Is a degree worth the cost?

Thursday, 26 May 2016

If a family can afford to pay, higher education is worth the cost. However, when tax revenues are spent or

students borrow to attend college, we as a society need to question whether a degree is worth the cost

In a survey of the 2015 graduating class in the UK, 56% said their degree was not worth the £9000 per year tuition payment. However, 86% of the same group of students responding to another survey said they were satisfied with their campus experience. There you have it. The university experience is a worthwhile one, but who should pay is the question.

While young adults may appreciate a university for the campus life it offers, parents too are beneficiaries. Let’s face it. Higher education is first and foremost a way to keep youth off the streets and parents and adult children off each other’s backs. They are also necessary finishing schools for today’s cloistered youth. We raise our children as total dependents till they are 18. We send them to college to experience the world under some adult supervision.

If a family can afford to pay, higher education is worth the cost. However, when tax revenues are spent or students borrow to attend college, we as a society need to question whether a degree is worth the cost. We need to constantly assess and reassess the objectives of public higher education. 

Funding of basic education

Public funding of basic education (or school education) is unquestioned. Basic education is not really a public good. Public safety and clean air are public goods because they non-rival and non-excludable. Basic education is considered a merit good. Merit goods such as education and healthcare may be under-supplied in proportion to their perceived value if left to private enterprise, and are sometimes provided by governments or non-profit organisations. If the poor find it easier to not send their children to school, it is a social problem like if one or more families choose not to vaccinate their children.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) spell out decreasing level s of rights from basic to tertiary education as “make primary education compulsory and available free to all, secondary education available and accessible to every child and higher education accessible to all on the basis of capacity.” 

Funding higher education

Private benefits of higher education are clearly established to be higher than its public benefits by economists. However, public funding for higher education continues with varying levels across the world.

Historically we can see three types of funding depending on who paid the teachers – the first type was in ninth century Bologna, where students hired and paid for the teachers. The second type was in Paris about two centuries later where teachers were paid by the church. State funding for universities really started as a power issue when in 1167 King Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris and increased funding to the University of Oxford, to absorb the returning students.

Today education in UK, USA and Europe and Australia is largely funded out of the public purse, directly as grants to universities, or indirectly as easy-term loans to students. The reasons are threefold – (1) Democratic ideal of equal opportunity (2) Meeting national needs for a work force with advanced skills and (3) education as noble activity which cannot be priced, a more emotional reason .

Higher education existed in the East long before the first European university was established in Bologna in 1088. During the Buddha’s time in the fifth century or before, students followed famous teachers. The Buddha himself sought out two famous teachers at that time – Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputra. Although there is no indication that Siddhratha Gautama, the young Buddha, attended Taxila, the famous education institution at the time , there is evidence that many young men came to Taxila from far-off places such as Kashi, Kosala and Magadha, in the buddha’s ‘neighbourhood’. The students paid masters ‘Guru Dakshin’ or ‘Guru panduru’ at the end of their learning.

Students in Italy took Guru Dakshin to a new level when they were came into difficulties with the cities where they studied as foreign studnets. The students formed mutual aid societies of foreign students called “nations” (as they were grouped by nationality) for protection against city laws which imposed collective punishment on foreigners for the crimes and debts to their countrymen. These students then hired scholars from the city to teach them. In time the various “nations” decided to form a larger association, or universitas—thus, the university.

Professors themselves were not powerless, however, forming a College of Teachers, and securing the rights to set examination fees and degree requirements. Eventually, the city ended this arrangement, paying professors from tax revenues and making it a chartered public university.

Oxford University, the first university in UK, flourished as a public endeavour under the patronage of the King when as previously mentioned King had a bone to pick with the French and the Catholic Church.

The purpose of all early universities was essentially the training of clergy. Universities in USA too started for as institution to train ministers, but with private funding. Harvard University (1658 –to date), the first university in USA, started with a donation from a Mr. Harvard. Public funded school started with University of North Carolina (1789-todate) and later through the Land-Grant act which spread public universities, with at least one per state. The 1950 to 1970 period in USA saw rapid growth in higher education, but since then, funding for universities have been more measured and universities are continually asked to justify their existence. 

Massification 

A large part of issues of quality and relevance of universities today is related to phenomenon of massification. Prior to World War II, only a small minority of the US population—most of whom were male and white—continued their education after high school. The initial expansion of American higher education came immediately following World War II, and again after the Korean War, when returning soldiers were offered financial assistance from the federal government under the GI Bill of Rights. Designed to ameliorate the labour market crunch that would otherwise have been created by the large number of returning soldiers, the GI Bill extended access to higher education to veterans and their families. We are now beginning to see the effects of massification in the developed world.

As Hugh Lauder of University of Bath notes:

“For much of the twentieth century, a close relationship between education, jobs and rewards existed in most of the developed economies primarily because access to higher education was severely restricted. Today, by contrast, higher education has become the norm for middle classes and aspiring working classes in most of the developed economies.

“However, the demand for knowledge workers has failed to keep pace with rapid increase in the supply of graduates. This has led to increasing labour market congestion as university graduates struggle to distinguish themselves from other job seekers with the same credentials. The result is credential inflation that makes it more difficult to cash in on educational success.”

Lauder’s comments are about developed economies, but worth keeping in mind in our part of the world as well.

