Investigations on the way in search of people who abused the president

Feb 05, 2016

The police said the CID has started investigations in search of people who has abused maithripala in foul languages in the internet demanding to release the Galabodaththe Gnanasara who is currently in remand custody.

The police said a complaint has been received for abusing the president using foul language and inflicting death threats by using very humiliating words in the internet.

Police media spokesperson Ruwan Gunsekara said an investigation has been started following the complaint.

The police spokesperson said following the investigations the CID would take legal actions against the relevant person.

Galabodaththe Gnanasara was taken into custody and remanded for the contempt of court for castigating Sandya Ekneligoda during a court proceeding in connection with the disappearance of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda.

Rajapaksa assets to be forfeited?

FRIDAY, 05 FEBRUARY 2016

All assets belonging to Mahinda Rajapaksa family could be confiscated if money laundering charges against Yoshitha Rajapaksa and the group are proved say reports.

This is the sentence for those who are found guilty on charges under Money Laundering Act. Legal experts say this state occurs due to Yoshitha Rajapakaa being not given any part of the family assets and as he is still remains a bachelor.

It is also revealed that there are suspicious moves of receiving money by ‘Siriliya Saviya’ NGO maintained by Ms. Shiranthi Rajapaksa.

A large amount of money has been received by CSN channel and ‘Siriliya Saviya’ NGO and it is suspected whether black money from foreign accounts have been sent here in a bid to make it legal.

According to the 3rd clause of Money Laundering Act any person who ‘receives, possesses, conceals, disposes of, or brings into Sri Lanka, transfers out of Sri Lanka, or invests in Sri Lanka, any property which is derived or realized, directly or indirectly, from any unlawful activity or from the proceeds of any unlawful activity’ is ‘ liable to a fine not less than the value of the property in respect of which the offence is committed and not more than three times the value of the property in respect of which the offence is committed or to rigorous imprisonment for a period of not less than five years and not exceeding twenty years, or to both such fine and imprisonment. The assets of any person found guilty of the offence of money laundering under this section shall be liable to forfeiture in terms of Part II, of this Act.

A 2500 Year-Old Culture That Was!

By Sharmini Serasinghe –February 4, 2016

Sharmini Serasinghe

The current wave of Sinhala-Buddhist supremacism/extremism/racism, and attempts to establish a ‘Sinhala-Buddhist Raj’ in Sri Lanka, if left unchecked will eventually lead, to fragmentation of Sri Lanka into separate states, of the minorities. It may not happen in the immediate future, but it’s a reality staring us in the face.

With the military defeat of the LTTE in 2009 Lankans as a people, were hardly afforded the chance to breathe a sigh of relief, before the Sinhala-Buddhist extremists, in the form of Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), Sinhala Ravaya (SR) and Ravana Balaya (RB) emerged, waving the flag of Sinhala-Buddhist supremacism/extremism/racism, in the faces of the others.

Instead of nipping this sociological scourge in the bud, the then political administration gave succor to it. The endgame was to be, to juxtapose the majority Buddhists and the minority communities of this land, and classify the latter, as inferior. This caused and continues to cause, irreparable damage to the process of peace and reconciliation in post-war Sri Lanka.

The well-orchestrated Aluthgama riots by these extremists against Muslims in June 2014 bore, all the hallmarks of the dark days of the July 1983 riots targeting Tamils, but, on a smaller scale. In both instances, the law enforcement authorities looked on, while the carnage took places under their very noses. Why?

With the change of political regimes in January 2015, many of us heaved a sigh of relief for different reasons. The minorities I’m sure did so, hoping for a final peace, under a more inclusive administration.

                                                                          Read More  

Kidney racket – Doctors identified – Rajitha

 Feb 06, 2016

Health minister Rajitha senarathna said the committee which was appointed to investigate the alleging kidney racket illegally instrumented in Sri Lanka has identified the doctors and the hospitals which committing this illegal racket.

The minister said he has instructed the Criminal Investigation Department to conduct an investigation.

Minister Rajitha told the BBC “All people including the doctors and people who are connected has been identified. All investigations have been done by the CID, the director general wrote to the IGP. I also called the Interpol. Our CID would join with the Interpol and start the investigation. We have identified the hospitals from the investigation report”

However minister said we cannot come to any conclusions until the CID join with the Interpol and start the investigation and reveal the truth.
“We have only the newspaper reports until now. The Indian government also has not officially informed us” Said the minister.

The five member committee which was appointed to investigate the matter following the media reports handed over their report yesterday to the health ministry.

