Kolonnawa UC Chairman remanded over assault charges 

2015-12-30
Colombo Additional Magistrate Augusta Atapattu today criticised the Wellampitiya Police and remanded the Kolonnawa UC Chairman till January 4 on charges of assaulting the participants of a peaceful picket against the garbage dumping in Kolonnawa by the Colombo Municipality.

Counsel Gunaratna Wanninayake appearing with a team of lawyers for the aggrieved party said the residents had protested over the dumping of garbage brought from the Colombo Municipal limits.

He said the Wellampitiya Police had wilfully failed to provide protection to the protesters.

The counsel said after the police withdrew from the scene, the Kolonnawa Urban Council Chairman Ravindra Udaya Shantha had come there in a blue vehicle with about 15 to 20 thugs and assaulted the protesters.

He said six people including Attorney-at-law Nuwan Bopage were injured and warded in hospital.

The counsel said the Chairman was furious over the protest because the chairman is paid Rs. 4,000 by the Colombo Municipality for every truck load of garbage dumped there.

Counsel Gunaratne said there are four cases pending in the Magistrate Courts against the chairman on charges of assaulting and kidnapping people. The counsel requested the Magistrate to remand the suspect based on his previous record.

The counsel said the Wellampitiya OIC had asked the suspect to come to court without informing the aggrieved party about it.

He said the police was biased because of the political influence of the UC Chairman.

The Wellampitiya Police OIC told the Magistrate that another court had issued a restraining order on the protesters preventing them from obstructing the lorries that bring garbage to the dump. He said the protesters had carried out the picket with adhering to that order.

Counsel Anton Senanayake appearing for the chairman said on December 27 the chairman while on his way to Kolonnawa from Nuwara Eliya had received a phone call about the protest and had gone to the scene to see what was happening and pointed out that the allegations were made against the chairman because of political differences.

The Magistrate observed that every citizen had the right to engage in peaceful protests and nobody could assault them. The Magistrate blamed the police for their arbitrary action. (T. Farook Thajudeen)
- See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/101195/kolonnawa-mayor-remanded#sthash.uQ71N5aR.dpu

Supply of substandard dialysis machines for NCP kidney patients revealed

Project implemented at a cost of Rs 134,120,000 under probe

By Shamindra Ferdinando-December 30, 2015, 9:21 am 

A massive state-funded project implemented in the North Central Province (NCP) for the benefit of Chronic kidney disease patients has failed due to the supply of substandard dialysis machines during the previous administration.

The NCP consists of the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa districts.

Investigations undertaken by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges (PRECIFAC) had implicated ministers of the then UPFA-run North Central Provincial Council and public officials in an alleged racket to supply low quality dialysis machines, authoritative sources told The Island yesterday.

Although a staggering Rs. 134,120,000 was spent on the project, those responsible for its implementation had failed to secure dialysis machines that confirmed to recommended specifications, sources said.

According to a PRECIFAC document (seen by The Island), under this project, 5,000 dialysis machines had been distributed in 2010, 2,500 and 5,000 in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

The ongoing investigation revealed that in accordance with the accepted tender procedures, the NCP administration failed to ensure the maintenance of required laboratory facilities, regional maintenance centres as well as failure to perform much needed tests, sources said.

The investigation has further revealed the failure on the part of the provincial administration to obtain replacement dialysis machines for those that hadn’t been properly maintained.

Responding to a query, sources said that the entire payment had been made by the provincial administration. Unfortunately, the supplied machines had failed to filter harmful waste, salt, and excess fluid from blood, sources said.

They said that the PRECIFAC had recorded statements from at least 15 persons so far. Sources alleged that provincial ministers and officials had abused their power and obtained substandard equipment having misled and deceived the public.

Investigations have revealed that the previous government hadn’t inquired into the NCP project. Sources said that patients had been led to believe they were safe.

Moving Towards Megapolis In Sri Lanka

By S. Sivathasan –December 30, 2015 

S. Sivathasan

From Independence to now, the greatest proposal that is coming about after Mahaweli Development is the Megapolis Project. Half a century intervening between the two is a tragic commentary on the nation’s political order. Still worse has been the unwholesome management of the economy. Reversing the past and setting foot anew on fresh territory is what the proposal is about. In the geographical space it will spread across, about the time it takes to approach a stage of completion and in scale of investment to spark valuable spin off, it is envisaged as a gigantic project.