In Sri Lanka, we saw our own massification when the University of Ceylon established a second Arts Faculty in Colombo in the early 1960s. The classes were conducted in old racecourse, hence the nickname Ashva Vidyala students to those enrolled. 

Growth of private higher education

In UK, USA, and Australia, the massification of higher education was publicly funded. Today 80% of or more of students in those countries are enrolled in public institutions. Those in private institutions too are subsidised through easy-term loans.

In contrast, private higher education is predominant in Asia to varying levels with South Korea (80.1%), Japan (77.4%), Indonesia (79.9%) and Philippines (60.9%) at the high end, and India (30.7%), Bangladesh (14.4%), Vietnam (10.4%) and Thailand (9.9%) at the lower end in terms of enrolments in private institutions. Absent from statistics is Sri Lanka, a country where succeeding governments have been too ‘chicken’ to acknowledge the presence of private higher education.

This growth of higher education in Asia is not a fashion or even an evil, but it is how each country deals with the phenomenon of mass demand and deal with it. 

Private opportunities Sri Lanka

In a 2011 survey by LIRNEAsia, we found 27 private institutions awarded 2,733 degrees during the 2010/2011 academic year. In addition, public institutions admitting students outside of the UGC Z-Score system produced 4,229 graduate from nine institutions. We also found five or more professional bodies awarding 1000+ degree equivalent qualifications, for a total of 8,000+ plus degree or degree-equivalent private degree holders produced in Sri Lanka. The output of public institutions in the same year was just twice as much at 16,000.

We also found the costs too be anywhere five lakhs to more than 10 lakhs, with most programs costing five to 10 lakhs. The quality may vary, but we found all degrees awarded were from foreign universities recognised by the UGC.

In effect, in Sri Lanka we now have an opportunities for private higher education of a reasonable quality to fit every middle class or upper middle pocketbook. My advice to parents would be to seek out opportunities that expand the experience and world view of our young adults who have grown up in what I would call Colombo-based upper middle class bubble.

All Blankets Need Holes: Reflections On “Let Her Cry”

By Liyanage Amarakeerthi –May 25, 2016

Dr. Liyanage Amarakeerthi

The opening scene of Asoka Handagama’s new film Age Asa Aga (Let her cry) is also its last scene. Only thing we get to see here is a windshield of a car on a rainy night. The two wipers move fast mopping off the water from the windshield. The lights reflected on the glass seem to blur the vision even further. The driver, whose face we cannot see, struggles to find his way. Four voices are heard from within the car. They seem (or ‘heard’) to be speaking of a dramatic incident where a certain woman uprooted a ‘lamp-tree’ from a temple ground. They laugh, and then, one woman cries. Ardent moviegoers know that the crying voice belongs to Swarna Mallawaracchi – a versatile actress in Sinhala cinema. A male voice says, “Let her cry.”The constant rain falling on the windshield is wiped off by the wipers that move in to the rhythm of a heartbeat. The life within the car is sheltered from the rain outside. This, quasi ‘shelteredness’ has a tale to tell us.

The movie is a cinematic meditation on a relationship an aging university professor develops with a female student. As she herself declares, the student is in love with the professor and wants to have a child from him. The professor, even though he is visibly attracted to her, does not want to have an affair. He tells her that he likes her because she is talented in her studies and that he does not want to jeopardize his family life. The fact that his attraction to her is more than a teacher’s admiration is shown by his regular visits to her lodging place. In addition, he is in the habit of giving her rather romantic gifts such as perfume. The girl, while madly in love with the professor, keeps calling his aging wife (Swarna) to ‘brief’ her on the development of the relationship. Some pieces of information the girl communicates to the wife are in fact parts of her fantasy. She gains immense pleasure by playing with the wife’s sexual jealousy: the girl is professor’s fantasy and also the wife’s nightmare and pushing the older woman’s family to the brink of destruction.

From Identity Politics to Identity Crisis

The professor’s intellectual background is hard to know, and we do not get to see what he teaches at the university. The audience is provided with a very brief segment of a television interview where the professor talks about the problems of identity politics: Even that segment is not directly heard but rather overheard by the viewer. The professor’s teenage daughter, a constant TV watcher, briefly looks at her father’s talk show while changing channels. Elaborating on identity politics, the professor is heard to claim that a certain sense of insecurity is the reason for people to overly identify with language, race or religion. While he theorizes about identity crisis in macro politics of the country, he himself runs into a crisis or conflict of identity in his personal life: his identity as a professor conflicts with the identities as a husband and a father. It is difficult for him to achieve the full identity as a lover as well. As a member of society he does not looks to be organically connected: He speaks mostly in English and struggles to express himself in Sinhala to a wife who looks to be more comfortable in Sinhala. In that sense, he does not have complete identity in anything. The filmmaker, a master in handling cinematic language, shows us how the professor is trapped among many identities feeling complete in neither. For example, on the girl’s insistence, he takes her to a beach but he does not get out his car to walk with her as typical lovers would normally do. In the background, we see a family with young children walking on the beach semiotically indicating that his family is also in his troubled mind. Each time, he stops the car by the beach a family is seen walking between him and the ocean.

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Navy wants action be taken against EP CM Nazeer

2016-05-25
The navy today handed a report to the Defence Ministry requesting action be taken against Eastern Province Chief Minister Nazeer Ahamed for allegedly rebuking a naval officer at an event at the Sampur Maha Vidyalaya on Friday. 

