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Robert F Kennedy’s assassin Sirhan denied parole in California

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Robert F Kennedy’s assassin Sirhan denied parole in California

California Governor Gavin Newsom has denied parole to Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian refugee serving a life sentence for assassinating US presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy in 1968.

Newsom made the announcement on Thursday after a California review board in August recommended Sirhan be released from prison, subject to review by the board’s legal staff and by the governor himself. He had previously been denied parole 15 times.

Outlining his decision in an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times, Newsom said he disagreed with the Board of Parole Hearings finding that the 77-year-old was suitable for parole.

“After carefully reviewing the case, including records in the California State Archives, I have determined that Sirhan has not developed the accountability and insight required to support his safe release into the community,” Newsom wrote.

Sirhan’s lawyer, Angela Berry, suggested in a statement that Newsom had bowed to political considerations in denying her client parole.

“While I appreciate that the release of Mr Sirhan presents Governor Newsom with a challenging political calculation, the legal decision for his release is clear and straight forward. We are confident that the judicial review of the governor’s decision will show that the governor got it wrong,” Berry said.

Sirhan was convicted of gunning down Kennedy, 42, in the kitchen pantry of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968.

The shooting occurred minutes after the US senator and former US attorney general gave his victory speech after winning the California Democratic primary. Kennedy died the next day. Kennedy’s older brother President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963.

Sirhan has said he had no recollection of the killing of Robert Kennedy, although he has also said he fired at Kennedy because he was enraged by his support for Israel.

After the parole board issued its recommendation, Kennedy’s widow, Ethel, 93, voiced her opposition to Sirhan’s release, saying “our family and our country suffered an unspeakable loss due to the inhumanity of one man”.

Six of Kennedy’s nine surviving children also said they were shocked by the recommendation and urged Newsom to reverse the parole board’s decision.

Newsom pointed to what he called Sirhan’s “shifting narrative” over the killing and his refusal to take responsibility for it as proof he was ineligible for release.

Newsom added the assassination was “among the most notorious crimes in American history”.

Some of Kennedy’s children and others have called for a reinvestigation of the killing, believing there was a second shooter who got away.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has spoken in favour of Sirhan’s release in the past, wrote in favour of paroling Sirhan.

He said he met Sirhan in prison and was moved after he “wept clinching my hands and asked for forgiveness”.

Sirhan was sentenced to death in 1969, but his sentence was commuted to life in prison after California banned the death penalty.

AL JAZEERA

Several dead as train derails in India’s West Bengal state

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Several dead as train derails in India’s West Bengal state

Rescuers have found four bodies overnight as they clear the 12 mangled coaches of a train that derailed in India’s West Bengal state, raising the death toll to nine, a railroad official said.

At least 45 people were injured in the accident on Thursday as the coaches went off the rails and three capsized, said Rajiv Jain, a railroad ministry spokesman.

The rescue work was completed and the track was being cleared to restore train services in the region, Jain said on Friday.

Images from the scene after the accident showed passengers stuck in twisted metal and debris as rescuers tried to pull them out.

The train was on its way to Guwahati in Assam state from Bikaner, a city in Rajasthan state, when the accident occurred in Jalpaiguri district.

All of the injured were being treated in a hospital, senior police officer Debarshi Dutta said.

Senior railway official Guneet Kaur said the cause of the accident was being investigated. She said the government would provide financial compensation to families of the deceased and all of the injured.

Accidents are common on India’s massive but ageing railway network.

Safety standards have been an ongoing concern on the state-run system, which operates 9,000 passenger trains and carries about 23 million passengers every day.

In 2016, 127 people were killed when 14 coaches derailed in Uttar Pradesh state in one of India’s worst train accidents.SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

China becomes a friend in need for Sri Lanka continuing economic assistance

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China becomes a friend in need for Sri Lanka continuing economic assistance

China has assured Sri Lanka continued economic assistance, hours after Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said that Sri Lanka is negotiating another loan from China.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that China and Sri Lanka have been showing each other mutual understanding and support, since the establishment of diplomatic ties.

“China has always been doing its utmost to provide help for Sri Lanka’s economic and social development and will continue to do so in the future,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said at a media briefing in Beijing.

His comments came in response to a question raised over Cabraal’s statement that Sri Lanka is negotiating another loan from China as part of attempts to restructure its debt repayment.

Cabraal said that the loan amount has not yet been decided. However; he said the matter is being discussed and Sri Lanka hopes to reach an agreement with China at the earliest.

“There is a possibility that we would have a new loan coming from China in order to cushion the effects of our debt repayments to China itself,” the Governor had said.

He emphasized that the new loan will be sought to cushion debt repayments to China.

The Governor also said that Sri Lanka is negotiating a USD 1 billion facility with India to import goods from India.

Cabraal said that this will also help Sri Lanka in its debt repayment and promote more trade with the respective countries. 

