Salawa residents want more money due to ‘blast vibrations’

L. M. Renuka Priyadarshani explaining the extent of the damages. Pix by Nilan Maligaspe

H. G. Rani-Victims with weary eyes waiting for the officers to re - evaluate the damages in response to their appeals

By Chamal Weerakkody-Sunday, August 07, 2016

Disheartened Salawa residents whose properties were damaged in the massive explosion in the army armoury in town on June 6 are questioning the valuation method used to pay compensation, claiming there is continuing cracking in walls and floors and other structural damage.

They are also displeased that the cost of the roofs renovated by the army is being deducted from the recently issued government compensation estimates for damaged properties.

L. M. Renuka Priyadharshani, owner of a small shop in Salawa, says she is frightened to live in her home, built two months ago with all her husband’s earnings from working overseas, because its structure had been damaged from the explosion’s vibrations.

She said the valuers estimated Rs. 85,000 as compensation for the damage even though her house and shop were just 50m away from the blast. Worse, the estimate given by the army for the cost of the repaired roof took away a third of that amount.

Another resident, Walter Nagahawatta, said the government estimate of the cost of repairs to his property was Rs. 384,000 but that the contractor who built the house had said the structure had been damaged beyond repair. The contractor had recommended the house be demolished and rebuilt and estimated this could cost Rs. 7 million.

Mr. Nagahawatte, 74, had been informed that Rs. 260,000 of the Rs. 384,000 in compensation would be deducted from the army as the cost of the roof renovation.

He said his son had invested all his earnings to build the house before his marriage, six months prior to the explosion.

M. A. Dhammi Bimalka

“My son has nothing left. This house was all he had and this incident has turned his life upside down. His only hope is to get rightful compensation for the damage,” Mr. Nagahawatta said.

M.A. Dhammi Bimalka was shocked when told the valuation for the damage to the walls, roof, doorframes and doors of her home was Rs. 10,000, saying the army had said she could get up to Rs. 51,000. She had spent Rs. 10,000 to repair the doors. The army had told her the cost of replacing two asbestos sheets and a beam in her roof, plus army labour charges, would be deducted from the government compensation.

Nilmini Dhanjala, Arapangama, who lives some 400m away from the army camp and is to be awarded Rs. 30,000 – with the cost of roof repairs deducted – said some of the cracks on the walls were widening every day and she feared to live in such conditions.

Farmer D. Somadasa, 74, said farmers were apprehensive about being injured by any unexploded shells among small pieces of ordnance still lying scattered in paddy fields.

The regional army commander, Major-General Sudantha Ranasinghe, said the army guaranteed the safety of the area.

Farmers had been asked to inform the army if they came across shell remnants while working in their fields, he said, giving an assurance that any such fragments would be harmless.

He said the army had completed renovation of 1,032 roofs as requested by residents and that a Rs. 1 million program to provide two sets of school uniforms each to 869 students from homes damaged by the blast was in operation.

The Valuation Department’s Chief Valuer, P.D.D.S. Muthukumarana, said only a fifth of Salawa residents had asked for new valuations and her department would re-estimate property damage if requested by the Divisional Secretariat.

Ms. Muthukumarana said estimates were based on the existing market value of building materials.

Nimini Dananjala

If blast vibrations had caused continuing damage and the Divisional Secretary believed an increased compensation payout was warranted a government structural engineer would be despatched to inspect the sites and prepare a report on the structural integrity of the buildings, she said.

In such cases, research conducted by institutions such as National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) would be taken into consideration along with appeals made by the residents.

The department had completed 1,953 reports on damaged properties since early June and officials were working on 300 more reports.

The Minister of Disaster Management, Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, said Rs. 1179.6 million had been allocated as compensation for Salawa victims.

The Minister said 1,404 victims would receive compensation up to Rs. 100,000 compensation; 390 would receive compensation of Rs. 100,000-1,000,000 and 237 others would receive amounts in excess of Rs. 1,000,000.

A rental allowance of Rs. 50,000 was being provided to 700 home-owners and 59 shop owners while a Rs. 10,000 allowance had been given to 315 three-wheeler taxi drivers and shop employees whose livelihoods had been affected by the blast.

Agalawatte Saga - SEC tight lipped in spite of clarifications

Aug 11, 2016

•    Will SEC explain its actions in light of new information?
•    Who are the movers and shakers behind regulator's arbitrary action?

The onus has been placed on the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to explain the regulatory zeal with which it halted payments on the sale of a major stake in Agalawatte Plantations PLC to Browns Power Holdings (Pvt) Ltd.

