Transparency Intl. ranks Sri Lanka high on defence corruption
Transparency Intern-ational yesterday put Sri Lanka among countries that scored low on promoting accountability in multi-million dollar defence transactions, releasing a first-time study on global defence corruption that evaluates 82 countries.
Sri Lanka is placed in Band E, among motley of nations including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Tunisia.
Though Sri Lanka scored low so did 70 per cent of the countries that were surveyed showing the seriousness of corruption in the defence sector.
Despite emerging from a three decade war in 2009, the study pointed out that Sri Lanka’s weapons procurement and payment policies remain opaque with few measures of transparency. It also pointed out that the country’s Executive power almost exclusively controlled the defence sector, including authorising payments that are not vetted by Parliament or other departments.
“In the field of personnel corruption risk, whistle-blowing is considered potentially treacherous. The President wields control over recruitment of personnel at the most senior levels, and there is a high risk of favouritism and politicisation in recruitment processes at other senior levels,” the report said.
Transparency International also emphasised that the problem of facilitation payments is reported to be widespread.
“In terms of competition in defence procurement, the principle of open competition is assessed to be likely to be undermined in practice, while tender boards or anti-collusion efforts are lacking in effectiveness. There is no transparency at all regarding control of agents or sub-contractors, or financing packages.”
In the field of finance corruption risk, the study says there is no transparency on asset disposals or on information classification, the latter having strong risk of being overly centralised following a history of Emergency Regulations. It also points out that there is no detail of money spent on secret items while the Financial Regulations of the Government enable ‘secret payments’. Meanwhile, the defence sector’s development of commercial business in the post-war has been extensive and faces negligible – if any – scrutiny.
The publication ranks 82 countries on their accountability. Together, they account for 94 per cent (US$ 1.6 trillion) of the global military expenditure in 2011.
http://www.ft.lk/2013/01/30/transparency-intl-ranks-sri-lanka-high-on-defence-corruption/
Monday, March 11, 2013
Why friends are important
Why friends are important
When we're young children, many of us seem to have little trouble making new friends. Kids tend to bond quickly but as we age friendships grow and develop differently. As adults, we tend to become more guarded with new people and have less time to devote to friendships. Consequently, most of us find it much harder to make new friends. If you've never experienced a close friendship, even as a child, you may find it even harder as an adult. But we all need and want good friends, even those of us who may sometimes pretend otherwise.
The need for friends is instinctual. Our survival once depended on having friends to hunt and find food with, to help us build shelter and keep our families safe, and for companionship. Today, good friends are just as important. They add a special meaning to life. They help you enjoy the good times and overcome the difficult ones. While strong relationships with friends can be a huge source of fun and pleasure, they are also important for your physical and emotional health.
Good friends can:
Improve your mood. Happiness can be infectious. Spending time with happy and positive friends can elevate your mood and boost your outlook.
Help you to reach your goals. Whether you're trying to get fit, give up smoking, or otherwise improve your life, encouragement from a friend can really boost your willpower and increase your chances of success.
Reduce your stress and depression. Having an active social life can bolster your immune system and help reduce isolation, a major contributing factor for depression.
Support you through tough times. Even if it's just having someone to share your problems with, friends can help you cope with serious illness, the loss of a job or loved one, the breakup of a relationship, or any other challenge in life.
Support you as you age. As you age, retirement, illness, and the death of loved ones can often leave you isolated. Having people you can turn to for company and support can provide a purpose as you age and be a buffer against depression, disability, hardship, and loss. Staying socially engaged as you age keeps you feeling positive and boosts your happiness.
Of course, friendship is a two-way street. Being a good friend to someone brings them all of the above benefits, and boosts your own happiness and sense of self-worth in the process. It also makes you feel needed and adds purpose to your life. While developing and maintaining a friendship takes time and effort, the many benefits of having a close friend make it a valuable investment.
