-Deserves a place in the most ignominious record of Guinness book !
(Lanka-e-News -15.April.2016, 6.10PM) A robed chief incumbent of a temple , a secretary of that temple committee along with a group have been arrested during the period of religious and merit seeking activities on the Sinhala New year day ! They were nabbed when digging for illicit treasure hidden in the temple premises.
This most sacriligious and disgraceful activity which deserves a place in the ignominious records of the Guinness book had been carried out by the robed chief incumbent and the secretary of the temple committee of Habarana Palugaswewa Weheragala vihara .The culprit chief incumbent having been a former lecturer in the Peradeniya University clearly explains the state of the country in relation to religion and education, and the examples being set by those at the helm in those spheres. Believe it or not ! these are the rascals who are supposedly guiding the future generation of the country.
While this group of rascals comprising members of the clergy and of the laity were rupturing a huge ancient rock of the Weheragala temple in search for treasure , the villagers who came there had seized them and handed over to the police.
A group that came in a Prado ( a name synonymous with frauds and rackets as of late unlike in the bygone days when it was a prestige to own a Prado) vehicle for the illegal mining from Malabe had also been arrested.Among them was an Ayurveda doctor from Malabe.
In a country abounding with , indigenous doctors (who while screaming they are nationalists and doing a great service to the country) ; lecturers of Universities; those who are holding the highest positions in the temple committees :the chief incumbents of Temples ; the affluent ; and Prado owners singly and collectively are involved in such illicit mining operations even during the merit seeking period of the New Year , it is a huge question mark, whether this country can be saved any day ?
Therefore , Mother Lanka is being destroyed not by foreigners , but it is by our own so called sons of the soil – these are the rascals and scoundrels who while parading as legitimate sons of Mother Lanka are committing the worst crimes and sins which crimes and sins even an illegitimate son who fights shy of his birth in Sri Lanka would hesitate to commit.
--------------------------- by (2016-04-15 12:43:05)
Customs Preventive Unit, after foiling an alleged smuggling attempt on the high seas, seized a Sri Lankan Fibreglass Plastic Boat (FPB) near the second island in the Gulf of Mannar region even as two persons onboard the boat escaped.
Customs Superintendent M. Pugazhendhi, who was part of the team, said that acting on a tip-off about smuggling activity, a seven-member team, comprising three Superintendents and four Sea Crew, launched patrolling on a hired ‘vallam’ (country boat) in the Gulf of Mannar region on Wednesday night when they sighted the boat near the island.
He said that when they reached the second island, two persons onboard the FPB approached them, obviously mistaking their vallam for the ‘contraband supply’ boat. The Customs personnel surrounded the boat. When the team members questioned the two, they grew suspicious and jumped into the sea.
While one escaped under the cover of darkness, the other called them for help as he could not swim, he also said.
Mr. Pugazhendhi said that the officials brought him to the shore and when they sighted another boat and followed the signal, the “rescued” man escaped under the cover of darkness.
During the brief interrogation before his escape, the Sri Lankan national said that they arrived to purchase fishing gear.
Alert
After alerting the various security agencies, the Customs officials brought the FPB to the naval jetty here.
They registered a case under the Customs Special Act after seizing 49,500 Sri Lankan currencies from the boat, he said. Customs Superintendents A. Sampathkumar and S. Raja were also in the patrolling team.
Marine Police of Coastal Security Group (CSG), Q Branch police and the local police have launched a search for the two persons, who were suspected to be hiding in Danushkodi.
Superintendent of Police N. Manivannan said that he had asked the Rameswaram Deputy Superintendent of Police to submit a report on the issue.
The Sri Lankan national said that they arrived to purchase fishing gear
Yes, some may argue that we’re not as bad as other countries and pull out the “China/North Korea/any other authoritarian country” card, but let’s not bring ourselves down to that level.
As it stands, Malaysia is currently ranked at #147 out of 180 countries in the 2015 World Press Freedom Index, an annual report released by Reporters Without Borders which highlights worldwide standings in freedom of information. The country has seen an overall decline in press freedom over the years – it is at its lowest position since 2002, with its highest ranking in 2006, at #92.
