The Chief Justice Mohan Pieris As A Diplomat

By Fr. Sarath Iddamalgoda -January 27, 2015 

Fr. Sarath Iddamalgoda

I read in the media about CJ Mohan Pieris’s demand that if he were to resign he should be compensated with a post of a diplomat. Although I am a layman in the field of judicial matters, common sense makes me raise the question whether he has ever proved himself qualified to hold the post of a diplomat or for that matter even the post of Chief Justice.

Everyone knows that a judge is duty bound to uphold the independence and the integrity of the judiciary. Never should a judge allow himself to be influenced by his personal political preferences. A judicial officer is bound by the nature of his office to win the confidence of people.

In the case of Chief Justice Mr. Mohan Pieris, we are compelled to question whether he had met the above standards. The loss of confidence in him arose from his own inappropriate conduct as reported in the media.

The media exposed his participation in the new year celebration of theRajapaksa family, his visit to the Vatican in the company of President Rajapaksa and his presence at the Temple trees in the early hours of the 9th of January when the results were being announced.

If Mr. Pieris has never denied any of these allegations, he should be interpreted to have admitted that he has contravened the code of conduct prescribed for a judicial officer.

Add to this the fact that he has now been questioned by the Police, a thing that has never happened in the history of Sri Lanka.

All this proves his close collaboration with the former President. Does the office of Chief Justice allow such familiarity with a politician? When one assumes the office of judge, one cannot allow oneself to be dictated by what one desires. One’s behaviour is restrained by the obligations of his office. The office of a judge demands impartiality because “not only must justice be done, it must also be seen to be done.”

In my view he seems to have failed on all these counts. The only alternative left for him is voluntary resignation. If for some reason he does not resign, the citizens of this country need to act. The foundation of democracy rests on the sovereignty of the people. As the famous adage goes, “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”

“Mahinda is bearing the curse for hitting me”– Mervin

 Tuesday, 27 January 2015 

 

“I am pious Buddhist following the teachings of Lord Buddha. Anybody who has caused injury to me has not comfortably lived. I realized the fact that Mahinda would meet his waterloo very soon when dragged me to a room in Temple Trees and hit me.

before two full moons elapsed Mahinda lost all his powers but Mervin still remains same as before” said Mervin the former public relations minister during his meeting with one of our reporters in Colombo.

Describing his assault by the Ex president, Mervin said “can you remember that I closed a hotel in Kelaniya. The owners of the hotel has called the ''Basil the thief '' and complained. Basil has exaggerated the story and complained the President. Immediately I received a call from the President and asked me to come. I too immediately went.

As soon as president saw me and he took me by my hand and dragged me to a room. I thought he is taking me to a secret discussion. But the latter started to assault me however I never raised my hand. Later he took me out by putting his hand around my shoulder to pretend nothing has happened. I never stood a single moment but immediately came to my jeep. Realizing the situation, my security guards asked me “sir what happened?” I immediately cried and took a call to my wife Lucida and briefed the situation. Then one security told me “Sir now I am very confident that this would be the last stages of Mahinda” You can ask him, if I am lying. This is that boy” said Mervin told the reporter pointing one of his bodyguards. When our reporter looked at Mervin’s bodyguard the latter confirmed it by nodding his head.

Describing further Mervin told that Mahinda Rajapaksa has assaulted many people like him before this incident. Bus Gemunu, former IGP mahinda Balasuriya and the former intelligence head Wakista to  name of a few. The only person who knows the entire list is Mahinda’s P.S.O Major Neville Silva. The latter to have got assaulted many times when he tried to stop the assault. Mahinda is a well known thug in Beliatta. A noble post such as the Presidency cannot be given to a village thug like him. Nobody can compare him with Ranil or Chandrika. When he was drunk behave like an animal. We were suppressing these facts due to shame.

Sri Lanka probes political links to drug kingpin

By AFP-PUBLISHED: 16:53 GMT, 27 January 2015 

Sri Lanka’s police said Tuesday they were investigating whether a man who confessed to smuggling over 1,000 kilos of heroin to the island over three years had political protection.

Samantha Kumara Vithanage was arrested in Pakistan earlier this month and taken back to Sri Lanka, police spokesman Ajith Rohana said.

