Are Maithri laws only for the UNP members ?

(Lanka-e-News - 20.Nov.2015, 4.35 AM) Retired major general Gamini Hettiarachchi who was in charge of secret operations room on 8 th January - the day of the presidential elections, that was run by Gotabaya Rajapakse on the instructions of ex president Mahinda Rajapakse with a view to preclude good governance from  coming into being in Sri Lanka, was appointed as the  chairman of the vocational training Authority by the same  government of good governance . In addition ,Sugath Handunge who wrote the lyrics of ‘Aayu Rakbatthhu Aavada’ on behalf of ex president Mahinda Rajapakse as the Institute’s  Vice chairman , and  former Puttalam deputy minister 71 years old Yusas Peiris as chairman of ‘NAITA,’ were appointed ,minister Mahinda Samarasinghe revealed.

Mahinda Samarasinghe the minister of Skills development and vocational training when making these appointments had totally disregarded and disdained the special ‘president -prime minister’ recommendation committee , as well as  the president’s order that when making such appointments , the recommendation of this committee is imperative.

It is worthy of note that Hettiarachchi has no qualification whatsoever to match  this appointment , as his knowledge pertains to   military affairs. If he has any qualification at all , it is simply that he  was the Director General  of the headquarters of Human rights and disaster management when Samarasinghe was its minister.

The clandestine operations room   that was controlled by Gotabaya was geared to sabotage the presidential election 2015 , and to subsequently meet any challenges that may develop thereby. 200 exclusive senior ex officers of the security division like retired Navy commander Daya Sandagiri and major General Soysa were manning this service for over two months.

The expenditure involved in  this special operation comprising members of the forces was fully met by Avant Garde Co. The monthly salaries paid were very high to all  these ex officers of the forces  

Daya Sandagiri was  paid Rs. 500,000.00;  and Major General Hettiarachchi was  paid Rs. 250,000.00.

Consequent upon the appointment of these officers to posts of chairman and deputy chairman of the Vocational training authority  by minister  Samarasinghe without selections being duly made based on the recommendations of the ‘president –P.M. ‘ special Committee has caused deep disappointment and disillusionment among the groups that made supreme sacrifices and even risked their lives to install a government of good governance.

The government of good governance came to power by making all the promises and solemn assurances that the corrupt will be punished and severely dealt with.However ,following the victory , appointment of the corrupt and the crooked individuals who acted unlawfully to install Mahinda Rajapakse in power, to key positions now in the government Institutions has naturally rudely shocked and provoked the anger of  UNP rank and file who are now thoroughly disappointed.The UNP activists of the good governance government are fiercely and justifiably questioning whether the president’s directive is applicable only to the UNP when appointing individuals to high positions in the State Institutions?

On top of this unwelcome   chairman post appointment , Sugath Handunge who wrote the lyics of ‘Ayu Rakkaththu Aavada’ for Mahinda Rajapakse has also been appointed as the new Vice chairman of Vocational training Authority .

Mahinda Ileperuma who wrote the biography  of Mahinda Rajapakse - the book titled ‘Kuragan Satakaya,’ the media Director of his  , and is a close friend of Sugath Handunge  had recommended the latter to  minister Samarasinghe.

Believe it or not , Handunge was earlier working in the Coconut development board , and was demoted by minister Jagath Pushpakumara .

What’s more ! while there exists a law that those appointed to posts of chairman of government Institutions should be below the age of 70 years, minister Samarasinghe has ignored the law , to appoint Puttalam district ex deputy minister Yusas Peiris as the chairman of National apprentice Industrial  training authority .Yusas who was born on 8 th March 1944 is now over 71 years of age.

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by     (2015-11-19 23:07:13)

Executive Presidency-Cabinet to appoint a committee

 

2015-11-19

Followed by his avowal at the funeral of Ven. Maduluwave Sobhitha Thera to abolish the Executive Presidency, President Maitripala Sirisena initiated action at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting by seeking to pursue his intentions.     

Executive Presidency-Cabinet to Appoint a Committee by Thavam Ratna

Executive presidency going, going …

Editorial-November 18, 2015, 8:17 pm 

Wielding unbridled executive powers is like chasing the dragon. Being out of power or going political cold turkey is torture for politicians.

