PM Narendra Modi Agressive Speech Land Bill | CVR News
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Chinese president meets Indian PM
Chinese president meets Indian PM
(Xinhua) 17:18, May 14, 2015
XI'AN, May 14 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping met with visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Xi'an, capital city of Shaanxi Province and Xi's hometown, on Thursday afternoon.
"This is the first time I have treated a foreign leader in my hometown and I hope you have a happy stay," Xi said at the start of the meeting.
Xi welcomed Modi and thanked him for the warm reception he received on his India visit in September, when the Indian PM accompanied him to visit his home state of Gujarat.
"That left me with a deep and good impression," Xi said.
In September, Xi and Modi "reached an important consensus on promoting the bilateral strategic partnership of cooperation and forging a closer partnership of development," according to the president.
Both sides have maintained frequent high-level contact and engagement, promoted cooperation in priority areas including construction of railways and industrial parks, strengthened exchanges, controlled border areas, Xi said.
China-India relations are experiencing stable development and facing broad prospects, he added, predicting that Modi's visit will strengthen the partnership.
Xi called on the two countries to look at their ties from a long-term perspective, strengthen coordination on global and regional affairs, and "steer the international order to develop in a fairer direction".
The two countries could strengthen communication on the Belt and Road Initiative, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and Modi's "Act East" policy, find areas of common interest, and hone a mode of cooperation with reciprocal benefit, Xi said.
He said the two countries should seek common ground in their respective development strategies to jointly promote the region's economic integration and contribute to global economic growth.
He called for more bilateral cooperation in areas including railways, industrial parks, urbanization and training, pledging to encourage Chinese companies to invest in India.
The president also expressed hope that the two countries can trust each other more and control their disputes to avoid weakening bilateral ties.
Xi also called on the two countries to strengthen exchanges between media, think tanks and young people to promote mutual understanding.
Calling China a great neighbor, Modi said India was ready to communicate and cooperate more closely with China, increase cultural exchanges and properly handle disputes.
He also voiced hope for more bilateral trade and closer cooperation with China within the AIIB.
He said he believed the AIIB will play an important role in regional economic and social development, and that India welcomes China to increase investment.
With regard to South Asia, Xi stressed that China has close relationships in the area and supports the region to maintain friendly ties. China is ready to strengthen reciprocal cooperation with all South Asian nations and promote the region's peace, stability and prosperity, he said.
Modi echoed Xi, saying India attaches high importance to communication in South Asia. India is ready to cooperate with China concerning the Belt and Road Initiative to promote the region's development and prosperity, he said.
This three-day tour is Modi's first China visit. Premier Li Keqiang and top legislator Zhang Dejiang will also meet him in Beijing on Friday.
CCTV shows India’s map without Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh
China has been laying territorial claim over Arunachal Pradesh and parts of Jammu and Kashmir but India has been strongly resisting it.
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| CCTV shows India’s map without Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh |
CCTV shows India’s map without Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh
A controversy was kicked up Thursday with China’s state-owned television CCTV showing India’s map without Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh while reporting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit.
The map was displayed during a bulletin when Modi was in Xi’an city where he held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in his hometown.
China has been laying territorial claim over Arunachal Pradesh and parts of Jammu and Kashmir but India has been strongly resisting it.
The unresolved boundary issue has been a sticking point in the relations between the two major Asian countries and both are making efforts to settle it through Special Representatives’ talks. The Special Representatives have held 18 rounds of discussions so far.
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| Modi in China 2015 |
China says the border dispute is confined only to 2,000 kms mostly in Arunachal Pradesh whereas India asserts that the dispute covered the western side of the border spanning to about 4,000 kms, especially the Aksai Chin area ceded to China by Pakistan.
Taking strong objection to depiction of the Indian map wrongly, Congress questioned the Prime Minister whether he would raise the issue strongly with the Chinese leadership.
“Official Chinese media is showing maps depicting Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as Chinese territory and the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir out of India’s boundary,” Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said and asked, “Will the Prime Minister take up the issue strongly and as a first priority with the Chinese leadership?”
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| Modi in China 2015 |
Surjewala said that in 2013, the UPA government had announced the formation of the Mountain Strike Corps (MSC), a 90,000 strong Army battalion specifically to prevent intrusion by Chinese troops, at a cost of Rs 64,478 cr.
“However just three weeks ahead of the PM’s visit to China, the Defence Ministry has reduced the sanctioned strength of this battalion by 50 per cent. The official reason given was a severe FUND shortage,” he claimed.
News Source : Greater Kashmir
Saudi Arabia Promises to Match Iran in Nuclear Capability
~~~~~~~ MIDDLE EAST
Saudi Arabia Promises to Match Iran in Nuclear Capability
By DAVID E. SANGERMAY 13, 2015
WASHINGTON — When President Obama began making the case for a deal with Iran that would delay its ability to assemble an atomic weapon, his first argument was that a nuclear-armed Iran would set off a “free-for-all” of proliferation in the Arab world. “It is almost certain that other players in the region would feel it necessary to get their own nuclear weapons,” he said in 2012.
