Sunday, July 24, 2016

Anti Narcotics Bureau in deep slumber ! Cocaine makes its way out freely passing Customs barriers ; AMRO Co. licensed smuggler?

(Lanka-e-News- 24.July.2016, 9.00PM) The infamous sugar importing Amro Co. has got down a second consignment of cocaine weighing 301.325 kilos making Sri Lanka a hub for cocaine business . Believe it or not , this detection was made by accident confirming again the inefficiency of the Police anti Narcotics Bureau which is asleep at the wheel.

The first consignment of 80 kilos of cocaine was detected by the Police STF on 20 th June in a private container of sugar imported from Brazil. It is to the anti Narcotics Bureau any contraband detected by any security division is handed over.

Lanka e news exposed the corrupt Director S.S.P. Kamal Silva of the anti Narcotics Bureau when he was conducting the investigation into the first detection most neglectfully and shakily, and while the probe into this is still not over, an outsider giving a call to the Anti Narcotics Bureau on the 21 st July informed that the same Amro Co. has got down a further consignment of sugar , and when the goods were being unloaded , a quantity of cocaine was detected.

By that time the Customs had scanned the container and released it with the cocaine contained in it to the container yard at Nuge road , Peliyagoda. Following the phone call ,when the Anti Narcotics Bureau went to the venue , 301.325 kilos of cocaine in full were detected .This contraband was stored along with the sugar under the symbols: No. 888, alphabet O and Eagle.

Can you beat that ? After the first container of cocaine was detected last month , about 20 more containers have arrived in the country between then and 21st, and have gone past the Customs barriers without any hindrance or obstruction . A high rung police officer told Lanka e news it is suspected more cocaine had gone out along with those containers.

The utter inefficiency and incompetence of the Director of the Police anti narcotics Bureau is borne testimony to by the simple fact that while the investigations are still under way pertaining to the previous detection involving the Amro company that smuggled the cocaine , a further container load of cocaine threefold more in quantity had been smuggled in by the same Co.

What ‘s more ? until somebody accidentally saw the contraband being unloaded and reported , the Anti Narcotics Bureau was in the dark and without a clue !! Neither the Anti Nracotics Bureau chief nor the IGP has taken any action to prevent this smuggling operation at least while the investigation is on. Neither was any other legal action taken to ensure against a repetition.

According to information reaching Lanka e news , though heroin addiction is widespread in SL , cocaine is not. Hence such large quantities of cocaine are being smuggled in because SL is now fast becoming a hub for onward transmission of this contraband via SL.

It is therefore a matter for deep regret that while SL is being used as a hub for cocaine smuggling , the Anti Narcotics Bureau and the Customs are in a deep slumber going by the accidental discoveries.

It is a pertinent question : how did the quantity of cocaine find its way out of the Customs barrier so freely ?

The chief of the STF , Ranjith Perera when he made the first detection made a clear accusation that the Customs officers are involved. Intriguingly and shockingly until today , not one culprit has been apprehended.

In the circumstances the people are rightly questioning with concern whether Amro Co. has been issued a license to smuggle cocaine ?

(In the photo is IGP Poojitha Jayasundara who arrived on the scene after everything was over to examine the quantity of cocaine )

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by (2016-07-24 15:17:09)

Essay: Reflections On Nationalism and History

by ROMILA THAPAR

( July 23, 2016, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) For Indians of my age who grew up on the cusp of Independence, nationalism was in the air we breathed. Nationalism was not something problematic. It was an identity with the nation and its society. The identity and consciousness of being Indian did not initially need to be defined. We understood nationalism to be Indian nationalism and not Hindu or Muslim or any other kind of religious or other nationalism, and a clear distinction was made between nationalism and other loyalties. Nationalism could only be Indian. And Indian meant that which was above all the smaller loyalties to religion, caste, ethnicity and region. Nationalism meant differentiating between the nation and the state, and it was clear that no government could take upon itself the rights of a nation. Sovereignty resides with the nation and not with the government. A nation referred to the people that inhabited a territory who saw themselves as an evolved community created by drawing upon the range of communities that existed prior to the nation. It was based on a shared history, interests and aspirations frequently expressed in a common culture that in turn drew from multiple cultures.