Late Presidents, J. R. Jayewardene and Ranasinghe Premadasa, in spite of their failings and abuse of power, were less hypocritical than their successors anent the executive presidency. They neither pretended to have any aversion to that institution nor offered to scrap it. They made no bones about their desire to arrogate to themselves more and more power.

All presidents have promised to abolish the executive presidency since 1994. President Chandrika Kumaratunga derisively called that institution a bibikkama (a kind of cheap cake popular among ordinary people) and made a vow to do away with it. But, that became one of her broken promises. Her successor Mahinda Rajapaksa also came to power, promising to abolish the executive presidency. Instead, he kept himself busy enhancing powers vested therein.

There is no bigger fool than a person who dupes himself into believing that politicians in this country ask for mandates to serve the public and are averse to excessive power.

President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday presented to the Cabinet a proposal seeking to abolish the executive presidency. That is what he has been elected for. The common opposition made a solemn pledge to scrap that institution while mitigating people’s economic woes. They fielded Sirisena for that purpose and obtained a popular mandate. Ven. Sobitha Thera has ceased to trouble them as regard their unfulfilled promises, but their conscience apparently hasn’t.

Now that the government is in a position to muster a two-thirds majority in Parliament it has to make good its promises without further delay.

Drafting a new constitution is too serious a task to be left to the self-appointed constitutional experts who represent the interests of political parties or other organisations. Nor should any effort be made to accomplish that task in a hurry. The government worthies who have taken upon that task ought to heed the oxymoronic adage, festina lente (‘make haste slowly). There is no need for another 100-day project!

The present Constitution is riddled with flaws, as is common knowledge. Governance becomes well nigh impossible when the President and the Prime Minister, representing rival parties, happen to be at loggerheads. The ship of state found itself in the constitutional doldrums from 2001 to 2004 with the President and the Prime Minister, from the SLFP and the UNP respectively, at each other’s jugular until Parliament was dissolved prematurely. Luckily, such a situation was averted following the Jan. 08 presidential polls because the antipathy of the chief architects of the regime change towards the Rajapaksas and their fear of a ‘counter revolution’ served as a providential wind to keep the ship of state moving.

The constitutional amendments are also full of serious flaws. The less said about the 13th Amendment of Indian origin, the better! Even the 17th Amendment, which is unarguably one of the few progressive pieces of legislation, was also full of gaping holes. The 18-A was simply one of the worst constitutional amendments the world has ever seen. Those who backed it unashamedly deserve to be publicly flogged! That they voted for it under duress is no excuse. The 19th Amendment is also not without flaws as evident from the provision for expanding the Cabinet on some flimsy pretext.

The Constitution with so many things crammed into it looks like pissige pala malla or ‘a mad woman’s bag of green leaves’ as a local saying goes. It is a total mess. If the executive presidency is to be abolished as promised, there will arise many practical problems especially in respect of the provincial councils. Stakeholders belonging to all ethnicities and religions and holding different political views have to be involved in the task of writing a new constitution. There should be ample time and space for a public discussion on the subject and dissenting views should be taken on board.

During the last few months, we have reported a number of incidents where several workers got buried alive under the walls they were pulling down as they made a botch of their job. Politically speaking, it behoves the would-be drafters of a new constitution to ensure that a similar fate won’t befall the nation. Caution is called for.

It is hoped that President Sirisena’s proposal which has passed muster with the Cabinet won’t be sent to the blast chiller and then consigned to cold storage.

Rajapaksa at 70: 725 Investigations Against the Family

( November 19, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The government is investigating 725 serious instances of fraud, wastage and murder in which members of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s family were directly or indirectly involved, said foreign affairs minister Mangala Samaraweera. Rajapaksa celebrated his 70th birthday yesterday.

Speaking to the media at Sirikotha yesterday (18), he said that in addition, 25 investigations were ongoing with regard to incidents in which Rajapaksas were directly involved.

There is a delay in the investigations due to human resources issues in the bribery commission and the police, said the minister, adding that it would take three to four years to conclude the investigations.

Under the present government, the country is enjoying a five-star democracy, and the resultant freedom is seen by some as a collapse of the government, he said.

Ministers are criticizing each other, some are resigning, which are seen by some as a collapse of the government, but that is our strength and a sign of good governance, said Samaraweera.

Commenting on certain media reports that he was having a dispute with prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, he said it, and many others, were a media fabrication to create clashes in the government.