The minister said when the CID reports to the health ministry following its investigations the ministry would take credible actions.

Palestinian mayor: Israel punishing 25,000 people for the actions of three 

Israel blockaded Qatabiya, in the West Bank, after three residents killed an Israeli officer. For many, Israel's actions are collective punishment

 Israeli police arrest a Palestinian youth in Qabatiya on 4 February, 2016 (AFP)-The mayor of Qabatiya Mahmoud Kameel (MEE/Abed al-Qaisi).jpg 

Sheren Khalel-Friday 5 February 2016

QABATIYA, West Bank - It is the only way into Qabatiya, but it can hardly be considered a road. The dirt route runs through a farm field with deep trenches cut into the ground where ambulances have torn through the soft earth, as first responders try desperately to get the wounded out of the village.

Qabatiya is big for something called a village. It is home to about 25,000 Palestinians in the northern occupied West Bank district of Jenin.

The seven real entrances have all been blocked off with large mounds of dirt dug from the village's land.

Israeli forces closed off Qabatiya overnight on Wednesday, after three youths made their way from the village, crossed into Israel illegally, and shot dead a 19-year-old Israeli police officer in occupied East Jerusalem.

All three Palestinian were shot dead at the scene.

An Israeli army spokesman told Middle East Eye that the village would remain closed for at least a month, and would be reopened only after it had passed a "situation assessment".

The village's mayor, Mahmoud Kameel, who shares his last name almost half its residents, said he believed Israel's actions were unconscionable and amounted to collective punishment.

Read More

Palestinian Authority arrests dissident professor

Abdel Sattar Qassem (via Indymedia)

Budour Youssef Hassan

5 February 2016

A Nablus court on Thursday extended the detention of a prominent Palestinian scholar and longtime dissident whose arrest earlier this week has led to accusations that he is being politically persecuted by the Palestinian Authority.

At around 11pm on Tuesday, Abdel Sattar Qassem, a 68-year-old professor of political science at Nablus’ An-Najah National University, and a father of four, was taken from his home, where he had been staying alone. His wife, Amal al-Ahmad, was not informed of the arrest and concerned neighbors broke down a door at her prompting to check whether Qassem had suffered an accident.

“I called him several times but his mobile phone was closed and I got no answer from the landline,” al-Ahmad, a program coordinator at the Women’s Study Center, told The Electronic Intifada.

Her fears were compounded by the fact that Qassem’s car was parked outside as usual. “I was scared that he might have suffered a heart attack or that he might have been kidnapped,” she said.

It was only after checking a camera in the family’s home that it became clear Qassem had been apprehended by Palestinian police. And it took hours still before she received a phone call from the police telling her that her husband was in detention.

Outside the court on Thursday, where Qassem’s detention was extended for another 15 days, a group of civil society activists and friends of the professor held a vigil demanding his release and an end to political detention and persecution.

His lawyer, Ahmad Sharaab, the only person to have visited Qassem in detention so far, is planning an appeal.

Qassem faces numerous charges including slander, vandalism, incitement, insulting the president and “hurting the national feeling.” According to Adnan al-Damiri, spokesperson of the PA’s security forces, the arrest came following complaints that Qassem had been inciting to kill PA leader Mahmoud Abbas.

The charges relate to an interview Qassem gave on Al Quds TV, broadcast from Beirut, in which he called for implementing the Palestinian Basic Law which limits presidential terms to four years.

He also called for the implementation of the Palestine Liberation Organization revolutionary law, not adapted by the PA, which calls for charges of treason to be brought against collaborators with Israel, punishable by death.

His appearance fomented a wave of incitement against him by figures allied with the Palestinian Authority, which remains presided over by Mahmoud Abbas, even though his elected mandate expired in 2009.

Constant harassment        Read More

Obama’s Pentagon Covers Up Bush-Era Detainee Abuse

Photo of documented abuse by US military

02.05.16 3:50 PM ET

The photos show U.S. troops posing with corpses and simulating forced sodomization. But “the most transparent administration in history” won’t let you see the horrors.

After more than a decade of fighting to keep them out of public view, the Pentagon released 198 photographs on Friday, mostly showing close-ups of tiny cuts, bruises, and scars on a series of anonymous men. But the real story is what the Obama administration decided to keep hidden. Friday’s photos are an innocuous fraction of a much larger cacheof 2,000 images, detailing the abuse of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Some of the most graphic images are said to show American troops posing with corpses. Others depict U.S. forces holding guns to people’s heads or simulating forced sodomization. In one, a large man rides an elderly woman as if she were an animal and whips her with a stick. The mistreatment of corpses and prisoners are widely considered to be violations of the international rules of war.