A video of the CM rebuking a naval officer, who was the compere at an event at the Sampur Maha Vidyalaya, went viral recently. Eastern Province Governor Austin Fernando and US Ambassador Atul Keshap also attended the event as Chief Guests. 

Mr. Ahamed lost his cool when he had mistakenly assumed that the navy personnel was requesting him to move off the stage, when he had in fact only requested the media personnel to make room for students to come up on stage. 

"Get out from here idiot. If you don’t know what protocol is, just get out. Who the hell are you to stop me? Even you, the Governor, don’t know what the protocol is. I respect the Ambassador much more. You should know Governor, you should know the protocol," he was heard saying. 

Navy Commander Ravindra Wijegunaratne yesterday said that he handed over a report on the incident to the Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi.

 “We have handed over a report recommending the measures that need to be taken to the Defence Secretary yesterday. We are quite happy that the naval personnel did not act in a manner that made the situation worse,” he said. (Darshana Sanjeewa) 

SLT chairman gears up to curb and curtail corruption under ‘nefarious decade’- Len exposures reap dividends !

(Lanka-e-News -25.May.2016, 7.15 PM)  The attempts being made to perpetuate a fraud that was committed within the SLT Co. before January 2015  was highlighted by Lanka e news in its report dated 24 th May (yesterday) under the caption ‘Racketeers of ‘nefarious decade’ seeking to perpetuate  their plunders under good governance government.’ Following this exposure the SLT chairman Kumarasinghe Sirisena had said , after investigating this duly  , appropriate remedial action will be  taken . 

The chairman who sent an email message to Lanka e news had stated therein : 

The minister in charge , and myself as chairman are committed to serve the pristine pure good governance administration .

Already , the CEO of SLT Co. is entrusted with the task of inquiring into the details that were exposed in the report dated 2016-05-22 , and prepare a report.

The  details reported by the website on what took place  during the previous regime ( prior to January 2015)  are not being repudiated , and we wish  to inform that such a thing will never recur . We take full responsibility when  announcing   to the public this will never ever be repeated.

We wish to assure  it shall be our   full responsibility to conduct a  proper investigation into the details furnished , and to take appropriate remedial measures 

Kumarasinghe Sirisena 
Chairman  , Sri Lanka Telecom

Putting the past behind ,  Lanka e news viewers must be thankful to SLT chairman Kumarasinghe Sirisena for the prompt action taken by him no sooner than he became aware of this  corruption , and the viewers must be hoping this attitude and approach will continue in the future too.

Connected news report –
Racketeers of ‘nefarious decade’ seeking to perpetuate their plunders under good governance government  ! public intently watching SLT chairman and Minister  

---------------------------
by     (2016-05-25 13:59:16)

Anura Senanayake meets Sundara in remand prison!

May 25, 2016

Retired DIG Anura Senanayake, presently in remand custody in connection with the Wasim Thajudeen killing, has met one of his closest disciples, an underworld figure by the name Sundara, at remand prison, say sources at Welikada Prison.

Sundara is the main disciple of Kudu Delu of Slave Island, and it was him who had run the drug business in Colombo city following the murder of his boss. His drug supplier is Wele Suda, also in remand custody now. Senanayake had provided protection for Sundara, and the two have been close friends since those days. With the powers of Senanayake, Sundara had forcibly made use of a 10-perch plot of land near Jayaratne Florists in Borella, it is alleged. Following Senanayake’s retirement, Sundara was arrested.

Prison sources also say Senanayake is being held in the same cell previously used for Yoshitha Rajapaksa. It has a television set, fan and other facilities not enjoyed by other remand prisoners.

When Senanayake was taken to prison on May 23, he saw none other than DIG Vaas Gunawardena. Since the two are being kept away from each other, Senanayake will not come to any harm at the hands of Gunawardena. However, Gunawardena is making every attempt to encounter Senanayake at the prison.

Sundara is very happy that his boss has come to stay in remand custody. Reports also say Sundara is paying for Senanayake’s legal fees and facilities at remand prison.

Gota roars again

On the same day, greatly alarmed by Senanayake being sent into remand custody, ex-defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa gave telephone calls to several persons and behaved in a rage, reports say. Speaking to several well-known lawyers, he inquired from them about the legal basis for Senanayake being sent into remand custody.

Later, he called several top police officers and asked them, “Aren’t you afraid of talking to us now? He told another officer, “Let’s see in the future.” Expressing their displeasure over this, the top police officers told the CID yesterday, “Do not set half-dead cobras free. Get rid of them.”

SriLankan Airlines Cabin Crew To Commence Industrial Action, Villifies Chairman Ajit Dias And CEO Ratwatte

May 25, 2016

The Cabin Crew of SriLankan Airlines will commence industrial action today in protest over the management’s non acceptance of their Flight Attendants Union Executive Committee Members’ legitimacy.

An emergency meeting was called for by Cabin Manager Adrian Cramer which was also presided over by Cabin Manager Dion Jansz that was attended by over 200 Cabin Crew at the Bandaranaike International Conference Hall in Colombo yesterday.

This emergency meeting was held after the management of Sri Lankan Airlines wrote officially to Cabin Manager Adrian Cramer and indicated that they refused to accept a group of Cabin Crew headed by him as the official body of the Flight Attendants Union (FAU), as they neglected to furnish proof of their official capacity despite being written to officially.

