Good government requires leaders to put public good above their personal interests

Lee Kuan Yew, the man behind modern Singapore, died at the age of 91, and while many Singaporeans are still mourning the loss of a respected politician, many people all over the world still continue to join them at many international forums to recognise a great leader and his impact on the political and economic spheres

Friday, 12 February 2016

The late Lee Kuan Yew told a group of civil servants in 1965, “Don’t change ‘No’ to ‘Yes’. Don’t be a fool. If there is a good reason why it is ‘No’ it must remain ‘No,’ but tell the public politely.”

In 2011, I listened to Lee Kuan Yew officially launch his book titled ‘Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going’ at the St. Regis Singapore. He spoke passionately of the need to promote meritocracy.

Undoubtedly, his uncompromising stand for discipline, consistency, meritocracy, efficiency and education during his tenure as Prime Minister transformed Singapore into one of the most prosperous nations in the world. He is unquestionably one of the outstanding world leaders of the last 100 years.

Few leaders have so far matched Lee’s achievement in propelling Singapore from Third World to First World. Moreover, he managed it against far worse odds: no space, no water, beyond a crowded little island; no natural resources; and, as an island of polyglot immigrants and not much shared history.

Some people have dismissed the relevance and transferability of the Singapore experience with the off-hand remark that Singapore is too small to offer any lessons of value to larger countries. Tell that to the world’s two most populous countries that Singapore doesn’t matter – that its mindset and psyche of governance is not scalable.

For example India declared a day of mourning at the passing of Lee Kuan Yew and the reiteration by the Chinese leaders that China emulated many of Singapore’s policies after Deng Xiaoping’s visit to Singapore in November 1978.

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Thirukkovil farmers sell their paddy for twenty rupees

Feb 10, 2016

The Ampara district farmers said although the higher season harvesting has been started despite the government still has not started to buy the paddy they are plunged into a very difficult situation.

A Thirukkovil area farmer T. Thuwaradan said since the government has not started to buy the paddy the private sector has started to buy the paddy for twenty rupees.

During the last season when the government bought the paddy for 45 rupees the private sector also bought for the same price.
We are like paupers

Despite the government did not start to buy the paddy’s we are selling the paddy’s like paupers said the chairman of the Thirukkovil farmers association.

He said there is no relief for us when we sell a kilogram of paddy for twenty rupees, after using pesticide’s, fertilizers and our hard labour.

The chairman of the Paddy marketing board P.B. Dissanayake said they are going to start buying paddy from 15th of this month.

The secretary of the Thirukkovil farmers association K. Anandarajah said they are not public servants and we all rely our life from this paddy cultivation.

He said the government should focus its attention into this.

Digamadulla district parliament MP Wimalaweera Dissanayake said the government is not ready to buy the paddy from the Ampara district. He said the paddy harvested during the last season, are still stored in 30 storages in the Ampara district.

The attempt we made to contact Minister P. Harrisson who is in charge of the paddy marketing board, failed.

Shaky Strategic Management Dissipates FCID’s Purpose

By Somapala Gunadheera –February 12, 2016

Somapala Gunadheera

Remanding VIPs on reports from the FCID is the hottest topic today. In April, last year, Mr. Basil Rajapaksa (BR) was arrested at the airport on his return from a sojourn abroad and remanded on some charges little known to the people who witnessed the ailing ex-minister carried between hospital and Court in an ambulance, creating deep sympathy in the public mind. A judicial hearing into BR’s alleged crimes has not begun in earnest so far while the sympathy created for the fallen strong man grows day by day.

Even if a Court comes to hold against BR in due course, the emotions created by the unnecessary exposition of his humiliation under arrest and remand may counterbalance the effect of the verdict in the public eye. I say ‘unnecessary’ because a man who was abroad when action was threatened against him, would not certainly have returned on his own, if he had an escapist disposition. That mentality would apply to any VIP under investigation because he should know that running away impliedly amounts to a conviction without trial and that stigma would blast his future for all time.