The concept of a chain of urban areas, interlinked into “City Region” was outlined as a ‘Megalopolis’ in 1915 by Patrick Geddes a Scottish geographer. The scheme envisioned by Hon. Ranil Wickremasinghe in 2002 in his term as Prime Minister, may approximate the concept of a megalopolis in due course. The prominent feature that stood out was the interlinking of cities in the Western Province. This factor may distinguish it from a metropolis.

Speed of Growth

A look around the world may be instructive, even invigorating too. London, the second mega city to develop in the last two millennia grew over a time span of several centuries. Two empires produced Rome and London with an interval of 1800 years. Human ingenuity produced the remaining mega cities in a mere 200 years.

What accounts for this phenomenon of concentration as against spatial dispersal? Rather difficult to explain the contrasting ways, forces acted on a body of people. Centripetally to make them move towards the city or centrifugally to make them move away from. May I state rather blithely that if de-concentration was more viable financially and logistically, humanity would have already made that ideal a reality. There are several disciplines to study this issue comprehensively, but let us survey growth in the past.

Rural – Urban Transition

The world had developed 2 cities by 1800, having a population of more than 1 million. In the 207 years that followed, 468 such cities had grown. UN forecasts that by 2030, cities will be home to 5 billion or 60% of the world’s population. From village to town; rural to urban; town to city; city to megacity and thence to megalopolis is the inexorable transition. There is no letting up. The trend is irreversible.

                                                                           Read More

Second phase of conspiracy of SC judges to save rapist Abrew and thereby Rajapakses...

(Lanka-e-News -30.Dec.2015, 9.45AM) Lanka e news inside information division  in its report on 20 th December exposed the conspiracy hatched by Supreme court (SC) judges to rescue the notorious SC judge Sarath Abrew the rapist in his criminal involvement, and thereby provide relief to the deceitful Rajapakses. By now this conspiracy has progressed to the second stage…..

These  SC  judges have decided to  hear the fundamental rights (FR)  petition filed by Abrew who is facing two charges in the lower court. Abrew has pointed out in his petition that those charges  are political revenge  motivated.

If an accused who is facing criminal charges in a lower court is to file an FR petition , ordinarily under the law it is the practice to postpone the hearing of the FR petition until the criminal case in the lower court is tried. This is to preclude the possibility of interference with the proceedings in the lower court because   there is room  for appeals being filed in the higher courts including the SC against the  verdict given by  the lower court. 

Form this it is clear  even though there is no capacity to distort the   ordinary accepted procedure pertaining to  rapist Abrew’s petition , but still the Rajapakse  powers are dominating  the judicial arena.

The three judges selected by the SC Registrar to hear the petition of Abrew are : Chief justice as president of the panel ;Priyantha Jayawardena whom  Lanka e news earlier on exposed as the originator  of the conspiracy and a stooge of Rajapakses; and Upali Abeyratne who had a dispute with Sarath Abrew . 

The most atrocious part of this conspiracy is the  inclusion of Upali Abeyratne an enemy of  Abrew in this panel. The dispute between Upali who is a lackey and lickspittle of the Rajapakses and Abrew another Rajapakse stooge is not something that erupted recently. 

During the Rajapakse reign , both these despicable Rajapakse  stooges among others attended  an international conference of judges. At this conference, it was Sarath Abrew who became conspicuous for destroying the image of the country by asking stupid questions . To this , it was Abeyratne who made Abrew the butt of vilification  . Consequently , Abrew became a laughing stock and a symbol of public disgrace.

After the conclusion of the conference , when the group was at the airport headed for Sri Lanka , Abrew who was smarting under the humiliation and insults he faced , took revenge on Upali Abeyratne . He attacked Abeyratne’s head  with a water bottle while threatening  ‘ now, you go to SL. I will get Gotabaya to abduct you by white Van . See what I shall do to you. You don’t know who I am.’ Upali who knew about Sarath Abrew , no sooner he returned to SL than he reported the matter to Mahinda Rajapakse , the president at that time. Mahinda intervened and resolved the dispute.
 
No matter what ,the dispute between Abrew and Abeyratne is well known among the legal circles. This incident of assault was reported by  a prominent print media without revealing names and addresses.

In this backdrop, Abeyratne had expressed his reluctance to  sit in this present panel , and hence to remove him from it. However , as hereinbefore mentioned , since the pro Rajapakse team is still dominating  within the SC , Mahinda Rajapakse has instructed Abeyratne to stay put without getting agitated , and act according to his instructions.  

