Former heads of Tourism Promotion Bureau charged

2015-04-08

Bhashwara Gunarathne and Roomy Jaufer have been charged in the Chief Magistrate Court yesterday (7). Bhashwara Gunarathne is the former Chairman of Tourism Promotion Bureau while Roomy Jaufer is the former Managing Director of Tourism Promotion Bureau.

They were charged for causing a loss of Rs 4,295,480 to the government by publishing newspaper advertisements and promoting UPFA party members in the guise of promoting tourism.

Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption had filed charges against them.

Sri Lanka: Road Costs Were Inflated by Billions: Minister

07/04/2015

COLOMBO (EconomyNext) – Sri Lanka has inflated infrastructure contracts on deals valued at 151 billion rupees awarded by ‘negotiation’, where some firms flipped deals to subcontractors at a 25 percent instant profit, a minister said.

Highways Minister Kabir Hashim of Sri Lanka’s newly elected administration, said road deals running into billions of rupees contracts were offered to a group of contractors, who were selected on an unknown basis.

“They bring a group of contractors, we do not know how they are chosen,” Hashim said. “They are given several roads. Sometimes the contractors chose the roads.”

The contractor then made an offer to a cabinet appointed committee which then ‘negotiated’ the cost down by 10 percent or some related amount and the road was awarded to that firm.

Hashim said a series of roads were built with Treasury guaranteed loans of 151 billion rupees from domestic banks on that basis.

In the case of a road running between Kalugamuwa and Wilakatupotha the contract was awarded for 2.1 billion rupees, under a project financed by local banks.

The firm had immediately given the deal to a subcontractor for 1.6 billion rupees, getting a 500 million rupees instant profit, without carrying out any work, Hashim said.

The subcontractor was also probably keeping a profit of 300 to 400 million rupees.

Other roads deals were believed to have been inflated by billions of rupees, but details were not easy to find as some officials were covering up tracks, Hashim said.

According to a road building cost index compiled by the Institute of Construction Training and Development (ICTAD) in 2005 the cost of building a two lane road was 47 million rupees a kilometre.

By 2010 the cost index had gone to 75 million rupees a kilometre. But over the last two years bitumen and other raw material prices have come down he said.

“These are not highways, just provincial roads,” Hashim said.

The Kalugamuwa and Wilakatupotha (a ‘B’ class road) cost about 100 million rupees a kilometre he said.

Based on the ICTAD indices the 151 billion rupees ‘priority roads’ project financed by Treasury guaranteed loans from local banks were estimated to be 55 percent above cost, he said.

A by-pass in Kegalle (an ‘A’ class road), cost 722 million rupees a kilometre he said. A road from Punale to Point Pedro in Jaffna cost 318 million rupees a kilometre Hashim said.

In another road running from Veyangoda to Ruwanwella, in a project that came under the Economic Development Ministry a 19 kilometre road was estimated with costs of a 5.5 kilometres of roads which were already built.

In yet another case, a contractors was apparently given 93 percent of the money, but there was no evidence that the road was physically built as a state bank had released money without a certificate of completion.

“We have to do a road audit to find out what was built,” he said.

Hashim said in an extension to the Southern Highway to Beliatta and beyond done by China, consultancy fees alone were 124 million rupees a kilometre. One consultant was appointed to many projects without tender, he said.

BoI Reveals Rohitha Rajapaksa’s Illegal ‘Rush Tag’ Baggage Business: Full Report

April 8, 2015

The board of Inquiry headed by J.C. Weliamuna on Sri Lankan airlines has found blatant violation of airline regulations and the use of embassies for illegal business activities under the Rajapaksa regime.

The inquiry found that the High Commission had been sending unaccompanied cabin bags with a “Rush Tag” in UL flights to be collected in Colombo by “authorities”. ( Rush tag means and identification tag for re-dispatched baggage – lost, unclaimed or mishandled baggage)

According to the Weliamuna report, then London station manager Desiree Premachandra who tried to stop this illegal practice of sending motor spare parts for the use of former president’s son Rohitha Rajapaksa had been suddenly transferred out on the direction of the former President Rajapaska.

The Ministry of External affairs is urged to inquire into the conduct of the officials attached to the High Commission of London who were involved in sending unaccompanied baggage using SriLankan airline by the BoI.