BR’s case is in direct contrast to a similar case filed against the Secretary to the former President, directly in the High Court where the Learned Judge bailed out the accused soon after the case was filed, despite insinuations made in the unconventional media with a view to getting the accused remanded. The prime purpose of remand is not punishment but ensuring that an accused does not run away from justice. No accused in the FCID cases is likely to run away for the reasons given above and they are too well known to hide themselves in any other part of the civilized world. Even if they did, it would not be a problem to get them back. Why then create a forum for them to secure themselves within a fortress of public sympathy with queues lining up at Welikada to visit them and rallies all over the country for their release? By the time the FCID gets its act together, the accused can build up a fund of public compassion that can make a final verdict against them a dead letter. The negative effect created by this scenario can even lead to public unrest on the ground that the cases are fabricated for vindictive reasons.Read More

A tense evening for SLFP…

FRIDAY, 12 FEBRUARY 2016

A decisive meeting of the Central Committee of the SLFP chaired by its president President Maithripala Sirisena is to be held today (12th) evening and eight persons who have violated party discipline would be sacked say reports.

Former president of the party Mahinda Rajapaksa had, at various occasions, said that he was prepared to accept the leadership of a new political party and the breakup of the SLFP is unavoidable. As such, the eight persons have to be sacked in a bid to protect the SLFP say party sources.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa has arranged to open a separate party office at Battaramulla today.

Among the members that would be sacked from the SLFP are former ministers Bandula Gunawardene, Kumara Welgama, Rohitha Abeygunawardene and Prasanna Ranatunga. It is also revealed that a group including Dilum Amunugama too would be included in this list.

It is revealed that the move to sack them is taken in a bid to decisively defeat the attempt to create a new party with the leadership of Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa. According to political sources President Maithripala Sirisena, as the president of the SLFP, would begin taking strong decisions regarding discipline of the party with this step.

Several seniors of the SLFP have already stated that the attempt to control the SLFP by persons such as Wimal Weerawansa, Dinesh Gunawardene, Udaya Gammanpila, Vasudeva Nanayakkara who are not members of the SLFP cannot be further tolerated. As such, the meeting of the SLFP Central Committee scheduled to be held today evening would be a very tense affair.

Come clean and say how you raised this money

Are we seeing only the tip of the iceberg? It is not just Yoshitha, but the entire ruling clan of the Rajapaksas are currently under investigation for various alleged financial misdemeanours. There is also a revelation of overseas secret accounts running into hundreds of millions of dollars.

by Lalith Allahakkoon

( February 12, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) So the cat is out of the bag. Details have surfaced to indicate that Yoshitha Rajapaksa, second son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, could not have established the Carlton Sports Network (CSN) based, not just on his own official income, but the official income of his father, elder brother Namal and his put together. Speaking at a news briefing on Wednesday UNP National List MP Ashu Marasinghe demanded to know how the Rajapaksa trio (assuming that MR and Namal too contributed) set up the CSN, investing a capital of Rs. 340 million when their combined accumulated income since 1970, (when Rajapaksa senior first entered Parliament) was only a little under Rs. 21 million. From where did the rest of the millions come?

Are we seeing only the tip of the iceberg? It is not just Yoshitha, but the entire ruling clan of the Rajapaksas are currently under investigation for various alleged financial misdemeanours. There is also a revelation of overseas secret accounts running into hundreds of millions of dollars. Hence Yoshitha’s case cannot be taken in isolation. One of the chief campaign planks of the Yahapalanaya government was to expose the persons who plundered the country’s wealth and what is more to bring that wealth where it really belongs to.

It is hoped that at least Udaya Gammanpila who defended Yoshitha to the hilt saying that the Rajapaksa sibling had no connection to the CSN network could provide an answer. Gammanpila, to begin with is yet to reply to the valid point raised by Anura Kumara Dissanayake when he made this claim. Dissanayake asked how come when everything connected to Carlton – The Carlton Sports Club, Carlton Rugby, Carlton Basketball, Carlton pre school etc. is owned by the Rajapaksa’s the Carlton Sports Network can be an exception? What is more, Nishantha Ranatunga who was a close associate of the Rajapaksas and who was the Chairman of Mihin Lanka was made Chairman of CSN. And here is the clincher. The Chairman of CSN prior to that was non other than the fiancee of Yoshitha, the link severed only after the break up of the affair. Whom is Gammanpila trying to fool?

