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  • Anti-terrorism Bill will be changed
    The highly controversial Antiterrorism Bill is subject to amendments and changes in Parliament and as such no one should have any fear or feeling of threat from the proposed Bill, Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said. The government is aware of concerns raised by the global and local community on certain provisions contained in the draft of the Anti-terrorism Bill and the Government is ready to alleviate them by discussion, compromise and flexibility, he added. Addressing a news conference at the Information Department auditorium, Minister Rajapakshe said the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) passed in 1979 under President J.R. Jayewardene’s rule as a temporary measure to counter the emerging separatist insurgency. The PTA has been misused and exploited by successive Governments since then for their personal and political...
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  • WhatsApp adds option to use the same account on multiple phones
    WhatsApp users are no longer restricted to using their account on just a single phone. Today, the Meta-owned messaging service is announcing that its multi-device feature — which previously allowed you to access and send messages from additional Android tablets, browsers, or computers alongside your primary phone — is expanding to support additional smartphones. “One WhatsApp account, now across multiple phones” is how the service describes the feature, which it says is rolling out to everyone in the coming weeks.
    Setting up a secondary phone to use with your WhatsApp account happens after doing a fresh install of the app. Except, rather than entering your phone number during setup and logging in as usual, you instead tap a new “link to existing account” option. This will generate a QR...
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  • CBK commends Dr. Shafi’s noble gesture of donating past salary to buy essential medicine
    Falsely accused by racist elements for alleged illegal sterilisation, Kurunegala Teaching Hospital doctor says racism will not take country or organisation forward except make poor people suffer more; calls on all to make Sri Lanka racism-free   Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has commended Dr. Mohamed Shafi Shihabdeen over his gesture of donating the past salaries amounting to Rs. 2.6 million during his suspension and imprisonment on false charges to buy essential medicines. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga

    Dr. Mohamed Shafi Shihabdeen



    Following...
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  • Dr. Shafi donates arrears of his salary to purchase medicines for hospitals
    Dr. Shihabdeen Mohamed Shafi, the doctor at the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital has decided to donate arrears of his salary amounting over Rs. 2.67 million for the purchase of essential medicines for hospitals.

    Dr. Shafi who was on compulsory leave on charges of performing infertility surgery, has received a cheque of over Rs. 2.67 million salary arrears from the Health Ministry last week.

    The salary arrears include the basic salary, interim allowance, cost of living, and allowance in lieu of pension for the period of compulsory leave imposed on Dr. Sihabdeen.

    Dr. Shafi who was employed at the Kurunegala teaching hospital was arrested on May 25th, 2019, on charges of performing infertility surgery.
    On July 25, 2019, the Kurunegala Magistrate’s Court ordered that the doctor be released on bail.
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  • Govt. used Sinhala-Buddhist shield to its maximum benefit Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thera
    This Govt. nurtured thug-like monks promoted them and deployed them in various  places Certain monks have severe psychological wounds If  society isn’t healed cases of domestic violence, harassment and child  abuse will be on the rise Reconciliation  was about having workshops, providing a report and earning dollars Accountability  has not been included in the Constitution or the Judicial system Terrorism  sprouts in a country that has no justice Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thera who currently heads the Walpola Rahula Institute for Buddhist Studies has been addressing issues related to social justice and harmony while promoting an inclusive and plural society. Having gathered a wealth of experience during the height of war for instance and having encountered various incidents during his lifetime, Ven. Dhammananda Thera has...
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  • Health ministry to pay back-wages for Dr. Shafi before July 10
    The Ministry of Health today gave an undertaking before the Court of Appeal that the salary and allowances payable to Dr. Shafi  Shihabdeen will be paid before July 10 this year. The Ministry of Health gave this undertaking pursuant to a writ petition filed by Dr. Shafi  Shihabdeen, who was at the centre of the controversy surrounding the alleged sterilisation of female patients. The Director General of Establishment at the Ministry of Public Services had earlier informed the Court that the basic salary, interim allowance, cost of living and allowance in lieu of pension could be paid to Dr. Shafi Shihabdeen, for the compulsory leave period. Meanwhile, the petitioner expressed willingness to attend the preliminary inquiry before Director of Kurunegala Teaching Hospital Dr. Chandana Kendangamuwa. Taking into consideration the facts,...
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  • Sri Lanka court orders release of lawyer held for two years
    A Sri Lankan court has ordered the release on bail of a lawyer arrested over his alleged links to the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings and held for nearly two years on charges rights groups say lacked credible evidence. Hejaaz Hizbullah was arrested in April 2020 and accused of being linked to the attacks on churches and hotels that left 279 people dead. But after prosecutors failed to provide evidence of his involvement in the attacks, blamed on a local group, he was instead Read More...
  • Hejaaz Hizbullah leaves from remand custody
    Attorney-at-law Hejaaz Hizbullah today left from remand custody after fulfilling his bail conditions before Puttlalam High Court.