Yesterday, considering an application filed on behalf of Browns Power Holdings, the Court of Appeal presided by Justice Vijith Malalgoda, issued notice on the SEC and the Colombo Stock Exchange for withholding approval of the announcement of a mandatory offer made by Browns Power Holdings

As parties involved in the transaction have confirmed that the sale was made at market price on the CSE with the necessary approvals, and have submitted evidence to the same, the market regulator is yet to explain its extemporaneous decision.

A corporate disclosure filed at the Colombo Stock Exchange at the behest of Agalawatte Plantations PLC on the 8th of August, clearly details the approvals process in the sale of 15,200,000 shares by Mackwoods Plantations (Pvt) Ltd.

Furthermore, the disclosure also notes that Mackwoods Plantations is wholly owned by only two shareholders, one local and one foreign and that while the foreign investor from Malaysia has been a significant shareholder since 1995, the local shareholder is Mackwoods (Pvt) Ltd.

The two shareholders, constituting all the shareholders of Mackwoods Plantations, had unanimously approved and executed an agreement under the Companies Act, for the sale of their stake in Agalawatte Plantations PLC.

It was in these circumstances, that Mackwoods Plantations sold their shares on the 14th of July 2016 on the CSE at the prevailing market price of Rs 20/- per share to Browns Power Holdings (Pvt) Ltd.

In spite of the clarification that has been issued by all parties involved in the transaction, the SEC which reportedly acted on a complaint from an external party, continues to remain mum. Is it prudent for the regulator to stop proceeds on the basis of external complaints by members of unlisted companies who are not even shareholders of the selling company? Does this flout the entire

Buddhist monk in Mullaitivu allegedly threatened by TNA

 10 August 2016

Chief Incumbent of the Sambodhi Vihara Temple in Kokilai, Mullaitivu, Ven. Sri Tissapura Gunarathana Thera claims he has been threatned by a Provincial Councilor from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA)  to stop developing the temple and to vacate the area.

The Thera further stated that several members of the TNA were claiming that the temple had been built on private land and have launched agitations to have it removed. A proposal in this regard has also been tabled and approved at the Northern Pronvincial Council (NPC), he added. 

The Thera however, claims that he has a permit for the land on which the temple had been built, which had been issued by the Mullaitivu Divisional Secretary. A court case filed by a man claiming the land was his had later been withdrawn after a short period, he further noted. 

After arriving in the area in 2009 to teach children at the Kokilai Sinhala Vidyalaya, the Thera had subsequently built a kindergarden and a vocational training institute within the temple. He claims he had been foster ethnic harmony between Sinhala and Tamil communities by providing education to those from both ethnicities at these institutes while also attending to the religious needs of area residents. 

Thurairasa Raviharan, the PC Member who is alleged to have threatened Gunarathana Thera denied the accusations, stating that he had gone to the temple on several occasions to meet the Thera but that he had not been present. 

Mr. Raviharan though, maintained that the temple had been built on private land and hence should be removed. He also questioned why a Buddhist temple was needed for the area, as the vast majority of residents in Kokilai were Tamil Christians. 

Story and Pix by Romesh Madhusanka 

81 Buddhist monks sent to jail

2016-08-11

Minister of Justice and Buddha Sasana Wijayedasa Rajapakshe told Parliament that, from 8 January 2015 to 31 March 2016, 81 Buddhist monks had been imprisoned.
The minister said among those monks had been eight who had been charged with contempt of Court and one......who had allegedly reared an elephant calf without a valid licence.
He said, among other charges levelled against the monks, there had been various cases of abuse, digging for treasures etc.
The Minister was replying to an oral question posed to him by UPFA and NFF Kalutara District MP Jayantha Samaraweera.

New Delhi Judge Summons SriLankan Airlines Authorities For Sexual Harassment Case.

August 10, 2016 

Authorities of SriLankan Airlines have been summoned to appear in the Metropolitan Court of New Delhi India on the 12th of August 2016 for the alleged internal sexual harassment of one of its Indian national female employees.

Summons for this purpose was addressed to CEO SriLankan Airlines Capt. Suren Ratwatte and served by New Delhi Metropolitan Magistrate judge Dr. Pankaj Sharma of 23, Patiala House Court New Delhi.

This case was initially scheduled to he heard on the 13th July 2016.

Speaking to Colombo Telegraph the prosecuting lawyer Ajay Varma confirmed that the summons had been emailed to CEO Capt. Ratwatte.

