Presidential Election Abuses by Rajapaksas

12/04/2015

It is amidst an impending parliamentary election that more details of abuses and irregularities at the January presidential election are now emerging. A shocking revelation is how the assets of Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) were allegedly used like a local taxi service by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, his family members and a few onetime ministers during the presidential election campaign. Helicopters and fixed wing aircraft were allegedly used and abused at their will and pleasure. At the end of it all, no payments have been made to the SLAF for these flights. The costs of these flights, an SLAF source said, would run into millions of rupees which the taxpayers would have to meet. The source said all the costing had been done from the point from which the aircraft or helicopter took off until it returned to the same location. In the case of helicopters, they left the SLAF base in Ratmalana and often landed in Colombo to pick up the VVIPs and VIPs. “Our costing procedure includes the point of origin, locations visited and the return to where the flight took off from,” said the source who did not wish to be identified. He is barred from officially talking to the media.

Presidential Election Abuses by Rajapaksas by Thavam Ratna

Lotteries board spent Rs. 5 million for Rajapakses to play ‘elle’; Rs. 37 million for MaRa’s campaign ! whither SL ?

(Lanka-e-News- 12.April.2015, 10.30PM) Of the sum of Rs.400 million that was set aside by the National lotteries board for its sales promotion  , Rs. 375 million had been used up by the former Rajapakse regime for its political projects .This shocking detail was revealed lastday  at a media briefing presided over by the  Board’s chairperson  at the auditorium of the ministry in charge .

Lawyer Ms.Shyamala Perera , the Board’s chairperson at the media discussion said , the Rajapakse regime had spent  as huge as a sum of Rs. 375 million out of the Board’s funds towards its  political projects.

In addition a sum of Rs.5 million had been spent for a Carlton Elle tournament  ; and a further sum of nearly Rs. 70 million had been expended on a Video projector screen that was taken across the whole  country during the presidential election . These monies were used up within a short time even though monies were needed for other expenses of the Board, and disregarding those requirements . Besides ,the expenses for the 150 huge cutouts of Mahinda Rajapakse  (which the elections commissioner ordered to be removed) were also met out of the funds allocated via  the budget for sales promotion , she noted. 

During the period , November , December and early part of January 2015 – when the elections were held ,Rs. 200 million of the funds have been spent . For  Dansalas ;to conduct marathon races; food bills ; for illumination on account of Late D. A. Rajapakse  etc. with a view to boost the Rajapakse image , all these monies were expended , and not a cent had been paid towards the Institution’s marketing promotion activities , she bemoaned. In connection with these outrageous corruption  a complaint is to be lodged on Monday , she further pointed out .

Ravi Karunanayake the minister of finance speaking on the occasion said , ‘it is only when we are trying to avert such misappropriations , we are being blamed that the development had declined. What we have truly done is not halting development but rather the corruption. We are only trying to carefully manage the tax payers’ monies.’

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by     (2015-04-12 17:40:21)

EXCLUSIVE: Gota implicated in aircraft deal: report

By our Political Correspondent-April 5, 2015

The latest investigation into corruption at Sri Lankan airline has expanded beyond the $2.3 billion Airbus deal and extended to the purchase of two passenger planes from China violating all norms of civilian safety rules.

The Weliamuna investigation into Sri Lankan airline found not only corruption, but institutional cover up, criminal negligence and gross neglect of safety in allowing Chinese planes to operate without safety clearance.

Defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse had initiated the purchase of six MA-60 aircraft in 2008, but the proposal was surreptitiously made through the civil aviation ministry to dodge financing conditions of ExIm bank of China.

Gotabhaya wanted to acquire the aircraft for the Air Force, but the ExIm Bank could not finance a military purchase hence an elaborate deception was made to look like the aircraft were needed for Mihin Lanka.

Colombo Mirror can reveal that investigators have found horridly prepared feasibility studies justifying the purchase of MA-60 aircraft which did not meet even the Sri Lankan safety standards.

Sri Lankan airlines Chief Executive Officer, Kapila Chandrasena, who resigned last month when the Weliamuna interim report called for his sacking and prosecution for corruption and criminal mismanagement of the airline, was CEO of Mihin Lanka when the initial deal was discussed.

However, during close interrogation, Kapila Chandrasena, whose misconduct with at least one airhostesses (who has now left Sri Lankan to join Emirates) is also under investigation, denied he was involved.

