Deputy president of the Ceylon Workers Congress Karupaiah Ganeshamurthi got a half a page advertisement published in ‘Veerakesari’ to wish party president, minister Arumugam Thondaman, on his birthday.
This Ganeshamurthi is none of than the person who defrauded Rs. 115 million from a Sri Lankan businessman living in England, through a company called Rakshana Imports and Exports. The Colombo Fort magistrate’s court is taking up the relevant case no. B 2688/15.
The aggrieved businessman is one Mohamed Khan who runs a safety equipment business by the name Opentec System.
On 28 February 2013, Manager of Nations Trust Bank’s Kollupitiya branch Bimsara Seneviratne proposed that a Rs. 33 million letter of credit received by Rakshana Imports and Exports be cashed by keeping the fixed deposit owned by one Abdulla as security.
The manager said he was proposing thus, as the bank had no money to pay.
The bank manager also said the credit given to Rakshana Imports and Exports is being managed by the bank, and that the bank will receive a 12 per cent of its profits. The bank also promised to continue paying the interest for the fixed deposit. By winning the confidence of the businessman, the bank manager got him to sign the set-off documents.
Again, Bimsara has proposed to give a Rs. 85 million loan to Rakshana Imports and Exports by keeping the businessman’s money as security. The businessman refused in the beginning, but relented at the insistence of the bank manager and two more of its officers named Indrajith Gunasekara and Chanaka Pathirana, and again signed set-off documents.
Rakshana Imports and Exports owner Ganeshamurthi has continued to disregard repaying the money. When a complaint was lodged with the general manager of the bank, the businessman got to know that Rs. 115 million of his money placed as security had been written off in lieu of the unpaid money.
Accordingly, the CID made submissions to the Colombo high court over a criminal breach of trust of a sum of Rs. 115 million. Given below is how the money obtained by Ganeshamurthi got distributed.
Reports say minister Thondaman is going to intimidate the CID to get the investigation stopped. Therefore, the investigation against the owner of Rakshana Imports and Exports is likely to be swept under the carpet.
REDMOND, Wash., and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — June 13, 2016 — Microsoft Corp.
(Nasdaq: MSFT) and LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) on Monday announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire LinkedIn for $196 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $26.2 billion, inclusive of LinkedIn’s net cash. LinkedIn will retain its distinct brand, culture and independence. Jeff Weiner will remain CEO of LinkedIn, reporting to Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. Reid Hoffman, chairman of the board, co-founder and controlling shareholder of LinkedIn, and Weiner both fully support this transaction. The transaction is expected to close this calendar year.
LinkedIn is the world’s largest and most valuable professional network and continues to build a strong and growing business. Over the past year, the company has launched a new version of its mobile app that has led to increased member engagement; enhanced the LinkedIn newsfeed to deliver better business insights; acquired a leading online learning platform called Lynda.com to enter a new market; and rolled out a new version of its Recruiter product to its enterprise customers. These innovations have resulted in increased membership, engagement and financial results, specifically:
19 percent growth year over year (YOY) to more than 433 million members worldwide
9 percent growth YOY to more than 105 million unique visiting members per month
49 percent growth YOY to 60 percent mobile usage
34 percent growth YOY to more than 45 billion quarterly member page views
101 percent growth YOY to more than 7 million active job listings
“The LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business centered on connecting the world’s professionals,” Nadella said. “Together we can accelerate the growth of LinkedIn, as well as Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics as we seek to empower every person and organization on the planet.”
“Just as we have changed the way the world connects to opportunity, this relationship with Microsoft, and the combination of their cloud and LinkedIn’s network, now gives us a chance to also change the way the world works,” Weiner said. “For the last 13 years, we’ve been uniquely positioned to connect professionals to make them more productive and successful, and I’m looking forward to leading our team through the next chapter of our story.”
The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both LinkedIn and Microsoft. The deal is expected to close this calendar year and is subject to approval by LinkedIn’s shareholders, the satisfaction of certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
“Today is a re-founding moment for LinkedIn. I see incredible opportunity for our members and customers and look forward to supporting this new and combined business,” said Hoffman. “I fully support this transaction and the Board’s decision to pursue it, and will vote my shares in accordance with their recommendation on it.”
