US government deporting Central American migrants to their deaths

Guardian investigation into consequences of Obama’s migration crackdown reveals US deportees have been murdered shortly after return to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, with study saying as many as 83 killed since 2014

A man who was severely injured with a knife by unidentified assailants waits for medical treatment at the emergency room of a public hospital in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Photograph: Esteban Felix/AP

Sibylla Brodzinsky in San Pedro Sula and Ed Pilkingtonin New York

Monday 12 October 2015

The US government is deporting undocumented immigrants back to Central America to face the imminent threat of violence, with several individuals being murdered just days or months after their return, a Guardian investigation has found.

 Watch The Guardian’s film ‘Migrants, Minutemen and dead bodies on the Mexico-Arizona border’

US Government Deporting Central American Migrants to Their Deaths by Thavam Ratna

Syria refugees: former judges condemn government response 

Simon Israel on Home Affairs-Monday 12 Oct 2015

Hundreds of prominent lawyers, four former law lords and five retired court of appeal judges have united in an unprecedented move to condemn the prime minister’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis as “deeply inadequate”.

In a letter to David Cameron signed by, among others,  the former president  of the supreme court, Lord Phillips, and the ex- president of the European Court of Human Rights, Sir Nicolas Bratza, they describe the government’s offer to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees over five years as “too low, too slow and too narrow”.

The legal profession’s statement calls for the UK, with other EU states, to urgently set up secure legal routes and a system of humanitarian visas  so refugees are not forced to risk their lives at the hands of human smugglers.

Former appeal court judge Sir Stephen Sedley said “it is within the UK’s power to curtail the lethal boat traffic by enabling refugees from countries such as Syria and Iraq to travel here lawfully in order to apply for asylum… our government’s present offer… is wholly inadequate. As a stable and prosperous country, we can do better than this”.

The letter recommends  the Dublin agreement , which dictates asylum seekers must remain where they first arrive, has become dysfunctional. It argues reception facilities in countries like Greece and Italy have collapsed and the regulations should be suspended.

Former law lord Walker said “the EU’s Dublin accord is proving to be against the spirit of the refugee convention and an obstacle to dealing with the crisis effectively and humanely…”

In September the prime minister described the decision to take in 20,000 Syrian refugees as the country fulfilling its moral responsibility.

Follow @simonisrael on Twitter

Dual-pricing in Thailand: Is it time to do away with the ‘farang tax’?

A tourist walks past a street vendor in Bangkok, Thailand. Pic: AP.

Government must review two-tiered pricing policy, writes James Austin Farrell

By Saksith Saiyasombut & Siam Voices Oct 09, 2015 

It is, arguably, taken for granted by most Western visitors, and even expatriates in Thailand, that they will be overcharged at various points of their trip or stay. Thailand has this reputation, and this is why you might see some foreigners arguing over 10 baht (30 cents) for a tuk-tuk journey, or shamefully bargaining at times on fixed-price goods such as eggs. Theseasoned tourist fears he’s being made a fool of, while the expat may feel he is already contributing enough to the Thai economy and shouldn’t be taken advantage of. Foreigners are mostly all well aware of the skullduggery that sometimes exists in Thai pricing strategies. Some people accept it, others resent it. It exists, arguably, because when Westerners started visiting Thailand in droves they were seen as rich, and perhaps because of that were deemed eligible for a little extra taxation.

Dual-pricing in Thailand is It Time to Do Away With the ‘Farang Tax’ by Thavam Ratna

Here’s What Happens To Your Brain When You Nap

Top Healthy Life

The shame of napping is finally starting to decrease and for a good reason too. Taking a nap during the day will not only give you a quick energy boost, but it will also confer some serious health and cognitive advantages as well. This statement has also been proven scientifically.

Here’s What Happens to Your Brain When You Nap by Thavam Ratna

I Propose to Revoke Doctorates from GR and MR (An Open Letter)

by Laksiri Fernando

Vice Chancellor
University of Colombo
11 October 2015

Dear Vice Chancellor,

( October 11, 2015, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) I wish to draw your attention to the conferring of honorary doctorates in 2009 to the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa by the University of Colombo. As you may know, I was the proposer of this motion at the Senate on the 29th of May 2009 which was carried unanimously and later approved by the Council of the University.