The Weliamuna report has been given to Sri Lankan chairman, Ajith Dias,  who has a business relationship with an individual closely related to Kapila Chandrasena. Dias and former cricket star Aravinda de Silva are business partners. De Silva’s sister-in-law is married to Chandrasena’s whose bank account in a Middle East bank is also under investigation, but Dias had been reluctant to act against Chandrasena despite detailed accounts of his corruption.

Chandrasena told investigators that the MA 60 “aircraft were for the air force and not for Mihin Lanka and acquisition arrangements were made entirely by the Ministry of Ports and Aviation” with help from the air force.

“The purported recording of this acquisition under Mihin Lanka in the budget estimates of the Ministry was merely to align the purchase with the conditionality relevant to the foreign funding (from ExIm Bank of China) arranged, which facility does not allow financing of supplies for the armed services.”

Mihin Lanka and the Aviation minister who was working at the behest of Gatabhaya Rajapaksa had not only violated Sri Lankan laws, but also tried to deceive the Chinese bank and international aviation regulators.

Kapila Chandrasena went as far as to put down in writing in November 2009 that the MA 60 planes to operate to regional routes to India and the Maldives although neither destination allowed this type of aircraft into their airports.

The MA60 aircraft cannot be operated by any civilian company in Sri Lanka either.

This is when Gotabhaya Rajapaksa by way of a directive to the secretary and chief accountant of the Civil Aviation ministry to transfer the two aircraft to the Sri Lankan air force in December 2011, two months after the Air Force actually took delivery of the planes and proudly announced that “these aircraft will be put to good use in meeting the ever growing need for air travel in the region.”

The website of the Director General of Civil Aviation Sri Lanka lists the two MA60 aircraft as “civil aircraft registered in Sri Lanka,” but it is not clear how they were allowed to fly passenger services.

The information provided by Kapila Chandrasena proved that he was misinforming the investigation panel, with most of his evidence being contradicted by other written evidence, the Weliamuna report said.

The Board of Inquiry recommend that similar to the $ 2.3 billion Airbus deal, the MA-60 purchase too should be “investigated for criminal liability,” which means the arresting of Gotabhaya, among others.

The air force took delivery of the planes in September 2011.

Monitor says Syrian army bombs Aleppo school

Residents inspect blood stains after what activists said was shelling by warplanes loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad on Saad Al-Ansari school in Aleppo's rebel-controlled Al-Mashad neighbourhood April 12, 2015.

A woman reacts while civil defence members carry her dead child after what activists said was shelling by warplanes loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad in Aleppo's rebel-controlled Bab Al-Nairab district April 12, 2015.

Sun Apr 12, 2015

(Reuters) - A group monitoring the Syrian war said at least nine people including five children were killed in a Syrian army air strike that hit a school in a rebel-held area of the country’s second city Aleppo on Sunday, though the army denied the report.

A Syrian army source told Reuters the army had stepped up attacks on rebels since the insurgents bombarded a government-held residential area in the northwestern city on Saturday. But he said the military had not targeted civilians.

Aleppo is a major frontline in the four-year-old Syrian civil war, a conflict which the United Nations says has killed around 220,000 people. The city, about 50 km (30 miles) from the Turkish border, is divided between government and insurgent control.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the war using a network of sources on the ground, said the death toll from the strike on Jamil al Qabani school would likely rise.

The dead included two women, it said.

The Observatory circulated a video it said showed the aftermath of the attack. A man is shown holding what he says is the severed lower leg and foot of a child, and rescue workers were shown carrying away what appeared to be a body wrapped in a sheet.

The Observatory said at least 32 people were killed in Aleppo on Saturday, 17 of them in the government-held district of Suleimaniyah bombarded by rebels, and 15 of them in an army air strike that later hit a market in a rebel-held area.

The military source said the weaponry used in Saturday’s rebel bombardment had “a very great destructive capacity”. Army specialists were investigating, he said. “It might be the first time it was used.”

“The army is targeting militants in Aleppo because … yesterday (Saturday) they committed a major crime against civilians in Suleimaniyah,” the source added.

He did not comment on the reports of the market attack.

The Syrian National Coalition, a Turkey-based political opposition alliance, said the air strike on the market in the Maadi district of Aleppo on Saturday was a new massacre of civilians by President Bashar al-Assad.

The attack on Suleimaniyah led the Syrian mufti to call on civilians to evacuate rebel-held areas from which shells were being fired so they could be completely destroyed.