In a series of articles commencing January 2016, It was factually reported by Colombo Telegraph that the group of cabin crew masquerading as members of the Executive Committee of the FAU were in fact in violation of their very own constitution. This was when Cabin Manager Cramer along with a group of Cabin Crew forcibly took over the reins of the FAU in December 2015, even though they did not hold a ballot which was constitutionally required.

At the meeting today a motion was passed to commence immediate industrial action where by the Cabin Crew will refuse to fly on their days off.

It was also passed to cut down on the In Flight product offered to passengers depending on the number of available Cabin Crew on board.

This industrial action will continue until the management of the airline agrees to accept them as the official FAU body and commences engaging in dialog with them.

Over the years the management of the national carrier has always operated with numbers way below their required cadre of Cabin Crew and has juggled around with their off days to ensure that flights were properly crewed.

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Talking Trump and War Crimes With South Sudan’s Rebel Leader

In an exclusive interview at his armed camp, Riek Machar accuses his rival of war crimes and blames the U.S. for prolonging the 
carnage.



BY SIOBHÁN O'GRADY-MAY 25, 2016

JUBA, South Sudan — Since he returned to Juba late last month, South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar has been living in a makeshift camp made up of little more than a smattering of tents and a few air-conditioned pop-up offices.

The day I visited, rebel soldiers dressed in worn-out army fatigues roamed the property in flip-flops, dark circles under their eyes and AK-47 assault rifles slung across their shoulders. One stood next to a piece of string intended to act as a security checkpoint, holding a notebook where visitors were supposed to sign in. He didn’t have a pen.

Other armed men, many with the traditional Nuer ethnic group scarring on their foreheads, lay in the dirt under mango trees, strings of bullet casings hanging from the branches above them. A group of men and women wearing suits and dresses sat on chairs under one of those trees, looking blankly into the distance as though they were waiting for a speech to begin.


It took more than three hours to get face to face with Machar, one of the men at the center of a fragile U.S.-backed effort to end his country’s bloody civil war. While I was waiting, one young advisor wearing a navy blue suit sat with me and spoke at length about Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican Party nomination in the United States’ presidential election. At one point, he suggested that a leader like Trump could solve South Sudan’s ongoing debate over an attempt by Machar’s rival, President Salva Kiir, to change the country from 10 states to 28. The opposition claims it is a clear violation of the shaky August peace deal designed to end a conflict that has killed more than 50,000 people since December 2013. “We need Donald Trump to solve that problem,” the staffer said with a laugh.

When I finally reached Machar, he sat at the head of a large conference table, surrounded by piles of papers, folders, and three-ring binders. “I’m trying to get organized,” he said, pointing to the mess and apologizing for the delay.

Dressed in a traditional white robe and matching hat, Machar, who is now serving as the country’s first vice president, struck a surprisingly relaxed and optimistic tone for most of the hour-long conversation. When questioned about his current stance on the 28-state issue — a contentious dispute with the potential to plunge the country back into war — Machar said he and Kiir still had not directly talked about the proposal. Machar opposes the move in large part because it is seen as undermining the two leaders’ power-sharing agreement to put more territory in Kiir’s control.

“Our position is still the same. The act is a violation of the peace agreement,” he said. “It’s in the agenda. We hope to discuss it.”

Machar pulled no punches in the interview about what he derided as Washington’s hands-off approach to the conflict in South Sudan, which broke out after rumors swirled in 2013 that Machar planned to overthrow Kiir in a coup. Repeating a charge made to me in October, he angrily claimed that the United States is now delaying his country’s already fragile peace process by refusing to provide tents and food to his forces to encourage them to come home from the bush.

Instead, he said American officials want him to fund it himself, claiming that if he could pay to supply weapons throughout the war, he can pay to clean it up. He repeated their suggestion and scoffed at it, telling me it would be impossible because he doesn’t even have money to rebuild his own house which was destroyed by a government attack early in the war.When I asked who was funding the comfortable, air conditioned office we were sitting in, he smiled.

“Friends. Let’s say friends, that’s all,” he said. “One of them could be you. If you have money, you will contribute a little here.”

Machar told me he is disappointed that since finally returning to the capital on April 26, he has not heard from any of the American officials who spent months calling for him to go home. “No John Kerry, no Susan Rice, no Donald Booth,” he said, naming the American envoy to South Sudan and adding that he has not spoken to Rice, who was at the forefront of South Sudan’s push for independence, since before she canceled a meeting with him when he was in Washington last October.

During our October conversation in Washington the day the meeting was scrapped, Machar said that Booth delivered the news, then suggested the rebel leader return to Juba. At the time, Machar referred to the capital as a “killing ground.”

“You know we were friends? We know one another well,” Machar said about Rice during our May meeting, recalling how “furious” he was the last time he was in Washington. “So I was disappointed. You see how friends can get disappointed.”

A State Department official speaking on condition of anonymity told Foreign Policy that since returning to Juba, Machar has met with Molly Phee, the American ambassador to South Sudan, and that moving forward, she will be his primary point of contact within the United States government. He also said that organizing for troops to return from the bush is primarily the responsibility of the warring South Sudanese parties.

Machar is now closely following the upcoming presidential election in the United States and wondering what it will mean for his own country’s future. Many of his followers believe Machar to be the descendant of an ancient Nuer prophet, so maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he claims to have predicted months ago that Trump would take an easy lead in the Republican primary.