At the most visible level, a nation is identified with territory. For the Indian this was the territory of British India that the colony hoped to inherit on becoming a nation. This had to be bifurcated with Partition in 1947, and that was problematic when identified with the erstwhile territory of British India. So the territory of what constituted India had to be redefined.

READ THE FULL ESSAY HERE ON SRI LANKA GUARDIAN ESSAYS

Iraq & Racist Neo-Imperialism – Part II

By Izeth Hussain –July 23, 2016

Izeth Hussain

In the concluding paragraph of the first part this article I asked: “If the promotion of a new world order based on democracy was not the real objective behind the 2003 invasion of Iraq, what was it?” In answering that question we must firstly bear in mind the full enormity of the horror perpetrated against the people of Iraq. It was not just one of the greatest crimes against humanity perpetrated during the post-Second World War era. It was one of the greatest of such crimes perpetrated during the entirety of human history. Just a few facts will eloquently testify to that charge.

Even before the Gulf War Iraq’s military power was negligible compared to that of the white behemoths of the West. After the Gulf War, it was non-existent. It had no weapons of mass destruction, and constituted no threat whatever to any country. Its people were subjected to cruel sanctions leading to the deaths of around 500,000 children, which former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright defended as justifiable. All that the Iraqi people wanted to do, just like ordinary humanity all over the world, was to send their children to school, try to make ends meet, and live out their lives as decent enough law-abiding citizens. Instead the horror of the 2003 invasion was gratuitously visited on their heads. It led to around the usually accepted figure of 600,000 deaths. That sober fact alone should suffice to establish that Bush and Blair have to be counted as among the greatest criminals of all time.

So what was the explanation for the Iraq war? The usual explanation is that the US wanted to grab Iraq’s oil. Even Raymond William Baker – whom I quoted in the first part of this article – so insightful about the crucial role of the Israeli factor behind the Iraq war, wrote as follows: “Finally, Iraq was the site of impressive oil resources. In global perspective, American control of Iraqi oil was judged critical to the potential great power rivals just over the horizon, notably China with its disturbing economic vitality and Russia with its resurgent nationalism. Should the American economy continue its decline, it was judged that Iraqi oil in American hands would be an extremely helpful lever in facing the Chinese, Russians, and other threats to American dominance”. That sounds a plausible enough rationale, and it could be persuasive, except that both the US and Britain had disavowed any intention of grabbing Iraqi oil, and nothing they have done contradicts that disavowal.

I would opt for a two-part explanation of the Iraq war. One is that it was an act of vengeance, of racist vengeance, for September 11 – that is the destruction of the twin towers. It is apparent from the Bush–Blaircorrespondence that it was that that made those two criminals start fantasizing about possible weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. That correspondence establishes also that the decision to subject Iraq to mass destruction was made well in advance of 2003, and further that by his now notorious use of the word “whatever” – he would go along with the US “whatever” – Blair had committed to making Britain join in that mass destruction. Evidently the question of awaiting worthwhile proof pointing to weapons of mass destruction in Iraq never bothered Bush and Blair. All along they were grimly determined to wreak vengeance for September 11. But why do I call it “racist vengeance”? It was known that September 11 was an exploit of Saudi terrorists and that Iraq had nothing to do with it. The point is that the essentialising and stereotyping habit of mind that is typical of racists would make all Arabs share responsibility for September 11. Therefore not Saudi Arabia, an ally of the West, but Iraq, an enemy of the West, was subjected to mass destruction. Consequently Madeleine Albright thought it meet and proper that 500,000 Iraqi children should have died as a result of sanctions. That’s how mad racists can be.