The Observatory also reported heavy air strikes in the northwestern province of Idlib, whose provincial capital was last month seized from government control by insurgent groups including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

The military source said the army was continuing to target militants in the province.

(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Heavens and David Evans)

War-torn Nigerian city shows devastating legacy of Boko Haram

GWOZA, Nigeria — In the sprawling town that was Boko Haram’s headquarters, pretty much every single constructing has been bombed or burned or looted. Schools and homes are littered with deserted explosives and weapons. A ditch is full of decomposing bodies,...

11 April 2015 Saturday 21:53

Schools and homes are littered with deserted explosives and weapons. A ditch is full of decomposing bodies, the arms of the victims tied at the rear of their backs.GWOZA, Nigeria — In the sprawling town that was Boko Haram’s headquarters, pretty much every single constructing has been bombed or burned or looted.

War-Torn Nigerian City Shows Devastating Legacy of Boko Haram by Thavam Ratna

Pope Francis calls Armenian slaughter 'genocide'

Pontiff’s comments are likely to anger Turkey, which denies that the killings 100 years ago during the fall of the Ottoman empire constituted genocide

Pope Francis calls Armenian massacre ‘genocide’
Rosie Scammell in Rome-Sunday 12 April 2015

Pope Francis has described the mass killing of Armenians 100 years ago as a genocide, a politically explosive pronouncement that could damage diplomatic relations with Turkey.

During a special mass to mark the centenary of the mass killing, the pontiff referred to “three massive and unprecedented tragedies” of the past century. “The first, which is widely considered the first genocide of the twentieth century, struck your own Armenian people,” he said, quoting a declaration signed in 2001 by Pope John Paul II and Kerekin II, leader of the Armenian church.

“Bishops and priests, religious women and men, the elderly and even defenceless children and the infirm were murdered,” the pope said.

Historians estimatethat as many as 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a wave of violence that accompanied the fall of the Ottoman empire. Despite the massacre being formally recognised as a genocide by Italy and a number of other countries,Turkey refuses to accept it as such.

Reports in Turkey on Sunday said the Vatican’s ambassador to Ankara had been summoned to the foreign ministry to explain the pope’s remarks.

Although the pope chose to quote a predecessor rather than speak in his own words, he told Armenians there was a duty to remember to killings.

“We recall the centenary of that tragic event, that immense and senseless slaughter whose cruelty your forebears had to endure. It is necessary, and indeed a duty, to honour their memory, for whenever memory fades, it means that evil allows wounds to fester,” he said in St Peter’s Basilica.

During the mass Pope Francis also declared a 10th-century Armenian monk, St Gregory of Narek, a “doctor of the church”. The mystic and poet is celebrated for his writings, some of which are still recited each Sunday in Armenian churches.

The pope was joined at the Vatican by a number of Armenian dignitaries, including the president, Serž Sargsyan, and the head of the Armenian Apostolic church, Karekin II.

Theo van Lint, a Calouste Gulbenkian professor of Armenian studies at the University of Oxford, said allowing Armenian leaders to speak in St Peter’s Basilica was a strategic move.

“I think it’s very important to realise he gave space to the leaders, the heads of the Armenian church and Armenian Catholics, to fully give their view of events. It’s very clear that the pope accepts that it is a genocide,” van Lint told the Guardian.

He said the pontiff’s decision to refer to the mass killing of Armenians along with crimes perpetrated by Nazism and Stalinism gave the Vatican’s “highest sanction” to genocide recognition.

Igor Dorfmann-Lazarev, a researcher on Armenian history and culture at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, said the ceremony demonstrated the pope’s efforts to put periphery Christian groups at the centre of the Catholic church.

“This is the first time that Armenia is the centre of attention of Catholic life and the Christian world. It’s meant to draw attention to the Christian east,” he said.

Francis’s use of the word “genocide” was unlikely to change relations between Armenia and Turkey, Dorfmann-Lazarev said, although it would raise diplomatic concerns at the Vatican.

Spainish judge upholds Western Sahara genocide charges against Moroccan officials

The Western Sahara, a former Spanish protectorate, was annexed by Morocco between 1976 and 1991

A A photo of the Western Sahara taken on 31 March (AFP)

MEE staff-Saturday 11 April 2015

Spanish judge Thursday upheld genocide charges against 11 Moroccan ex-officials accused of atrocities in Western Sahara – a former Spanish protectorate, a court ruling showed on Thursday.