“Somebody that free discusses anything. People like it. The American people like it!” he said between laughs, telling me he is angry he can’t get CNN in his new camp in Juba and that his advisers didn’t initially believe him when he said Trump would likely be the Republican nominee.“Now I’m telling them ‘Prepare yourselves! Trump might win!’”

But whether Trump is prepared to help South Sudan? Well, that’s another question.

“We are a small country in Africa,” Machar said. “I don’t know whether somebody who came out of business has taken interest in South Sudan, although we would want him to take interest in us.”

Besides his repeated complaints about the United States, Machar stayed surprisingly even-keeled during the conversation, even when discussing his shaky relationship with Kiir. When I asked about the government’s purchase of amphibious tanks, which were reportedly used by Kiir’s forces to hunt down civilians and armed rebels in the country’s massive and treacherous swamplands, Machar said he believes buying and using them amounts to war crimes as well as crimes against humanity.

“You use proportional power,” he said. “When you fight your enemy you’re restraining because you don’t want to eliminate, you want to disable. But when you use amphibious tanks against the civilian population, that’s a serious matter.”

The African Union, the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International have accused both sides of committing atrocities, ranging from ethnically targeted murders to mass rape. Machar said that the last time he was aware of any human rights violations carried out by troops loyal to him was in early 2014, before they had an organized central command, but that if he was called to appear before the International Criminal Court, he would show up. “I’m not intimidated by the ICC,” he said. A spokesman for Kiir’s government did not respond to any of my phone calls or emails.

The rebel leader, who spent decades leading the push for South Sudan’s independence from Sudan, was born in Unity State, where some of the conflict’s worst violence took place. The night the most recent conflict broke out more than two years ago, Machar said government forces killed 34 people in his house alone, and claimed in our conversation that the conflict took him by such surprise that he ran away in his pajamas. “If it was a planned war I would have been in military fatigues,” he said.

Much of Machar’s refusal to return to Juba for so many months after the signing of the peace deal last August had to do with his fear he would risk his own life if he went back to where the conflict began. But when I asked whether he felt safe in Juba, he hesitated. “I’m here,” he said, adding that while the capital is still “not fully demilitarized,” he himself feels safe.

And as for what’s next? Machar already has his eyes set on South Sudan’s 2018 presidential election, when citizens are slated to go to the polls in a national vote for their leaders for the first time since independence. He said he will run for president only if his party “says so,” and that the priority for now is making sure conflict doesn’t break out again. He is convinced that in addition to improving security, getting displaced people back home, and beginning the process of reconciliation, the world’s youngest country needs to build roads and improve the economy, which has been in free-fall throughout the conflict, in order to ensure peace.

One of the only other ingredients is making things work with Kiir — at least until 2018 when they won’t have to sit side-by-side anymore.

“We must forget about personal animosity if we’re going to implement the agreement,” he said. “Or else you would condemn the country to perpetual war.”

Photo credit: Michael Habtemariam/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Ten killed in suicide attack near Afghan capital

Afghan policemen keep watch near the site of a suicide bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 25, 2016.REUTERS/MOHAMMAD ISMAIL

Wed May 25, 2016 

A suicide bomber killed at least 10 people and wounded four on Wednesday in an attack on a bus carrying staff from an appeal court west of the Afghan capital, Kabul, officials said, and the Taliban claimed responsibility.

The attack came on the same day the Taliban announced a new leader to succeed Mullah Akhtar Mansour, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike at the weekend.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the attack on staff from the judicial system was in response to the Afghan government's decision earlier this month to execute six Taliban prisoners on death row. Other attacks would follow, he said.

"We will continue on this path," he said in a statement.

The decision by President Ashraf Ghani to execute the prisoners on death row was taken as part of a tougher policy towards the Taliban following a suicide attack by the insurgent movement which killed at least 64 people in Kabul.

An interior ministry spokesman said 10 people had been killed and four wounded in Wednesday's attack, while the Taliban said 22 people had been killed or wounded.

(Reporting by Mirwais Harooni; Editing by Nick Macfie and Mike Collett-White)

Russia frees imprisoned Ukrainian pilot in dramatic prisoner swap

Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko in a Moscow court in March. (Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters)

By Andrew Roth May 25

MOSCOW — Russia and Ukraine completed a high-level prisoner swap Wednesday, with a Ukrainian helicopter pilot dubbed the country’s “Joan of Arc” traded for two Russian servicemen accused of being members of Russian military intelligence.

The deal resolved a major point of friction between the two countries, but it also reflected the deep tensions that include Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and an ongoing battle against pro-Russia rebels in eastern Ukraine.

“I survived,” the pilot, Lt. Nadiya Savchenko, said on the tarmac in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, adding that she may return to military service. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko met with her at the presidential administration, where he basked in a rare political victory.

“We will return Crimea and Donbas under Ukrainian sovereignty, just as we have returned Nadia,” he said, referring to the Crimean peninsula, and to the Donbas region of east Ukraine, which is under the control of pro-Russian separatists.

Savchenko arrived in Kiev as the Russians, who were pardoned on Wednesday by Poroshenko, arrived in Moscow. They were met by their wives and declined to speak publicly to Russian state journalists on the tarmac, but reportedly were planning to travel home to the Volga city of Tolyatti on the same day.

