- See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/matt-frei-on-america/mh17-absence-bodies-valuables-diplomacy/3910#sthash.EiuTYC8B.dpuf

Rumour has it that the deceased passengers of flight MH17 are now being stored in mortuaries in the city of Donetsk. But when a BBC colleague tried to get confirmation of this at the Donetsk hospital morgue, he was arrested and interrogated for three hours.

The other glaring absence is the absence of valuables. I had heard reports of looting but I had not seen any with my own eyes. But I have come across envelopes, packages, computer bags, camera bags and wallets that all have been carefully opened (not by an explosion, but by hand) and left empty.

I put this to a group of miners who are helping in the recovery operation and they said that they too had seen people take belongings from the wreckage and make off with them in haste.

- See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/matt-frei-on-america/mh17-absence-bodies-valuables-diplomacy/3910#sthash.EiuTYC8B.dpuf

Matt Frei @mattfrei

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Evidence of looting. Envelope ripped open by hands not blast. Empty MH17

9:24 AM - 20 Jul 2014

The third glaring absence of this tragedy is the absence of the international community and its various institutions, four days after the event. Apart from a group of OSCE monitors whose life has been made very complicated by the pro-Russian rebels I have not come across a single diplomat or representative from any of the countries affected like Holland, Germany, Britain, Australian, or Malaysia,

Given the fact that the international community is pumping billions of dollars and euros into the stricken Ukrainian economy, and given the fact that President Poroshenko wants to cosy up to the EU, why are his troops still fighting 30 km from here and thus giving the international community an excuse not to turn up?

Why are the muscular voices in London, Washington or Berlin, who have been calling on Vladimir Putin to rein in his troops, not doing more in order to keep him to his word?

And why is Vladimir Putin himself still dancing on the side-lines of ambiguity? Perhaps he is afraid that if he manages to calm down his proxies in eastern Ukraine everyone will say that he is in control of them after all.

The global diplomatic vacuum surrounding this tragedy is complemented by the procedural chaos on the ground. Meanwhile 300 families are waiting for two things that so far have been in pitifully short supply.

Dignity and justice.

Follow Matt Frei on Twitter: @mattfrei

- See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/matt-frei-on-america/mh17-absence-bodies-valuables-diplomacy/3910#sthash.EiuTYC8B.dpuf