Those grotesque photos aren’t any closer to seeing the light of day, thanks to persistent efforts by Obama administration officials to prevent their release.

The Pentagon has for years insisted that those images would incite violence against U.S. troops and potentially endanger Americans overseas. And officials had also argued that even the anodyne pics released today could inspire the same backlash—a claim that seemed hard for even the secretary of defense to believe.                                               Read More

There Is No Freedom Without Truth

The military-industrial complex had learned that regardless of the protestations of high-ranking military officers, no cost-overrun, no matter how egregious, went unpaid. Armaments industries and military bases were spread all over the country and were important considerations for every senator and many congressional districts.
by Paul Craig Roberts

“This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together.” — President Dwight D. Eisenhower

( February 4, 2016, Washington DC, Sri Lanka Guardian) Dwight D. Eisenhower was a five-star general in charge of the Normandy Invasion and a popular two-term President of the United States. Today he would be called a “conspiracy theorist.”

Were Ike to be issuing his warning from the White House today, conservative Republicans like Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) would be screaming at Ike for impugning the motives of “the patriotic industry that protects our freedom.”

Neoconservatives such as William Kristol would be demanding to know why President Eisenhower was issuing warnings about our own military-industrial complex instead of warning about the threat presented by the Soviet military.

The presstitute media would be implying that Ike was going a bit senile in his old age, a tactic the presstitutes used against President Reagan as he struggled to end stagflation and the Cold War.
By January 17, 1961, when Eisenhower issued his warning in his farewell address to the American People, it was already too late. Cold Warriors had had their hooks into the American taxpayer for 15 years after the end of WW II, and the military-industrial complex had replaced “mom and apple pie” as the most venerated and entrenched US interest. The Dulles brothers ran the State Department and CIA and overthrew governments at will. (Read The Brothers)

Read more>>>

Julian Assange is in arbitrary detention, UN panel finds

WikiLeaks chief, who is avoiding extradition by living in Ecuadorian embassy, has won UN backing

Julian Assange argued he was illegally confined to the embassy because he risked arrest if he left. Photograph: Pool/Reuters

Esther Addley, Owen Bowcott and Jessica Elgot in London, Paul Farrell in Sydney and David Crouch in Gothenburg

Thursday 4 February 2016

A United Nations panel has decided that Julian Assange’s three-and-a-half years in the Ecuadorian embassy amount to “arbitrary detention”, leading his lawyers to call for the Swedish extradition request to be dropped immediately.

A Swedish foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed that the UN panel, due to publish its findings on Friday, had concluded that Assange was “arbitrarily detained”.

The WikiLeaks founder sought asylum from Ecuador in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations, which he denies.

The panel’s findings were disclosed to the Swedish and British governments on 22 January, and will be published on Friday morning. Their judgment is not legally binding but can be used to apply pressure on states in human rights cases.

Anna Ekberg, spokesperson for the Swedish foreign ministry, said: “The UN working group on arbitrary detention has concluded that Mr Assange is arbitrarily detained. The working group’s view differs from that of the Swedish authorities. We will forward a reply to the working group tomorrow. It will be more clear tomorrow why we reject the working group’s conclusions.”

Assange’s Swedish lawyer, Per Samuelson, said earlier that if the working group found in his favour, “there is only one solution for Marianne Ny [the Swedish prosecutor seeking Assange’s extradition], and that is to immediately release him and drop the case”. Samuelson added: “If he is regarded as detained, that means he has served his time, so I see no other option for Sweden but to close the case.”

Read More

Journalist sexually assaulted on live television in Germany

Esmeralda Labye during the broadcast screengrab/RTBF

• Tuesday 2 February 2016

A Belgian journalist has been groped by two men on live television while reporting from the Cologne carnival in Germany.

Esmeralda Labye told The Local she had been left shocked at the incident.

“At first they were just making faces behind me," she said.

"Then a hand landed on my breast. I was was shocked.”

The attack comes amid a wave of sexual assaults at the carnival and increased security presence. 

Police have confirmed there were 22 reported cases of sexual assault at the carnival and said 181 people had been arrested in total.

Talking in a later news bulletin, the Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française(RTBF) journalist described the chaos of the ordeal.

“My piece to camera was chaotic, people showing middle fingers, a man who was having fun miming a sex act behind me and above all the hand placed on my breast," she said.

Police have announced they will be investigating the case further.

