A Clergyman Of Peace and Courage: Remembering Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero

Picture courtesy omlanka

by Groundviews 

- on 11/12/2015 

Today has been declared a national day of mourning as Ven Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero is laid to rest.  To mark this day, Groundviews has curated some of the best stories in remembrance to his tireless pursuit for social justice.

Access the stories curated directly on Storify here.

Political leadership promises to take forward reforms fought for by Ven. Sobitha Thera

By Dasun Edirisinghe-November 12, 2015, 9:51 pm 

Government leaders yesterday recalled the pivotal role played by the Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera in bringing about the Jan. 08 regime change. They were speaking at his funeral on the parliament grounds yesterday.

All of them promised to take forward the campaign to restore democracy and social justice led by Ven. Sobitha Thera.

Addressing the funeral ceremony President Maithripala Sirisena said that Ven. Sobitha Thera had launched the campaign which had enabled him and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to come to power and form a national unity government.

The Thera’s demise was a great loss to the country, said the President, noting that the he had campaigned hard to scrap the executive presidency, effect electoral reforms and bring about social justice. "We promise at this funeral that we will work to fulfil the Ven. Sobitha Thera’s goals," President Sirisena said.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Ven. Sobitha Thera’s death was an unbearable loss. He, too, promised to carry forward the late Thera’s campaign and ensure that his goals were achieved.

Thousands of people attended the funeral while state dignitaries including President Sirisena, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and ministers also took part.

Minister of Budhdhasasana Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe also addressed the funeral ceremony.

Funeral procession started from Kotte Naga Viharaya around 1.00pm and it reached the Parliament ground around 3.00pm. Funeral sermon was conducted by the Mahanayake of Kotte Kalyani Damma Maha Sanga Sabha Dr. Iththepane Dammalankara thera.

More than 5,000 buddhist monks also attended the funeral.

Ven. Sobhitha Thera passed away around 5.50 am (3.20 am Lankan time) last Sunday at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, where he had been treated at the intensive care unit for three days. His remains were brought to the Sri Lankan High Commission at No 76 of Andrew Road in Singapore around noon on the same day.

He was born on May 09, 1942 at Maduluwawa in Homagama entered Buddha Sasana in 1955 and obtained higher ordination in 1962.

71 Forum hands over its task to the new generation

Nov 13, 2015

The people who were involved in the 1972 insurgency has formed a forum and come to a decision. They have rendered the campaign of their forum to their children’s. 

The chief convener if the new forum is Yenuka Shrimal Sisilchandra, son of Sisilchandra who was the 14th accused of the 71 insurgency. Apart this Vimukthi Deshapriya the nephew of an active member Wijesena G. Withana, Sachi Jayawardana the daughter of lawyer Mahinda Jayawardana alias Bullet Mahinda, Patrick Fernando’s daughter Janani Thudugala and the son of an active member of the JVP who died in 1989 James Athugala, Divakara Athugala are reported to being advocating the new 71 forum.

 

The new generation has decided to start a broad forum by expanding its network not only joining the 71 insurgency but joining the 87-89 generation. 

Israel/OPT: Investigate apparent extrajudicial execution at Hebron hospital

NOVEMBER 12, 2015

The killing of a 28-year-old Palestinian man by Israeli forces during a raid on al-Ahli hospital in Hebron in the early hours of Thursday morning may amount to an extrajudicial execution, Amnesty International said today.

Eyewitnesses report that a large group of Israeli soldiers and police entered the hospital at 2.43am disguised as Palestinian civilians, with some wearing keffiyehs and fake beards and another being pushed in a wheelchair dressed as a pregnant woman. According to two witnesses Amnesty International spoke to, they entered a room on the third floor of the hospital where 20-year-old Azzam Azmi Shalaldah was a patient, to arrest him on suspicion of stabbing an Israeli civilian on 25 October.