Why you might need to make new friends
Commitments such as work, romantic relationships, and family may cause you to neglect existing friends or not prioritize social engagements. Or friendships may simply fade over time as interests and circumstances in your life change. Thus, one often has to make new friends throughout his or her life.
You may need to make new friends if:
You've recently moved to a new area.
You've retired, or changed or lost your job.
You've recently divorced or finished a long-term relationship.
You are an older adult and friends have died or moved away, or you've lost mobility and maintaining a social network has become more challenging.
You're shy or suffer from social anxiety and feel that it's impossible for you to meet new people and develop friendships.
You've rarely or never experienced close friendships before in your life and are unsure what to look for.
http://www.helpguide.org/life/how-find-friend.htm
When we're young children, many of us seem to have little trouble making new friends. Kids tend to bond quickly but as we age friendships grow and develop differently. As adults, we tend to become more guarded with new people and have less time to devote to friendships. Consequently, most of us find it much harder to make new friends. If you've never experienced a close friendship, even as a child, you may find it even harder as an adult. But we all need and want good friends, even those of us who may sometimes pretend otherwise.
The need for friends is instinctual. Our survival once depended on having friends to hunt and find food with, to help us build shelter and keep our families safe, and for companionship. Today, good friends are just as important. They add a special meaning to life. They help you enjoy the good times and overcome the difficult ones. While strong relationships with friends can be a huge source of fun and pleasure, they are also important for your physical and emotional health.
Good friends can:
Improve your mood. Happiness can be infectious. Spending time with happy and positive friends can elevate your mood and boost your outlook.
Help you to reach your goals. Whether you're trying to get fit, give up smoking, or otherwise improve your life, encouragement from a friend can really boost your willpower and increase your chances of success.
Reduce your stress and depression. Having an active social life can bolster your immune system and help reduce isolation, a major contributing factor for depression.
Support you through tough times. Even if it's just having someone to share your problems with, friends can help you cope with serious illness, the loss of a job or loved one, the breakup of a relationship, or any other challenge in life.
Support you as you age. As you age, retirement, illness, and the death of loved ones can often leave you isolated. Having people you can turn to for company and support can provide a purpose as you age and be a buffer against depression, disability, hardship, and loss. Staying socially engaged as you age keeps you feeling positive and boosts your happiness.
Of course, friendship is a two-way street. Being a good friend to someone brings them all of the above benefits, and boosts your own happiness and sense of self-worth in the process. It also makes you feel needed and adds purpose to your life. While developing and maintaining a friendship takes time and effort, the many benefits of having a close friend make it a valuable investment.
Why you might need to make new friends
Commitments such as work, romantic relationships, and family may cause you to neglect existing friends or not prioritize social engagements. Or friendships may simply fade over time as interests and circumstances in your life change. Thus, one often has to make new friends throughout his or her life.
You may need to make new friends if:
You've recently moved to a new area.
You've retired, or changed or lost your job.
You've recently divorced or finished a long-term relationship.
You are an older adult and friends have died or moved away, or you've lost mobility and maintaining a social network has become more challenging.
You're shy or suffer from social anxiety and feel that it's impossible for you to meet new people and develop friendships.
You've rarely or never experienced close friendships before in your life and are unsure what to look for.
http://www.helpguide.org/life/how-find-friend.htm
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Obama’s is the Worst Economic Recovery in History
Obama’s is the Worst Economic Recovery in History (Graph, GDP Data)
Posted by FactReal on February 16, 2013
The Scariest Climate Change Graph Just Got Scarier
The Scariest Climate Change Graph Just Got Scarier
| Thu Mar. 7, 2013 12:05 PM PST
Average global temperature over the last ~2,000 years. Note the massive uptick on the far right side. Courtesy Science/AAAS
Back in 1999, Penn State University climate scientist Michael Mann released the climate change movement's most potent symbol: The "hockey stick," a line graph of global temperature over the last 1,500 years that shows an unmistakable, massive uptick in the 20th century, when humans began to dump large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. It's among the most compelling bits of proof out there that human beings are behind global warming, and as such has become a target on Mann's back for climate denialists looking to draw a bead on scientists.
