THAJUDEEN MURDER PROBE-CCTV footage handed over to COURT

Siranjani Kumari-Thursday, July 19, 2018

The Criminal Investigation Department investigating the murder of Havelocks rugby player Wasim Thajudeen handed over two more DVDs containing the CCTV footage in connection with the murder to Colombo Additional Magistrate Isuru Nettikumara.

The CID also told court that Thajudeen’s sister Fathima Ayesha had handed over two DVDs containing the footage in connection with the murder to the CID and these DVDs would be produced in court after scrutinising its veracity, by way of a motion.

The CID informed court that the CCTV footage covers an area from the Laugfs supermarket and the scene of the crime on May 17, 2015.

The CID also sought an order from court to obtain a report from Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team on the identity of the person in the video footage who was wearing a T-shirt with English letters. Court issued an order to Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team’s Chief Executive Officer Lal Dias to provide a comprehensive analysis report on the identity of the person and the vehicle in the video footage.

JHU Gampaha district ex M.P. arrested on sodomy charges ! He has committed this crime on 5 samaneras earlier too !!

(Lanka e News -19.July.2018, 11.30PM)  Aparekke PungyanandaThera the chief incumbent of Pamunuwatte Nagasella Sri Vivekaramaya, Mirigama , and JHU Gampaha district  ex M.P. was arrested on the 17th on charges of committing sodomy on a ten years old boy.

The victim had been  brought to the temple to make him a monk . However instead of doing that Aparekka the chief monk of the temple had done something else – committed sodomy on  the boy every now and again for about a week. The boy who finally escaped from the temple had gone back to his parents and related what this rascally monk  did to the boy. The sex starved Pungyanandaya was arrested  after the parents of the boy lodged a complaint with Mirigama police.

The victim was admitted to Mirigama base hospital , and subsequently transferred to Gampaha district general hospital for further investigation.

What is more shocking than this is , this Pungyananada Thera has committed sodomy on five samanera (young) monks in the age range between 10 and 14 years in 2011 too   , and he was trapped. The young samaneras had made statements  to the police that this rascally sex pervert Pugyananda  comes in the night , frightens them  and commits the crimes. In courts the accused  admitted he occasionally sodomized  the samaneras , and had pleaded guilty.

Yet , there is no mention of the  punishment that  was meted out to him then. Moreover there are no reports  that such monstrous child molesters  in robes  had been punished by the Buddha sasana order for their unpardonable crimes and sins.  No wonder these sex starved scoundrels are continuing to commit the same crime again and again after coming back to the temples wearing the sacred robes .It is a pity some elders are even blind  and dumb to these crimes committed on innocent growing children . Not enough allowing these robed rascals to indulge in these disgraceful criminal activities , these elders  even worship and make religious offerings to these religious humbugs .

If there are no pure Buddhist  leaders of the religious order  to disrobe these rascals and  chase them out with a view to  save the Buddha sasana from further degradation and disgrace  , at least the people must take upon themselves that  blessed task. 

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by     (2018-07-19 19:32:21)

2012 Welikada Prison incident suspect duo re-remanded

KAVINDYA PERERA- JUL 17 2018

Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) Inspector Neomal Rangajeewa and Prisons Department Commissioner Emil Ranjan Lamahewa, who were in remand custody over the Welikada Prison riots in 2012 when 27 inmates were killed, were ordered to be further remanded till 31 July by Colombo Additional Magistrate Priyantha Liyanage earlier today.

When the said case was taken up for hearing at the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court, the two suspects were produced by the Prison officers.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) representing the prosecution told the Court that investigations into the case were not yet completed.

Taking the submissions into consideration, Additional Magistrate Liyanage ordered the two suspects to be further remanded till the end of this month.

The CID told the Court that upon receiving information that illegal cell phones and drugs were in the possession of inmates, a search operation to confiscate the items had been launched by the Special Task Force (STF) on 9 November, 2012.

The CID told the Court that a group of inmates having broken into the Prison armoury had got hold of weapons before firing at the STF.

The CID informed the Court that in the ensuing clash between the inmates and the STF, 27 inmates had been killed before the Army had been deployed to bring the situation under control.

The CID informed the Court that the investigations conducted into the incident had revealed that one of the main suspects in the case, Rangajeewa dressed in civvies had chosen a few inmates in the ensuing clash before killing them.

The CID apprehended Rangajeewa and Lamahewa on 28 March in connection with the case.

Sri Lanka’s Trade Information Portal – Bringing local traders one step closer to the global market

Friday, 20 July 2018

Sri Lanka’s traditional lacework famously known as Beeralu is slowly moving into the spotlight of the global fashion industry. Udeni, who is a traditional Beeralu lace maker from Galle, learned the technique from her mother and developed it into a part-time business.

At the moment, she sells to buyers from Colombo who then sell her product internationally. She would like to export directly one day, but for the time-being, she must rely on “middlemen” because of the complexity of the export process. A major barrier is the lack of information on what Government procedures apply in Sri Lanka before her product can even reach a foreign buyer.

Being unable to access information related to export and import procedures isn’t just a problem for entrepreneurs like Udeni, but a significant barrier for the entire Sri Lankan trading community. In a recent set of interviews conducted by the World Bank, every business interviewed said that personal experience was the leading source of information on import and export procedures. Only half said that they turn to Government agencies for information, with concern expressed that the little information available online is often out of date, and spread across many websites.

