Conspiracy again..! Dissolution delayed until false accusations via COPE are manufactured against UNP

(Lanka-e-News- 26.June.2015, 3.30PM) The decision to dissolve parliament yesterday (25) was changed in order to ‘manufacture’ a scheme to mount accusations against the UNP during the elections, based  on reports reaching Lanka e news.

This sinister scheme aims at preparing a speech against Ranil purportedly made by Arjun Mahendran , and incorporate that as a COPE supplementary report while also giving an  official base to it.

This conspiracy was hatched at the official residence of Susil Premachandra day before yesterday night (24).This discussion was attended by Susil , John Senevirathne, Dilan Perera and notorious and  corrupt ex Central bank governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal. It was planned to introduce a supplementary report stating that Arjun Mahendra purportedly  made a statement to the COPE committee that Ranil exerted pressure on him to sell the  controversial central bank treasury bonds to a particular party , and then hand that report  over to the speaker immediately.

Accordingly a COPE committee report has been ‘manufactured’ in an unholy haste throughout yesterday (25) , and is to be handed over today (26) to the speaker. 

The COPE committee that was appointed by the previous parliament comprises old opposition members Sujeewa Senasinghe , Eran Wickremeratne and Rosie Senanayake ,and those who represented the previous government were: Susil Premajayantha, DEW Gunasekera , Rajiva Wijesinghe , Weerakumara and Lasantha Alagiyawanna.

The COPE committee comprises members of the government and the opposition ,and when a report is prepared , all the member should sign it. One group alone cannot prepare the report.  Hence , this latest attempt is to prepare a spurious misleading report signed  by the members of the UPFA alone , and hand over that to the speaker.

However , DEW Gunasekera had refused to sign this bogus report .Even the speaker had rejected it , but because the president Maithripala is behind this , there is a great possibility for this bogus malicious report to  be accepted today.

It is well to recall during the last presidential elections , Miathripala Sirisena bowed and vowed  before the people that he would be impartial and politically neutral , but now he has decided to participate in the rallies of the SLFP Islandwide to secure victory for it , at the next elections. Already Rajitha and S.B  have been named as his speakers during the campaign , and they are promised parliamentary seats through the national list.

The SLFP led by Maithripala Sirisena having  nothing to say against the UNP  during  the next elections campaign ,had planned this aforementioned conspiracy hurriedly , and are seeking to obtain the COPE supplementary report against Ranil, and carry it as a ‘certificate’ , fake  though . Meanwhile president Maithripala has taken steps to postpone the dissolution of Parliament.

Maithripala has told  a close Minister friend of his yesterday “ if I allow Ranil to form a government with a  majority I will have to become a ‘Wijetunge’ .”

When such base , selfish and opportunistic  politics is being indulged in without shame , the country’s tourist arrivals are going to increase without doubt  – certainly more tourists will arrive to amuse themselves and take a look at the only leaders in the whole world  with uniquely unscrupulous and ungrateful traits .

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by     (2015-06-26 10:11:48)

COPE finds CB governor guilty!

 Friday, 26 June 2015

The Committee on Public Enterprises, or COPE, has found Central Bank governor Arjun Mahendran guilty in its investigation into the CB bond issue, say unconfirmed sources.

When Lanka News Web contacted UNP chairman Malik Samarawickrama, he said this was not true. He went onto say that COPE was still proceeding with the investigation. Several more persons are to be summoned  before the committee to record evidence. Therefore, this is clearly a falsehood aimed at inconveniencing the government, he said.

However, the source which reported to us about this said this would be another step in the conspiracy to tame the prime minister.

Of Babies & Bathwater

By Emil van der Poorten –June 26, 2015

Emil van der Poorten

Most, if not all, those reading the title of this piece will be aware of the old chestnut about throwing the baby out with the bathwater or throwing something of significant value out with the material that was contaminated in the very act of cleansing the infant.

What has provoked this reference is the fact that there has been, for a considerable time now, a great hue and cry about the need to throw out most, if not all, of the current system of proportional representation (P.R.) in an effort to cure the electoral process of this country of what is consistently pointed out are the terminal maladies afflicting it – bribery, corruption and every other affliction known to democracy – replacing it with its predecessor in post-colonial Sri Lanka, the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system.