“My client is fighting for justice and now the airline is in contempt of court for non payment of victim’s salary. This is despite the stay of termination which was another method of harassment. As per laws of India when a victim raises a complaint of sexual harassment she cannot be transferred. Rather the perpetrator should be transferred. In the present case the airline first transferred the victim to Kochi and then to Bangalore. The airline is also in danger of failure to implement prevention of sexual harassment laws of India. My client served this airline diligently for 13 years up until this point” lawyer Vama said.

The incident dating back to 2011 is where an Indian national female employee of the national carrier alleged that her SriLankan Airlines Regional Manager had sexually harassed her.

However upon further complaining to the SriLankan Airline’s authorities she was informed that an internal investigation would take place. Subsequently there was neither an investigation nor a verdict into the matter.

She was subsequently fired.

The Delhi court Judge Pankaj Sharma who viewed her case found sufficient information to summon the authorities of the airline. The court document stated “Upon going through the entire material on record, this court is if considered view that prima facie sufficient grounds exists to proceed against accused for offence under section 26 of the sexual harassment of women in the work place (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013.

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Wimal Weerawansa is worst-corrupt – Harry Jayawardena

Aug 11, 2016

“Wimal Weerawansa is a bankrupt politician. He does not have brains, but has a big mouth. The media-persons around him are just like him, a corrupt lot. That is why they are publishing such falsehoods through their media,” leading Sri Lankan businessman Harry Jayawardena told Lanka News Web. He was responding to a report relating to him published by a website said to belong to Weerawansa.

That report says Harry has cheated out the state not by billions of rupees, but trillions of rupees since the time he bought the State Distilleries Corporation in 1990. Harry also said, “President Premadasa did not give it to me on a platter. I bought it through the stock market. From then on, I have been paying the due taxes to the last cent. I am the highest tax paying businessman in Sri Lanka. Our vats are being inspected daily by the Customs and the Excise Department. They have never accused us of fraud. I work very carefully as there are many who try to grab this business.”

 

“Weerawansa, who accuses me so, is a worst corrupt. His wife has two passports. His wife has told the CID that he had got one made for her. Weerawansa has two identity cards. When he was caught at the airport, a top person in the government got him rescued. Or else, he would still be inside. When the attorney general’s department files action against him in a day or two, the entire country will come to know his character.”

 

The related Lankacnews report is given below:

 

Customs officials have been able to expose an ethanol racket that has been carried out by Distilleries Company owner Harry Jayawardena for several years.

 

According to the officials, this fraud had been going on for more than 20 years in a very cunning manner. Normally, ethanol is imported in 25,000 litre tankers. But, Customs officials have been wondering about the invoices’ mentioning the amounts as 20,000 litres or 22,000 litres all the time. At the time of the raid, the 10 tankers that were imported for this week had 25,000 litres each. When invoicing, at least 2,000 litres were mentioned less for all the tankers, say Customs sources.

 

Government minister ****** is exerting pressure over this incident and has instructed Customs officials to release the ethanol after charging Rs. 250 million. Harry has already paid the money and is trying to hide the incident from the media, reports say.

 

The Customs intends obtaining assistance of the Moratuwa University for further investigations, but is under pressure by the government, according to reports.

 

Customs officials are sad that billions of losses to the state are being covered up by a Rs. 250 million payment.  They say the Customs Act to be introduced soon will aid such wrongdoing.

 

They believe this racket had been going on since the time Harry was given the Distilleries Corporation for Rs. 4,000 million during the Premadasa regime.

 

Reports say top government persons are trying to cover up the incident. Further investigations are underway at the vats at the Distilleries Company at Seeduwa.

Gaza football club dazzles Ireland

Gaza’s al-Helal football club in Ireland. (John Kelly)

Ciaran Tierney-10 August 2016

Fourteen boys from Gaza have brought joy to Ireland by displaying their football skills during a tour of the country.

Three weeks after the crushing disappointment of being refused exit permits by the Israeli authorities, the youngsters from al-Helal football academy were special guests of Galway United Football Club on 5 August.

The talented young Palestinian footballers got to showcase their talents before Galway United’s biggest crowd of the season. Al-Helal played an exhibiton game during the half-time break in a match between Galway United and Dundalk. 

During the event, football fans rose to their feet, singing “stand up for Palestine.” The gesture brought tears to the eyes of the boys and their two adult coaches.

The campaign group Gaza Action Ireland and al-Helal had been planning the 10-day trip for three years, but had to cancel the entire schedule when the traveling party were denied exit permits in July just before they were due to travel.

Eventually, almost three weeks after the trip was called off, the Israeli authorities allowed 14 of the 15 boys on the squad to travel, along with two of the seven adults who were supposed to accompany them to Ireland.