“The central bank governor noted  that Sri Lanka is also negotiating US$ 1 billion facility with India to import goods from the neighboring nation. 

It’s a kind of an arraignment that would encourage us as well as help us to make repayments to those countries and at the same time promote more trade between the two countries as well. 

He said that countries normally do that in the midst of changing circumstances in the economy and that’s the type of discussion they have had with China as well as India. 

He revealed that those talks are at reasonable levels of advanced negotiations and they are looking forward to seeing some breakthrough in those as well. 

The restrictions imposed on the import of vehicles and other non-essential items to Sri Lanka will only be lifted when there is an inflow of foreign exchange from other sources, he added. 

He asserted that other than vehicles, all the other non-essential items are being imported ‘heavily’. “What is the non-essential item that is not available? If you go to any supermarket, you would find that almost every conceivable type of goods is available,” he emphasized.  

He said that items which are available in any part of the world are imported to Sri Lanka as well and that they also in his view can sometimes be termed as non-essential, but those also are being imported. 

“And that’s causing a fairly heavy outflow of foreign exchange as well,” he said, adding that this can sometime disturb the overall importation as well because these items which are considered non-essential are flooding the market

National Digital Healthcare Blueprint devices for the benefit of Sri Lankans

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National Digital Healthcare Blueprint devices for the benefit of Sri Lankans

A National Digital Healthcare Blueprint is to be formulated to provide a higher quality of healthcare for citizens of Sri Lanka.

he National Digital Health Blueprint (NDHB) will be released by the government bringing in the National Digital Health Eco-system (NDHE) to guarantee the availability of healthcare services on large-scale.

It encapsulates the goals of NHP 2017 and aims to leapfrog to the digital age by providing a wide range of digital health services.

It will support the quality of healthcare, Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in an efficient, accessible, inclusive, affordable, timely and safe manner through the provision of a wide range of data, information, and infrastructure services.

The Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka announced that an agreement was signed between ICTA and the Ministry of Health (MoH) recently to formulate a National Digital Healthcare Blueprint.

The blueprint serves as a comprehensive roadmap with standards, policies, guidance, and specifications for implementation that will facilitate a higher quality of healthcare for citizens of Sri Lanka. 

The objective is to improve healthcare services to the overall population, control healthcare costs by promoting health maintenance, prevention, and care coordination. Thereby develop resilient and sustainable systems for quality healthcare in Sri Lanka.

Under this initiative, a Digital Healthcare architecture blueprint, operational interoperability plan, Leadership, governance, point of care services including community health information system, electronic medical records, lab systems, pharmacy, logistics management systems, including capacity development and technical assistance will be looked into in this holistic approach.

ICTA has been actively collaborating with the MoH for several key initiatives, including successful implementation of Medical Supplies Management Information System (MSMIS), Hospital Health Information Management System (HHIMS), and the software solutions implemented to combat COVID-19 pandemic. 

Over 5.7 million patients have benefited with quick and hassle-free access to healthcare services, efficient services delivery and dispensing of medicine in hospitals around the country including Kegalle, Wathupitawela, and Matara where the Hospital Health Information Management System (HHIMS) have been implemented.

The agreement was signed by Dr. S.H. Munasinghe, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Mr. Oshada Senanayake, Chairman, ICTA in the presence of Mr.Kanchana Thudugala, Chief Digital Government Officer ICTA, and Dr. Palitha Karunapema, Director – Health Information of MoH.

Measures will be taken to establish state-of-the-art digital health systems, for managing the core digital health data, and the infrastructure required for its smooth exchange.

·National and Regional Registries will be maintained to create Single Source of Truth in respect of Clinical Establishments, Healthcare Professionals, Health Workers and Pharmacies.

A system of Personal Health Records will be introduced, based on international standards that can be easily accessible to the citizens and to the healthcare professionals and services providers, based on citizen-consent.

·Measures will be taken to promote development of enterprise-class health application systems with a special focus on addressing the Sustainable Development Goals related to the health sector.

India extends USD 900 million to help Sri Lanka’s economic recovery and growth

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India extends USD 900 million to help Sri Lanka’s economic recovery and growth

India has extended over USD 900 million facilities to Sri Lanka in line with its strong commitment to stand with Sri Lanka for economic recovery and growth.

This includes deferment of Asian Clearing Union settlement of over USD 500 mn and currency swap of USD 400 mn.

India’s High Commissioner in Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay on Thursday met with Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Nivard Cabraal and expressed India’s support to the island nation.

The Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka provided the details in a series of tweets.

“High Commissioner met Gov @CBSL and expressed #India’s strong support to #SriLanka in the wake of @RBI extending over USD 900 mn facilities over the last week,” it stated.

“These comprise deferment of Asian Clearing Union settlement of over USD 500 mn and currency swap of USD 400 mn,” the tweet added.

