65-year-old German woman expecting quadruplets defends pregnancy

Annegret Raunigk, who has 13 children, says she is not scared by prospect of caring for young children at the age of 70 and beyond

Kate Connolly Berlin-Tuesday 14 April 2015 A 65-year-old German woman who is due to give birth to quadruplets in the summer has defended her decision and says she is looking forward to the challenges ahead.

Annegret Raunigk, who is in her fifth month of pregnancy, said she had decided to get pregnant after her nine-year-old daughter, Lelia, told her she would like a baby sister or brother. “She’s a great kid and I wanted to fulfil her wish,” Raunigk told the German television channel RTL.

65-Year-old German Woman Expecting Quadruplets Defends Pregnancy by Thavam Ratna

Thyroid Disease: What Do You Do When The Medications Don’t Work?

 by Dr. Michael Taggart - Jun 26, 2014

According to the most up to date research approximately 90% of patients with hypothyroidism have it as a result of an auto-immune reaction called Hashimoto’s. It’s the number one reason you still have thyroid symptoms despite taking medications and visiting many doctors without finding any lasting relief.

These symptoms include some or all, including: low energy, thinning hair, dry skin, thinning of the outer 1/3 of the eyebrow, depression, constipation, feeling cold all the time, chronic musculo-skeletal pain and an inability to lose weight even on a low calorie diet.

Thyroid Disease What Do You Do When the Medications Don’t Work by Thavam Ratna

Sri Lanka: Relatives of “disappeared” Tamils protest in Colombo

By S. Jayanth
13 April 2015

Several dozen relatives of Tamils who were arrested or abducted during the communal war conducted by successive governments in the country’s north and east joined a picket in Colombo last Tuesday.

Most of the protesters were mothers and wives. Many travelled overnight from the northern Mannar district. Holding photographs of their missing loved ones, they demanded that the government release them. They suspect that their children and husbands are alive and detained in secret camps.

A section of the picket

Thousands of people are still missing, nearly six years after the decades-long war ended with the defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) in 2009. After former President Mahinda Rajapakse renewed the war in 2006, thousands of Tamil youth were detained, tortured and often murdered by the military and associated paramilitary groups.

The UN estimated that more than 40,000 civilians were killed during the final months of the military’s onslaught. More than 10,000 young people were arrested as LTTE members and suspects at the end of the war. Some were dragged to detention centres from military-run refugee camps, where nearly 300,000 people were held behind barbed wire.

Though the government claimed to have released nearly all the “rehabilitated” LTTE suspects, thousands are still unaccounted for. In an attempt by Rajapakse to deflect the criticism of his regime’s war crimes, a Presidential Commission was established to find the “disappeared.” It has received about 15,000 complaints over the past two years, but only investigated 2,000 cases, and relatives have seen no progress.

Koneswary, a mother of five from Mannar told the World Socialist Web Sitethat her daughter Kirthika disappeared during the final days of the war, when she was 14. “After the war was restarted by President Rajapakse in 2006, we fled from Mannar to Kilinochchi to escape from the shells and air strikes. It was a long and horrible journey. Some people had to bury their dead relatives during the escape.

“Finally we were trapped in Putumattalan. During a shell attack there, we missed our daughter. Later an eyewitness told us that she was arrested by the army in a refugee camp.”

Lucia, who has searched for her husband and brother since 2008, said: “A group came in a white van, abducted my husband Roobakanthan in front of me in the Kidachoori refugee camp in Vavunia. My brother Mariyaseelan was abducted in the eastern town of Batticaloa when he visited a friend. I believe they are being detained in a camp or somewhere. We lamented and begged at the Presidential Commission for their release but there was no response.”

Lucia

Charles Joseph lost his son in 2008. He said some neighbours saw him arrested by the army in a nearby town, but were afraid to give evidence.