[Ukrainians rally behind country’s “Joan of Arc”]

Russian soldiers Capt. Yevgeny Yerofeyev, left, and Sgt. Alexander Alexandrov, in a Ukraine court in January. (Sergei Chuzavkov/AP) 

Savchenko and the two Russians, Capt. Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Sgt. Alexander Alexandrov, were captured during fighting in southeast Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists have carved out an unrecognized statelet after two years of war with Kiev.

Ukrainian officials said that the two Russians were proof that Moscow was managing the conflict in southeast Ukraine and continuing to send men and materiel to destabilize the new government. In Russia, Savchenko was portrayed as a nationalist and convicted of abetting the murder of two Russian journalists killed in a mortar strike.

Expected to be used as bargaining chips, all three were given lengthy prison sentences. A Russian court gave Savchenko 22 years on murder charges, while the Russians were sentenced in April by a Kiev court to 14 years in prison each on terrorism and weapons charges.

Western officials, including Secretary of State John F. Kerry, had lobbied Moscow for Savchenko’s release, calling her a political prisoner. Russia, which disavowed any formal connection to Yerofeyev and Alexandrov and said they had joined the separatists to fight as volunteers, also criticized their convictions. On Wednesday, Russian President Vladi­mir Putin also pardoned Savchenko in an official decree.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in televised statements that Putin had no plans to meet with Yerofeyev and Alexandrov, but that he had met with the parents of two journalists killed in the artillery strike that Savchenko was convicted of orchestrating. The families of the deceased journalists personally requested that Putin pardon Savchenko, Peskov said.

Putin was later shown thanking the two women for their “humanitarian position” on television in a meeting in Moscow that was attended by Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, who Putin said played the role of mediator in the exchange.

[Clinton quietly backed jailed pilot]

Mark Feygin, an attorney for Savchenko, wrote on Facebook: “Two years ago I promised Ukrainians I would do everything possible to free Nadiya. I am able keep my word. She is on the way home to Ukraine.”

Savchenko, a former Ukrainian helicopter pilot who fought in the Iraq War and later joined a pro-Ukrainian paramilitary battalion, was captured by separatist fighters during a battle near the village of Metalist, in southeast Ukraine, in June 2014. Three weeks later, she reappeared in Russian custody, where she was charged with directing artillery fire that killed two Russian journalists during the fighting.

Savchenko said that she was kidnapped and spirited across the border, while Russian prosecutors said she had snuck across the border by pretending to be a refugee and was later arrested.

Her case became a cause célèbre in Kiev, where she was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine and elected as a member of parliament despite being in Russian custody. A Russian court sentenced her to 22 years in prison in March for complicity in the deaths of the journalists in a verdict that Poroshenko called a “kangaroo court.”

The two Russians, Yerofeyev and Alexandrov, were wounded and captured by the Ukrainian army in fighting near the government-held city of Schastya in May 2015.

The Ukrainian government claimed that the two men were members of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Russia’s military intelligence agency, and said their capture was proof that Russia had continued supplying men and weapons to the pro-Russian separatists.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the two had quit the military recently and were serving as volunteers with rebel militias.

Brazil: Minister Resigns After Explosive Transcripts Unveil Plot to Oust Rousseff

MAY 24, 2016

In Brazil, a key figure in the interim government has resigned after explosive new transcripts revealed how he plotted to oust President Dilma Rousseff in order to end a corruption investigation that was targeting him. The transcripts, published by Brazil’s largest newspaper, Folha de São Paulo, document a conversation in March, just weeks before Brazil’s lower house voted in favor of impeaching President Rousseff. Romero Jucá, who was then a senator but became a planning minister after Rousseff’s ouster, was speaking with a former oil executive, Sérgio Machado. Both men had been targets of the so-called "Car Wash" investigation over money laundering and corruption at the state-controlled oil firm Petrobras. In the conversation, the men agree that ousting President Rousseff would be the only way to end the corruption probe. Jucá notes the impeachment would "end the pressure from the media and other sectors to continue the Car Wash investigation." He also says he has spoken with military commanders, who are supporting the plan and who are "monitoring the Landless Workers Movement," which supports policies of Rousseff’s party. And Jucá says he has secured involvement by justices of the Brazilian Supreme Court, saying "there are only a small number" of justices he has not had access to. Writing for The Intercept, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald said, "The transcripts provide proof for virtually every suspicion and accusation impeachment opponents have long expressed about those plotting to remove Dilma from office." On Monday, the planning minister said his comments were taken out of context, but he would step down. Meanwhile, as Brazil’s interim foreign minister visited Argentina, protesters gathered in Buenos Aires to condemn Rousseff’s ouster as a coup.

Mateo Alves: "This is a coup which has been made legitimate by the (Brazilian) National Congress. But it is not legitimate, it is illegal. It is a coup to put those corrupt criminals in power."

Palestinians Observe Al Nakba-Catastrophe

While the US led west continue to destroy Middle East

by Latheef Farook  :  

Palestinians worldwide observedthe 1948 Palestinian exodus, known as the Nakba, meaning “catastrophe", on 15 March 1948, tomark the expelling and fleeing of 711,000 Palestiniansfrom their lands to create Jewish state of Israel.

Dispersed Palestinian ended up in refugee camps in neighbouring countries. These refugees and their descendants number several million people today They are divided between Jordan (2 million), Lebanon (427,057), Syria (477,700), the West Bank (788,108) and the Gaza Strip (1.1 million), with at least another quarter of a million internally displaced Palestinians in Israel where they are virtually second class citizens.

