President’s youngest son ruins ‘Army rugger’!

 

Monday, 29 December 2014 

The Sri Lanka Army’s ruggerites have revealed to ‘Lanka News Web’ as to how president’s youngest son Rohitha Rajapaksa alias Chichi has ruined the Army rugger team that had been built at great pains, cost and which had been time-consuming.

In the first stage, a 60 member team was chosen from among tens of thousands of members of the Army in order to create a strong and celebrated rugger team. In the second stage, the number was reduced to 50, and it was shortlisted to 40 in the third stage and to 30 in the fourth stage.

Understanding that the team so chosen would be a big challenge to them at inter-club level, the three sons of the president, who are owners of Sri Lanka rugger, plotted a conspiracy.

Accordingly, Rohitha telephoned Army commander Gen. Daya Ratnayake and said he wanted to become captain of the Army rugger team. The Army chief immediately summoned the officer in charge of the Army’s rugger team and told him to include Rohitha as a guest player and give him captaincy in view of his seniority. Members of the Army’s rugger team first thought that Rohitha would be a blessing for them, and that they too, could make use of his experience, and agreed to their chief’s order.

But, none of them thought for a moment that Rohitha was coming to destroy their team. They suffered a heavy defeat in the first match under Chichi’s captaincy. Chichi has said that a lack of experience was the reason for the Army’s loss. For the second match, he included three of his friends to the team. That match too, was lost, and for the next game, three more friends were added. But, the result was the same. Now, the Army rugger team has lost all its matches, and has only three Army personnel in the team, while the rest are Chichi’s friends.

Of those who had been chosen to be the last 30, only these three attend practice. Once the next match too, is lost and they too, are removed, the team will only have Chichi and his friends. The Army’s rugger team that was built with so much commitment will see its end. In the end, the Army will become a victim of the Rajapaksa sons’ conspiracy.

Iraqi security forces recapture large sections of Dhuluiya town

A vehicle belonging to Shi'ite fighters fires a multiple rocket launcher during clashes with the Islamic State on at the outskirt of Balad, north of Baghdad December 26, 2014.

WochitGeneralNews

BAGHDAD Mon Dec 29, 2014 4:15pm GMT

(Reuters) - Iraqi security forces and pro-government militias took control of large parts of the Tigris River town of Dhuluiya north of Baghdad on Monday from Islamic State fighters, police and army sources said.

The assault, which began on Sunday and ran into Monday, enabled militia fighters and Iraqi army and federal police to break the militants' siege of the town 70 km (45 miles) north of Baghdad.

Iraq's Shi'ite-led government, backed by U.S.-led air strikes, has been trying to push back Islamic State since it swept through mainly Sunni Muslim provinces of northern Iraq in June, meeting virtually no resistance.

"Iraqi security forces backed by volunteers (militias) are controlling central parts of Dhuluiya where the government offices are located," said Khalaf Hammad, a police captain from Dhuluiya. "Now Islamic State fighters are trapped in small areas in the town's northwest."

Islamic State fighters had occupied the town's northern half since June and surrounded the southern half of Dhuluiya where members of the Sunni al-Jubouri tribe had refused to swear allegiance to the militants.

"Since early morning we have been trapped inside homes. The only thing we can hear is the warplanes bombing and machine gun barrages," said Bado Ahmed, a resident of Dhuluiya. "We are desperately waiting to be liberated from Islamic State."

Iraqi police said Iraqi helicopter and fighter planes conducted the air strikes.

The Sunni militants had used neighbouring villages to isolate not only the Jubouri tribesmen fighting Islamic State but also to attack the nearby Shi'ite town of Balad.

The new offensive, launched on Sunday, was meant to break Islamic State's grip around both Balad and Dhuluiya.

The rural areas north of Baghdad between Iraq's capital and Samarra, a shrine city for Shi'ites, has many Islamic State strongholds.

(Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed, Ned Parker; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)was meant to break Islamic State's grip around both Balad and Dhuluiya.

The rural areas north of Baghdad between Iraq's capital and Samarra, a shrine city for Shi'ites, has many Islamic State strongholds.

(Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed, Ned Parker; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)

Libya appeals for foreign firefighters to help tackle blaze at Es Sider oil port

Libyan government says it needs help from foreign crews to prevent 6m barrels of oil from spilling into Mediterranean

Smoke billows out of a storage oil tank in Es Sider in Libya following rocket attacks on the port. Photograph: Reuters

Chris Stephen-Sunday 28 December 2014 

Libya has appealed for foreign firefighters to tackle a massive blaze at its largest oil port started by rocket fire from a militia attack.

Rockets from Libya Dawn, an alliance of Islamist and Misratan militias, set fire to one of the giant storage tanks at Es Sider on Thursday and the blaze has now engulfed five tanks sending smoke and flames several hundred feet into the sky.

Amid fears 6m barrels of oil stored at the port may spill into the Mediterranean, government spokesman Ali al-Hassi called for foreign firefighting crews to be flown to Libya. “We are trying to extinguish it but our capacities are limited,” he said.

But foreign powers are nervous about deploying fire crews to a battlefield: Es Sider has become the focus of fighting between the recognised government, which has fled to the eastern city of Tobruk, and Dawn militias, who have established their own rival government in Tripoli.

Libya Dawn has been trying to capture the port for two weeks, with the rocket attack coming during an assault by three speed boats repelled by government units.

In retaliation for the speedboat attack, government jets on Sunday launched air strikes against Misrata, Libya’s third city, hitting the airport and port area.

An Airbus from Turkish Airlines, the last foreign airline still operating Libya routes, was on the tarmac when bombs struck close to the control tower, missing the runway. A spokesman for Libya Dawn said the Istanbul flight was later able to take off safely.

Visiting Cairo, Libya’s foreign minister, Mohamed Dayri, appealed for western help, both to tackle the oil blaze and combat what he called “extremists” battling government forces.

“We, as Libyans, are concerned. But the Arab world and the international community should be too because of the desire of these extremist terrorist groups to reach oil resources,” said Dayri.

Libya Dawn insist they are not terrorists, but revolutionaries, committed to the ideals of the 2011 revolution that toppled Muammar Gaddafi. They seized control of Tripoli after June elections, accusing the elected government of being sympathetic to Gaddafi.

The bombing of Misrata, home to one of only two airports in Libya Dawn control, is seen as an escalation of a war that the United Nations said last week has cost several hundred lives and displaced 400,000 people.

‘A Ground Invasion of the Capital is Imminent’

All-out war is coming to Libya, as rebel militias and a government-in-hiding begin a battle for control of the country.

BY BEL TREW-DECEMBER 29, 2014

TRIPOLI, Libya — Zeina, 27, was hanging out her washing when the first Grad rocket smashed into a neighbor’s house at the end of her dusty street. The deafening boom was followed by the telltale buzz of more incoming rockets. Libya’s civil war had landed on her doorstep.

‘a Ground Invasion of the Capital is Imminent’ by Thavam Ratna

Google's Gmail is being blocked in China: Activists claim the government is stopping people from checking their emails

• 
  
• Gmail users have been unable to access accounts in China since Friday
• Google data reveals traffic to its services dropped on 26 December
• Users are still reporting issues but number of people affected isn't known
• It is said to be a move by the Chinese government to crack down on outside web services
• But the Chinese Foreign Ministry has denied any involvement in the block
• Block was reported by Chinese advocacy group GreatFire.org
• It was later confirmed by Dyn Research and Google’s Transparency Report

By VICTORIA WOOLLASTON FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 09:59 GMT, 29 December 2014 | UPDATED: 10:11 GMT, 29 December 2014

Chinese Gmail users have been unable to access their accounts since Friday after the service was apparently blocked across the country. 

Google's Gmail is Being Blocked in China Activists Claim the Government is Stopping People From Checking Th... by Thavam Ratna

A man of healing, a saga of suffering

Lena Chipps talks about her brother-in-law, a medicine man who a federal grand jury has indicted on 15 counts of rape, sexual abuse and intimidation of minor victims.