A 2017 Verite study (Sri Lanka’s Domestic Barriers to Trade: Case Studies of Agricultural Exports, February 2017) of procedures for agricultural trade found that only 36% of the required information was available online, with the remaining information obtained only through time-consuming and costly personal visits and telephone calls. In our recent survey, one company summed up the challenge clearly, expressing its frustration that the first time it hears about new import/export procedures is only when its application is rejected.

The challenge this presents to Sri Lanka’s efforts to shift toward a more outward-oriented, competitive economy, is clear. Significant time and cost is involved in identifying what regulations affect trade, undermining the international competitiveness of Sri Lankan firms, and raising costs for consumers.

For potential exporters, especially entrepreneurs like Udeni, many will stumble at the first hurdle of accessing information on government procedures in their own country, before even being able to identify foreign buyers and market their products internationally. Companies wanting to import new goods for consumers or as inputs into domestic production also may not be able to do so because of the costs involved in accessing information on import regulations.

A new Government initiative has the potential to change all this. Through a partnership with the World Bank, supported by the Australian Government, a new Sri Lanka Trade Information Portal will be launched on 20 July by Minister for Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen, along with other high-level officials and development partners.

The launch of the portal is a major step towards a more transparent regulatory environment for trade in Sri Lanka. For the first time, it will bring together onto one website all the laws, regulations, procedures and other Government requirements regarding trade. The buzz has been building for many months to the launch of the portal, confirming the high level of interest in the private sector in increased transparency.

The scale of the work that has gone into developing the portal suggests the impact that it will have. Almost 900 laws, regulations, procedures and other Government requirements affecting trade have been gathered and uploaded to the portal for its launch. These requirements are maintained by forty-two Government agencies across Sri Lanka, highlighting the complex regulatory environment facing traders.

Along with a searchable database of these regulatory requirements, the website includes videos and how-to guides to make it user-friendly for traders, along with other information on Sri Lanka’s trade environment, including trade agreements.

Experience from other countries highlights the wide reach that can be expected through the Sri Lanka Trade Information Portal. Lao PDR was one of the first countries to develop a similar portal with World Bank support. Data on the usage of this site indicates that a significant proportion of the import/export community active in Lao PDR uses the website regularly to access information on trade-related procedures.

The launch of the Sri Lanka Trade Information Portal will be cause for celebration, but the work does not end at the launch. Ensuring that the information on the Portal is kept up to date will require significant effort by the host of the website – the Department of Commerce – and dialogue with other Government agencies and the private sector, including through the National Trade Facilitation Committee.

The World Bank will provide transitional support for the Portal after the launch to help in this effort. Training has been provided to the Trade Information Portal unit staff within the Department of Commerce, who will now be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Portal.

Beyond the Portal, the next step in facilitating trade is to go beyond transparency, to streamlining the process for applying for permits and other approvals required for import and export. Some reforms are already underway – for example, restructuring the risk management functions of Sri Lanka Customs to improve its efficiency.

However, the largest initiative by far will be the establishment of a National Single Window for trade which will facilitate traders to lodge standardised information and documents with a single-entry point to fulfil all import-, export- and transit- related regulatory requirements. This endeavour is backed up by a blueprint developed by the World Bank and supported by the Australian Government. The Blueprint covers all aspects of the future design of the National Single Window, and has been prepared over the previous seven months, involving discussions in numerous workshops and events with members of the National Trade Facilitation Committee and the wider trade community.

Developing a National Single Window for trade will be a major endeavour that will be rolled out in phases, with significant technology investments and procedural reforms required. Once in place, it will help bring about a shift in the way traders interact with the Government, with reduced levels of physical inspection of goods, and the majority of shipments clearing the border without the need for traders to physically visit different Government offices. While the path ahead will not necessarily be easy, the potential gains for Sri Lankan businesses and consumers are significant – the Trade Information Portal is an important step in the right direction.

(The writer is Senior Trade Specialist, World Bank.)

The curse of plastic

By Debapriya Mukherjee-July 19, 2018, 10:38 pm 
Former Senior Scientist,
Central Pollution Control Board

Maharashtra has imposed a ban on using single-use disposable plastic vide Maharashtra Plastic and Thermocol products (Manufacture, usage, Sale, Transport, Handling and Storage) Notification, 2018  to reduce plastic waste that presents not only an environmental issue but also a major socio-economic development challenge which impacts biodiversity, infrastructure, tourism and livelihoods. Also burning plastic in open air, by the people out of ignorance, releases gases namely dioxin and furan which are highly carcinogenic compound. No doubt, most critical environmental issue is management of plastic waste. To beat the plastic pollution, over the last ten years a remarkable shift in policies associated with plastic has taken place in different countries across the world. Many governments have started to ban or to put restrictions on the sale or free distribution of plastic carrier bags in countries all over the world, including India and Sri Lanka.

Maharashtra is the 18th state to ban plastic in India. The other 17 states in India or in other countries, who banned plastic use, have failed to prohibit plastic use to the extent of their expectation. The most possible reasons are the intervention of corporate brigade, other vested interest and most importantly attitude of the people. Thereby, success of the policy to impose ban on using plastic without availability of alternative materials in all respect depends on the fact that the policy must be consistent with the public opinion and has definite control target.