“The Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka noted that these steps are in line with India’s strong commitment to stand with Sri Lanka for economic recovery and growth,” it further said.

Earlier this week, Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Cabraal had said that his country was negotiating a USD one billion loan from India to import goods from the country amidst a shortage of all essential commodities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the South Asian country hard, forcing the Government to last year declare an economic emergency, after a steep fall in the value of its currency taking inflation to a high level. 

Sri Lanka is staring at a loss of revenue from tourism, high government spending and tax cuts eroding state revenues, huge debt payments and foreign exchange reserves at their lowest level in a decade have added to the crisis.

India and Sri Lanka had last month, finalized a four-point package for economic cooperation that includes an extension of a line of credit to Sri Lanka cover and offer of a currency swap arrangement during Sri Lankan Finance Minister, Basil Rajapaksa’s visit to India, a statement by the Indian High Commission had said last month. 

During his visit on December 1-2, Sri Lankan Finance Minister Rajapaksa had briefed the Indian side of the economic situation in Sri Lanka and his Government’s approach to addressing post-covid challenges, it had informed. 

The Indian Ministers expressed India’s solidarity with Sri Lanka at this juncture, the statement had added. 

They reiterated that India has always stood by Sri Lanka and in the current situation would be guided by its Neighbourhood First policy, it had further stated.

INDIA NEWS NETWORK

Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s autobiography launched today at the BMICH

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Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s autobiography launched today at the BMICH

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga launched her autobiography today (14) at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH – Lotus Hall).

Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, the 43rd Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, delivered the keynote address at the book launch ceremony. This is the first time the former Chief Justice attended a public event since her retirement.

The lies of those who tried to lie to the people are being exposed one by one – Cardinal

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The lies of those who tried to lie to the people are being exposed one by one – Cardinal

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo says that despite the efforts of the rulers to erase the unfortunate fate of the Catholic people in this country from the history of Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019, that attempt will not be successful. The cardinal also said that the truth was being revealed day by day despite many attempts to log the Easter attack as an act of Muslim extremists.

The Archbishop said that the revelations behind the attack were becoming more and more revealed and that everyone should understand that the cover-up was an attempt to drown a rubber ball.

The Archbishop of Colombo made this statement at a special service held this morning at the Thevatta Lanka Apa Swami Du National Basilica to mark the 1000th day of the Easter attack. Relatives and friends of those killed and injured in the attacks on the Kochchikade and Katuwapitiya churches also attended the service.

The cardinal said that it was now clear that the attack was a conspiracy and that he had not only tried to prevent the attack knowingly, but had used it to achieve political gains. He added that efforts were being made to protect those responsible for the attack.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Thaipongal Day Message

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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Thaipongal Day Message

Prime Minister Boris Johnson wishes the UK Tamil community, and Tamils around the world a happy Thai Pongal.

Govt. is bankrupt – There is no plan to supply electricity (VIDEO)

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Govt. is bankrupt – There is no plan to supply electricity (VIDEO)

Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP Tissa Attanayake says that the power crisis itself is showing the bankruptcy of the government.

He said that a problem like electricity could not be solved on a daily basis and that it needed a long term program.

Attanayake pointed out that the power crisis was not due to a problem in the process but due to the inability of the government to supply the required fuel.

Accordingly, with the current situation, Sri Lanka will become the country facing the worst consequences by next April, he said.

Bandula introduces an Rs. 3998 worth relief bag

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Bandula introduces an Rs. 3998 worth relief bag

The Ministry of Trade has decided to sell a relief bag of 20 essential items including 10 kilos of Super Samba through the CWE outlet network. The Minister of Trade Bandula Gunawardena stated at a media briefing held today that this relief bag is being sold for Rs. 3998.

In addition to rice the bag contains, a kilo of white sugar, a kilo of red lentils, a kilo of string hopper flour, 500 grams of sprats, 400 grams of noodles, 400 grams of table salt, milk of 2 coconuts (330ml packet), 100 grams of chili powder, 100 grams of pepper, 100 grams of turmeric, 100 grams of STC tea, 80 grams of soap, one cube of Sathosa sandalwood soap, 100 ml of hand washing liquid, 90 grams of soyameat, one cube of Sathosa TFM rating ditergent soap, 1 packet of papadum and 10 surgical face masks. The Minister of Trade points out that if the goods are purchased from a supermarket, it will cost at least Rs. 5771 and the Sathosa customers will get an advantage of Rs. 1750.

The relief bags will be available for purchase through the Sathosa outlet network from today. The Minister said that a packet of liquid coconut milk prepared by a local entrepreneur and exported using the latest technology could also be included in the relief bag. Accordingly, milk of two coconuts (330 ml packets) will be issued to consumers at a concessionary price of Rs. 150 through the Lanka Sathosa outlet network.

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