Friday, October 28, 2016

Cyrus Mistry says surprised by Tata's justification of his dismissal

Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata and Deputy Chairman Cyrus Mistry attend the launch of a new website for tech superstore Croma, managed by Infiniti Retail, a part of the Tata Group, in Mumbai, India April 23, 2012. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash/File Photo

By Promit Mukherjee and Euan Rocha | MUMBAI

The war of words between Tata Sons and its ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry ratcheted up a notch late on Friday, with Mistry stating he was surprised with reasons given by the Indian conglomerate for his dismissal.

Mistry was sacked as chairman by the board of Tata Sons on Monday and a scathing 5-page letter he wrote to the board was leaked on Wednesday, turning a boardroom feud into a public row.

Mistry's letter included allegations of corporate governance failures within Tata Sons, and a series of other barbs aimed at family patriarch Ratan Tata, who has returned as interim chair of the $104 billion salt-to-software conglomerate.

In a statement on Thursday, Tata accused Mistry - whose Pallonji family owns a minority stake in Tata Sons - of making "unsubstantiated claims and malicious allegations" against the conglomerate.

"It is surprising that Mr. Tata has sought to justify Monday's conduct by making vague public statements that are contrary to his knowledge and contrary to the records of the Tata Group," said Mistry in a response issued late on Friday.

The company has not fully explained its justification for his dismissal, and its statement on Thursday only said that Mistry's tenure "was marked by repeated departures from the culture and ethos of the group".

It said the Tata family trusts that own a two-thirds stake in Tata Sons were concerned by a "growing trust deficit" with Mr. Mistry. The Pallonji family, to which Mistry belongs, owns an 18.41 percent stake in Tata Sons.

Some media outlets, citing sources familiar with the issues, have reported however that one of the issues that led to Mistry's ouster was his failure to keep the Tata Sons board and Ratan Tata informed about Tata Power's (TTPW.NS) roughly $1.4 billion acquisition of Welspun Renewables Energy back in June.

A source familiar with the matter also told Reuters that the Welspun deal had been a sore point with the Tata board. Tata itself has not publicly said this was behind Mistry's ouster.

Mistry, who still remains chairman of a number of major Tata group companies including Tata Power, said in his statement on Friday that the Tata Sons' board was informed of the deal, .

He said that Tata Power, in which Tata Sons own a roughly 33 percent stake, had made a presentation to the Tata Sons board on its interest in renewable energy.

It had presented the Tata Sons' board with information on the deal, he said, and the board had approved the transaction in June.

"To even suggest that the Tata Sons board including the nominee directors of the Tata Trusts had not been adequately informed is contrary to the factual record," said Mistry in his statement.

In a brief statement late on Friday, Tata fired its own salvo back at Mistry, dubbing his new statement "incorrect" and saying it did "not reveal the real facts."

"We will present the real facts next week," said a spokesman for Tata Sons.

(Additional reporting by Aditi Shah in Delhi; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

U.N. gets release of 876 children detained by Nigeria military

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. (Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters)

By Michelle Faul | AP October 28 at 1:34 PM

LAGOS, Nigeria — The United Nations has negotiated the release of 876 children detained at a Nigerian army barracks holding suspected collaborators of the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group, the U.N. Children’s Fund said Friday.

The agency fears more children are at least temporarily detained at the barracks in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, according to Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF’s director for West and Central Africa.

This is the first reported negotiated release of children detained by the military, though Nigeria’s army routinely reports how many minors are among the hundreds of detainees it frees after interrogations that it says establish they have no links to Boko Haram.

The 876 children had been living in areas held by Boko Haram and were detained when those areas were liberated, Fontaine said in a teleconference call with journalists from his base in Dakar, Senegal. He spoke after a visit to Maiduguri, the city that is the birthplace of Boko Haram and the home of the Nigerian army’s Giwa Barracks.

[As Nigeria battles Islamist terrorists, millions are at risk of starvation]

The Associated Press has documented the deaths of thousands of detainees at the barracks in recent years. Amnesty International has said 8,000 detainees died there between 2011 and 2015. This year, Amnesty called for the detention center’s closure, saying babies and children are among the many detainees dying from disease, hunger, dehydration and untreated gunshot wounds.