Personally, I have to admit to a bias in the debate of PR vs FPTP because I was once actively involved in an effort to have the province in which I lived change from the latter to the former and my colleagues in that effort investigated and researched the subject more thoroughly than I thought possible and proved, if proof were needed, that a PR system (practiced in most of the established democracies, incidentally) served the purposes of electoral democracy infinitely better than the FPTP model.

I have had several discussions with my unilingual Sinhala-speaking neighbours and they don’t appear to have too strong feelings one way or another in the matter of P.R. vs FPTP. However, the never-ending cascade of propaganda claiming that PR is the sole cause of monumental corruption in the body politic seems to have taken its toll on rational thought and many people seem to be veering towards support of abolition of P.R. and the return of FPTP.

The attempts to raise this issue with my neighbours faced another hurdle in that their world-view was, essentially, somewhat limited by their not having experienced or not being familiar with different political and voting systems elsewhere. That said, it was fairly apparent that the matter of PR vs FPTP is really not No. 1 in the public’s list of concerns, unless it is identified as the sole reason for what ails us in the matter of corruption. However, if one were to push the envelope of discussion, one’s interlocutors will readily admit that it is the symptoms of corruption that are being identified as the problem while it is corruption and the abuse of power upto and inclusive of absolute impunity which really are. The concern is with deliberate and untrammeled corruption, abuse of all the rules with impunity that has resulted in bribery and violence ruling supreme. As long as this was seen as “someone else’s problem” the majority did not connect the dots of theft to their primary source– the pockets of Citizens Banda and Bisomenike. They were prepared to overlook the fact that there really was something rotten in the State of Sri Lanka. Recently, however, the implications of the wholesale misappropriation of what belongs to the people of this country has begun to dawn on my neighbours and they are no longer happy campers! However, the demagogues and charlatans, like the leaders of all good vigilante groups, have hung up the piñata of PR for the citizenry to whale on and that public, a noisy part of it anyway, has taken up the cry, demanding the return of FPTP, in modified if not pristine form, and certainly the reduction, if not total abandonment, of PR.

                               Read More

Sri Lanka's president dissolves parliament

Maithripala Sirisena dissolved parliament with effect from midnight

26 June 2015

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has dissolved parliament, paving the way for an early general election.

"The president signed a gazette notification dissolving parliament with effect from midnight today," government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said.

The general election was not scheduled for another 10 months.

Mr Sirisena defeated incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa in presidential elections held in January.

The president's decision to dissolve parliament came shortly after a spokesman for the United National Party (UNP) said it had formally requested him to do so.

The UNP was the main party behind Mr Sirisena's presidential bid and its leader, Ranil Wickremesingha, is the country's prime minister.

Sri Lankan law dictates that elections be held between 52 and 66 days after the dissolution.

Government sources told the BBC that the election will be held on 17 August.

Sri Lankan election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya is scheduled to hold a news conference on Saturday where he will announce the dates.

The dissolution of parliament ends the term of the coalition government that was appointed for a 100-day period after the presidential election result. However, it exceeded that time limit as it sought to implement key constitutional reforms.

Former President Rajapaksa is expected to use the elections to stage a political comeback. He has previously announced that he intends to be the new prime minister.

US report slams Lanka’s rights record last year

By admin-June 26, 2015

Several human rights violations had taken place last year in Sri Lanka , according to the annual human rights report of the US State Department released yesterday (Thursday).

The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014 noted that the major human rights problems reported over the year were: attacks on, and harassment of, civil society activists, journalists, and persons viewed as sympathizers of the LTTE by individuals allegedly tied to the government; involuntary disappearances, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, abuse of detainees, rape, and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence committed by police and security forces; and widespread impunity for a broad range of human rights abuses.

The report also noted that involuntary disappearances and unlawful killings continued to diminish in comparison with the immediate postwar period. Nevertheless, harassment, threats, and attacks by progovernment loyalists against media institutions, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and critics of the government were prevalent, contributing to widespread fear and self-censorship by journalists and diminished democratic activity due to the general failure to prosecute perpetrators.

