Saturday, October 18, 2014

Nigeria aims to have abducted girls freed by Tuesday - government sources

A campaigner from ''#Bring Back Our Girls'' shouts slogans during a rally calling for the release of the chibok school girls who were abducted by Boko Haram militants, in Abuja October 17, 2014.

BY FELIX ONUAH-Sat Oct 18, 2014

(Reuters) - Nigeria aims to secure the release by Tuesday of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist Boko Haram militants, two senior government sources said on Saturday, although they declined to comment on where this handover would take place.

Nigeria's armed forces chief, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, announced on Friday a deal with Boko Haram for a ceasefire that would enable the release of the girls, whose abduction while taking exams in the remote northeastern town of Chibok in April caused international shock and outrage.

The announcement came a day before a rally of supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja at which either Jonathan or his vice president, Namadi Sambo, ie expected to announce his candidacy for February 2015 elections.

The timing, coupled with a history of abortive government attempts at truce deals with Boko Haram and military claims to have rescued some girls that proved false, mean Nigerians are likely to greet the newly reported breakthrough with scepticism.

"I can confirm that FG (the federal government) is working hard to meet its own part of the agreement so that the release of the abductees can be effected either on Monday or latest Tuesday next week," one source told Reuters by telephone.

Officials at the presidency and military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Boko Haram has also not yet commented on the reported truce. The group's sole means of conveying messages are videotaped speeches by a man claiming to be Abubakar Shekau, its leader whom the military last year said it had killed.

The second government source involved in the talks was more cautious, stressing that there might have to be more discussions in Nigeria and the Chadian capital N'djamena -- the nearest non-Nigerian major city to the heart of the Boko Haram insurgency -- before all the details are ironed out.

"We have confidence in those we are negotiating with but we are still doing it with considerable caution. Boko Haram has grown into such an amorphous entity that any splinter group could come up disowning the deal," he said.

"(But) we believe we are talking to the right people."

CONFUSION OVER BOKO HARAM LEADERSHIP

Boko Haram is believed to divided into several factions that loosely cooperate with each other, and it is unclear with which faction the government has been negotiating. It says the talks were held with a formerly unknown militant called Danladi Admadu, who alleges he is the group's "secretary general".

Underlining the uncertainty over chain of command in Boko Haram, Nigeria's military said at the end of last month that a man who had been posing as Shekau in the group's growing number of videos had been killed in clashes over the town of Konduga.

Boko Haram, whose name translates roughly as "Western education is sinful", has massacred thousands in a struggle to carve an Islamic state out of religiously mixed Nigeria, whose southern half is mainly Christian or animist in faith.

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and its oil-rich economy is the continent's largest.

The schoolgirls' abduction stunned the world, spurred a global Twitter campaign to get them rescued and heaped pressure on Jonathan's administration to do more to protect civilians in the northeast where Boko Haram's insurgency is focused.

Several rounds of negotiations with the jihadist movement have been pursued in recent years but they have never yielded calm, partly because of Boko Haram's internal divisions.

Since the girls' kidnapping, the Nigerian military has twice asserted that it rescued some or all of the girls, only to have to backtrack hours later.

At Saturday's rally in Abuja, many of President Jonathan's supporters wrapped themselves in the white and green of Nigeria's flag and sang and danced under a banner reading "We Love You Goodluck Jonathan. Our support is 100 percent."

Two candidates for the main opposition coalition, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari and ex-vice president Atiku Abubakar, have declared their candidacy against Jonathan.

(Additional reporting by Camillus Eboh in Abuja; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Male brains 'wired to ignore food in favour of sex'

Researchers observing a species of microscopic roundworms called C.elegans found that male worms given the choice between looking for food and finding a mate tended to choose the latter.

The same findings were not present in the hermaphrodite organisms studied – the species has no female sex.

Some of the male worms observed were genetically engineered to be more sensitive to food. Researchers found that these ‘hungrier’ worms were ten times less successful at mating as they wanted to stay near the source of food.