Microsoft will finance the transaction primarily through the issuance of new indebtedness. Upon closing,
Microsoft expects LinkedIn’s financials to be reported as part of Microsoft’s Productivity and Business Processes segment. Microsoft expects the acquisition to have minimal dilution of ~1 percent to non-GAAP earnings per share for the remainder of fiscal year 2017 post-closing and for fiscal year 2018 based on the expected close date, and become accretive to Microsoft’s non-GAAP earnings per share in Microsoft’s fiscal year 2019 or less than two years post-closing. Non-GAAP includes stock-based compensation expense consistent with Microsoft’s reporting practice, and excludes expected impact of purchase accounting adjustments as well as integration and transaction-related expenses. In addition, Microsoft also reiterated its intention to complete its existing $40 billion share repurchase authorization by Dec. 31, 2016, the same timeframe as previously committed.
Microsoft and LinkedIn will host a joint conference call with investors on June 13, 2016, at 8:45 a.m. Pacific Time/11:45 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss this transaction. The call will be available via webcast athttps://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor and will be hosted by Nadella and Weiner, as well as Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood and Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith. The presentation for the call is available on the Microsoft News Center.
Morgan Stanley is acting as exclusive financial advisor to Microsoft, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is acting as legal advisor to Microsoft. Qatalyst Partners and Allen & Company LLC are acting as financial advisors to LinkedIn, while Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Professional Corporation, is acting as legal advisor.
About LinkedIn
LinkedIn connects the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful and transforms the way companies hire, market, and sell. Our vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce through the ongoing development of the world’s first Economic Graph. LinkedIn has more than 400 million members and has offices around the globe.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
Additional Information and Where to Find It
In connection with the transaction, LinkedIn Corporation (the “Company”) will file relevant materials with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including a proxy statement on Schedule 14A. Promptly after filing its definitive proxy statement with the SEC, the Company will mail the definitive proxy statement and a proxy card to each stockholder entitled to vote at the special meeting relating to the transaction. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF THE COMPANY ARE URGED TO READ THESE MATERIALS (INCLUDING ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH THE TRANSACTION THAT THE COMPANY WILL FILE WITH THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE COMPANY AND THE TRANSACTION. The definitive proxy statement, the preliminary proxy statement and other relevant materials in connection with the transaction (when they become available), and any other documents filed by the Company with the SEC, may be obtained free of charge at the SEC’s website (http://www.sec.gov) or at LinkedIn’s website (http://investors.linkedin.com) or by writing to LinkedIn Corporation, Investor Relations, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, California 94043.
The Company and its directors and executive officers are participants in the solicitation of proxies from the Company’s stockholders with respect to the transaction. Information about the Company’s directors and executive officers and their ownership of the Company’s common stock is set forth in the Company’s proxy statement on Schedule 14A filed with the SEC on April 22, 2016. To the extent that holdings of the Company’s securities have changed since the amounts printed in the Company’s proxy statement, such changes have been or will be reflected on Statements of Change in Ownership on Form 4 filed with the SEC. Information regarding the identity of the participants, and their direct or indirect interests in the transaction, by security holdings or otherwise, will be set forth in the proxy statement and other materials to be filed with SEC in connection with the transaction.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to the proposed transaction and business combination between Microsoft and LinkedIn, including statements regarding the benefits of the transaction, the anticipated timing of the transaction and the products and markets of each company.