Now, as he gathered Arab leaders over dinner at the White HOUSE on Wednesday and prepared to meet with them at Camp David on Thursday, he faced a perverse consequence:
Saudi Arabia and many of the smaller Arab states are now vowing to match whatever nuclear enrichment capability Iran is permitted to retain.
“We can’t sit back and be nowhere as Iran is allowed to retain much of its capability and amass its research,” one of the Arab leaders preparing to meet Mr. Obama said on Monday, declining to be named until he made his case directly to the president. Prince Turki bin Faisal, the 70-year-old former Saudi intelligence chief, has been touring the world with the same message.
“Whatever the Iranians have, we will have, too,” he said at a recent conference in Seoul, South Korea.
For a president who came to office vowing to move toward the elimination of nuclear weapons, the Iran deal has presented a new dilemma. If the agreement is sealed successfully next month — still far from guaranteed — Mr. Obama will be able to claim to have bought another decade, maybe longer, before Iran can credibly threaten to have a nuclear weapon.
But by leaving 5,000 centrifuges and a growing research and development program in place — the features of the proposed deal that Israel and the Arab states oppose virulently — Mr. Obama is essentially recognizing Iran’s right to continue enrichment of uranium, one of the two pathways to a nuclear weapon. Leaders of the Sunni Arab states are arguing that if Iran goes down that road, Washington cannot credibly argue they should not follow down the same one, even if their technological abilities are years behind Iran’s.
“With or without a deal, there will be pressure for nuclear proliferation in the Middle East,” said Gary Samore, Mr. Obama’s top nuclear adviser during the first term and now the executive director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard. “The question is one of capabilities. How would the Saudis do this without help from the outside?”
In fact, the Arab states may find it is not as easy as it sounds. The members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a loose affiliation of nations that make the crucial components for nuclear energy and, by extension, weapons projects, have a long list of components they will not ship to the Middle East. For the Saudis, and other Arab states, that leaves only North Korea and Pakistan, two countries that appear to have mastered nuclear enrichment, as possible sources.
It is doubtful that any of the American allies being hosted by Mr. Obama this week would turn to North Korea, although it supplied Syria with the components of a nuclear reactor that Israel destroyed in 2007.
Pakistan is another story. The Saudis have a natural if unacknowledged claim on the technology: They FINANCED much of the work done by A.Q. Khan, a Pakistani nuclear scientist who ended up peddling his nuclear wares abroad. It is widely presumed that Pakistan would provide Saudi Arabia with the technology, if not a weapon itself.
The Arab leader interviewed on Monday said that countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council, all to be represented at the Camp David meeting, had discussed a collective program of their own — couched, as Iran’s is, as a peaceful effort to develop nuclear energy. The United Arab Emirates signed a deal with the United States several years ago to build nuclear power plants, but it is prohibited under that plan from enriching its own uranium.
Over the last decade, the Saudi government has FINANCED nuclear research projects but there is no evidence that it has ever tried to build or buy facilities of the kind Iran has assembled to master the fuel cycle, the independent production of the makings of a weapon.
Still, the Saudis have given the subject of nuclear armament more than passing thought. In the 1980s they bought a type of Chinese missile, called a DF-3, that could be used effectively only to deliver a nuclear weapon because the missiles were too large and inaccurate for any other purpose. American officials, led by Robert M. Gates, then the director of the C.I.A., protested. There is no evidence the Saudis ever obtained warheads to fit atop the missiles.
Mr. Obama met with Saudi princes in the Oval Office on Wednesday — Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — who will most likely
moderate their criticisms of his administration while talking directly to the president. Mr. Obama is expected to OFFER them and the other Arab states some security assurances,
although not as explicit or legally binding as the kind that protect American treaty allies, from NATO to Japan to South Korea.
But Mr. Obama will have a difficult time overcoming the deep suspicions that the Saudis, and other Arab leaders, harbor about the Iran deal. Several of them have said that the critical
problem with the tentative agreements, as described by the White HOUSE and Secretary of State John Kerry, is that they assure nothing on a permanent basis.
Prince Turki, while in Seoul, went further. “He did go behind the backs of the traditional allies of the U.S. to strike the deal,” he said of Mr. Obama during a presentation to the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a South Korean research organization.
Although “the small print of the deal is still unknown,” he added, it “opens the door to nuclear proliferation, not closes it, as was the initial intention.”
Prince Turki argued that the United States was making a “pivot to Iran” that was ill advised, and that the United States failed to learn from North Korea’s violations of its nuclear deals.
“We were America’s best friend in the Arab world for 50 years,” he said, using the past tense.
Source:NYTimes
Saudi Arabia Promises to Match Iran in Nuclear Capability
By DAVID E. SANGERMAY 13, 2015
WASHINGTON — When President Obama began making the case for a deal with Iran that would delay its ability to assemble an atomic weapon, his first argument was that a nuclear-armed Iran would set off a “free-for-all” of proliferation in the Arab world. “It is almost certain that other players in the region would feel it necessary to get their own nuclear weapons,” he said in 2012.