First trip

Last-minute plans were put in place to reschedule the tour, which saw the Gaza visitors take on boys from clubs throughout Ireland over four games. Aged between 10 and 14, the Gaza boys impressed Irish football coaches across the country — and they won all six games.

“The trip was worth all the trouble, because it was the first trip outside of Gaza for all the children, and it gave them an experience they never felt before,” said Mohammed al-Rawagh, one of the team’s coaches.

“The three-week delay — and not knowing if we would be coming — put some extra mental pressure on the kids,” he added.

“They were very disappointed when they were not given permission to leave Gaza. Plus, we had exit permits denied for five of our coaches and one child. Even though they allowed only two adults to travel, we both insisted that we should do it. Ireland is far more beautiful, with its people and its nature, than we expected.”

Al-Helal’s ground in northern Gaza was bombed by Israel in both 2012 and 2014.

The players were also upset when one of their teammates, Karam Zaidan, was refused permission to travel.

Karam was injured when Israel attacked Gaza in 2009 and the players have remembered him in song and smartphone videos throughout the 10-day tour, which ended on Monday.

“Even though he suffered terribly, Karam is one of their best players,” said Zoe Lawlor of Gaza Action Ireland. “You have to wonder why the Israeli authorities did not want that child in particular to travel to Ireland. Is it because they didn’t want the Irish to see his injuries?”

A boy named Google

Only one of the players, Mohanad Auda, can speak English. He earned the nickname Google during the tour, because he was called upon so often to translate for his teammates when they engaged with Irish children.

“It’s so nice and so sweet here. I am happy. I am having fun in Ireland. The best parts have been playing against the Irish teams and going to the big Irish football game. I’m excited because I am playing outside Gaza. The Irish people have been so nice and so friendly,” said Muhannad.

Speaking through an interpreter, team captain Khaled Gouda said he was determined to represent Palestine with pride by playing his best against the Irish team. And every player earned plaudits as al-Helal won their games against Ballybrack FC (Dublin), Pike Rovers (Limerick) and Kinvara United (Galway). They also played three matches in Tipperary, beating two teams from Nenagh AFC and one from Nenagh Celtic. 

“I’m enjoying being in Ireland and I’m thinking that I want to show the best of what I have so that people can see the talents of Palestinian children. It is a great feeling to represent Palestine and I have to be up to this responsibility,” said Khaled.

“In Gaza, we love to watch European football and we enjoy it. It’s a lovely feeling, being in Ireland, but I also miss my country. I miss Gaza. The fields here are very different from the fields in Gaza. We have natural grass, but it is not as good as this. Our natural grass in Gaza has more bumps but it is more smooth here.”

Mobbed by well-wishers

The boys’ trip was featured on RTE, Ireland’s state-owned broadcaster. The day after he and his teammates appeared on TV news, Khaled was taken aback to be mobbed by well-wishers when the team enjoyed a walk in Dublin city center.

“Many people came up and greeted us and invited us even for lunch on the street. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt a little bit famous, but it’s a tiring feeling because everybody wants to take pictures wherever we go. We want our borders to be open and to be free so that people in Gaza who want to come to Ireland, or any other place, can do so,” he said.

An added difficulty was that that just two adult trainers were able to travel with the 14 boys, according to Ayed Abu-Ramadan, al-Helal’s chair.

Seven adults — including a child psychologist — were originally supposed to accompany the boys. Five of them were not allowed to travel.

Many of the boys on the team were traumatized by the 2014 Israeli military assault on the Gaza Strip. More than 2,250 Palestinians, including 551 children, were killed in that attack.

“We have been working on this for the past three years. It’s the first time we came here to Ireland. The results have been fantastic. It has given us hope for future operations like this,” said Abu-Ramadan.

“It’s good for Irish people to meet Palestinians, to talk about their lives in Palestine, and to feel their suffering first-hand. And it’s good for our players to see what Ireland is like. It’s not just the 14 players. Their friends, families and neighbors were in continuous contact with the children on their smartphones throughout the trip and they are learning about Ireland.”

The Galway leg of the trip was organized by a small committee in Kinvara, a village where local businessesagreed to boycott Israeli goods during the bombardment of Gaza in 2014.

Local organizer Vicky Donnelly said she was amazed by the offers of support once it was confirmed that al-Helal was going to Galway.

“It’s actually brought tears to our eyes, to see the support we have received from all over Ireland for a group of boys who come from one of the most troubled places on earth,” she said.