P. Muthukaruppan said the army arrested his two sons at Vattuwal during the war’s final phase. He believes that his elder son Antony, now 35, is alive. “I saw him in a recently published photograph,” he said. “Where ever there is picketing on this issue, we go. I don’t have any confidence that this government will solve the problems of Tamil people. However, we demand that they release our loved ones.”

A 15-year-old teenager said his father Anandarajah, 47, was abducted by the Navy at Pesalai in Mannar. “Both the previous and new government promised to find the disappeared persons, but did nothing,” he said.

Rajeswari

Rajeswari, who came from Jaffna, told us that her husband disappeared in 2007 after he went to a military office to obtain a security clearance for a job overseas. She has faced enormous difficulties for the past eight years.

Kavitha’s 39-year-old husband disappeared in 2006 at Pallimunai in Mannar. “We were in a military-controlled area,” she said. “My husband went into the town but never returned. No words can explain the difficulties I face with two children.”

Kavitha’s aunt Udaya Chithra said her son was dragged from his bed in Pallimunai, Mannar in 2008 by plain-clothed soldiers, who promised to release him after an inquiry. She had seen a photograph of her son in Welikada prison. “Seven youth were in that photograph,” she said. “Their mothers are here. We believe they are alive.”

Kavitha and Udaya Chithra

Chithra continued: “If the government can act on its own, then why is there a law? If our children are criminals, why doesn’t it take legal action against them through the courts? … We are not demanding salt or dhal [lentils]; we demand our children who were taken by the government. They are very young. We raised our children with dreams, not to leave them in the hands of these people [the military].”

While the relatives are determined to find their loved ones and obtain justice, the picket organisers promoted illusions in this year’s election of Maithripala Sirisena. In a leaflet, the “Protest of the Street,” a collective of “112 civil groups,” boasted that they “determinedly took the initiative in the victory won on January 8, 2015.” In other words, they campaigned for Sirisena.

The leaflet also warned “communal forces” not to try to reverse this “victory” and issued a call for people to pressure the government to implement its program.

Sirisena’s election win and the formation of a United National Party (UNP)-led government is no victory for the war victims or the working people as a whole. Sirisena was Rajapakse’s acting defence minister at the end of the war. He took office via a regime change operation instigated by Washington with the support of the UNP and former president Chandrika Kumaratunga.

The US, which fully backed the anti-Tamil war, has no concern for democratic or human rights. It only opposed Rajapakse because he maintained close relations with China.

Neither Sirisena nor UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe will provide any justice to the war victims or their relatives. The UNP started the war in 1983 and backed Rajapakse’s recommencement of it. As prime minister, Wickremesinghe has publicly disputed the UN figures on civilian casualties, and insisted that the government will not remove military camps from the north and east.

Ministerial perks

Good Governance (9)

By Rajiva Wijesinha-April 12, 2015, 6:49 pm 

Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s defence of his taking a young man with him to New York was entertaining, but it was also very sad. Instead of concentrating on the problem of public funds being spent on private predilections, he engaged in a defence of what he evidently thought was a slur, if not on his character, on that of the young man in question. As a defence to charges he evidently took seriously, even if they had not been articulated, he claimed that the person in question was happily married and had a beautiful daughter.

This seems to imply that, had the youth not been married, or had he been married but childless, there would have been legitimate grounds for worry. But in thus diverting attention to what should be an irrelevancy, the Minister ignored the fundamental problem, which is that public money is spent on private convenience. This should not be acceptable, even when the person involved is a wife (whether with or without beautiful children).

Some years back I realized how absurd the situation was when I criticized the fact that a particular Minister had appointed his wife as his private secretary. The excuse offered was that he could then take her with him when he travelled, and that the cost to the country was less, since they could share a room. I do not suppose that was the reason for my predecessor as Minister of Higher Education appointing his wife to his private staff, or my erstwhile superior Kabir Hashim appointing his brother-in-law to his private staff.