The London-based human rights group also says President Muhammadu Buhari has failed to fulfill election promises in 2015 to halt abuse of civilians by Nigerian security forces

Ministry of Defense spokesman Brig Gen. Rabe Abubakar has called Amnesty’s charges “a distraction,” insisting that “our duty is to protect lives, and that is what we have been doing.”

Boko Haram’s insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people and forced 2.6 million from their homes in less than a decade.

Australia: Red Cross admits to personal data leak involving 550,000 blood donors

The Australian Red Cross Blood Service as admitted that the private data of over half a million Australians have been leaked to the public. Source: ils Versemann / Shutterstock.com.

28th October 2016

THE AUSTRALIAN Red Cross Blood Service has admitted that the private details of half a million blood donors – including their sexual histories, names and addresses – have been leaked to the public, in what is possibly the largest data breaches the country has seen.

The organization in a statement said it was informed Wednesday that a file containing donor information was placed in an “insecure environment” by a third party that develops and maintains the Blood Service’s website.

This file contained the registration information of the 550,000 donors made between 2010 and 2016.

“This information was copied by a person scanning for security vulnerabilities who then, through an intermediary, informed the Australian Cyber Emergency Response Team (AusCERT) with whom the Blood Service has membership.

“With the assistance of AusCERT, the Blood Service took immediate action to address the problem,” it said in the statement.

It added that the service has since been in contact with the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

IDCare, a national identity and cyber support service, it explained, has also assessed the information accessed as “of low risk of future direct misuse”.

It added that all known copies of the data have been deleted, although investigations are still ongoing.

Red Cross also explained that its online forms do not connect to its databases, which contain more sensitive medical information.

“The Blood Service continues to take a strong approach to cyber safety so donors and the Australian public can feel confident in using our systems,” it said.

SEE ALSO: India: French shipbuilder DCNS files complaint after data leak on submarines

Included in the statement posted online was a special note of apology jointly signed by the service’s chairman Jim Birch and chief executive Shelly Park, as well as a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section and a hotline number that those affected by the breach could contact.

In the note, the duo expressed their disappointment in the incident and said they would take full responsibility for the leak.

“We take full responsibility for this mistake and apologise unreservedly.

“We would like to assure you we are doing everything in our power to not only right this but to prevent it from happening again,” they wrote.

The leak was first brought to the attention of Microsoft employee and technology blogger Troy Hunt, who runs a data breach notification service.

ce.

Follow

Troy Hunt

✔@troyhunt

This is a really major security incident impacting the Red Cross Blood Bank, lot of data leaked - including mine: https://www.troyhunt.com/the-red-cross-blood-service-australias-largest-ever-leak-of-personal-data/ …

9:09 PM - 27 Oct 2016 · Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

The Red Cross Blood Service: Australia's largest ever leak of personal data

I don't give blood as much as I should. My wife has a much better track record than me, regularly donating not just blood but plasma and platelets as well. I know this not just because it's the sort...
troyhunt.com

299299 Retweets

162162 likes

In a blog post explaining the chronology of events, Hunt said he was contacted earlier this week by an anonymous person who claimed he had gained access to the confidential donor data from the blood service.

He explained that the unnamed individual caught his attention when he managed to reveal to him his personal details and a 1.74GB data file containing his records. Apart from his information, the person also had his wife’s details.

“The database backup was published to a publicly facing website. This is really the heart of the problem because no way, no how should that ever happen,” he wrote in the blog post.

Hunt said he later went on to contact AusCERT, which later reached out to Red Cross.

According to Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim announced a probe into the breach on Friday afternoon.

“I will be opening an investigation into this matter and will work with the Red Cross to assist them in addressing the issues arising from this incident.

“The results of that investigation will be made public at its conclusion,” he was quoted saying in a statement.

“My office encourages voluntary notification of data breaches, particularly where there is a risk to an individual as a result of a breach.”