Today, it's getting a makeover: A study published in Science reconstructs global temperatures further back than ever before—a full 11,300 years. The new analysis finds that the only problem with Mann's hockey stick was that its handle was about 9,000 years too short. The rate of warming over the last 100 years hasn't been seen for as far back as the advent of agriculture.
Marcott's team used ocean records to reconstruct global climate further back in time than ever before. Courtesy Science/AAAS
To be clear, the study finds that temperatures in about a fifth of this historical period were higher than they are today. But the key, said lead author Shaun Marcott of Oregon State University, is that temperatures are shooting through the roof faster than we've ever seen.
"What we found is that temperatures increased in the last hundred years as much as they had cooled in the last six or seven thousand," he said. "In other words, the rate of change is much greater than anything we've seen in the whole Holocene," referring to the current geologic time period, which began around 11,500 years ago.
Previous historic climate reconstructions typically extended no further back than 2,000 years, roughly as far back as you can go by examining climate indicators from tree rings, as Mann did. To dig even deeper, Marcott's team looked at objects collected from more than 70 sites worldwide, primarily fossilized ocean shells that have been unearthed by oceanographers. Existing research has shown that certain chemical tracers in the shells link directly to temperature at the time they were created; by studying oxygen isotopes in the fossilized plankton shown below, for example, scientists can deduce that it formed its shell at a time when Greenland was fully without ice. Marcott's task was to compile enough such samples to represent the whole planet over his chosen timeframe.
"There's been a lot of work that's gone into the calibrations, so we can be dead certain [the shells] are recording the temperature we think they're recording," he said.
Today's study should help debunk the common climate change denial argument that recent warming is simply part of a long-term natural trend. Indeed, Marcott says, the Earth should be nearing the bottom of a several-thousand year cool-off (the end-point of the rainbow arc in (B) above), if natural factors like solar variability were the sole driving factors. Instead, temperatures are rising rapidly.
Fossilized ocean organisms like this plankton, the size of a grain of sand, keep a chemical snapshot of the climate at the time they first formed their calcium-carbonate shells. Courtesy Jennifer McKay, Oregon State
Mann himself, who literally wrote the bookon attacks on climate scientists, said in an email to Climate Desk that he was "certain that professional climate change deniers will attack the study and the authors, in an effort to discredit this important work," especially given the close ties between the two scientists' research. "It will therefore be looked at as a threat to vested interests who continue to deny that human-changed climate change is a reality."
Marcott admitted he was apprehensive about charging into the fully mobilized troll army, but said he was grateful scientists like Mann had "gone through hell" before him to build a support network for harassed climate scientists.
"When Michael came along there was a lot more skepticism about global warming, but the public has come a long way," he said. "I'm curious to see how the skeptics are going to take this paper."
Delhi rape accused found dead in prison
11 March 2013
Delhi rape accused found dead in prison A suspect in the abduction, rape and murder of a student in the Indian capital, Delhi, has been found dead in prison, his lawyer has confirmed. Senior police officers told news agencies that Ram Singh had hanged himself in Tihar jail, Delhi.
Ram Singh was one of five men being held in the case. They all deny the charges. The brutal attack on the student in December outraged India and triggered a debate about the treatment of women. A sixth suspect is being tried by a juvenile court.
Ram Singh's lawyer, VK Anand, told the BBC he was informed about his client's death by police. "This is shocking news. There were no circumstances to suggest that he would commit suicide. He was happy with the trial, it was going on smoothly," Mr Anand told the Times Now news channel. Tihar jail spokesman Sunil Gupta told the BBC that an inquiry had been ordered into the incident. He said Ram Singh's body would be taken for a post mortem examination later on Monday.