These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words “believe,” “project,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “strategy,” “future,” “opportunity,” “plan,” “may,” “should,” “will,” “would,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: (i) the risk that the transaction may not be completed in a timely manner or at all, which may adversely affect LinkedIn’s business and the price of the common stock of LinkedIn, (ii) the failure to satisfy the conditions to the consummation of the transaction, including the adoption of the merger agreement by the stockholders of LinkedIn and the receipt of certain governmental and regulatory approvals, (iii) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement, (iv) the effect of the announcement or pendency of the transaction on LinkedIn’s business relationships, operating results, and business generally, (v) risks that the proposed transaction disrupts current plans and operations of LinkedIn or Microsoft and potential difficulties in LinkedIn employee retention as a result of the transaction, (vi) risks related to diverting management’s attention from LinkedIn’s ongoing business operations, (vii) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against us or against LinkedIn related to the merger agreement or the transaction, (viii) the ability of Microsoft to successfully integrate LinkedIn’s operations, product lines, and technology, and (ix) the ability of Microsoft to implement its plans, forecasts, and other expectations with respect to LinkedIn’s business after the completion of the proposed merger and realize additional opportunities for growth and innovation. In addition, please refer to the documents that Microsoft and LinkedIn file with the SEC on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements set forth in this press release.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Microsoft and LinkedIn assume no obligation and do not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center athttp://news.microsoft.com. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-public-relations-contacts.
Rahiba Kayed, the mother of Bilal Kayed, at a rally in solidarity with her imprisoned son in the West Bank city of Nablus on 14 June.Ahmad Al-BazzActiveStills
This week should have been filled with joy for the Kayed family. Israel turned it into a week of heartbreak.
Bilal Kayed, 34, was supposed to have been released after almost 15 years of imprisonment. Yet on the day he was expected to return home, Israel put him in administrative detention, a draconian practice whereby someone is locked up without charge or trial.
Bilal’s sister, Suha, has lived in Germany for more than two decades. She had traveled back to Palestine to celebrate Bilal’s release.
A party was being organized at the family’s home in Asira al-Shamaliya, a village near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. The village was in a festive mood.
On Monday, Suha and many of her relatives drove towards al-Dhahiriya, an Israeli checkpoint near Hebron to meet Bilal. While they were on their way, they received a phone call from a lawyer with the group Addameer, which campaigns for Palestinian prisoners.
“The lawyer told us that Bilal’s release had been canceled and that he had instead been transferred to administrative detention,” Suha told The Electronic Intifada. “I cannot describe to you how shocked we were.”
An Israeli military court had rubber-stamped an order to keep Bilal under administrative detention for six months. He was moved from Ofer, an Israeli jail in the West Bank, to another prison.
The hearing to approve the administrative detention order was held in secret. Details of where he was moved were initially withheld from his family and lawyers.
They have learned that he is now in Ashkelon prison inside present-day Israel. This is in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids an occupying power from transferring detainees out of the territory it occupies.
Suha had to break the news that Bilal’s release had been canceled to their elderly mother.
“The news was devastating for her but she is a fighter, too, and she has coped with so much pain over the years,” added Suha. “She insisted that she will keep waiting for Bilal until the last day of her life.”
Mahmoud, another brother, said: “We built a house for Bilal in the village so that when he was released, he wouldn’t have to start from scratch. But now everything is on hold again and my mother in particular was affected by this.”
It is not rare for Palestinians to be transferred to administrative detention on the day of their scheduled release.
Palestinian journalist and human rights defender Hassan Safadi, for instance, was also scheduled for release in the past week. He had been interrogated for 40 days following his arrest on 1 May.
Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s recently appointed defense minister, prevented Safadi’s release by ordering that he be placed under administrative detention.
No excuses
But Bilal Kayed’s case is unique insofar as he was transferred to administrative detention immediately after serving a lengthy prison sentence in full. Bilal had been imprisoned in December 2001, at the height of the second intifada. He was convicted of attempting to capture an Israeli soldier, according to his brother Mahmoud.
“This is an attempt to break his spirit especially because he was very active in support of his fellow prisoners while in jail,” Suha said. “But we know that Israel does not need any excuses or justifications to put Palestinians under arrest with no charges or trial. Being Palestinian is the only excuse they need, and they even do that to children.”
Despite being jailed at such a young age, Kayed was a reference point for other prisoners. He was one of the leaders of the prison chapter of the left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
A former prisoner told this reported that Kayed played a central role in several protests launched by Palestinian political prisoners and by the PFLP, including a hunger strike in 2011.
Lasting for 20 days and mainly involving prisoners affiliated with Hamas and the PFLP, it was the first mass hunger strike undertaken by Palestinian prisoners in several years.
It ended with the signing of a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas. Under the deal, more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners were released.