According to researchers, the recycle and reuse are the practical environmental solution to the problem of plastic waste but important task to overcome the key knowledge gap is to measure the extent, distribution and impacts of debris on land, rivers, estuaries, islands and along coastlines that practically neglected. The traditional mindset of the engineers and scientists in many developing countries, with scant regard to sound scientific evidences available in the literature, is the major impediment to success in developing management and remedial strategies of plastic waste by identifying and quantifying the sources, sinks, ? flows and types of waste. The plastic waste if properly collected may be used to produce energetic materials by converting inert plastic waste into energy (thermal and mechanical energies) via a light-controlled process through the simple chemical activation of plastic waste, including polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyvinyl chloride as being practiced in many other countries. Another approach may be the polluter pays principle that needs to integrate systemic thinking, with technological innovations and policy reforms at all stages of the supply chain, to promote sustainable practices. Most important component in plastic waste management is the "collection modalities". According to regulatory authority, more than 50 percent plastic are collected and processed/recycled. The figure stated by them needs to be verified in the backdrop of today’s plastic pollution problem. Still pollution problems origination from plastic use could not be mitigated successfully by recycle and reuse.

Now best alternatives are to frame a policy to ban plastic and to price charge for plastic use till cheap bio-degradable shopping bag is developed by using advanced science and technology. In many countries including India and Sri Lanka, many artisans are preparing bags, plates, bucket etc of various sizes and shapes using water hyacinth, coconut tree, bamboo, palm tree, grasses etc but now these not cost effective. But incremental innovation of existing technology will obviously reduce the cost in future. But the materials like plastic straw, which is not a necessity like plastic bag but it’s more of a luxury causing great harm to our environments must be completely banned. Moreover, there are paper straws, aluminum straws and bamboo straws that are much safer for our environment.

Obviously plastic bag ban or price charges had positive effects on consumers' behavior to reduce the use of plastic bags. But most important aspect is to know about the underlying processes to explore why and under which conditions these types of policies would be effective, and how to improve these policies. Imposing ban followed by penalty on plastic bag use may cause negative consequences as it may be a "shove measure" aiming to modify customer’s behavior, although the underlying process is not clear so we do not know for sure about consistency of behavior of the people on long term as there is no cheap alternative. But a plastic bag charge is quite effective to increase own bag use among the consumers in cities, towns and even in villages and it will be a sustainable approach. The financial implications were always related to policy opposition because the free-of-charge bag has soon and certain positive consequences (i.e., comfort, ease), while its negative consequences (i.e., environmental damage) are always uncertain and distant in time. The common people are not practically realizing this uncertainty at the time of using these plastic bags. Importantly, plastic bag charge may activate, on continuous thinking of financial incentive, environmental motives to bring one's own shopping bags. In front any supermarket counter it was observed that many consumers support plastic bag charges to improve environmental quality. Many consumers who carried their own bag to shopping after the policy implementation are now influenced by intrinsic motives (environmental and hedonic) rather than extrinsic (financial) ones. Clearly, this suggests positive behaviour change of many consumers in our societies in order to protect the environment and human health from the risks of plastic waste. Obviously positive change predicated on knowledge and awareness of the environment to some extent. Therefore, there is the need for education at all levels to inculcate environmental knowledge to sustain this behaviour even when the incentive would no longer be available. Moreover, all consumers must be exposed to a media campaign announcing the ban, the charge, and the environmental benefits of reduced plastic bag use emphasizing the role of citizens participation. This will reduce the negative attitude towards charge or ban the plastic and protect the behavioral change to use own bag on long-term.

What should be the best option to manage plastic waste depends on collation of scientific information and development of conceptual model to tackle this problem. Since a large number of scientific information is available, only sincere effort is needed to evolve the management strategy. In addition to these, most important task is to conduct detailed study on evaluating the motivational basis of reduced use of plastic bags after the implementation of ban by exploring the extent of the consumers’ support to this policy with the reasons of their agreement or disagreement ; their actual behavior changes with reference to the prevalence of intrinsic (i.e., protecting the environment, convenience) versus extrinsic (saving money) motives for carrying own bags for shopping in response to the policy implementation.

Most importantly the conventional mindset to impose ban on plastic without considering the citizens’ opinion can fulfill the environmental issue with little outcome; but not the equilibrium among economic, society and environment.

Scientific Research, Deceit and Death, in times of Glyphosate

For our body to function properly, we need thousands of enzymes, which are also amino acids. Glycine can easily get attached to some of these enzymes and block their actions. That’s the danger glyphosate poses to humans.

(This is a summary of a talk by Prof. Sarath Gunathilake in June 2018 while visiting Sri Lanka. Prof. Sarath Gunatilake, M.D., MPH, Dr.PH, is a former chair and a Professor in the Health Science Department of California State University Long beach/ College of Health and Human Services.  He is a Public Health physician who is American Board certified in Public Health and Preventive Medicine in Occupational Medicine.  He received his M.D. from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, his MPH (Public Health Education) and Dr.PH. (Organizational Development in Health Care) from the University of Hawaii.  He also underwent residency training in Family Medicine (Texas Tech Heath Science Center, Lubbock, TX) and in Occupational Medicine (UC-Irvine)).

( July 18, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) “I was introduced to the Sri Lankan kidney disease in 2005 by Dr. Thilak Abeysekera. When one of my students, Dr. Sujatha Senaratne became the Secretary of the Health Ministry and requested my help, I studied the issue deeply in Padaviya, Sri Pura and Kebithigollewa area. Later, when Dr. Channa Jayasumana asked for my help for his doctoral thesis on the same topic, I agreed on the condition that we do the work with the farmers. Because of the quality issues in water sample analyses by Sri Lankan laboratories, I proposed that we use the laboratory facilities in my university.