Read the report below;

​Yemen conflict: 'This war has killed everything that was beautiful'

Yemenis stand amid the rubble of houses destroyed by Saudi-led air strikes in a village near Sana’a. Photograph: Hani Mohammed/AP
Kareem Shaheen in Beirut-Monday 6 April 2015

A mesmerising tune floods into Sarah Jamal’s ears, shielding them from the horror of the air strikes outside. Every night, when the bombing of the Yemeni capital begins in earnest, she takes refuge in the poetry she and her compatriots used to perform in Tahrir Square, Sana’a, when Arab spring protests four years ago held the tantalising promise of a new Yemen.

The Saudi-led campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen reaches its twelfth day as the coalition tries to prevent the group from capturing the port city of Aden.

Yemen conflict 'This war has killed everything that was beautiful'.odt by Thavam Ratna

Al-Shabaab: breeding fear among Kenya's Christians

WEDNESDAY 08 APRIL 2015
Al-Shabaab is using the aftermath of its deadly Garissa university attack to drive a wedge between Muslims and Christians and destabilise Kenya.

Following the Garissa University attack last week, al-Shabaab leaders believe they are winning the war against Kenya.

They are using a strategy that they feel is working for them: divide and conquer - one of the oldest arts of war, often used by powerful nations.

This latest assault was the deadliest attack by al-Shabaab inside Kenya.

In September 2013, they murdered 67 people at the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, followed by Mpeketoni last year where 60 were killed. Weeks later, Islamist gunmen executed 28 passengers after ambushing a bus from Mandera that was heading to Nairobi.

During each attack, the attackers separated Muslims from Christians and shot dead those who did not subscribe to the same beliefs as them.

Their main objective is to create fear amongst Christians and force them to flee.

"Christians must leave Muslim lands," al-Shabaab told me. They want Muslims in Christian areas to do the same. It's an attempt to drive Kenya apart and it appears to be working.

Living in fear

After the Mandera attack in November 2014, hundreds of Kenyan Christians fled the predominantly Muslim area in the north east.

Even civil servants like teachers and doctors refused to work in the region fearing for their safety. In Garissa, we are seeing similar stories.

While politicians emphasise their common interests as Kenyans and want to show a united front, behind the scenes there's mistrust. This is nothing new.

Muslims in the north east have historical grievances against the government and especially the army. Events such as the Wagala massacre, where thousands of Muslims were killed in 1984, makes the locals regard the military as an enemy.

Meanwhile, Kenyan Christians view the army as their protectors. It is this conflicting perspective that al-Shabaab is exploiting.

The main message can be gleaned from recent propaganda videos issued by the group that are aimed at Kenyan Muslims: "You have suffered enough under a Christian-led country and we are coming to rescue you."

The Kenyan security forces' reaction to al-Shabaab's attacks is playing a big part. Authorities carry out security crackdowns in Muslim dominated parts of the country.

This angers many young Muslim men who find the al-Shabaab messages appealing. Heavy handedness by the authorities increases recruits wanting to "join the jihad".

This strategy of divide and conquer is a relatively new one for al-Shabaab.

Previously, the terror attacks were perpetrated under the banner of "punishment" against perceived crimes the Kenyan military had committed in Somalia.

Now they see that widening the pre-existing divide between Muslims and Christians as an efficient and cost effective way to forward their agenda.

Since the university attack, security in Garissa has been tightened. There is a visible military presence and a curfew from sunset to sunrise. There are also reports of military violence against civilians.

This can only separate the two communities further.

Rolling Stone’s retraction of University of Virginia gang rape story

John Belushi’s cunningly brutish Bluto, a leader of the notorious Delta Tau Chi fraternity in Animal House, reinforced the notion that in a fraternity anything goes.

David Walsh-April 7, 2015

On April 5, in a major and well-deserved humiliation, Rolling Stonemagazine, the US biweekly devoted primarily to popular culture, was forced to retract its story “A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA,” published November 19, 2014. The 9,000-word piece reported as fact the claims of “Jackie,” a female student at the University of Virginia (UVA), about a horrific gang rape alleged to have taken place in September 2012 at a fraternity house on the campus in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Rolling Stone’s Retraction of University of Virginia Gang Rape Story by Thavam Ratna

South Carolina police officer charged with murder after shooting man during traffic stop

Editor's note: This video contains graphic content. A police officer in North Charleston, S.C., has been charged with murder after shooting a man during a traffic stop. Authorities said the decision to charge officer Michael Slager was made after they viewed video footage of the incident that showed him shooting the other man in the back as he was fleeing the scene. (Obtained by The Washington Post)

By Mark Berman, Wesley Lowery and Kimberly Kindy April 7 at 8:09 PM

A white police officer in North Charleston, S.C., was charged with murder Tuesday after shooting and killing a black man following a routine traffic stop over the weekend.