Many of them were subsequently rearrested by Israel.
Bilal Kayed has paid a heavy price for his activism behind bars.
This is the second time in the past year that he has been placed in solitary confinement in Ashkelon prison.
“He spent almost nine months in solitary confinement during which he was denied family visits and was subjected to very harsh conditions,” Naseer Kayed, Bilal’s cousin, told The Electronic Intifada.
It could well be that he has now been placed under administrative detention because Israel wished to punish him for his activism. But neither his family nor his lawyers know the reason why he is being kept in detention because the evidence being used against him — if any — has not been divulged.
Administrative detention was introduced to Palestine when Britain ruled the country under a League of Nations mandate between the 1920s and the 1940s. Britain’s “emergency laws” were retained by Israel following that state’s establishment.
There is no guarantee that Bilal will be released once the six-month period of his administrative detention has elapsed. Orders for administrative detention are often renewed.
Bilal Kayed is one of 715 Palestinians currently held under administrative detention by military court order. Despite condemnations by local and international human rights organizations, Israel has increased the use of this policy since an uprising against the occupation began in October last year.
His sister Suha said that her family and neighbors remain determined to secure Bilal’s freedom.
“Bilal is not just my brother,” she said. “He is loved by everyone in the village and, just as they would have celebrated with us if he’d been released, they are standing with us during these rough times.”
Budour Youssef Hassan is a Palestinian writer and law graduate based in occupied Jerusalem.
I met Isra on the bus. She said she was 15. Getting from Jerusalem to Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank is a short bus ride of a maximum of 45 minutes. The ride commences around the Damascus gates of the old city of Jerusalem. I found it difficult to know exactly where we were and she seemed to be the only one able to speak English. The rest, of the bus looked at me and smiled, empathetic but helpless – not knowing how to answer my questions.
She didn’t seem anything like 15. I assumed she was in her mid twenties, a mature woman. She was on the bus with her sister, who said she was 25. I am yet to get over the fact that she was 15. Curiosity got the better of me and during the ride, I asked her how she spoke English so well, and she smiled. “I am a tour guide”. “But you are 15, dont you go to school?” I aksed. She smiled back, the sort of smile which indicated that she has answered the same question a thousand times before.
“My father was in prison and by brother is still in prison, the uncle who took care of us was killed. There was no one to take care of the family and I had to earn money” she said. Non nonchalantly. My mind raced back to when I was 15. It also for a moment raced back to what the kids who are 15 in Sri Lanka would be doing. Some privileged to have an education, the rest facing the same plight Isra does. Education, although free, may be a distant dream for many in the distant villages around the country. May be. I wont know, because it isn’t something that struck me. The children of those killed in the bloodshed of 30 years, is not within the discourse of my circles, journalistic and otherwise.
As we proceeded to Ramallah, Isra told me that we should get down and attempted to carry my bag. Her sister had a handful with 4 children, the oldest seemed around 6. I brushed her offer away and got down. Ramallah. Here I was. Finally. In Ramallah. It took a few minutes to realise that I infact was yet to get into Ramallah. This was Calandia- no mans land. Neither the Palestinians Authority nor the Israeli Government controls the area.
Iraqi authorities in Baghdad have said 17 civilians were shot dead by a Shia fighter while fleeing the Islamic State-held city of Fallujah.
A federal investigation committee formed by the Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, said the civilians were illegally shot dead in the Sijar area earlier this month. A Shia militia fighter has been arrested and charged with terrorism crimes.
Salama al-Khafaji, a member of the federal investigations committee, told Middle East Eye the 17 dead were among 20 who were trying to reach a crossing point in Sijar.
"A fighter from Hashd [the Arabic name for Shia-dominated militia fighting near Fallujah] blocked their way and shot them. He surprised them and shot dead 17. The rest survived and ran away."
Officials told MEE that many Shia fighters were arrested and at least one of them was charged with terrorism offences over the deaths at Sijar. The name of their militia was not disclosed.
Federal and local officials stressed that there was no evidence of "systematic" abuse of civilians and that the attack at Sijar was an isolated incident.
"All the reports and testimonies of survivors indicate that the killer was alone and what he did was personal behaviour," Khafaji said.