In our first article, we posed the question whether the insecticides and herbicides have something to do with this Sri Lankan kidney disease. It was received with both flowers and stones. A group of 12 Sri Lankan scientists sent a letter to my university accusing me of doing biased research. Luckily, neither of us had sealed nor opened any of the sample tubes and witnesses certified that proper sample custody procedures had been followed. Still I had to write a 68-page report refuting all the accusations.

In 2014, I was awarded the university prize for the best research in the year. In 2015, American Public Health Association too awarded me a prize. Yet, there were many who claimed that what we presented was just a hypothesis. We have so far presented 10-12 more articles to support our thesis. Our research was done with support from no other organization o person than my own university.

How does glyphosate work? Glyphosate contains a simple amino acid –glycine, and Phosphate, which forms our bones. Human body consists of many proteins, which are amino acids. Thus, the argument that glyphosate is not toxic for humans. But, it is not correct. For our body to function properly, we need thousands of enzymes, which are also amino acids. Glycine can easily get attached to some of these enzymes and block their actions. That’s the danger glyphosate poses to humans.

Glyphosate was discovered in 1961, and was used as an agent to remove internal residues that block metal pipes. In 1970, Monsanto bought that patent and used it as an herbicide called Roundup. This is now the most heavily used herbicide in the world. Roundup has many additives that stabilize or increase the effects of glyphosate. Herbicides, usually, get absorbed into plant roots. But glyphosate works differently: to kill a plant, it should stick to the plant leaf. However, a lone glyphosate drop will roll off, like a drop of water on a lotus leaf. Those additives help glyphosate stick to a leaf. Once inside the leaf, glycine blocks the functions of protein-making amino acids and kills the plant. Another argument is that glyphosate won’t affect the animals, since only plants have this mechanism facilitating glycine attachment to amino acids. However, animal and human intestines have millions of bacteria in them, which are like plants. When glyphosate is ingested with food or water, it will kill off the food-digesting bacteria. Over the last 25 years researchers have rarely investigated the additives of Roundup. They could be many times more toxic than glyphosate itself, as shown by a recent French experiment on tomato plants and animal cells.

A test in Ecuador showed that glyphosate spraying has damaged the genes of people who were exposed. Upon such exposure, some cells can repair the damage using certain enzymes. But when glyphosate gets attached to these enzymes, they will be deactivated and the cells will die. Cells with damaged genes will become cancer cells. Glyphosate was recognized as a carcinogen (a cancer-causing agent), for the first time in 1985, by the toxicology department of US Environment Protection Agency. They said it is a potential Class C carcinogenic agent, but by 1991, this classification was somehow changed. In 2015, an institution affiliated with the United Nations claimed glyphosate is carcinogenic.

In 1996, Monsanto started producing genetically modified (GM) crops. That was done, not with an interest in saving the world from hunger, as they announce, but for own selfish motives. In 2000, Monsanto was going to lose the patent protection for glyphosate as an herbicide. So, it produced GM crops (like sugar beets, wheat, corn, soya, grass) that resist glyphosate. And they re-patented glyphosate as an antibiotic. Now you can spray glyphosate from a plane and only the GM crop will survive the assault.

With that Monsanto launched a huge campaign whitewashing glyphosate. It said glyphosate is safer than table-salt; and that it will bio-degrade into two non-toxic components, glycine and phosphate. According to them, it is so environmentally safe that it can be used even in children’s parks.

By 2016, glyphosate remnants were found everywhere in US food chain. Even in Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Ben & Jerry hit back, claiming that its product only has 1.74 parts of glyphosate per billion, but whole wheat bread has 78 times more, and cereals, 640 times more. Even tea and breast milk have glyphosate. It is known to enter through one’s skin as well. A paper in American Medical Association journal showed that, from 1996 to 2016, the amount of glyphosate in certain human urine samples has increased thirteen-fold. Some European Union MPs tested their own urine and found that the samples contained 17 times more glyphosate than the EU allowable limit for drinking water. That means, glyphosate accumulates in human bodies. So, the claim by Monsanto on bio-degradability of glyphosate is false. In many countries, Monsanto was fined for propagating such false claims.

Such false propaganda created in Sri Lanka a ‘herbicide tolerant’ culture. Our farmers believe that not just glyphosate, any agrochemical, is safe to use like soap water. When we visited distant villages like Kebithigollewa, they told us that they would mix several herbicides, to kill all the weeds at once. They would spray glyphosate around manioc, to prevent damage in uprooting the tubers. To avoid the sticky glue while picking jack fruit seeds, they would wash their hands in bathroom detergent!

One MIT researcher showed that increased use of glyphosate coincided with an increase in Autistic kids. Similar cases were made for the spread of Diabetes and Dementia too. There is no direct relationship between such health problems and glyphosate use, but they suggest that glyphosate could be one of the reasons.

If USA use so much glyphosate, then where are its patients? A recent book poetically explains that Latin American migrant workers who are exposed to glyphosate in USA ‘leave their kidneys in the farms’. A US farmer who sprayed glyphosate, accompanied by his dog, contracted the same cancer a few years after his dog got it. That tragedy drew a lot of publicity. Soon, a court in San Francisco received over 400 complaints, filed by similar victims.