Judge Pablo Ruz ruled there was evidence of crimes that amounted to genocide against the Sahrawi people during the period when the territory was annexed and controlled by Morocco from 1976 to 1991.

Ruz called for the arrest and extradition of seven of the accused and issued a request to the Moroccan courts to find and notify the other four.

The ruling said there were "rational indications of criminality", upholding allegations by state prosecutors who want the 11 brought to trial.

The investigation also yielded evidence that between 1975 and 1991, "there was a generalised and systematic assault against the Sahrawi civil population by the Moroccan military and police".

The decision, in the tradition of previous rulings that cross international boundaries, is rooted in Spain’s universal justice law, which has allowed Spain’s high court to hear cases of human rights violations committed anywhere in the world.

Legal reforms introduced in 2013 after protests from China reduced the scope of the law, but Judge Ruz ruled that charges of genocide could still be brought in this case because many of the victims were considered Spanish citizens from the period when Western Sahara was a Spanish protectorate.

Morocco invaded and forcibly annexed Western Sahara in 1976 and fought a long war against a pro-independence movement, the Polisario Front, forcing several hundred thousand Sahrawis to flee into exile.

Since 1991 the United Nations has tried repeatedly to resolve the conflict through a referendum on the territory’s status and through bilateral talks, but the efforts have been unsuccessful.

Citing testimonies from victims, their families and other witnesses, the ruling details numerous alleged killings and acts of torture by Moroccan forces against civilians in Western Sahara.

The ruling is likely to upset Morocco, which has tried in recent years to improve its image on human rights.

Spanish deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said on Friday that the government respected judicial decisions, but she did not say whether it would seek the extradition of the suspects.

Morocco’s government did not comment on the ruling.

Bangladesh tightens security ahead of expected execution

Bangladeshi security personnel cordon an ambulance leaving Central Jail carrying the body of Mohammad Qamaruzzaman, an assistant secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami party, after he was executed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, April 11, 2015. Pic: AP. 

By AP News Apr 12, 2015 12:45PM UTC

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Authorities in Bangladesh have heightened security in the capital and elsewhere ahead of the expected execution of an Islamist party official sentenced to death for crimes against humanity during the country’s 1971 independence war against Pakistan.

Mohammad Qamaruzzaman, an assistant secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami, refused to seek presidential clemency, paving the way for him to become the second person put to death since tribunals were set up more than four years ago to try suspected war criminals.

Junior Home Minister Asaduzzman Khan told reporters that Qamaruzzaman would be hanged on Saturday.

By Saturday evening, the concerned officials to execute Qamaruzzaman had entered the jail, a senior prison official told The Associated Press by phone on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Scrapping Trident: stars back call to ditch nuclear weapons

SUNDAY 12 APRIL 2015
Frankie Boyle, Dame Vivienne Westwood and Massive Attack are among leading figures in music, the arts and science who are calling for the UK to scrap its nuclear deterrent.

Both the Labour and Conservative Parties insisted last week that they would renew Britain's Tridentnuclear deterrent, a strategy described as a relic from the past in a letter published on Sunday.

The open letter, published in the Observer, suggests that Britain should become the first member of the UN security council to give up nuclear weapons.

Signatories include comedian Frankie Boyle, Mercury prizewinning band Young Fathers, the former president of the Royal Society, Sir Michael Atiyah, and lawyer and Labour peer Baroness Kennedy.

moveontrident @moveontrident

Follow

.@youngfathers resisting Trident renewal: "Take a look in the mirror". https://youtu.be/LBJ7S1kpI6g  Sign petition here! http://www.moveontrident.org/petition/ 

6:34 PM - 11 Apr 2015

YouTube @YouTube

They write: "The election campaign to date suggests that decommissioning Trident nuclear weapons is a dangerous, minority demand led by the SNP, the Greens and Plaid Cymru.

"Yet poll after poll reveals that it is indeed a majority popular demand throughout the UK. One poll recently revealed 81 per cent of 500 general election candidates are opposed to renewal."

Read Jon Snow's blog: Hans Blix - Britain's Trident plans 'completely pointless'

Nobel prize winner Professor Peter Higgs, former Royal Society president Sir Michael Atiyah and US linguist Noam Chomsky also put their names to the letter.

Launched by political group Compass, the letter argued that hosting nuclear weapons "makes us a target for the disaffected".

It added: "Any accident would lead to a humanitarian disaster. Having nuclear weapons diverts resources and attention from tackling our most urgent security problems, including climate and environmental destruction."