When they entered the room where the patient was in bed, they immediately shot his cousin, Abdullah Azzam Shalaldah, at least three times, including in the head and upper body.

“The fact that Abdullah Shalaldah was shot in the head and upper body suggests this was an extrajudicial execution, adding to a disturbing pattern of similar recent incidents by Israeli forces in the West Bank which warrant urgent investigation,” said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Amnesty International.

“Israeli forces must immediately cease their use of intentional lethal force against people who are not posing an imminent threat to life.”

A witness said that Abdullah Shalaldah, who had been accompanying his cousin in the hospital and sleeping in the room, had gone to the bathroom and had just come out when Israeli forces burst into the room and shot him. The Israeli forces then threatened another patient at gunpoint, handcuffed another relative to a bed and then left the hospital with Azzam Shalaldah in a wheelchair.

Unlawful and deliberate killings carried out by order of government or military officials, or with their complicity or acquiescence, amount to extrajudicial executions, which are prohibited at all times and are crimes under international law.

The Israeli military released a statement saying that Abdullah Shalaldah had attacked Israeli forces, but did not specify whether he was armed. Witnesses report that he was not armed, was some metres away from the soldiers and police and had not attempted to attack them. There was no attempt to arrest Abdullah Shalaldah, according to the witnesses, or to use non-lethal alternatives before shooting him dead.

The killing of Abdullah Shalaldah is the latest in a pattern of killings by Israeli forces which Amnesty International considers to have been unlawful. Since the beginning of October there has been a dramatic increase in the number of attacks by Palestinians on Israeli civilians, soldiers and police. Attacks on civilians are never justified, but Israeli forces have responded with intentional lethal use of force in many cases where it was not warranted. The Israeli military’s own regulations allow soldiers in the occupied West Bank to open fire only when their lives are in imminent danger. It appears that this was not the case in the shooting of Abdullah Shalaldah, as he was unarmed.

Israeli forces have killed at least 18 Palestinians in and around the city of Hebron in recent weeks, including in cases that appear to be extrajudicial executions, and accordingly should be the subject of prompt, thorough and impartial investigations with a view to prosecution as criminal offences.

On 6 November Israeli forces shot and killed 72-year-old Tharwat al-Sharawi, alleging that she intended to ram them with her car. A video of the incident shows the car which she was driving heading towards the soldiers at a speed slow enough to allow the soldiers to jump out of the way and then begin shooting heavily at the car. Tharwat al-Sharawi’s son has said that his mother was on her way to lunch when she was killed. Amnesty International considers that even if Tharwat-al-Sharami did intend to carry out a ramming attack, the military has itself acknowledged that soldiers only began firing after jumping out of the way of the car. This means that the imminent danger had passed and accordingly that the use of lethal force was unlawful.

On 29 October Mahdi al-Muhtasib, 23, was shot by Israeli forces after reportedly lightly wounding an Israeli soldier in a stabbing attack in Hebron. Video of the aftermath of the incident shows Mahdi al-Muhtasib writhing in pain on the ground before an Israeli soldier, standing a distance of some metres away, shoots him again. The video shows that Mahdi al-Muhtasib was plainly wounded, and posed no threat whatsoever to the soldier. Moreover, shooting a wounded person is a wilful killing in grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

“Israeli forces have a long history of carrying out unlawful killings in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including extrajudicial executions,” said Philip Luther.

“While the number of attacks by Palestinians on Israeli civilians, soldiers and police has increased significantly since the beginning of October, there is never any excuse for the Israeli military and police forces using lethal force where it is not warranted.”

For further information contact John Tackaberry, Media Relations
(613)744-7667 #236 jtackaberry@amnesty,ca
 

Majority of UK Jewish community oppose Israeli settlement expansion:


A poll of more than 1,000 British Jews has found that a sizeable minority would support sanctions against Israel to further the peace process 

The Israeli government last week approved 2,200 new settlement units (AFP)

Friday 13 November 2015
A new survey of the British Jewish community this week found that the majority fear Israel’s approach to the peace process is damaging “to its standing in the world”.

