Herath in the hot seat

Friday, 3 June 2016

“I was not drunk; I don’t consume alcohol,” stressed Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Propaganda Secretary Vijitha Herath, in an interview with the Daily FT.Herath, who pleaded guilty to two traffic offence charges, added: “What happened was wrong. But I did not use my political power to escape the law.”

Herath added that he was the latest victim of Rajapaksa supporters who were trying hard to return to power through political mudslinging and character assassination.Following are excerpts of the interview:

Q: Can you tell us what actually happened on Monday night?

A:I left our party office in Pelawattearound 12:30 a.m. I was going home. Suddenly somewhere in Rajagiriya, a pedestrian crossed the road.I was compelled to turn the vehicle to the other side to save that person’s life. Unfortunately my vehicle crashed into a telephone pole. I didn’t suffer any injuries. The left side of my vehicle was damaged and the telephone pole was broken too.

Later, I went to the WelikadaPolice Station and informed them about the accident. A Judicial Medical Officer examined me to see whether I was under the influence of liquor. But the JMO report clearly says I was not drunk driving. But the JMO has marked he ‘smelled liquor’. This is why everyone is claiming I was drunk driving.This is not true.

The Police lodged three charges against me. Damaging State property, reckless driving and driving under the influence of alcohol. I pleaded guilty for the first two charges. Although the report said there was the smell of alcohol, since it could not be substantiated, I was released from the third charge.

It’s sad to see our opponents using this incident to tarnish my image as a politician. Motor accidents of this nature can happen and I didn’t try to use political powers to escape the law. When I went to the Police station,I acted as an ordinary motorist. I didn’t try to use my privileges as a Parliamentarian. In fact I admitted that I was guilty of two charges. 

Q: Were you under influence of liquorat the time of the accident?

A:No, I was not under the influence of alcohol. The JMO report says that. A certain group has politicised this incident simply to bring a bad name to me and our party.

Q: Do you consume alcohol?

A:No. I don’t. I don’t consume liquor. When my vehicle crashed into the telephone pole, people came running towards the vehicle. When they recognised me they offered to help me. There were two drunken men who continuously hugged me saying ‘apeymanthrithuma, apeymanthrithuma’. They kept on hugging me and I feel I may have smelled of liquor due to this.

Q: Who else was with you in the vehicle at the time of the accident?

A:I was alone. I was planning to go to Mannar the following morning. I asked my driver to stay at the party office and rest since he had to drive the next morning. So I drove home from the party office. 

Q: People say you are no better than Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka who used his ministerial powers to escape charges from a recent motor accident that critically injured an individual. Your stance?

A:Let me reiterate something. I never tried to escape. I went to the Police station and supported them in every possible way to carry out their investigations. I didn’t use political powers to escape. I faced the law as an ordinary civilian, not as a Parliamentarian.These allegations are baseless. Minister Champika Ranawaka acted in a totally different manner when his vehicle hit a person and injured him seriously. No one can compare that incident with my accident.

I saw on social media they are trying to bring these two incidents together to defame the Government. But it is not ethical to bring these two incidents together because Minister Champika acted in a different way.I have to tell you that this was the first time I have been in a motor accident. This was my first incident. 

Q: The accident attracted a lot of negative publicity. What is the stand of the JVP regarding the incident?

A:From the very beginning, I acted based on the party’s instructions. I have done something wrong, but these kinds of incidents do happen. Most importantly, I have adhered tothe law. No one can point a finger at me and say I tried to escape the Police. Unfortunately our rivals have politicised the entire incident. Their attempt is to character assassinate. But I guess when you are in politics you have to face such situations. 

Q: Not so long ago JVP politicians were respected by all, irrespective of party loyalties, for their discipline, for being free of corruption, and for their policies. But today we don’t see much of a difference between the JVPersand other politicians.Why is that?

A:I think your accusation is baseless. JVP politicians are still very much above the rest of the politicians in the country. We are more disciplined.We believe in certain ethics and we maintain that.Mahinda Rajapaksa and his supporters use social media in a negative way to sling mud at other politicians to gain political mileage. They target the JVP all the time.

What they need to understand is that people decided to end their rule for engaging in misconduct and all kinds of unacceptable wrongdoings. It has been over a year and they still cannot accept this defeat. All they want is to get back into power. Once again they are trying all kinds of wrong means to get into power. If they think they can come into power via character assassinations and political mudslinging, they will never realise their wishes.No one can stop the JVP. We have overcome much worse times. We will stop only when we get where we want to be; until then no one can stop us.

Q: The JVP has been very critical of the recent vehicle price hike. But you have forgotten that prices of a considerable number of vehicles have been reduced.Your views?