The premise for that proposal was that both the President and the Secretary of Defence had rendered an immense service to the country by bringing an end to the nearly three decades of war that bled the country and even disrupted the university education. The citations for the event would speak for the more specific reasons. However, the subsequent events as well as what have transpired later as their immediate past actions have shown that both have exceeded their powers vested in them by the people.

Mahinda Rajapaksa was conferred with the honorary degree (honoris causa) “Doctor of Law” by the University of Colombo , September 2010.

For example, President Rajapaksa ventured to exceed the traditions of democracy by lifting the two terms limit for the presidency and contesting for a third term in January this year. There are credible allegations of gross human rights violations at the last stages of the war under their command. In 2013, shooting in Weliweriya and at the Welikada prison also happened under their command. All these and other events have breached the confidence that the University of Colombo placed in them in conferring those doctorates.

Universities do make mistakes in conferring honorary doctorates and when they are realized the tradition is to revoke them. I apologise for whatever mistake I have made on this matter. If I may cite a similar example, in 1919, the University of Pennsylvania revoked the honorary degrees that they previously conferred to Germany’s Kaiser and its Ambassador to the US and Mexico. There have been more than ten revocations since then all over the world.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa was conferred with the honorary degree “Doctor of Letters” by the University of Colombo, September 2010

As you know, I am retired and as a result no longer a member of the Senate or the University of Colombo. Therefore, I nominate Dr Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri (or his nominee) who has publicly raised this issue with me to propose a revocation of these honorary degrees in the Senate. I do hope that you would allow a free discussion on this matter at the Senate and take a decision to revoke the said two honorary degrees.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Laksiri Fernando
Former Senior Professor in Political Science and Public Policy

A Hybrid Court Of Inquiry Into War Crimes & Crimes Against Humanity?

By Emil van der Poorten –October 11, 2015 

Emil van der Poorten

I forget who, but someone said “The more things change, the more they remain the same.”

Anybody in their right mind who thinks Sri Lanka is an exception to that rule has only to take a look at the farce that is unfolding before our very eyes consequent on the United Nations Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) unanimously-adopted resolution in Geneva recently.

We have village idiots parading as political savants mouthing the same stupid platitude: “We will let no harm come to our war heroes from any inquiry.” This is a slogan being mouthed by demagogues from the Rajapaksa camp as well as those supporting the Maithri/Ranil coalition. That phrase regarding “protection of our war heroes from harm” simply means that the intention is that not one single member of our armed forces, numerically identical to the Russian army, should be investigated and certainly not prosecuted according to the provisions of existing Sri Lankan law, after a thirty-year conflict.

No matter how shrilly the British Channel 4’s documentaries have been abused, every person knowledgeable in the matter of “doctoring” material of this kind has stated that there is no evidence of alteration of the material. Even if opinion might suggest that they have sensationalised events, there hasn’t been an atom of evidence that the content is manufactured. I am well aware that what I have just said is going to provoke (the usual) accusations my being “in the pay of the Tigers” or acting as some kind of agent of yet another “Western conspiracy. Let’s just say that “dogs bark and caravans move on!”

To suggest that an armed force equivalent to modern Russia’s army was not guilty of any kind of “misbehaviour” during approximately thirty years of war is beyond incredible. But then those who mouth those sentiments at every news conference and on every TV talk show will be speaking to a public that gobbled up the description of the final carnage of a war among Sri Lankans as “A war of liberation,” accepting without a murmur of protest the fiction that “there were no civilian casualties.” That, my friends, was how the Rajapaksa Horde, one of whom was in fact the Commander in Chief of the armed forces in the final days of the war and now leads this country, described what occurred at Nanthikadal in 2009.

Bad enough? What’s worse is that the so-called “educated public” of this country accepted this grotesque fiction without a murmur of dissent, leave alone protest!