Ciaran Tierney is a journalist based in Galway, Ireland. Blog: ciarantierney.blogspot.com

Editor’s note: A correction has been made to this article following publication. Al-Helal won six matches in Ireland, rather than four as originally reported.

Blast wounds 13 in Pakistani city on edge after big suicide attack

Security officials gather at the site of a bomb explosion in Quetta, Pakistan, August 11, 2016.

REUTERS/NASEER AHMED

 BY ASAD HASHIM AND GUL YUSUFZAI-Thu Aug 11, 2016

A roadside bomb hit a Pakistani security vehicle and wounded 13 people on Thursday in the southwestern city of Quetta, days after a suicide bombing at a hospital killed at least 74 people, most of them lawyers, officials and media said.

The driver of the police pickup truck managed to drive the damaged vehicle to the Civil Hospital of Quetta - the same facility hit in Monday's attack - to get the wounded to medical treatment.

The truck was parked outside the hospital with its mangled bonnet, blown-out wheels and blood-stained interior later on Thursday.

About 10 police officers were guarding the entrance to the hospital.

Provincial interior minister Safaraz Bugti said Thursday's bomb targeted police escorting a judge, who was not hurt in the attack.

"It was a judge's car that was passing, but I believe it was the police who were the target," he said on Pakistani television.

Medical Superintendent Abdul Rehman Miankhel told Reuters that 13 wounded people, including four members of the security forces, were being treated at the hospital.

An announcer for Geo TV warned viewers not to gather at the scene in central Quetta for fear of a second bombing, like the one on Monday.

The Monday attack hit a large group of lawyers gathered at the hospital to mourn the head of the provincial bar association who was shot dead earlier that day.

"Care must be taken that a rush not be created at the scene as the terrorists have reached the point of barbarity where they target crowds like this," the news announcer said.

Monday's suicide bombing was Pakistan's deadliest attack this year. It was claimed by both a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, and also by the Islamic State militant group, which has been seeking to recruit followers in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Targeted killings have become increasingly common in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province that has seen rising violence linked to a separatist insurgency as well as sectarian tension and rising crime.

Later on Thursday, Bugti told Reuters that security at all potential targets was being beefed up around Baluchistan.

A Chinese-funded trade corridor with promised investment of $46 billion is due to pass through the gas-rich province and the government has promised to boost security.

"We have already done (added security) for our schools, educational institutions and universities ... Watchtowers have also been constructed," he said.

"But obviously this new threat against hospitals has emerged - we are checking that and will beef up."

(Writing by Kay Johnson; Editing by Paul Tait, Robert Birsel)

The Olympics Are Back and Tensions Between Russia and Ukraine Are Heating Up

BY REID STANDISH-AUGUST 10, 2016

This post has been updated. 


On August 8, 2008, shortly after the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Summer Olympics, Russia and Georgia kicked off a five-day war. More than five years later, following the conclusion of the Sochi Winter Olympics and ouster of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in late February 2014, soldiers without insignia — later confirmed to be Russian special forces — appeared in Crimea, sparking a chain of events that ended with Moscow annexing the peninsula from Ukraine less than a month later.

Now, with the Rio Summer Games in full swing, tensions on Russia’s periphery are once again rising — this time with Kiev, along Crimea’s de-facto border with Ukraine.

The FSB, Russia’s state security service, said on Wednesday it had foiled two attempted incursions by Ukrainian special forces to launch attacks in Crimea on critical infrastructure over the weekend and on Monday. The FSB said one of its officers had been killed during a shootout on Saturday night, when a group of armed combatants were allegedly found just across the Crimean border with mainland Ukraine. A Russian soldier was also killed on Monday, according to the FSB, after coming under “heavy fire” from the Ukrainian side.

Ukrainian officials have flatly denied the accusations by the Russian security agency, dismissing the claims as fake, adding that the assertions from Moscow could be used as a pretext for further “offensive operations.” Over the weekend, reports circulated that Russia was moving military equipment and personnel to Crimea’s northern border with Ukraine.

“Putin wants more war. Russia escalates, desperately looks for casus belli against Ukraine, tests West’s reaction,” Dmytro Kuleba, a spokesman for Ukraine’s foreign ministry, wrote on Twitter.

The alleged raid, and the denials from Kiev, drew the Kremlin’s ire, with Russian President Vladimir Putin telling reporters on Wednesday that Ukraine’s actions were “stupid and criminal” and Russia would take “further security measures” in Crimea.

“Instead of trying to find peaceful solutions, Ukraine has resorted to the practice of terror,” said Putin.