He told detectives he had imported about 1,000 kilos (2,200 pounds) of heroin since 2012 worth a total of $75 million to Colombo, a key hub for the narcotic originating in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

A Sri Lankan police officer stands guard in a vehicle yard in the capital Colombo on January 23, 2015 ©Ishara S. Kodikara (AFP/File)

Investigators have also found links between Vithanage and lawmaker Duminda Silva, who was attached to the defence ministry under former president Mahinda Rajapakse.

"We have information that MP Duminda Silva received large sums of money from Samantha Kumara Vithanage, alias Wele Sudha," Rohana told reporters.

"We secured a court order today to check all banks and financial institutions to track down his money."

Silva was a key financier of the former governing coalition under Rajapakse.

Rohana said millions of dollars worth of houses, apartments and vehicles have been seized from Vithanage, who is better known as Wele Sudha.

A new car taken from the suspect was shown to reporters Tuesday, along with a long list of confiscated apartments, lands and vehicles.

Rohana said the Central Bank of Sri Lanka had been asked to track down any foreign assets of Silva’s in Pakistan and Dubai.

Silva, who could not be contacted for comment, cannot leave the country because his passport has already been impounded in connection with an unrelated murder case, Rohana said.

Rajapakse and his powerful family are accused of large-scale corruption during his decade in office, which ended earlier this month.

Solar and wind, the way to go

Add caption

Alternative energy choices

 January 27, 2015

Sri Lanka has few natural mineral resources in abundance, but two resources which are available in abundance and virtually free of charge are wind and solar energy.
Our nation has got an opportunity to go for a win-win situation by reviewing our energy policy and going hard for pollution free solar and wind, unlike the fossil fuel options. All these so called mafias or lobbies for coal, for diesel, for hydro, and whatever else, should be summarily ignored and a policy should be put in place to give priority on an emergency footing to tap the full potential of mobilising power from solar and wind.

Solar and Wind, The Way to Go by Thavam Ratna

Pakistan's silent partition

Ahmadis, a persecuted Muslim sect, have been flocking to Sri Lanka in search of asylum. Now they're being turned away

Bullet holes are seen at the Garhi Shahu mosque, where members of the persecuted Ahmadiyya community pray during Friday prayers, on July 16, 2010 in Lahore, Pakistan. The mosque was attacked that May.Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

January 27, 2015 5:00AM ET

by Zehra Abid   @zehra_abid4

Pakistan’s story began with a parting — partition from India — and now, for a growing number of people, it is ending with another parting. Negombo, a beach town 24 miles from Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, is refuge for hundreds of Ahmadi Muslims fleeing persecution in Pakistan.

Pakistan's Silent Partition by Thavam Ratna

Freedom, Where Are You?

Not in America or Europe

by Paul Craig Roberts
( January 26, 2015, Washington DC, Sri Lanka Guardian) When the former Goldman Sachs executive who runs the European Central Bank (ECB) announced that he was going to print 720 billion euros annually with which to purchase bad debts from the politically connected big banks, the euro sank and the stock market and Swiss france shot up. As in the US, quantitative easing (QE) serves to enrich the already rich. It has no other purpose.
Freedom, Where Are You by Thavam Ratna

CIA Whistleblower Faces Decades in Prison for Exposing Botched CIA Plan

SHARMINI PERIES, EXEC. PRODUCER, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Sharmini Peries, coming to you from Baltimore.

January 7, 2015-Former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, accused of telling New York Times reporter James Risen about a CIA operation that had provided flawed nuclear weapon blueprint to Iran in 2000, is now going to trial next week. Now a petition of support for Jeffrey Sterling is underway, titled "Blowing the Whistle on Government Recklessness Is Not a Crime". It has gained more than 30,000 signatures in recent weeks, urging the government to drop all charges against Sterling.

CIA Whistleblower Faces Decades in Prison for Exposing Botched CIA Plan by Thavam Ratna

FBI: We Busted A Russian Spy Ring In New 

York City

• COLIN CAMPBELL AND HUNTER WALKER-
JAN. 26, 2015

Business Insider

The FBI announced on Monday that it had busted a Russian spy ring that was allegedly focused on obtaining economic information including details about US markets and sanctions on Russian banks. 