The media has published many things against the government, but not a single journalist has been questioned by the government, which is a sign of good governance of the present regime, the minister added.

Over 70 Bigwig Fraud Cases Now Completed; “Yahapālanaya Plays Cover Up” Says JVP

November 19, 2015

The Voice against Corruption, an organization affiliated to Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), today charged that the government was sitting on 70 completed investigations related to fraud and corruption by top-notch officials of the previous regime, without making any arrests or taking legal action.

Wasantha

Member of Voice against Corruption, Wasantha Samarasinghe said that his organization has received reliable information that 30 such completed files were lying on the Attorney General’s desk and another 40 on the IGP’s desk without any action.

Samarsinghe accused the President, Prime Minister, Attorney General, the IGP and Justice Minister of interfering in making arrests or filing legal action on such cases.

Samarasighe said that the CID and Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption have completed 30 cases and the relevant files have been handed over to the AG. In addition he said that the FCID of the Police have completed probes on 40 cases with the relevant files going to the IGP.

The JVP member charged that so far the Yahapalana government has filed only two cases against the secretary to the former President Lalith Weeratunge and former MP Sajin Vass Gunawardena. “Even in Lalith’s case, Mahinda Rajapaksa too is responsible as monies from the TRC were spent for distributing “Sil Redi” to voters as election bribes when Rajapaksa contested for Presidency.

Lalith was only the chairman of the TRC at the time. He was acting on Rajapaksa’s instructions” he added.

Samarasinghe said that several high profile cases against Sajin Vass including embezzlement of monies while buying aircraft has been completed, but no legal action is being taken as he is said to have agreed to become a state witness against Mahinda Rajapaksa.

However, Samarasinghe said that all were in the dark about in which cases Gunewardene is going to be a state witness.                                                      Read More

Marapone resigned because he was lawyer to Avant Garde; Shouldn’t Rajitha who extorted Rs.5 million resign ?

This is the time to compare and contrast Ranil’s ethics with Maithri’s

(Lanka-e-News -19.Nov.2015, 11.45AM) If Thilak Marapone the ex minister of law and order honorably resigned the portfolio because  of the charges mounted against him by the people on account of his  alleged involvements as the lawyer for  Avant Garde Co., why should n’t  Rajitha Senaratne , the minister and M.P. resign who says  that himself  is a threat to national security, and accepted Rs. 5 million from Avant Garde as extortion fee or bribe when he  was minister , the pro good governance masses  are questioning in unison?

Following the release of a voice tape of Dr.Sayuru Samarasundara the secretary to Rajitha Senaratne who acknowledged that  Rajitha Senaratne collected (bribe/extortion) Rs. 5 million cash  from Avant Garde Co.,  a voice tape was released repudiating the exposure, but that does not say the amount involved. When this was probed by Lanka e news, it was discovered , the tape confirming Rajitha’s  bribe/ extortion fee was produced in March this year while the voice tape repudiating it was produced in  August 2015. This means that Rajitha has collected monies from Avant Garde on two occasions, and it is after the second collection he had denied it.

It is a wonder of wonders why until Lanka e news made the exposure of the voice tapes distributed by Samarasundara of Rajitha’s bribe/extortion collection of Rs. 5 million, it was  not contradicted, and why Rajitha  just waited that long ? It is abundantly clear from this , Rajitha has collected monies from the very Institution he was criticising  when he was a minister.

Based on Lanka e news exposure yesterday , minister Ranjan Ramanayake  lodged a complaint with the Bribery and corruption commission against Rajitha Senaratne. He has mentioned therein there are both a bribe taken and bribe given charges in this corruption , and both are offences liable to punishment. 

Minister Thilak Marapone who resigned his portfolio after accepting that he was the lawyer for Avant Garde before becoming  a minister set a rare example in the Sri Lankan political arena . If  prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe could get Marapone to resign  , and to demonstrate  what is good governance ,the people who are pro good governance are now intently watching what action is going to be taken by the president against Rajitha who accepted bribe of Rs. 5 million or more and /or extortion fee from Avant Garde and over which a complaint has already been lodged with the Commission of bribery and corruption.

If the prime minister has the ability  to act this patriotically , it is the view of the people for good governance that president Maithripala should also act similarly ethically similarly  instruct Rajitha to resign his ministerial post , against whom there are charges of bribery in a sum of Rs.5 million in relation to Avant Garde.