Birth control: Male contraceptive injection 'shows promise'

A hormone injection has been shown to be a safe and effective method of contraception - for men.

28 October 2016

US researchers say the jab was almost 96% effective in tests on around 270 men who were using it, with four pregnancies among their partners.

However, a relatively high number developed side effects, including acne and mood disorders.

Researchers have been investigating potential for male hormonal contraceptives for around 20 years.

They have all been looking for an effective way of suppressing sperm production without causing unpleasant or unbearable side effects.

Because men constantly produce sperm, high levels of hormones are needed to reduce levels from the normal sperm count of over 15 million per millilitre to under one million/ml.

Mood disorders

This study was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, and published by the Endocrine Society.

It looked at men aged 18-45 who had been in monogamous relationships for at least a year - and whose partners had agreed to take part.

The men's sperm counts were checked at the beginning of the study, to ensure they were normal.

They then had two hormone injections (progesterone and a form of testosterone) every eight weeks, and were monitored for up to six months until their sperm count fell to under a million.

They were then asked to rely on the jab, which they continued to have at the same interval, as their only form of contraception during the efficacy stage of the study, which lasted for up to a year,

Once they stopped having the injections, they were monitored to see how quickly their sperm counts recovered.

Eight men had not recovered their normal sperm counts a year after the study ended.

Dr Mario Festin, of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, who carried out the study, said: "The study found it is possible to have a hormonal contraceptive for men that reduces the risk of unplanned pregnancies in the partners of men who use it."

The researchers stopped taking on new participants in 2011 after concerns were raised about side effects such as depression and other mood disorders, as well as muscle pain and acne.

Such side effects caused 20 men to drop out of the study and were reported by many others,

Unmet need

Dr Festin said other researchers were now looking at combining different levels of the same hormones, and different ways of delivering them, such as gels.

He added: "This has been one step in a long journey of finding the right combination for male hormonal contraception."

Allan Pacey, professor of andrology at the University of Sheffield, said: "There is certainly an unmet need for an effective reversible contraceptive for men, along the lines of the hormonal contraceptive for women.

"However, none of the preparations that have been developed and tested to date have managed to become a commercial reality for one reason or another."

He said the contraceptive in this study was "extremely effective and therefore certainly has promise" and that the number of side effects seen was a concern.

But he added: "It is noteworthy that 75% of the men who took part in the trial would be willing to use this method of contraception again.

"So perhaps the side-effects weren't all that bad after all."

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Govt. dodges questions on ‘AAVA’ group

Ava Group was created by Maj. Gen. Mahinda Haturusinghe!

Law and Order and Southern Development Minister Sagala Rathnayake walks out of weekly Cabinet briefing when questioned on possible military intelligence link to suspicious group
Expresses condolences, calls for accountability on reporting deaths, plans to establish system for sharing police info

By Uditha Jayasinghe -Thursday, 27 October 2016

An embattled Law and Order and Southern Development Minister Sagala Rathnayake yesterday walked out of a media conference when asked questions on whether the group called ‘AAVA’ operating in Jaffna was linked to military intelligence but called on the media to report the death of two Jaffna students responsibly warning that it could spiral into an issue that might undermine a budding reconciliation process.

Facing a barrage of questions from the media at the weekly Cabinet briefing on whether the student riding the motorbike was shot from the front, the Minister insisted such a determination could only be made after investigations, including forensic reports, were completed. Attempting to deal with questions fired at him from all sides, Rathnayake insisted that the accident report indicated a shot fired from the rear could still have hit the student in the chest.

“This is not a judge and jury here. This is merely a press conference and I cannot speculate just to answer your questions. Only preliminary reports have been done at the moment and when investigations are completed I will share them with the public. However, I assure you they will be done transparently,” he said.

After expressing his sorrow over the loss of the two students, the Minister also stressed that efforts were underway to streamline police resources to provide better information to the media in a timely manner. On Monday when reports of the deaths initially broke the police insisted it was an accident and the arrest of five police officers was confirmed to the media through a statement released by the Government Information Department. These contradictory statements from two government branches were also brought up by the media who demanded one source of accurate information.