True, the Rajapaksas must have had their own private incomes and personal wealth, being heirs to a well known political family in the South. But even with the accumulation of all this wealth it is hard to believe that a single member of the Rajapaksa family and a youth in his mid twenties at that could afford to splurge some Rs. 320 million on a single project. (Yoshitha’s known income as Lieutenant in the Navy was Rs. 3. 1 million). This is not just against one member of the Rajapaksa family but the tentacles have spread far and wide as is emerging from the spate of investigations that the Rajapaksa has been subjected to. Nay, it is not just them, but one has to combine the investigations involving all those who were closely linked to the former first family to come to a reasonable conclusion that Yothitha’s was not just a one off affair but only a part of the canker that spread far and wide under the Rajapaksas. Yoshitha was only emblematic of the enormity of the profligacy that went unchecked. The Chief of Staff of the former President had 66 Bank accounts in his name while newspapers reported yesterday that the Colombo Chief Magistrate had ordered the CID to furnish a report pertaining to 79 bank accounts in the name of three members of the former President’s security detail.

Yoshitha Rajapaksa can come out clean and say how he raised this money. Now that all the details are known it would not be possible for the Rajapaksas to dodge the issue and claim that they are victims of a political witch hunt. Besides, Rajapaksa is already on record claiming that his son had done no wrong. All he has to do is assist the ongoing investigations to justify his contention. If not the finger will be pointed in his direction. In the same way he should forthwith clear all allegations pertaining to the Rajapaksas without waiting for the investigators, if indeed they are clean.

( The writer is the Editor of Daily News, a daily newspaper based in Colombo)

Navodya principal creates inglorious record of the century ! ex-politico is chief guest who made teacher to kneel down !

(Lanka-e-News- 12.Feb.2016, 11.00PM)  A most disgraceful and lowliest of low conduct of this century was demonstrated today by Malcolm Peterson , the principal of Navodhya School , Nawathethegama.

That is, Malcolm Peterson has invited  a scoundrel of an ex provincial council member  Ananda Sarath Kumara as the chief guest for a Sports meet who was meted out punishment by court for subjecting Ms. Susila Herath , a teacher of the same school to most humiliating treament a few years ago by forcing her to kneel down.

The worst part ? for this sports meet  no other guests were invited except this villainous rascal Sarath Kumara – the only abominable  guest ! Mind you , not even a Director of education had been invited by Malcolm Peterson .

It is owing to this most despicable , deplorable and detestable behavior of  Sarath Kumara which made the teacher of the noble profession to kneel down most abjectly  , this two legged ‘manimal’ was not given nomination for elections by the UPFA.  He therefore holds no post whatsoever in the present PC .This manimal is therefore just a non entity now  – a talking  animal , just one step above the four legged animals  .Unbelievably ,Principal  Malcolm Peterson despite being a teacher himself has welcomed this manimal with the school band in attendance ceremonially. Three  other school prinicipals who were also invitees to the function witnessing this rudely shocking scenario , had gone away without attending the function in disgust .The teacher who was the victim of this uncivilized ‘manimal’ is now in another school after obtaining a transfer . 

While there is a disciplinary inquiry on going in the same incident at ministerial level for giving false evidence against the deputy principal    of the same school where the teacher was subjected to degrading and humiliating treatment , extending an invitation to the rascal of an ex PC member  as chief  guest to the same school and welcoming him   with the school band in attendance has infuriated , provoked and rudely shocked one and all . 

The Lanka Teachers  union has therefore requested  the   minister of educatio n to conduct an investigation into this and mete out punishment to Malcolm Perterson in respect of this most ugly and disgraceful episode , owing to which an ergregiously  bad example has been  set for  the entire younger  generation - the future investment of  the country .In addition Malcolm’s  uncouth and lowly conduct in spite of being a Principal has insulted a most noble profession in the world beyond measure  . The irony of ironies is Malcolm who is himself a teacher  has deemed it right to degrade and disgrace his profession at the hands of a most uncivilized uncouth hooligan of a politico who is by now better known as a  two legged speaking animal alias ‘manimal.’

---------------------------
by     (2016-02-12 21:29:39)

How Did CSN Find 340 Million When Entire Rajapaka Family Earned 20 Million ?

February 12, 2016

UNP National List MP Ashu Marasinghe has questioned as to how the Rajapaksa family whose total earnings since 1970 was Rs. 20 million, find Rs. 340 million to fund a private television channel.

Addressing a press conference in Colombo, Marasinghe pointed out that Mahinda Rajapaksa who has been a Parliamentarian since 1970 to date has earned approximately Rs. 13 million, while his eldest son, Namal Rajapaksa has earned some Rs. 4 million during the past 60 months as an MP.