Mr Singh's death comes as a huge embarrassment for the authorities who are already under enormous pressure over the case, the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder reports from Delhi. The website of Indian news channel NDTV, quoting jail officials, said Ram Singh had hanged himself at around 05:00 local time on Monday (23:30 GMT Sunday). A lawyer representing the other accused in the case told the BBC that he had met Ram Singh on Friday during a court hearing and found him in a "happy state of mind".
"He looked happy. He had his dinner last night. Why should he commit suicide?" Vivek Sharma said. Ram Singh and the four other adult defendants - his brother Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur - have been on trial in a fast-track court. They face 13 charges, including murder, gang-rape, kidnapping and destruction of evidence.
If found guilty they face the death sentence. The maximum sentence the juvenile would face if convicted would be three years in a reform facility. The 23-year-old rape victim, who was not named for legal reasons, was with a male friend when she was attacked on a bus and thrown from the vehicle. She died in a Singapore hospital on 29 December from massive internal injuries.
Ram Singh was accused of being the driver of the bus. Tihar prison, which authorities claim is the largest in Asia, is India's most high-security prison. The 55-year-old jail houses more than 12,000 inmates although it has an official capacity of about 6,000. The complex includes nine separate prison facilities. Media reports quoting the chief of Tihar prison Vimla Mehra say there were 18 deaths in Tihar prison last year, of which two were cases of suicide.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21737748
Delhi rape accused found dead in prison A suspect in the abduction, rape and murder of a student in the Indian capital, Delhi, has been found dead in prison, his lawyer has confirmed. Senior police officers told news agencies that Ram Singh had hanged himself in Tihar jail, Delhi.
Ram Singh was one of five men being held in the case. They all deny the charges. The brutal attack on the student in December outraged India and triggered a debate about the treatment of women. A sixth suspect is being tried by a juvenile court.
Ram Singh's lawyer, VK Anand, told the BBC he was informed about his client's death by police. "This is shocking news. There were no circumstances to suggest that he would commit suicide. He was happy with the trial, it was going on smoothly," Mr Anand told the Times Now news channel. Tihar jail spokesman Sunil Gupta told the BBC that an inquiry had been ordered into the incident. He said Ram Singh's body would be taken for a post mortem examination later on Monday.
Mr Singh's death comes as a huge embarrassment for the authorities who are already under enormous pressure over the case, the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder reports from Delhi. The website of Indian news channel NDTV, quoting jail officials, said Ram Singh had hanged himself at around 05:00 local time on Monday (23:30 GMT Sunday). A lawyer representing the other accused in the case told the BBC that he had met Ram Singh on Friday during a court hearing and found him in a "happy state of mind".
"He looked happy. He had his dinner last night. Why should he commit suicide?" Vivek Sharma said. Ram Singh and the four other adult defendants - his brother Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur - have been on trial in a fast-track court. They face 13 charges, including murder, gang-rape, kidnapping and destruction of evidence.
If found guilty they face the death sentence. The maximum sentence the juvenile would face if convicted would be three years in a reform facility. The 23-year-old rape victim, who was not named for legal reasons, was with a male friend when she was attacked on a bus and thrown from the vehicle. She died in a Singapore hospital on 29 December from massive internal injuries.
Ram Singh was accused of being the driver of the bus. Tihar prison, which authorities claim is the largest in Asia, is India's most high-security prison. The 55-year-old jail houses more than 12,000 inmates although it has an official capacity of about 6,000. The complex includes nine separate prison facilities. Media reports quoting the chief of Tihar prison Vimla Mehra say there were 18 deaths in Tihar prison last year, of which two were cases of suicide.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21737748
Mexico ex-mayor killed after surviving two attacks
Mexico ex-mayor killed after surviving two attacks
The former mayor of a town in western Mexico, who had survived two earlier assassination attempts, has been beaten to death.
The body of Maria Santos Gorrostieta, 36, was found in a ditch with a blow to the head three days after her family had reported her missing. When she was mayor of the town of Tiquicheo she was twice shot at by gunmen, who also killed her husband. Mexican officials have increasingly become targets of drug cartels.