Academics from London’s City University surveyed 1,131 British Jews over the age of 18, in research sponsored by the left-leaning pro-Israel lobby group Yachad.

Of those polled, 72 percent rejected the statement that “Palestinians have no legitimate claim to a land of their own,” and 65 percent said Israel should cede territory in the interests of peace.

While a two-thirds majority said they were strongly opposed to sanctions against Israel, almost a quarter (24 percent) said they would back “some sanctions” if it would help push Israel towards the negotiating table.

The vast majority, 73 percent, agreed that Israel’s approach to peace negotiations was damaging “its standing in the world”.

In particular the policy of expanding settlements, which are deemed illegal under international law, was seen as a major obstacle to achieving peace by three quarters of respondents.

However, only 32 percent said they would support “tougher action” by the UK government to oppose settlement expansion.

The Israeli government last week moved to green-light 2,200 new settlement units and to retroactively approve two outposts in the West Bank, possibly as a pre-emptive attempt to foil legal challenges against them.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government has presided over a years-long campaign of settlement expansion, this week cancelled upcoming meetings with the EU after Brussels issued guidelines calling for all products produced in settlements to be clearly labelled.

Netanyahu has spoken out strongly against the move, comparing it to a boycott of Jewish businesses imposed by the Nazis in the run-up to the Holocaust.

The new survey, published on Thursday, is the first major poll of the attitudes of the British Jewish population since 2010.

Critics have highlighted what they called “emotive” language used in the survey, pointing out that an alternative poll by the Jewish Chronicle in the run-up to the Israeli election in March found that, of a sample of 1,000, over 60 percent said they would support Netanyahu’s re-election. 

- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/majority-uk-jewish-community-oppose-israeli-settlement-expansion-survey-1301392486#sthash.DtLUGngv.dpuf

Yemen is turning into Saudi Arabia’s Vietnam

Fighters loyal to Yemen’s government celebrate after receiving three armored personnel carriers from the United Arab Emirates in the southwestern city of Taiz. (Reuters)

By Hugh Naylor-November 13

BEIRUT — Eight months after launching a war in Yemen, Saudi Arabia appears trapped in a protracted and devastating conflict that is straining relations with its allies, intensifying internal power struggles and emboldening its regional rival, Iran, analysts say.

Yemen is Turning Into Saudi Arabia’s Vietnam by Thavam Ratna

U.S. Holocaust Museum: The Islamic State’s War On Yazidis Is Genocide

BY HENRY JOHNSON-NOVEMBER 12, 2015

When Islamic State militants invaded Ninewa province in northern Iraq in summer 2014, one of their primary objectives was to wipe out the minority Yazidi population that lived there. More than 1,500 Yazidis, mainly men, were killed, and thousands of women and children were kidnapped and enslaved.

On Thursday, the U.S. Holocaust Museum published a report labeling those attacks as genocide.

The findings are based on evidence gathered by Naomi Kikoler, a deputy director at the museum, during visits to Yazidi refugee camps, meetings with government and U.N. officials, and interviews with victims. The report also gives accounts of Islamic State war crimes against other ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq, including Shabak, an offshoot of Sufi Islam, and Shiite Turkmen. Yazidism is a 4,000-year-old religion that includes elements of Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and which has roughly 500,000 adherents in northern Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan.

Yazidi women and children forced into slavery by the Islamic State were also made to convert to Islam, which under Islamic State rule includes abiding by a harsh version of sharia law. Yazidi men, meanwhile, are more likely to be killed outright. The deadliest massacre recorded took place in August 2014, when Islamic State militants may have killed up to 400 Yazidi villagers in Ninewa province.