A Syrian man reacts to rescuers looking for victims under the rubble of a building after an air strike in northern Aleppo (AFP)

Sunday 24 July 2016

A newborn baby was killed after a children's hospital was among four clinics bombed by Syrian and Russian jets in rebel-held Aleppo

Four hospitals and a blood bank in the Syrian rebel-held city of Aleppo have been hit by air strikes carried out by the Syrian government and Russian forces, according to a group of doctors on Sunday.

The Independent Doctors Association (IDA), a group of Syrian doctors supporting clinics in the city, said in a statement that the hospitals were bombed over the course of 24 hours in the same neighbourhood of east Aleppo.

A paediatric hospital was one of the hospitals struck, killing a two-day-old baby and injuring many others, according to the statement.

The doctors said the infant was killed after a bomb hit their oxygen tank in the hospital.

A second air strike hit the same hospital nine hours later and rendered the four hospitals "dysfunctional," according to the IDA.

“The doctors could only yell for their colleagues to take cover and shield the babies,” the group said in a statement.

Footage posted by the IDA of the strike's aftermath showed agitated doctors carrying a tiny baby in a room lined with incubators, with sandbags piled high just outside the entrance.

The IDA also said in its statement that the four hospitals - the children’s hospital, al-Bayan, al-Zahraa and al-Daqaa - hit by the air strikes will be going out of service “as a result of the escalating series of aerial attacks taking place against health facilities in Aleppo by Syrian and Russian war planes”.

This announcement came amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, as fighting has intensified between Syrian rebel groups and Syrian government forces, supported by Russian war planes.

It warned that doctors "are not able to get any wounded people out or any medicine in to this devastated city".

These latest attacks in Aleppo come two months after the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2286, which strongly condemned attacks against medical facilities and personnel in conflict situations.

The IDA said the four hospitals would be out of service until the resolution is properly enacted.

According to the Syrian Civil Defence group, the air strikes hit Aleppo's last remaining blood bank in operation.

The group also said six medical facilities had been targeted in the space of 24 hours in Aleppo by warplanes belonging to the Russian and Syrian governments, with the IDA predicting more than 200 people dying as a consequence of the air strikes, in a statement released earlier today via social media.

Last year, the World Health Organisation said Syria is the most dangerous place for healthcare workers to operate, with 135 attacks on health facilities and workers in 2015.

Several hospitals have been damaged in recent months and medical staff killed in the densely populated eastern neighbourhoods of Aleppo.

A hospital in the eastern Maadi neighbourhood was hit eight days ago, wounding some staff and patients inside.

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Marianne Gasser, in a statement described the situation unfolding in Aleppo as "devastating and overwhelming".

Gasser also said that every neighbourhood in the city of Aleppo had been hit and that vital infrastructure was being repeatedly hit by Syrian government and Russian air strikes.

Separately, Syrian activists have called for global protests after dozens of civilians were reportedly killed by US-led coalition air strikes, in what one monitor called the “worst week” for civilian casualties in the two years since the coalition entered the war.

Facebook pages managed by Syrian activists urged people around the world to take to the streets to protest against the deaths under the banner "Manbij is being exterminated".

"We ask all Syrians, whatever their affiliations or sects, and all free people of the world and especially the people of Manbij to stand in solidarity with our devastated city on Sunday, July 24," wrote one page that publishes local news about Manbij.

Manbij is a key town near the Turkish border in Aleppo province where US-coalition forces are supporting Kurdish led in fighters in battling the Islamic State (IS) group.

Children were among at least 56 civilians killed on Tuesday in raids by coalition warplanes. The people were fleeing the village of al-Tukhar near Manbij, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Asked about the al-Tukhar raids, the US-led coalition said it had recently "conducted air strikes near Manbij" and was looking into the reports of civilian casualties.

Airwars, a website tracking civilian deaths by the US-led coalition, said in a tweet that past week was the deadliest for civilians since the coalition began operations against IS.

More than 280,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011, and millions have been forced to flee.