    He was incarcerated for 22 months for allegedly committing offences come under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.Last Monday (07), the Court of Appeal ordered to release Hizbullah on bail pursuant to a revision application filed on behalf him.Hizbullah was ordered to be released on a cash bail of Rs.100,000 with two sureties of Rs.500,000 by Puttlalam High Court Judge Kumari Abeyratne. He was further ordered to report to the DIG office of Puttalam Police Division every second and fourth Sunday of every month.An indictment under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act has now been served on Hejaaz Hizbullah. According to the indictment, Hizbullah...
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  • හිජාස් ගෙදර යයි

    (නිමන්ති රණසිංහ සහ හිරාන් ප්‍රියංකර ජයසිංහ) ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැළැක්වීමේ පනත සහ සිවිල් හා දේශපාලන අයිතීන් පිළිබද ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්මුති පනත ප්‍රකාරව චෝදනා ලැබ වසර දෙකකට ආසන්න කාලයක් රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාර ගත කර සිටි නිතීඥ හිජාස් හිස්බුල්ලා මහතා අභියාචනාධිකරණ නියෝගය ප්‍රකාරව ඇප මත මුදාහැරීමට පුත්තලම මහාධිකරණය අද (09)...
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  • Court of Appeal grants bail on Hejaaz Hizbullah
    The Court of Appeal today ordered to release Attorney-at-law Hejaaz Hizbullah on bail after nearly two years in detention and remand custody. Accordingly, the Court of Appeal directed the Puttalam High Court to release Hejaaz Hizbullah on bail with suitable bail conditions. The Court of Appeal two-judge-bench comprising Justice Menaka Wijesundera and Justice Neil Iddawala made this order taking into consideration a revision application filed on behalf of Hejaaz Hizbullah. The Attorney General did not raise objections to release Hizbullah on bail. On January 28, an application made by the defence requesting to release Attorney-at-law Hejaaz Hizbullah on bail was rejected by Puttalam High Court.   The High Court Judge Kumari Abeyrathne refused to grant bail citing that she has no jurisdiction to grant bail under the Prevention of Terrorism...
    Read More...
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Netanyahu: Israel will 'continue to act in full scale' against Hamas

Palestine related News & Articles

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By Laura Smith-Spark, Mariano Castillo and Salma Abdelaziz, CNN
August 2, 2014 -- Updated 1944 GMT (0344 HKT)

Gaza City (CNN) -- The bloodshed in Gaza showed no sign of letting up Saturday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to "continue to act in full scale" against Hamas until all militant tunnels are destroyed.

In the past day, 50 Palestinians have breen reported killed amid renewed Israeli shelling that followed accusations that Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier.

The fate of the soldier, identified by the Israel Defense Forces as 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin, remains unclear.

Netanyahu told reporters in Tel Aviv Saturday that Israeli troops "managed to hurt severely" the capability of Hamas during the Gaza operation.