According to Freedom House’s annual Freedom of the Press report, in 2015, Malaysia scored as “Partly Free”, with middling results in freedom, civil liberties and political rights.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of State released its yearly Human Rights report, and its conclusions on the current state of Malaysia’s press and media freedoms, while not shocking, should still be a cause for concern.
Many journalists can still recall the blows press freedom suffered during former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s term, what with Operation Lalang and the arbitrary use of laws such as the Internal Security Act and Official Secrets Act.
This is why it’s all the more important that we not allow press and media freedoms to backslide to past standards.
According to the report: “The [Malaysian] government exerted control over news content, both in print and broadcast media; punished publishers of ‘malicious news’; and banned, restricted, or limited circulation of publications believed a threat to public order, morality, or national security.”
It cited several examples from last year:
In June, the government deported an Al-Jazeera journalist looking into the 2006 murder of 28-year-old Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu, who had alleged links to Prime Minister Najib Razak.
In July, the government suspended financial newspaper The Edge for three months due to its reporting on the 1MDB financial scandal linked to Najib.
In the same month, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the government’s internet regulator, ordered internet service providers to block access to Sarawak Report, that also reported on the same scandal.
In August, police obtained an arrest warrant for the editor of Sarawak Report, Clare Rewcastle-Brown, for alleged involvement in an “activity detrimental to parliamentary democracy.”
In November, police and MCMC officers raided the offices of two major online news publications – The Star Online and Malaysiakini – following reporting on a controversial transfer of an anti-corruption officer.
The report asserts that such policies, along with defamation and libel laws, inhibited independent investigative journalism and resulted in extensive self-censorship, probably much to the government’s satisfaction.
It’s been oft-repeated by government officials that the media should “report responsibly” or be ready to face sanctions, yet when those same government officials frequently make questionable statements that cause Malaysians nationwide to collectively roll their eyes, it’s difficult to take them seriously.
While Malaysia’s leaders are wary of the power of media when it is in the hands of others, they are also surprisingly media-savvy – especially on social media. Najib long ago cottoned on to the power that cats hold over the online masses and the Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar is anactive Twitter user.
Remember the kittens I wrote about last June? Now they have given birth to a litter!
Even Communications and Multimedia Ministry Minister Salleh Said Keruak, who has previously said that “freedom of speech and the expression of one’s opinions was a privilege rather than an absolute right”, runs a blog.
But again – the media is only dangerous when it disagrees with their status quo.
It’s common knowledge here that mainstream media outlets enjoy “privileges” for being pro-government, with media practitioners often benefiting from pandering to the government’s agenda, while those critical of it have been barred from covering government press conferences.
Sawtona flyers appeared on an Indiana campus even though the group claims to have no contacts in the state.
Claiming to be a group of Palestinians opposed to the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement in the US, an organization calling itself Sawtona – “our voice” in Arabic – has emerged over the last two months.
But the organization does not appear to be what it says it is.
The group first emerged at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) last month when faculty and students were meeting to discuss BDS and support for Palestinians.
It then popped up at City University of New York (CUNY), just ahead of today’s scheduled graduate student council vote on a resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions.
The group claims to be a voice “from the ground” in Palestine that is dedicated to ending Israel’s occupation. But so far the only objective Sawtona has in fact pursued is to stop BDS, claiming it does more harm than good for Palestinians.
And some evidence – including fraudulent postings on Facebook – cast significant doubt on the group’s central claim that it is run by Palestinians.
Rather, the group would appear to be based in present-day Israel – not Palestinian cities in the occupied West Bank where people representing Sawtona claim to live.
Edward Curtis IV, a professor of religious studies at IUPUI, told The Electronic Intifada that moments before he was scheduled to deliver a lecture titled “Why we support the boycott of Israel,” he received a phone call from a man calling himself Anwar Salem, from Sawtona. The man told Curtis he was calling from Ramallah in the West Bank.
Curtis said that Salem requested that he not deliver his speech and told him that the growing BDS movement was “hurting Palestinians.” Salem repeated common anti-BDS talking points, including the claim that BDS takes jobs away from Palestinians.
Curtis had already seen flyers around campus stating “stop the BDS from harming us further, #SAWTONA” against the background of a Palestinian flag.
Curtis, who founded IUPUI Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, an approximately 30-strong group who have signed onto BDS, told Salem that he would carry on with his plans to deliver his speech later that day, 8 March, at an event organized by the Interfaith Coalition for Palestine, founded by alum Sireen Zayed.