Labour leader Ed Miliband reacted angrily last week after Conservative Defence Secretary Michael Fallon claimed that he would "stab the United Kingdom in the back" over the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent to secure a post-election deal with the Scottish National Party.

Watch Michael Crick's report from Thursday 9 April:

Former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq, Mercury music prize winners Young Fathers and novelist Kamila Shamsie were also among the 70 signatories to the letter.

Interview: Naomi Fink on the Japanese Economy

nalyst Naomi Fink on the Japanese economy and the outlook for Abenomics.

Image Credit: Naomi Fink

By Anthony Fensom-April 08, 2015

Japan’s economy limped out of recession in the December quarter, having posted zero growth for 2014 after a consumption tax hike hit spending. With consumer inflation recently falling back to zero and international forecasters seeing only modest growth this year, can the world’s third-biggest economy get its groove back?

The Diplomat’s Anthony Fensom spoke to Japan analyst Naomi Fink, chief executive of Europacifica Consulting, about the latest growth figures and Abenomics’ prospects of overcoming deflation.

Interview Naomi Fink on the Japanese Economy by Thavam Ratna

‘This Man I Call Father’

Meet Jaffar Amin. He does voiceover work, likes MC Hammer, and posts family histories on Facebook. Oh, and his dad was Africa’s most notorious dictator.

STORY BY JUSTIN ROHRLICH

Father’

On April 11, 1979, His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, CBE, Lord of all the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular, was overthrown by a rebel insurgency.

‘This Man I Call Father’ by Thavam Ratna

7 Key Foods That Lower Cholesterol And Reduce Heart Attack Risk

7 Key Foods That Lower Cholesterol And Reduce Heart Attack Risk

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Admin

The cholesterol is essential for normal functioning of the body. But the increased level of cholesterol can be harmful for our health. The increased cholesterol has no symptoms but it can cause many other diseases such as strokes, heart attacks and clogging of the arteries.  The cholesterol is carried in the body by proteins and the combination of them is called lipoproteins.  Not all the cholesterol in the body is harmful it is divided in two types the “bad” (LDL), and the “good” (HDL).

After reading about all of the risks on which you are exposed if you have hyperlipidemia we hope that we made you aware that you must lower it down.

The food that you consume can strongly affect the level of LDL. The unhealthy lifestyle and unhealthy diet can increase your cholesterol. Food that is especially known to increase the bad cholesterol is: red meat, milk and dairy products and the fried food.  The scientists revealed that besides this food that increases the bad cholesterol there are foods that can contribute to lowering down the bad cholesterol.

The following are some of the foods that you should consume if you have problems with increased level of cholesterol:

1. Cocoa Products: Recent studies have reviled that eating 15mg of cacao daily reduces bad cholesterol and what is more it increases the good cholesterol. Not only that the consumption of cocoa will prevent you from hypercholesterolemia but it can also lower the high levels of bad cholesterol. The cacao will be most effective if you consume it raw and if you add it in some healthy smoothies. But if you decide to consume it in a form of chocolates, make sure that they do not contain too much sugar.
2. Okra, Eggplant: all types of vegetables are generally known to be good for our health, thus they can also increase the good cholesterol. But studies have revealed that certain types are especially beneficial for the cholesterol. For example a study in 2014 revealed that Okra has direct potential to lower the bad cholesterol. In the research okradose-dependently decreased serum and hepatic total cholesterol and triglyceride, and enhanced fecal excretion of bile acids. Similar effect has the eggplant (aka aubergine).
3. Fruits: With regular consumption of fruits you will have healthy cholesterol level.
4. Barley, Oats, Whole grain: all types of foods i.e fruits and vegetables that have high amount of fiber are known to be good for the cholesterol. The nutritionists recommend that 20 to 35 grams of fiber daily will be more than enough for healthy cholesterol level.
5. Soy: researchers claim that soy and all soy products can lower down the bad cholesterol. They say that 25 grams daily lowers the bad cholesterol by 5-6 %.
6. Nuts: according to some studies nuts can lower the bad cholesterol by 5% to 8 %.
7. Fatty fish: Eat salon at least 3 times a week to lower down the LDL. With this you will consume less meat products (the once that can increase the LDL) and you will consume omega-3 fats that can lower down the LDL thus protect your heart.

In the end we recommend you to consume bigger amounts of the above mentioned foods because that is the only way to reduce the LDL. You may find this diet difficult at first, but as the time passes you will get used to it. All in all it is worth trying.