That same month, fearing what he labeled “potential acts of genocide,” Obama applied U.S. airpower to attack Islamic State strongholds and free roughly 50,000 Yazidis who tried to flee the Islamic State and became trapped on Mount Sinjar, in northern Iraq.

But according to the Holocaust Museum researchers, Islamic State militants weren’t just preparing for genocide. They had already begun to carry it out.

Every Yazidi interviewed for the report had family members kidnapped or killed. One Yazidi woman, identified by the researchers only as Xian, said she could never have imagined the level of violence carried out against members of her community.  “I thought the world was more developed than this,” she said. “I saw so many children die on Mount Sinjar, I hope no one has to ever see that again.”

The Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters failed to protect them or adequately warn them they planned to retreat. One survivor said if the Peshmerga had warned them they were leaving, Yazidis “would have fled earlier, and lives would have been saved.”

The United Nations defines genocide as any one of a range of violent and coercive acts carried out in the name of destroying “in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”

Some of the world’s deadliest exterminations include the killing of six million Jews in Holocaust in Europe and nearly two million Cambodians under the Khmer Rouge. There are varying reports on just how many Yazidis have been killed since last summer, but the museum researchers argue that it is not the scale of the attacks against Yazidis but the intent behind them that qualify them as genocide.

And according to Yahoo News, American officials are paying attention. Secretary of State John Kerry is weighing the possibility of labeling crimes against Yazidis as genocide in coming weeks. Such a move could result in formal investigations and trials at the International Criminal Court.

JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/AFP/Getty Images

Islamic State 'defeated' by Kurds in Sinjar

FRIDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2015
Kurdish fighters say they have seized a key Iraqi town from Islamic State after a military offensive supported by US-led coalition aircraft.

Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said Sinjar had been liberated, which would have a "big impact" on efforts to re-take Mosul from IS.

When IS militants over-ran Sinjar in August 2014, thousands of Yazidis were killed, taken prisoner or raped, while others fled to the mountains, where they spent days without food or water.

On this occasion, Yazidis, considered devil worshippers by IS, joined 7,500 Kurdish fighters as they closed in on enemy positions after a night of air strikes.

The capture of Sinjar could also have implications for Islamic State's hold on Raqqa, the extremist group's de facto capital in Syria.

War

In Sinjar, women fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPJ) took part in the battle, backed by the Syrian Kurdish YPG, which has been at war with Islamic State since the fall of the town.

Many Yazidis lost faith in Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party when its forces failed to protect them from IS last year.

A Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) came to their rescue, evacuating thousands of Yazidis stranded on the Sinjar mountains and establishing a permanent base there.

Riot

The plight of the Yazidis in Sinjar was witnessed by Foreign Correspondent Jonathan Rugman in August 2014 (watch video below).

He travelled over the mountains in an Iraqi army helicopter which was distributing aid and rescuing those fleeing IS. When the helicopter touched down, it almost triggered a riot, with desperate Yazidis clambering to escape in searing heat.

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Yazidis had been trapped on bare mountainside for up to 10 days. The helicopter managed to rescue 25 of them.

Stellenbosch University students win right to be taught in English

 Protesters at Stellenbosch: Increasingly militant students complain that South Africa’s universities remain racist. Photograph: Mike Hutchings/Reuters

Friday 13 November 2015

Student pressure group had protested against use of Afrikaans as official teaching language, saying it disadvantaged blacks

After months of turmoil at South African universities, student protesters have won the right to be taught in English at Stellenbosch University, the intellectual home of Afrikaners during apartheid.

It was the latest victory for increasingly militant students who complain that the country’s universities remain racist 21 years after the first democratic elections brought Nelson Mandela to power.

Students at Stellenbosch, about 30 miles east of Cape Town, protested that Afrikaans was the language of oppression and its use as the teaching medium disadvantaged black people.

“Since English is the common language in South Africa, all learning at Stellenbosch University will be facilitated in English,” the rector’s management team said in a statement.