There have been calls for the federal government to do more to step up their security. 'Clear conscience' Ms Gorrostieta was the mayor of Tiquicheo, in western Michoacan state, from 2008 until 2011.
Unidentified gunmen ambushed her in October 2009 as she was travelling in a car with her husband Jose Sanchez. Mr Sanchez died of gunshot wounds sustained during the attack.
Three months later Ms Gorrostieta was seriously injured in a second ambush. After being released from hospital following the second attack on her life, she said she did not know why she was being targeted. "I have a clear conscience, I have never had any issues of any kind, be it money, family or crime related, and I have never had any fights with any neighbours or residents of my town, or any other town," she said. She also published pictures of the scars she had sustained in the two attacks in her local newspaper with a message thanking her family and supporters and vowing to "continue fighting, true to my ideals and my convictions, convinced that the truth will make us free".
About two dozen mayors have been murdered since President Felipe Calderon declared war on drug traffickers six years ago. While police say the motives behind the killings are not always clear, most attacks on local officials have happened in small and medium-sized towns in regions disputed by rival drug gangs.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20381395
The body of Maria Santos Gorrostieta, 36, was found in a ditch with a blow to the head three days after her family had reported her missing. When she was mayor of the town of Tiquicheo she was twice shot at by gunmen, who also killed her husband. Mexican officials have increasingly become targets of drug cartels.
There have been calls for the federal government to do more to step up their security. 'Clear conscience' Ms Gorrostieta was the mayor of Tiquicheo, in western Michoacan state, from 2008 until 2011.
Unidentified gunmen ambushed her in October 2009 as she was travelling in a car with her husband Jose Sanchez. Mr Sanchez died of gunshot wounds sustained during the attack.
Three months later Ms Gorrostieta was seriously injured in a second ambush. After being released from hospital following the second attack on her life, she said she did not know why she was being targeted. "I have a clear conscience, I have never had any issues of any kind, be it money, family or crime related, and I have never had any fights with any neighbours or residents of my town, or any other town," she said. She also published pictures of the scars she had sustained in the two attacks in her local newspaper with a message thanking her family and supporters and vowing to "continue fighting, true to my ideals and my convictions, convinced that the truth will make us free".
About two dozen mayors have been murdered since President Felipe Calderon declared war on drug traffickers six years ago. While police say the motives behind the killings are not always clear, most attacks on local officials have happened in small and medium-sized towns in regions disputed by rival drug gangs.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20381395
Maria Santos Gorrostieta Dead: Former Mexico Mayor Found Tortured, Murdered In Michoacan
Maria Santos Gorrostieta Dead: Former Mexico Mayor Found Tortured, Murdered In Michoacan
Posted: 11/26/201
Earlier this month, Maria Santos Gorrostieta, a former small-town mayor in the drug-trafficking western state of Michoacan in Mexico, was reportedly kidnapped in broad daylight in front of her young daughter. A few days later, her body was found by the side of a road in the southern part of the state. It is believed that the woman was tortured before she was killed, the Los Angeles Times reports.
orrostieta had previously survived two assassination attempts, the LA times adds. The first, in 2009, had claimed the life of her husband, Jose Sanchez, another former mayor of the town; while the second, three months later, had left her badly wounded. The newspaper continues: Gorrostieta had been mayor of Tiquicheo, a remote town in the so-called hotlands of Michoacan, farmland firmly under the thumb of drug-trafficking cartels.
She had denounced traffickers; she also had to confront accusations that her late husband was involved in criminal business. Gorrostieta, whose mayoral term ended in 2011, reportedly knew that her life was constantly in danger. Yet, even after her husband was murdered and the second attempt on her life left her riddled with bullets and "in constant pain," Gorrostieta refused to give in, the Christian Post notes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/26/maria-santos-gorrostieta-dead-mexico-mayor-tortured-killed_n_2193219.html
According to the BBC, Gorrostieta had published photographs in her local newspaper of the scars she had sustained in the two assassination attempts with a message promising to "continue fighting, true to my ideals and my convictions, convinced that the truth will make us free."