“Yoshith Rajapaksa, who is a Lieutenant of the Sri Lanka Navy, has earned approximately Rs. 3.1 million, according to his monthly salary of Rs. 28,435. So, this totals the Rajapaksa family earnings since 1970 to around Rs. 20 million,” he noted.

“So, the question is, how did Yoshitha get Rs. 340 million to fund this Carlton Sports Network television channel?,” Marasinghe asked.Read More

Maharagama MC technical officer arrested over bribe

February 12, 2016

A technical officer of the Maharagama Municipal Council has been arrested for accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 to approve a plan for a house.

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption stated that the officer was arrested while soliciting the bribe from a resident in the municipal area this afternoon. 

He is to be produced before the Colombo Magistrate today, the commission said. 

Do We Have to ‘Hijack Your Planes’ Again?

Unable to control a wave of violence in Israel or maintain security in the West Bank, the rudderless, frustrated Palestinian Authority is out of ideas.

BY GREGG CARLSTROM-FEBRUARY 11, 2016

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The message from the top Palestinian leadership, delivered with more than a hint of panic and desperation, seems to be this: You’ll miss us when we’re gone.

That sentiment came from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who gathered a group of Israeli journalists in Ramallah last month to remind them that he was their last best hope for a negotiated settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict. His intelligence chief, Majid Faraj, also gave a rare interviewto warn — perhaps inaccurately — that the Islamic State could one day seize power in the occupied territories.

And there was the longtime Palestinian diplomat who wondered on live television whether his people would have to “hijack your planes” again to get the West interested in the Palestinian cause. It was a lament, not a threat. “You always wait for things to reach boiling point and explode, causing you harm, before you intervene to end the crimes and violations,” said Nabil Shaath, addressing the Western world.

It’s not a major Israeli military offensive in the West Bank or a new round of settlements that the Palestinian leadership fears, it’s a continuation of the slowly fraying status. The United States and Europe are preoccupied with the disaster in Syria; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a quaint distraction. Four months of near-daily Palestinian stabbing and shooting attacks — the Third Intifada, as some call it — have simply become a grim part of the everyday routine.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) was created by the 1993 Oslo Accords as an interim measure, a five-year stepping stone on the path to statehood. Decades later, the diplomatic track is in a persistent vegetative state — and the PA seems to have little purpose beyond security cooperation with Israel. “Let’s be honest.
The peace process is as stuck as I’ve ever seen it,” said one longtime European diplomat.

The PA, in other words, has nothing left to offer Palestinians, nearly half of whom want to dissolve the body, according to a recent poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. The PA can’t claim to represent the desires of the Palestinian electorate — Abbas’s own term as president expired seven years ago. More troubling, to officials on both sides, is the handful of Palestinian police officers who have recently gone rogue and turned their guns against Israeli soldiers, a trend they fear will accelerate at a time of drift and stagnation.

More Story>>>

Video: Israeli bulldozers raze Jordan Valley homes

11 February 2016

On Wednesday, Israeli forces carried out a mass demolition in four areas of the occupied West Bank’s Jordan Valley — Jiftlik, Fasayil al-Wusta, Ein Kurzliya and al-Mkassar.

Seven homes and six animal shelters were destroyed, leaving 71 people without a roof over their heads.

For families in Fasayil al-Wusta and Ein Kurzliya, it was the fourth demolition in recent years. In al-Mkassar, Israeli forces demolished a tent provided to the family after their dwelling was demolished a week before.

The only access road to Ein Kurzliya was blocked and in Jiftlik, a system of pipes providing water to 300 people was deliberately damaged.

The next day, Israeli forces razed dozens more homes and structures in the Tubas area of the Jordan Valley.

More than 80 homes and livelihood-related structures in seven communities — all but one in the Jordan Valley — were destroyed this week, according to the United Nations monitoring group OCHA.

The Jordan Valley demolitions come one week after Israel destroyed 40 homes in the West Bank’s South Hebron Hills — the largest such demolition in a decade.

“The Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea make up approximately 30 percent of the West Bank and are the most significant Palestinian land reserves,” according to the human rights group B’Tselem.