It added that the university “remains committed to the further development of Afrikaans” as an academic language. The student pressure group Open Stellenbosch, which led the protests, welcomed the statement.

“The radical change from [using] Afrikaans as the primary tool for oppression and exclusion, to adopting a language shared by all as the official language, is a significant victory in this struggle for access to education,” the movement said in a statement.

“We remember those who died for this to become possible in the long years of struggle against apartheid. In particular, we remember the students of 1976.”

In that year, black high school pupils in Soweto rebelled against attempts to introduce Afrikaans as the medium of instruction, an uprising seen as a major turning point in the fight against apartheid.

The Stellenbosch victory comes hard on the heels of two other student triumphs this year.

At the University of Cape Town, protesters forced the removal from the campusof a statue of British colonialist Cecil Rhodes, protesting that it was a symbol of white oppression and continuing racism.

Last month, nationwide demonstrations forced the government to scrap plans for a university fee increase next year, which would have hit poor black students particularly hard.

The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald: 40 Years Ago

Gordon Lightfoot said this song is his most significant contribution to music.

SS Edmund Fitzgerald Courtesy: NOAA

Bonnie King Salem-News.com-Nov-12-2015

(SALEM, Ore.) - 40 years ago, on November 10, 1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior. This two score anniversary commemorates the ship, a 729 foot ore carrier, which went down in a November storm, taking all 29 crew members to their graves.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald 40 Years Ago by Thavam Ratna

Euro-centralism facing growing challenge in global South 

November 11, 2015, 8:04 pm

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye (front 2nd R) talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (front 3rd L) during a meeting at the presidential Blue House in Seoul on October 31, 2015. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived in South Korea October 31 ahead of a trilateral Northeast Asian leadership summit that Beijing hopes will improve trade links and help bolster its slowing economy. (AFP)

In the future, we are likely to see more and more forums of the kind we are seeing currently taking place among Japan, China and South Korea, for the defusing of inter-state tensions and the finalizing of the terms of economic engagement. But these powers may need to recognize that growth does not equate development. It is the latter that spells better times for the ordinary people of the South. 

Christine Lagarde’s term as IMF chief is fast coming to an end and the question being posed by some international monetary authorities is whether a nominee of the BRICS states would make a bid to obtain the prestigious and powerful position which plays a major role in shaping the economies of the global South. This is just one pointer to the growing importance of the global South, including emerging economies, in running the world economy. The economic clout of the South, currently, is of such proportions that it could no longer be ignored as a key player in global economic management.

The Southern states are by no means strongly united but the recent forum in Seoul featuring South Korea, China and Japan on economic and security issues ought to be an eye-opener for the West and other sections with a stake in the effective administration of the global economy. The forum in question is held periodically but the one under discussion comes amid growing international military tensions in the Asia-Pacific, which is, of course, part of the world’s new economic growth centre.

Even as this is being written, at least one US aircraft carrier is in the South China sea, against the backdrop of efforts by China to intensify its presence in the region through the construction of ‘artificial Islands’ and the initiation of other perceived security measures. These steps are aimed at strengthening China’s foothold in the South China sea and adjacent areas, seen as strategically, and in economic terms, important for Beijing.

It is common knowledge that China is at loggerheads with some of its major neighbours over what it considers are its territorial possessions in the South and East China seas but it and its neighboiurs apparently do not consider these irritants as obstacles to efforts at coming together and showing a united front on the economic front.

It is the economic dimension that is increasingly significant in international relations at present. This is particularly true of the global South which is posing a formidable challenge to the economic clout of the West, which is steadily waning. Over the past few years, the growing economic strength of the South has been a significant feature of the world economy and it is plain to see that Southern economic groupings and multilateral organizations are coming close to displacing West-dominated global financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the IMF. Just two of such entities are the China-spearheaded Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank, launched by the BRICS states. Accordingly, the financial power of the West may soon be a thing of the past.