Now, as he gathered Arab leaders over dinner at the White HOUSE on Wednesday and prepared to meet with them at Camp David on Thursday, he faced a perverse consequence:
Saudi Arabia and many of the smaller Arab states are now vowing to match whatever nuclear enrichment capability Iran is permitted to retain.
“We can’t sit back and be nowhere as Iran is allowed to retain much of its capability and amass its research,” one of the Arab leaders preparing to meet Mr. Obama said on Monday, declining to be named until he made his case directly to the president. Prince Turki bin Faisal, the 70-year-old former Saudi intelligence chief, has been touring the world with the same message.
“Whatever the Iranians have, we will have, too,” he said at a recent conference in Seoul, South Korea.
For a president who came to office vowing to move toward the elimination of nuclear weapons, the Iran deal has presented a new dilemma. If the agreement is sealed successfully next month — still far from guaranteed — Mr. Obama will be able to claim to have bought another decade, maybe longer, before Iran can credibly threaten to have a nuclear weapon.
But by leaving 5,000 centrifuges and a growing research and development program in place — the features of the proposed deal that Israel and the Arab states oppose virulently — Mr. Obama is essentially recognizing Iran’s right to continue enrichment of uranium, one of the two pathways to a nuclear weapon. Leaders of the Sunni Arab states are arguing that if Iran goes down that road, Washington cannot credibly argue they should not follow down the same one, even if their technological abilities are years behind Iran’s.
“With or without a deal, there will be pressure for nuclear proliferation in the Middle East,” said Gary Samore, Mr. Obama’s top nuclear adviser during the first term and now the executive director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard. “The question is one of capabilities. How would the Saudis do this without help from the outside?”
In fact, the Arab states may find it is not as easy as it sounds. The members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a loose affiliation of nations that make the crucial components for nuclear energy and, by extension, weapons projects, have a long list of components they will not ship to the Middle East. For the Saudis, and other Arab states, that leaves only North Korea and Pakistan, two countries that appear to have mastered nuclear enrichment, as possible sources.
It is doubtful that any of the American allies being hosted by Mr. Obama this week would turn to North Korea, although it supplied Syria with the components of a nuclear reactor that Israel destroyed in 2007.
Pakistan is another story. The Saudis have a natural if unacknowledged claim on the technology: They FINANCED much of the work done by A.Q. Khan, a Pakistani nuclear scientist who ended up peddling his nuclear wares abroad. It is widely presumed that Pakistan would provide Saudi Arabia with the technology, if not a weapon itself.
The Arab leader interviewed on Monday said that countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council, all to be represented at the Camp David meeting, had discussed a collective program of their own — couched, as Iran’s is, as a peaceful effort to develop nuclear energy. The United Arab Emirates signed a deal with the United States several years ago to build nuclear power plants, but it is prohibited under that plan from enriching its own uranium.
Over the last decade, the Saudi government has FINANCED nuclear research projects but there is no evidence that it has ever tried to build or buy facilities of the kind Iran has assembled to master the fuel cycle, the independent production of the makings of a weapon.
Still, the Saudis have given the subject of nuclear armament more than passing thought. In the 1980s they bought a type of Chinese missile, called a DF-3, that could be used effectively only to deliver a nuclear weapon because the missiles were too large and inaccurate for any other purpose. American officials, led by Robert M. Gates, then the director of the C.I.A., protested. There is no evidence the Saudis ever obtained warheads to fit atop the missiles.
Mr. Obama met with Saudi princes in the Oval Office on Wednesday — Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — who will most likely
moderate their criticisms of his administration while talking directly to the president. Mr. Obama is expected to OFFER them and the other Arab states some security assurances,
although not as explicit or legally binding as the kind that protect American treaty allies, from NATO to Japan to South Korea.
But Mr. Obama will have a difficult time overcoming the deep suspicions that the Saudis, and other Arab leaders, harbor about the Iran deal. Several of them have said that the critical
problem with the tentative agreements, as described by the White HOUSE and Secretary of State John Kerry, is that they assure nothing on a permanent basis.
Prince Turki, while in Seoul, went further. “He did go behind the backs of the traditional allies of the U.S. to strike the deal,” he said of Mr. Obama during a presentation to the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a South Korean research organization.
Although “the small print of the deal is still unknown,” he added, it “opens the door to nuclear proliferation, not closes it, as was the initial intention.”
Prince Turki argued that the United States was making a “pivot to Iran” that was ill advised, and that the United States failed to learn from North Korea’s violations of its nuclear deals.
“We were America’s best friend in the Arab world for 50 years,” he said, using the past tense.
Source:NYTimes
Monday, May 11, 2015
Govt. faces financial crisis; can’t even pay salaries - CBK
Former president Chandrika Kumaratunge said today that the present government was facing a serious FINANCIAL crisis and was even unable to pay public servants their salaries.