Turkish Embassy Deplores ‘Prejudiced’ U.S. Media, Rolls Out Official Coup Documentary

BY JOHN HUDSON-JULY 22, 2016

Decrying a spate of negative press coverage, the Turkish Embassy in Washington made its case to reporters Friday that Ankara has not abused its authority in the wake of a failed coup, screening a slick, government-produced documentary that shows tanks running over protesters and fighter jets strafing a city.

Much of the film appeared to be taken from security cameras perched on buildings or from international TV news clips, including footage of a soldier shooting a civilian at point-blank range.

“Please give the benefit of the doubt to a government that has barely survived the worst attack on Turkish democracy in its history,” Turkish Ambassador to the United States Serdar Kilic said, citing the deaths of 246 people and the injuries of more than 2,000.

“There is a prejudice that President Erdogan and the government of Turkey is trying to take advantage of the attempted coup.”

In recent days, Turkey has suspended, detained, or placed under investigation more than 60,000 judges, soldiers, police, civil servants, and teachers suspected of ties with accused coup plotter Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in the United States. Western governments and rights activists have raised concerns that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown may be extending beyond the coup plotters and targeting his political opponents — a charge Kilic denied.

“If it was the case” that Erdogan was exploiting the coup to crack down on the political opposition, “then not all the political parties would stand with the government in their fight against this terrorist organization,” he said, noting statements by Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party, and the Nationalist Movement Party condemningthe coup attempt by a faction of the military.

Kilic repeatedly referred to the Gulen movement as a terrorist organization and said his government would continue pressing the United States to extradite the Pennsylvania-based religious cleric. When asked if Ankara submitted a formal extradition request to the Washington, he said officials “submitted the necessary documentation” to U.S. authorities.

Secretary of State John Kerry has said the United States will consider any extradition request for Gulen from Turkey but that Washington’s decision will be based on the strength of the evidence. “Obviously, we would invite the government of Turkey, as we always do, to present us with any legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny,” Kerry said earlier this week. “And the United States will accept that and look at it and make judgments about it appropriately.”

When James Clapper, the U.S. director of national intelligence, was asked on Thursday if allegations that Gulen orchestrated the coup attempt passed the “smell test,” Clapper told the Washington Post “No. Not to me.”

When asked if Turkey had evidence directly linking Gulen to the coup, Kilic stated that a “number of plotters who have been apprehended” have “confessed direct links” to Gulen. He said the confessions would be publicized at some point but did not give a specific date.

Asked how far the purges might go, Kilic said: “If you ask my opinion, it should go to the extent possible until the point where we can ensure that no attempt again will be orchestrated against the Turkish democratic system of government.”

Red Corridor to be redrawn by govt.

CRPF personnel during an anti-Maoist operation in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh. File photo: Pavan Dahat

20 out of 106 districts may lose aid if they are dropped from list

VIJAITA SINGH-July 24, 2016

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government (NDA) is set to reduce the number of Maoist-affected districts by about a fifth.

A senior Home Ministry official told The Hindu that approximately 20 of the 106 districts which have been described as being Maoist-affected and are part of the Red Corridor may soon no longer be part of the list. This exercise, under way now for two years, is being done for the first time since 2006, when the Maoist-affected districts were identified and graded on the basis of their violence profile.

The names of the districts and the reasons for being considered to be taken off the list have been communicated to the States and a response is awaited. The names are not being revealed because of the sensitivities of the States which fear that once a district is taken off the list financial aid which is made available to the districts – to the tune of Rs. 30 crore annually for various developmental work – will dry up.

Spanning 10 States

The 106 districts which span 10 States — Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh — are described as those affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE) and constitute the ‘Red Corridor.’

Of these, 44 districts are said to be the worst-affected. India has a total of 683 districts.

The considerations on which the government has examined the districts with LWE features are: their violence profile, an assessment of the kind of logistical and other support provided to armed Maoist cadres by their sympathisers and “over ground workers”, and the kind of positive changes brought about by development work that these districts have seen.

The Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) has already given the go-ahead for an ambitious road project in the 44 worst-affected districts.

Under this project, the government proposes to construct 5412 km road length and 126 bridges and it would cost Rs. 11,725 crore.

For instance, for the last four years in Bankura, West Midnapore, Purulia and Birbhum districts of West Bengal there has been no reported incident of Maoist-related activities. Even so, a senior government official pointed out, two battalions of central armed police (roughly 1,000 men comprise a battalion) continue to be deployed there as West Bengal has staunchly opposed the withdrawal of forces. The implication: they could be better deployed elsewhere.

“The 20 districts we have zeroed in on span 142 police stations,” another official explains. “If you look at the Maoist-affected area, police station wise, the total number comes to 762. Since the NDA government came to power, 14 additional battalions of Central forces have been sent to these areas. In other words, there are in all 104 battalions deployed” (in LWE-affected districts).

The year 2015 saw the lowest Maoist violence in six years with 1,088 incidents and 226 deaths being reported as compared to 2,213 incidents in which as many as 1,005 people lost their lives in 2010.

This year, though, the number of Maoist-related incidents has seen a spike with 605 incidents and 161 deaths reported till June 30 as compared to the 592 incidents and 120 deaths during the same period last year.

Donald Trump is a unique threat to American democracy

Donald Trump addressed the GOP convention in Cleveland, Ohio, July 21. The Republican presidential candidate spoke for more than one hour, we broke it down to less than five minutes. (Deirdra O'Regan/The Washington Post)

By Editorial Board July 22

DONALD J. TRUMP, until now a Republican problem, this week became a challenge the nation must confront and overcome. The real estate tycoon is uniquely unqualified to serve as president, in experience and temperament. He is mounting a campaign of snarl and sneer, not substance. To the extent he has views, they are wrong in their diagnosis of America’s problems and dangerous in their proposed solutions. Mr. Trump’s politics of denigration and division could strain the bonds that have held a diverse nation together. His contempt for constitutional norms might reveal the nation’s two-century-old experiment in checks and balances to be more fragile than we knew.

Any one of these characteristics would be disqualifying; together, they make Mr. Trump a peril. We recognize that this is not the usual moment to make such a statement. In an ordinary election year, we would acknowledge the Republican nominee, move on to the Democratic convention and spend the following months, like other voters, evaluating the candidates’ performance in debates, on the stump and in position papers. This year we will follow the campaign as always, offering honest views on all the candidates. But we cannot salute the Republican nominee or pretend that we might endorse him this fall. A Trump presidency would be dangerous for the nation and the world.

Why are we so sure? Start with experience. It has been 64 years since a major party nominated anyone for president who did not have electoral experience. That experiment turned out pretty well — but Mr. Trump, to put it mildly, is no Dwight David Eisenhower. Leading the Allied campaign to liberate Europe from the Nazis required strategic and political skills of the first order, and Eisenhower — though he liked to emphasize his common touch as he faced the intellectual Democrat Adlai Stevenson — was shrewd, diligent, humble and thoughtful.

[Read the transcript of Donald Trump’s interview with The Washington Post editorial board]

Donald Trump painted a dark picture of America during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, but some of his doomsday stats are rather dubious. The Post's Fact Checker examined 25 of his key claims. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

In contrast, there is nothing on Mr. Trump’s résumé to suggest he could function successfully in Washington. He was staked in the family business by a well-to-do father and has pursued a career marked by some real estate successes, some failures andrepeated episodes of saving his own hide while harming people who trusted him. Given his continuing refusal to release his tax returns, breaking with a long bipartisan tradition, it is only reasonable to assume there are aspects of his record even more discreditable than what we know.