Significantly, the US and Japan are not members of AIIB but the US very recently launched the Trans Pacific Partnership under its leadership which comprises some of the West’s and Asia-Pacific’s biggest economic powers and this could be the West’s answer, in economic terms, to the principal economic powers of the South.

Given the waning economic importance of the West, it is a South-centered world that is emerging and economic history writing may need to increasingly come to grips with this fact. That is, South-centralism may need to replace Euro-centralism in economic commentary the world over.

To be sure, it is some time since sections of Western scholarship have come to recognize the dominance of Euro-centralism in the worldview of even Western historians and their writings. From roughly the fifteenth century it is the West which has dominated the world in military, economic and political terms and, consequently, Western history writing and commentary on modern times have come to have a West-centric slant. Economic, social, political and military achievements in the modern world have been seen as West-initiated achievements, basically, while the South or the Third World has been seen as being bogged-down in underdevelopment in all its forms, from the earliest times. Based on these premises, the West is being shown as enjoying an intrinsic superiority over the South or East. This, in essence, is Euro-centralism.

However, the few Western scholars referred to above, have put the record straight on this matter and pointed out, with proof, that, from ancient times until the advent of colonialism, it is Asia and Africa that led the world in economic, social and political advancement, although they were overtaken in colonial times by the West, for obvious reasons. One such commentator is Andre Gunder Frank and his work, ‘ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age (Vistaar Publications, New Delhi) is well worth reading on this score. This tradition in commentary, which has helped in quashing Western stereotypes of the East, began with Edward Said’s famous treatise, ‘Orientalism’, a path-breaking work on Western cultural domination and its effects.

Accordingly, present day Southern economic growth and prosperity, among other things, exposes as being without a basis, Western myths relating to the South’s purported cultural and economic backwardness. It would be right to state, instead, that the South or East is coming to its own as the global economic power house.

However, it cannot be contended that from now on we would be having a monolithic and united South which would be working towards a better economic deal for the lesser economic players in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Tensions among major economic players, in Asia in particular, are likely to continue over scarce and strategic resources, such as oil and gas. The South China sea squabbles, for example, centre on these issues. But the perspective from which world economic history is being written would need to change, recognizing the South as the world’s most important region, not only in economic terms, but in cultural and intellectual terms as well.

In the future, we are likely to see more and more forums of the kind we are seeing currently taking place among Japan, China and South Korea, for the defusing of inter-state tensions and the finalizing of the terms of economic engagement. But these powers may need to recognize that growth does not equate development. It is the latter that spells better times for the ordinary people of the South.

Suu Kyi landslide poses challenge with Myanmar's minorities

A landslide victory by Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar's historic election has raised questions over whether the Nobel laureate can overcome distrust from leaders of ethnic minorities and solve long-simmering conflicts along the country's borders.

 BY AUNG HLA TUN AND AUBREY BELFORD- Fri Nov 13, 2015

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) scored a stunning win in last Sunday's poll, sweeping aside the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) of former generals.

But also crushed in the rout were dozens of parties representing ethnic minorities, who make up less than half the country's 51.5 million population, and who have a long history of antagonism and insurgency against the military junta that ruled Myanmar for half a century.

The NLD landslide - which means it will form a government on its own - has spoiled hopes by ethnic parties that they would be kingmakers in national politics, trading support for cabinet seats and a strong say in efforts to unwind the country's highly centralised government.

Instead, Suu Kyi's party has found itself alone with solving ethnic grievances, potentially dimming hopes of resolving an issue that has long destabilised the country and led to six decades of conflict.

"Frankly, the NLD sweeping such a huge victory isn't good for the country," said Sai Nyunt Lwin, the secretary general of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), a party representing Myanmar's largest minority group.

"It will have a strong impact on everything, including the nationwide ceasefire agreement," he told Reuters, referring to a deal signed in October between the government and eight ethnic rebel groups.