A:True, prices of some vehicles were reduced. But theincrease in the taxesis unbearable and unacceptable. How can you agree to a nearly one million increase in taxes? That is not correct. Increase in three-wheeler prices is strongly felt by the poor man in this country. The Government should be ashamed of the idiotic excusesit is giving to justify these taxes.

They cannot say the prices were increased to prevent a large number of three-wheelers from getting on the roads. In villages people use it for their personal use – a three-wheeler is the only vehicle some people can afford. The truth is that this Government does not have money. They are in a serious financial crisis. They increased VAT and imposed additional taxes to collect money. 

Q: TheGovernment blames the previous regime for putting the country in this critical situation.What is your view on this?

A:This is a joke. How long can they go on giving these lame excuses?When in the Opposition they saw how the Rajapaksa clanran this economy. They knew about all the foreign loans obtained by the Government. They saw how the economy suffered due to the mismanagement of the Rajapaksas.

This regime came into power promising they would revive the economy. They pledged they would put the country back on the right track. How can the Government now claim they are unable to do anything because of the mess created by the previous regime?Rajapaksa’s Government ruined the country and blamed the LTTE. Now this Government is not doing any work and blames the previous Government.

Q: The JVP is partly responsible for bringing this Government to power. How can you just wash your hands and put the blame on others?

A:We never supported this Government to get into power. We wanted Rajapaksa and his administration defeated. But that doesn’t mean we supported this Government. We didn’t play any role in promoting Maithripala Sirisena as the presidential candidate. During the election we competed as a separate party, so no one can say we should be held responsible for this situation in the country. This is a UNP-SLFP Government. The JVP has not directly or indirectly supported this regime 

Q: A couple of weeks ago we witnessed the JVP coming out stronglyagainst anewspaper article. If there was no truth in that report, why did you get so agitated?

A:We did not get agitated. It was not the article that mattered to us. Along with that article, there was another letter which had accusations on a more personal basis – merelyto tarnish our name. It wasn’t ethical for a national paper to publish such a low grade article. The main article against us was not true. But these things happen when you are in politics. But more than that, it was the other letter which had too many personal level accusations that worried us.They shouldn’t have carried it in a national level paper. Any person would realise that the letter was against the ethics of journalism. 

Q: Is there displeasure inside the partyover the party leadership?

A:There is no such thing. There has never been an issue before. Honestly the fondness and respect we have for our Leader grows by the day. All our members are of the view that our leader is the best a political party could have. Even after the newspaper article, the bond and the unity among our party members grew significantly because we prepared to face these allegations as one family. That helped us to be more united.

Q: You claim the country is heading towards crisis and bankruptcy,but as a party what you have done to put Sri Lanka back on track? Do you think daily news briefings and distributing leaflets will do any good?

A:Don’t forget we are in the Opposition. What we can do is very limited. All we can do is educate the people and bring them together.Distributing leaflets and arranging pocket meetings and seminars are useful in order to take our message across to the people.

What we are trying to tell the people is that these two parties have ruled the country separately and now they are doing it together. But it is evident that they have failed in all their attempts. The time has come for the people to realise they need to give us an opportunity. We can run this country better. We have better polices. We have a clear vision. Our politicians have discipline. We can put this country back on the correct path.

Challenge to Gammapila over fake attorney license!

Jun 02, 2016

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader, MP Udaya Gammanpila has prepared a fake attorney license to sell Rs. 110 million worth of shares owned by Australian businessman Brian Shedrick, charges Lasitha Perera, the attorney license holder for Shedrick.

Perera has exposed to the media a document prepared by Gammanpila and claimed to be a ‘legal document’ that Gammanpila hopes to submit to courts.

The attorney license holder charges that the handwriting in the document belongs to Gammanpila, not to an Australian woman by the name Rosemary Smith, as claimed.

According to that document, Rosemary Smith has identified her handwriting and signature in the attorney license issued on 18 April 1997 and given to Gammanpila by Ddigital Nominee company.

However, it is only a fake prepared by Gammanpila and it has his handwriting, Perera says.

Previously, Perera has accused Gammanpila of having used a fake attorney license to sell shares owned by Shedrick and his family and worth Rs. 110 million in Pan Asia Bank, an affiliate of Digital Nomnees, to Vanik Incorporation PLC and Dhammika Perera.

In this ‘deal’ Gammanpila’s wife Dinesha Gammanpila has signed as a witness, Perera says further.

He says it is highly suspicious that the attorney general’s department is delaying action with regard to this fraud and it is a serious injustice to the aggrieved party.

Gammanpila remains silent all this while, but he should come forward for an open debate, Perera challenges him.