Allegations of child sex abuse are complicated by a legal maze in Indian country

In WANBLEE, S.D.
He was a world-famous medicine man, a traditional healer and spiritual leader. Followers would travel long distances to this tiny hamlet on the Great Plains to be in his presence and pray in the darkness with him in a sacred sweat lodge.
But Charles Chipps Sr., a medicine man on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation, had a dark secret, federal prosecutors say.
For years, they allege, Chipps sexually abused and raped girls, including some of his own daughters and granddaughters; many of the alleged victims were younger than 12 and several were as young as 5. A girl from Colorado whose aunt brought her to meet Chipps for spiritual guidance committed suicide after revealing the abuse she allegedly suffered.
TOP: Lena Chipps, shown near the skeleton of a sweat lodge, is the sister-in-law of Charles Chipps Sr., above, who is accused of sexually abusing girls for years on an Indian reservation. The allegations against Chipps have torn his family apart, with some relatives and friends supporting him and others shunning him. Now 67, the medicine man has pleaded not guilty. (Obtained by The Post)

The sexual abuse of children has long been regarded as a rampant if largely unspoken problem on Native American reservations, in part a legacy of a boarding school system that was designed to assimilate students and subjected them to widespread sexual, emotional and physical abuse, according to Native leaders and prosecutors. But Chipps’s case, as described in court testimony, is among the most shocking — entailing allegations that a respected elder sexually abused at least six girls.
It is also an illustration of the ways in which the federal, state and tribal legal maze that governs Indian country can complicate the pursuit of justice and, in Chipps’s case, allowed him to go free for three years after he was first jailed.
Child sexual abuse on the reservations is at the root of the many problems that follow for Indian children — depression, alcohol and drug abuse, juvenile detention andsuicide, according to Indian country experts. The challenge of getting victims to speak out — common in child sexual assault cases anywhere — is exacerbated by the close-knit nature of the remote communities where they live.
The U.S. attorney for South Dakota, Brendan V. Johnson, said that sexual violence is one of the most common criminal offenses on the nine reservations where he shares criminal jurisdiction with the tribes, but it is extremely difficult to bring charges.
“Victims are placed under tremendous pressure by family members and friends to recant their stories,” said Johnson, who declined to discuss details of the Chipps case. “The complaint will come in, the victims will be forensically interviewed and will provide us with specific facts about what happened and then, months later, will recant their stories.”
The allegations against Chipps have torn his family apart, with some relatives and friends supporting him and others shunning him. Now 67, the medicine man has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer says he is too sick and mentally incompetent to stand trial.
In a brief interview, he declined to discuss his client’s case further.

The little blue house

The village of Wanblee, population approximately 725, is located on the northeastern edge of the Pine Ridge reservation, where 87 percent of the tribe is unemployed. It has a tiny post office, a small convenience market, a school and a health clinic, but little else.
In a place of desperation, Chipps was a source of healing. He inherited his spiritual position in the tribe and became a renowned medicine man on Pine Ridge and beyond, even releasing a CD of ceremonial songs. He made his home about eight miles out of town in a family compound in the shadow of the Eagle Nest Butte.

It was in a little blue house and a log cabin in that compound that Chipps abused girls and young women who came to him for spiritual guidance, according to the indictment against him and other court documents. He also allegedly sexually assaulted them on his nearby sacred ceremonial grounds, forcing them to disrobe and engage in sexual acts in the darkness of the sweat lodge.
From 2002 to 2007, according to court documents, the South Dakota Department of Social Services and the tribe’s social services agency received nearly a dozen reports in which minors told people close to them that they had been sexually assaulted by Chipps. In most cases, the young accusers failed to repeat the claims before investigators.
In June 2009, a rookie Oglala Sioux tribal police officer from Wanblee, Samuel Pretty Bear Sr., responded to a call at the compound from Chipps’s son. The son said he had long feared his father, Pretty Bear recalled, but had information he wanted to share.
“He explained to me what was going on out there, and it wasn’t right,” Pretty Bear said in an interview. “He has kids of his own, and he was afraid for their safety.”

Pretty Bear removed four of Chipps’s grandchildren from the compound. A few days later, three more children were removed. Some were placed into foster care, and others went to live with other family members.
“Don’t tell them nothing about us,” Chipps warned one girl, according to court testimony from a state counselor who talked to the girl.
About a month later, Chipps was arrested on tribal child sex abuse charges and placed in a Pine Ridge jail. Then, nothing happened.
“We did our report,” said Pretty Bear. “We did what was asked of us as police officers and never heard anything about it after that.”
Although tribes have their own governments and court systems, the responsibility for prosecuting felony crime, such as sexual assault and rape, generally falls to the Justice Department. In this case, the U.S. attorney’s office for South Dakota opened an investigation but did not have enough evidence to bring federal charges.
Tribal authorities tried to obtain the limited evidence that federal investigators had, but federal officials would not share it.
In 2010, after a year with no charges by the U.S. attorney’s office — and no access to any evidence the FBI had collected — tribal law required that Chipps be let go.
He was free for another three years.