Other serious human rights problems included unlawful killings by security forces and government-allied paramilitary groups, often in predominantly Tamil areas; poor prison conditions; and lack of due process. Defendants often faced lengthy pretrial detention, and an enormous backlog of cases hindered the justice system. Denial of a fair public trial remained a problem, as did continued coordinated moves by the government to undermine the independence of the judiciary.

The Mahinda Rajapaksa government also infringed on citizens’ privacy rights. There were restrictions on freedom of speech, press, peaceful assembly, association, and movement. Authorities harassed journalists critical of the government, and the government controlled most major media outlets. The government censored some news websites.

Citizens generally were able to travel almost anywhere on the island, although there continued to be police and military checkpoints in the north, and de facto high-security zones and other areas remained off-limits. Neglect of the rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs) was a serious problem, and IDPs were not always free to choose where to resettle. The president exercised his constitutional authority to maintain control of appointments to previously independent public institutions that oversee the judiciary, police, and human rights issues. Lack of government transparency and widespread government corruption were serious concerns.

Sexual violence and discrimination against women were problems, as was abuse of children and trafficking in persons. Discrimination against persons with disabilities and against the ethnic Tamil minority continued, and a disproportionate number of the victims of human rights abuses were Tamils. Discrimination and attacks against religious minorities, especially Muslims and evangelical Christians, continued to increase. Discrimination against persons based on sexual orientation continued. Limits on workers’ rights and child labor also remained problems.

Government officials and others tied to the ruling coalition enjoyed a high degree of impunity. The government prosecuted a very small number of government and military officials implicated in human rights abuses and had yet to hold anyone accountable for alleged violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law that occurred during the conflict that ended in 2009.

Individuals suspected of association with progovernment paramilitary groups committed killings, kidnappings, assaults, and intimidation of civilians. There were persistent reports of close, ground-level ties between paramilitary groups and government security forces.

The report also noted that the Buddhist group Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) was responsible for numerous abuses. BBS extremists attacked and assaulted civilians and members of religious minorities and burned their property. Riots started by the BBS resulted in at least three deaths.(Colombo Gazette)

Human Rights Report 2014 by Thavam Ratna

Mahinda: Sinhala Caesar at the gates of Rome

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa-Saturday, 27 June 2015

Mahinda Rajapaksa – two-term President, vanquisher of Velupillai Prabhakaran, incarcerator of his opponent in his bid for a second term, manipulator of the Judiciary, architect of the 18th Amendment – claims prescriptive rights over the party founded by S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike. Citing the 5.8 million votes he garnered, he insists that he is still the most potent leader in the SLFP-led political alliance that is called the UPFA.
He is patently the idol of the cash-and-carry political class. He is the sole panjandrum of a plutocratic priesthood that finds protest more lucrative than preaching. He exudes the aura of a Sinhala Caesar.
His main constituency is the ‘Mudalali class of the digital age’ personified by Parliamentarians Kumar Welgama, Bandula Gunawardane and Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene. They are virtuoso performers of atrocious Sinhala one-liners bereft of ethical niceties. They have perfected the system of political spoils totally at the disposal of their own cohorts.
Mahinda Rajapaksa does not hide his lust for power. The Roman historian Tacitus described lust for power as the most flagrant of all passions. It is for the people of Sri Lanka to decide whether they would reward an individual’s lust for power.
That no Buddhist Prelate has voiced an opinion on the subject of the ‘naked brazen lust for power ‘is evidence of our secular credentials!