In a follow-up email, Curtis asked Salem who he is working with at IUPUI who distributed the flyers and posted photos of the event to Sawtona’s Twitter feed – photos which have since been removed.
Salem did not answer, saying “I don’t know Palestinians in Indiana, I just heard of the conference from people in Indiana who are also opposing BDS and I felt like I had to do something.”
It remains a mystery who could have put up the Sawtona flyers at IUPUI or tweeted from the event on Sawtona’s account when Anwar Salem claims his group has no members in Indiana.
Zayed told The Electronic Intifada that a day after that event her mother received several phone calls at her workplace from an unknown number, which she did not pick up.
When Zayed’s mother did finally answer, the man on the other end identified himself as Anwar Salem from Sawtona, but this time said he was from Nablus, in the West Bank.
He spoke in fluent Arabic and asked to speak to her daughter, Sireen. When Zayed’s mother said her daughter was unavailable, he asked to speak to Sireen’s father, saying “I need to speak to someone about Sireen’s tweets and why it’s wrong to boycott Israel. What she says is a shame.”
He proceeded to tell Zayed’s mother why BDS hurts Palestinians.
When her mother told her what happened, Zayed became suspicious about the caller’s identity and suspected Salem had found her mother’s work number on her workplace website.
She checked the site’s traffic log – which has been seen by The Electronic Intifada – and saw that the only recent visitor had viewed the website three minutes before Salem’s first attempt to call her mother.
That visitor’s IP address could be traced back to the city of Bat Yam in present-day Israel – not to Nablus or Ramallah, as Salem had variously claimed his location to be.
The visitor’s Internet service provider was the Israeli company Bezeq International.
Given that Zayed’s site does not receive much traffic, the visit was conspicuous and unlikely to have been mere coincidence.
The Electronic Intifada contacted Sawtona using the email address on its website, and Anwar Salem responded. In subsequent correspondence he failed to explain when asked why his IP address appeared to be located in present-day Israel.
Instead, writing generally, he responded: “Our movement is composed mostly of Palestinians, living in Palestine. Due to the political sensitivity in our area, most of our members are fearful of exposing themselves but there are many families who joined us.”
He wrote that Sawtona is the voice of those Palestinians who have been fired: “We are the voice of the people that have been touched by this collective punishment.”
“Our aim is that the world will force the occupiers to employ hundred of thousands of Palestinians and that they would take the responsibility of the economic system, and so they will understand that the occupation is not worthwhile economically speaking,” he added.
While all of Salem’s emails are written in fluent English, in one email to IUPUI’s Curtis, Salem claims, “It is very hard for me to speak a lot of English, if you want we can speak Arabic.”
Facebook fraud
In New York, meanwhile, a person using the name Leila Liftawi, who claimed to be a volunteer with Sawtona living in “Palestine,” has been aggressively contacting representatives on CUNY’s Doctoral Student Council (DSC) this week, primarily through email and Twitter, urging them to vote against the BDS resolution.
In one such email to Velina Manolova, a doctoral student in the English department and a DSC representative-at-large, Liftawi claimed “Palestinians are beginning to link the increased suffering of our people to the spread of the BDS movement.”
She did not offer any personal analysis or evidence to back up the assertion.
Liftawi sent the same letter to other DSC representatives as well.
Manolova says that after she received the email, both Liftawi and Anwar Salem sent her “friend” requests on Facebook.
Thousands of Egyptians are estimated to have turned out for the protests on 15 April (MEE)
Friday 15 April 2016
Thousands of protestors took to the streets of Cairo on Friday to picket the government's decision to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, with authorities moving in to disperse the crowds and reportedly firing tear gas and warning shots.
Demonstrators chanted slogans from the 2011 Arab Spring uprising saying "people want the downfall of the regime," MEE contribuotor Belal Darder said.
They also shouted: "Sisi - Mubarak... We don't want you, leave" in reference to long-time strongman Hosni Mubarak who was ousted during the 2011 revolution and current president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who in turn led a military coup against Mubarak's successor, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi.
Though authorities accused the Brotherhood of organising the protests - which took place without official permission and hence violated Egypt's strict protest law - a variety of groups in fact called for the demonstrations, including the banned April 6 movement, several political parties and former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi. Such unity from the groups has been extremely rare in recent years.