It is the consensus of the people for pro good governance that Maithripala Sirisena who embraced the pro MaRa scoundrels and rascals and invited them into parliament  while professing to follow good governance  , it is  a matter for surprise  if Maithripala has in him that sublime good governance culture.

Meanwhile Foriegn Minister Mangala Samaraweera said yesterday in a press conference as follows:

''Thilak Marapone is one who is sincere  and  works honestly. Believe it or not , he is the first Minister after 28 years  to tender his resignation owing to allegations mounted against him , in SL’s political history. In SL , those politicos who are accused of bribery and corruption charges do not resign ,let alone think of it. Many being  blood suckers  they cling on to their posts like blood sucking leeches.

On the contrary , Thilak Marapone resigning his post in order not to hinder investigations sets a new benchmark for SL’s corrupt political culture .Others should also follow his example. We must all take careful note of this.''

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by     (2015-11-19 06:44:39)

Weapons in ship from Sri Lanka raise alarm

• KALLOL BHATTACHERJEE-November 20, 2015

The ship had entered Indian waters with the arms.

The case of m.v. Avant Garde, a “floating armoury”, has acquired a new dimension since the Sri Lankan Navy boarded the vessel on October 6 to discover a massive stash of weapons on board.

The discovery has sounded a security alarm as the vessel, before being rested at the Galle harbour in eastern Sri Lanka, had been to the Indian territorial waters while carrying its cargo of weapons.

Last weekend, on the order of President Maithripala Sirisena, the Sri Lankan Navy took over the ships cargo of more than 816 automatic rifles of different types and 2,02,674 rounds of ammunition. While the ship was part of Avant Garde Maritime Services (AGMS), allegedly linked to Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa family, the massive cargo of weapons and ammunition has raised eyebrows of security analysts in South Asia, hinting that the boat could have been part of a maritime version of the “Purulia arms dropping case”.

The controversy over of Avant Garde Maritime Services (AGMS) snowballed since March when a Sri Lankan court stopped the former Defence Minister Gotabaya Rajapaksa from travelling abroad to investigate allegations that he used “floating armouries” in the Indian Ocean to help mercenaries and “private armies”. Sri Lankan official sources, on condition of anonymity, told The Hindu that the ships of Avant Garde Maritime Services were meant to protect the energy lanes of the Indian Ocean. The website of the company points out that it conducts security assistance services all the way up to the Red Sea.

Lt. Gen. (Retired) Prakash Katoch, a veteran of special military operations, told The Hindu that the reports of the boat having travelled through the territorial waters of India was disturbing and Sri Lanka should take India into confidence so that the destination and real intentions behind the boat’s cargo and the details of the Avant Garde Martime Services was known to India. “Presence of such a large number of arms on a single ship is unusual and naturally raises suspicion. India should ask Sri Lanka for whom were these arms exactly meant for,” he said.

Maheshini Colonne, spokesperson of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, requested for time for the investigation to be over, adding that the case was complex. There have been allegations that the AGMS was unduly favoured by the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa and as a result caused losses to the Sri Lankan Navy.

Lt. Gen. (Retired) Katoch said that Sri Lankan authorities should help India investigate what was the “floating armoury” doing in the Indian territorial waters.

For a better future 

October 29, 2015, 12:00 pm 

The idea of a French Hindu or a Canadian Sinhalese sounds so out of the ordinary. It is absurd to even think for a moment that any member of these nations would be identified as anything other than their nationality. That is, they are either French or Canadian.

So, why is it true for our country that identifying someone as a Sri Lankan Tamil, or a Sri Lankan Muslim, is so commonplace? Certainly, it cannot be the case that the prevalence of these religions in other countries makes it necessary for an individual living in our country who has openly declared their faith to be so identified? If this were the case, then no Indian would be just an Indian and no Singaporean would be just a Singaporean!

The association of a person’s national identity with their faith is uncalled for. Labelling people based on their faith is only another way to create division and unrest in the country.

Foreign invaders made it a point to prevent us being united. They used our differences to turn us against each other while pretending to be superior to us. No developed country identifies its citizens by their religious faiths. The nations that focus on the religious faith of their citizens are the least economically developed, and least socially recognized in the world today.

Groups of people are unreasonably made accountable for the actions of others who have similar religious beliefs.