Successor and beneficiary of J.R. legacy
But does Mahinda Rajapaksa who fettered our freedoms, belong in the SLFP? The answer is an emphatic no.
Should he field his own team at the next elections? The answer is an emphatic yes. His participation in the next election will remove the fog of cliquish politics and redraw the ideological boundaries in our fractious polity.
Post-war Mahinda Rajapaksa is the true successor and beneficiary of the J.R. Jayewardene legacy: dispassionate neoliberal economics. It is Mahinda who gave Colombo a facelift and promoted a new ‘corporatism’ based on market fundamentalism. It is Mahinda who built up the cult of the rich that we see burning its belly fat on the ample jogging tracks that encircle nearly all public space in the city.
With the kind help of the Rajapaksa brothers we have got our class act together. Mahinda Rajapaksa has shaped our credit card habits. The consumption culture that has taken root has made excessive consumption, natural and normal.
The Rajapaksa imprimatur arouses middle class angst over the return of the street vendors. The pavements can be cluttered up with gyrating ‘bozos’ distributing blurbs about the latest smart phones. But not by an itinerant trader selling his own produce. Well-dressed boys and girls seated at makeshift desks that obstruct pavements, explain the virtues of electronic gadgetry, irrelevant but essential to life in the fast lane. It does not matter how many could afford hoppers at Arcade at Rs. 200 apiece. Ours is a sterilised city where the homeless and the landless are in quarantine!

Mahinda finished the job JR embarked on
This writer learnt recently that his daughter and a visiting niece from ‘down under’ had actually had a fine dining experience in a place called Asylum in Gota’s refurbished Independence Arcade! It was from this same building that housed the Ministry of Public Administration that this writer, then a reporter for the Ceylon Daily News, listened to J.R. Jayewardene biding adieu to Dudley Senanayake – the ‘Bath Dun Piya’ – “good bye sweet prince, may the devas sing you to thy sleep.”
What is missed here is that Mahinda finished the job JR embarked on in more than one sense. He reversed Vadmarachchi. He successfully imposed a fascism in ‘velvet gloves’ that JR intended to but was thwarted by eruptions in the north and the south. The young corporate decision makers in their late thirties and early forties complain that the throbbing vitality of the gung-ho economy has evaporated.
Though Mahinda was deposed, the Mahinda machine has survived. The priority for him is to return on time to ensure that it is not dismantled.

Another government
President Maithripala Sirisena is now discovering that there is yet another government beneath the surface of his administration. As in all societies of post-colonial lands, we too have an ‘establishment’ that is independent of the publicly-elected leaders.
The genius of Mahinda Rajapaksa was his ability to acquire the establishment with the tacit connivance of that part of the ‘establishment’ presently in political Opposition but committed to its long-term interests. The ‘establishment’ is a social network with its own code of conduct committed to its own enrichment and perpetuation. The association of the term ‘Perpetual’ with the country’s public debt is not a coincidence. Ideology has never defined politics of Sri Lanka since independence.
The common candidacy of the General Secretary of the SLFP was the result of an awakening of the SLFP, to the reality of its ‘forthright servitude’ to the Rajapaksa monolith.

Repossessing the party
While announcing his insurgent candidacy for the presidency of the Republic, he was quite explicit in his determination to repossess the party. The open rebellion was the manifestation of a deep-seated yeaning within the party to move away from the Machiavellian realism of the Rajapaksa brothers. To the Rajapaksa family, politics was the conquest and maintenance of power.
Either by accident or design the SLFP at its core remains true to the Aristotelian tradition and the ‘romance’ of pursuing the ‘common good’ of the ‘gathered multitude’. Let us be cautious. Any attribution of Aristotelian traditions to Nimal Siripala, Susil Premajayanth or Anura Priyadharshana Yapa would be unpardonable libel on the poor Athenian thinker.
The SLFP founder was far removed from Machiavellian stratagems. He was closer to St. Thomas Aquinas, the medieval successor of Aristotle. SWRD in his independence day musings of 1953, wrote “ On the spiritual plane, Buddhism achieves the acme of freedom: the human mind , in order to profit from liberty , must itself be disciplined and controlled – not by some arbitrary , external force, it is true , but by oneself.”
S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and the UNP differed on something very basic. The UNP the party that stood for property rights upheld the law. The SLFP of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike upheld justice.
A half century later, the SLFP is still propelled by its foundational achievement of the recognition that the common good of the multitude was a life that conformed “to the essential exigencies and the essential dignity of human nature”.