The authors of the study say they believe male worms were more able to suppress their hunger in order to go out and find a mate.

Assistant Professor Douglas Portman from the University of Rochester, who was involving in conducting the study, said the findings shed new light on genetic difference between sexes.

“These findings show that by tuning the properties of a single cell, we can change behaviour,” he said.

“This adds to a growing body of evidence that sex-specific regulation of gene expression may play an important role in neural plasticity and, consequently, influence differences in behaviours - and in disease susceptibility - between the sexes.“

Although the study did not involve humans, many previous discoveries made by observing C. elegans apply throughout other animals.

Scientific findings based on the species behaviour are generally thought to be particularly applicable in neuroscience.

The study was published in the scientific journal Current Biology.

Bono reveals he always wears sunglasses because of glaucoma

U2 frontman reveals he has suffered from condition for around two decades, prompting ever-present dark glasses

U2 frontman Bono wearing his trademark sunglasses Photo: AFP/Getty Images

By Anita Singh, Arts and Entertainment Editor

Bono, the U2 frontman, has revealed that he wears dark glasses all the time because he suffers from glaucoma.

The star said he has had the condition - a build-up of pressure in the eyeball, which can damage the optic nerve and lead to blindness if not treated - for around two decades.

Many had assumed his ever-present sunglasses - even indoors - were a rock star affectation, but he explained during a recording of the Graham Norton Show for BBC One that they are to help with his vision problem.

Glaucoma can make the eyes more sensitive to light, causing sufferers to use dark glasses to alleviate difficulties.

Presenter Norton asked whether or not the singer ever removes his shades, to which Bono replied: "This is a good place to explain to people that I've had glaucoma for the last 20 years.

"I have good treatments and I am going to be fine."

He added: "You're not going to get this out of your head now and you will be saying 'Ah, poor old blind Bono'."

The Irish band were on the show to promote their new album, Songs Of Innocence, which was released commercially this week after previously being given away to half a billion iTunes customers, a controversial move which upset some people who said they did not want it automatically added to their music libraries.

Speaking about the furore, Bono told Norton: "We wanted to do something fresh but it seems some people don't believe in Father Christmas.

"All those people who were uninterested in U2 are now mad at U2. As far as we are concerned, it's an improvement."

_{(left to right) Graham Norton, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr during filming of the Graham Norton show (BBC)}

The album is expected to go into the top five this weekend, but will be the group's first album since Achtung Baby in 1991 which will not debut at number one in the UK chart.

Bono also addressed the iTunes issue in a Facebook Q&A with fans earlier this week. One of the questions posed was: "Can you please never release an album on iTunes that automatically downloads to people's playlists ever again? It's really rude."

The singer apologised and put it down to a "drop of megalomania, touch of generosity, dash of self-promotion and deep fear that these songs that we poured our life into over the last few years mightn't be heard".

Oxfam: World must do more to stop Ebola becoming ‘disaster of our time’

Charity says international community has two months to curb deadly virus but laments crippling shortfall in military support

Liberian Red Cross 'burial' team, which deals with funerals of Ebola victims in Monrovia, Liberia. Photograph: Marcus DiPaola/NurPhoto/REX

Ebola crisis, Monrovia, Liberia - 14 Oct 2014

Saturday 18 October 2014

Countries must step up efforts to tackle the spread of Ebola in west Africa by providing more troops, funding and medical staff to prevent it from becoming the “definitive humanitarian disaster of our generation”, Oxfam has warned.

The charity said the world had less than two months to curb the deadly virus, which has killed 4,500 people, but noted a crippling shortfall in military personnel to provide logistical support across the countries worst affected – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Its stark warning came as Britain and the US said the international community will be responsible for a substantial loss of life in west Africa and a greater threat across the world unless the financial and medical response to Ebola was greatly increased. The US secretary of state, John Kerry, said a failure to respond could turn Ebola into “a scourge like HIV or polio”.