FBI We Busted a Russian Spy Ring in New by Thavam Ratna

Read the full complaint below: 

US v. Evgeny Buryakov, Et Al Complaint

This post was last updated at 4:23 p.m.

Additional reporting by Elena Holodny. 

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-we-arrested-a-russian-spy-in-the-bronx-2015-1#ixzz3Q2meGb7k

Court rules accused Russian credit card 'megahacker' can be extradited to the US

Dutch court approves extradition of Russian man for his alleged involvement in one of the largest US corporate hacks of more than 160 million credit card details

Russian defendant Vladimir Drinkman, left, is escorted by police officers at the courthouse in The Hague. Drinkman is accused of helping to lead a prolific computer hacking ring. Photograph: Jerry Lampen/AFP/Getty Images

Agence France-Presse in The Hague, Netherlands-Tuesday 27 January 201

A Russian man accused of one of the largest US corporate hacks of more than 160 million credit card details can be extradited to the US, a Dutch court has ruled.

“The Dutch state may extradite Russian hacker Vladimir Drinkman to the United States,” The Hague district court said in a statement on Tuesday.

The ruling comes after Drinkman’s lawyer earlier this month made a last-ditch effort to avoid him being sent to New Jersey, arguing that he might be prosecuted for other crimes in other states, which would breach the Netherlands-US extradition agreement.

Drinkman, who is wanted along with four others for allegedly hacking computer networks belonging to some of the world’s largest payment companies, would prefer to be extradited to Russia, where his young daughter and ex-wife live.

The five suspects, four Russians and a Ukrainian, are accused of stealing credit and debit card numbers and other personal information from companies such as Nasdaq, Carrefour and JetBlue and selling them online.

Just three of the corporate victims have reported combined losses in excess of $300m.

The defendants are Russians Drinkman, Alexandr Kalinin, Roman Kotov and Dmitriy Smilianets, and Ukrainian Mikhail Rytikov.

Smilianets was arrested along with Drinkman in the Netherlands and extradited. The other three suspects are still at large.

US investigators have been on the trail of the hackers for at least four years with Kalinin and Drinkman having been identified as Hacker 1 and Hacker 2 in a 2009 indictment of Albert Gonzalez, who was subsequently convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for accessing the confidential data of Heartland Payment Systems and other corporations in what was, until then, the biggest case of its kind.

The pair were described as specialists in penetrating network security and gaining access to the systems of major corporations. Moscow-based Kotov was said to be the expert in mining the networks his accomplices had opened up.

This involved installing malicious code, or malware, on compromised systems, enabling the harvesting of user names and passwords, means of identification and bank card numbers.

The US investigators regard the estimate of 160 million numbers obtained by the group as conservative.

A stolen American credit card number and the details needed to use it were said to be worth $10, a Canadian one $15 and a European one $50 to the identity-theft wholesalers who bought the data.

They would then sell them on to individuals who could encode the data onto blank plastic cards and use them to buy goods or make cash withdrawals.

Alexander Litvinenko death: five key questions

TUESDAY 27 JANUARY 2015

As a public inquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko gets underway, what do we know about the man and the circumstances surrounding his death?

What do we know about events before Alexander Litvinenko's death?

On 1 Novermber 2006, Alexander Litvinenko took tea at a London hotel with former Russian agents Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun. Several hours later, Mr Litvinenko was admitted to a hospital in north London after complaining of feeling sick.

By 17 November Mr Litvinenko's condition deteriorated and he was transferred to University College Hospital in central London and placed under armed guard.

Two days before his death, the Kremlin dismissed as "sheer nonsense" claims that the Russian government was involved in any alleged poisoning.

On 23 November 2006, Alexander Litvinenko died in care. Police said that they were investigating his "unexplained death".

Who killed Litvinenko?

The key question that the inquiry will attempt to answer - just who is responsible for the death of Litvinenko? The health protection agency found that the former KGB spy had large quantities of the radioactive isotope polonium-210 in his body at the time of his death.

Months later, crown prosecutors named former Russian agent Andrei Lugovoi as the man suspected of murdering Litvinenko. Lugovoi had planned to travel to Spain with Litvinenko as part of his alleged investigation into Spanish links with the Russian mafia.