Liberating freedom
Maithripala Sirisena’s revolt within the party was his realisation that the freedom of the SLFP itself was in jeopardy. As its General Secretary he was not exactly manacled. Yet forthright servitude was the order of the day.
Understandably there is speculation that factions of the UNP are colluding with the Mahinda restoration group. That would be natural. That should indeed be so.
Machiavelli advices the Prince “ a wise prince ought to adopt such a course that his citizens will always in every sort and kind of circumstance have need of the state and of him, and then he will always find them faithful”.
S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike was no fan of Machiavelli. He is the only leader of independent Sri Lanka who ruminated publicly on the concept of freedom. Today the task of President Sirisena is to ‘liberate’ freedom fettered by greed and strife from a Parliament that has outlived its purpose.
As the political philosopher John Gray notes: “We’ve come to believe that freedom is the natural human condition, which only tyrants prevent everyone from enjoying – but when a tyrant is toppled, we can’t know what will come next.”

MR has more security than MS, says PM

Dinesh reiterates call for official residence 

by Saman Indrajith

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday said in Parliament that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was using more security apparatus including a highly sophisticated bullet proof Benz car than even the incumbent President Maithripala Sirisena.

 The Premier said that a posse of 105 policemen including three ASPs and 104 soldiers including a colonel had been detailed to provide security to the former President.

 Responding to a question on the security of former President raised by MEP leader Dinesh Gunawardena the previous day, the Prime Minister said in accordance with the provisions of President‘s Entitlements Act and a directive by the Supreme Court a former president was entitled to one official residence, a secretary and a security vehicle, but both former presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Chandrika Kumaratunga have been provided with more security facilities.

The PM said former President Rajapaksa had been using two Benz cars including one bullet proof, a bullet proof BMW, one defender, one double cab, one Land Cruiser for his secretariat, one car, three defenders, three land cruiser jeeps, two double cabs, three single cabs, four trucks, two buses, three motor cycles for the army platoon detailed to him. In addition there were 105 police personnel including three ASPs, two CIs, seven IPs, eight SIs, one WSI, 22 sergeants, three WPSs, 45 PCs, seven WPCs and seven police drivers. There were also 14 army officers and 90 other rankers.

Besides, the former President had taken with him when he left the office one HS5030 Smith Detection X-Ray machine, one WP 200 Searchgate machine, two mine detectors, two explosive detectors, one Nonlinear Junction Detector, one Optical Fiberscope and one Multiple Search Mirror Set, the Prime Minister said.

He said the equipment taken away by the former President were the highest available security tools in the country and not even the incumbent President Sirisena had anything similar. The former President had taken with him a Bullet Proof Benz and neither the incumbent President nor he as the Prime Minister of the country had such a highly sophisticated car. They were using old vehicles with less facilities, he said.

On the request of former President former LTTE arms procurement leader KP, too, had been given a special security, the Premier said. "We did not remove the security given to KP thinking that it would put former president’s life in danger," Premier Wickremesinghe said.

President Sirisena had not moved into the President’s House in Colombo Fort and a house at No 12 Paget Road in Colombo was being refurbished to for him. Once President Sirisena moved to that new house, the one he is using at Wijerama Place would be given to former President Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said.

MEP Leader Dinesh Gunawardena: Five months have lapsed. Former President has not yet been given a House. Give him an official residence.

Prime Minister: We will discuss and provide an early solution. If he needs more security during the elections we will give that too because we have to provide more security to the Prime Ministerial candidate.

Rajapaksa’s plans for polls

Former Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

• T. RAMAKRISHNAN-June 26, 2015
• 
  

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is keen on getting the views of leaders and members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the party’s allies before taking any decision about his participation in the Parliamentary polls, Dilan Perera, SLFP spokesperson, said on Friday.

“He is willing to do anything to keep the party united,” the spokesperson replied, to a query whether the former President would agree not to contest in the elections on the condition that most of the party tickets was given to his supporters.