Such individuals may be considered dependable – as was Kabir’s sister-in-law when he himself was non Cabinet Minister for Tertiary Education in 2002 (she was certainly honest, for she told me, when I complained about how the then UNP government was giving in to the LTTE at every turn, that they could not back out of the Ceasefire Agreement since that would be electorally disastrous). But the country should not have to pay for individuals a Minister finds dependable, unless they actually fulfil a task the country needs. And certainly the provision that a Minister can take one of his private staff with him when he travels is absurd, unless he can show that some public purpose is fulfilled.

During my brief career as a Minister, I was appalled at the perks that were available. I did not take all these up, and I believe the private staff I appointed did serve a public purpose. I had for instance, as Management assistants, two Tamil translators, in a situation in which the entire Ministry had only two people able to function in Tamil, and they at senior levels so they could not be used for day to day translations. As a result the Ministry website was functional in all three languages, which was I believe almost unique for any Ministry website.

But I realize that, for almost all other Ministers, the perks are invaluable to keep political supporters happy and active. This extends too to other appointments, as when Kabir changed his mind (whether at the behest of the Prime Minister or the Ministry Secretary, since he gave me two different stories) and kept Technical Education under him so that party supporters could be appointed to positions of authority. Such abuse however will be difficult to stop, unless we invoke the provision I have suggested that all important positions be advertised, with clear selection criteria, and the rationale for choices, even when within the discretion of the Minister, be publicized when appointments are made.

I have suggested that administrative regulations in general ensure this, but here I will concentrate on what is termed private office, where abuse is practically taken for granted. That being the case, it is understandable that all Members of Parliament, as my father once put it, only to be hauled up by the Privileges Committee, want ministerial office. What would make more sense, since they use the staff they can appoint for political purposes (when they are not travelling companions), is to give Members of Parliament more personal staff, and cut down the massive number now allowed to Ministers. And there should be clear job descriptions for these latter, who must be accountable to the Ministry Secretary for their work, not just to the Minister.

In order to introduce some rationality into the system, I have suggested that the Minister for Democratic Governance institute regulations on the following lines -

1. Members of the Executive shall not use their offices or the equipment and services they are given for electoral purposes

2. The personal staff of Ministers shall be limited to only such numbers as are essential for the fulfilment of their executive responsibilities. All such staff will be required to provide monthly reports on their productivity to the Secretary of the Ministry which pays their salaries.

3. Recognizing however that Parliamentarians have personal and political needs, these should be fulfilled through personal staff of Parliamentarians, instead of Ministry payrolls being charged for such services. Therefor the personal staff of Parliamentarians should be increased as follows –

2 coordinating secretaries instead of 1

1 research officer as now

1 private secretary as now

2 drivers instead of 1

1 office aide as now 1

This gives them a total of 7 instead of 5.

They should also be given a vehicle for their use. This should take the place of the permits which are now readily abused.

4. The personal staff of Ministers should be reduced as follows, and they must all be expected to report to work in the Ministry unless the Minister had given them leave, as informed to the Secretary

1 private secretary as now

1 coordinating secretary instead of 2

1 public relations secretary

No media secretary, the work should be done by the Ministry media personnel, who should be selected in accordance with clear criteria

2 drivers, without provision for a driver for a back up vehicle. If needed, such a driver should be taken from the Ministry pool.

1 office aide instead of 2, since the Ministry staff can be allocated if needed.

2 management assistants instead of 5. At least one of those should be functional in the Official Language which is not that of the Minister. Any further assistance may be provided by regular Ministry staff.

This gives them a total of 8 instead of 13.

The Minister should have at most 2 vehicles. Personal staff should have at most 2 vehicles rather than the 5 that are now available.

The qualifications of all personal staff paid by government Ministries should be made known to the public, along with the responsibilities entrusted to them.