The long held belief that Sri Lankan citizens practising certain religions have roots in other countries, and as such, that they are not real Sri Lankans, is one that is preposterous to say the least.

Surely, an entire nation of people belonging to a certain religion did not simply pack up and move altogether with their fathers and forefathers and settled in our country.

Then how can the existence of different religions in our country be explained? Quite simply, small groups of people belonging to the different faiths came to Sri Lanka to spread what they believed in. Those beliefs were then accepted by some people who lived in this country.

The people who belong to the different religions are the descendants of those Sri Lankans. They do not belong to any other country.

When the label of religious belief is removed from the Sri Lankan identity, there will be unity.

A united Sri Lanka free of division between its people has nothing holding it back from becoming a great nation. It is time we realized our potential as a people. The first step is for every woman, every man, and every child of this country to relearn our identity. We are Sri Lankans, and we are all Sri Lankans.!

Afira Faleel

Canada

Palestinian Arab municipalities strike over Israeli ban of Islamic Movement 

Shops in the Palestinian town of Sakhnin in northern Israel observed a strike on 19 November 2015 (MEE) 

Thursday 19 November 2015

Palestinian Arab towns in Israel went on strike on Thursday in protest against the decision by Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon to outlaw the northern branch of the Islamic Movement.

Schools and official institutions linked to the Arab municipalities were closed down for the whole day. 

The strike was organised by the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, which also called for large protests to take place on Saturday on key roads. The committee has called for a mass protest on 28 November, and denounced Yaalon’s decision as a policy of political persecution aimed at silencing all the Palestinian political movements and parties and their representatives.

Israeli security forces raided the offices of the movement on Tuesday and confiscated files and computers, accusing it of inciting violence at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque compound that has escalated into weeks of deadly unrest.

"The decision was made by the cabinet two weeks ago, yet it was declared publicly only on Monday," Basel Ghattas, a member of the Israeli Knesset for the Joint List, wrote in a column for MEE.  

"The timing was chosen as the most convenient for Netanyahu when the whole world is concerned with the Paris terrorist attacks and the escalating worldwide war on the ISIS," he added, using a different acronym for IS. 

"The very fact that the Shabak (Israeli intelligence service) didn't support this decision to ban the movement taken by the cabinet emphasises the fact that it was a political decision made for internal purposes."

The Northern Islamic Movement is a political and religious popular movement with a large network of local and national community-based organisations that also provides social services.

“Any person who belongs to this organisation or who provides services to it or who acts within its framework is henceforth committing a criminal offence punishable by a prison sentence,” an Israeli government statement said.

The movement's leader, Sheikh Raed Salah, denounced the decision to ban the group. In a statement, he declared that the movement would continue to "exist as a long-lasting mission and will prevail on its principles it was founded upon, namely Jerusalem and the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque".

Salah was recently sentenced to 11 months in jail on charges of inciting violence at the mosque compound in a 2007 speech. His lawyers have appealed the sentence.

Seventeen other Palestinian Arab associated organisations were also targeted, from Beersheba to Umm al-Fahem, Kafr Kanna and Jaffa, which are all linked to the Islamic Movement. 

Kamal Khatib, the deputy head of the Islamic movement, told Middle East Eye how the Israeli government’s decision targets the not just the leaders but the various organisations and associations that provide for their community.

“It is not just punishing the political position of the Islamic movement through its stance on Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa compound,” Khatib said. “It is a punishment for the humanitarian services that the movement provides.”

“For example, we have an organisation called Hiraa for Quran teaching and memorisation,” he explained. “13,000 students are registered to this organisation where they receive lessons. With the government’s decision to ban the movement, this organisation can no longer offer its services to the 13,000 students, and the teachers cannot fulfil their role for fear of getting severely reprimanded.”

“We are talking about organisations and societies that provides educational, religious, health and charitable services,” he added. “There is an organisation in the Naqab that offers services to houses that are not connected to the water and electricity grids. It also looks after children in the villages are not recognised by Israel.”

However, some Palestinians criticised the strike as being toothless because it is not backed by explicit actions such as protests. Others pointed to the fact that many businesses did not adhere to the strike and remained open.

“Whoever is saying that the strikes are widespread tell them that they are flat out lying,” one Twitter user wrote in Arabic. “People are working and shops are open. No one is striking except for the schoolchildren who are wandering in the streets.”