"Israel will do everything to bring our kidnapped soldier home," he said, offering his condolences to the families of Israeli soldiers killed during the incursion.

Netanyahu said Israeli forces will "continue to act in full scale" against Hamas in order to restore "quiet, peace and calm" to Israel.

His remarks came as each side continued to blame the other for the collapse of an attempted cease-fire in Friday, which disintegrated before it ever really took hold.

Who violated the cease-fire agreement?
Obama condemns cease-fire violation
Israel-Hamas cease-fire collapses

Pointing the finger at Hamas and its militant allies for the attack, in which Goldin went missing and two other soldiers were killed, Israel resumed shelling on what it has described as militant strongholds in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to deliver a statement on Israeli operations in Gaza at 9 p.m. Saturday (2 p.m. ET) from Tel Aviv, according to his office.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal told CNN's Nic Robertson Saturday that the group had rejected a proposed cease-fire outright because of Israel's continued presence and destruction of tunnels in Gaza. "A truce is a truce, but the presence of the Israeli forces inside Gaza and destroying the tunnels means it's an aggression," he said.

"The Palestinian resistance has the right to self-defense and the right to deal with the invading Israeli forces who are inside our Gaza territories," Meshaal said in an exclusive interview from Doha, Qatar. He added that Hamas expressed its position to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry via Qatar's Foreign Minister.

"We did not deceive Mr. John Kerry, and we did not deceive the Israelis, we fight honorably," he said. "We told everyone that this is our position. ... Therefore they are the ones who should be responsible for this."

As of Saturday, the overall Palestinian death toll has risen to 1,650, with more than 8,900 wounded, said Dr. Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman for the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, on his Facebook page.

The IDF said Saturday morning that it had hit 200 "terror targets" in Gaza in the past 24 hours, including "tunnels, weapon manufacturing and storage facilities, and command and control centers."

A huge predawn blast rocked Gaza as the Islamic University was apparently hit by Israeli shelling. According to the IDF, it was targeting "a Hamas military wing facility" involved in weapons development within the building.

In addition, Israeli aircraft targeted a missile launcher used to fire at Tel Aviv early Saturday, the IDF said.

The missing soldier

By late Friday, there was no claim of responsibility for the capture of the missing soldier.

But speculation about his fate took a turn after the armed wing of Hamas, the al Qassam Brigades, announced it had lost contact with a group of its fighters in the Rafah area -- the same area where Goldin, age 23, was reportedly taken.

This undated photo shows Israeli Army 2nd. Lt. Hadar Goldin, 23 from Kfar Saba, Israel.
This undated photo shows Israeli Army 2nd. Lt. Hadar Goldin, 23 from Kfar Saba, Israel.
Life in Gaza after cease-fire collapse
Fiery debate over Israel, Hamas comments

In a statement posted on its website, the militant group says it assumes that all of the fighters were killed in an Israeli airstrike, including possibly a soldier that Israel claims was captured. The statement stopped short of definitively saying the soldier was captured, using the phrasing "assuming he was captured by the fighters."

The group "has no information till this moment about the missing soldier, his place, or the circumstances of his disappearance," it added.

Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan denied any capture happened.

"It's clear that the capture of the soldier is an Israeli story; there's nothing from the resistance saying there was a capture," he told CNN.

Cease-fire initiative

As the conflict continued Saturday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that an Egyptian cease-fire initiative -- involving negotiators from the Israeli and Palestinian sides -- was a "real chance" to stop the bloodshed and the best way to get help into Gaza and launch talks.

An Egyptian proposal put forward last month was accepted by Israel but rejected by Hamas.

An official Palestinian delegation is en route to Cairo to attend the negotiations, Hanan Ashrawi, executive committee member of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the West Bank, told CNN's "New Day." It's made up of five PLO members, five from Hamas and two from Islamic Jihad, another militant group in Gaza.

"We're hoping that they will be able to negotiate not just an end to this latest tragic bloodshed and to save lives and end this carnage, but also to try to dismantle all the causes that have brought about such a horrific situation," she said.