Another Palestinian woman killed at Israeli checkpoint

Israeli forces at the Tulkarem-area checkpoint where a Palestinian woman was shot dead after allegedly attacking soldiers with a knife on 2 June.Nedal EshtayahAPA images

Maureen Clare Murphy- 2 June 2016

Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian woman at a military checkpoint in the northern occupied West Bank on Thursday.

The woman was identified as Ansar Hussam Harasha, 25, reportedly a married mother of two. An image of Harasha circulated on social media after her slaying:

An Israeli army spokesperson said that the woman was killed after she attempted to stab soldiers. No Israelis were injured during the incident.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society told media that Israeli forces prevented emergency medics from accessing the woman after she was shot.

An image of the scene published by media shows Harasha lying on the ground, a pool of blood near her head, as three Israeli soldiers stand nearby. A knife is seen on the ground a couple feet away from the woman.

Harasha is one of more than 200 Palestinians who have been killed since a surge of direct confrontation with Israeli forces began at the beginning of October last year. Twenty-eight Israelis, two Americans, a Sudanese national and an Eritrean asylum-seeker were killed during that same period.

Dozens of Palestinians were killed during protests, and many more were slain during what Israel says were attacks or attempted attacks, primarily against soldiers at settlements and checkpoints in the West Bank.

Such attacks have been waged by individual or small groups of Palestinians operating independently of command from resistance groups.

In some cases, Palestinians may not have been attempting any attack when they were slain. In many instances, no Israelis were injured during incidents in which Palestinians were shot dead.

Human rights groups have condemned Israel’s reflexive use of lethal force when alleged attackers posed no immediate threat and could have instead been apprehended, calling it an unwritten “shoot-to-kill” policyencouraged by top leadership.

Young women slain

Last month, another young woman, 19-year-old Sawsan Ali Dawud Mansour, was shot and killed during an alleged stabbing at a checkpoint north of Jerusalem.

Israel transferred Mansour’s body to her family days later, despite reports that minister Gilad Erdan hadordered the suspension of the return of bodies of Palestinians slain during alleged attacks.

Erdan made the order after seeing footage of a large number of people gathered around the Jerusalem cemetery where Alaa Abu Jamal, who was shot dead after killing an Israeli man at a bus stop in October, was buried last month. The minister accused the crowd of “incitement.”

In late April, Maram Salih Hassan Abu Ismail, a young mother of two, was killed along with her 16-year-old brother at the Qalandiya checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem.

The Israeli rights group B’Tselem condemned their slayings, saying that the siblings “were killed without any justification, when they clearly no longer posed mortal danger and could be stopped without killing them.”

On Monday, a Palestinian teenager reportedly from the West Bank town of Salfit was detained after allegedly stabbing and lightly injuring a 19-year-old Israeli soldier in Tel Aviv.

Earlier that day, Israeli forces detained three Palestinians aged between 16 and 17 on suspicion of involvement in the stabbing of two elderly Israeli women in a settlement weeks earlier.

And on Sunday, Israel announced that it had apprehended six Palestinians it says belong to a “Hamas terror cell” which planned an explosion on a bus in Jerusalem in April.

A suspected operative died as a result of injuries sustained during the blast; more than a dozen Israelis were injured during the incident.

Coordinated arrests

The frequency of attacks has dramatically slowed since the beginning of this year.

The head of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, the Shin Bet, said last month that Palestinian security forces were acting on information received from their Israeli counterparts to thwart attacks.

The Israeli army has meanwhile said that Palestinian Authority forces “were responsible for 40 percent of arrests of terrorist suspects in the West Bank in recent months,” as reported by the Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz, which added, “The remaining arrests are carried out by the [Israeli army].”

Both Israeli and Palestinian forces have recently arrested a number of Palestinians for alleged “incitement.”

On Thursday, a 22-year-old from Bethlehem was sentenced to a year in prison because of widely shared statements he made on Facebook in early October praising attacks on Israeli soldiers.

And in the pre-dawn hours on Thursday, Israeli forces raided a home of a Palestinian citizen of Israel who works as a reporter for Iran’s al-Alam channel.

Bassam Safadi was arrested on suspicion of publishing “support for a terrorist organization and incitement to violence or terror,” Haaretz reported.

Israeli military prosecutors meanwhile charged a Palestinian astrophysicist and university professor with incitement on Sunday, more than a month after his arrest.

The charges apparently relate to statements he made on Facebook and television against the Israeli occupation.

Imad Barghouthi’s case has attracted global attention, and a petition signed by prominent academics from all over the world calls for his release.

Israel moves to revoke citizenship

On Wednesday, an Israeli court sentenced a 22-year-old Palestinian citizen of the country to 25 years in prison after he was convicted on charges relating to an alleged car-ramming and stabbing attack in October that left several Israelis injured.