Crazy Horse School

Beth Carnes, a non-Native counselor at Crazy Horse School in Wanblee, had a gentle manner and a way of talking and listening respectfully to children.
One day, about a year after Chipps was released from jail, she began talking with a 13-year-old girl who had been acting out. Something was deeply wrong.
“I said, wouldn’t it feel better if you just told Ms. Beth everything that’s inside and you got it out?” Carnes later testified in court. “And she said yes. And we went in my office, and she told me the whole thing.”
The girl told Carnes that the medicine man had been sexually abusing her since she was 5. She also said Chipps had recently insisted on seeing her, which she said was a violation of an order from a tribal agency that he not have any contact with any of the alleged victims.
As a school counselor, Carnes was legally obligated to report what she had been told. She did.

Allegations of child sex abuse are complicated by a legal maze in Indian country

Allegations of child sex abuse are complicated by a legal maze in Indian country

India faces massive challenge to get mental healthcare right

Care and conditions at mental health hospitals are abysmal, but more than funding and training, India needs a very big change in attitude

I have never met Rina, but an account of her struggle (pdf) to come to terms with her mental illness is moving.

A woman stands at the window of a night shelter run by Iswar Sankalpa, a Kolkata-based NGO, where women receive food and treatment until they are ready to go back to their communities. Photograph: Shanta Rau Barriga/Human Rights Watch

Monday 29 December 2014

“My name is Rina … I have been to hell and back, and I am proud to be able to stand here tall and say that I survived and I am continuing to survive my illness and society’s stereotypes of me. I am also a woman, mother, wife and an individual with schizophrenia.”

Rina has the right combination of medication and a support structure to address her illness. But there are thousands of women in India who are not as fortunate, as a recent Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, Treated worse than animals, revealed.

The HRW team visited 24 mental health hospitals and state-funded residential care facilities and interviewed 200 women and girls with psychosocial or mental health disabilities, their families and caretakers, as well as mental health professionals, service providers, government officials and police in six cities.

The 104-page study is a difficult read. It exposes involuntary admissions and arbitrary detentions of women in these facilities; overcrowding and a lack of hygiene; inadequate access to healthcare; forced treatment, including electroconvulsive therapy, as well as physical, verbal and sexual violence.

Take for example, the Yerawada mental hospital in Pune, Maharashtra. It is the biggest government-run hospital in Asia and houses 1,864 patients but has only 25 functional toilets. “Open defecation is the norm,” Dr Vilas Bhailume, the hospital’s superintendent, told the researchers.

“The condition of mental hospitals is the same all over the country. This is because the ethos of these hospitals is wrong … they are run not as mental hospitals but as prisons,” says Ratnaboli Ray, the director of Anjali, a Kolkata-based mental health rights organisation that interviewed Rina.

She says these institutions suffer because of the bad quality of staff and their attitude. “Even the trained staff lack empathy. Their attitude is ‘we know best’,” Ray explains. “Unfortunately, the training programmes reinforce this attitude.”

Kirti Sharma, researcher in the disability rights division of HRW, agrees. “It was not difficult to go into these institutions to investigate because their staff did not think that there was anything wrong in the way they are tackling the inmates.”

HRW researchers were told that staff do not receive training on how to deal with patients.

Access to mental healthcare is limited in India. There are only 43 government mental health hospitals to provide services for the estimated more than 70 million people living with psychosocial disabilities. For every 1 million people, there are three psychiatrists, with psychologists even more scarce. Only 25% of hospitals, clinics and mental health professionals are in rural areas, where 70% of the population live.

Both Ray and Sharma say that, for the situation to improve, the government must move from an institution-based approach to a community-based one, to address the needs of people with mental illness. They say India needs smaller, local clinics that people can access when symptoms first arise.