It was the atrocities of Jewish terror groups and fear of Deri Yassin type massacre forced many Palestinians to flee for their lives. Added to this were expulsion orders by Israel, collapse in Palestinian leadership and an unwillingness to live under Jewish control. Later, a series of laws passed by the first Israeli government prevented them from returning to their homes, or claiming their property.

This yearPalestinians commemorated their displacement with a call for British government to apologise for helping Zionists to create Israel.

Shedding light on the issueQatar’s Al Jazeera Television in a four-part series on the history of the Palestinian exodus Al Jazeera stated as follows;

This sweeping history starts back in 1799 with Napoleon's attempted advance into Palestine to check British expansion and his appeal to the Jews of the world to claim the Palestine in league with France.

The narrative moves through the 19th century and into the 20th century with the British Mandate in Palestine and comes right up to date in the 21st century and the ongoing 'nakba' on the ground.

British historian Arnold Toynbee said; the tragedy in Palestine is not just a local one; it is a tragedy for the world, because it is an injustice that is a menace to the world's peace”.

This story starts in 1799, outside the walls of Acre in Ottoman-controlled Palestine, when an army under Napoleon Bonaparte besieged the cityto defeat the Ottomans and establish a French presence in the region.

In search of allies, Napoleon issued a letter offering Palestine as a homeland to the Jews under French protection. He called on the Jews to ‘rise up’ against what he called their oppressors.

Napoleon was ultimately defeated.  Yet his project for a Jewish homeland in the region under a colonial protectorate did not die, 40 years later, the plan was revived but by the British.

In 1917 the British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour   declared that:"The four Great Powers (Britain, France, United States and Soviet Union) are committed to Zionism.  And Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long traditions, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desiresand prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land"

On 29 November 1947, the UN  Resolution 181 divided Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state, with Jerusalem as an internationalised city.The United States played a leading role in blackmailing member countries of UN to vote for partitioning Palestine.

The ideologically divided United States and the Soviet Union stood together  in creating the Zionist state in Palestine - showing to what extent the Jews had control over the two super powers and effectively the world at large. ”.

In early 1948, Jewish terror gangs ,Irgun and Hagana,began to seize more land in Palestine.

The Arabs in Palestine rejected the UN resolution to partition their country into two halves because that meant would be tantamount to cleaving their own motherland. You will recall that it was through her willingness to abandon her own baby, rather than have it halved into two, that the woman in the famous Biblical story helped Solomon the Wise to identify her as the disputed baby’s true mother. But unfortunately sitting on judgment in this case was not Solomon the Wise but the UN, the impotent tool that has become notorious for legalising the conspiracies of the US and Europe to dominate the world.

Speaking of the unjust nature of the UN move to partition Palestine renowned author and historian H.G. Wells said, “If it is proper to reconstitute a Jewish state which has not existed for more than 2,000 years, why not go back another two thousand years, and reconstitute the Canaanite state? The Canaanites, unlike the Jews, are still there”.

There was more widespread condemnation of this injustice from all right thinking people. In an article which appeared in The New York Review of Books I. F. Stone said:

“There is a good deal of simplistic sophistry in the Zionist case. The whole earth would have to be reshuffled if claims 2,000 years old to ‘irredenta’ were suddenly to be allowed. Zionism from its beginning, tried to gain its aims by offering to serve as an outpost in the Arab world for one of the great empires.

In May 1948, Swedish diplomat Count Folke Bernadotte was appointed as the UN Mediator in Palestine to seek a peaceful settlement.

The Count surveyed devastated Palestinian villages and visited refugee camps in both Palestine and Jordan. The scale of the humanitarian disaster became apparent, as he witnessed cramp living conditions, long queues for basic food and scarce medical aid.

In a report dated 16 September 1948, he wrote:

"It would be an offence against the principles of elementary justice if these innocent victims,Palestinians, were denied the right to return to their homes, while Jewish immigrants flow into Palestine, and, indeed, at least offer the threat of permanent replacement of the Arab refugees who have been rooted in the land for centuries."

The Count's first proposal argued for fixed boundaries through negotiation, an economic union between both states, and the return of Palestinian refugees - the proposal was turned down.

On 17 September, the day following his UN report,Count Bernadotte's motorcade was ambushed in Jerusalem. He was shot at point blank range by members of the Jewish Stern terrorgang.

Killing anyone in their way has been the Jewish speciality.

What actually emerged as the Jewish State was anything but the “state” planned for under the partition plan. It was the upshot of brute force, created in violation of the principles of the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the very resolution under which the Israelis now claim sovereignty.

What is happening today? Under the guise of fighting a war on terrorism, which is a US creation, US, Britain, France, Russia and Israel   invade and destroy Middle East countries and massacring innocent people to create a greater Israel.

Unprecedented Judeo-Christian crime

Palestinian refugees leaving their homes and lands in 1948

Palestinian refugee camp-

Makeshift Palestinian school

Palestinian refugees fleeing  barefoot for safety Ruins of the former Arab village of Bayt Jibrin, inside the green line

west of Hebron

Keys to his house in what is Israel now

Palestinian Loss of Land 1946-2005

 Israeli border policemen detain a Palestinian youth during a protest commemorating the Nakba at Damascus Gate, outside Jerusalem’s Old City, May 15, 2014.v

Meet the 12-year-old Gaza IT geek

Mohammed Alhaulimy (

Hosam Salem)

24 May 2016

Twelve-year-olds across the world like their computers. But few take it to the level of Mohammad Alhaulimy.