Israel is also reportedly attempting to revoke the citizenship of Alaa Zayud, from the northern town of Umm al-Fahm, and to reject the renewal of the residency permit held by his father, who is married to an Israeli citizen but is not a citizen himself.

Sawsan Zaher, an attorney with the human rights group Adalah, told the Ma’an News Agency that the move to revoke Zayud’s citizenship is a “racist” and “arbitrary” act.

“When someone is stripped of their citizenship, the state has essentially made it so you are not entitled to any rights and you do not exist anymore,” she added.

ANALYSIS: German genocide vote Turkish 'foreign policy failure' 

Armenian activists wave national flag outside Germany's parliament after 'genocide' recognition vote (AFP) 

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim addresses reporters during a press conference (AFP)

Suraj Sharma-Thursday 2 June 2016

ISTANBUL – Fallout from the German parliament’s vote to recognise massacres of Armenians in 1915 as “genocide” may adversely affect Turkey’s migrant deal with Europe and even put Turkey’s Armenian citizens at risk, analysts say.

Turkey was quick to react to the vote on Thursday, with Ankara recalling its ambassador to Berlin for consultations hours after the resolution passed. 

This bill, put forward by Germany’s ruling left-right coalition and the opposition Greens, is titled “Remembering and commemorating the genocide of Armenians and other Christian minorities in 1915 and 1916,” and carries the contentious word throughout the text.

The timing of the motion took observers by surprise, in light of negotiations currently underway between the EU - driven by Germany - and Turkey over how to control the flow of migrants from the Syrian conflict.

The EU and Turkey are also mired in talks over Ankara’s long wished-for accession to the 28-member union. 

Defining the mass deaths of Armenians and other Christians in 1915 as genocide is one of Turkey's biggest foreign-policy headaches. Ankara has attempted to use its clout to prevent legislatures of various countries from passing bills that would define it as such.

The two countries that matter most for Ankara in this context are the US and Germany. The US has never gone further than calling it “Meds Yeghern” or “Great Tragedy”, a decision believed to be in large part because of the strategic importance of ties with Turkey. 

Ahmet Kasim Han, professor of international relations at Istanbul’s Kadir Has University, said the German vote represents yet another foreign policy failure for Turkey: The move will not only deal a blow to Turkish-European relations in the long term, he told Middle East Eye, but will also worsen the Turkish government’s polarising and isolationist practices at home. 

“It is tough to see it as anything other than a foreign policy failure,” Han said. “For decades, Turkey has worked to prevent this definition from being accepted in the US and Germany especially, and yet now we have this.

“The fallout will not be limited to bilateral ties, but will extend to Turkish-EU ties because Germany is the key driver in Europe and Chancellor Angela Merkel has been instrumental in revitalising Turkish-European talks.” 

The timing of the vote, Han said, could be attributed to Merkel’s opponents, who see it as an opportunity to erode her domestic standing, with both the German and European publics angered by her recent overtures to Turkey. 

An abrupt end to ties between Turkey and Europe is unlikely, he said. But at home, it will offer the Turkish government another club with which to beat its opponents. 

“This government will use [the vote] as part of its isolationist and polarising policy repertoire. All those from the pro-European, secular and modern sections of Turkish society who promote ties with Europe will be attacked for seeking ties with countries that refer to Turks as committers of genocide.” 

Friendship test

Prior to the vote, recently appointed Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the friendship between the two countries would be put to the “test,” but he was keen to emphasise that cooperation with the EU would not cease. 

“We are loyal to the agreements we have made. The EU should stand by its word in the same way,” Yildirim said ahead of the vote on Thursday. “We are not a tribal state, we are the Turkish republic, a country with a deeply rooted traditions,” he told members of his Justice and Development Party (AKP).

After the passing of the bill in the German parliament, the Bundestag, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted from Nairobi, during a four-day visit to Africa. 

“I spoke to the prime minister. Our joint decision was to recall our ambassador for consultations as a first step,” Erdogan told a news conference.

“This decision by the German parliament may seriously affect German-Turkish relations. We will evaluate the situation after I return. It is then that we will take the steps that really need to be taken,” he said. 

His response will be the ultimate gauge of Turkey's reaction.

A migrant deal reached between the EU and Turkey on 18 March is already under strain as Ankara has threatened to review it if another agreement regarding visa-free travel for Turkish citizens to the Schengen (EU) area is blocked. 

At such a critical time for Turkish-German relations, the absence of Merkel and most cabinet ministers from the vote could be a deft move that prevents relations being completely derailed.

AKP spokesperson Yasin Aktay, however, said Merkel’s absence was nothing more than a sign of ineffective and weak leadership, calling the vote “an open attack and insult to Turkey”.