BEST TIME TO PASS 19TH AMENDMENT IS NOW

--Jehan Perera- 13 April 2015

President Maithripala Sirisena has been making a unique contribution to political developments in Sri Lanka.  He backed the passage of the 19th Amendment to the constitution to transfer a significant portion of the presidential powers he enjoys back to Parliament and to the Prime Minister.  Since the presidential election of 1995 the winning candidate at all successive presidential elections has promised to abolish the executive presidency.  But once they won, the winners deemed it opportune to keep the institution going.  They used the very powers of the presidency that they had condemned when contesting the elections to govern the country and safeguard themselves in power.  President Maithripala Sirisena is the exception.  The difficulties encountered in passing the 19th Amendment through Parliament have not been of his making.

The 19th Amendment was intended to result in a two-way distribution of powers vested in the presidency.  This has now been modified by the Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court’s determination is that the transfer of executive powers from the President to the Prime Minister affects the structure of governance envisaged in the constitution and therefore requires approval of the people at a referendum.  It pointed to the Prime Minister becoming the head of the cabinet of ministers and being vested with the power to appoint ministers in terms of the amendment. According to the Supreme Court’s determination, these powers can only be divested from the Presidency with the approval by the people at a referendum.

On the other hand, the redistribution of the President’s powers to appoint heads of key state institutions, such as the Supreme Court, Police, Public Service, Human Rights Commission, Elections Commission and Bribery Commission will be possible without recourse to the approval of the people at a referendum. The constitutional change envisaged here is possible with only a two thirds majority in Parliament.  This will see the revival of the 17th Amendment which was passed in 2000 by the government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, but which was effectively abolished in 2010 by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.


NO AGREEMENT

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said that the government is prepared to drop the clauses that require approval at a referendum and proceed with the passage of the 19th Amendment.   The government’s position is that it wishes to keep to its presidential election manifesto which promised change, including constitutional change, within 100 days of the election.  A referendum will take at least another three months to hold.  There is also a concern that the outcome of a referendum might not be in favour of a diminished presidency.  The opposition parties, including a substantial section within the SLFP itself, are of the view that the military victory secured over the LTTE was only possible because of the strong government that existed in the last phase of the war, of which the presidency was the cornerstone.

However, the passage of the 19th Amendment remains in doubt even if the government drops the clauses in it that require a referendum.  This is due to the dispute between the government and opposition regarding the change of the electoral system.  The opposition is insisting that it will only support the passage of the 19th Amendment if, at the same time, the electoral system is also changed.  The problem with the opposition’s demand is that there is no consensus between the political parties on electoral reform.  The existing electoral system which is sought to be changed is based on proportional representation, which leads to each political party receiving seats in parliament that are proportionate to their share of the national vote.  In practice this has been favourable to the small parties, including the ethnic minority parties, and enabled them to have a voice and power in parliament.

However, after more than three decades of experience, the disadvantages of the proportional system used in Sri Lanka have become manifest and there is a consensus about the need to amend the system. What is being envisaged is a mixed system, in which some MPs are elected on the first-past-the-post system of constituency based voting, and others are elected on a proportional system.  This mixed system was based on the recommendations of a parliamentary select committee.  However, the interim report was dropped due to the strong protest of the ethnic minority parties.  They showed that the undermining of the system of proportional representation would be unfavourable to them.  It is necessary to arrive at a compromise which is acceptable to all political parties and which addresses the concerns of the ethnic-based political parties especially in the post-war context.


ETHNIC SOLUTION

However, President Sirisena and the government appear to be determined to ensure that the 19th Amendment is passed without delay.  The president’s decision to remove five rebellious members from the SLFP’s Central Committee is a sign that he is willing to assert his authority over the party.  Supporters of the defeated former President Rajapaksa have been criticising the new president for being a weak leader.  However, the uniqueness of President Sirisena needs to be appreciated.  He is the only one of Sri Lanka’s elected presidents to take action to reduce the powers of the presidency.  He is also unique in heading a bipartisan government.  At the presidential elections he got large proportions of votes from the ethnic minorities.  The present composition of the government is unique and is not likely to be replicated.