In 1982, the government launched a national mental health programme to improve services by upgrading facilities and staff training, and providing care at the community level. But it has not been implemented well. “I visited five centres in Delhi,” says Sharma. “Each is supposed to be staffed by one psychiatrist, one psychologist and a social worker. I found the same psychiatrist in all five centres, and in some there were no psychologists or social workers. There are not enough people working in the field, partly because the stigma of these disabilities extends to the professionals who assist them.”

In October, India unveiled its first mental health policy, which aims to reduce the treatment gap by providing universal access to mental healthcare through increased funding and human resources.

“The policy is progressive but it does not move away from large institutions totally,” says Sharma, adding that legal reform is needed to ensure that “like everybody else, people with disabilities have legal capacity – the right to make their own decisions – and receive the necessary support to do so”.

Along with all these, there is one important factor that needs to change. Society must stop treating people with mental illness as outcasts. This, Sharma says, is a mammoth challenge.

Jim Carrey gives commencement speech at Maharishi University of Management

(Maharishi University of Management)

By Valerie Strauss May 28
Jim Carrey surprised graduates at the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, with a funny, emotional commencement speech in which he told them a poignant story about his father and urged them to walk their own path in life and never settle.

“The decisions we make in this moment are based in either love or fear. So many of us chose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect so we never ask the universe for it. I’m saying I’m the proof that you can ask the universe for it. And if it doesn’t happen for you right away, it’s only because the universe is so busy fulfilling my order. 

If you are wondering about the Maharishi University of Management, it is an accredited school that offers degrees in traditional subjects as well as new fields, such as “Sustainable Living” and “Maharishi Vedic Science” and that employs an approach to learning called consciousness-based education. All students and faculty practice Transcendental Meditation® (TM) technique, which the university says helps people learn because it reduces stress, “integrates” brain functioning” and boosting creativity and intelligence. According to the website, “students also study each subject in light of fundamental principles of their own consciousness,” and take one course  at a time, with a new subject every month. The school was founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1973.

If you are wondering why Jim Carrey was at the Maharishi University of Management giving the commencement speech and accepting an honorary degree of doctorate of fine arts, the school’s website says that he practices TM and has been to the school before. Last fall, he spoke to students in the David Lynch Masters in Film program, and he has supported the David Lynch Foundation’s initiative to bring TM to at-risk students, war veterans, and women and children who have been subjected to abuse. Last year, Carrey published a children’s book, called “How Roland Rolls“, which the MUM Website says “presents the classical wisdom of Vedanta.” The book is about a wave that is scared of dying when he reaches the shore but realizes that he is just part of the entire ocean.

The high point of the speech was when Carrey talked about his father, who he said had the ability to be a comedian but took the safe employment route and became an accountant but lost his job. 

“I learned many, many lessons from my father, but not least of which is that you can fail at something you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance doing what you love.”

Carrey also told the students:

“I’m here to plant a seed today. A seed that will inspire you to go forward in your life with enthusiastic hearts and a clear sense of wholeness. The question is, will that seed have a chance to take root or will I be sued by Monsanto?”

The MUM website says Carrey was honored for “his significant lifetime achievements as a world-renown comedian and actor, artist, author and philanthropist,” including starting The Better U Foundation, which addresses  global food security

Over 1 million people affected by adverse weather, 23 dead

December 28, 2014

Twenty-three people have been killed and eight others are missing due to floods and mudslides caused by incessant rain around the country over the past week, the Minister of Disaster Management Mahinda Amaraweera said today.

He stated that 281,006 families have been affected by the prevailing inclement weather condition and that approximately 1,016,395 persons have been affected in the country so far.

He stated that 4,571 houses have been completely damaged while another 14,511 home have suffered partial damage due to weather-related disaster incidents.

“This amount will definitely increase more than this. A survey can be carried out only after the floods recede,” he told a press conference in Colombo.

Amaraweera stated that a majority of the deaths have occurred in the Badulla District, one of the worst affected out of 18 districts currently experiencing heavy rainfall in the country.

It is monsoon season in some parts of Sri Lanka, but many other areas not normally affected are also experiencing non-seasonal rain.

Dayan becomes another Duminda – has lost his memory

Dr. Dayan Jayatilleke, who had been criticizing the Rajapaksa government throughout the past as a diplomat and an intellectual, has started whitewashing the regime. This is revealed when he appeared on ‘Rupavahini’ and ITN’ on behalf of Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa today (28th).