According to The Local, the attackers were men of European appearance and have been caught on camera.

Cologne was the subject of a series of sexual assaults and robberies during New Years Eve, with large numbers of women being targeted in the attacks. 

In the attempt to stop similar incidents reoccurring at the week-long carnival, police decided to double the number of officers on patrol on the streets to 2,500.

New Zealand Official Feels Privileged to Have Had Dildo Thrown at His Face

BY SIOBHÁN O'GRADY-FEBRUARY 5, 2016
New Zealand’s Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce thought Friday would just be a regular day at work. Then a nurse threw a dildo at his face.
The flying fake penis was an unexpected interruption of the politician’s press conference, which he held to debrief reporters after meeting with Iwi (not to be confused with Kiwi) leaders in Auckland to discuss the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership agreement.

“That’s for raping our sovereignty!” Josie Butler screamed after throwing the rather large sex toy at his face. He responded with a barely audible “oof.”

Security officials immediately apprehended Butler, and as they dragged her away for questioning she laughed and repeated “Yep, I know” — her handsheld up to prove she had no more dildos to throw.

Lucky for her, Joyce was OK with having a sex toy thrown at his face at work.“Fair to say I don’t think those sorts of things happen every day,” he told TVNZ, a New Zealand television station. “We actually thought it was a little bit humorous at the end of it all. New experiences in politics every day, it’s the privilege of serving.” He later tweeted that someone should “get it over with” and send the video to John Oliver — whose weekly show has at times mocked New Zealand politicians.

The privilege to serve, however, was not all Joyce’s. Butler works as a nurse, and told TVNZ she protested against the secretly negotiated TPP because she fears it will threaten her patients’ access to healthcare, and considers it her duty to speak up.

“I’m here as a nurse because I’m worried about the patient rights, and how many people will essentially die if this goes through because the price of medication’s going up,” she said. According to her Facebook page, she was released by police and will not face charges.

“It’s something I feel really strongly about,” she said in reference to the TPP.
Yeah, no kidding.

Watch the dildo throwing action below:

Photo Credit: Screenshot

Billions pledged for Syrian refugees as peace talks collapse

THURSDAY 04 FEBRUARY 2016

A London conference aims to raise over £6 billion to help Syria's neighbours provide for thousands of refugees. But in Geneva separate peace talks hoping to end the Syrian conflict collapse.

Billions of dollars to help people displaced by the war in Syria have been pledged on the first day of a London conference.

The conference aims to raise £6.2bn to alleviate the suffering of those affected by the war, and reduce the pressure on neighbouring countries who are absorbing unprecedented numbers of refugees.

The EU has pledged over £2.3bn, Germany £1.7bn, the UK £1.1bn and the US £633m.

At the same time as world leaders meet in London parallel peace talks in Geneva collapsed after just two days following the launch of a new offensive by Assad's forces - backed by Russian air strikes - against rebels in northern Syria.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the conference that "civilians, schools and hospitals" had been hit during the "air bombardment" and the attacks on the city of Aleppo.

He said that there are already 10,000 refugees on the Turkish border trying to escape the fighting, while up to 70,000 people at the refugee camps and 300,000 in Aleppo could follow.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern at the way his special envoy Staffan de Mistura had been forced to "pause" the Geneva talks so soon after they had started.

"It is deeply disturbing that the initial steps of the talks have been undermined by the continuous lack of sufficient humanitarian access, and by a sudden increase of aerial bombing and military activities within Syria" Mr Ban said.

He urged that the next few days should be used to "get back to the table, not to secure more gains on the battlefield."

Quality of life

The UN wants the money raised to be used to increase the quality of life for refugees in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, which are struggling to meet the demand of so many people fleeing the conflict.

The King of Jordan told the conference that one quarter of his country's national budget now went on supporting refugees.

He said Jordan has taken in 1.3m Syrians - the equivalent of the UK taking in the entire population of Belgium. That number is on top of previous refugees from Palestine, the Gulf wars and Christian minority groups. One in five people in Jordan is now a refugee.

Mr Ban said that these nations need assistance to develop job opportunities for the estimated 4.6 million refugees countries, and that a commitment was need to provide every child refugee a school place by 2016.

U.S., India in talks to settle solar power trade dispute

A worker walks through the installed solar modules at the Naini solar power plant in the northern Indian city of Allahabad March 21, 2012. The 5 MW capacity plant by the Electrical Manufacturing Company Ltd. (EMC) has started under the phase-1 of the Jawaharlal Nehru solar...