Addressing a meeting organised by the Sri Lanka Development Officers’ Union in Colombo yesterday, she said the government was facing difficulties due to the depleted FINANCES of the Treasury.
She said the crisis had been caused by the lack of transparency in the projects carried out by the previous government.
She said the payment of state sector salaries was difficult because of the lack of FUNDS. “The government is not able to pay state sector salaries to everyone. It’s hard to expand the sector, and some of the employees have no work,” she said.
She said those opposed to Yahapalanaya (good governance) had begun a counterrevolution against the new government.
- See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/71849/govt-faces-financial-crisis-can-t-even-pay-salaries-cbk#sthash.Uj0uG19H.dpuf
Hambantota was an uncleared area : Fonseka
Fonseka says govt caught sharks, but wants it to go after whales now
May 10, 2015, 10:32 pm
By Chandrasiri Jasenthuliyana, Ambalangoda Corr
Addressing a meeting of DP regional leaders at the Ambalangoda Town Hall auditorium Field Marshall Fonseka said that the government had come to power, promising action against fraudsters who had plundered the public institutions and embezzled people’s MONEY. The good governance administration had been able to cast a net to capture the sharks of corruption. "But, it is yet to throw a net to catch the whales of corruption. The government should start fighting corruption from the very top. Then only it can catch the whales of corruption."
Field Marshal Fonseka thanked his party men who had helped effect a regime change and to ensure the victory of Maithripala Sirisena at the January 08 presidential election. "This government is run by the President and Prime Minister that we appointed. We let them rule the country for 100 days without any criticism. The forthcoming general election will be a crucial and decisive one for our party men.
Most probably we will be able to get two members elected from districts such as Colombo and Kalutara," he said.
"Mahinda Rajapaksa would still have been the President and Gotabhaya Defence Secretary they had acted according to the wishes of the public. They also fought with the wrong person.
When they incarcerated me, I had time. I used to run two kilometres a day. So, I was healthier and more vigorous when I came out of the prison. We are respecters of policies and we are not ready to betray our policies and go before the powers that be on bended knees. There were many OFFERS to me but I took none and kept my backbone straight. I will do the same in the future," the Field Marshal said.
May 10, 2015, 10:32 pm
By Chandrasiri Jasenthuliyana, Ambalangoda Corr
After another two months’ time, ten per cent of the office time of incumbent President Maithripala Sirisena would be over but people of the country had received only one per cent of the benefits promised to them under the good governance regime,Leader of the Democratic Party Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka said on Saturday.
Addressing a meeting of DP regional leaders at the Ambalangoda Town Hall auditorium Field Marshall Fonseka said that the government had come to power, promising action against fraudsters who had plundered the public institutions and embezzled people’s MONEY. The good governance administration had been able to cast a net to capture the sharks of corruption. "But, it is yet to throw a net to catch the whales of corruption. The government should start fighting corruption from the very top. Then only it can catch the whales of corruption."
Field Marshal Fonseka thanked his party men who had helped effect a regime change and to ensure the victory of Maithripala Sirisena at the January 08 presidential election. "This government is run by the President and Prime Minister that we appointed. We let them rule the country for 100 days without any criticism. The forthcoming general election will be a crucial and decisive one for our party men.
"We cannot forget the damage and destruction caused by the former regime. Hambantota was an uncleared area then. We planned eight rallies in that district during the last presidential election. But, the then ruler did not permit us to build a single stage there. But we did not cancel our plans to meet the people. We took mobile stages there and set them on the roof of vehicles and addressed the masses. We showed the people the plight we were in and called upon them to use their votes wisely. Even under suppression we polled more than 10,000 votes in Hambontota. Our party is only three years old, but people have welcomed us and our policies," the Field Marshal said.He said when they joined the campaign to help the then Presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena they had 700,000 votes. They were certain that number now had increased up to more one million. "We hope to CONTEST all districts in the forthcoming general election and it is our target to get at least one member elected from our party to Parliament from each district.
Most probably we will be able to get two members elected from districts such as Colombo and Kalutara," he said.
"Mahinda Rajapaksa would still have been the President and Gotabhaya Defence Secretary they had acted according to the wishes of the public. They also fought with the wrong person.
When they incarcerated me, I had time. I used to run two kilometres a day. So, I was healthier and more vigorous when I came out of the prison. We are respecters of policies and we are not ready to betray our policies and go before the powers that be on bended knees. There were many OFFERS to me but I took none and kept my backbone straight. I will do the same in the future," the Field Marshal said.
இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி ஆளுநருக்கு எதிராக நம்பிக்கையில்லாப் பிரேரணை!
அரங்கேறும் பக்ச பாசிஸ்டுக்களின் ஆட்சிக் கவிழ்ப்பு எதிர்ப்பு- `பாராளமன்றச் சதி! ENB
Eighty eight MPs sign no confidence motion against CB Governor
Ministers, state ministers and deputy ministers among them
May 10, 2015, 10:33 pm
By Saman Indrajith
Three cabinet ministers, three state ministers and three deputy ministers are among the 88 members who have signed a no confidence motion against Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran.