It is important that the present opportunity to reduce the powers of the Executive Presidential system be taken when the country has a president who is willing to share his powers with others.  Even the scaled down version of the 19th Amendment would contribute to good governance in the country by ensuring that there is a system of checks and balances so that power does not corrupt, and absolute power does not corrupt absolutely.  It makes the Presidency answerable to Parliament and also to the Supreme Court in cases where fundamental rights are alleged to be violated, restricts the president’s term of office to two, removes from the Presidency the power to dissolve Parliament after one year and only permits dissolution after four years,and provides for the strengthening of the independence of the judiciary and key state institutions such as the police, public service and watchdog commissions.

The redistribution of powers of the Executive Presidency would also contribute to resolving the ethnic conflict which has been the country’s most intractable problem.  The problem with the presidency is that it concentrates power in a single institution and, even worse, in a single individual.  Where a country is ethnically and politically fractured, it is better that power should be decentralized rather than centralized.  When power is centralized in an ethnically fragmented polity, it enables the representatives of the largest ethnic community to capture power and wield it without consideration for the interests of the smaller ethnic communities.  Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa epitomized this downside of the centralized presidential system.  A sustainable political solution is most likely if there is power sharing at the provincial level through the devolution of powers and also at the central level through the sharing of powers in the cabinet of ministers.

Copious cogent evidence to arrest Gota , Basil , Shiranthi , Karannagoda and Tsunami fraudsters but AG’s department inert , why ?

(Lanka-e-News- 2015.April.13, 10.00PM) It is none other than the Attorney General and  his department that are impeding the meting out of punishment to the crooks and culprits involved in corruption ,and therefore militating against the implementation of the policies of the government of good governance , charged  the chiefs of the CID conducting investigations .

Based on the investigations conducted into the alleged  corruption , frauds , murders etc . committed by  Gotabaya Rajapakse , Ms. Shiranthi Rajapakse , Basil Rajapakse , Vasantha Karannagoda and Tsunami fund fraudsters  , although there are copious and cogent evidence to arrest them ,  but because the files sent to AG’s  department    for their  advice to arrest them are being put in cold storage and are languishing there , the arrests are obstructed ,the CID officers who are toiling and conducting these investigations revealed in utter  disgust , to Lanka e news.

It is significant to note that based on the investigations conducted into the illicit weapon deals and the conspiracy against the State , there are ample concrete evidence to arrest Gotabaya , and a report had already been sent to the AG’s department seeking instructions ,however  owing to delays there , arrests are inordinately delayed , and the CID having no other option  are awaiting the AG’s department response- it is a cruel irony when  the  AG’s department should be taking initiatives is on the contrary delaying its action.

The CID had sent the relevant files to the AG’s department requesting for  instructions  to make the arrests pertaining to the  charges already filed of misappropriation of State funds during the elections by Basil Rajapakse  ; misappropriation of funds by  Shiranthi Rajapakse through an account for women under the name of Sirilya after furnishing bogus information ; white van murder squad operated by Karannagoda the ex naval chief; the misappropriation of Tsunami relief funds collected ostensibly to build houses for Tsunami victims by the chairman of RADA establishment without building a single house. Yet because of the dilatory and lethargic attitude of  the AG’s department , the CID is compelled to wait unendingly to take action . Tragically ,the present AG’s department which has become offensively comical is still asleep.

Meanwhile the people are furiously and unrelentingly questioning ,’did you apprehend the culprits ?’ from the government of good governance . The criminals and their accomplices are on the other hand scot free .  

It is well to recall during the Rajapakse brutal barbaric reign , the AG’s department was under Mahinda Rajapakse, during which period  criminals facing charges were freed after exonerating them of all charges.  Rapists who committed rape on young girls  were also freed similarly, and the AG’s department was abounding with the Rajapakse unscrupulous  stooges and bootlicking henchmen. However , the new government brought the AG’s department that was formerly under the president within  the purview of the justice ministry duly . Yet sadly , the ex Rajapakse regime lackeys and lickspittles are still stuck  in their places like the Rajapakse  spittoons and fixtures  serving the sordid biddings of  Rajapakses.