Abeyratne who still addresses Mahinda Rajapakse and not Maithripala Sirisena as H.E.has decided to be in the panel hearing the case with Abrew, bowing to the wishes of Mahinda , and had agreed to act according to latter’s orders. Abeyratne had remarked ‘how can I defy H.E.’s order’ ( of course his H.E. is Mahinda Rajapakse) 

May we recall , Lanka e news in its first report revealed that , without rejecting the FR petition of Abrew ,  in order  to rescue Abrew, grounds are to be cited in his defense that  the charges are based on  political revenge with a view  to repel the charges mounting against him  . Thereafter to use that conspiratorial plan  to provide relief on the same lines to the Rajapakse crooks who are  to be charged before the FCID in the future.

It is the plan of the Rajapakses through the decision that gives relief to rapist Abrew , and through that  show ,even Abeyratne who was attacked with the water bottle has concurred in that decision because of its fairness . Based on this plan , when two of the judges Priyantha Jayawardena and Upali Abeyratne , of the three judges panel are taking one view , the chief justice is  shunted  and solitary,which means the desired  verdict can be secured by the Rajapakses.  

Taking advantage of the weakness of the CJ of the government of good governance , the defeated discarded Rajapakses have made a number of plans to topple the government of good governance through the judges who are Rajapakse stooges via similar verdicts delivered by them in the future  . Lanka e news inside information division is in the ready to reveal these shortly. 

Connected news- ‘Conspiracy hatched by SC judges to save Rapist Abrew and thereby Rajapakses in their crimes !’

---------------------------
by     (2015-12-30 04:19:36)

Have evidence against Rajapaksa regime members: Lanka Govt

Sri Lankan investigators allege corruption and rights abuses during Rajapaksa's 10-year rule

December 30, 2015

Sri Lankan investigators have found enough evidence to arrest members of the previous Mahinda Rajapaksaregime for alleged corruption and rights abuses during his 10-year rule, a senior minister said.

"Investigations are nearing end. All will be arrested and taken to court," said Rajitha Senaratne, Minister of Health and government spokesman.

Senaratne said enough evidence has been uncovered to hold trials against former regime members facing human rights abuse and corruption charges.

He said the government did not interfere in the probe as the investigators were provided complete independence.

Independent investigations were made possible as the new government of President Maithripala Sirisena formed after the January 2015 presidential poll restored the freedom of the law enforcement agencies, he told reporters yesterday.

The Sirisena government has pledged to restore the rule of law, advocating stringent action against Rajapaksa regime members for alleged corruption, wrongdoings and rights abuses.

But Sri Lankan people have shown discontent over the slow pace of the investigations. There have been allegations that the Sirisena government was shielding some of the alleged perpetrators to cut-in political deals.

Rajapaksa loyalists have denied any wrongdoing during the 10-year rule of the former Sinhala strongman, even dubbing the action taken by the present government a political witchhunt.

Since Rajapaksa's defeat in January presidential polls, family members and close associates of the former president have faced corruption allegations, including having secret bank accounts overseas.

Some of them, including then economic development minister and Rajapaksa's younger brother Basil, were arrested.

Rajapaksa's wife Shiranthi was also quizzed by police. His sons are said to be linked to the murder of a popular rugby player. The Rajapaksas have denied the charges.

Five killed, 22 injured in road tragedy

2015-12-30
Five people travelling in a van were killed and 22 others injured in a head-on collision between the van and a private bus at the Dummaladeniya Junction on the Warakapola-Colombo road early this morning.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said among those killed were the van driver and a two-year-old girl. The van with the load of passengers was travelling from Samanthurai to the Passport Office in Colombo to apply for travel documents for a pilgrimage Mecca.

ASP Gunasekera said the tragedy had occurred when the van had attempted to recklessly overtake another vehicle.

The private bus was carrying passengers from Colombo to Kalmunai on a pilgrimage

The ASP said the injured were admitted to the Kegalle and Wathupitiwala hospitals. (Chaturanga Pradeep)
- See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/101117/five-killed-7-injured-in-accident-at-dummaladeniya#sthash.8NReHvHF.dpuf

A paradigm shift in medical care and plight of the poor

December 30, 2015, 8:44 am 

State-run Hospitals in Sri Lanka are chock-a-block with patients desperately seeking medical help for afflictions ranging from the trivial to those that are life-threatening. How can we account for this seemingly explosive increase in those seeking institutional aid?