According to Israeli media reports, Israel will not send a delegation to Cairo.

'Bombing is constant'

Israel's shelling appeared focused Saturday on southern Gaza, where the hunt for the missing soldier is on.

"The bombing is constant in Khan Yunis, it does not stop," said Ata Abu Rezq, a father of eight in the city, around 10 miles from Rafah in southern Gaza.

"I hear explosions in Rafah, I see smoke and fire from the places being bombed by Israel," he said.

The family has had no electricity for at least 36 hours and is relying on a generator for power, he said. "When it runs out ... we will have to see what happens," he said. "We use gas to cook. When we run out of gas we will really be in trouble."

Meanwhile, the IDF sent text messages to residents Saturday saying they may now return to the Beit Lahiya area, near Gaza's northern border with Israel. Residents are "advised to beware of explosive devices Hamas has spread across the area," it said.

It's unclear how many residents would have received the message given ongoing power outages and the poor state of telecoms inside Gaza.

But it could mean that Israel's operations in northern Gaza are winding down.

CNN teams in Gaza City said there appeared to be a lull in military activities there too and reported signs that Israeli tanks were repositioning. However, Hamas rocket fire was still continuing.

Short-lived ceasefire

The planned 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire appeared to erode after about 90 minutes Friday in Rafah, with the attack on Israeli soldiers.

The soldiers were working to destroy a tunnel when a militant emerged and detonated a suicide bomb, Israeli military Lt. Col. Peter Lerner told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

Before the cease-fire plan was announced, Netanyahu had said Israeli troops would continue destroying Hamas' network of tunnels that run under the border into Israel with or without a truce.

Peres: 'What can we do?'
16-year-old describes life in Gaza
Hamas explained
Israel looking for captured soldier

Hamdan, the Hamas spokesman, said Friday, after the cease-fire crumbled, that this part of the truce was not communicated to his group -- that Hamas' understanding was that there would be no military activity at all. His comments appeared to contradict Meshaal's statement that the truce had been rejected outright.

A U.N. spokesman said it was very clear Israeli would continue destroying the tunnels.

"Perhaps some will deny that now," said Jeffery Feltman, undersecretary-general for public affairs. "But, yes, it was very clear in the diplomacy being done yesterday (Thursday). ... The Israelis never ceased saying that."

Around the time of the suicide bombing, Palestinian sources told CNN they could hear shelling in the area. The Gaza Health Ministry said an Israeli attack on Rafah killed at least 62 people and wounded 350.

A Gaza staff member for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency was killed Friday in an air strike in Rafah, UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said via Twitter Saturday.

The staff member, who was not named, was also a school attendant, according to Gunness. Nine U.N. staff members in Gaza have been killed since the conflict began last month.

A Hamas spokesman said Israel broke the cease-fire before and after the hiatus by advancing its forces near civilian areas in Rafah and by occupying civilian homes to use as sniper positions.

The al Qassam Brigades said the clash with Israeli soldiers in which Goldin disappeared occurred before the cease-fire took effect.

The Israel Defense Forces countered that its troops in Rafah were attacked in a "brutal incident" that required them to defend themselves. At the same time, rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel, Mark Regev, spokesman for Israel's Prime Minister, told CNN.

What is Hamas' endgame in Gaza?

What is Israel's endgame in Gaza?

Inside a Hamas tunnel

Opinion: Gaza peace struggle drains me of hope

What You Need to Know About the Israel-Hamas Blame Game

CNN's Mariano Castillo and Laura Smith-Spark reported and wrote the story in Atlanta and London. CNN's Karl Penhaul, John Vause and Salma Abdelaziz contributed from Gaza City, and Tal Heinrich and Phil O'Sullivan from Jerusalem. CNN's Kareem Khadder and Samira Said also contributed.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/02/world/meast/mideast-crisis/index.html?hpt=imi_c1

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