REUTERS/JITENDRA PRAKASH (INDIA - TAGS: ENERGY BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT) - RTR2ZNLX

BY DAVID LAWDER-Sat Feb 6, 2016

The United States and India are in talks that could settle a long-running solar power trade dispute, delaying the announcement of a ruling by the World Trade Organization, an Obama administration official said on Friday.

Washington filed the WTO challenge three years ago, claiming that India's national solar power programme illegally discriminated against imported solar panels and related products though its domestic content requirements.

The WTO in recent weeks has twice delayed the public announcement of a ruling in the case, rescheduling it for next Wednesday. Indian media reported last August that a WTO dispute settlement panel had confidentially notified Washington and New Delhi that it would rule against India in the case.

U.S. Trade Representative spokesman Andrew Bates declined to confirm any details of the WTO's intentions, but said the talks were aimed at reaching an out-of-court resolution before any public announcement by the Geneva-based trade body.

"The United States initiated this dispute for the purpose of advancing the rapid deployment of clean, affordable energy in India and around the world," Bates said. "India has now asked to speak with the United States regarding the issue, and in light of ongoing discussions, release of the WTO panel's report ruling has been temporarily delayed."

The U.S. complaint in 2013 alleged that the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission subsidies were available only if developers used equipment produced in India, violating a key global trade rule. The programme is aimed at easing chronic energy shortages in India, Asia's third-largest economy.

The Obama administration argued that the rules are a barrier to solar products made in America and elsewhere but also effectively raised the cost of generating solar power in India and were extending the country's dependence on fossil fuels.

Green groups, including the Sierra Club, Greenpeace USA, and Friends of the Earth urged the USTR last year to drop the challenge, saying it would hurt efforts to combat climate change by undercutting India's development of a domestic solar industry.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Scientists discover Zika virus is ‘active’ in saliva and urine

Bruno Gomes Antunes shows a picture of his daughter, who was born with microcephaly, at a hospital in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. (Lianne Milton/Panos Pictures/For the Washington Post)

By Dom Phillips and Nick Miroff-February 5

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian researchers said Friday that they had found the “active” presence of the Zika virus in saliva and urine samples, raising the possibility that the infection could be spread through kissing and other contact involving bodily fluids.

Until now, Zika was believed to be mostly transmitted by mosquitoes, although in some cases it is suspected of having moved from one person to another through sexual intercourse or a blood transfusion. Researchers said the latest discovery meant extra care was needed, especially in contacts with pregnant women, given the possible link of the virus to a sharp increase here in reports of the birth defect microcephaly.

Specifically, authorities said pregnant women should stay away from crowds and avoid sharing cups or cutlery with anyone suspected of being infected with the virus. If such women are in touch with someone showing the symptoms of Zika, “do not kiss them, obviously,” said Paulo Gadelha, president of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazil’s leading ­medical research institution.

Scientists at the foundation said in a statement that they had ­observed for the first time in saliva and urine “the destruction or modification of cells provoked by Zika, which proved viral activity.”

[CDC: To avoid Zika exposure, consider avoiding sex]

 

“It was already known that the virus could be present in urine and saliva. This is the first time that we showed that the virus is active — in other words, with the potential to provoke infection,” Myrna Bonaldo, a researcher and one of the team leaders, said in the statement.

Infectious-disease specialists said the discovery should not take the focus away from the battle to control the mosquito that carries the virus.

Read more>>>

Sri Lankan president ‘determined to face UN resolution to protect pride of armed forces’


 04 February 2016

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena declared his government was “determined to face” a UN Human Rights Council resolution in order to protect the “pride and dignity” of the armed forces.

Speaking at a military parade to mark Independence Day, Mr Sirisena criticised the previous government for not taking steps which would have prevented the UN resolution from being passed in September 2015.

“The government is determined to face the UNHRC resolution with the collective strength of all sections to protect and preserve the national pride as well as the pride and dignity of our armed forces that had made numerous sacrifices to safeguard the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country,” he declared, according to the official President's Media Division.

Sri Lankan Multi Barrel Rocket Launchers on parade in Colombo on Thursday. They were used extensively throughout the armed conflict and thought to be responsible for a number of civilian casualties.

The military parade in Colombo saw almost 10,000 Sri Lankan troops, fighter jets and military tanks on show at a ceremony attended by the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, former President Mrs Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka.

Tamil National Alliance leader R. Sampanthan was also in attendance, marking only the second time in 44 years that a Tamil leader has attended the occasion, after decades of boycotts over the oppression of the Tamil people.        [more]