Fortunately, not even the most die-hard separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fan has made a similar claim on behalf of the other antagonist in this conflict and, even if one had, no notice whatsoever has been taken of such a falsehood.                                            Read More

S. African assistance sought for war crimes probe!

- Oct 11, 2015

The government has sought assistance of the South African government for the local mechanism to investigate war crimes during the war. This local mechanism will be prepared in accordance with the proposal adopted at the UNHRC

on October 02.

Previously, several countries had been demanding an international investigation, but countries led by the US agreed for a local probe following the election of the new government. A majority of Tamil parties, including the TNA, have extended their support for a local investigation.

 

At his meeting with the Japanese prime minister during the recent tour of Japan, prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe discussed building a local mechanism. There, the Lankan PM said the assistance of South Africa would be sought for the purpose. The Japanese PM was briefed on the measures already taken as well as future plans to establish democracy, supremacy of the law and good governance under the leadership of president Maithripala Sirisena.

Govt. seeks SA assistance to establish Truth and Reconciliation Commission

*Japan to produce driverless cars by 2020

*Ranil makes tea after a long time

by Zacki Jabbar in Tokyo, Japan-October 10, 2015, 8:22 pm 

Tokyo : The Sri Lanka government has sought the assistance of South Africa to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission following the United Nations Human Rights Council calling for an independent domestic mechanism to investigate  alleged war crimes.

The United Nations Human Rights Council on October 2 passed a resolution calling for accountability into alleged human rights violations by both government forces and LTTE during the decades long ethnic conflict through a Special Court.

Informed sources said that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who was on an official visit to Japan last week, had told his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe  that his administration was in talks with South Africa to draw on its experience in setting up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission at the end of  aparthied rule in that country and establish a simillar mechanism in Sri Lanka.

He, had also outlined the various measures that the new government headed by President Maithripala Sirisena had implemented in re-establishing democracy, good governance and the rule of law.

"Apart from instituting a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, for which South African assistance has been sought, we are also in the process of appointing a Compassionate Council comprising members of clergy representing all the major religions practiced in Sri Lanka, among other measures such as the proposed 20th Amendment to the Constitution, aimed at making reconciliation and durable peace and harmony  meaningful", Wickremesinghe had explained to Abe.

The Prime Minister also revealed that his government had constructively engaged the Tamil National Alliance towards a solution to the National Question with the participation of all stakeholders, to stand the test of  to time in an evironment where there would be no room for the seeds of conflict and separation to be revived.

Calling on Japan to not only lead Sri Lanka’s economic revival,he had urged it to engage in post war reconstruction and reconciliation as well.

The Japanese Prime Minister while welcoming Sri Lanka’s new partnership with the international community had assured economic assistance.

Addressing the 12th Annual General Meeting of the Science and Technology in Society (STS) Forum at  the Kyoto International Conference Center last week, Shinzo Abe revealed that Japan would have produced driverless cars in time for the 2020 Para Olympics.

The cars would be able to change lanes even on highways he noted adding that his country would use its power in Science and Technology to promote peace and harmony in the world.

Wickremesinghe and his wife, Maithree, also participated in a tea ceremony hosted jointly  by the Kyoot Prefecture, Kyoto City and Kyoto Chamber of Commerce and Industry, at the State Guest House.

While being  taught the art of making Japanese tea by a specialist in the field, the Prime Minister commented that he had made tea after a very long time.

He invited  the Governor and Mayor of Kyoto Prefecture and City to visit N’Eliya which was their Sister City and urged them to teach Sri Lankans the art of making Japanese tea.

Sri Lanka: Missing Persons Commission To Be Abolished

11/10/2015

“Even locally, most of the people are not happy with the Commission and they have no faith in its process. However, we will not abandon its procedure”

The government is to abolish the Missing Persons Commission and replace it with a new commission or system to continue procedures of the former.

Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said ‘the international community have no confidence in the Missing Persons Commission, so it will be abolished.