Oxfam said that while Britain was leading the way in Europe’s response to the epidemic, countries which have failed to commit troops – including Italy and Spain – were “in danger of costing lives”.

The charity said it was extremely rare to call for military intervention but troops were desperately needed to build treatment centres, provide flights and offer engineering and logistical support.

More doctors and nurses were required to staff the treatment centres and there was a significant shortfall in funding to support the emergency humanitarian response, the agency warned.

Its plea for extra resources came as the World Health Organisation (WHO) pledged to conduct a full review of its handling of the Ebola crisis once the outbreak is under control.

The promise came in response to a leaked document that appeared to acknowledge the WHO had mishandled the early stages of the outbreak in west Africa.

“That review will come, but only after this outbreak is over,” the organisation said.

The WHO has been widely criticised for its slow response to the epidemic and its early reassurances – despite repeated public warnings from the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which was leading the fight against the virus on the ground.

MSF executive director Vickie Hawkins said on Saturday that the agency was frustrated and angry that the global response to the outbreak had been so slow and inadequate.

Meanwhile, the UN’s World Food Programme delivered hundreds of tons of emergency food rations to 265,000 people on Saturday, many of them quarantined in Sierra Leone.

Oxfam has called for EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday to follow the UK’s lead in responding to the Ebola crisis after the country committed £125m – the highest sum after the US.

David Cameron wrote to the European council president, Herman Van Rompuy, to call on EU leaders to agree at a summit next week to donate an extra €1bn (£790m) and to despatch 2,000 European clinicians and workers to the region within a month.

Mark Goldring, Oxfam’s chief executive, said: “We are in the eye of a storm. We cannot allow Ebola to immobilise us in fear, but instead we must move toward a common mission to stop it from getting worse.

“Countries that have failed to commit troops, doctors and enough funding are in danger of costing lives. The speed and scale of the intervention needed is unprecedented. Only a concerted and coordinated global effort will stop the spread.

“Providing treatment is vital, however reducing the spread of infection is equally important, which is why we need the massive intervention of personnel and funding immediately.”

An Oxfam spokeswoman added: “The Ebola crisis could become the definitive humanitarian disaster of our generation. The world was unprepared to deal with it. It is extremely rare for Oxfam to call for military intervention to provide logistical support in a humanitarian emergency.

“However, the military’s logistical expertise and capacity to respond quickly in great numbers is vital.

“The EU can help put the world back on track in the fight against Ebola by boosting military and medical personnel, committing life-saving funds and speeding up the process so that pledges are delivered rapidly in order to prevent, protect and cure people.”

In addition to the extra €1bn, Cameron wants EU leaders to agree to dispatch at least 2,000 workers to west Africa within the next month, to increase co-ordination of screening at European ports, and to improve coordination of flights to west Africa to fly frontline health staff to the region. Britain believes Germany is starting to respond, though it considers this has been slow.

The US and the UK have committed 4,000 and 750 troops respectively to help tackle Ebola, Oxfam said.

But the charity warned only some of these troops are on the ground, with most of the US contingent not due until 1 November.

Italy, Australia and Spain have committed no troops, despite Spain having a specialist medical expertise unit in its military, Oxfam said.

Germany has committed to military supply flights and plans a military hospital in the region, while France has some military staff in Guinea where personnel are reportedly building a hospital, it added.

The WHO has put the death rate from this outbreak at 70% and has warned that there could be 10,000 new cases a week in west Africa by December.

Friday, October 17, 2014

POPE’S VISIT CAN PROVIDE FURTHER

IMPETUS TOWARDS NATIONAL

RECONCILIATION

17 October 2014

There are indications of a snap Presidential Election being declared in the latter half of November and held as early as January 2015. Political parties are mobilizing their constituents for this eventuality. However, legally speaking, presidential elections are not due until November 2016. Therefore, the government retains considerable flexibility regarding the timing of the elections. Several members of political parties and civic and religious leaders have appealed to the President not to hold the election until the Executive Presidency is abolished or reformed. The National Peace Council urges the government to also consider the forthcoming visit of Pope Francis to Sri Lanka when deciding on the date of the presidential elections.