The lack of experience might be overcome if Mr. Trump saw it as a handicap worth overcoming. But he displays no curiosity, reads no books and appears to believe he needs no advice. In fact, what makes Mr. Trump so unusual is his combination of extreme neediness and unbridled arrogance. He is desperate for affirmation but contemptuous of other views. He also is contemptuous of fact. Throughout the campaign, he has unspooled one lie after another — that Muslims in New Jersey celebrated after 9/11, that his tax-cut plan would not worsen the deficit, that he opposed the Iraq War before it started — and when confronted with contrary evidence, he simply repeats the lie. It is impossible to know whether he convinces himself of his own untruths or knows that he is wrong and does not care. It is also difficult to know which trait would be more frightening in a commander in chief.

Given his ignorance, it is perhaps not surprising that Mr. Trump offers no coherence when it comes to policy. In years past, he supported immigration reform, gun control and legal abortion; as candidate, he became a hard-line opponent of all three. Even in the course of the campaign, he has flip-flopped on issues such as whether Muslims should be bannedfrom entering the United States and whether women who have abortions should be punished . Worse than the flip-flops is the absence of any substance in his agenda. Existing trade deals are “stupid,” but Mr. Trump does not say how they could be improved. The Islamic State must be destroyed, but the candidate offers no strategy for doing so. Eleven million undocumented immigrants must be deported, but Mr. Trump does not tell us how he would accomplish this legally or practically.

What the candidate does offer is a series of prejudices and gut feelings, most of them erroneous. Allies are taking advantage of the United States. Immigrants are committing crimes and stealing jobs. Muslims hate America. In fact, Japan and South Korea are major contributors to an alliance that has preserved a peace of enormous benefit to Americans. Immigrants commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans and take jobs that no one else will. Muslims are the primary victims of Islamist terrorism, and Muslim Americans, including thousands who have served in the military, are as patriotic as anyone else.

[Fareed Zakaria: America would be Trump’s banana republic]

The Trump litany of victimization has resonated with many Americans whose economic prospects have stagnated. They deserve a serious champion, and the challenges of inequality and slow wage growth deserve a serious response. But Mr. Trump has nothing positive to offer, only scapegoats and dark conspiracy theories. He launched his campaign by accusing Mexico of sending rapists across the border, and similar hatefulness has surfaced numerous times in the year since.

In a dangerous world, Mr. Trump speaks blithely of abandoning NATO, encouraging more nations to obtain nuclear weapons and cozying up to dictators who in fact wish the United States nothing but harm. For eight years, Republicans have criticized President Obama for “apologizing” for America and for weakening alliances. Now they put forward a candidate who mimics the vilest propaganda of authoritarian adversaries about how terrible the United States is and how unfit it is to lecture others. He has made clear that he would drop allies without a second thought. The consequences to global security could be disastrous.

Most alarming is Mr. Trump’s contempt for the Constitution and the unwritten democratic norms upon which our system depends. He doesn’t know what is in the nation’s founding document. When asked by a member of Congress about Article I, which enumerates congressional powers, the candidate responded, “I am going to abide by the Constitution whether it’s number 1, number 2, number 12, number 9.” The charter has seven articles.

Worse, he doesn’t seem to care about its limitations on executive power. He hasthreatened that those who criticize him will suffer when he is president. He has vowed totorture suspected terrorists and bomb their innocent relatives, no matter the illegality of either act. He has vowed to constrict the independent press. He went after a judge whose rulings angered him, exacerbating his contempt for the independence of the judiciary by insisting that the judge should be disqualified because of his Mexican heritage. Mr. Trump has encouraged and celebrated violence at his rallies. The U.S. democratic system is strong and has proved resilient when it has been tested before. We have faith in it. But to elect Mr. Trump would be to knowingly subject it to threat.

Mr. Trump campaigns by insult and denigration, insinuation and wild accusation: Ted Cruz’s father was involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; Hillary Clinton may be guilty of murder; Mr. Obama is a traitor who wants Muslims to attack. The Republican Party has moved the lunatic fringe onto center stage, with discourse that renders impossible the kind of substantive debate upon which any civil democracy depends.