"I'M SKEPTICAL"

Despite sharing decades of common struggle against the military junta that ruled Myanmar until 2011, the relationship between the NLD and many ethnic leaders has long been marked by mistrust.

Like the military, the NLD is dominated by the Bamar, an ethnic-majority population that lives in the country's central lowlands.

Suu Kyi defied calls by ethnic parties not to run candidates in minority-dominated seats. The NLD's surprise victory in many of those areas left many parties without representation, or with just a handful of seats in the national and local assemblies.

The only exceptions were the SNLD, in the country's eastern Shan State, and the Arakan National Party (ANP), which is based in the restive western state of Rakhine.

"Since we are having a landslide majority, there is no way we would consider a coalition" with ethnic parties, NLD spokesman Win Htein told Reuters.

The party may, however, choose members of ethnic parties for cabinet positions, including the vice presidency, Win Htein said. The party would also consider appointing non-NLD chief ministers in Shan and Rakhine states.

To many ethnic leaders, the NLD's approach already seems high-handed.

"I'm skeptical about their ability to handle this perennial issue without the active participation of ethnic parties," ANP chairman Aye Maung told Reuters. If the NLD asserts control over regional governments in minority areas, "it will be just like the situation under the USDP government," he said.

"WE WILL HAVE TO TRY VERY HARD"

More challenging still for the NLD will be reaching an end to fighting that has killed thousands on the country's periphery in recent years.

Despite the October ceasefire, most of the country's best-armed insurgent groups are still at war with the government, and fighting led to voting being cancelled in some areas. The NLD refused to support the agreement, saying it excluded many armed groups.

The main problem for the NLD in negotiations will be demonstrating it can influence the military, Richard Horsey, an independent Myanmar analyst, told Reuters. The military still controls 25 percent of parliament, while three key ministries - defence, home affairs, and border affairs - are reserved for serving officers.

"The question is what the relationship will be like between the NLD and the military, and how the relationship is perceived by the armed groups," Horsey said.

Win Htein, of the NLD, said the party would face much more trouble with negotiations than the ruling USDP, which is led by former military men.

"We will have to try very hard. Very hard," he said.

(Reporting by Aung Hla Tun and Aubrey Belford; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

Scientists breach brain barrier to treat sick patient

The blood-brain barrier protects the brain against toxins

By Michelle Roberts-10 November 2015

For the first time, doctors have breached the human brain's protective layer to deliver cancer-fighting drugs.

The Canadian team used tiny gas-filled bubbles, injected into the bloodstream of a patient, to punch temporary holes in the blood-brain barrier.

A beam of focused ultrasound waves applied to the skull made the bubbles vibrate and push their way through, along with chemotherapy drugs.

Six to 10 more patients will undergo the same procedure as part of a trial.

Experts said the experimental technique used at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre was exciting because it meant doctors might be able to give cancer patients potent drugs that otherwise would not work.

The same non-invasive method could also be used for other brain diseases, such as dementia and Parkinson's.

But many more safety studies are needed, they say. Animal trials have produced some results, but it is not yet clear whether the treatment would work or have side-effects.

Blood-brain barrier

The blood-brain barrier keeps pathogens and toxins away from the central nervous system. But this tightly packed layer of cells, which separates the brain from its blood vessels, can be a hindrance if you want to deliver drugs into the brain.

The Sunnybrook team temporarily ripped holes in the barrier to allow chemotherapy a safe passage through.

---

For eight years, Bonny Hall managed her brain tumour with medication - but earlier this year, she was told the cancer was growing.

Her tumour needed more aggressive, targeted therapy.

Bonny Hall will be closely monitored for side effects-Focused Ultrasound Foundation

Her doctors asked the 56-year-old if she wanted to be the first in the world to try out a treatment that could deliver chemotherapy drugs via the blood-brain barrier.