The no confidence motion now included in the Parliamentary Order Book according to the Addendum to the Order Book No 14 released yesterday has seven charges against Governor
Mahendran.
It says: "After Arjuna Mahendran, who is a Singaporean citizen and a closest acquaintance of the Prime Minister, was appointed as the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in the latter part of January 2015, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has sharply deteriorated within the short time in which he has held office and this has brought the whole country to disrepute and caused a FINANCIALloss as well.
"Arjuna Mahendran has intentionally caused a huge loss to the government and the whole economy by awarding in an absolutely corrupt manner the 30-year Treasury bonds issued on 27th February 2015 by the Public Debt Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to Perpetual Treasuries, which is the primary dealer firm that belongs to his son-in-law; in that transaction, by increasing the interest rate of the country unnecessarily and artificially to benefit the firm of his son-in-law he had paved the way to earn undue profit of Rs. 200 crores for that firm and therefore only during the period of last 6 weeks the Government of Sri Lanka experienced an interest loss of about Rs. 4,500 crores which is the biggest interest loss in the Sri Lankan history, apart from that the overall interest rate in the whole FINANCIAL system was increased due to the fraudulent act of Mr Arjuna Mahendran and the whole population in the country loses the benefits enjoyed when the inflation rate of the country was maintained at a mid-single digit for more than 6 years and owing to that, the other primary role of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, maintaining stability of the price is in great peril today.
"Owing to the artificially manipulated interest rate caused by the action of Arjuna Mahendran, the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka on 27th February 2015 all other interest rates were affected and therefore compared to the interest rates of the previous day the interest rates increased by nearly 30% and this increase in the interest rates resulted in businessmen, rent payers, house builders and all others who obtain LOANS suffering and as a result of a great number of citizens having to pay high interest rates, there is an imminent danger of increasing the amount of bad debts in banks and non-banking institutions and thereby posing the other major function of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to maintain the stability of financial system is at stake as at today.
"Colombo STOCK MARKET has rapidly collapsed through the loss of confidence in the Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka which continues to grow day by day, as a result of the actions pointed out above and through that, it has been estimated that market capitalization of Sri Lankan Companies has already declined by a value more than Rs. 2,000 crores within the last 100 days alone.
"Arjuna Mahendran, the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has displayed through his practice that he is not fit to hold the said onerous, prestigious Office in view of the aforementioned facts; he has made efforts to fulfil certain political objectives and other personal objectives of the United National Party, his actions, orders and conduct have caused a severe damage, loss and discredit to the Government of Sri Lanka and the national economy; that this Parliament is of the opinion that Arjuna Mahendran, should be dismissed from the Office of the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka forthwith."
Eighty eight MPs sign no confidence motion against CB Governor
Ministers, state ministers and deputy ministers among them
May 10, 2015, 10:33 pm
By Saman Indrajith
Three cabinet ministers, three state ministers and three deputy ministers are among the 88 members who have signed a no confidence motion against Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran.
They are Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena (Cabinet Minister of Parliamentary Affairs), Reginald Cooray (Cabinet Minister of Aviation Services), Piyasena Gamage (Cabinet Minister of Skills Development and Vocational Training), Dilan Perera (State minister of Housing and Samurdhi), Jeevan Kumaratunga (State Minister of Labour), C.B.Ratnayake (State Minister of Public Administration and Democratic governance), Jagath Pushapakumara (Deputy Minister of Plantations), Lakshaman Seneviratne (Deputy Minister of Disaster Management) and Shantha Bandara (Deputy Minister of Mass Media).
The no confidence motion now included in the Parliamentary Order Book according to the Addendum to the Order Book No 14 released yesterday has seven charges against Governor
Mahendran.
It says: "After Arjuna Mahendran, who is a Singaporean citizen and a closest acquaintance of the Prime Minister, was appointed as the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in the latter part of January 2015, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has sharply deteriorated within the short time in which he has held office and this has brought the whole country to disrepute and caused a FINANCIALloss as well.
"Arjuna Mahendran has intentionally caused a huge loss to the government and the whole economy by awarding in an absolutely corrupt manner the 30-year Treasury bonds issued on 27th February 2015 by the Public Debt Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to Perpetual Treasuries, which is the primary dealer firm that belongs to his son-in-law; in that transaction, by increasing the interest rate of the country unnecessarily and artificially to benefit the firm of his son-in-law he had paved the way to earn undue profit of Rs. 200 crores for that firm and therefore only during the period of last 6 weeks the Government of Sri Lanka experienced an interest loss of about Rs. 4,500 crores which is the biggest interest loss in the Sri Lankan history, apart from that the overall interest rate in the whole FINANCIAL system was increased due to the fraudulent act of Mr Arjuna Mahendran and the whole population in the country loses the benefits enjoyed when the inflation rate of the country was maintained at a mid-single digit for more than 6 years and owing to that, the other primary role of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, maintaining stability of the price is in great peril today.