"Many Islamists were there among the protesters but yet they didn't mention Morsi's name in their chants at all and did not call for his presidential legitimacy [to be restored]," Darder said "They just participated and went with the crowds.
"It definitely felt like the old days of the revolution with Islamists, liberals, the old and young, men and women together all taking over the streets."
Police had been on high alert over the protests overnight but, at first they did not stop people from congregating in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square where the 2011 revolution began. Later, the protesters were forcibly ejected and the square closed but many smaller protests marches were redirected to congregate on the steps of the city's Journalists' Syndicate. Police tried to block access but thousands of people were able to gather there for several hours, Darder said.
Police riot vans then surrounded the protesters from all sides, but the rally remained largely peaceful for several hours before Egyptian police reportedly deployed tear gas and shot live ammunition into the air, activists said.
Some 50 people have been arrested, activists and security sources told Reuters.
Footage shot at the scene, and shared by prominent Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef, showed crowds of people chanting "Bread, Freedom and the Islands are Egyptian," an updated version of a chant that became widespread during the 2011 uprising.
Some media said only several hundred people gathered but Darder said the crowd was definitely in the thousands.
"The youth of the revolution are still here," Abdelrahman Abdellatif, 29, an air conditioning engineer, at the Cairo protest told Reuters. "We are experiencing unprecedented fascism and dictatorship."
A small counter-protest in the coastal city of Alexandria saw activists hold up pictures of Egypt's President Sisi and King Salman of Saudi Arabia, as well as a banner reading: "The islands belong to Saudi Arabia".
Sisi earlier this week defended the controversial transfer, saying the islands were never the legal property of Egypt in the first place and that there were "security and political reasons" for giving Saudi Arabia sovereignty over the disputed islands.
In expectation of major unrest on Friday, Egyptian police had "encircled" major routes into Cairo, the capital, overnight on Thursday in an attempt to shut down the rallies, with the interior ministry warning Egyptians not to get "carried away by tendentious calls for protests".
The interior ministry said increased security around the capital was to prevent what it called "infiltration of the terrorist group" - a reference to the banned Muslim Brotherhood which it said called the march.
The April 6 movement on Friday afternoon posted a photo which they said showed demonstrators running from tear gas fired during a protest that set out from the Muhandiseen district of Cairo following Friday prayers, aiming to join up with a bigger protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
The April 6 Movement was formed in 2008 and mobilised to protest against then-president Hosni Mubarak.
Since then it has been designated a terrorist organisation by Sisi's government, and many of its leaders are in jail awaiting trial.
“Our right to this land is won by blood, not by documents and maps,” wrote organisers on the event’s Facebook page, which shows images of Egyptian soldiers in Tiran on 6 June 1967.
“We gave more than 100,000 martyrs in our wars with Israel to restore this land. [The Red Sea islands of] Tiran and Sanafir are our right, Egypt’s right, the right of our children and of our ancestors who were killed there. This right must be returned, even over our dead bodies.”
The Muslim Brotherhood, which is also banned in Egypt, said of the transfer "that no one has the right to abandon the property and resources of the Egyptian people in exchange for a fistful of dollars".
There is much good news to report from Africa. Over the past generation, poverty rates went down, literacy rates went up, life expectancy increased, and childhood malnutrition shrank. The battle against HIV/AIDS, particularly acute in Africa, is being won. Many African nations are experiencing rapid growth and are excellent investment prospects. Nevertheless, danger looms on the horizon, as Africa now plays host to the most dynamic battles in the global war between terrorists and civilization.
The numbers are shocking. In the first three months of 2016, terrorists attacked innocent civilians in 262 separate incidents around the world. Thirty percent of those attacks occurred in Africa — in 15 different countries. There should be no doubt that terrorism — in the form of al Qaeda or Boko Haram or the Islamic State — is the number one challenge for U.S. foreign policy on the continent.
Hundreds of Africans have been killed this calendar year. Three of the many attacks were larger than the Islamic State attacks in Belgium that killed 32 people in March.
The Global Terrorism Database at the University of Maryland systematically ranks all nations around the world by level of terrorism. Last year, African nations held 10 of the top 20 positions. This same index ranked Boko Haram, which operates in at least four African nations — Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and Cameroon — as the world’s deadliest terrorist group for 2015.