Asked about the discussion held by a six-member committee, constituted by the SLFP chairperson and President Maithripala Sirisena to thrash out inner-party issues, with Mr Rajapaksa on Thursday morning, the spokesperson, who is also a member of the panel, said the discussion was “fruitful” and “several issues” were covered. In the event of the two camps facing the polls together, the party would emerge victorious and form a “stable government,” a scenario which India also would like to see in Sri Lanka, Mr Perera added.

Denial

Referring to reports in sections of the local press that a meeting was held between President Maithripala Sirisena and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the official residence of Parliament Speaker and the former President’s brother, Chamal Rajapkasa, on Thursday night, a release issued by the President’s Media Division on Friday termed them as “totally false.”

Black money to be laundered

FRIDAY, 26 JUNE 2015

Venerabal Muruththettuwe Ananda of Abayaramaya revealed in a press interwiev that they would raise a fund for former prasident Mahinda Rajapaksha's securty needs.

It is already revieled that there were many fraudlant deelings of this nature by Mahinda Rajapakshe's family. The FCID and the bribery and fraud commission were filled with complains against the Mahinda Rajapakshe's family.

It says the monatary experts believe, through this project the black money can be laundered very easily.

As for them enyone, even from aberoad can deposit any amount of money to raise this fund.

It is revieled  that Mahinda Rajapakshe's family have large amount of money deposited in foreing banks in verious countries, gained illegaly.

The Informal Honeymoon: They Meet Again

( June 26, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) President Maithripala Sirisena and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa met at a neutral location last night (25). The meeting lasted for one-and-a-half hours.

The former President had called 87 MPs and 11 party leaders to Western Province Chief Minister Prasanna Ranatunga’s house before proceeding to the meeting with President Sirisena. Further details of the meeting were not available at the time of going to print.

Earlier yesterday, the four-member committee appointed to act as a bridge between Sirisena and Rajapaksa met the former President, and MP T.B. Ekanayake claimed that Rajapaksa was much more flexible.

It was during this meeting that the idea, the two leaders must meet for a one-on-one discussion originated.

Victor Ivan Pocketed Half Of Rāvaya’s Rs 10 Million Fund

June 26, 2015

The founding editor of the Sinhala weekly newspaper ‘Rāvaya‘ and the chairman of the Ravaya Publishers (Guarantee) limited ‘ Victor Ivan has pocketed Rs 5 Million out of a total Rs 12.7 million that had been collected to ‘keep Rāvaya afloat’, Colombo Telegraph learns.

Victor Ivan

Supporters of the newspaper and the positions it had taken from all parts of Sri Lanka and even from overseas responded positively to the call of the financially strapped newspaper.

Responding to a query from Colombo Telegraph, Ivan acknowledged that he had in fact taken Rs 5 Million, but clarified that this was payment for the sale of his 20% stake in the newspaper.

Ravaya, which has been a strong advocate of accountability and transparency, never disclosed in its appeal to supporters that Rs 5 Million of the funds collected would be given to any individual.

Colombo Telegraph learns that Ivan had in fact demanded Rs 20 Million for 40% of his stake in the newspaper. The Rs 5 Million given to him was therefore a part payment.

However, Rāvaya being a Company limited by guarantee and operating as a not-for-profit organization, much like an NGO, does not and cannot have provision for Ivan or anyone else to claim monies that have been collected for a fund of this kind.

The relevant conditions are enshrined in Section 34 of the Companies Act:

“Where the Registrar is satisfied that an association about to be formed as a company limited by guarantee is to be formed for promoting commerce, art, science, religion, charity, sport, or any other useful object, and intends to apply its profits, if any, or other income in promoting its objects, and to prohibit the payment of any dividend to its members.”

Sections 32-34 are the applicable Sections. And here’s the Section that specifically exempts shares, debentures etc from companies limited by guarantee;                            Read More

Access owner Sumal to take Arjuna to court

Friday, 26 June 2015

Access Group owner Sumal Perera is to take legal action against port and shipping minister Arjuna Ranatunga, reports reaching Lanka News Web say.

That is because the new government has called for fresh bids to import four cranes for the port, although he had already secured the tender.

The new bids are to be called, as the HNB and the Bank of Ceylon have already agreed to provide a loan at the request of the Ports Authority, reports say..