"Owing to the artificially manipulated interest rate caused by the action of Arjuna Mahendran, the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka on 27th February 2015 all other interest rates were affected and therefore compared to the interest rates of the previous day the interest rates increased by nearly 30% and this increase in the interest rates resulted in businessmen, rent payers, house builders and all others who obtain LOANS suffering and as a result of a great number of citizens having to pay high interest rates, there is an imminent danger of increasing the amount of bad debts in banks and non-banking institutions and thereby posing the other major function of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to maintain the stability of financial system is at stake as at today.
"Colombo STOCK MARKET has rapidly collapsed through the loss of confidence in the Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka which continues to grow day by day, as a result of the actions pointed out above and through that, it has been estimated that market capitalization of Sri Lankan Companies has already declined by a value more than Rs. 2,000 crores within the last 100 days alone.
"Arjuna Mahendran, the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has displayed through his practice that he is not fit to hold the said onerous, prestigious Office in view of the aforementioned facts; he has made efforts to fulfil certain political objectives and other personal objectives of the United National Party, his actions, orders and conduct have caused a severe damage, loss and discredit to the Government of Sri Lanka and the national economy; that this Parliament is of the opinion that Arjuna Mahendran, should be dismissed from the Office of the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka forthwith."
ரணிலுக்கெதிராக நம்பிக்கையில்லாப் பிரேரணை!
No Confidence Motion against Ranil Prompted by Bond issue
No Confidence Motion against Ranil Prompted by Bond issue
BY SHAAHIDAH RIZA
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is party to the biggest FINANCIAL fraud in Sri Lanka's post independence history and a No Confidence Motion against him must be in order, said Western Provincial Councillor and leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) Udaya Gammanpila to Ceylon Today, yesterday (10).
He made these comments with regard to Central Bank Governor, Arjuna Mahendran who is allegedly involved in the controversial treasury bonds issue, which caused a loss of Rs 45 billion according to Gammanpila.
The leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF) and Parliamentarian, Wimal Weerawansa also expressed the same concern at the Kurunegala rally last Friday (8). He said,
Although most MPs have not yet voiced their support for the No Confidence Motion against the Prime Minister, Gammanpila stated that he is confident of garnering support. He said,
"The opposition MPs made a request to remove the Central Bank Governor and 114 signatures were obtained to see this through. However, the Prime Minister did not heed the request.
Instead he appointed a committee made up of his colleagues who cleared Mahendran. He did not appoint a proper Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate it. I have confidence that those 114 MPs will support this move. In addition, there are also ministers who voiced their concerns about the Mahendran case, including the Cabinet Spokesperson and Health Minister, Rajitha Senaratne."
Meanwhile Deputy Minister of INVESTMENT Promotions, Eran Wickramaratne said that the government will present the report to Parliament and the opposition can read it and call for a
Parliamentary Committee on the issue.
"I think there should be a discussion on the matter and I think this should be investigated in a transparent manner," he said.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is party to the biggest FINANCIAL fraud in Sri Lanka's post independence history and a No Confidence Motion against him must be in order,said Western Provincial Councillor and leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) Udaya Gammanpila to Ceylon Today, yesterday (10).Ceylontoday, 2015-05-11 02:03:00
No Confidence Motion against Ranil Prompted by Bond issue
BY SHAAHIDAH RIZA
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is party to the biggest FINANCIAL fraud in Sri Lanka's post independence history and a No Confidence Motion against him must be in order, said Western Provincial Councillor and leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) Udaya Gammanpila to Ceylon Today, yesterday (10).
He made these comments with regard to Central Bank Governor, Arjuna Mahendran who is allegedly involved in the controversial treasury bonds issue, which caused a loss of Rs 45 billion according to Gammanpila.
The leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF) and Parliamentarian, Wimal Weerawansa also expressed the same concern at the Kurunegala rally last Friday (8). He said,
"The true opposition hopes to submit a No Confidence Motion against the Prime Minister during the course of the week.This will lead to a quick dissolution of Parliament, thus it is prudent to prepare for general elections."
Although most MPs have not yet voiced their support for the No Confidence Motion against the Prime Minister, Gammanpila stated that he is confident of garnering support. He said,
"The opposition MPs made a request to remove the Central Bank Governor and 114 signatures were obtained to see this through. However, the Prime Minister did not heed the request.
Instead he appointed a committee made up of his colleagues who cleared Mahendran. He did not appoint a proper Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate it. I have confidence that those 114 MPs will support this move. In addition, there are also ministers who voiced their concerns about the Mahendran case, including the Cabinet Spokesperson and Health Minister, Rajitha Senaratne."
Meanwhile Deputy Minister of INVESTMENT Promotions, Eran Wickramaratne said that the government will present the report to Parliament and the opposition can read it and call for a
Parliamentary Committee on the issue.
"I think there should be a discussion on the matter and I think this should be investigated in a transparent manner," he said.