Its roots are as much social as medical. Traditionally, the sick were treated at home with Native Practitioners administering nostrums based on Ayurvedic folklore. Interventions of the kind seen in modern hospitals were rare or non-existent. Invalids recovered serendipitously, or died peacefully at home, with near and dear ones around the deathbed. Often a monk was called in to assure a good passage to the next world.

The great medico-sociological revolution that has overrun our rural populations is the acceptance of the Western notion that the body is a machine that must be regularly serviced and repaired by specialists. This means that illness is no more the malfunctioning ‘machine’ that must be put right by a kind of specialist medical engineering that necessarily entails experts – and ‘workshops’ called hospitals. There is no need to belabor the point that the new philosophy involved in this management of the sick and the feeble is not only hugely expensive – it is unsustainable as a long-term strategy of health-care, except for those with wealth and privilege.

There is also the fact that true medical care is not all science and technology. The ancients spoke of the ‘healing touch’ or the ‘laying on of hands’ to betoken a spiritual side to medicine – the power to heal depending on the personal ‘magnetism’ of the healer in his encounter with the invalid, and his immediate circle of near and dear ones. That the new system of hospital medicine reduces to naught the ambiences of mystery and spirituality to the healing process will not be denied by any except the incorrigibly skeptical.

Until recent times, prayer was supposed to be an essential part of the care of the sick. This expulsion of mystery in matters of life and death is a regrettable cultural regression of the modern world. Is there a solution? There is one - albeit partial in its scope. Let us recall that before the rise of hospital-based scientific medicine, there was a class of healers called ‘General Practitioners’ who served a community or neighbourhood from within – that is as an accepted member who played a role as comforter and adviser to patients who were socially bonded to him and viewed him as an elder and a friend.

Naturally, this was possible only in closely-knit communities of a kind that have largely been replaced by anonymous urban sprawls. Sadly, high science and the latest in medical technology did not penetrate the GP brotherhood, and they have gone the way that cars have replaced buggy-carts. This forced extinction of GPs is one of the prime reasons for the rise of Hospital Medicine, and the loss of that intimacy between patient and doctor that made medical care different from the repair of machinery. While it seems impractical and even anomalous in this day and age of Mega-cities and high science, would it not be possible to introduce itinerant or ‘barefoot doctors’ as an arm of the state-run social services to advise (clinical counselling) and provide a basic health care network for the less fortunate? It should be emphasized that such ‘barefoot doctors’ ought to be seen as community-based friends and helpers – not ‘inspectors’ of the kind notorious today, in connection with the Anti-Dengue campaign launched by the State.

The problem facing mankind as a whole is the unbearable rise in the cost and sophistication of medical care, while wealth is increasingly accumulated asymmetrically with the rich getting richer while poverty shows no sign of easing its historic dominance as the most pressing problem we face as mortal beings.

Let us conclude by reflecting on a similar social ’paradigm shift’ in the field of ‘human locomotion’. Through most of history, people walked –often great distances – without the danger of lethal impacts from road machines. Today the car is a dire need as public roads are not meant for walking. This ‘paradigm shift’ in styles of public locomotion is killing the planet, according to some respected authorities. The shift to Hospital Medicine is clearly not so calamitous, but the cumulative social cost can be so great as to be unsustainable in the long term. Mankind has to develop not only new medicines, but also new and enlightened ways to deal with the sickness and death that stalks us all.

R. Chandrasoma

Ravi K under fire for batting for Nihal in Hilton claim


Thursday, 31 December 2015

• Apart from Rs. 100 m released via overdraft in December 2014, BOC has further paid Rs. 125 m in June this year as part of Rs. 300 m settlement entered in to between Nihal Ameresekere and previous regime’s Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa  
• Good governance activists question Ravi K’s memo for Cabinet approval for settlement amidst JVP politicians complaint against Ameresekere and BOC transactions to Bribery Commission and FCID

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake is under fire for making a case in Cabinet for Nihal Sri Ameresekere over latter’s claim of Rs. 300 million as compensation for supposedly savings Rs. 87 billion for the State over the years with regard to long-drawn dispute concerning Hilton Colombo.

Criticism against the Finance Minister is on account of him seeking Cabinet approval for compensation when a JVP Western Provincial Council member has lodged a complaint to the Bribery Commission and Financial Crimes Investigation Department (exclusively reported by Daily FT on 14 December) against Bank of Ceylon granting a Rs. 100 million overdraft facility to Ameresekere in the last month of the previous regime.  The finance minster’s Memorandum when discussed at recent Cabinet meeting sparked heated debate.