Boko Haram is only 14 years old, but has already demonstrated an amazing ability to evolve and grow. Now affiliated with the Islamic State, Boko Haram uses all manner of violence to terrorize civilian populations in West and Central Africa — rape, kidnapping, murder, and other mass atrocities.
When Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from Chibok, Nigeria in 2014, the world responded with outrage. But despite military assistance, including from the United States (not to mention a vigorous Twitter campaign) most of the girls have not been returned. It has been more than two years since the girls were taken from their families.
Villagers in Chad and Cameroon — two nations that have joined the fight against Boko Haram — are now wary of a new terror tactic: Girls who had been kidnapped by Boko Haram coming to their villages as suicide bombers. Although there have been some recent gains by the four-nation coalition fighting the terrorist group, Boko Haram’s evolving tactics and affiliation with the Islamic State make it a major threat to Africa’s largest nation.
Somalia is home to two global terror networks. The longtime local terrorist group, al Shabab, is affiliated with al Qaeda, while the Islamic State is beginning its own operations in Somalia, no doubt with an eye on opportunities in neighboring Kenya.
The U.S. military is providing active assistance to the government of Somalia as it battles these two terror Leviathans, but the capabilities of the Somali government are notoriously limited. Until recently, President Barack Obama touted the success of American efforts against terror in Somalia and Yemen, but now Yemen is consumed by civil war and the legitimate government has been pushed out of the capital.
Over 6,000 Islamic State fighters are in Libya. Terror attacks there have targeted Christians in grisly mass beheadings. Despite recent progress on the political front, Libya remains in a catastrophically vulnerable position, torn by ethnic and tribal divisions and without substantial outside assistance. Since the 2011 intervention to kill Muammar Qaddafi and the subsequent catastrophe in Benghazi, U.S. policy in Libya has been modest, tentative, confusing and ultimately ineffective.
Terrorism is on the rise in Africa. The numbers of attacks and terrorists are increasing. The horrific nature of the attacks is growing and evolving. The number of African nations subject to attack is expanding and the vulnerability of Africans and their governments is becoming more acute.
Meanwhile, American policy professionals — from the working levels at the Pentagon, State Department, and the U.S. Agency for International Development — work diligently to fight back. But for the most part, the bad guys have the upper hand.
In 2003, President Bush saw that the scourge of HIV/AIDS was ravaging the African continent and responded — backed by strong bipartisan support — with a generous, aggressive, and effective global health aid program. That historic effort — with the support of the current administration — stopped the virus, saved millions of lives, and arguably prevented societal collapse in several nations.
The next president will need to address terrorism across the continent in a similar fashion. The war on terrorism may not end for years or decades, but strong steps and bold leadership will be required very soon to ensure that this latest and most terrible threat does not overwhelm the otherwise good news coming from the world’s fastest-growing continent.
Photo credit: MOHAMED ABDIWAHAB/AFP/Getty Images
How Brazil, the darling of the developing world, came undone Brazilians take to the streets as lawmakers weigh whether to impeach the president. Brazil’s president is in trouble. President Dilma Rousseff could be facing an impeachment hearing over the summer, right when the country is hosting the world for the Olympic Games. (Dom Phillips,Nick Miroff,Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)
By Nick Miroff and Dom Phillips-April 15 BRASILIA — It was called the “Brazil model,” or simply “the Lula model,” back when this country’s economy was roaring and its president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was a superstar of the developing world.
Committee members in Brazil's lower house of Congress voted to recommend impeaching President Dilma Rousseff by a vote of 38 to 27, sending it to the full lower house for a vote on April 17. Rousseff faces charges of breaking budget laws to support her re-election in 2014. (Reuters)
From savouring flavours in France to binge drinking in Australia – readers talk about the alcohol culture where they live
Government standard drink definition in grams
Alcohol consumption guidelines vary wildly between countries – but so does the culture around how it is consumed, as our readers’ experiences show. Photograph: Ian West/PA
How much alcohol is safe to drink? It is a question scientists have been trying to get to the bottom of for centuries, and nowa survey exploring drinking advice around the worldhas found that the answer varies greatly depending on where you live.