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Saudi Arabia Says King Won’t Attend Meetings in U.S.
MIDDLE EAST
Saudi Arabia Says King Won’t Attend Meetings in U.S.
By HELENE COOPER MAY 10, 2015
WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday that its new monarch, King Salman, would not be attending meetings at the White House with President Obama or a summit gathering at Camp David this week, in an apparent signal of its continued displeasure with the administration over United States relations with Iran, its rising regional adversary.
As recently as Friday, the White House said that King Salman would be coming to RESUME consultations on a wide range of regional and bilateral issues,” according to Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman.
But on Sunday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said that the king would instead send Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the Saudi interior minister, and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the defense minister. The agency said the summit meeting would overlap with a five-day cease-fire in Yemen that is scheduled to start on Tuesday to allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Arab officials said they viewed the king’s failure to attend the meeting as a sign of disappointment with what the White House was willing to OFFER at the summit meeting as reassurance that the United States would back its Arab allies against a rising Iran.
King Salman is expected to call Mr. Obama on Monday to talk about his last-minute decision not to attend the summit meeting, a senior administration official said on Sunday.
The official said that when the king met Secretary of State John Kerry in Riyadh last week, he indicated that he was looking forward to coming to the meeting. But on Friday night, after the White House put out a statement saying Mr. Obama would be meeting with King Salman in Washington, administration officials received a call from the Saudi foreign minister that the king would not be coming after all.
There was “no expression of disappointment” from the Saudis, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. “If one wants to snub you, they let you know it in different ways,” the official said.
Jon Alterman, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said King Salman’s absence was both a blessing and a snub. “It holds within it a hidden opportunity,” he said, “because senior U.S. officials will have an unusual opportunity to take the measure of Mohammed bin Salman, the very young Saudi defense minister and deputy crown prince, with whom few have any experience.”
But, Mr. Alterman added: “For the White House though, it sends an unmistakable signal when a close partner essentially says he has better things to do than go to Camp David with the president, just a few days after the White House announced he’d have a private meeting before everything got underway.”
Mr. Kerry met on Friday in Paris with his counterparts from the Arab nations that were invited to the summit meeting — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman — to discuss what they were expecting from the summit meeting, and to signal what the United States was prepared to OFFER at Camp David.
But administration officials said that the Arab officials had pressed for a defense treaty with the United States pledging to defend them if they came under external attack. But that was always going to be difficult, as such treaties — similar to what the United States has with Japan — must be ratified by Congress.
Instead Mr. Obama is prepared to OFFER a presidential statement, one administration official said, which is not as binding and which future presidents may not have to honor.
The Arab nations are also angry, officials and experts said, about comments Mr. Obama recently made in an interview with The New York Times, in which he said allies like Saudi Arabia should be worried about internal threats — “populations that, in some cases, are alienated, youth that are underemployed, an ideology that is destructive and nihilistic, and in some cases, just a belief that there are no legitimate political outlets for grievances.”
At a time when American officials were supposed to be reassuring those same countries that the United States would support them, the comments were viewed by officials in the gulf as poorly timed, foreign policy experts said.
The Arab countries would also like to buy more weapons from the United States, but that also faces a big obstacle — maintaining Israel’s military edge. The United States has long put restrictions on the types of weapons that American defense firms can sell to Arab nations, in an effort to ensure that Israel keeps a military advantage against its traditional adversaries in the region.
That is why, for instance, the administration has not allowed Lockheed Martin to sell the F-35 fighter jet, considered to be the jewel of America’s future arsenal, to Arab countries. The plane, the world’s most expensive weapons project, has stealth capabilities and has been approved for sale to Israel.
In Paris on Friday, Mr. Kerry said that the United States and its Arab allies, which constitute the Gulf Cooperation Council, were “fleshing out a series of new commitments that will create between the U.S. and G.C.C. a new security understanding, a new set of security initiatives that will take us beyond anything that we have had before.”
The king is the latest top Arab official who will not be attending the summit meeting for delegations from members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The United Arab Emirates is also sending its crown prince to the meetings, the officials said. The Emirati president, Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, was never expected to attend because of health reasons, American and Arab officials said. Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman also will not be attending because of health reasons, officials said.
Yousef Al Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United States, declined to say exactly what his government was pushing for from the United States when he spoke at a conference in Washington on Thursday.
“The last thing I want to say is ‘here’s what we need,’ ” he said at a panel discussion sponsored by the Atlantic Council in Washington. “That’s not the right approach. The approach is, let’s come here, let’s figure out what the problems are, how we can work together to address our needs.”
King Salman’s decision to skip the summit meeting does not mean that the Saudis are giving up on the United States — they do not have many other options, said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “As upset as the Saudis are, they don’t really have a viable alternative strategic partnership in Moscow or Beijing,” Mr. Sadjadpour said.
But, he added, “there’s a growing perception at the White House that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are friends but not allies, while the U.S. and Iran are allies but not friends.”
Ben Hubbard contributed reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Peter Baker from Washington.