She was given an intravenous infusion of chemotherapy followed by a small dose of the micro-bubbles that would punch a way through once they reached the target area of the brain and the ultrasound beam was switched on.

Brain scans suggest the treatment went to plan, and the researchers will soon examine a small part Ms Hall's tumour (removed surgically the day after the therapy) to confirm how much of the chemotherapy penetrated.

Dr Todd Mainprize shows where the blood-brain barrier opened-focused ultrasound foundation

She says she is both nervous and excited "if I can help in any way".

"It's going to also look after things like epilepsy, Alzheimer's, a lot of other diseases," she says. "This isn't just about a brain tumour.

"I just want to be a normal mum, a normal grandma, just a normal housewife, a normal wife. That's all I really want to be."

All of the participants who will take part in the trial are among those already scheduled for traditional surgery to remove parts of their tumour.

---

Lead researcher and neurosurgeon Dr Todd Mainprize said: "The results are preliminary at this point because we don't have the levels of chemotherapy - but based on the gadolinium MRI scan, we were clearly able to open up the blood-brain barrier non-invasively, reversibly and it appears quite safely.

"We are always concerned about possible downsides to any treatment and this is why this phase-one trial is undergoing.

"We are looking at the safety profile."

Prof Gail ter Haar, an expert in ultrasound technology at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: "This is an exciting clinical step.

"Opening the blood-brain barrier using focused ultrasound beams has been a goal of researchers for about a decade, with the Toronto group being at its forefront, and it is exciting to see this reaching the clinic at last.

"The use of ultrasound for enhancing the local delivery of drugs to a number of different targets in the body is being investigated by a number of centres around the world, including the UK, and shows particular promise in the field of cancer chemotherapy."

Egle Solito, a senior lecturer at Barts and The London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, said it was important not to raise hopes too soon.

"We need lots more research. The blood-brain barrier is a sealed system that protects the brain and when you open it, even temporarily, there are risks."

Video: President vows to abolish Executive Presidency 

 

2015-11-12
President Maithripala Sirisena today vowed before the mortal remains of Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera that he would do everything possible under his command to abolish the Executive Presidency and introduce electoral reforms which the late prelate fought for in the past years.

The cremation of the Ven. Thera (1942 – 2015) took place under state patronage at the Parliament Grounds in Kotte last afternoon amidst a large gathering of Buddhist monks, Buddhists devotees, religious leaders, devotees of other religions, politicians, diplomats, Buddhist delegates from other Asian Buddhist countries, armed forces personnel and many others.

President Sirisena addressing the grieving gathering of all walks of life further said the Thera passed away at an unexpected time and before fruition of his wish and expectation of creating a ‘just society.

“Ven Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera devoted his life in the last few years to create a just society and promote the concept of good governance in Sri Lanka without politicizing it and paying little attention to his own well being which ultimately led to the deterioration of his health. The National Movement for a Just Society’ he formed to achieve those goals and gave the leadership put the foundation to the mass campaign to bring myself and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to the present positions and to form the regime of Good Governance of today,” President Sirisena said.
He recalled how Ven. Sobitha Thera worked tirelessly for the welfare of the Sinhalalese, Tamils and Muslims during the conflict which could be termed as a national service and Yuga Mehewara.

President Sirisena reiterated his pledge to create a just society, good governance, fully restore the rule of law and strengthen democratic institutions the Ven. Thera wished to establish through his campaigns.

“The Ven. Thera being a Buddhist monk was completely a different character, who took a different path to create a just and decent society. It was a diversion of the commonly accepted path for Bhikkus. But his struggle itself took the better of his life and made the Thera sick and weak which created shock and sorrow among all of us. The greatest honour we can give Sobitha Thera is by following in the path he showed us and endeavouring to achieve a just society and good governance,” President Sirisena stressed and concluded his speech wishing the supreme bliss of Nirvana to the Thera. (Sandun A. Jayasekera)

 

Posted by Thavam