However, fresh bids are being called after Access had refused to give a three million dollar commission to a minister, who had got the 64 million dollar bid reduced somewhat.

The decision to call for fresh bids was taken at the recent cabinet meeting.

Attacks hit three continents amid fears of escalating Islamist violence

The mass shooting at the popular seaside spot on Friday left tourists and residents in panic.

Terror attacks believed linked to Islamic militants hit three continents in a matter of hours Friday — deadly gunfire at a Tunisian resort, a beheading in France and a blast at a Kuwait mosque — raising fears of escalating violence during the Muslim holy month dedicated to prayer and peaceful reflection.

Attacks Hit Three Continents Amid Fears of Escalating Islamist Violence by Thavam Ratna

Islamic State claims Kuwait mosque suicide attack

FRIDAY 26 JUNE 2015

The Islamic State group claims responsibility for a suicide attack on a Shia mosque in Kuwait in which at least 25 people are reported to have been killed.

(Video: YouTube)

Another 202 people were wounded in the attack.

IS made its claim on social media and identified the bomber as Abu Suleiman al-Muwahed. Its statement said his target was a "temple of the rejectionists" - a term used by the Sunni militant group to refer to Shia Muslims.

The incident took place in the capital Kuwait City after Friday prayers and coincided with an attack on two tourist hotels in the Tunisian tourist resort of Sousse, in which at least 28 people were killed.

A gunman was reportedly shot dead in the resort, which is a popular holiday destination for Britons.

Tension has been high in Tunisia since an attack on the National Bardo Museum in March which killed 22 people, mostly foreign tourists.

In another attack in France, a man was decapitated when terrorists tried to blow up a US-owned gas facility near Lyon.

Headless body, scrawled with Arabic, found at French blast site

SAINT-QUENTIN FALLAVIER, FRANCE | BY CATHERINE LAGRANGE-Fri Jun 26, 2015

A decapitated body daubed with Arabic writing was found at a U.S.-owned factory in southeast France on Friday after an assailant rammed a delivery van into gas containers at the site, triggering an explosion.

A source close to the investigation said the victim was the boss of the suspect, a delivery man. The two had gone to the company to make a delivery but the assailant killed and beheaded his 50-year-old manager before entering the secured site in the vehicle.

The attacker was injured in the blast and arrested on the site. His wife was later taken into custody and authorities were questioning at least one other suspected accomplice.

Speaking from a European Union summit in Brussels, French President Francois Hollande described it as a terrorist attack and said all measures would be taken to stop any future strikes on a country still reeling from Islamist assaults in January.

 

Referring to a separate gun attack at a hotel in Tunisia which killed 28 people and a suicide attack in Kuwait that killed 25, Hollande called for nations to work together to combat security threats.

"There is no other link other than to say that terrorism is our common enemy," he told reporters on his return to Paris.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve named the suspect as Yassin Sahli. He said Sahli did not have a criminal record but had been under surveillance from 2006 to 2008 on suspicion of having become radicalised by Islamist associates.

The attack happened at an industrial zone near the town of Saint-Quentin Fallavier to the south of the city of Lyon. Its air, rail and road links have made it one of Europe's major logistics hubs, with through-traffic of 5,000 trucks a day.

Sources close to the investigation said Sahli was a 35-year-old professional driver who lived in the Lyon suburbs. Europe 1 radio interviewed a woman they identified as his wife.

"In the morning he left for work and didn’t come home between noon and 2:00, I was waiting for him," she told Europe 1 radio, saying she and her family of three children lived normal lives as Muslims. "My heart is about to give out."

French BFMTV television filming outside Sahli's apartment showed pictures of police leading out a woman, her head covered by a blanket, into a waiting car. It said forensic police were carrying out searches on the ground-floor apartment of the modern, concrete apartment block.

The attack, which wounded two other people with the blast, underlined again the difficulty for authorities across Europe and elsewhere of protecting so-called "soft" targets against strikes by assailants operating by themselves or in small undercover cells.

ISLAMIST FLAG

Police sources earlier said the decapitated body was discovered at the site, along with a flag bearing Islamist inscriptions.