The Vatican has a policy of not having papal visits coincide with elections. The Pope’s visit is scheduled for January 13-15, with these dates being fixed in June this year. The Pope is expected to conduct religious services in both Colombo and Madhu, in the former Northern war zone, which can provide further impetus towards national reconciliation. Since there are significant numbers of Tamils who are Catholics and since the two bishops of Mannar and Jaffna in the North play an important role in furthering such reconciliation we think the Pope’s visit is best used to promote reconciliation between the government and the Tamil people. The Sinhalese Catholics of the South can make common cause with the Tamil Catholics in welcoming the Pope.

The canonization of Sri Lanka’s first saint, Joseph Vaz, will also take place during the papal visit. Blessed Joseph Vaz worked both in the North as well as the South and hence both Sinhalese and Tamil Catholics could participate in the ceremony. Even the clergy of other religions could be invited to be present. Blessed Joseph Vaz although from India was very much committed to serve Sri Lanka. He even worked in Kandy and received the protection of the Kandyan king.

We note that President Mahinda Rajapaksa acknowledged the importance of the Pope’s visit to Sri Lanka when he went personally to deliver an invitation to the Pope earlier this month. There was a doubt that early Presidential elections anticipated to take place in January might even compel a postponement or cancellation of his visit. This would cause great disappointment to the Catholic community in the country for the Pope’s visit includes the canonization of Blessed Joseph Vaz. However, in the aftermath of the President’s visit to meet the Pope a special team from the Vatican will visit Sri Lanka soon to ensure that the arrangements are in order. This is a positive indication that the Pope will indeed visit Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is currently having a poor international image in regard to religious amity due to widely reported acts of violence and militancy associated with different religions in the country. The visit of the Pope offers the prospect of depicting the multi-religious and plural nature of the polity in a positive light by showing how the government respects the sentiments of a section of its multi-religious population.

Teachers From Delft School Forced To Pay For Rajapaksa Welcome Event

October 17, 2014

Colombo Telegraph learns the common man and woman is now being forced to pay for the festivities that were thrown for the President Rajapaksa’s visit to the North over the weekend.

Teachers attached to the Neduntheevu (Delft) Maha Vidyalaya have been ordered to pay Rs. 7000 each by the school administration as the festivities thrown to welcome the President who visited the school on October 14 had cost more than the originally estimated amount.

The event had been organized to welcome President Rajapaksa who opened the Mahindodaya laboratory in the school.

According to Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) General Secretary Joseph Stalin, the school authorities had informed the teachers that a total of extra Rs. 108,000 was spent on the event, apart from the Rs. 200,000 that had been given to the school by the provincial education office.

“It is absurd that finances allocated for the development of the provincial education sector is being spent on futile events on this nature without any control in spending. Besides why should the teachers be forced to pay for the festivities thrown for the President?” he questioned.

Sri Lanka: The Root Cause

The Constitution as a cause for the violence and bloodshed

| by Basil Fernando

( October 17, 2014, Hong Kong SAR, Sri Lanka Guardian) As the possibility of an election has become a “hot topic” of the day, with it has emerged the problem of the 1978 Constitution and the system of the Executive Presidency, as a sharp point of contest and debate in Sri Lanka. In the midst of this unfolding scenario, President Rajapaksa, in a much publicized speech, stated that he would be willing, more than any other person, to abolish the executive presidency if, the TNA and the diaspora give an undertaking that they will not demand a separate state. In doing so, he has tried to create a justification for continuing with the executive presidency, as a measure to stand against any moves for a separate state.
Sri Lanka the Root Cause by Thavam

Government barring foreigners from visiting the north is to lay groundwork for massive vote plundering - Lakshman Kiriella

(Lanka-e-News- 16.Oct.2014, 11.30PM) The new law introduced prohibiting foreigners visiting the north and east without the prior permission from the defense Ministry is to lay the groundwork for massive vote plundering ,UNP M.P. and leadership council member Lakshman Kiriella declared. Kiriella issuing a special communiqué in this regard stated thus:

Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasuriya , the media spokesman for the forces said , foreigners must obtain prior permission from the defense Ministry if they are to visit the north or the east of the country. It is very clear that this is an advance move to halt accepted impartial election monitors and others from entering the east and the north , while permitting only election monitors who are partial towards the government and its supporters to go to the north during the period of the forthcoming elections.