Dmitri Kovtun, who took tea with Mr Lugovoi and Mr Litvinenko at a London hotel three weeks before the death, was also named as a suspect. Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun deny any responsibility for the death and Moscow has refused to extradite both men to the UK.

What was Litvinenko doing with MI6?

Mr Litvinenko reportedly joined the KGB in 1988. Ten years later, after apparently falling out with his employers over corruption within the Russian secret service, Litvinenko exposed an alleged plot to assassinate Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky. He later spent nine months in remand before fleeing to London in 2000, where he is granted asylum.

At a news conference after Litvinenko's death, Mr Lugovoi claimed that Litvinenko was a British spy who might have been killed by the British security services.

In 2012, a pre-inquest review was told that Mr Litvinenko was paid by MI6 and was working alongside Spanish spies in the days before his death.

How did politics play a part?

When Litvinenko was killed in 2006, relations between the British and Russian governments were relatively good. The killing and accusations after turned the relationship bitterly cold.

Four Russian and four British diplomats were expelled from their respective embassies as a result of the dispute.

In 2013 the UK government rejected the idea of an inquiry suggested by the coroner in charge of the case, Sir Robert Owen. Litvinenko's widow Marina said the rejection was a "political decision", and Home Secretary Theresa May eventually admitted protecting "international relations" had played a part in the decision.

What about British-Russian relations now?

In February 2014 the high court overruled Theresa May's decision not to hold an inquiry into Mr Litvinenko's death.

Since the crisis in Ukraine begun last year, dialogue with the Kremlin has turned even frostier, and the UK government announced a public inquiry in July 2014.

In September, a directions hearing was told that the Russian government had refused to take part in the public inquiry.

Fears of immigration policy change triggers new wave of Cuban migrants

Cubans gather in a park in Havana to try to secure a visa to the United States. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

Cubans hopeful of obtaining a visa to the United States stand in line outside the United States Interests Section in Havana. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

By Nick Miroff January 27, 2014

HAVANA — President Obama’s opening to Cuba has accelerated a surge in Cuban migration to the United States, the latest U.S. statistics show, as many on the island grow worried that America’s long-standing immigration benefits for Cubans are now in jeopardy.
Fears of Immigration Policy Change Triggers New Wave of Cuban Migrants by Thavam Ratna

New-generation solar panels far cheaper, more efficient - scientists

Workers walk among newly installed solar panels at a solar power plant in Zhouquan township of Tongxiang, Zhejiang province December 18, 2014.

BY MAGDALENA MIS-Jan 27, 2015 

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A new generation of solar panels made from a mineral called perovskite has the potential to convert solar energy into household electricity more cheaply than ever before, according to a study from Briain's Exeter University.

Super-thin, custom-coloured panels attached to a building's windows may become a "holy grail" for India and African countries, Senthilarasu Sundaram, one of the authors of the study, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"In those countries these types of material will be like a holy grail: they can both shade windows ... and at the same time produce electricity," he said.

With a thickness measured in billionths of a metre, solar panels made of perovskite will be more than 40 percent cheaper and 50 percent more efficient than those commercially produced today, Sundaram said.

Unlike other solar panels, those made of perovskite can absorb most of the solar spectrum and work in various atmospheric conditions, rather than only in direct sunlight.

"This type of material for solar cells works in diffused conditions much, much better than the other types of solar cells," said Sundaram. "It won't be 100 percent, but it will be much more than what we have now."

Researchers have already tested the material in the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Current commercial products used to generate solar power, such as silicon or thin-film based technologies, are expensive because they are processed using vacuum-based techniques, the Exeter study said.

The production process for perovskite panels is very straightforward, but researchers still have to test the material under different conditions to better understand its properties, before companies embark on industrial-scale production, it said.

The photovoltaic (PV) energy market has been growing because of government targets for renewable energy production and CO2 emission controls, and the International Energy Agency has said that solar energy could be the world's biggest source of electricity by 2050. [ID: nL6N0RU2DI]

Sundaram said perovskite could also be used to power mobile gadgets like laptops and tablets.

First found in 1839 in the Ural Mountains, perovskite is named after Russian mineralogist Lev Perovski.

(Reporting By Magdalena Mis; Editing by Tim Pearce)

Does Diabetes Cause Rashes?