In the US, for example, three or four drinks a day (42g for women and 56g for men) is thought to be safe, but in Sweden that is well over the amount health authorities recommend: 10g for women and 20g for men. What’s more, a “standard drink” in Iceland and the UK is 8g of alcohol, compared to 20g in Austria.
Can these variations be attributed to the fact that each place has its unique drinking culture? We asked readers to summarise their country’s attitude towards alcohol and the – unscientific, we should stress – results seem to suggest we might all be tipping the scale when it comes to consuming a safe amount.
South Africa
“It is varied, but most people drink socially, not generally to excess, but responsible drinking (not drinking and driving for example) is rare. We should have tighter drinking and driving laws.” – Dickon, 40
Spain
“In the Spanish equivalent of a greasy spoon, workers stop for brunch with a beer followed by a big brandy then get into their cars and go back to ‘work’. It’s the drink-driving that I don’t like.” – Anonymous, 45
Australia
“Binge drinking is glorified in Australia, and the focus is not on drinking in moderation or for enjoyment. We should be encouraging alcohol-free days. I am probably not a true representative of the Australian drinking population as I am a very light drinker – I drink maybe once a month.” – Anonymous, 44
New Zealand
“There is a big binge-drinking culture among the youth in the country and a huge part of the health budget and policing budget is spent on dealing with drink-driving, accident and emergency services, and other long-term harmful effects of alcohol. We have a robust liquor industry that lobbies the government fiercely to prevent regulation of alcohol sales. Advertising here has been grudgingly curtailed.” – Anonymous, 50
Japan
“People often go to Izakayas [Japanese-style ‘pub’] after work on Fridays or special occasions with their colleagues. However, alcohol is nearly always drunk here alongside snacks or food, meaning very few people get incredibly drunk. There are some cases of people with alcohol-related problems in this country, but people don’t drink alcohol in order to get drunk, but rather to relax.
“Japan’s alcohol safety guidelines seem roughly around the same as my home country [the UK]. However, you need to be 20 years old to buy alcohol in Japan, although unless you look underage they won’t ask you for ID, especially if you look non-Japanese.” – Anonymous, 23
Belgium
“Beer sold in every frituur [chip shop], open bottles of wine to help yourself to in supermarkets – but drunkenness is socially unacceptable. The guidelines seem fair enough, especially having at least two non-drinking days a week.” – Elspeth Morlin, 46
France
“In France people drink extensively and steadily, but in small units. Even though I have seen a couple of people drunk, I have never seen any aggression. At a dinner party you will ordinarily have an apéritif, three glasses of different wines and a digestif but all in small quantities. There will also be water on the table. The guidelines in France are sensible, although here there is a tradition of ignoring regulations and laws anyway. The French drink to savour the flavours and to enhance their food.” – Peter, 62
Italy
“In Italy, consuming alcohol revolves around food. So you are either drinking to accompany your meal (wine will always be on the table at an Italian meal), or you are being given free snacks to soak up your drink when at a bar. So the idea is that you order a drink at a standardised price and you are given crisps or other bite-sized food. Or you can help yourself from a generous buffet.
“The whole point of aperitivo is that you have it before dinner and drinking on an empty stomach generally leads to unpleasant circumstances (especially as typical aperitivo drinks are of the likes of the killer negroni). Hence the free food. This has led to the creation of a sub-culture: the one of apericena [a hybrid of aperitivo and cena: dinner]. So people, instead of going for a drink and then on to dinner, go to the bar with the best buffet, order a drink (normally £8-£10) and then just hit the buffet and stuff their faces, scoring a very cheap dinner.” – Benedetta, 31
Philippines
“Once a bottle is opened it must be finished; it’s never closed while still full. I think 14g a day for women seems reasonable, but 28g a day for a man seems a little high. However, I have never seen these guidelines published or talked about anywhere in this country.” – Richard Hartland, 39
UK
“In the UK the notion of enjoying yourself in the evening without alcohol is so unusual it can lead to you being called a freak (or at least miserable and antisocial) whereas drinking yourself insensible is not only acceptable, it is admired. Unfortunately (and I am a drinker) all advice given seems to be decided upon somewhat arbitrarily and although most doctors agree alcohol is bad for you, limits seem to be plucked out of the air with no real evidential statistics.