He emphasizes that Mr. Maithripala Sirisena has become a puppet manipulated by Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Dr. Dayan Jayatilleke, till very recently, stated that Sri Lanka has become the victim of human rights allegations due to politicizing of Sri Lanka’s foreign service after the war. He expressed the view that the resolutions against Sri Lanka in Geneva could not be resolved due to the bungling by the Rajapaksa government. Until a few days ago Dr. Dayan Jayatilleke criticized the Rajapaksa regime and called for a ‘change’.

However, contradicting all his views Dr. Jayatilleke has started appearing on behalf of Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa. Political analysts say Dr. Dayan Jayatilleke, like Parliamentarian Duminda Silva, must be suffering from memory loss.

Presidential Election – Boycott Idea Crushed To Shambles

By S. Sivathasan -December 28, 2014 

S. Sivathasan

Swift Transformations

A difference of 180,000 votes, voted out good governance and voted in mis-governance. This was in 2005. Ironically the very creator of this misfortune was destroyed by its own creation. This was accomplished in less than four years. Now in 2015, the destroyer seems destined for destruction. By whom? By a few multiplications of the self-same 180,000. But with a difference. It is a group of multi ethnic, multi religious, multi party adversaries knit into a single entity.

The wheel of fortune appears to move mercifully on. To reward the good and to cast evil aside. Yet a few among the most affected Tamil ethnic entity want to be lukewarm. Messages that emanate are incoherent, illogical and irrational. Can any good come out of this country? Cry some in in chorus. Whatever the electoral process, the incumbent President knows how to manipulate it, say many others. Whatever the election outcome, he will remain in power. If he sees any difficulty, his brother is there to mobilise the deadliest against democracy.

Such is the universal run of perceptions. Not without some sense, but with great unrealism. The source for this stance is, past happenings not being critically examined. There is besides deep rooted fatalism. A wringing of hands against factors over-mighty. But are they all immutably real? Don’t we see a sea change from November 20^th? Are not the voters coming into their own by the day?

The lurking dangers may or may not be. There is a growing awareness that peoples’ power can defeat them. In a rare unity all ethnicities have joined. The different religionists are together. Political formations are in some coalition. Collective will has prevailed for a common candidate. Ground is plumbed for a fresh leadership to evolve. Wisdom can consolidate it. Unwisdom will break it. Few are optimistic. Some have reservations. Close to Waterloo, negatives don’t happen yet others believe.

Negatives

In this medley emerges the thoughtless suggestion, best is for Tamils not to vote. Can anything more ridiculous ever surface? When the proponent of this madness is confronted, he turns spoilsport. He responds; vote for both and spoil the vote. It is easier still to stay at home remaining neutral when the South fights. Unsaid wisdom is from the burning Southern house pull out an ember to light a Northern cigar. How do these tactics help the Tamil cause? All the wiseacres become speechless. Though defeated arguing still is a fringe Tamil political party, TNPF joining the fray. How illogical, irrational, irresponsible and anti-Tamil they have all become!

Ignoring all these stupidities, Tamil leaders and heads of Tamil formations have come out in resounding numbers in favour of Maithripala Sirisena as the next President.

Figures are Eloquent

How do the two contrasting positions translate to electoral figures? Total Tamil registered votes is around 1.650 million. At a turnout of 75% 1.240 million votes can be cast. At 65%, votes cast will be 1.073 m. A difference of 10% makes for 170,000 votes. If we take the mean of 70%, there is a comfortable total of 1.155 million. It rises to 1.320 million when the turnout is 80%.

In the best of times our performance was less than half our potential. At its worst the achievement was a fraction. In December 2005, our contribution was NIL. For this act of default we paid in May 2009 with 40,000 lives. The arithmetic was; 1 life = a fistful of 5 votes.

Do the proponents of boycott realise the damage they cause? Even with no talk of boycott, we exercise our franchise at a fraction of potential. With it we will lose our all. Since most Tamils know it and are geared to acting wisely, they have refused to refrain from voting. Now we look forward with confidence.

But merely refraining from a boycott wouldn’t do. In the next 10 days they have to more than double the strength of those committed as of today. This gigantic task is with the political leadership.