“This is a totally irresponsible and inhumane action on the part of the German parliament,” Aktay told MEE. “Politicising the pain and deaths of so many people is an insult to the memories of those who died.”

Aktay said that, regardless of how the Turkish government responds, the Turkish public’s emotional bonds with Europe have been severed.

“First of all, why don’t they even stop to think of the Muslims who died during that period? Their numbers were far larger,” he said.

“Our president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was sincere when he expressed regret for all those who died back then, including Christians and Muslims. 

“This is one more insincere act that cuts our nation’s emotional ties with Europe. The same thing happened with their games regarding the deal on visa-free travel for our citizens.”   

The Republic of Turkey has always rejected the use of the term genocide to describe the events of 1915, during the final years of the Ottoman Empire, and has repeatedly called for the archives of both Turkey and Armenia to be opened to neutral scholars for study. 

Apart from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the other parties in the Turkish parliament - the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) - are also opposed to any statement referring to the incidents of 1915 as genocide. 

After a breakfast meeting with EU ambassadors on Wednesday, CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said he warned the ambassadors against turning what he termed “the so-called genocide” into a political issue. 

He said he had informed them that he believes it is a historical matter, and that Armenia should open its archives as Turkey has done.

’German recognition vital’ 

Yetvart Danzikyan, editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper Agos, told MEE that Germany’s recognition of the 1915 events as genocide is poignant, but warned that the backlash in Turkey may be unpredictable. 

“It is not easy to predict Turkey’s response. But it is a vital vote because Germany was a close ally of the Ottoman Empire at the time of the genocide, so they will have a lot of documentation on it,” he said.

Danzikyan said he could not rule out the backlash going as far as attacks on the Armenian community in Turkey, but insisted that it is too early to predict.

“It all depends on how Turkey reacts from the top. Anything can happen,” Danzikyan said.

In 2015, on the centenary of the mass killing of 1915, Ankara recalled its ambassadors from several countries, including the Vatican, for referring to the events as genocide. However, Ankara refrained from recalling its ambassador from countries with which it had more significant ties, including Russia. 

In the same year, Germany shelved a similar bill due to be put to a vote in its parliament. 

“It is a good step that Germany has now recognised this,” Danzikyan said. “It means that the policy of denial Turkey tries to impose on everyone is no longer working."

Philippines: Foreign media group demands Duterte apology, calls for boycott

President-elect Rodrigo Duterte. Pic: AP

2nd June 2016 

PHILIPPINE President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has drawn flak from international media groups who have joined in the chorus against his recent remarks that many journalists killed in the Southeast Asian nation “deserved to die”.

Duterte earned the ire of the groups after he said that many journalists were killed because they were corrupt and those who have done wrong are not exempt from assassination.

Reporters Without Borders urged the Philippine media to boycott Duterte’s news conferences until he issues a formal, public apology.

SEE ALSO:  New charges against Philippine massacre suspect

The Committee to Protect Journalists says the remarks apparently excusing extrajudicial killings threaten to make the Philippines into a killing field for journalists.

Duterte told a news conference Tuesday that “just because you’re a journalist (doesn’t mean) you’re exempted from assassination if you’re a son of a bitch”.

Local media groups have widely condemned his remarks.

The International Federation of Journalists says the Philippines has been the second-deadliest country for journalists since 1990.

Most notable of incidents involving media personnel was a mass murder widely known as the Maguindanao massacre in 2009,  when 30 journalists were slaughtered in what was considered the single deadliest attack ever on media workers.

Yesterday, the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines condemned Duterte’s remarks.

In a statement, the union said: “It is appalling that President-elect Rodrigo Duterte should justify the murder of journalists in the country by playing the corruption card.”

SEE ALSO: Philippines President-elect Rodrigo Duterte says many murdered journalists ‘deserved it’

Although the group did not deny that graft may have been a factor behind some of the killings, the union maintained that it did not justify taking one’s life.

“Murder is no joke. Neither is press freedom,” it said.

Additional reporting by Associated Press

Hillary Clinton: Trump is too dangerous and unstable to have the nuclear codes

Democratic frontrunner attacks Trump’s ‘personal feuds and outright lies’ in blistering speech that questions GOP candidate’s suitability for the White House

Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit for presidency, says Clinton – video

Rory Carroll in Los Angeles-Thursday 2 June 2016

Hillary Clinton has lacerated Donald Trump’s fitness to lead the United States in a tour-de-force assault on his record and temperament, branding him too dangerous and unstable to be entrusted with nuclear codes and warning of economic crisis if he were to reach the White House.

The Democratic frontrunner and former secretary of state made the sobering yet blistering assault in a speech in San Diego on Thursday which sought, in effect, to disqualify the Republican presumptive nominee as a valid candidate.