“Even locally, most of the people are not happy with the Commission and they have no faith in its process. However, we will not abandon its procedure. We will go ahead with a commission which will be more effective,” he added.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein had recently said that the Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints regarding Missing Persons appointed by the previous government has continued its work, despite widespread concerns raised about its credibility and effectiveness.

“We believe this Commission should be disbanded, and its pending cases transferred to a credible and independent institution established in consultation with families of the disappeared,” he told the UN Human Rights Council (UHRC).

Chairman of the Commission Justice Maxwell Paranagama, however, contended that nobody else can do the job better.

“We have been very transparent in our functioning. There were no armed forces or police personnel in the room where people testified. We held several sittings in the Tamil-speaking North and East, and Colombo and examined 19,000 people including 16,000 from North and East. The response to our call for testimonies was so good that if we sent out notices to 300 for a session, 1000 would turn up, and no one was turned away. Transport was arranged for people to go back to their villages if the sittings went late into the evening,” Paranagama told the New Indian Express.

Meanwhile, Minister Rajapakshe said the government is also considering the UN proposal to abolish the Prevention of the Terrorism Act (PTA). He added that the UNRC proposed that the government repeal the PTA and have an appropriate Act in its place.

“They wanted us to repeal the PTA and introduce a more suitable one in its place based on international standards. We are considering that too,” he added.

by Waruni Karunarathne

Sunday Leader

Batticaloa fisherman’s get a haul of fish worth Rs. Ten million

Oct 11, 2015

Reports reaching us confirm that fishermen’s in Batticaloa Eravur area has got a haul of fish worth Rs. 10 million. Fishermen’s who catch fish using fishing nets has able to catch this haul of fish today 11th morning.

Fishermen’s who started to pull the laid fishing nets in the Eravur sea has found a large haul of Para fishes. One Para fish which got caught to the nets weigh at least seven kilograms and the entire haul weighs more than 21,000 kilograms.

 

The group of fishermen’s said that due to the bad weather prevailing around the island, the fish harvest is decreased a lot and they never expected such a large haul at once. The haul received is believed to be more than 10 million.

Crucial court verdict today on West Asian secret account of VVIP’s son

By Our Political Editor-Sunday, October 11, 2015

• Ruling on case involving half a billion dollars seen as  opening the door to full-scale probe on massive corrupt deals
• While Ukraine goes slow on MiG probe, top agencies help Sri Lanka make breakthrough; new twists in Avant Garde story
• Full two-day parliamentary debate on Geneva issue; minister says ‘domestic inquiry with foreign participation’

A landmark event in a West Asian capital will play out today and it will send shockwaves around Sri Lanka. This is when a court there hears a case where lawyers for Sri Lanka Government are seeking an order to freeze nearly a half a billion dollars in a bank account. It has been established that this account is in the name of a young politician, the son of a former VVIP. It has also been established that there was well over a billion US dollars when information was first received about this account. The politician in question had transferred a big part of the funds to a bank in an eastern European country. Reports that a close relative helped in the transfer of funds there are now being probed.

Crucial Court Verdict Today on West Asian Secret Account of VVIP’s Son by Thavam Ratna

Saving Sunil: A study of dangerous speech around a Facebook page dedicated to Sgt. Sunil Rathnayake

Published on October 9, 2015

‘Saving Sunil – a study of dangerous speech around Facebook page dedicated to Sgt. Sunil Rathnayake’ continues the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) study of online discourse, particularly over social media, around dangerous and hate speech, following its first report on the subject ‘Liking Violence: A Study of Hate Speech on Facebook in Sri Lanka’ published in 2014.

The report examines the content of the official Facebook page dedicated to saving Sgt. Sunil Rathnayake, who was, on the 25th of June 2015, sentenced to death by the Colombo High Court for the massacre of 8 civilians in Mirusuvil in 2000. The report contains detailed translations into English of the original posts and comments, including photographic and visual content. The Facebook page was monitored for a period of one month, from the time of the verdict. This period also coincided with the period of political campaigning for the General Election of 2015. Given that context, this report explores how potent the saving Sunil Facebook page is, firstly as an example of online hate and dangerous speech and secondly, as a catalyst for social mobilization.