Comparison with the Last Days of Ravana

When Ravana approached the end of his tether, there was a sequence of pitiable happenings. A devoted Brother (Vibeeshana) (Maithri?) deserted ranks and joined Rama. After battle was joined, he lost his brothers and able commanders in war. One day when he had lost all his personal armaments, Rama gave him a respite. “Retire today and come for battle tomorrow”.

Kamban the emperor among Tamil poets described the mental state of Ravana in the Ramayana. “Ravana the King of Lanka, was in lamentable mental travail, like one deep in debt”. How true in the current scene! The founder of the Dynasty, very nearly the ‘King of Lanka’, who quadrupled the Public Debt is now in deep trouble.

Chinese contractor pockets Rs. 410 mln from low standard Colombo Port Terminal

• Sunday, December 28, 2014

Sri Lanka’s Colombo South Container Terminal (CSCT) has been completed by a Chinese contractor without following the quality standards of construction stipulated in the contract, according to a revelation made by the consultancy company.

Hong Kong based AECOM Consultancy Company has brought to the notice of Sri Lankan authorities that a sum of over Rs. 410 million had been cheated by the contractor – Colombo International Container Terminal Company (CICT)- using substandard material and deviating from the quality standards agreed upon by them, official sources revealed.

CICT had entered into a Built, Operate and Transfer agreement with Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) to implement the project and hand it back to SLPA after 35 years. It was opened earlier this year.

According to the agreement the CSCT should be sustained for 60 years after the completion of the construction work.

The AECOM review report prepared by its resident engineer revealed that the sustenance period of quay wall, revetments and Fender chains should be around 60 years. However due to using substandard material, the period of sustenance has come down to not more than 35, 15 and 10 years, respectively.

The use of temporary revetments instead of original revetments was a violation of the agreement, official sources said adding that the company has been able to reduce their own cost by Rs. 316.39 million by resorting to this practice.

By using low quality Fender Chains, the company has saved Rs.102.22 million, official sources revealed. The Chinese company has pocketed out Rs.418.61 million only from these two segments of constructions.

The South Container Terminal (SCT) Project was completed at a cost of US$500 million or Rs. 52 billion. The agreements to construct the CSCT of the Colombo Port Expansion Project were signed by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, China Merchants Holding (International) Company Ltd, and CICT.

In a long telephone call to president malik spills the beans

In a long telephone call to president malik spills the beans

 2014-12-28

Malik Samarawickreme, former UNP Chairman, businessman and confidante of UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday telephoned President Mahinda Rajapaksa who was at the President's House in Kandy at 9.35 a.m. and spilled the beans on how former President Chandrika Kumaratunga manipulated the joint opposition plan to grab UPFA ministers and members to challenge Rajapaksa at the upcoming presidential poll, well informed sources disclosed to Ceylon Today yesterday.

The President received Samarawickreme's telephone call when UNP provincial councillor Chitra Manthilaka arrived with her supporters to crossover to support the President. Those who were present with the President included former UNP General Secretary and incumbent Health Minister Tissa Attanayake and other UPFA ministers and members in the Kandy District.

Samarawickreme had assured the President that the UNP leader would not accept UPFA Deputy Minister Faizer Musthapha who plans to crossover and had also conveyed a request from Wickremesinghe asking the President not to take UNP members. He had further assured that Wickremesinghe will not accept anymore UPFA members into his fold. Samarawickreme had reportedly briefed the President on how Faizer Musthapha was approached by the joint opposition to convince him to crossover.
He had also disclosed a UPFA name list to Rajapaksa with whom Kumaratunga was in touch to attract to the joint opposition.
Sources said an annoyed President after listening to Samarawickreme had warned the latter not to play double games in politics carrying tales from one side to other and also not to worry him asking for business deals from the government.

Samarawickreme struck a deal with the Rajapaksa government earlier on the Colombo – Kandy Expressway project through which he benefitted massive monetary gains. That was exclusively reported in our sister paper Mawbima.
The former UNP Chairman had told the President that he (Samarawickreme) and Wickremesinghe were aware that Maithripala Sirisena would get defeated at the 08 January 2015 presidential poll.
Sources said Samarawickreme had disclosed more details about Kumaratunga's plans to grab more UPFA members into the joint opposition.