“While most would agree that binge drinking in the UK is deplorable and turns our towns and cities into ugly and threatening places at night, I find the nanny state response of telling us that any amount of drink can give us cancer or liver failure somewhat unhelpful. In Europe people seem to drink as part of a food experience and it is an accompaniment, not an end in itself. We have much to learn but our history suggests an entrenched way of relating to alcohol.” – Fergus, 68
US
“We would have a lot less underage drinking problems if we lowered the drinking age to 18. Young adults are getting targeted at parties and social events at universities where police know there will be alcohol and the people who are there and under 21 get underage drinking charges (and people over 21 get charged with the supply of alcohol to minor). I am not even a huge drinker, just seems absurd that freshman and sophomores have to be sneaky about it, which leads to more issues. There is also a binge-drinking culture generally in the US” – Karina, 23
The Labour leader is backing the Remain campaign after opposing EU treaties, institutions and policies for decades.
FRIDAY15 APRIL 2016
Mr Corbyn insisted there was "nothing half-hearted" about his decision to back calls for Britain to stay in the bloc this week.
But he added: "Over the years I have been critical of many decisions taken by the EU, and I remain critical of its shortcomings; from its lack of democratic accountability to the institutional pressure to deregulate or privatise public services.
"So Europe needs to change. But that change can only come from working with our allies in the EU. It's perfectly possible to be critical and still be convinced we need to remain a member."
Just how big a critic of Europe was he?
1975: Jeremy Corbyn revealed in an interview with Reuters last year that he had voted against Britain staying in the European Economic Community. Some 67 per cent of Britons voted Yes.
The admission worries pro-European Labour MPs, who are concerned their new leader might back Brexit.
1993: Corbyn rails against the Maastricht Treaty from the back benches, saying the agreement that created the European Union and the single currency was all about establishing a European central bank.
He adds: "Theimposition of a bankers' Europe on the people of this continent will endanger the cause of socialism in the United Kingdom and in any other country."
2002: Corbyn is one of the 34 Labour MPs and peers who form the Labour Against the Euro group.
2003: He attacks the draft European constitution over a clause calling for closer integration on military capabilities. Mr Corbyn, by now a leading anti-war campaigner said he was "alarmed that the warmongers are attempting to create more power and influence".
The real purpose of a European army would be to provide protection for commercial interests and a local force for Nato (US) to take place elsewhere in the world.
2005: Corbyn returns to the theme of military co-operation in Europe in his Morning Star column. He writes: "The left in Europe should remember our history. No country is free from the taint of colonial exploitation and the atrocities that the scramble for Latin America, Asia and Africa brought about.
"The real purpose of a European army would be to provide protection for commercial interests and a local force for Nato (US) to take place elsewhere in the world."
2005: French voters reject the EU Constitution. Corbyn calls it a "victory for the left" and calls for a "common platform across Europe that unites the left against the constitution".
2008: Corbyn votes against the controversial Lisbon Treaty, which replaced the draft constitution thrown out by voters in France and the Netherlands.
The European Union has always suffered a serious democratic deficit and the new positions would make the situation even worse.
2009: In a Morning Star article, he opposed the idea of making Tony Blair President of Europe. Corbyn wrote: "The European Union has always suffered a serious democratic deficit and the new positions would make the situation even worse.
"The creation of the post of president is a triumph for the tenacity of the European long-sighters. The project has always been to create a huge free-market Europe, with ever-limiting powers for national parliaments and an increasingly powerful common foreign and security policy."
The Eurocrats are presiding over an economic realignment at the expense of all the progress made by the working class over the past 50 years.
2011: Corbyn says European Central Bank policies have "forced unemployment, recession and poverty on Greece and others like Spain, Portugal and Ireland".
He adds: "The Eurocrats are presiding over an economic realignment at the expense of all the progress made by the working class over the past 50 years.
2016: It emerges that articles critical of the EU are no longer available on Corbyn's website. Among them is a piece saying the EU "authorised the plunder of natural resources" when it did a deal with Morocco over fishing rights off the coast of the disputed Western Sahara region.
(Lanka-e-News -15.April.2016, 6.10PM) A robed chief incumbent of a temple , a secretary of that temple committee along with a group have been arrested during the period of religious and merit seeking activities on the Sinhala New year day ! They were nabbed when digging for illicit treasure hidden in the temple premises. 
RAMESWARAM, 