L. Chris Stewart, a lawyer for the family of Walter Scott, said they were aware of officer Michael Slager’s arrest and questioned what would have happened if a witness to Scott’s shooting had not come forward. (Reuters)

North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey says a white South Carolina police officer will be charged with murder over the shooting death of a black man. This comes after a video surfaced which appears to show the man fleeing from the officer. (Reuters)

South Carolina police officer Michael Thomas Slager was denied bond at a first appearance hearing after the release of a video that shows him firing several shots and killing a black man following a traffic stop. (AP)

South Carolina Police Officer Charged With Murder After Shooting Man During Traffic Stop by Thavam Ratna

With No More Cotton To Pick, What Will America Do With 40 Million Black People?

​Black Star Journal

Phillip Jackson, Founder and Director

The Black Star Project-March 4, 2013

“America is now getting out of the Black people business.”  57% of Black men are of not working in Detroit, 56% of Black men are not working in Buffalo, 55% of Black Men are not working in Milwaukee, 54% of Black men are not working in Cleveland and 52% of Black men are not working in Chicago. This is a trend in every major city and rural community in America. What will America do with 40 million Black Americans now that there is no more cotton to pick?

By Phillip Jackson

March 1, 2013

What will America do with 40 million Black Americans now that there is no more cotton to pick?  Even in states like Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, Black people are not involved in the planting, growing or harvesting of cotton.  This is now done by White and Latino men and women who drive machines that plant and pick the cotton, as millions of Black men of working age stand idle on street corners.  For Black people in America, there is no more cotton to pick

Black people were brought to America as slaves to pick cotton, tobacco and sugar cane.  America’s dilemma today is: what to do with 40 million Black American descendants of slaves who were shipped to American shores 400 years ago for their economic value yet whose heirs today have lost that value?  While America might have once considered shipping Black Americans back to Africa, that is no longer a practical or palatable option.

So America has a serious problem that demands a solution.  What will America do with 40 million Black Americans who have lost their value to the American economy?  As the world moves towards science, technology, engineering, math and medicine (STEMM), fewer than fifty percent of Black boys graduate from high school in the United States.  Many of those who graduate are given diplomas that qualify them for low-wage jobs or no jobs at all, street-corner hustling, incarceration and violent death.  At best, the majority of Black students in America get an education that prepares them to only pick cotton – if there were cotton for them to pick.

According to an October 2010 Research Update to The Crisis Deepens 2009, from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Economic Development, the Black male (ages 16 to 64) joblessness rate (55%) is the highest ever recorded among working-age black males in Milwaukee – the third highest American city jobless rate after Detroit (57%).  Other metropolitan cities at incomprehensible levels include Buffalo, 56%; Cleveland, 54%; and Chicago, 52%.  Additionally, a December 2010 policy brief, Unemployment in New York City During the Recession and Early Recovery: Young Black Men Hit the Hardest by Community Service Society of New York shows 75% of young Black men in New York City between 16 and 24 years of age do not have a job.

While Black America laments the disastrously low employment rate of Black males, hundreds of thousands of foreign H-1B Visa workers (primarily but not exclusively in the high-tech industry) are imported to the U.S. to take jobs paying $100,000 a year and more.  At the same time, many Black males in America who want to work will not be able to get jobs sweeping streets, cleaning toilets or picking cotton.

Our Northern cities have tired of their Black populations, and America is now “getting out of the Black people business.”   Neighborhoods that used to be “Black Belts,” like Harlem in New York City, Bronzeville in Chicago and much of Washington, D.C., have gone upscale, and, as a result, most Blacks cannot afford to live there.  So it is back to the South for many of them.  This time, however, they will not be allowed to even pick cotton because there’s no more cotton for Black Americans to pick.