Clearly, the cause of Sgt. Sunil Rathnayake was politicized and the Facebook page dedicated to him used as a political platform. The content of the Saving Sunil page, liberally augmented by hate and dangerous speech reflects the political rhetoric that only a Rajapakse led government can protect the majority community and war heroes from international interference and witch hunts while the Wickremesinghe led UNFGG (UNP) campaign with its inclusiveness of minorities and war related faux pas of the past would result in minority dominance and criminalizing of war heroes. How effective was the Saving Sunil Facebook page in mobilizing their predominantly young audience; either to save Sgt. Rathnayake or as a political platform? Has the recent decline of radical groups and their power over society diminished opportunities for translating hate rhetoric in to mass physical action? As noted in the final chapter of the report, ‘Online hate speech receptacles such as the saving Sunil Facebook page and hundreds of similar groups will not doubt continue to mushroom on Sri Lanka’s social media fabric. However, this phenomenon by itself, in a political and social context which affords less space for impunity and hate is far less likely to thrive long term or have any significant traction. It is more likely that such Facebook campaigns will emerge from time to time and fade out, forming a pattern of waves of online hate speech’.

Download the full report here.

SS-Final-RW-SH-formatted-1.pdf-speech around a Facebook page dedicated to Sgt. Sunil Rathnayake.pdf by Thavam Ratna

Expose`- Gota and army maneuver to save Prageeth’s murderers wasting army funds; Maithri or Gota the commanding chief..?

(Lanka-e-News- 11.Oct.2015, 4.10PM) In the abduction and murder of innocent unarmed journalist Prageeth Ekneliyagoda by the officers of the army brazenly defying all the laws of the country and of the army, which cold blooded murder drew the attention of the whole world, the Sri Lanka army commander is wasting  army funds (public funds) to rescue illegally and unashamedly the culprits involved, instead of taking action against the suspects by duly establishing a military court to try and punish them , according to reports reaching Lanka e news inside information division.

Gotabaya’s ‘broker ‘ Lieutenant Colonel Mahathanthila

There are 9 army officers in CID custody over the Ekneliyagoda abduction and murder. Of them three are retired officers , two are them were with the LTTE and later worked with the Army intelligence division. The remaining four are still in service. They are residents of different areas of the country. 

On the instructions  of the army commander and ex defense secretary Gotabaya , Lieutenant Colonel Mahathanthila of the intelligence division is now visiting the houses of the suspects and speaking to their wives to convince them that the army is deeply in its toils to rescue  the army officers involved , and the necessary funds towards this is being disbursed from the army funds. These spouses had also been summoned and introduced to Kalinga Indratissa , an unscrupulous  lawyer who is an accomplished liar and a bootlicking lickspittle of MaRa.

Moreover , when the CID officers visited the Girithale army camp to conduct a search , the army commander brazenly flouting the laws, sent his officers who had impeded the investigation of the CID at the camp. The officers so sent were Captain Girihagama and Major Seneviratne . The villain behind all these treacherous and illegal moves is ex (criminal) defense secretary Gotabaya who from the beginning engineered the entire criminal operation.

Kalinga Indratissa paid out of Army funds

Kalinga well noted for selling even his soul for cash and opportunistic gains , had filed 4 fundamental rights (FR) petitions and 4 habeas corpus petitions on behalf of the  army officers. Kalinga had charged a fee for all these .All these payments had been paid in hard cash by Lieutenant Colonel Mahathanthila out of the army funds (pilfered) . Based on reports , it is ex chief justice Mohan Peiris who cheapened justice by cheating on those seeking justice  during his tenure of office , and a bosom pal of Gotabaya who had provided the necessary groundwork for the FR petitions.

Lanka e news is intently watching and following the moves of Indratissa –whether he is going to appear in these cases . If he does he is liable for breach of professional ethics  vis a vis his appearance for Arundhika Fernando M.P. a witness in the same case filed in Homagama courts by Prageeth’s wife. A lawyer cannot appear for a witness as well as an  accused in the same case.