“Journalists should have the capacity to get correct information from the police but police must also be trained to deal with the media. We understand that there is a gap here and we are working to bridge it. We are planning to train police officers at key police stations so that they can respond to media queries and until this system is set up the Government Information Department will assist us in disseminating accurate information,” the Minister said.

The press conference came to a deadlock when a journalist raised the question of whether the ‘AAVA’ group was linked to military intelligence, prompting the minister to simply get up and leave the room.

The protest in Jaffna over the deaths of the two student on Tuesday came amid claims by a group calling itself ‘AAVA Gangsters’ that it slashed two intelligence officers in the Chunnakam market area in Jaffna on Sunday in an act of retaliation against the killings of the two students.

In posters appearing in some areas of Jaffna town, the group claimed it was standing against the destruction of Tamil society and culture and vowed to act against Tamil police personnel collaborating with their Sinhalese counterparts.

On the same day in Parliament, the Law and Order Minister claimed that police had launched an investigation into the ‘AAVA’ group, a sinister gang that Jaffna-based correspondents said had been operating in the region for a while. The group had allegedly been involved in robberies in the area, and many of its members had already been arrested and remanded by the police, correspondents noted.

Correspondents in Jaffna claim that ‘Aava’ (meaning ‘we arrived’ in Sinhalese) was allegedly a construct of the security establishment under the former Government, since it was highly doubtful that a Tamil gang would call itself that name. However, the Government has refused to issue an official statement on the allegation.

United Nations Special Rapporteur On Minority Issues: Statement On Sri Lanka

By Asoka Bandarage –October 27, 2016

Dr. Asoka Bandarage

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Rita Izsak-Ndiaye released a Statement on Sri Lanka on October 20, 2016 following a ten day visit to the island. Representing the position of the ‘international community’, her Statement identifies ‘Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarian leadership’ as the main reason behind minority grievances and Sri Lanka’s ‘long civil war’. The Rapporteur expresses fears that keeping Article 9 of the Sri Lankan Constitution which refers to the primacy of Buddhism, ‘could lead to further suppression of and discrimination against minority religions and communities’.

The mandate of the U.N. Rapporteur on Minority Issues is to ‘promote and protect the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities’, is a laudable one. This mandate, however, does not grant the Rapporteur freedom to curtail the rights of those belonging to majority communities using conceptually and factually flawed approaches. The Rapporteur is deemed an ‘independent expert’ by the United Nations. Unfortunately, her recent Statement on Sri Lanka which is built on a narrow majority vs. minority concept and a lack of understanding of historical, regional and international contexts, exhibits neither independence nor expertise.

Majority Aggressor vs. Minority Victims

Like the dominant international perspective on Sri Lanka, the Rapporteur’s Statement is based on a simplistic dualism: Sinhala Buddhist majority aggressor vs. Tamil, Muslim, Christian and other minority victims. This monolithic characterization ignores basic incongruent realities. For instance, although Article 9 the Sri Lankan Constitution gives ‘foremost place’ to Buddhism (the religion of 70% of the island’s population) and refers to the duty of the state to protect and foster Buddhism, Article 10 asserts that “Every person is entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice”.

Rita Izsák-Ndiaye

Unlike most other pluralistic countries in the world, Sri Lanka has Cabinet level Ministries each to protect and foster Hindu, Islamic and Christian Affairs in addition to Buddhism. The critics of Article 9, including the U.N. Rapporteur, fail to acknowledge that Article 9 has not prevented Sri Lanka from allowing widespread Christian evangelical and Islamic Wahabi proselytization and conversion which are not permitted in Islamic and many other nations. In contrast, international attempts to sever the historical link between Buddhism and the Sri Lankan state, is sowing seeds of disharmony, aggravating tensions, resistance and inter-religious conflict.