By Susan Renzo, Jan 23, 2015

There are a variety of rashes that are commonly experienced by those with diabetes. Some require treatment, and some disappear on their own.

There are many comorbidities to diabetes, and skin issues are high on the list. With diabetes causing damage to nerves and impairment of the blood flow to skin cells, the skin is more susceptible to damage, infection and changes in color, texture and the supporting structure underneath.

Marker Disorders

There are certain disorders that are considered to be precursors to diabetes. Acanthosis nigricans is a darkening and thickening most often found in the folds of skin of those who are extremely obese. A diagnosis of this skin disorder is considered to be a marker for diabetes, as it is believed to be the result of insulin resistance.

Another marker disorder is eruptive xanthomatosis. The result of poorly controlled sugar levels and extremely high levels of triglycerides, this disorder manifests as firm, yellow, waxy-like eruptions, surrounded by red halos. The bumps generally appear on the face, buttocks, backs of the arms and within creases of skin. The only treatment is to treat the underlying diabetes and dyslipidemia, maintaining a stable level of insulin which will enable reduction of the level of fats in the blood.

Disorders Resulting from Impaired Blood Flow

Because diabetes causes inflammation and narrowing of the blood vessels, the small capillaries that nourish the skin with oxygenated blood and heal it with white blood cells can no longer supply sufficient quantities of either. Hair loss, thickening of the skin on the toes, fingers and hands, and thickened and discolored toenails are some of the consequences of this.

Diabetic dermopathy appears as shiny round patches on the lower shins. They don’t hurt, and are generally benign. They are believed to result from impaired blood flow to the skin.

Necrobiosis lipoidica diabeticorum results from changes to the collagen and fatty tissue that support the skin. The skin becomes thin and red, and lesions develop, mostly on the lower legs. These lesions by themselves are not harmful, but if they break open, medical care should be sought.

Disseminated granuloma annulare causes ring or arc-shaped rashes, most often on the ears or fingers, but sometimes on the chest or abdomen. These rashes can be red or red-brown, but are just as likely to be skin-colored. Medical treatment is not required, but treatment with a hydrocortisone cream may be helpful.

Other Types of Skin Disorders

Because skin may be less healthy in someone with diabetes, it is more susceptible to infection. The infection could be caused by bacteria (Staphylococcus is a common one) or yeast. The types of yeast infections are many, and they may present inside the body (in the mouth or the vagina) or in warm moist areas of skin (the scrotal area, between the toes.)

Whether the infection is cause by bacteria or yeast, medical treatment should be sought.

மன்னாரில் காணாமல் போனவர்களின் உறவினர்கள் 3 கோரிக்கைகளை முன்வைத்து மாபெரும் அமைதிப்போராட்டம்

2015-01-26 11:45:18 | General

மன்னார் பிரஜைகள் குழுவின் ஏற்பாட்டில் இன்று திங்கட்கிழமை மன்னாரில் மாபெரும் அமைதிப்போராட்டம் ஒன்று இடம் பெற்றது.அரசியல் கைதிகளை விடுதலை செய்யக்கோரியும், காணாமற்போன,கடத்தப்பட்டவர்களை கண்டறியக் கோரியும், திருக்கேதீஸ்வர மனித புதை குழி தொடர்பான விசாரணை கோரியும் குறித்த அமைதிப்போராட்டம்  இடம் பெற்றது.

-மன்னார் பிரஜைகள் குழுவில் இன்று  திங்கட்கிழமை காலை 10.15 மணியளவில் அமைதி ஊர்வலம் ஆரம்பமாகி மன்னார் மாவட்டச் செயலக வீதியூடாக மன்னார் பஸார் பகுதியை சென்றடைந்தது.

Tamils in Mannar urge international community to investigate war crimes in Sri Lanka

Photographs Uthayan 26 January 2015
Residents in Mannar launched a silent protest on Monday calling on the international community to investigate war crimes in Sri Lanka, whilst also highlighting a number of pressing concerns: calling for political prisoners to be released, for the missing to be returned and for the military occupation of the Tamil homeland to end.

மன்னாரில் காணாமல் போனவர்களின் உறவினர்கள் 3 கோரிக்கைகளை முன்வைத்து மாபெரும் அமைதிப்போராட்டம் by Thavam Ratna