The government is getting ready well ahead to commit a massive plunder of votes in the north, and repeat what happened at the Presidential elections in 2005 , the communiqué further points out.

The communiqué issued by Lakshman Kiriella is appended :

Nirmal Condemns Hypocrisy Of “NGO Tribe”

October 17, 2014

Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri, Head, Department of History, University of Colombo who is also the former president of the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) has strongly objected to the way Colombo Telegraph has been condemned by certain persons on its revelations of dubious financial transactions of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA).

Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri

Asked to offer his comment on the behavior of regular anti-government as well as pro-government commentators with regard to the CPA/NGO saga of fraud and deceit, Dr Devasiri said ‘I cannot see any difference between the way in which the “NGO tribe” behaves vis-à-vis the Colombo Telegraph allegations and Regime’s behavior when they are blamed for similar conduct’.

The Colombo Telegraph charged the CPA and its all powerful Executive Director Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu of deliberately misleading donors, sanctioning or condoning dubious financial behavior and covering up fraud.

The following is Dr Devasiri’s full response:

Colombo Telegraph’s (CT) revelations about certain dubious financial transactions of Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) have certainly not been welcomed by those who are critical about the government. Apparently, they are not happy with this attack on several grounds. At least two stand out. In the first place, they think these allegations may demoralize anti-regime campaign, which is the worst evil. Secondly, they seem to be thinking that compared the massive frauds and financial misconducts of the regime, allegations against CPA are insignificant.

I thing both these objections are highly unacceptable.

It is not a secret that the financial misconduct is part and parcel in the NGO sector. Some seems to me reckoning that NGOs are not accountable to the local public as they are funded by international funders. I heard that the Friday Forum has made such a claim in one of their recent statement. If we take this argument further, the entire logical and moral ground on which one questions Regime’s behavior becomes baseless.

Unfortunately I cannot see any difference between the way in which the “NGO tribe” behaves vis-à-vis the CT allegations and Regime’s behavior when they are blamed for similar conducts.

At the same time, there is also an overt arrogance among the NGO tribe in handling these allegations. They seems to be thinking that they are the savior of democracy, good governance, and everything that are good and virtuous, and therefore they cannot be wrong and cannot be, therefore, questioned. No need to mention that this is an unacceptable behavior.

How a weak Opposition could still play it smart

October 18, 2014

It was exactly 50 years ago, in 1964, when I was seven years old, that my father introduced me to the political personalities who would visit our Ward Place flat and took me around for public rallies including election meetings. Having closely observed Sri Lankan politics for half a century, I cannot but conclude that taken as a collective (and with a few individual exceptions), Sri Lankan politics today has the dumbest Opposition I’ve ever seen in this country.

How a Weak Opposition Could Still Play It Smart by Thavam

The Official Residence Of SL’s High Commissioner To Geneva Was Under Surveillance: Tamara

October 17, 2014

Sri Lanka’s former High Commissioner to Geneva, Tamara Kunanayakam says the official residence of the High Commissioner in Geneva was being surveilled by a group linked with the LTTE.

Tamara Kunanayakam

Ambassador Kunanayakam made these remarks in an interview with Newsfirst where she said that her suspicions were aroused following an audit that was carried out on the renovations done in the High Commission residence just before she was posted to Geneva.

She states the audit revealed the company, which carried out the renovations was headed by a group that had earlier been arrested by the Swiss for engaging in LTTE activities. “I found that the estimates given for the contract were totally wrong,” she adds.