Most responsible Republican leaders know all this to be true; that is why Mr. Trump had to rely so heavily on testimonials by relatives and employees during this week’s Republican convention. With one exception (Bob Dole), the living Republican presidents and presidential nominees of the past three decades all stayed away. But most current officeholders, even those who declared Mr. Trump to be an unthinkable choice only months ago, have lost the courage to speak out.

The party’s failure of judgment leaves the nation’s future where it belongs, in the hands of voters. Many Americans do not like either candidate this year . We have criticized the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, in the past and will do so again when warranted. But we do not believe that she (or the Libertarian and Green party candidates, for that matter) represents a threat to the Constitution. Mr. Trump is a unique and present danger.

The Brexit pill has not choked us as expected

A month has passed since Britain voted to leave the European Union

It has all happened so quickly. Last Friday marked four weeks since the momentous day, June 24, when we discovered that the UK had voted to leave the EU. How do things look now?

Before the event there were widespread forecasts of mayhem in the financial markets, but alarmist views have proved unjustified. True, the pound initially took a battering, but it has since stabilised about 9pc below its level before the referendum vote.

Although this fall of sterling will cause problems and losses to some people – including holiday-makers going abroad this summer – it will be of net benefit to the economy overall.

The equity market initially took quite a tumble – but not a collapse. And it has subsequently more than stabilised; the FTSE 100 index is about 5pc up since the vote. Even the domestically-focused FTSE 250 is down by less than 2pc.

Some commentators have spoken about the crisis posed by “collapsing government bond yields”. Yet far from indicating a crisis, these falling yields are the logical concomitant of rising bond prices.

So much for the idea that, after Brexit, Britain would be regarded as a pariah by international markets.
The UK may have lost its AAA status with all the credit rating agencies, but the markets couldn’t care less.
Perhaps the most impressive development has been on the political scene.

We still have little detail about how the economy has performed after the vote

According to the original plan, we should now be in the midst of an extended election campaign for the leadership of the Conservative party, with the result not announced until September 9.
In the meantime, David Cameron was to continue as a caretaker, also known as a lame duck, prime minister.

In the event, this process was cut short and we had a new prime minister and government in place within three weeks. The swift return to business as usual has done much to dampen anxiety.

We still have little detail about how the economy has performed after the vote. The commercial property market is extremely soggy and apparently large parts of the London residential market are as well. M&A activity has been slashed and many consultancy businesses say that commissions have dried up. So it would not be surprising to find economic growth has faltered.

Nevertheless, it was striking that last week Kristin Forbes, a senior official at the Bank of England, said that there was not yet any discernible sign of post-Brexit weakness. She questioned whether there was any legitimate case for an early reduction in interest rates.

Similarly, whereas the previous chancellor, George Osborne, had warned that if we voted for Brexit there would have to be an emergency Budget involving expenditure cuts and tax rises, we now know that this is not going to happen. Moreover, we also know that the Government’s aim to achieve a surplus on its budget has now been postponed.

Nor has the threatened mass exodus of banks and bankers from the City of London manifested itself. Of course, they could still be biding their time in order to see what sort of relationship the UK secures with the EU. But it has been noteworthy that a number of senior bankers have confirmed their continued commitment to London.

Even the International Monetary Fund has failed to produce much to worry about. Indeed, it still forecast the UK to grow faster this year and next than both Germany and France.
Outside the UK, the Brexit pill has been swallowed very easily. There was initially a significant reaction in the world’s equity markets but this has now dissipated. Since the Brexit vote, most of the world’s major stock markets are up.

Contrary to President Obama’s warning that “the UK would go to the back of the queue”, it seems the US is embracing the prospect of a trade deal with the UK. There is also enthusiasm from Canada, Australia, India, China, Japan, Brazil and New Zealand.

Of course, the really big question concerns our trade relationship with the EU, and on that we still know very little. But at least the penny has begun to drop for many people that being outside the single market does not mean being unable to trade with it.