About two months ago, a lawyer requested the San Francisco judge to obtain all internal communications of Monsanto during glyphosate patenting process. Monsanto protested, but the judge stayed firm. While filing these documents, Monsanto forgot to request them be limited to only that case. The accusing lawyer immediately publicized this information. This internal documentation of a 30-year period shows clearly how Monsanto covered-up the danger to health posed by glyphosate. Some ‘independent’ scientists who were to review the patent case had not disclosed their contracts with Monsanto. At times, Monsanto technicians wrote ‘scientific’ evaluations of the product but got outside scientists, who collaborate with the company, to sign those documents. They acknowledged internally that Roundup is a carcinogen and that skin exposure to it is the most serious.

Now, I hope you understand the dangers of glyphosate. I want you to tell others about that danger, and help them live a little bit longer. That’s why I would end this talk with ‘Ayubowan’ (may you live a long life), instead of a ‘Thank You’.”

Prepared from a video recording of the talk by Kashyapa A. S. Yapa, Ph.D. (UC – Berkeley).

Israeli sniper deliberately killed medic Razan al-Najjar, investigation finds

In a photo taken on 1 April, Palestinian medic Razan al-Najjar helps an injured man at an emergency medical tent near Khan Younis, during protests in Gaza near the boundary with Israel. Al-Najjar was fatally shot by an Israeli sniper as she performed her duties on on 1 June.

 

 Ashraf AmraAPA images

Ali Abunimah- 17 July 2018

An Israeli sniper deliberately targeted Palestinian medic Razan al-Najjar, an investigation by the human rights group B’Tselem has found.

Al-Najjar, 21, was killed on 1 June, as she and her colleagues treated Palestinians taking part in Great March of Return protests in Gaza, near the boundary fence with Israel, east of Khan Younis.

According to B’Tselem, al-Najjar “was fatally shot by a member of the security forces who was aiming directly at her as she was standing about 25 meters away from the fence, despite the fact that she posed no danger to him or anyone else and was wearing a medical uniform.”

Shortly before she was killed, al-Najjar was with several other paramedics, including Rami Abu Jazar, Rasha Qudaih, Rida al-Najjar and Mahmoud Abd al-Ati.

All were wearing clearly marked medical vests.

They were approaching the area of the fence with their hands in the air in order to rescue two young men who had passed out due to the heavy amounts of teargas the Israelis were firing.

“We got to the two young men, and when we started evacuating them, the soldiers started firing a heavy barrage of teargas canisters at us,” Abu Jazar told B’Tselem.

Razan al-Najjar and Qudaih began choking, and they withdrew from the area in order to receive treatment from their colleagues Abu Jazar and Abd al-Ati.

Abd al-Ati’s told B’Tselem how he had given Razan al-Najjar first aid to treat the tear gas inhalation and that shortly after, “We went back and stood northwest of the protesters, about 10 to 20 meters away from the concertina fence.”

Other colleagues managed to bring the two young men to safety.

“After we had moved away, we started feeling better and decided to go closer to the protesters,” Abu Jazar stated. “We stood about 10 meters away from them, which was about 25 meters away from the fence. There were no protesters near us.”

That is when an Israeli sniper deliberately targeted Razan al-Najjar.

“Sniper stance”

“At around a quarter to six, we saw two soldiers get out of a military jeep, kneel and aim their guns at us, taking up a sniper stance,” Abu Jazar said. “Razan was standing to my right and Rasha was behind me. We were talking. Suddenly, they fired two live bullets at us. I looked at Razan and saw her point to her back and then fall down.”

Abu Jazar was also shot in the leg and Abd al-Ati was hit by shrapnel in the right hand and pelvis.

Then, according to Abd al-Ati, “two soldiers got out of a military jeep and pointed their guns at us. They fired two bullets at us.”

One hit Razan al-Najjar in the left side of the chest and exited from her back, while Abd al-Ati was hit by fragments from a live round.

Razan al-Najjar was taken to the European Hospital near Khan Younis and after 30 minutes of resuscitation efforts was pronounced dead.

“Sham” investigation

B’Tselem notes how the Israeli military tried to clear itself of responsibility for al-Najjar’s death by offering varying accounts.

At first, the army claimed that soldiers did not fire directly at al-Najjar.

Then the army claimed the medic might have been killed by a ricocheting bullet, and finally it resorted to a smear campaign, accusing al-Najjar of offering herself up as a “human shield” for Hamas.

Al-Najjar’s killing, the human rights group states, “is a direct result of the open-fire policy Israel has been implementing since the protests began.”

Since the Great March of Return was launched on 30 March, Israeli forces have killed some 150 Palestinians in Gaza, the vast majority unarmed civilians killed during protests.

More than 4,000 others have been injured by live fire.

Al-Najjar was the second paramedic to be killed, two weeks after Mousa Jaber Abu Hassanein was fatally shot in another incident of Israeli soldiers opening fire on clearly marked rescue personnel.

In total, more than 350 medical staff have been injured since the protests began, including 26 hit with live fire, 12 hurt by shrapnel and nearly 40 directly hit by tear gas canisters, according to World Health Organization figures cited by B’Tselem.

Dozens of ambulances have been damaged.

Israelis snipers are under orders to shoot directly at unarmed protesters, including children, a policy that the International Criminal Court prosecutor has warned could land Israeli leaders and commanders on trial.

The Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq had already dismissed the Israeli army’s self-investigation into al-Najjar’s killing as a “sham” that is “neither transparent or credible.”

Dreamed of being a nurse

On the day she was killed, Razan al-Najjar was doing what she had always wanted to do – give medical care to people in need.

“She loved life and was always smiling. She dreamed of studying nursing at the university, but our finances wouldn’t allow it so she made do with first aid courses,” Razan’s mother Sabrin al-Najjar told B’Tselem.