While the U.N. Rapporteur enumerates extensive mechanisms to be put in place to promote and protect minorities, she does not acknowledge minority dominance in the Sri Lankan economy and the influential and strategic Cabinet Ministerships, in Investment Promotion, Urban Development, Disaster Management, Industry and Commerce, Tourism, etc. held by persons from minority communities, especially the Muslims. She also fails to recognize the powerful government positions recently acquired by members of the Tamil community and the ethical and legal controversies surrounding some of those appointments. In a seeming return to the ‘dominant minority’ position they enjoyed during the British colonial period, Tamil elites have been appointed as the Chief Justice and the Governor of the Central Bank. A Tamil politician was appointed as the Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition even though his Tamil National Alliance party won only 16 seats as opposed to the much larger number of seats gained by the United People’s Freedom Alliance of the Sinhalese.

Request donation for an emergency heart surgery

Oct 27, 2016

12 Years old daughter “Thushari Himaya Nawalage” who is living with a severe heart complication need to undergo an OPEN HEART SURGERY at OMT hospital in Chennai ,India , to stimulate her Life and Living Condition. Her family doesn't have the financial capacity to spend for her treatment but they need her presence indisputably. Her medical treatment cost for the surgery would be min 5,50,000 Indian Rupees.

As given by the Hospital's Diagnosis report and also the surgery should be treated on the priority basis. Requesting for Your kind Donation support to give her a basic life support to full fill her dreams and aspirations.

Phone number : 0773332723
Account Details :
N. K. Jayawardana (mother)
055200130004223
People's Bank
Kiribathgoda

See the document here

An appeal to the Speaker and Members of Parliament

Persons elected by the exercise of the people’s franchise are duty bound to function as members of Parliament and safeguard the inalienable sovereignty of the people; govern safeguarding the primary interests of the nation and its people; and safeguard the fundamental rights of the people

Thursday, 27 October 2016

Please reflect for a moment on the Oath of Office you took in entering Parliament as a member. You swore to uphold the Constitution of Sri Lanka on that occasion. You are aware that by Article 3 of the Constitution, the sovereignty is vested in the People and is inalienable. Sovereignty includes the powers of government, fundamental rights and the franchise.

You are thus duty bound as persons elected by the exercise of the people’s franchise, to function as members of Parliament and safeguard the inalienable sovereignty of the people; govern safeguarding the primary interests of the nation and its people; and safeguard the fundamental rights of the people. This is a supplemented by the Social Contract you have entered in to with the people upon your election.

In terms of the aforesaid Social Contract, this appeal humbly requests you to, take a few minutes to reflect and question your conscience (i.e. your moral sense of right and wrong, viewed as acting as a guide to one’s behaviour) before you review, debate and adopt or reject the Report (or Reports) of the Committee on Public Enterprise on the purported Bond Scams of 2015 and 2016;

1.What is your role as a Member of Parliament?; and what are your responsibilities and accountabilities under the Constitution and the Oath of Office?; and what do you believe to be the public expectations of you, which you should diligently respect in the review, debate and adoption/rejection of the COPE report?; and should this role be consistent with the aforesaid Social Contract?

2.What level of independence, personal intellectual capability and judgment should you bring in to the review and deliberations of the COPE Report(s) on the Bond Scams?

3.Are you bound by the directions of the party whip, the party and its leader’s directions and desires, even if they conflict with your conscience? Or should you exercise your rights as a member of parliament bound by your conscience and the social contract with your voters?

4.Should you accept that your role in the review of the COPE Report(s) is not equal to that of the role of a judge or a quasi-judicial person, hearing a case? Should you accept that you are merely reviewing facts as presented? And should thus be making an independent and sound judgment based on your determination of the real issues?

5.In reviewing the accompanying Report of the Auditor General should you not, ignore non material errors of computation, non-material erroneously stated principles and the estimated value of the purported loss to the State and make your judgment based on a 360 degree overview of the facts taken together?