Roger Bootle is executive chairman of Capital Economics

GST Bill: Arun Jaitley to meet state finance ministers on Tuesday

Jaitley met Nitish Kumar over the weekend, and has been earlier meeting Congress party leaders to garner support for the proposed pan-India GST.

By IANS | Jul 24, 2016

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will on Tuesday meet his counterparts in states to discuss proposed amendments to the GST Bill that has been passed by the Lok Sabha but is stuck in the Rajya Sabha, an official source here said.

Jaitley met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the weekend, and has been earlier meeting Congress party leaders to garner support for the proposed pan-India Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The GST Bill is likely to be listed for discussion in the Rajya Sabha following Jaitley's consultations with the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers.

Listing the government business for the week beginning July 25, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told the Rajya Sabha on Friday that the GST Bill will come up for discussion next week.

"(This is for) further consideration and passing of the Constitution 122nd Amendment Bill 2014, as passed by the Lok Sabha and as reported by the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha," he said.

About the agenda for the second week of the ongoing monsoon session beginning on Monday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said in a statement: "The Business Advisory Committee has already allocated five hours for discussing this Bill in the Rajya Sabha which is an important development."

GST was first mooted by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

It has been already passed by the Lok Sabha but is pending in the Rajya Sabha where the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government lacks a majority.

The Congress has been demanding that the overall GST rate be capped at 18 per cent, as well as scrapping of an additional one per cent tax to compensate manufacturing states.

Following a meeting of state finance ministers in Kolkata last month, Jaitley announced that every state had either supported or accepted the proposed GST, except Tamil Nadu which expressed its reservations and offered suggestions.

The model GST law approved at the state finance ministers' meeting has, thereafter, been published, inviting comments from stakeholders.

Nepal's prime minister resigns just before no confidence vote

Nepal's Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, also known as KP Oli, observes a minute of silence for earthquake victims during an event organised to mark the 18th National Earthquake Safety Day and the official launch of earthquake reconstruction efforts in Bungamati...REUTERS/NAVESH CHITRAKAR/FILES

BY GOPAL SHARMA- Sun Jul 24, 2016

Nepal's Prime Minister K.P. Oli resigned on Sunday, nine months after coming to power and minutes before parliament was to vote on a no confidence motion he was likely to lose.

Oli's departure plunges the Himalyan country, plagued by political turmoil for years, into a whole new round of political uncertainty. This is the country's 23rd government to fall since a multi-party democracy began in 1990 after bloody protests, and the political tumult has weighed on business confidence.

The no-confidence motion was brought by former Maoist rebels who propped up the Oli-led government last October, but fell out with him after accusing him of failing to honour a power-sharing deal. Oli's former allies also accused him of failing to address political concerns of Nepal's ethnic Madhesi minority, who live in the country's southern plains that border India.

"I have already submitted my resignation to the President when I met her before coming to the house," said Oli in a speech in parliament after being deserted by his allies ahead of the scheduled no confidence vote.

Nepal's neighbours, China and India, jostle for influence over the volatile young republic and are worried that prolonged political turmoil could turn one of the world's poorest nations into a haven for criminal gangs and militants.

Nepal has been flirting with crisis since September when it adopted its first republican constitution. The Madhesi minority rejected it, contending that the new federal states it created marginalized them by splitting their homeland.

The Maoists called off a bid to oust Oli back in May after he vowed to address the Madhesi concerns and rebuild many homes destroyed in earthquakes last year.

But Oli's critics said he did not do as he promised.

"This made us unable to continue to work with him," Maoist chief Prachanda, said in parliament on Friday.

Prachanda, who goes by his war nom-de-guerre meaning "Fierce", is the favourite to replace the 64-year-old Oli, who will remain caretaker prime minister until parliament picks a new leader in a process that could take several days.

President Vidhya Devi Bhandari is expected to give political parties seven days to agree on a candidate for prime minister on the basis of political understanding. If this fails, lawmakers will then attempt to elect a new leader on the basis of a majority on the floor of the house.

(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Robert Birsel and Raissa Kasolowsky)