Federal committee members said they were separately investigating reports from local investigations, led by Fallujah's mayor, that another 49 civilians had been killed and hundreds others were missing after fleeing Fallujah.
The local investigation said that it could not determine the fate of these people, "and cannot be sure whether they are alive or dead".
Hikmat Suliaman, a political adviser to Anbar's governor, said this was a different case to the murder investigation in Sijar.
"We have witnesses who said those people were killed and their bodies have not been handed to their families. There were reports that many people were severely tortured... and some witnesses said they saw several people being burned."
Four soldiers were arrested last week as they "witnessed wrongdoings committed by Shia fighters but did not react", a senior Iraqi official familiar with the investigations said. He did not divulge further details.
Sulaiman, Khafaji and several other federal officials said the federal investigation would re-interview all witnesses and military commanders to find out the fate of every single person listed in the report of the local investigation committee.
Fallujah, located on the bank of the Euphrates river just 50km west of Baghdad, was the first Iraqi city to fall into the hands of IS in December 2013. Iraqi security forces launched operations last month to retake the city, backed by Shia factions and the US-led international coalition.
"We have not committed illegal killings but beating some stubborn sympathisers and morally insulting them, yes." - Iraqi officer
More than 43,000 people have fled the city, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
Males aged 15-50 years have been separated from their families and taken to detention centres to submit to a security screening which usually last for a week or so.
Displaced residents have reported dozens of people being tortured in custody before release.
"Daesh [the Arabic name of IS] have merged with those who have fled. Some still insist on protecting them, so it's so hard to gently deal with such people," a senior federal police commander involved in fighting in Fallujah told MEE on condition of anonymity.
"Sometimes, we had no other option but this," the commander said. "We have not committed illegal killings but beating some stubborn sympathisers and morally insulting them, yes."
Colonel Mohammed al-Biadhani, a spokesman for the Iraqi operation, told MEE that more than 1,080 suspected IS members had been detained in the last three weeks, and that 6,000 people were still "under screening".
The number of those displaced is expected to significantly increase in the next few days as Iraqi troops advance into the centre of the city.
Um Ahmed, a young woman who fled fighting inside Fallujah last week and relocated to Amiriyat al-Fallujah camp, told MEE: "I understand why they (Iraqi security forces) took our men away but we have been told that they will be brutally tortured, burned and even killed.
"But also we have been told they are okay and will be back soon as long as they have no ties to IS."
The Labour MP dies after being shot and stabbed in her West Yorkshire constituency. A 52-year-old man has been arrested.
THURSDAY16 JUNE 2016
The 41-year-old mother-of-two died while being treated by paramedics after the broad daylight attack in Market Street, Birstall.
Eyewitnesses said she was left lying on the pavement near the library where she held surgeries after being shot and stabbed.
Dee Collins, the temporary Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police told a press conference: "I am now very sad to have to report that she has died as a result of her injuries."
She said a 77-year-old man who was attacked nearby was left with injuries that were not life-threatening.
Police arrested a 52-year-old man nearby shortly afterwards. Ms Collins said police recovered weapons including a gun. Officers are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.
he added: "This is a very significant investigation with a large number of witnesses that are being spoken to by the police at this time.
"There is a large and significant crime scene and there is a large police presence in the area. A full investigation is underway to establish the motive for this murder.
The arrested man has been named locally as Thomas Mair.
'Jo believed in a better world'
The MP's husband Brendan Cox said: "Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love. I and Jo's friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo.
"Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people.
"She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn't have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous.
"Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full."
Eyewitness Clarke Rothwell told the BBC he believed the MP had been shot and stabbed several times.
He said: "Three times she was shot, the initial time which then she dropped to the floor and two more times. The third time he got close proximity he shot her round the head area."
He added: "In the meantime he was stabbing her as well, he was stabbing her with his knife."
The cockpit voice recorder from crashed EgyptAir flight MS804 has been found by search teams who had to salvage the device over several stages as it was damaged, the Egyptian investigation committee has said.
It said a specialist vessel owned by Mauritius-based Deep Ocean Search had been able to recover the memory unit from the black box.