But the courses at a local hospital were rigorous and al-Najjar worked hard, earning the respect of doctors and other colleagues.

“Razan was driven to prove herself in the nursing field and make up for not being able to go to university,” her mother added.

Her killing has left behind a devastated family unable to come to terms with losing her.

“Sometimes I call her when it’s time to eat, because I feel that she’s with us and she hasn’t died. The whole family is having a really hard time,” Sabrin said.

Razan’s younger siblings are struggling and can’t understand why she’s never coming home.

“My husband is broken,” Sabrin said. “He cries all the time and misses her badly.”

“I keep praying for her to receive the grace of God and go to heaven. Losing her is terrible,” Sabrin said. “What wrong did Razan commit that she had to be killed?”

Turkey looks set to swap one state of emergency for another

Though Turkey's state of emergency is being lifted on Wednesday night, a new law seeks to retain much of its extraordinary powers

A special Police officer stands guard outside of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's residence in Istanbul (Reuters)

Ece Goksedef-Wednesday 18 July 2018

When the clock strikes midnight on Wednesday, Turkey's state of emergency will officially be over - and yet new legislation could see many of its controversial provisions remain for at least another three years.

The draft law, which will be presented to the Turkish parliament on Thursday and is set to be put to a vote on Monday, has been prepared by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) as a way of moving forward from the state of emergency that has given President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government sweeping powers since a 2016 coup attempt was foiled.

The bill's backers say its regulations will help ease Turkey out of the tumultuous period it has witnessed over the past two years, while still providing security.

AKP MP Bulent Turan, who submitted the draft law to parliament, told reporters on Monday that it is necessary to protect the state from the movement of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, which the government blames for the coup attempt, and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long insurgency.

“They [the draft law's regulations] are all limited to a three-year period. Not all of them are in the shadow of the state of emergency, there are some regulations that reflect the continuation of democracy,” he said.

Cahit Ozkan, the deputy chairman of AKP's parliamentary bloc, told Middle East Eye the new law has a three-year limit because that is the length of time needed to rid Turkey of the Gulenists.

'We held meetings with our intelligence, police and related ministries, and decided that we need another three years'

- Cahit Ozkan, AKP

"We held meetings with our intelligence, police and related ministries, and decided that we need another three years to remove this terror group to the core from our country. That’s why we limited the law up to three years. After that, we plan to turn back to normal rule of law," he said.

Turkey cracked down on security after the 2016 coup attempt (AFP)

Ozkan said that European countries have similar laws, and denied the new legislation was a continuation of the state of emergency.

"What democracy means is to protect basic rights and freedom of our citizens and at the same time to provide their security and national unity," he said.

"Almost none of our citizens were affected negatively by the state of emergency over the last two years, and we were able to be very successful in our fight against FETO [Gulen’s movement], we cleaned most of them from the public institutions. Now we are turning back to constitutional order, but with the rules that will help us to fight against terror.

"This new law is in compliance with the laws of European Union countries. We aim to permanently remove FETO from our country. If we wanted to make the state of emergency permanent, instead of bringing in new laws we wouldn’t lift it!"

Freedoms and the economy

Five days after the coup attempt on 15 July, 2016, the government issued the state of emergency, subsequently extending seven times for three-month periods.

Under the emergency rules, 125,806 people were dismissed from public institutions, the army and the police, accused of having links to the Gulen movement. More than 50,000 people were detained and nearly 200,000 passports were annulled.

In the run-up to Turkey's 24 June presidential and parliamentary elections, Erdogan was moved to follow the suit of his challengers and promise to lift the state of emergency after the polls.

Opposition parties, however, have complained that many of the new law's regulations are barely a departure from the state of emergency's ones.

Akif Hamzacebi, deputy chairman of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) parliamentary bloc, told MEE that the new laws will both stifle freedoms and have a negative effect on Turkey's already ailing economy.

'What we should do is to turn back to democracy, but with this draft law they are trying to make the state of emergency permanent'

- Akif Hamzacebi, CHP

"The state of emergency had negative effects on our democracy and economy. Because of the state of emergency, the number of foreign investments to our country has been reduced and inflation, interest rates and the current deficit are higher now. The main reason is because Turkey is getting far away from democracy," he said. 

"What we should do is to turn back to democracy, but with this draft law they are trying to make the state of emergency permanent. They are not lifting it today, they are turning it into a law."

Hamzacebi rejected the idea that the new regulations would only be in place for three years, saying the ruling AKP could simply renew them if it was still in power.

"It’s even worse than the state of emergency because that can be lifted, but the law cannot be changed, as they have the majority in the parliament," he said.

Detentions, restrictions

Many of the new regulations would be identical or very similar to those in place under the state of emergency.

One article of the 25-paragraph draft law says that, much like under the emergency regulations, provincial governors can restrict the movement of people under suspicion in and out of certain areas, such as streets, neighbourhoods or even towns. The governors would also have the authority to ban any meetings and rallies they wish.

If passed as expected, the law will reduce the length of time someone can be detained without charge from seven days to two. In some circumstances, for instance if additional evidence needs to be collected, that period can be extended to up to six days, down from 14 under the state of emergency. Before the coup attempt, people could only be detained for 24 hours, extended to 48 in special circumstances.

Under the new law, authorities would retain the right to make sweeping dismissals of staff in state institutions, as before. It says civil servants or officers “who are considered to have ties with or to be the members of terror organisations or any groups that work against the national security of Turkey” can be dismissed without a court ruling. Those employees and their spouses’ passports can be annulled.