“Since 1967, Israel has pursued various measures to annex this territory de facto. It has prevented the development of Palestinian communities, systematically destroyed homes in Palestinian Bedouin communities, denied access to water and strictly limited Palestinians’ freedom of movement. At the same time, Israel has exploited the resources of the area for its own needs and has allocated generous tracts of land and water resources to Israeli settlements,” the group adds.

Video, editing and reporting by Keren Manor and Oren Ziv of Activestills. Text by The Electronic Intifada.

Air strikes and fear drive thousands south from Daraa towards Jordan 

Humanitarian officials warn of fresh crisis amid reports of 70,000 people on the move towards Syria's closed southwestern border

Syrian refugees at the eastern part of the Jordanian border in 2014 (AFP/UNHCR)

Sara Elizabeth Williams-Friday 12 February 2016

AMMAN - Around 70,000 people are on the move in southern Syria, driven out of opposition-held towns and villages by an ongoing barrage of Russian airstrikes on Daraa province.

The crisis along southern Syria’s agricultural belt is an eerie reflection of the disaster unravelling in northern Aleppo province, where tens of thousands of refugees, fleeing Russian air strikes, have piled up against a closed border gate. In both cases, the scale of displacement carries a note of caution: this is bad, but it could get so much worse.

The fear of what might happen were the scenario to further deteriorate may have contributed to Thursday night’s news that key international leaders had agreed to work towards establishing a ceasefire. But for those in the path of unrelenting air strikes, any respite will be too little, too late. 

In southern Syria, humanitarians and residents say strikes have primarily targeted civilian infrastructure in opposition-held areas, destroying schools, homes and hospitals and leaving communities in tatters. Unlike the double-tap strikes and barrel bombs unleashed by the Syrian government, the Russian strikes come in long, highly destructive waves, say local activists in Daraa province who called the scale of destruction “unprecedented”.

While the refugees in the north can hope that Turkey will be persuaded to re-open its border gates and allow Syrians in, the southern refugees have no such illusions: Jordan, to the south, hasn’t admitted refugees along this stretch of border since 2013, and finding shelter in Israel, to the west, is unthinkable. 

The devolution of security in Daraa province comes after years of heavy barrel bombings in opposition-held areas – now around 60 percent of the province, down from 65 percent just a month ago.

Russian sorties here began in September 2015 and increased sharply in late December, pummelling Sheikh Miskeen, a crossroads town north of Daraa city, with 500 airstrikes over a month-long battle that yielded the government’s first significant gain in the south in more than a year.

By the time government loyalists captured Sheikh Miskeen, it was mostly destroyed and completely depopulated, but the win secured a government supply line to Daraa city and, perhaps more significantly, challenged the opposition’s long-held dominance in the province.

Psychological warfare              - See more 

Global Terrorism Destroying The Humanity: How To Change The Future?

By Mahboob A Khawaja-11 February, 2016

Countercurrents.org

“Nobody can predict which way the ‘Arab Awakening’ will turn this year… Over the decades of unchallenging aggressive adventures in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and now in Syria, West and North Africa and soon in Saudi Arab, America has earned the distinction of being a leader in intrinsic and endless corrupted wars to dismantle, humiliate, kill and destroy the Arab people and maintain the surge for more bloodsheds anytime – anywhere…. Iraq? Its own latent civil war will go on grinding up the bones of civil society while we largely ignore its agony; there are days now when more Iraqis are killed than Syrians, though you wouldn’t know it from the nightly news. And the Gulf? Arabia, where the first Arab awakening began? Where, indeed, the first Arab revolution – the advent of Islam – burst forth upon the world. There are those who say that the Gulf kingdoms will remain secure for years to come. Don’t count on it. Watch Saudi Arabia. Remember what that British diplomat wrote 130 years ago. “Even in Mecca...” (Robert Fisk “Could Saudi Arabia be Next?” The Independent).

Superpowers are Complacent in the Destruction of the Arab world?