“Donald Trump’s ideas aren’t just different, they’re dangerously incoherent. They’re not even really ideas, just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies,” she said. “He is not just unprepared. He is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility.”

Flanked by US flags for the widely trailed address, Clinton said a Trump presidency could lead to catastrophe. “He should not have the nuclear codes because it’s very easy to imagine Donald Trump leading us into a war just because someone got under his very thin skin. We cannot let him roll the dice with America.”

Speaking on the eve of primary elections that are expected to push Clinton past the threshold of delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination, signalling the official start of the general election, Clinton made a tacit plea to independents and moderate Republicans, saying Trump denigrated US power even when Ronald Reagan was president.

With Bernie Sanders threatening to spoil her nomination glory by winningCalifornia, the speech also served as an appeal to Democrats to unite against the real foe. “We can’t put the security of our children and grandchildren in Donald Trump’s hands.” As president, she said, “I believe he will take our country down a truly dangerous path.” 

She continued: “Imagine Donald Trump sitting in the situation room making life or death decisions on behalf of the United States. Do we want him making those calls? Someone thin-skinned and quick to anger. Do we want his finger anywhere near the button? Making Donald Trump our commander-in-chief would be a historic mistake.”

The former first lady deconstructed Trump’s policy positions as a recipe for alienating allies, emboldening enemies and coddling dictators. Clinton pointed out how Trump had alienated allies such as the British prime minister, the mayor of London, the president of Mexico and Pope Francis.

Hillary Clinton: ‘Making Donald Trump our commander-in-chief would be a historic mistake.’ Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

She also noted his praise for Russian’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. “I will leave it to the psychiatrists to explain his affection for tyrants … If Donald gets his way they’ll be celebrating in the Kremlin. We cannot let that happen.”

“He says he has foreign policy experience because he ran the Miss Universe pageant in Russia,” she said, adding at another point in the speech: “This isn’t reality television, this is actual reality.”

Later, Clinton added: “It is not hard to see how a Trump presidency could lead to a global economic crisis.”

The former secretary of state’s speech, staged in front of a wall of US flags, rebutted a foreign policy address Trump made in April in which he promised to save “humanity itself” and “shake the rust off America’s foreign policy”. 

Trump pitched himself as a serious commander-in-chief in that speech with an unusually detailed – and scripted – address to policymakers in Washington last April.

Seeking Reagan’s mantle, he promised a foreign policy strategy that would “endure for several generations” by seeking peace through strength. He accused Clinton and Barack Obama of “reckless, rudderless and aimless” behaviour in the Middle East and said he would place American security above all else, replacing “chaos with peace”.

Critics said the speech contained multiple contradictions and upended previous policy positions, leaving in doubt his views on talking to Iran, pressuring Nato allies to shoulder more defence costs, nation building, wooing goodwill in the Arab world, and whether he thinks the US foreign policy should be “unpredictable” or “disciplined, deliberate and consistent”.

Clinton’s expected intervention on Thursday came after another tumultuous political week that has put Trump on the defensive over hisallegedly fraudulent university, prompting him to make vitriolic attacks on the judge hearing the case.

The former first lady, meanwhile, is battling to fend off a surging Sanderscampaign that has closed a big deficit and threatens to snatch victory in California’s 7 June Democratic primary. According to the Associated Press she is just 71 delegates shy of the 2,383 needed to clinch the nomination, and could do so with big wins in the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and New Jersey, which vote before California. Losing the Golden State, however, would be an important symbolic blow.

Thursday’s speech in the historic Prado district in Balboa park, a landmark in San Diego, a city with military tradition, signalled a new gloves-off approach to Trump and a probably fractious presidential race in the lead-up to November.

In the midst of her speech on Thursday, Trump used Twitter to swipe back in typical style. “Bad performance by Crooked Hillary Clinton!” he tweeted. “Reading poorly from the telepromter [sic]! She doesn’t even look presidential!”

The Clinton campaign retaliated by retweeting Trump’s remark alongside a line from her speech. “Imagine if he had not just his Twitter account at his disposal when he’s angry, but America’s entire arsenal,” she said.

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Imagine if he had not just his Twitter account at his disposal when he’s angry, but America’s entire arsenal.https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/738449664752553984 …

3:34 PM - 2 Jun 2016

Corbyn and Irish Diaspora: all hands to EU pump

Corbyn and Irish Diaspora: all hands to EU pump

Thursday 02 Jun 2016

Jeremy Corbyn turned on the media at his speech in central London this morning when it was suggested it might be his fault that Labour supporters don’t know which way their party leadership is facing on Europe. The claim comes from the Remain campaign, supported by their own private polling and they express it with real concern.

He said it was the fault of the media for not covering his energetic nation-wide campaigning for the EU.