The Russian president also added that given the raid it made no sense to hold planned talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at the G20 summit in China next month to discuss the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
In a stern reply to Putin’s comments, Poroshenko said in a statement on Wednesday that Ukraine strongly condemns terrorism and called on the Russian side to uphold its obligations under international law.

“Russian accusations that Ukraine launched terror attacks in the occupied Crimea are equally cynical and insane as its claims there is no Russian troops in eastern Ukraine,” said Poroshenko, referring to the area of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Volodymyr Yelchenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations, drew parallels between the current situation in Crimea and the outbreak of the Russo-Georgian War in 2008, which also coincided with the Summer Olympics and a U.S. election. 

“This scenario looks very similar and very familiar,” said Yelchenko. “That’s why we stand ready for further provocative developments.”

The war in Georgia began after an escalation of clashes between pro-Russian separatists and Georgian forces, who tried to seize back South Ossetia, a breakaway region of Georgia. But Russian troops quickly retook the area and pushed deeper into Georgian territory, stopping short of Tbilisi, the capital.
Throughout the more than two year-old war in Ukraine, Crimea has remained relatively unaffected by the still on-going conflict in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian and Ukrainian government forces. But this weekend’s military buildup and the alleged raid have inflamed already strained relations between Moscow and Kiev.

In its statement, the FSB said it also broke up and detained agents and accomplices working for Ukrainian military intelligence in Crimea. The only name released by the agency was Evgeny Panov, a Ukrainian citizen whom the security service described as a Ukrainian military intelligence officer. The FSB said he had made a confession, but gave no further information.

The agency said Ukraine’s aim with the incursion was the “destabilization of the socio-political situation in the region during preparation for elections.” Russia will hold parliamentary elections on September 18, with Crimea participating for the first time since it was annexed in 2014. Meanwhile, Kiev is preparing to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Ukrainian independence on August 24, with officials having suggested that the Kremlin may aim to spoil the commemoration.

The renewed hostilities in Crimea come as violence has surged during the summer months in eastern Ukraine despite a nominal ceasefire. More than 9,000 have died since the war began in April 2014, with more than 600 Ukrainian soldiers killed in fighting so far this year. According to recently released figures by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, civilian casualties have spiked to a level not seen since August 2015, prior to the implementation of the most recent ceasefire.

FP‘s Colum Lynch contributed reporting to this article. 

Photo credit: SEAN GALLUP/Getty Images

TRUMP: A TRUE STORY

The mogul, in a 2007 deposition, had to face up to a series of 

falsehoods and exaggerations. And he did. Sort of.

Hover over the claims above for more information

Frederick M. Brown
Getty Im

By David A. Fahrenthold and Robert O’Harrow Jr. -August 10, 2016

The lawyer gave Donald Trump a note, written in Trump’s own handwriting. He asked Trump to read it aloud.

Trump may not have realized it yet, but he had walked into a trap.

“Peter, you’re a real loser,” Trump began reading.

The mogul had sent the note to a reporter, objecting to a story that said Trump owned a “small minority stake” in a Manhattan real estate project. Trump insisted that the word “small” was incorrect. Trump continued reading: “I wrote, ‘Is 50 percent small?’ ”

“This [note] was intended to indicate that you had a 50 percent stake in the project, correct?” said the lawyer.

“That’s correct,” Trump said.

For the first of many times that day, Trump was about to be caught saying something that wasn’t true.

.

LAWYER: Mr. Trump, do you own 30 percent or 50 percent of the limited partnership?

TRUMP: I own 30 percent.

It was a mid-December morning in 2007 — the start of an interrogation unlike anything else in the public record of Trump’s life.

Trump had brought it on himself. He had sued a reporter, accusing him of being reckless and dishonest in a book that raised questions about Trump’s net worth. The reporter’s attorneys turned the tables and brought Trump in for a deposition.

For two straight days, they asked Trump question after question that touched on the same theme: Trump’s honesty.

The lawyers confronted the mogul with his past statements — and with his company’s internal documents, which often showed those statements had been incorrect or invented. The lawyers were relentless. Trump, the bigger-than-life mogul, was vulnerable — cornered, out-prepared and under oath.

Thirty times, they caught him.

Trump had misstated sales at his condo buildings. Inflated the price of membership at one of his golf clubs. Overstated the depth of his past debts and the number of his employees.

That deposition — 170 transcribed pages — offers extraordinary insights into Trump’s relationship with the truth. Trump’s falsehoods were unstrategic — needless, highly specific, easy to disprove. When caught, Trump sometimes blamed others for the error or explained that the untrue thing really was true, in his mind, because he saw the situation more positively than others did.