It was Field marshal Sarath Fonseka who forthrightly and publicly  accused the AG and his  department who are  Rajapakse shameless stooges .He directly accused the AG that the latter and his department flagrantly acted against Fonseka  in violation of the laws in his  case pertaining to the denial of his MP post . Nevertheless, the AG Yuvanjana Wasundara Wijetileke had still not given an answer nor remedied the situation.
 
No matter what ,  the government of good governance cannot blink the fact that  the people who elected it are most earnestly and anxiously  awaiting until these criminals ,  crooks and their cronies are flushed out from their  nooks and crannies like mice for gassing once and for all , and meted out the maximum punishment so that the others will be well and truly a deterred and daunted from following in the footsteps of these traitorous scoundrels who while parading as paragons of virtue have been committing  the worst of treason against the country after making the poor docile gullible Sri Lankan masses the scapegoats  for  their  monumental corruption and frauds.

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BREAKING NEWS: Government to probe billions of losses by NSB through share transactions

BREAKING NEWS: Government to probe billions of losses by NSB through share transactions

 

April 10th, 2015

The government is to begin investigations into the loss of billions of rupees by the National Savings Bank (NSB) due to questionable share transactions since 2011, said Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake at a media briefing at his Ministry today (10 April).

According to the Minister, a certain organized group with the connivance of a share broking institution has dumped shares into the NSB of certain companies held by them in 2011. This has made the National Savings Bank suffer billions of rupees in losses since then.

The dumped shares include those from companies like Browns, Access Group etc.

Western intelligence services looking for ex-SL ambassador to Russia

Supplying small arms to Ukrainian rebels 

By Shamindra Ferdinando-April 12, 2015

The US Embassy declined to comment on the Sri Lankan government’s request for its help to track down former ambassador to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga alleged to have supplied weapons to pro-Russian Ukrainian rebels. The alleged transactions had taken place during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tenure as the President, the Ukrainian government has alleged.

The US embassy suggested that The Island obtain a clarification from the Sri Lankan government.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ajith Perera yesterday said that external assistance hadn’t been sought so far to track down Weeratunga, a close relative of former President Rajapaksa. "We’ll catch him," the Deputy Minister said.

Authoritative officials, however, said that Sri Lanka lacked the wherewithal to carry out an international manhunt. Sources said that Western powers would be able to track him down quickly.

Perhaps, Weeratunga’s whereabouts were probably known to Western intelligence services currently tracing the clandestine supply of weapons to Ukrainian rebels.

Sources acknowledged that the government wasn’t aware whether Weeratunga was still in Russia or had sought refuge in some other part of the world.However, Weeratunga wouldn’t dare move into Ukraine, sources said, adding that Ukraine could have requested Western countries to track him down.

Although the US Embassy in Colombo remained tight-lipped, the State Department has accused Russia of sending new weapons to separatists in eastern Ukraine. The US media quoted Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland as having told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last Tuesday (7) that the continued resupply over the border was not compatible with a peace agreement negotiated in Minsk, Belarus. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), too, has accused Russia of arming rebels.

Russia has repeatedly denied Western allegations.

Deputy Minister Perera acknowledged that Sri Lanka hadn’t sought information from Russia regarding Weeratunga’s whereabouts. Sri Lanka maintains close relations with both Russia and Ukraine. Both governments provided valuable armaments, including jets, helicopter gunships as well as armoured fighting vehicles during the war against the LTTE.