But his stump speech for Remain is not like anyone else’s and it reflects the concerns of a man who has long thought the EU is a bad idea.

Mr Corbyn attacked the “hype and histrionic claims” made in the campaign (and seemed to have fellow Remain campaigner George Osborne in his sights there). He slated the draft trade treaty with the US which he thinks gives a green light to rapacious US corporations wanting to slice contracts off bodies like the NHS.

Listing the virtues of the EU he started with environmental protections, talking about cleaner beaches and protecting bees. He moved on to EU worker protections and said the danger was that a Tory government negotiating Brexit would rip them up.

Separate to all this, we take a look in tonight’s Channel 4 News, at Irish citizens voting in the EU referendum. An estimated half a million with Irish passports who are resident in the UK are entitled to vote in an arrangement (reciprocated for UK citizens in the Republic) that pre-dates the UK joining the EU.

The Irish government is making a push to make sure these people it hopes will come out for Remain are registered to vote.

In pursuit of that vote, the Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s been over. He flew Ryan Air to Stansted to emphasize what his office insisted was a “private visit,” but check out the posters, campaign t-shirts and quotes for the cameras and you might be forgiven for thinking it looks a lot like a campaign visit.

That’s exactly the sort of thing a government wouldn’t normally tolerate from the leader of another country. It’s one thing to fire up Chancellor Merkel (today) to say a few pro-Remain words, likewise the Spanish and Dutch Prime Ministers (yesterday), not to mention President Obama and a cast of others. 

But actually campaigning with your own nationals on foreign soil in the hope they can swing the vote in another country would normally be the stuff to provoke a diplomatic incident.

We showed the footage of Enda Kenny to Leave supporter Dr Liam Fox, who last year tried to get the Irish citizens disenfranchised. He said this sort of intervention could only be happening with the encouragement of no. 10 and that, I understand, is exactly right.

The older generation of Irish migrants living in the UK won’t all vote as Enda Kenny would wish judging by our random sampling at the GAA game. They sounded a lot like many other voters in that age cohort.

Michael Kingston of “Irish for Europe” says British people might just be grateful to the Irish if it’s a narrow win and it’s the Irish wot won it. Liam Fox didn’t sound so sure.

Dangerous migrant smuggling routes flourish in lawless Libya

Migrants are seen on a capsizing boat before a rescue operation by Italian navy ships ''Bettica'' and ''Bergamini'' (unseen) off the coast of Libya in this handout picture released by the Italian Marina Militare on May 25, 2016. Marina Militare/Handout viaREUTERS/FILE PHOTO

 BY AIDAN LEWIS AND AHMED ELUMAMI-Fri Jun 3, 2016

After a flurry of boat departures that sent hundreds of migrants to their deaths in the Mediterranean, survivors told police they had been kept for weeks on one meal a day in holding houses near the Libyan shore.

Then they boarded the rubber or wooden vessels, but only those co-opted to run or drive the boats were given life-jackets, according to accounts given to Italian police.

As calmer summer weather begins, European officials who struck a deal with Turkey to block crossings to Greece have been scrambling for ways to shut down flows on the other major sea route into the EU from Libya.

They hope a U.N.-sponsored government that arrived in Tripoli in March will bring stability, and the EU last week agreed to help to train Libya's coastguard.

But Libyan officials describe themselves as under-resourced and helpless against powerful smugglers who go about their trade with impunity, adapting swiftly to new conditions.

At least 880 migrants and refugees died trying to cross the Mediterranean last week, the U.N. refugee agency said. The route between North Africa and Italy was "dramatically more dangerous" than the one to Greece, it said, with the chance of perishing estimated at one in 23.

The new government faces a complex challenge asserting its authority, while efforts to counter people trafficking were thrown into disarray by the conflict that followed Libya's 2011 uprising, and the coastguard feels abandoned.

"The only assistance we have been offered so far is promises," said Colonel Abdulssmad Massoud of the coastguard in Tripoli.

Italy says arrivals so far in 2016 are down two percent on last year at about 40,000 landings, mostly of people from African countries like Nigeria, Eritrea, Gambia and Somalia. There is little sign of a return of Syrian refugees, tens of thousands of whom were travelling through Libya until they switched to the Turkey-Greece crossing in 2015.

Instead, smugglers enriched by those Middle Eastern migrants are again working long-established routes across thousands of kilometres of hostile desert between sub-Saharan Africa and western Libya.

UNGUARDED BORDERS

As migrants pass through Libya, they enter a system marked by abuse, corruption and a near-complete vacuum of state authority.

Many African migrants remain in the system for months or years, some settling or returning home and some raising money for an onward journey to Europe. A minority turn to crime or end up fighting in Libya's fitful conflict.