“The vessel’s equipment was able to salvage the part that contains the memory unit, which is considered the most important part of the recording device,” the statement said.
Egypt’s public prosecutor was informed and ordered that the recovered device, one of two black boxes on the plane, be handed to the Egyptian investigating team for analysis.
The device is now being transferred from the John Lethbridge vessel to the coastal city of Alexandria where representatives from the public prosecution and investigators are waiting to receive it, the statement said.
Thursday’s announcement comes a day after the committee said the John Lethbridge, which was contracted by the government to join the search for the plane debris and flight recorders, had spotted and obtained images from the wreckage of the EgyptAir plane.
The Mauritius-based company, Deep Ocean Search, which operates the John Lethbridge, had used a remotely operated vehicle fitted with an acoustic sensor designed to dive up to 20,000 feet to retrieve the black boxes. However, only the part of the black box containing voice recordings from the cockpit had so far been retrieved.
“There are a number of stationary microphones in the cockpit plus the pilots wear microphones,” said Peter Goelz, an aviation expert formerly with the US national transportation safety board. “The value of the recording of the device is that it records not just the records voices and conversations within cockpit but also all of the sounds in the cockpit.”
Damage to the module could mean that obtaining the data of the recordings could take some time, Goelz said.
“It’s a delicate process if it’s just coming off an intact hard drive. If the hard drive itself has been damaged, it could take longer- possibly a number of weeks.”
France’s aviation safety agency, BEA, has stated that the aircraft had transmitted messages showing smoke inside the cabin and a fault in a flight control unit before crashing. Egypt’s investigation committee added earlier this week that radar images showed the plane swerved violently and changed direction, then turned 360 degrees before crashing.
The crash killed all 66 passengers and crew. These included 30 Egyptians, 15 French citizens, two Canadians, two Iraqis and people from Belgium, Britain, Algeria, Chad, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Portugal.
No group has claimed the crash as a terror attack. Egypt’s aviation minister, Sherif Fathi, told a news conference he did not want to draw any conclusions prematurely, but “the possibility of having a different action or a terror attack, is higher than the possibility of having a technical failure”.
Egypt’s aviation safety record has been in question following the crash ofMetrojet 7K9268 in the Sinai peninsula in October 2015; all 224 people on board were killed. Isis’s branch in Sinai later claimed responsibility for the attack, displaying a picture of the drinks can they say was used to smuggle a bomb on board the craft.
While Germany recently lifted its ban on direct flights to Sharm el-Sheikh, the UK and several other European nations have yet to do so.
Egypt hired the British firm ControlRisks to conduct a security review of airports in Sharm el-Sheikh, Marsa Allem and Cairo following the crash, part of ongoing efforts to restore confidence in Egypt’s security. Tourism, once a key part of Egypt’s economy, has been decimated by the Metrojet and EgyptAir crashes, despite continued efforts to find out what brought down MS804.
( June 14, 2016, Kashmir, Sri Lanka Guardian) Thousands of extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, mass graves and recurrent incidents of violence brushed under the carpet away from plain sight. Under the power of the world’s largest democracy, an organized system of institutionalized violence has evolved, specifically in the occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir. To enforce and legitimize this system of persecution and instrumental oppression, legislation such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is employed.
AFSPA, one of the most dreaded words in a Kashmiri’s vocabulary, is not less then a curse on the population of the occupied territory. Conventionally applied in “disturbed areas” of the Indian federation, the provisions of the act empower their Army personnel to shoot and use force, even to the extent to kill anyone that they consider is acting in contravention with law and order. Further, it allows them to arrest any person on the basis of suspicion and to enter any building or stop and search any vehicle, all without any warrant.
A provision of this law also requires all arrested people to be handed over to the nearest police station with a report on the circumstances of the arrest, but the more than 8,000 enforced disappearances in Kashmir from 1989 to 2009 speak volumes on the implementation of this provision.