In addition to the alleged supply of weapons to Ukrainian rebels, Weeratunga is also sought by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) to record a statement as regards his involvement in the procurement of four fully overhauled MiG 27s from Ukraine as well as overhauling of four MiGs already in Sri Lanka’s arsenal at the onset of the eelam war IV. The police said that Weeratunga had to be questioned regarding the death of Noel Ranasinghe, an employee of the Sri Lankan embassy in Moscow, also during the UPFA administration. The police recently exhumed Ranasinghe’s body on a magisterial order.

Weeratunga, a nephew of the defeated former president, operated a Sri Lankan food restaurant in the Ukrainian capital Kiev before he was appointed Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Moscow nine years ago.

He served in Moscow for a record nine years until the new government ordered his recall to Colombo.

However, Weeratunga did not return to Sri Lanka. His whereabouts are not known and he could not be contacted, Foreign Ministry sources said.

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera promised to brief parliament regarding the ongoing probe consequent to the JVP raising the issue in the House last week.

Businessmen Get Arms Training

By Indika Sri Aravinda-Monday, April 13, 2015

The Katukurunda Special Task Force (STF) has given special arms training to a local politician and 10 businessmen, defence sources revealed.
An official from the STF said that these people were given training in arms after they had submitted applications to obtain firearms.

“The training is given as per the instruction issued by the Defence Ministry and it includes training in every weapon that is in used at present,” the official said. The four-week training will be given four hours a day.

Meanwhile, a participant in the training said that he had applied to obtain a firearm since he received threats to his life.

CB Governor to face legal action in Singapore

 Monday, 13 April 2015

Voice against Corruption is to file legal action against Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran in Singaporean High Courts on violation of emigration laws of that country, its Convener Wansantha Samarasinghe said.

Mr. Samarainghe told  that legal experts of Voice against Corruption are planning to file action against Mr. Mahendran in Singaporean Courts for violating that country’s emigration laws. “We decided on this action as Mr. Mehenadran is a Singaporean Citizen,” Mr. Samarasinghe said.

He said Mr. Mahendran had violated the Singaporean emigration laws by accepting the post of Central Bank Governor in Sri Lanka while obtaining permanent residency in Sri Lanka. Mr. Samarainnghe said no Singaporean citizen can obtain permanent residency in another country according to that country’s emigration laws.

Meanwhile, Voice against Corruption had filed fresh charges against former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, members of EPF investment board and some stock market agents with the criminal investigation authorities and the Bribery Commission on certain unprofitable investments of EPF funds.

Also he said Voice against Corruption had received information on some fraudulent deals by some Ministers in the present government and will make complaints against them to law enforcement institutions.

Mr. Samarasinghe who responded to the allegations made by few opposition MPs that the Voice against Corruption was engaged in getting the government to harass them and their families , said denying all charges and acting innocent had become a fashion today. He said the charges made by Voice against Corruption are not false at all as these are made by a panel of lawyers and audit experts.

Maithri purges SLFP of undesirables : sacks four ex SLFP ministers forthwith

(Lanka-e-News- 2015.April.13, 10.00PM)  The Central committee of the SLFP 11th  purged the party of four Central committee members by chasing away  its four ex ministers the notorious Rajapakse lickspittles and lackeys who even stripped nude shamelessly before the Rajapkses  to bootlick  and do  the sordid biddings  of the people rejected  brutal , barbaric  , defeated   Rajapakses .This action was forced to be taken by the SLFP central committee all the more because these scoundrels stooped to the lowliest levels despite knowing that the Rajapakses cheated  the country and the people wholesale during their brutal corrupt administration , and who too  were therefore booted out by the people at the last elections.

It is a well and widely known fact that while Mahinda was gaily singing ‘any diddle will do’, Gotabaya was crowing ‘yankee doodle do’ , and Basil was secretly humming any ‘crooked commission would do’ preferring that to ‘cock a doodle do,’ it is all of them singly and  together  finally engendered  the economic catastrophe to sink  the country into the present economic irretrievable economic rout . Whether they diddled or fiddled like Nero was when Rome was burning , the stark incontrovertible truth is they all got together and muddled up the country’s economy ,  made a mockery of justice and bungled the  administration on a scale unprecedented in Sri Lanka ‘s political history.