But Khatib said that the strike today was just the first in a series of planned actions by the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee in response to the “unjust, oppressive decision” of the Israeli government to ban the Islamic movement.

“The general strike today was very successful,” he said.

What drives the Palestinians who attack Jews with kitchen knives?

Israelis and Palestinians have been killed as violence spikes in recent weeks in the region. There is no one reason for the chaos, but the surge in Palestinian attacks comes down to politics, personal grievances and religion. (Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)

By William Booth and Ruth Eglash-October 20


JERUSALEM — Israelis and Palestinians are struggling to understand the minds and motivations of the attackers who awake one morning to wield a kitchen knife against Jews.

After three weeks and dozens of assaults with screwdrivers, guns, meat cleavers and cars, it is becoming clear there is no single, neat profile. Nor is there any single reason for the growing number of Palestinian attacks.

At the Beersheva central bus station in southern Israel, police say a gunman killed one person and wounded eight. A second man was shot by a security guard and beaten by a mob after being mistaken for a second gunman. (Reuters)

What Drives the Palestinians Who Attack Jews With Kitchen Knives by Thavam Ratna

'Surgery of war': Paris hospital doctors reflect on 12 hours of mayhem

City’s medics tell how they dealt with an emergency on a scale France has not seen since 1945 as 221 patients are still in hospital following Paris attacks

 St Louis Hospital packed with surgeons working to save those injured in Friday’s terrorist attacks. Photograph: Dr Pourya Pashootan/Saint Louis Hospital

Luke Harding and Kim Willsher in Paris

Thursday 19 November 2015

Fifty-seven of those injured the Paris attacks remained in intensive care on Thursday, three of them in a critical state, following an unprecedented medical emergency for French hospital staff and what one stunned doctor called “the surgery of war”.

Some 221 people are still in hospital, the association of Paris hospitals said, from a total of 433 injured in Friday’s multiple shootings. Some can be expected to be discharged within days, while others will undergo long-term rehabilitation for severe life-changing injuries. All are being offered treatment from specialists for psychological trauma.

The injured were spread across the French capital, with the gravely hurt treated in 35 different operating theatres. According to doctors, the situation has now normalised following an extraordinary 12 hours which saw French medical staff grapple with the highest number of gunshot wounds since the second world war.

One surgeon, Rémy Nizard, said staff who turned up voluntarily late on Friday and in the early hours of Saturday were faced with a range of traumatic injuries. They included numerous fractures to the leg, femur, foot and humerus. “It was the surgery of war,” he told Le Monde, adding: “Some people arrived shot in the head or neck. They presented with burst eye sockets. There was a significant risk of losing the eye.”

At the Georges Pompidou European hospital the 49 unconscious patients who arrived overwhelmed the facility and its usual procedures. “Doctors didn’t know who they were. They wrote numbers on the foreheads and hands of the wounded,” Morgane, a 26-year-old nurse, whose colleague works in the critical care unit said. She added: “It was horrible. She was absolutely shocked.”

“These people had injuries from war weapons. It’s the sort of thing you might expect from the battlefield,” Philippe Juvin, the hospital’s head of casualty, told the Guardian on Thursday. Of his staff he added: “Nobody has come out of this untouched. Everybody has been affected. They are all very tried, physically and psychologically. There’s such sadness.”

He went on: “We have a psychiatrist at their disposal. To be frank I don’t know why they’ve been affected in this way. We are used to dealing with injuries of this nature. We get shootings. But not in such huge numbers. Not 50 in one go.”

The Georges Pompidou, where some of the most severely injured were treated, is a sprawling glass building close to France’s defence ministry. Its flags were at half mast on Thursday; patients with ordinary injuries hobbled in and out; the first-floor accident and emergency ward again a place of calm.

In an eerie coincidence, last Friday morning Paris’s ambulance, fire services and hospitals had rehearsed a scenario based on a Charlie Hebdo-style attack, with more than 100 casualties from shooting. Hours later this scenario happened for real. The wounded were distributed smoothly across at least five city hospitals, with an emergency plan activated.

According to Jacques Duranteau , an anaesthetist at the Bicete hospital, medical teams have come out of the acute phase. The situation was now returning to normal, he said, adding: “There may be a few adjustments, but today patients are where they should be.”

He added: “Some of the victims will be starting long months of treatment and rehabilitation. Those who are seriously injured will have to have specific treatment. For them care will by physical and psychological. The stress they have gone through is of an unimaginable level.”