The foiling of the coup has had profound effects on Turkey (Reuters)

Another regulation in the draft law that has attracted criticism is the one allowing police to access private information about those dismissed and their spouses, including phone records and bank accounts.

However, unlike under the state of emergency, civil servants and officers who are dismissed now would have the right to legally object. If found not guilty, they can return to their posts in 30 days, but cannot ask for any compensation.

Though the AKP's 290 MPs are not enough to pass the legislation in Turkey's 600-seat parliament on Monday alone, its ultra-nationalist ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), is expected to support it and see the bill through.

Alleged Russian agent Maria Butina had ties to Russian intelligence agency, prosecutors say

Maria Butina, 29, founded a Russian group called the Right to Bear Arms. On July 16 she was charged with conspiracy to act as an agent of Russia. (Patrick Martin/The Washington Post)

by Tom Jackman and Rosalind S. Helderman July 18 at 2:52 PM Email the author

The Russian woman arrested this week on charges of being a foreign agent had ties to Russian intelligence operatives and was in contact with them while in the United States, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Maria Butina, 29, also was also engaged in “personal relationship” with an American Republican consultant only for business purposes and had offered sex to at least one other person “in exchange for a position within a special interest organization.”

In a new court filing, prosecutors also called Butina a flight risk, saying she has connections with wealthy business executives linked to the Putin administration and appeared to be planning to leave Washington and possibly the United States. They said that when she was arrested, her apartment was full of moving boxes and she had transferred money to Russia in recent days.

[Read the court filing]

The new allegations laid out Wednesday explicitly link Butina to Russia’s intelligence services for the first time, painting the portrait of a covert agent backed by powerful patrons who went to lengths to create a pretext for her presence in the U.S.

The details about her alleged activities injected even more drama into the case of the Russian gun rights activist, who in recent years cozied up to top U.S. conservatives, including the leadership of the National Rifle Assn.

President Trump's warm rhetoric toward Russia on the campaign trail is just one instance of a softening stance toward Russia among some U.S. conservatives. (Bastien Inzaurralde, Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

In a document that could have been ripped from the television show “The Americans,” prosecutors decribed her manipulating a South Dakota political operative as part of her scheme and meeting for a private lunch in March with a Russian diplomat suspected of being a Russian intelligence officer — all while FBI agents watched.

Butina, who came to the U.S. on a student visa in August 2016 to study at American University, was arrested this week and charged with conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government and failing to register as an agent of a foreign government. Prosecutors say she worked to infiltrate American conservative groups to advance the Kremlin’s interests.

In advance of a scheduled detention hearing Wednesday afternoon, prosecutors argued strongly against her release, noting “her history of deceptive conduct.”

[‘She was like a novelty’: How alleged Russian agent Maria Butina gained access to elite conservative circles]

Butina’s attorney has said she was not a Russian agent but a student interested in forming bonds with Americans. A spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that her arrest was alarming and with an aim of undermining the outcomes of this week’s Russian-U. S. summit in Helsinki.

“You get the sense that someone grabbed a watch and a calculator to determine when the decision on Maria Butina’s arrest should be adopted to maximally undermine the outcomes of the summit that took place between the Russian and U.S. presidents. It was that deliberately timed,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing in Moscow on Wednesday.

Prosecutors revealed Wednesday that after executing a search warrant at her Washington home in April, they learned Butina “was in contact with officials believed to be Russian intelligence operatives.”

The memo written Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik M. Kenerson states that Butina maintained contact information for employees of the Russian FSB, the successor to the Soviet Union’s KGB, and that was “likely in contact with the FSB throughout her stay in the United States.”

As part of Butina’s outreach to the NRA and other GOP groups, she once quizzed Donald Trump while he was a presidential candidate about his views on Russia and chatted briefly with the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., at an NRA meeting in May 2016.

The Washington Post reported earlier this year that she was spotted at an inaugural ball when Trump was sworn into office last January, part of a group of Russians whose presence at Trump’s celebration drew the attention of the FBI.

[In the crowd at Trump’s inauguration, members of Russia’s elite anticipated a thaw between Moscow and Washington]

On Monday, prosecutors said Butina sent a senior Russian government official a photo of herself near the U.S. Capitol on Inauguration Day.

“You’re a daredevil girl,” the official responded, according to the court filing.

In addition to apparent ties to the Russian government, the court filing alleges that Butina had ties to “wealthy businessmen in the Russian oligarchy.”

Prosecutors state that her Twitter messages, chat logs and emails referred to a Russian businessman “with deep ties to the Russian Presidential Administration,” that this unnamed person often travels to the United States and has been referred to as her “funder” in Butina’s correspondence.

Also, in 2014 Butina engaged in text messages with a different wealthy Russian businessman concerning budgets for her trip to America and meetings with her “funder,” Kenerson wrote.

Those officials were not identified.

Prosecutors have said Butina’s main Russian contact was a high level government official who matches the description of Alexander Torshin, a Russian central banker and former senator from Putin’s party.

In direct messages exchanged through Twitter, prosecutors said she and Torshin agreed that she could only operate in secret. “Only incognito!” she wrote in one message in October 2016. In a note in March 2017, Torshin wrote, “You have upstaged Anna Chapman,” a reference to a well-known Russian spy who had lived freely in the United State for years before her 2010 arrest.