“Karunanayake’s action is tantamount to seeking Cabinet approval to regularise part release of funds by BOC, doubts over which have already been raised with Bribery and financial crime authorities,” sources opined. 

“A decision is pending whether to investigate the complaint of the JVP politician with supporting documents which showed reservations expressed by Hilton Colombo’s owning company Hotel Developers Plc’s competent authority as well as qualified opinion by Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka in 2006. Despite that Karunanayake, seeking Cabinet approval for the settlement, exposes the Finance Ministry and the Government,” sources alleged.

Apart from the Rs. 100 million overdraft facility released by the BOC with Treasury backing in December 2014, as per Karunanayake’s cabinet memo, the BOC has further released Rs. 125 million to Ameresekere in June 2015. 

 This brings the payment to date to Rs. 225 million. The finance minister’s memo sought Cabinet approval to proceed with the full and final settlement of Rs. 300 million plus the interest i.e. Rs. 75 million more plus interest. 

Other sources however pointed out that Karunanayake was only formalising a matter that had been previously approved by the Finance Ministry as per an agreement that a previous regime and the Attorney General had entered into with Amersekere in June 1995.

As exposed in the 14 December Daily FT article titled “Hunter gets hunted,” independent analysts have pointed out that whilst Ameresekere’s efforts may have saved the State billions of rupees,  the larger impression created had been his litigation on Hilton issue had been in the public interest. The motive or intention of seeking compensation or the agreement for compensation had not been made public either previously. As per the MBSL’s report, the then regime had not enlisted Ameresekere nor encouraged him to go for litigation or promised compensation. Therefore any financial benefit recommended is solely in recognition of his endeavours and efforts in respect of such actions and assistance which had benefitted the Govt/HDL. Further the actions and efforts of Ameresekere had not only benefitted the government and HDL but also Ameresekere himself as a shareholder of Hotel Developers.

As per the 1995 agreement between the Finance Ministry and Ameresekere, the latter had asked for three Board seats on Hotel Developers but had eventually settled for one. 

In his memo to the Cabinet, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake has said :Having deliberated the merits of Ameresekere’s total claim it appears that reaching a finalisation on this long drawn matter on the basis of a full and final settlement would be beneficial since HDLL could then proceed with its activities as a business enterprise, free from this long drawn compensation payment committed by Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The value of the write-off and rescheduling of the balance by Ameresekere amounts to Rs. 86,750 Mn.”

Disgruntled Enrique concert goer sends Rs.22m letter of demand to Live Events 

2015-12-30
A lawyer and his wife have sent a letter of demand to Live Events demanding Rs.22 million for “loss, damage and mental stress” experienced during the Enrique Iglesias concert held recently. 

The Letter of Demand, which was released to the public, details harassment and mistreatment endured by the couple when they bought two Rs.35,000 tickets and had to stand outside for over two hours before being admitted to the ground. They complained the event was badly organised, sound quality terrible, and no explanation was given for the delay. 

The strongest censure is reserved for the lapse of security that enabled people with cheaper tickets to storm into the VIP area and the similar disregard for exclusivity during the after party. 

“My client had purchased VIP tickets with the reasonable expectation to be in the company of an exclusive limited crowd who would have purchased tickets paying the same sum of money. 

However as conceded by you there had been a breach of security resulting in persons who had purchased tickets at lower values and even persons that had not purchased tickets having entered the VIP areas,” noted the Letter of Demand. 
Legal action will be brought against the company if a response is not received within two weeks, the document went onto say. (Daily FT)

Middle East Eye’s top 20 stories of the year

From uplifting tales of humanity to the horrors of war across the region, MEE revisits our 20 most-read articles of 2015 

A refugee boy looks through a window onboard a train for Serbia (AFP)

Wednesday 30 December 2015

As 2015 comes to a close, Middle East Eye has compiled a list of our most popular articles on social media this year.

Although the Middle East and North Africa has been ravaged by war through the year, our most popular story is one of a heart-warming response to refugees arriving in Germany.

A Saudi mother’s ode to a son killed in a suicide bombing also makes the top 20, as does the story of Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi, whose washed up body on a Turkish beach sparked global outcry about the plight of refugees fleeing war in the region.

In reverse order here is the complete list of Middle East Eye’s most popular articles of 2015:

20. Who are the millionaires behind the Islamophobic industry in America?

Columnist CJ Werleman charted what he says are the forces driving a rise in Islamaphobia across the United States.