"All the smugglers are connected and they pass the migrants on between each other," said Ibrahim Shawish, the mayor of Murzuq, a desert town about 350 km from Libya's southern border.

Traffickers can cross that border freely he said, and convoys of as many as 25 vehicles then head north unhindered. "Sometimes there's a checkpoint at the entrance of a city, but they can always take a different route."

There is no policing and little external aid. Germany has pledged 4.5 million euros ($5 million) to support communities in Sabha and Gatroun, two key southern areas on migrant routes, but Libyan officials complain that international efforts are too focussed on blocking crossings at sea.

Though the EU has warned of hundreds of thousands of displaced people who could cross the Mediterranean, officials and aid workers in Libya say a lack of data makes an accurate estimate impossible.

The International Organization for Migration has identified 235,000 migrants in Libya, but says the real number is likely to be between 700,000 and one million.

Migrants who are arrested often end up back in the smuggling networks after being released or even deported, officials and aid workers say.

"It makes no difference because the flow coming in is much greater than the number being deported, and the ones who are sent back to their countries are returning because there is no security on the borders," said Salem Ashwin, a migration official at Tripoli's international cooperation ministry.

CHEAP DINGHIES

Lawless Libya provides fertile ground for the smugglers, who often work with militias that hold real power on the ground.

In an unusual backlash, residents in Zuwara, a long-time stronghold for people smuggling about 50 km from the Tunisian border, demanded action against the traffickers after bodies washed up on the beaches last year. Some smugglers were arrested and some fled, according to Zuwara Mayor Hafed Bensassi.

But other departure points have opened up, with at least half a dozen between Zuwara and the port city of Misrata, about 300 km to the east. Most of the recent departures appear to have been from around Sabratha, which was in turmoil earlier this year as local brigades fought Islamic State militants. On Thursday, dozens of bodies were found washed up near Zuwara.

"Until we have enough technology to watch the whole coast they'll always find gaps," said Ashwin, the ministry official.

Smugglers offer different prices for different types of boats, which range from seaworthy fishing vessels with radar systems to cheap inflatable dinghies with improvised wooden bases.

Even in the Mediterranean, they appear able to skirt round restrictions with relative ease.

People trafficking is intertwined with that of drugs and fuel, coastguards say, and new supplies of migrant boats are brought in on smuggling vessels that arrive from Malta and Egypt.

"Most of the fuel smuggling boats are carrying in migrant smuggling materials in front of the eyes of the Europeans," said Colonel Ayoub Qassem, a coastguard spokesman.

Operation Sophia, an EU naval mission that began last year and is authorised to seize and divert vessels suspected of being used for people smuggling, says it has contributed to the apprehension of dozens of suspects and "neutralised" more than 100 vessels.

It is now planning to expand to include coastguard training and enforcement of a U.N. arms embargo, and Britain says it intends to deploy a warship to the southern Mediterranean to help.

But without a request from Libya's unity government, those missions are unable to gain entry to Libyan waters. Even if they could, it is unclear where migrants they picked up could be sent, given the risk of mistreatment in Libya.

A British parliamentary report published last month found Operation Sophia had so far failed to disrupt smuggling "in any meaningful way".

"The arrests made to date have been of low-level targets, while the destruction of vessels has simply caused the smugglers to shift from using wooden boats to rubber dinghies, which are even more unsafe," the report said.

(Writing by Aidan Lewis, editing by Peter Millership)

Gotthard tunnel: World's longest and deepest rail tunnel opens in Switzerland

1 June 2016

The world's longest and deepest rail tunnel has officially opened in Switzerland, after almost two decades of construction work.

The 57km (35-mile) twin-bore Gotthard base tunnel will provide a high-speed rail link under the Swiss Alps between northern and southern Europe.

Switzerland says it will revolutionise European freight transport.

Goods currently carried on the route by a million lorries a year will go by train instead.

The tunnel has overtaken Japan's 53.9km Seikan rail tunnel as the longest in the world and pushed the 50.5km Channel Tunnel linking the UK and France into third place.

• Switzerland's engineering triumph
• In pictures: Tunnel's weird opening ceremony

In a speech to guests in Erstfeld, near the northern entrance to the tunnel, Swiss Federal President Johann Schneider-Ammann said it was a "giant step for Switzerland but equally for our neighbours and the rest of the continent".

A live relay carried a speech from the southern end of the tunnel, in Bodio, by the Swiss federal transport minister, Doris Leuthard.

Afterwards two trains set off in opposite directions through the tunnel, each carrying hundreds of guests who had won tickets in a draw, and the new route was formally open.

A lavish show then got under way for the assembled guests in Erstfeld, with dancers, acrobats, singers and musicians celebrating Alpine culture and history.

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