Appeal court president Malalgoda has no right to hear this case on ethical grounds

Filing habeas corpus writ applications on behalf of those suspects who are now in custody is to defeat its very purpose, for a habeas corpus application can be filed only on behalf of those whose whereabouts are unknown. In this case ,the suspects are in CID custody legally , and their  whereabouts are  known. Hence , truly speaking the habeas corpus application ought to be filed on behalf of Prageeth , and not on behalf of those who abducted and murdered him . Therefore this is a clear case in which the habeas corpus application should  have been rejected at the very outset . Instead , Malalgoda the president of the appeal court has acted with partiality towards the suspects (the army) unlawfully. 

At all events , Malalgoda is not suitable to sit in judgment on this case. Malalgoda for some time was working for the army wearing the security uniform.bHe was also the ‘judge advocate’ of the air force when he was serving in the attorney general’s department . His impartiality is therefore questionable, for he was  committed to serve the security forces.

Three pertinent  and salient questions to the commander in chief

Lanka e news has some questions to ask on behalf of Prageeth Ekneliyagoda the victim ….

President Maithripala Sirisena who traded on Prageeth Ekneliyagoda’s abduction and murder and came to power is the commander in chief of the forces today. He gave a solemn assurance that those who were responsible for the Prageeth’s  abduction and murder will be brought before the law. In that backdrop, how could the funds of the army that is under him be used (wasted) to rescue the culprits involved in Prageeth’s murder , and on what ethical grounds ?

Does or doesn’t the commander in chief of the forces  know that the army commander is being allowed room to appear for and on behalf of the criminal army officers  who disgraced and degraded  the army , instead of bringing them before the law ? 

When ex defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse  is still continuing with his criminal operations unhindered and unimpeded on the sly keeping president Miathripala blindfolded, shouldn’t the president  be ashamed  to call himself as the commander in chief of the forces?

By a special reporter of Lanka e news inside information division
Translated by Jeff
 

---------------------------
by     (2015-10-11 10:50:14)

Video: Pillayan arrested over Pararajasingham killing 



2015-10-11
Former Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department when he arrived at the CID office in Colombo this evening to give a statement, police media said. 

He was summoned by the CID to record a statement in connection with the killing of former TNA parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham who was shot dead on December 25, 2005 in Batticaloa. 

Rajapaksa Foundation Misusing UDA Lands

CSN Building in Battaramulla

by Nirmala Kannangara-Sunday, October 11, 2015

Following the expose on the two plots of lands granted for the Don Alwin Rajapaksa (D. A. Rajapaksa) Memorial Foundation by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) has been misused for personal purposes by Kurunegala District parliamentarian Mahinda Rajapaksa, his siblings and off spring, questions have been raised as to the action taken by the UDA against this foundation for violating the lease agreements.

Director Lands, UDA, H. A. Dayananda confirmed to The Sunday Leader that if the lessee (D. A. Rajapaksa Foundation) has violated the lease agreement conditions that have been imposed by the UDA, there is no other options for the UDA but to cancel the agreement forthwith and reacquire the land.

Rajapaksa Foundation Misusing UDA Lands by Thavam Ratna

Part 5: Social Market Economy – Go for complex production system, facilitate entrepreneurship 

Monday, 12 October 2015

Inventions and innovations go hand in hand
Part 4 of the article in this series argued that Sri Lanka should create an ‘innovation economy’, and not just a knowledge economy, by using the research think-tanks at universities and research institutions if it is to deliver sustained prosperity to its people (available at: http://www.ft.lk/article/478857/Part-4--Social-Market-Economy--Universities--research-institutions-as-catalysts-of-an-innovation-economy).
Knowledge creates inventions but inventions alone will not help a nation unless they are used for producing commercially viable goods and services for use by people at home and abroad. That process, it was pointed out, is being completed by entrepreneurs who function as innovators. Hence, inventions and innovations should go hand in hand if the process is to deliver success. What this means is that knowledge without practice is fruitless.

Part 5 Social Market Economy – Go for Complex Production System, Facilitate Entrepreneurship by Thavam Ratna