The Special Powers Act was extended to Kashmir in 1990, but it has been enforced in the Northeastern states declared “disturbed areas” for long before that. The entire Manipur state was declared “disturbed” in 1980. Several incidents of human rights violations have been documented in these areas marked with heavy militarization, to the extent that a Wikileaks cable to the US Consulate General in India remarked that “Manipur was less a state and more a colony of India.” The violations, including extra-judicial killings, custodial brutality and rapes in these territories, have resulted in various demonstrations including one in 2004 where a dozen naked women protested outside the Assam Rifles headquarters with signs daring the Indian Army to rape them. The world’s longest hunger striker, Irom Sharmila, the iron lady of Manipur, has refused food and drink since November 2000, protesting against the draconian Special Powers Act
.
The Jeevan Reddy Commission of 2005 to review AFSPA was formed as a result of the severe protests on the custodial killing of Thangjam Manorama. The 147 page report stated that the act “has become a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and high handedness.” The commission also called for the revocation of the act.
In 2013, the Santosh Hedge Commission was formed, which took into consideration six sample cases of encounters. They found that none of these encounters were genuine and that “maximum force” had been employed to kill people. In the 100 page report the commission noted that: “Though the Act gives sweeping powers to security forces even to extend of killing a suspect with protection against prosecution, it does not provide any protection to the citizens against its possible misuse.” Further, it stated that the strictness of the accountability mechanism is supposed to increase with the increase in the powers granted, but in this case the trend seems to be reversed.
Another committee in 2013, the Justice Verma Committee, recommended that personnel guilty of sexual offences in conflict territories should be tried under ordinary criminal law. This recommendation echoes the call of the activists from Kashmir who have repeatedly questioned the accountability mechanism of the armed forces, where hardly any relief is granted to the aggrieved. The committee also stated that: “Systematic or isolated sexual violence, in the process of Internal Security duties, is being legitimized by the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which is in force in large parts of our country.”
In a report by Amnesty International dated July 1st, 2015, which contained interviews with 58 family members of victims of alleged human rights violations by security forces, it was recommended to India to withdraw AFSPA from Kashmir, and to invite the UN Special Rapporteur and the UN Working Group on Disappearances to visit the territory with “unimpeded access” to the victims and witnesses. The report focused on section 7 of AFSPA, which grants special immunity to the security personnel. It also stated that the central government has refused to permit prosecution against members of the military and paramilitary forces, and in the very small number of cases accepted, it has kept the decision pending for years. The armed forces deny the allegations, declaring 96% of the cases “false and baseless”. But evidence for finding the majority of these allegations false is not publicly available.
The law is not only in contravention with basic human rights, but also against the essence of the Indian constitution which clearly provides for “equality before law” through its article 14, “protection of life and liberty” through article 21 and “protection against arrest and detention” through article 22. Further, this act has to be reviewed every six months which, according to a Supreme Court ruling in 2008, had not been done in the case of Jammu and Kashmir.
From international human rights groups to activists inside India, voices are consistently being raised for the removal of this tyrannical piece of legislation and for the accountability of the armed forces. The debate is sparked every now and then with fresh incidents of human rights violations, but it is the unavoidable and humane responsibility of the international community to pressure the Indian government to strike down this act before more incidents of rapes, disappearances and killings with “legal protection” surface.
Hasnat Sheikh is a civil society activist residing in Azad, Kashmir
If Libya’s friends in the West want to boost effective governance, they need to cultivate the grassroots.
BY SETH KAPLAN, BASSMA KODMANI-JUNE 15, 2016
There has been at least a bit of good news from Libya lately. Over the past few days, militias allied with the internationally recognized unity government have made substantial advances against Islamic State forces based in the city of Sirte. That has awakened hopes that Libyans might be on their way toward re-establishing an effective central government.
For the time being, however, the country remains badly fractured. Libya has been in a state of anarchy since the ousting of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. Rival administrations, dozens of different armed groups, and complex and shifting tribal alliances have battled for control of the oil-rich state. Until its latest setbacks, the Islamic State exerted control over some 150 miles of the Mediterranean coastline. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of refugees from across Africa have exploited the chaos, using Libya as their launching pad for travel onward to Europe.
Worries over the risks posed by such turmoil explain the rush of the United States and other world powers to provide Libya’s national unity government with military assistance. Western diplomats are desperate to see a central authority emerge that they can entrust with fighting the Islamic State and stopping refugees at its borders.