Those wounded are recovering in at least five different hospitals across the city. One is the hospital Saint Louis, which is immediately across the road from Le Carillon cafe bar and a Cambodian restaurant. A gunmen shot and killed 14 people here, metres away from the hospital entrance. Last weekend members of the public queued here for three hours to give blood, while next to them a mound of floral tributes and candles grew.

Staff at the Pitié salpêtrière, one of Europe’s largest hospitals, and a major teaching centre, were also returning to normal after a harrowing few days. Surgeons dealt with 52 people, 25 of whom were critical. “Things have returned to normal. Our teams faced Dante-esque contions,” Bruno Riou, the emergency ward chief, told Le Monde. He added: “More than 50 people had been shot. There’s no precedent in France.”

The hospital’s medical director Pierre Carli described his colleagues’ response as ‘exceptional’. “We were dealing with injuries caused by weapons of war. This isn’t our normal job. This is normally the work of people operating in conflict zones.”

He added: “We identified after Charlie Hebdo that if we have to take victims we will have to take large numbers, in different places, at the same time. We’ve been working on this hypothesis since the summer … We did a rehearsal on Friday morning. As we know now we were close to reality. We could never have imagined reality would have been worse.”

The 129 people who were killed on Friday have all now been identified. One of the last to be confirmed dead was Lola Ouzounian, aged 17. The daughter of a journalism professor, she was shot dead along with 88 others on Friday night in the Bataclan theatre. 

Kuwait says detains group supplying funds, weapons to IS

 

Fri Nov 20, 2015

Kuwaiti authorities have arrested members of an extremist network that supplied funds and weapons, including rockets, to Islamic State militants, state news agency KUNA quoted the Interior Ministry as saying on Thursday.

The group included a Lebanese, an Egyptian, five Syrians, two Australians and a Kuwaiti national, KUNA said.

KUNA said one of the members coordinated the transfer of militants abroad and was a financier who sent money to accounts in Turkey and Australia. Another member was a weapons dealer, KUNA said.

The Gulf Arab country suffered its worst militant attack at the hands of Islamic State in June, when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside the Imam al-Sadeq mosque in Kuwait City, killing 27 people.

Kuwait cracked down on Islamist militants after the bombing. Officials say the bombing was aimed at stoking strife between Sunnis and Shi'ites in the majority Sunni Muslim state, where the two sects have usually coexisted in peace.

The United States and other Western countries have criticised Kuwait for what they have described as a permissive approach to militant financing.

(Reporting by Ali Abdelaty and Katie Paul; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Bangladesh court upholds death sentences of 2 politicians

Bangladesh's Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, center, walks out of the Supreme Court after the death sentences given to two influential opposition leaders for 1971 war crimes was upheld in Dhaka, Bangladesh, ..

Bangladeshi activists who have been campaigning for capital punishment for war criminals demonstrate outside the Supreme Court ahead of an anticipated verdict in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld death sentences given to two influential opposition leaders who were convicted of war crimes during the country's 1971 independence war against Pakistan.

A special war crimes tribunal convicted Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid of Jamaat-e-Islami in 2013 of several charges, including genocide and rape during the war.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said the court's rejection of the men's appeals cleared the way for them to be hanged unless they seek and get presidential clemency. The men's lawyer, Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, said he would speak to them about seeking clemency.

Shortly after the verdict was announced, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Authority said in a statement that it had blocked social media sites including Facebook, Viber and WhatsApp for an indefinite period to stop any propaganda that could trigger violence.

Jamaat-e-Islami called for a general strike Thursday to protest the court's decision.

More than 15 people, mostly leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, have been convicted of war crimes as part of a series of decisions by two separate tribunals set up by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2010.

Bangladesh was the eastern part of Pakistan until the 1971 war of independence. It says Pakistani soldiers, aided by local collaborators, killed 3 million people and raped 200,000 women during the war.

Jamaat-e-Islami and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party say the trials ordered by the government are politically motivated, an allegation Hasina rejects outright, saying justice for victims' families is overdue.

In Washington, leaders of U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee expressed concern that "democratic space is shrinking" in Bangladesh and that the war crimes tribunal was being used for political retribution. In a letter Monday to the State Department, the lawmakers said Bangladesh should halt executions until the tribunal can "meet the highest standards of due process."