These four  despicable discards expelled are  : the buffoon of a minister Bandula Gunawardena noted for his tomfooleries – the minister who could not fulfill a simple official obligation of his  -duly conduct grade five scholarship examination and correctly prepare the question papers of the students on which the future of the student  generation  depended on; and who during his time as minister while  living in the lap of luxury  at people’s expense , made the most ludicrous and ridiculous claim that  a family in Sri Lanka can subsist on a monthly income of Rs. 2500.00

Ex minister of cultural affairs T.B. Ekanayake who was caught red handed by the police from the brothel of “Jina madam”.

 S.M. Chandrasena , who unconscionably robbed the ‘sahanadara’ (relief) given to farmers who suffered following the LTTE poisoning the  Marvilaru canal sluice and notorious murderous criminal of a minister Salinda Dissanayake .

These are  four political discards who were continually disregarding and disdaining the decisions taken  b y the SLFP central committee , and following  the dejected and rejected Mahinda Rajapakse and his group comprising Wimal Weerawansa, Dinesh Gunawardena and Vasudeva , now engaged in politics wearing pavement masks , and who have undertaken the contract to break up the SLFP.

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by     (2015-04-13 16:00:23)

Consumer Authority cracks down on fake bargains, New Year discount illusions

By Hasitha Ayeshmantha-April 12, 2015, 12:00 pm 

The Sri Lanka Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) detected 5500 trade-linked malpractices from January 1 to April 10 which included clothes bargains carrying craftily-engineered discount illusions, a Ministry of Industry and Commerce source said.

Our sources also stated that over 30 textile outlets were detected by the CAA, while selling 'outdated clothes' to the customers claiming that they are the latest clothing trends. They stated that it is against the Consumer Affairs Authority code of conduct to misguide the customers in any sort of way.

It was also revealed that 1500 out of the above mentioned detections were recorded within the first 10 days of April.

These sources said that 'this record number of detections' comes in the wake of Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen strengthening the Consumer Affairs Authority. They also suggested that with the pressures of the season, these detections had gone up significantly.

As a new step taken by the Authority, a hotline (1977) has been established to take in complaints and tips regarding businesses which are violating the Authority's code of conduct. Any concerned citizens who has information regarding malpractices in business could direct their complaints to the hotline (1977), after which a detection team from the Authority will investigate the relevant place of business.

Fines of Rs. 10,000 for single owner businesses and fines up to Rs. 100,000 will be charged on establishments with joint ownership, if they are detected.

Our ministry sources urged the public to be on alert regarding any consumer related businesses who are violating the code of conduct in any way and to complain immediately on the hotline so that the Authority can intervene. They added that necessary legal measures will be taken against the 5500 detections which were made by the Authority and that certain cases were already before court.

COPE reveals about Mattala air port

Monday, 13 April 2015

There had been only 13,371 passenger arrivals and 16,712 departures at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Airport in Mattala for 9 months from January to September 2014, the latest findings by the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) had revealed.

This is against 5.3 million passenger movements handled by the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA)  during the same period.

However, officials of Airport and Aviation Services Sri Lanka Ltd, who have been questioned by COPE had said the number of Aircrafts flying above the island had increased significantly due to the availability of a high standard airport in Mattala which has the accessibility for immediate landing of even an A 380 airplanes in urgent situations.

The COPE had therefore requested the officials of the Airport and Aviation Services Sri Lanka Ltd to submit a report on a breakdown of international and domestic passenger movements taken place through Mattala International Airport and to submit a report on the aircrafts that had flown over Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, the latest COPE report revealed that the possibility of widening the existing track in the Bandaranaike International Airport by 60m. The COPE had asked the airport and aviation authorities to submit a report on the possibility of developing the BIA to accommodate any bigger aircrafts in the world.