Sadly, the new government has struggled to extend its writ beyond a handful of ministries it currently controls in Tripoli, the capital. Many observers are skeptical that it can do more, especially given its complete dependence on local militias for protection. Indeed, these efforts are built on sand; they are embedded in Libya’s weaknesses rather than its strengths.
The international community has tried and tried again to bring some order and stability to the situation, and has repeatedly failed to deliver. The previous U.N. special envoy, Bernardino León, tried for months to broker an agreement between two governments (and their affiliated political networks, militias, and backers) without success. Fearful that the talks would collapse, the new envoy, Martin Kobler, forced the issue by establishing a new national unity government in December 2015. But the other governments and many factions throughout the country continue to resist its mandate. Meanwhile, the international backers of various rival groups continue to flout an arms embargo, providing finance and hardware to their clients inside the country. The country grows ever more fragmented, fostering more fighting and more jihadism.
As in so many cases before, the current effort to broker some kind of agreement misses the most obvious point of entry. The many failed attempts to manufacture national unity stand in stark contrast to comparable efforts on the local level, where Libya’s myriad tribes and municipalities have proved themselves to be effective organizers of public authority. They have alsonegotiated local cease-fires, concluded agreements on issues as varied as prisoner exchange and checkpoint removal, and resolved criminal investigations.
Yet the international community’s plan for fixing the country has rigidly followed the standard “transitions” script: first set up a national unity government, then hold parliamentary elections. This approach only exacerbates Libya’s core weaknesses, namely its profound social divisions and its non-existent national institutions.
Libya does not have — at least for now — sufficient social cohesion and institutional capacity to establish a robust central government that can control all its territory. Even if the internationally recognized unity government were somehow able to gain support from its rivals, the agreement would be a flimsy thing.
The fragile state that Libyans inherited from the predatory Qaddafi dictatorship cannot simply be pieced together again through a top-down approach: the central authority established will not be strong enough to arbitrate between factions or combat warlordism, jihadism, and criminality. Instead, it risks just creating one additional actor that will have to compete for power with elements of the rival governments as well as independent powerbrokers and militias.
A more prudent approach would be to work from the bottom up, focusing on Libya’s political assets: functional local governance and effective, tribal-based conflict management mechanisms. The country’s tribes are especially important because their long histories and socially embedded institutions make them more durable than its shallow-rooted political parties and coalitions.
Local agreements with modest but achievable goals have a far greater chance of success.
These would involve fewer players, and each would have a better chance of enforcing the commitments made within their own spheres of influence. They would also be far better placed to implement and police agreements, as well as arbitrate differences both between and, when necessary, within groups.
A limited agreement or set of agreements between a small number of the most powerful local actors — for instance, Misrata, Zintan, the Warfallah, the Warshefana, the Obeidat, the Amazigh, and the Awaqir — would obviously have to take into account obstacles such as resistance to compromise from the hardliners in each group. This has prevented previous attempts at forging ad-hoc local agreements from achieving more — but then the peace brokers face exactly the same stumbling block to their efforts to create a robust government of national unity.
International actors should be supporting, training and advising local actors in parallel with efforts to develop an all-encompassing, top-down political settlement.Indeed, the two processes should be organized in such a way as to reinforce each other in a virtuous cycle. Change would certainly be slow and patchy, but once a few islands of stability begin to do well, others would be inclined to join and momentum would grow. Over time demand for national services such as central banking would increase, and central authority would grow in response.
This piecemeal approach may sound unorthodox, but it has many honorable precedents in countries such asColombia, Uganda, and parts of Somalia. In fact, state recovery from failure or extreme weakness typically happens in this piecemeal fashion, advancing in fits and starts rather than through a single great leap.
Unless the international community can acquire the flexibility to push aside the same old centralized approach, its efforts are doomed to fail. It’s obvious, really. Countries work best when they build on their strengths. Asking them to build on their weaknesses is a recipe for — more — failure.
In the photo, Libyans protest against an UN-sponsored agreement on forming a national unity government on December 18, 2015 in Tripoli.
Jun 16, 2016