If Black America is to survive (and there is no assurance), these are the five keys to fixing our economic and social problems:

1) Rebuild the Black family.  Every major problem in the Black community, including poor education, massive unemployment, senseless violence,hyper-incarceration, lost spirituality, low-quality housing options and high mortality rates, can be traced to the disintegration of the Black family.

2) Provide Black boys with strong, positive Black men as mentors, role models and, particularly, a connection to their fathers.  Black boys, like any other children, will imitate and become what they see.  It is critical that Black children see strong, positive Black men.

3) Control the negative peer culture and electronic media that mold many Black boys and men into violent, irresponsible and uncaring human beings.  Either Black people will control the media that we consume or the media will control us.

4) Understand that for the rest of our existence, Black people will live in a “STEMM” world, a world based on Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Medicine (STEMM).  If we are to survive, it will be because we understand and master “STEMM.” We must teach Black children accordingly.

5) Control our economic fate by mastering the principles of entrepreneurship, business, management, finance, accounting, manufacturing, saving, investing, banking and tithing, and by teaching these principles to our children.

This is the way, and the only way, to solve the problems of Black people in America.  Unless we, Black people, quickly respond to the changes in our world, even our cousins on the continent of Africa will not want us. And we will truly be “a lost tribe” wandering the world without a home.   We must realize that we live in an “Educate or Die” society and an “Educate or Die” world!  There is no middle ground.  There is no more cotton to pick!
Phillip Jackson, Founder and Director
The Black Star Project
773/285-9600 or email at blackstar1000@ameritech.net

website: www.blackstarproject.org

Is Japan’s New ‘Helicopter Destroyer’ an ‘Aircraft Carrier’?

The war of words between China and Japan over a new boat tells us a lot about the shifting balance of power in the Pacific.

BY JAMES HOLMES-APRIL 7, 2015

Size matters. But rhetoric matters even more. Is the Izumo, the ship Japan calls a “helicopter destroyer,” really an “aircraft carrier in disguise,” as Chinese commentators allege? The vessel was commissioned into the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) in late March: Judging from the number of stories repeating the phrase “aircraft carrier in disguise” since then, many foreign commentators seem to think so. This suggests that Beijing, not Tokyo, is telling the more compelling story about Japan’s purposes in putting aviation-capable ships to sea.

Is Japan’s New ‘Helicopter Destroyer’ an ‘Aircraft Carrier’ by Thavam Ratna

Modi goes shopping for nuclear power in France and Canada

Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during an event on financial inclusion in Mumbai April 2, 2015.

NEW DELHI | BY SANJEEV MIGLANI-Wed Apr 8, 2015

(Reuters) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to advance the purchase of massive nuclear reactors and fuel from France and Canada to power a resurgent economy, overriding domestic opposition and concerns over liability laws as he embarks on a foreign tour.

In France, where Modi is making his first visit since taking office last year, he will seek to speed up price negotiations for the building of two reactors by state-run Areva S.A. of 1,650 megawatts each in Maharashtra.

An official at state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) said Modi’s visit from April 9-11 was expected to add political heft to a project that under the last government became bogged down.

“Techno-commercial discussions have been going on for sometime now, there is desire on the part of the new government to conclude the discussions,” the official, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said.

Modi has made nuclear power a key element of his clean energy strategy, and in January announced a “breakthrough” pact with U.S. President Barack Obama to help clear a logjam of stalled projects.

India needs foreign nuclear technology and fuel to ramp up capacity by a planned 14 times from 4,560 megawatts over the next two decades.

For decades it was shut out of nuclear trade because of its weapons programme but a 2008 agreement with the United States gave it access to foreign suppliers without giving up arms that are primarily meant as a deterrent against nuclear-armed China.

NPCIL and the French supplier have been trying to hammer out a contract for the past five years, wrangling over the price as well as India’s strict liability law for the plant in Jaitapur.

If completed in full, the Jaitapur project would be the world’s largest nuclear power station and a lifeline for the loss-making French company. But one industry source with knowledge of the talks said there was still disagreement over the price Areva would be paid for the plant’s power.

“The only thing I can confirm is that the teams are working,” France’s ambassador to New Delhi Francois Richier said. “It is a big project with six reactors. It is not something to be tied to a particular visit. It is really good if it happens during this visit. If not, it will happen later.”