6.In the above referred to overview of independent facts based determination should you not assess;

a.Whether there is prima facie evidence of a possible loss to the State of significant value?

b.Whether there is prima facie evidence of a possible significant loss to the members of the EPF/ETF and Insurance Corporation?

c.Whether there is a likelihood of insider information, insider dealings or related party transactions having tainted the processes adopted tender awards by the Central Bank?

d.Whether there is likelihood of a possible collusion of State officials (e.g. Central Bank, State Banks and EPF) with any of the Primary Dealers and others, and attempting to engage in a financial fraud or crime of significant value using the auction process?

e.Whether any State officials knowing that a loss to the State may occur in the process allowed these operations to proceed, or they assisted in executing such operations or they failed to take action to prevent any such frauds and losses from happening, and thus complicit in an act of corruption chargeable under Section 70 of the Bribery Act?

f.Whether the Governor of the Central Bank, Monetary Board, Officials of the Central Bank and Officials of the EPF appears to have failed in their duty, accountability, responsibility and requirement to exercise due care and diligence

i. in the performance of their assigned tasks with integrity and professionalism?

ii. to keep the Monetary Board informed and failed in obtaining approval at each relevant stage?

iii. to look for alternative options in auction systems management and its award and thus prevent or minimise the loss to the State and the members of the EPF?

iv. to exercise due transparency where such transparency could have prevented the purported losses?

v. in taking pro-active change management initiatives since the first reported scam of 2015 and if so complicit in allowing the continuation of losses and leakages and tender awards which are tainted by insider information and conflicts of interests?

vi.Ignoring submissions made from time to time by the Superintendent of Public Debt commencing from the tainted bond issue of February 2015?

vii.Ignoring submissions made from time to time by other Official and Senior Staff Members commencing from the tainted bond issue of February 2015?

viii.Not taking pro-active response action on the purported report of the on-site inspection team of the Central Bank?

7. Based on your determinations as per 5 above and your commitments in terms of the Social Contract, whether you should advocate that a properly constituted judicial body or a law enforcement authority should be called in to investigate and take appropriate action on the purported scams?

8.Should you in addition evaluate;

a.What should have been the expected role of member of COPE in regard to the Bond Scam review? And have they discharged their social contract to the voters and citizens as members of COPE?

b.What do you believe should have been the end objective of the COPE Report on the Bond Scam?

c.Whether the COPE as presently constituted and structured with its decision making drivers is the best form in determining the truth, ensuring rule of law and justice and ensuring long term best interests of good governance?

d.Will the outcomes of the COPE report undermine and permanently damage the future role, independence, professionalism and regulatory/operational effectiveness and national economic value addition, of the Office of the Auditor General and the Central Bank

e.Will the outcomes of the COPE report undermine the process of investigations in to the current and past acts of corruption, fraud and wilful/ arrogantly excessive unacceptable actions of top tier management and decision makers in Central Bank, EPF, Insurance Corporation/ETF/NSB, State Banks, etc.?

f.Will the outcomes of the COPE report let those who unjustly enriched themselves, whilst causing losses to the State and people, go free whilst the courageous, professional and law abiding officials and whistle blowers will be penalised?

g.How will the outcomes of the COPE Report impact on the Government, the Opposition and Governance in the medium to long term?

9.What processes in addition to those included in the COPE Report should you recommend to ensure that

a.Persons of integrity, independence, capability and commitment to good governance with no conflicts of interests and related party interests are appointed to the Central Bank as the Governor, Monetary Board and its top management, EPF,

b.Transparent market based bond auction systems that minimise the costs of the State and yield fair market returns to the EPF and other long term investors are in place, with processes that effectively control conflicts of interests, insider dealings and related party transactions as well as monopoly/oligopoly based market responses

c.Recover any under recovery of income tax, financial VAT and Deemed dividend taxes from Primary dealers

Mano Tittawella In Dual Role: Opposes Reconciliation By Promoting Lies Through His Media House Despite Top Reconciliation Role

October 27, 2016

Mano Tittawella, who also holds the position of Secretary General at the Secretariat for Coordination of Reconciliation Mechanisms appears to be opposing reconciliation instead of fulfilling his duties of promoting reconciliation in the country.