She goes on to state these fears prompted her to request the Swiss Police to check for any electronic material such as microphones within the residence. However, the police had declined the request as it was an extraterritorial matter.

“That is why I then asked the government to probe into the matter – not only because of my own security but because this is the official residence of the representatives of Sri Lanka. If there were microphones and we were being watched, the LTTE would know exactly what we were going to do,” she explained.

Meanwhile, concurring with comments made by Professor Rajiva Wijesinha and Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka on a concerted effort that is being carried out to oust loyal and efficient diplomats from the foreign service, Kunanayakam says she too was a victim of that scheme. She says she was recalled due to pressure by current Secretary to the External Affairs Ministry Kshenuka Senewiratne and the Monitoring MP of the ministry, Sajin de Vass Gunewardena.

“I have known diplomats who have been recalled and punished because of helping me when in fact they were only doing their job,”she added.

She says that it is because they became obstacles to the personal interests of certain individuals and adds that although career diplomats were subjected to similar injustices, their plight was highlighted more since they were political appointees.

“The state itself has been hijacked by a group – a cartel, interested in promoting their own interests,” she added.

Furthermore she had stated the slapping incident involving former Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the UKChris Nonis and Sajin Vass has reflected on the dysfunctional state of the institutions. She adds that if a genuine effort was to be made in investigating the incident, the course of action to have been followed initially was to suspend the person in question and thereafter carry out the probe.

Related posts; Geneva Files: Kshenuka At The Centre Of Financial And Diplomatic Scandal

FUTA unreservedly condemns attack on Sabaragamuwa University Students

Friday, 17 October 2014

The Federation of University Teachers’ Union (FUTA) unreservedly condemns the recent brutal attack on Sabaragamuwa University students by masked goons.

FUTA says 'the fact that this attack comes after the recent statement of Minister S.B Dissanayake that he knows the treatment for these students if not for upcoming elections, is a clear indication that the Minister himself must take responsibility for this act of violence' in the press statement issued on yesterday (16)

The full text of press statement of FUTA as follows

The Federation of University Teachers’ Union (FUTA) unreservedly condemns the recent brutal attack on Sabaragamuwa University students by masked goons. As pointed out by our sister union, the Sabaragamuwa University Teachers’ Union (SUTA), the students were engaged in a peaceful protest when they were attacked. Furthermore, the fact that this attack comes after the recent statement of Minister S.B Dissanayake that he knows the treatment for these students if not for upcoming elections, is a clear indication that the Minister himself must take responsibility for this act of violence.

Minister S.B. Dissanayake’s crude and violent speech and behaviour is of course nothing new. The tragedy is that he is not held accountable for his actions. No civilised country would tolerate a Minister of the likes of Minister Dissanayake and any responsible government would have long removed such a person from holding any position of responsibility. The fact that Minister S.B Dissanayakes continues to function with impunity is a reflection of the broader culture of lack of accountability and complete disregard for what is good and decent in our existing political culture. It is for this reason that FUTA is of the view that it is not Minister Dissanayake but the leadership of the government of which he is a member that should be responsible for the brutal suppression of university students around the country. It is no secret that Minister Dissanayake is carrying out the policy and instructions of his government. University students have been identified as a challenge to the government’s efforts to completely destroy state universities in this country and Minister Dissanayake’s violence is the government’s response to student agitations. That is why Minster Dissanayake is allowed to act without any restraint.

The FUTA appeals to all citizens of this country to awaken to the severe crisis in higher education today. University students are agitating because they are immediately affected by this crisis. However, this crisis will eventually affect all of us. If this situation continues much longer, universities in this country will be completely destroyed and only a handful from among the privileged will be able to access higher education. The quality of higher education will be completely undermined. The long term socio-economic consequences of such a situation are extremely dangerous. Even those of us who are not directly affected by this crisis need to be aware of this danger. We call upon all citizens of this country to wake up to the crisis in higher education and to hold those in authority accountable for their actions and to call for an immediate halt to the violence meted out to the youth of this country.