“Have you ever lied in public statements about your properties?” the lawyer asked.

“I try and be truthful,” Trump said. “I’m no different from a politician running for office. You always want to put the best foot forward.”

In his presidential campaign, Trump has sought to make his truth-telling a selling point. He nicknamed his main Republican opponent “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz. He called his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, “A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR!” in a recent Twitter message. “I will present the facts plainly and honestly,” he said in the opening of his speech at the Republican National Convention. “We cannot afford to be so politically correct anymore.”

Trump has had a habit of telling demonstrable untruths during his presidential campaign. The Washington Post’s Fact Checker has awarded him four Pinocchios — the maximum a statement can receive — 39 times since he announced his bid last summer. In many cases, his statements echo those in the 2007 deposition: They are specific, checkable — and wrong.

Trump said he opposed the Iraq War at the start. He didn’t. He said he’d never mocked a disabled New York Times reporter. He had. Trump also said the National Football League had sent him a letter, objecting to a presidential debate that was scheduled for the same time as a football game. It hadn’t. 

Last week, Trump claimed that he had seen footage — taken at a top-secret location and released by the Iranian government — showing a plane unloading a large amount of cash to Iran from the U.S. 

government. He hadn’t. Trump later conceded he’d been mistaken — he’d seen TV news video that showed a plane during a prisoner release.

But, even under the spotlight of this campaign, Trump has never had an experience quite like this deposition on Dec. 19 and 20, 2007.

He was trapped in a room — with his own prior statements and three high-powered lawyers.

“A very clear and visible side effect of my lawyers’ questioning of Trump is that he [was revealed as] a routine and habitual fabulist,” said Timothy L. O’Brien, the author Trump had sued.

The Washington Post sent the Trump campaign a detailed list of questions about this deposition, listing all the times when Trump seemed to have been caught in a false or unsupported statement. The Post asked Trump whether he wanted to challenge any of those findings — and whether he had felt regret when confronted with them.

He did not answer those questions.

Full Story>>>

Resettled Guantanamo inmate who vanished resurfaces in Venezuelan jail

Diyab, a 44-year-old Syrian resettled in Uruguay in 2014, is being held by Venezuela's secret police

Diyab reappeared in Caracas on 1 August, more than a month after vanishing from house Uruguayan government provided for him (AFP)

AFP-Thursday 11 August 2016

A US rights activist on Wednesday condemned the detention conditions of a former Guantanamo Bay inmate who was arrested in Venezuela after going missing in Uruguay, where he had been resettled.

Jihad Diyab, a 44-year-old Syrian who was resettled in Uruguay as a refugee in 2014, has been jailed at the headquarters of the Venezuelan secret police after going off the radar in Uruguay then travelling to Venezuela, apparently evading border control.

He is being denied access to a lawyer and rights activists are worried about his health, said Andres Conteris, spokesman for a group that works to defend the rights of Guantanamo inmates and ex-inmates.

Conteris travelled to Caracas to visit Diyab, but was denied access, he said.

"We have filed a complaint" with the Venezuelan authorities, he told AFP.

"We tried everything possible to arrange a visit. We were unable to. It's sad. He's still being held incommunicado," he said.

Diyab reappeared in Caracas on 1 August, more than a month after vanishing from the house the Uruguayan government provided for him.

His disappearance fuelled criticism of US President Barack Obama's push to resettle Guantanamo detainees and close the prison.

The US special envoy for Guantanamo closure, Lee Wolosky, faced a grilling before a congressional committee in July in which Obama's Republican opponents suggested Diyab was plotting new attacks.

Uruguay said Diyab showed up at its Venezuelan embassy asking to be taken to Turkey to reunite with his family.

Venezuelan authorities have not issued any statement on his detention.

His lawyer, Jon Eisenberg, said Venezuela has ignored his requests to speak to his client by phone.

"I am currently attempting to find an attorney in Caracas who has experience with the Venezuelan legal system... and can assist in the effort to make contact with Diyab," he said in an email to AFP.

Diyab was one of six Guantanamo detainees released and resettled in Uruguay as part of Obama's effort to fulfil a long-delayed promise to close the prison set up in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

The men - four Syrians, a Palestinian and a Tunisian - were never charged or tried, and had been cleared for release, but could not be sent to their home countries because of unrest there.

Free people from ‘dictatorship’ of 0.01%

Chemical corporations are trying to impose patents on all living organisms.