She was assisted in her efforts to make contact with influential Americans by South Dakota political operative Paul Erickson, a political consultant from South Dakota who once helped run Pat Buchanan’s presidential campaign and whom Butina met after hosting him and other American gun enthusiasts in Russia in 2013.

They formed a “personal relationship,” prosecutors said, but the 29-year-old “expressed disdain” about having to live with 56-year-old Erickson.

Still, prosecutors said Wednesday that Butina had plotted with Erickson how she should manage visas to remain in the United States. They also surveilled Butina and Erickson entering a Washington bank last week and sending a $3,500 wire transfer to Russia, and then on Saturday inquiring at a U-Haul facility about renting a truck and purchasing moving boxes.

And they alleged that Erickson would help Butina “complete her academic assignments, by editing papers and answering exam questions.” They said her relationship with Erickson was “duplicitous” and her attendence at American University a mere “cover.”

Erickson did not respond to requests for comment.

In an email in 2017, Butina told The Post that Erickson was “one of my friends and political mentors.” She said he had helped her form a consulting company in South Dakota called Bridges LLC, which she had intended to use to pay for her studies. But she said she ultimately found “financial aid” and the company was inactive.

An American University spokesman, who has confirmed Butina received a master’s degree this year, declined to comment but pointed to a university policy that allows the school to revoke the degrees if an internal investigation finds a former student engaged in academic misconduct.

Karen DeYoung contributed to this report.

Summit critics have Trump derangement syndrome – says Trump

US president hits out at comments about his relationship with Putin

President Trump hosts a cabinet meeting at the White House. Photograph: Olivier Douliery/EPA

David Smith @smithinamerica-Wed 18 Jul 2018

Donald Trump has accused critics of “Trump derangement syndrome” as the fallout from his summit with Vladimir Putin showed no sign of abating.

The US president might be regretting his partial climbdown on his drawing a moral equivalence between the Kremlin and American intelligence and law enforcement agencies, which triggered accusations of treason.

“Some people HATE the fact that I got along well with President Putin of Russia,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday. “They would rather go to war than see this. It’s called Trump Derangement Syndrome!”

The phrase “Trump derangement syndrome” had just appeared in a column in the New York Times, which Trump is known to read closely. The Kentucky senator Rand Paul had also used it in defending Trump’s summit with the Russian president.

Trump’s tweet was one of several aimed at defending his handling of the meeting. In another, he wrote: “So many people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki. Putin and I discussed many important subjects at our earlier meeting. We got along well which truly bothered many haters who wanted to see a boxing match. Big results will come!”

At the Helsinki press conference, with Putin at his side, Trump claimed: “My people came to me. They said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin; he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”

On Tuesday, back at the White House, he blamed his own bad grammar: “The sentence should have been: ‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia’ – sort of a double negative. So you can put that in, and I think that probably clarifies things pretty good.”

Trump backflips on Russia interference – video

For Trump, such U-turns are rare but not unknown. Last year he sought to blame both sides for deadly attacks by white supremacists on activists in Charlottesville, Virginia; he later tried to back down, only to then revert to his original position.

More recently, he signed an executive order to end the policy of separating undocumented immigrant parents from their children at the Mexican border, but later comments expressed no contrition. It remains to be seen whether his apology to Theresa May for undermining her in a Sun interview will hold for long.

The latest reversal came about after Trump, who left Finland in triumphant mood, reportedly became mortified and furious as he watched the backlash on television on Air Force One.

John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, told Trump it would damage him in the eyes of the special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating alleged collusion between his election campaign and Moscow, according to Vanity Fair. Citing three unnamed sources, its report said: “Kelly called around to Republicans on Capitol Hill and gave them the go-ahead to speak out against Trump.”

A sprinkling of Republicans – though by no means all – who have defended Trump through thick and thin distanced themselves from the president, including the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and the House speaker, Paul Ryan, who held televised press conferences to insist Russia had interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

Even Fox and Friends, the loyal morning show that Trump consumes religiously, piled on the pressure. The host Brian Kilmeade spoke directly to the camera and said: “This is something that needs to be corrected.” The Wall Street Journal was also unusually critical, describing a “national embarrassment”.

The chorus appeared to tell as Trump realised he had made a colossal political blunder. The New York Times reported: “Later in the morning, Mr. Trump told aides he realized he needed to make a correction, according to the person who was briefed. His team met briefly to discuss what to say, and the speechwriter, Stephen Miller, drafted something that was rewritten several times.”

The president read scripted remarks, stating that he accepted the conclusions reached by the US intelligence community that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, but then characteristically muddied the waters by apparently ad libbing that there “could be other people also”.

At one point the room was plunged into darkness, reportedly because Kelly accidentally flicked the switch. “Oops, they just turned off the lights,” said Trump, joking: “That must have been the intelligence agencies.”

Lights go out on Trump during Russia statement: 'Must be the intelligence agencies!' – video

The hastily organised reversal was applauded by some. Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who had criticised the Helsinki press conference as “the most serious mistake of his presidency”, told the Guardian on Wednesday: “He came a long way if you read his remarks to the congressmen. He was pretty clear that he had made a mistake.”

Others, however, regarded the remarks as too little too late, as they failed to address his attacks on the justice department or FBI or his claim on Monday that Putin had given an “extremely strong and powerful” denial of involvement. He repeated once again that there was no collusion.

Senator Tim Kaine, who was Hillary Clinton’s running mate in the 2016 election, tweeted: “I keep hoping that maybe, just maybe, we will all find out soon that the Helsinki summit was actually just a Sacha Baron Cohen episode.”