For centuries, the Europeans (British, French, Italian and Dutch) built empires by colonizing the Islamic world. They used millions of subjugated people to fight the First and 2nd World Wars. They viewed the subjects as unworthy creature at the ballot box and imposed Whiteman’s superior thinking, culture, language and laws on the colonized Muslim people. Out of favors, loyal tribal agents were transformed into kings, royals, presidents and dictatorship role. This is how Britain stole Palestine from its people. Now the people are awakened to pursue democratic change and the absolute rulers are a liability. The US led few West Europeans want to replace the historical dummies to articulate a different future of their own. All the superpowers are collaborating military operations to destroy the entire Arab region under the pretext of “war on terrorism.” This planned scheme of things will sideline the core issue of the Arab Middle East - freedom of Palestine and normalization of relations with the State of Israel. After the US planned destruction of Afghanistan and Iraq, Syria is virtually a collapsed country. It’s economic, civic and political infrastructures are in ruins. Millions of Iraqi and Syrian civilians are victims of insanity because of the authoritarian regime of Bashar-al-Assad, Al-Abidi or the coalition of the US-Russia and Europeans. Most West Europeans except Germany, used the Arabs as soldiers during the Two World Wars are now treating the refugees as animal herd to be barricaded under razor wires. Is there a responsible global governance to safeguard the mankind?Read More

Zuma's state address: South Africa's president has lost his swagger

With fierce protests outside and mutterings of discontent from within his party, leader appeared grim and wounded on the podium. Daily Maverick reports

The mood in the national assembly was dour and muted after a bruising few months for the ANC. Photograph: Mike Hutchings/EPA

EFF leader Julius Malema speaks to journalists outside parliament. Photograph: Sumaya Hisham/AFP/Getty Images

Ranjeni Munusamy for Daily Maverick, part of the Guardian Africa network-Friday 12 February 2016

Even before the South African president took to the podium, there were telltale signs that things would be different at Jacob Zuma’s state of the nation address this year.

There was a ring of steel around parliament, less of the usual pomp and ceremony, and both the president and deputy president skipped their customary stroll up the red carpet.

Most revealing was that this year there was no giggling or swagger from President Zuma.

Zuma can shake off most things, but clearly the outrage over his shock firing of his finance minister and the walloping he received in the constitutional courtover his use of state funds to pay for his opulent home have made an impact.

He cannot laugh it all off any more.

The extraordinary security operation was due to the populist Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) threat to interrupt proceedings, while various protests marched through Cape Town city centre.

When the EFF delegates filed into the National Assembly building singing loudly, it looked like they might keep at it until they got thrown out.

But when the judiciary filed into the house, led by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, Malema held up one hand and his members immediately fell silent. They joined the standing ovation for the judges, signalling that it was only them whom they respect.

Zuma eventually made it up to the podium but was interrupted several times, with the EFF contingent successfully delaying proceedings for an hour and finally walking out mid-way.

Outside parliament, EFF leader Julius Malema told reporters that his party would not “over-glorify the Sona [state of the nation address]” and would continue to exercise their right to speak at any time. 

Translation: they would continue tormenting Zuma at his every appearance in parliament.

More Story>>>

Second junior doctors' strike goes ahead after talks fail

Thousands of junior doctors take part in a second one-day strike over plans to bring in a new contract that will oblige them to work more weekends. Emergency care is still being provided.

WEDNESDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2016

NHS England has estimated that over 1,100 in-patient procedures and over 1,700 day procedures have been cancelled.

Last-minute talks failed to avert the strike.

The government had called in the chief executive of Salford Royal NHS Foundation, Sir David Dalton, to try to broker a deal between the British Medical Association (BMA), who are negotiating for the junior doctors, and the NHS Employers, but talks ended on Tuesday without a resolution.

The major sticking point is whether Saturday should in future be considered a normal working day for doctors.

Currently junior doctors get paid extra for working on Saturdays. Under the proposed new contract overtime pay would only be paid after 7pm on Saturdays. During negotiations, the government backtrack slightly, offering to change that to 5pm.

The BMA says it has offered a re-worked package that would retain overtime pay for Saturday working at no extra cost by reducing the government's proposed 11 per cent rise in basic pay.

Dr Johann Malawana, the BMA's junior doctors' committee chairman, tweeted on Wednesday morning: "We presented fully costed & working solution that was rejected due to pride & politics."

Read More

Thousands of Egyptian doctors protest police abuse

Egyptian doctors gather outside their union in Cairo on Feb. 12, to protest against an alleged assault by policemen on two of their colleagues in a public hospital last month. (Mahmoud Khaled/AFP/Getty Images)

Egyptian doctors they shout anti-police slogans, during a protest in front of the headquarters of the Egyptian Medical Syndicate in Cairo, Feb. 12. (Hazem Abdel Hamid/EPA)

By Heba Habib-February 12

CAIRO — Thousands of Egypt's doctors protested police abuses on Friday following an alleged attack on two doctors by policemen in a Cairo hospital. It was a rare instance of public protest, almost unheard of since the takeover of power by Egyptian military strongman Abdel Fatah al-Sissi in 2013.