Mano Tittawella

Gossipking.lk, a site owned by EAP Holdings, of which Tittawella, is the Chairman, was seen recently promoting a fabricated news story, which originally appeared in the Divaina newspaper with regard to the death of the two Jaffna university students and the bike they were traveling in. The same story claiming that the bike used by the students were an illegal one, was also highlighted in the Swarnavahini Live@8 Facebook page. Swarnavahini is also owned by EAP.

On October 25, a Divaina journalist by the name of Keerthi Warnakulasooriya wrote a fabricated news story claiming that the motorcycle used by the victims were a 1000CC motorbike, banned in Sri Lanka.

The story went on to say that the bike was ‘gifted’ to the victims by the diaspora (Tamil) living in Britain. However, the story was confirmed as a lie and was seen as a mischievous attempt aimed at spreading lies and attempting to justify the shooting incident which left two youth killed after police opened fire at them last week in Jaffna.

“The news media that comes under Tittawella should at least be responsible in their reporting, instead of just reproducing lies aimed at breaking down reconciliation. This is obviously planned, Keerthi writes lies, and Chathura De Alwis of Derana and other likeminded channels such as Swarnavahini promotes these lies,” a media researcher told the Colombo Telegraph.

The Divaina story has also received wide protest with civil society representativeswriting a letter to the Divaina Editor, Jayantha Chandrasiri to protest against the article which appeared under the title ‘The Jaffna students who were shot were riding a prohibited high powered motorcycle.’ “The Bajaj CT 100 which the students were riding is a 100cc motorbike and NOT a “prohibited 1000cc bike” as stated in the news report. Furthermore, the writer uses this blatant lie, couched as a “fact”, to deliberately shift the focus of the reportage, and insinuate that the shooting, an incident of blatant police brutality, can somehow be explained or justified,” the letter signed by 55 people said.

They also called on the editor to take strong action against Warnakulasooriya for his irresponsible journalism, and issue a public apology for the newspaper’s unethical journalistic practice and policy.

The Bajaj CT 100 which the students were riding is a 100cc motorbike and NOT a “prohibited 1000cc bike: (Images taken by freelance photo journalist, Uthayarasa Shalin, on 21st October (Friday), 2016, at Kulappidi junction (site of the shooting), Kokuvil.)

(Lanka-e-News -27.Oct.2016,11.30 PM) Efforts are now under way to rescue notorious Gotabaya Rajapakse from yet another robbery committed under the Blue Brigand during the nefarious decade of Medamulana Rajapakse . This is a secret follow up action that has been initiated by traitorous stooges of the Rajapakses in the Government analysts department , as revealed by the pro good governance staff in that department.

At the center of this robbery is the ‘Mausoleum palace’ built in memory of the parents of Rajapakses built wasting public funds. Under the signature of Gotabaya, a sum of Rs. 110 million belonging to the Low lying lands development Board has been paid on account of this ‘mausoleum palace’ located at Tangalle.

The investigations into this were concluded , and the file was sent to the Attorney General (AG) to initiate legal action ,and in order to confirm the signature of Gota ,the AG’s department has sent it to the handwriting examination division (department of questioned documents) under the Government analyst department.

However , the pro good governance staff in the Government analyst department reported to Lanka e news inside information division that the scoundrels and stooges, namely Batagoda and Jayasundara the examiner of questioned documents (handwriting) and his assistant respectively are engaged in a conspiracy moving heaven and earth to issue a bogus certificate that the signature is not that of Gota.

It is a well and widely known fact that many traitorous heroes have suddenly turned active now who are determined to rescue notorious Gota the culprit who is incriminated in many criminal cases.

If these two venal villainous officers are to issue a bogus certificate for love of filthy lucre that the signature on the document is not that of Gota who released Rs. 110 million of public funds to build a mausoleum for the parents of Rajapakses , the next pertinent question is , who is the lunatic who would have stuck his neck out to place a signature (forgery) to enable others to build mausoleums for their parents..?

On the other hand, if somebody else had forged the signature of crooked Gota, to enable the construction of the mausoleum in memory of the parents of Rajapakses, what was the chief of the low lying lands development doing and where was he looking when that was happening ?

---------------------------
by (2016-10-27 19:15:20)