Modi’s government is pushing for the reactors despite opposition from anti-nuclear groups as well as its own regional ally in the state, the Shiv Sena, who says it is not safe.

Modi’s administration has also proposed the setting up of an insurance pool with a liability cap of 15 billion Indian rupees ($240.91 million) to indemnify international and domestic nuclear suppliers in case of an accident.

“The establishment of the insurance pool has addressed the main concern of the suppliers,” said S.K. Jain, former chairman of the NPCIL who negotiated the initial agreement with Areva. “The main stumbling block of global suppliers was unlimited and indefinite liability.”

FUEL FROM CANADA

After France, Modi visits Germany then Canada on April 17. There he hopes to close in on a deal to secure uranium imports after a 2013 agreement ended a 39-year embargo on nuclear trade with India following its first nuclear test.

Canada’s Cameco Corp, one of the world’s biggest uranium producers, has been holding talks with Indian government officials for a long term supply arrangement.

One senior Indian government official said that during the visit “there may be a deal” for the supply of uranium fuel.

“We look forward to resuming our civil nuclear energy cooperation with Canada, especially for sourcing uranium fuel for our nuclear power plants,” Modi posted on Facebook.

($1 = 62.2650 rupees)

(Additional reporting by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

Thai schools adopt European framework to boost English language proficiency

Thai students taking an English language examination. Pic: Daniel Maxwell 

By Daniel Maxwell- Apr 07, 2015

When Thailand’s new school year begins in May, teachers and schools across the country will begin the process of aligning their English language teaching with the Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR). This alignment with internationally recognised language standards is a positive step towards raising the standards of English in Thailand, but it is going to take strategic planning and hard work to realise these goals.

Thai Schools Adopt European Framework to Boost English Language Proficiency by Thavam Ratna

Painkillers Kill More Than Heroin and Cocaine Combined

BY ANTHONY GUCCIARDI

-POSTED ON DECEMBER 19, 2014

Yes, prescription painkillers do in fact take more lives per year than two of the hardest illegal drugs in the nation — surpassing both heroin and cocaine in their total related deaths. It all has to do with how these prescription pharmaceuticals work in the brain, and how many individuals around the country are easily acquiring them to feed their deadly habits.

Because after all, who said legal drugs were all that different from illegal drugs in many cases?

Prescription painkillers are known to ‘numb’ the pain, which is achieved by their ability to bind to brain receptors and decrease your body’s ability to process pain signals. As a result, it’s easy to enter into this ‘feel good’ state to the point of serious addiction and even physical dependence. Think similarly to a heroin user who needs to inject the drug multiple times a day in order to reach the ‘high’ that they have  become accustomed to.

But let’s look beyond the basic science of how painkillers work and into the largest study on the issue of painkiller deaths, which was recently conducted by McGill University in Canada. An impressing topic that truly does deserve thorough research, researchers from the team tracked the total death stats from both heroin and cocaine, and then compared them to the painkiller death figures that they collected from numerous top sources. Published in the American Journal of Public Health, some key findings include:

• The United States and Canada are number one and two respectively per capita when it comes to opioid (painkiller) consumption.

• In just 2010, there were over 16,000 deaths resulting from painkiller use within the United States.

• Individuals addicted to and abusing painkillers often take large doses to feel a more ‘euphoric effect.’

• Such large doses can stop breathing, resulting in death.

So how is this still going on? Surely doctors must be taking precautions?

Well, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a whopping 12 million individuals were found to be using painkillers without having a valid prescription. Many of these 12 million people are simply taking them to get high. Add onto this statistic that around half of all deaths from painkillers also involve another drug, like alcohol or another pharmaceutical pill, and it’s easy to see that there is a serious problem.

And it’s also easy to see that the statistics are really here to back up the severity of the issue. One of the team researchers on the project, Nicholas King, agrees:

“Prescription painkiller overdoses have received a lot of attention in editorials and the popular press, but we wanted to find out what solid evidence is out there.”

Amid the realization that thousands die per year from prescription drugs, it’s easy to see how distorted the ‘drug system’ in the United States truly is. As thousands are arrested and thrown in jail for possession of marijuana, and missions are launched to crack down on drugs like cocaine and heroin (which are obviously real dangers as well), the medical establishment seems to turn a blind eye to pharmaceutical deaths that surpass even these notorious hard drug killers.