A version of this article appears in print on May 11, 2015, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Saudi King Plans to Skip Meetings in Washington.
Saudi Arabia Says King Won’t Attend Meetings in U.S.
By HELENE COOPER MAY 10, 2015
 |
President Obama speaking about the Iran nuclear agreement at the White House last month. CREDIT Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times |
As recently as Friday, the White House said that King Salman would be coming to RESUME consultations on a wide range of regional and bilateral issues,” according to Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman.
But on Sunday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said that the king would instead send Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the Saudi interior minister, and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the defense minister. The agency said the summit meeting would overlap with a five-day cease-fire in Yemen that is scheduled to start on Tuesday to allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Arab officials said they viewed the king’s failure to attend the meeting as a sign of disappointment with what the White House was willing to OFFER at the summit meeting as reassurance that the United States would back its Arab allies against a rising Iran.
 |
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef,
the Saudi interior minister.
|
King Salman is expected to call Mr. Obama on Monday to talk about his last-minute decision not to attend the summit meeting, a senior administration official said on Sunday.
The official said that when the king met Secretary of State John Kerry in Riyadh last week, he indicated that he was looking forward to coming to the meeting. But on Friday night, after the White House put out a statement saying Mr. Obama would be meeting with King Salman in Washington, administration officials received a call from the Saudi foreign minister that the king would not be coming after all.
There was “no expression of disappointment” from the Saudis, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. “If one wants to snub you, they let you know it in different ways,” the official said.
Jon Alterman, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said King Salman’s absence was both a blessing and a snub. “It holds within it a hidden opportunity,” he said, “because senior U.S. officials will have an unusual opportunity to take the measure of Mohammed bin Salman, the very young Saudi defense minister and deputy crown prince, with whom few have any experience.”
But, Mr. Alterman added: “For the White House though, it sends an unmistakable signal when a close partner essentially says he has better things to do than go to Camp David with the president, just a few days after the White House announced he’d have a private meeting before everything got underway.”
Mr. Kerry met on Friday in Paris with his counterparts from the Arab nations that were invited to the summit meeting — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman — to discuss what they were expecting from the summit meeting, and to signal what the United States was prepared to OFFER at Camp David.
But administration officials said that the Arab officials had pressed for a defense treaty with the United States pledging to defend them if they came under external attack. But that was always going to be difficult, as such treaties — similar to what the United States has with Japan — must be ratified by Congress.
Instead Mr. Obama is prepared to OFFER a presidential statement, one administration official said, which is not as binding and which future presidents may not have to honor.
The Arab nations are also angry, officials and experts said, about comments Mr. Obama recently made in an interview with The New York Times, in which he said allies like Saudi Arabia should be worried about internal threats — “populations that, in some cases, are alienated, youth that are underemployed, an ideology that is destructive and nihilistic, and in some cases, just a belief that there are no legitimate political outlets for grievances.”
At a time when American officials were supposed to be reassuring those same countries that the United States would support them, the comments were viewed by officials in the gulf as poorly timed, foreign policy experts said.
The Arab countries would also like to buy more weapons from the United States, but that also faces a big obstacle — maintaining Israel’s military edge. The United States has long put restrictions on the types of weapons that American defense firms can sell to Arab nations, in an effort to ensure that Israel keeps a military advantage against its traditional adversaries in the region.
That is why, for instance, the administration has not allowed Lockheed Martin to sell the F-35 fighter jet, considered to be the jewel of America’s future arsenal, to Arab countries. The plane, the world’s most expensive weapons project, has stealth capabilities and has been approved for sale to Israel.
In Paris on Friday, Mr. Kerry said that the United States and its Arab allies, which constitute the Gulf Cooperation Council, were “fleshing out a series of new commitments that will create between the U.S. and G.C.C. a new security understanding, a new set of security initiatives that will take us beyond anything that we have had before.”
The king is the latest top Arab official who will not be attending the summit meeting for delegations from members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The United Arab Emirates is also sending its crown prince to the meetings, the officials said. The Emirati president, Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, was never expected to attend because of health reasons, American and Arab officials said. Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman also will not be attending because of health reasons, officials said.
Yousef Al Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United States, declined to say exactly what his government was pushing for from the United States when he spoke at a conference in Washington on Thursday.
“The last thing I want to say is ‘here’s what we need,’ ” he said at a panel discussion sponsored by the Atlantic Council in Washington. “That’s not the right approach. The approach is, let’s come here, let’s figure out what the problems are, how we can work together to address our needs.”
King Salman’s decision to skip the summit meeting does not mean that the Saudis are giving up on the United States — they do not have many other options, said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “As upset as the Saudis are, they don’t really have a viable alternative strategic partnership in Moscow or Beijing,” Mr. Sadjadpour said.
But, he added, “there’s a growing perception at the White House that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are friends but not allies, while the U.S. and Iran are allies but not friends.”
Ben Hubbard contributed reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Peter Baker from Washington.
A version of this article appears in print on May 11, 2015, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Saudi King Plans to Skip Meetings in Washington.
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