Bengali author Mahasweta Devi. (Photo: PTI)

Aug 10, 2016

The only way to counter globalisation just a plot of land in some central place, keep it covered in grass, let there be a single tree, even a wild tree.” This is how dear friend and eminent writer Mahasweta Devi, who passed away on July 28, at the age of 90, quietly laid out her imagination for freedom in our times of corporate globalisation in one of her last talks. Our freedoms, she reminds us, are with grass and trees, with wildness and self-organisation (swaraj), when the dominant economic systems would tear down every tree and round up the last blade of grass. From the days we jointly wrote about the madness of covering our beautiful biodiverse Hindustan with monocultures of eucalyptus plantations, which were creating green deserts, to the work we did together on the impact of globalisation on women, Mahaswetadi remained the voice of the earth, of the marginalised and criminalised communities.

She could see with her poetic imagination how globalisation, based on free trade agreements (FTAs), written by and for corporations, was taking away the freedoms of people and all beings. “Free trade” is not just about how we trade. It is about how we live and whether we live. It is about how we think and whether we think. In the last two decades, our economies, our production and consumption patterns, our chances of survival and the emergence of a very small group of parasitic billionaires, have all been shaped by the rules of deregulation in the WTO agreements. In 1994, in Marrakesh, Morocco, we signed the GATT agreements which led to the creation of WTO in 1995. The WTO agreements are written by corporations for corporations, to expand their control on resources, production, markets and trade, establish monopolies and destroy both economic and political democracy.

Monsanto wrote the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement of WTO — which is an attempt to claim seeds as Monsanto’s invention, and own seeds as “intellectual property” through patents. It has only one aim — to own and control seed and make super-profits through the collection of royalties. We have seen the consequences of this illegitimate corporate-defined “property” right in India; with extortion of “royalties” for genetically modified (GMO) seeds leading to high seed prices. Cargill, Inc wrote the WTO’s agreement on agriculture. As a result, India, the largest producer of oilseeds and pulses, has become the biggest importer of both these produce. The edible oils being imported are GMO soya oil and palm oil — both extracted with hexane through solvent extraction; both leading to massive deforestation in Argentina, Indonesia and Brazil.

We are importing dal from Canada and Mozambique, while our fertile pulse growing lands are being handed over to foreign corporations for growing bio fuel. This model destroys agriculture and food systems everywhere. We are thus destroying our health as well as the health of the planet. The junk food industry wrote the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) agreement of WTO. Our Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1954 was replaced with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which is being used to shut India’s rich and diverse, small-scale, home and cottage industry-based food businesses, under pseudo-safety laws. All new FTAs take away the sui generis option in TRIPS in WTO and are aimed at giving fangs to International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), which establishes rules of uniformity, at a time when we know that diversity is vital to nutrition as well as climate resilience.

 

Twelve countries, including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam, signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership FTA in February 2016. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is an FTA between the Asean nations and their six trading partners — India, China, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Since Asean countries are the most populous, RCEP will affect a greater number of people than other FTAs. And through RCEP, these countries may be dragged into the TPP under pressure of harmonisation, especially on issues related to seed. The TPP requires all its signatories to join UPOV 91. It allows patents on “inventions derived from plants” which would open the floodgates of bio-piracy, as in the case of neem, basmati and wheat. The TPP has sections on “biologicals” which covers biological processes and products, thus undoing the exclusions in the WTO TRIPS agreement. Given how there is a rush to patent and impose untested and hazardous vaccines, and new GMO technologies like gene editing and gene drives, it is clear that the TPP is the instrument for the next stage of bio-imperialism.

At WTO, India managed to ensure countries could exclude plants and animals from patentability, which translated into article 3(j) in our patent laws. India ensured that UPOV could not be forced through WTO and countries had a sui generis option for plant varieties. This translated into the Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act 2001, for which the writer was a member of the expert drafting group. Not having achieved total monopoly on seeds through the WTO, chemical corporations (biotechnology and seed corporations) are trying to impose patents on all living organisms and all production systems based on living organisms through new FTAs. They are also trying to further destroy our local food systems and replace them with industrial junk food by changing food and health safety as well as bio-safety, through “harmonisation”.

Finally, global corporations, and those who control them, are trying to define corporations as having personhood through investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) systems, which are secret tribunals where corporations and investors can sue governments for acting according to their constitutional obligations in the interest of their citizens. Thus, corporations are trying to replace our democracies with secret agreements and secret courts controlled by the 0.01 per cent super wealthy. The time is ripe for a planetary freedom movement that defends and protects the freedoms of all beings from this 0.01 per cent.