From a young age, Mohammad has shown a passion for computers, coding and technology, a passion that has been indulged by his family, and which has seen him receive support from other countries and invitations to conferences around the region.

Mohammad built his first mobile application, World Savers, at the age of 9. He sought to raise awareness about global issues such as wars and pollution in a game format. It didn’t go far, and has now been forgotten, but it was a first challenge for the budding coder.

“I wanted to create something of my own, a game or a video … Something that I would appreciate,” Mohammad said as he stared at his Mac.

He attended an International Computer Driving License, ICDL, course when he was 7, to secure the global computer skills certification. But he soon found it was not challenging enough.

“The courses I attended never satisfied me. I turned to the Internet and YouTube searching for what I’ve missed in courses,” he said, as a Facebook notification popped onto his screen.

Mohammad’s family was supportive from the beginning. Luai Mohammad Alhaulimy, Mohammad’s proud teacher father, bought his son a brand new laptop at the age of 10 to encourage him to improve his skills.

His mother Elham, believes her son has a unique and ambitious character that will lead him to success. Yet she worries about the time he spends in front of the screen, where “he sits focused for long hours.”

“I am afraid that his health might be affected. He is my only son,” said Elham. “But I am happy we have a little genius in our house.”

Mohammad’s potential was soon recognized elsewhere. In 2014, he took part in the Microsoft Imagine Cup student technology competition, where he, along with another Palestinian from the West Bank, beat off competition from 500 others to make it through to the final round.

International connections

Microsoft Imagine Cup and other such events are hosted by Gaza Sky Geeks, which says it is the first startup business accelerator in Gaza. Gaza Sky Geeks was founded by Mercy Corps, an international charity that tries to encourage innovation and small enterprises around the world. It aims to connect Gaza’s most talented youths with investors to provide them with expertise, mentorship and networks.

Said Hassan, Gaza Sky Geeks outreach and acceleration manager, said the organization provides equal opportunities for all members regardless of age and based entirely on merit. And Mohammad has already been connected with the Zain IT corporation in Jordan.

“[We] connected Mohammad to Khaled ElAhmad, a social media manager at Zain, who helped him get a new Mac after a crowdfunding campaign in Jordan,” said Hassan.

Gaza Sky Geeks also connected the boy to a game studio in Gaza — Baskalet (bicycle), which they said is the first game developer in the coastal enclave to receive significant international funding. There, said Hassan, Mohammad has been able to “polish up his skills, acquire professional experience and get involved in vibrant community that nurtures innovation.”

Mohammad receives invitations from IT companies around the world to participate in conferences and competitions. Among them have been the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 2015 and the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona the same year. But Israeli and Egyptian-imposed travel restrictions on Palestinians in Gaza mean leaving the impoverished strip is a near impossible task, and Mohammad has not made a single such IT meet yet.

“Sometimes you just have to live with being a Palestinian. I’ve been denied the right to travel many times. Recently, I missed a robots and artificial intelligence competition in Jordan,” said Mohammad.

The event was organized by the Arab Robotics Association and took place in the Jordan Valley in March.

Mohammad’s love of computer coding has also pushed him to learn more languages, and he is especially interested in Hebrew. Even though English would be adequate, lessons are more expensive in Gaza, said Mohammad, who added that he wants to explore Hebrew programming websites.

“English courses are too expensive here in Gaza. They can also be found easily on YouTube. Hebrew courses are more affordable. I am also more interested to learn Hebrew than other languages,” said Mohammed.

Hebrew lessons, global ambitions

Learning Hebrew is becoming a phenomenon in the Gaza Strip, where more and more people are enrolling for lessons. Mohammad is the youngest student at the Nafha Center for Prisoners Studies and Israeli Affairs, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, a high achiever.

After getting top marks at the intermediate level, he is now studying for the Hebrew language diploma.

“Mohammad has a bubbly personality that helped him associate with everyone in the course,” said Eman Ben Said, who teaches Hebrew at the center. “Besides being phenomenally intelligent, he is witty, self-confident and knows more than his other older peers.”

His is a convivial presence that often makes his fellow students laugh, said Saed, who is keen that the boy’s potential is embraced and nurtured.

“Mohammad, generally, tends to have older friends,” his mother said. “He has friends his age, but he acts and thinks like an adult.”

Mohammad’s role model is Steve Jobs, the late CEO and founder of Apple.

“ ‘Stay hungry, stay foolish,’” he quotes his idol, before explaining why this so resonates with him: “Never be satisfied and be eager to know and do more. Be foolish; be ready to step out of your comfort zone and try to do things that people say cannot be done.”

Merely pursuing his IT ambitions in the very difficult environment of Gaza might itself seem quixotic. A nearly decade-long Israeli blockade of Gaza means IT infrastructure is very much outdated. Israel has prevented Palestinian IT companies from offering 3G, let alone 4G, services and available equipment and training reflect this isolation.

Luckily, even with slow connection speeds, Mohammad can still interact with a global community and improve his skills through sheer doggedness. And he is not put off by the hardships around him.

“My dream is to found a company that might change the world somehow. No Arab is mentioned globally when it comes to IT. I want to be the first.”

Nesma Seyam is an interpreter and journalist based in Gaza. Twitter: @Nesma_Seyam