[Egyptian military ousts Morsi, suspends constitution]

As many as 4,000 doctors flocked to their union’s office to attend an emergency meeting called for by the Egyptian Medical Syndicate to condemn police violence. On Jan. 28, the union said, two policemen attacked two doctors and other hospital staff for “belittling” the injury of one of the policemen in Matariya Public hospital.

“Leave! Leave!’ yelled the doctors in unison on Friday calling for the resignation of the health minister, while many carried signs, one reading “The doctors of Egypt will not pay the price for the failure of your system.”

The union decided to begin a strike if the policemen who allegedly assaulted the doctors were not held accountable, and if their other demands, such as the closure of any hospital in which doctors are assaulted, were not met. They also decided to provide free services to all citizens for two weeks.

The doctors who were allegedly assaulted had filed a judicial complaint against the policemen. But after the policemen issued a counter complaint, the doctors withdrew their’s for fear of being detained and abused at the Matariya police station. The station, according to a report by the Egyptian initiative for personal rights, is where 14 people have died in custody in the past two years, and where other instances of torture and ill treatment have allegedly occurred.

After the Jan. 28 incident, Matariya hospital staff went on a strike, demanding an investigation by the authorities. A few days later, public prosecutor Nabil Sadek ordered the doctors to reopen the hospital and end their strike.

In a statement, on Friday, the chairman of the doctor’s union, Hussein Khairy, called the turnout “historic,” hailing it as a ‘turning point in our union’s history” and demanding “rule of law.”

The protest amassed large public support with a Twitter hashtag #SupportDoctorssyndicate trending worldwide, with many social media users dubbing it “The doctor’s revolution.”

India's retail inflation hits 17-month high, industrial output falls again

Customers buy vegetables from a stall at a market in Ahmedabad, January 12, 2016.

REUTERS/AMIT DAVE

Fri Feb 12, 2016 

India's retail inflation unexpectedly edged up to a 17-month high in January, while industrial production contracted at a faster-than-expected pace in December, underscoring imbalances lurking in Asia's third-largest economy.

Retail prices INCPIY=ECI rose 5.69 percent on year in January, their fastest pace since August 2014, government data showed on Friday. The rise compared with a 5.4 percent increase predicted by analysts in a Reuters poll and a 5.61 percent annual gain in December.

Output at factories, utilities and mines INIP=ECI shrank an annual 1.3 percent in December, another release showed, steeper than 0.1 percent fall forecast by economists surveyed by Reuters. The contraction, however, was smaller than a revised 3.4 percent fall in November.

Data shows no let-up in food inflation. Retail food prices were up 6.85 percent on the year in January, compared to 6.40 percent in December.

With the government set to hike salaries and pensions of its employees later this year, demand-driven price pressures are likely to get a boost.

That could make it tougher for the central bank to tamp down retail inflation to 5 percent by March 2017, diminishing hopes for further rate cuts.

"We think that the window for further easing ... has shut," said Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics, after the data release.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept its policy rate on hold at 6.75 percent earlier this month. Williams expects the central bank to keep rates unchanged throughout 2016.

IMBALANCES

Friday's data comes days after the economy posted growth of 7.3 percent in the quarter through December, faster than the 6.8 percent growth posted by China in the same quarter.

The data had shown consumption outpacing investments, signaling potential inflationary risks.

Industrial output data further underscored that risk as capital goods production, a proxy for investments, fell nearly 20 percent year-on-year in December. Consumer goods, a gauge for consumer spending, grew 2.8 percent.

It piles pressure on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to unveil measures when he presents the federal budget on Feb. 29 to revive private investments, which have been dormant for the past four years.

His strategy to stimulate corporate spending through debt-fueled higher public investment has yet to bear fruits.

Jaitley is under pressure to relax fiscal deficit targets in the budget and ramp up public spending to give the economy more momentum.

But RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has cautioned against straying from fiscal consolidation, saying the move would jeopardize the country's economic stability at a time of global market turmoil.

(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Katharine Houreld)