19. Oliver Stone's American history: 'We’re not under threat. We are the threat'

Celebrated film director Oliver Stone spoke to MEE contributor James Reinl about how he believes the United States has spread chaos throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

18. The circus: How British intelligence primed both sides of the ‘terror war’

Columnist Nafeez Ahmed argued: “Britain’s loudest extremists have been groomed by the security services.”

17. The Chinese through Abbasid eyes

A recent translation of a 1,100-year-old report by an Arab adventurer and reported on by Jan Keulen allowed readers to see Tang Dynasty China through 9th century Arab eyes.

16. Al-Qaeda blow up 700-year-old mosque in Yemen

This was news of how al-Qaeda had destroyed an ancient mosque in Yemen, complete with before and after pictures of the mosque.

15. Goodbye forever, my son

Kowther al-Arbash, the mother of a young man killed while stopping a suicide bomber in Saudi Arabia, said her government must revise its heritage to stop further bombings.

14. Christian foreign fighters deserting Kurdish YPG in Syria because they're 'damn Reds'

This was a report by MEE's Alex Macdonald on how foreign volunteers fighting the Islamic State were leaving the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and joining other militias due to the group’s left-wing socialism.

13. Drowned Syrian toddler sparking global outrage identified as Alan Kurdi

MEE's Rori Donaghy reported the image and identity of Alan Kurdi, the drowned Syrian refugee boy who made news headlines and sparked outrage around the world.

12. Senior Saudi royal urges leadership change for fear of monarchy collapse

MEE's Rori Donaghy revealed that a senior member of Saudi Arabia’s royal family has circulated a letter expressing fear that the monarchy may collapse unless the king is urgently replaced.

11. Rare footage shows public beheadings in Saudi Arabia

Rare footage obtained by MEE's Rori Donaghy showed the public beheading of three people in Saudi Arabia, where more people have been executed in 2015 than in any of the past 20 years.

10. No Piers Morgan. This is how to destroy the Islamic State

Nafeez Ahmed responded to British commentator Piers Morgan’s article setting out how to defeat IS with his own plan.

9. Q&A: Probing Islamic State’s sex atrocities with the United Nations

This was a searing question and answer piece by James Reinl revealing the sexual crimes committed by IS.

8. EXCLUSIVE: The Emirati plan for ruling Egypt

MEE Editor David Hearst revealed, after seeing a strategy document, that the UAE is losing faith in the ability of Egypt's Sisi to serve the Gulf state’s interests.

7. Islamic State is the cancer of modern capitalism

Nafeez Ahmed set out why IS is a symptom of capitalism.

6.  Unworthy victims: Western wars have killed four million Muslims since 1990

Nafeez Ahmed looked at Western responsibility for deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past two decades.

5. Arabic tops Israeli charts as Yemeni sisters take Tel Aviv by storm

The surprise hit Habib Galbi - performed by a band of three Israeli sisters of Yemeni background named A-WA - rose to the top of Israel’s music charts, shattering records and all expectations. Alex Shams reported on it for MEE.

4. The collapse of Saudi Arabia is inevitable

Nafeez Ahmed argued that “deep-rooted structural realities means that Saudi Arabia is indeed on the brink of protracted state-failure, a process likely to take off in the next few years”.

3.  Crime and punishment: Islamic State vs Saudi Arabia

This was a list of punishments for similar crimes prescribed by Saudi Arabia and IS, reported by MEE's Rori Donaghy and Mary Atkinson.

2. Syrian passports found at Paris attacks scene were fakes made in Turkey

MEE's Mary Atkinson reported that Syrian passports found near the bodies of two of the Paris attackers were fakes that were likely made in Turkey.

1.  This is how one German town welcomed a coach-load of Syrian refugees

A heart-warming video showing a German town welcoming Syrian refugees fleeing conflict at home.

Profile

Talal Abk

• Damascus University

 · August 25 · 

‪#‎Danke_Deutschland‬
الالمان يستقبلون السورين بالورود شكرا من القلب لكل الشعب الالماني والحكومة المانية التي فتحت ابوابها بالابتاسامة والورود والمحبة بعكس كثير من دول العربية
وشكرا من القلب للشعب الالماني
Die Deutschen begrüßen das syrische Volk mit Blumen. Dafür danken wir dem deutschen Volk und der Regierung von ganzem Herzen, dass sie ihre Türen für uns öffnen im Gegensatz zu den arabischen Ländern.

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