(Credit: YouTube/Grillonautas2) "I have had to bear losses that I would not wish on anyone, and have had to accept them with resignation and with the knowledge that it is our Lord's will, and have gone on, even with a wounded soul," she once said, according to the Christian Post.
"Despite that, and despite my own safety and that of my family, what occupies my mind is my responsibility towards my people: the children, the women, the elderly and the men who break their souls every day without rest to find a piece of bread for their children," she continued. "I will get up however many times God allows me to, to keep on searching, scratching, negotiating plans, projects and actions for the benefit of all of society, but in particular, for the vulnerable ones. This is who I am." Hailed by some as the "heroine of Mexico,"
Gorrostieta was reportedly abducted on Nov. 12. The Daily Mail, citing Mexican newspaper El Universal, reports that the 36-year-old was "ambushed by a car" as she was driving her daughter to school in the city of Morelia, located in the north central part of the state of Michoacan. She was allegedly "hauled from her vehicle and physically assaulted as horrified witnesses watched," the news website reports. She is also said to have "begged for her child to be left alone" before entering her abductors' car "willingly." The woman's body was finally found later that week in another part of the state.
Spanish international news agency EFE writes: According to local media, Gorrostieta had suffered wounds on her knees and two apparently fatal blows to the back of the neck. She also bore marks indicating she had been handcuffed. Authorities did not indicate any possible suspects in the homicide, but said it was likely the work of organized crime.
Michoacan's forests and mountains are "used by drug traffickers to grow marijuana and produce synthetic drugs," according to EFE. Several drug gangs, including the prominent La Familia Michoacana, have been active in the region. According to the BBC, about "two dozen mayors have been murdered since President Felipe Calderon declared war on drug traffickers six years ago."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=w5avRfAfpCk
Posted: 11/26/201
Earlier this month, Maria Santos Gorrostieta, a former small-town mayor in the drug-trafficking western state of Michoacan in Mexico, was reportedly kidnapped in broad daylight in front of her young daughter. A few days later, her body was found by the side of a road in the southern part of the state. It is believed that the woman was tortured before she was killed, the Los Angeles Times reports.
orrostieta had previously survived two assassination attempts, the LA times adds. The first, in 2009, had claimed the life of her husband, Jose Sanchez, another former mayor of the town; while the second, three months later, had left her badly wounded. The newspaper continues: Gorrostieta had been mayor of Tiquicheo, a remote town in the so-called hotlands of Michoacan, farmland firmly under the thumb of drug-trafficking cartels.
She had denounced traffickers; she also had to confront accusations that her late husband was involved in criminal business. Gorrostieta, whose mayoral term ended in 2011, reportedly knew that her life was constantly in danger. Yet, even after her husband was murdered and the second attempt on her life left her riddled with bullets and "in constant pain," Gorrostieta refused to give in, the Christian Post notes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/26/maria-santos-gorrostieta-dead-mexico-mayor-tortured-killed_n_2193219.htmlAccording to the BBC, Gorrostieta had published photographs in her local newspaper of the scars she had sustained in the two assassination attempts with a message promising to "continue fighting, true to my ideals and my convictions, convinced that the truth will make us free."
(Credit: YouTube/Grillonautas2) "I have had to bear losses that I would not wish on anyone, and have had to accept them with resignation and with the knowledge that it is our Lord's will, and have gone on, even with a wounded soul," she once said, according to the Christian Post.
"Despite that, and despite my own safety and that of my family, what occupies my mind is my responsibility towards my people: the children, the women, the elderly and the men who break their souls every day without rest to find a piece of bread for their children," she continued. "I will get up however many times God allows me to, to keep on searching, scratching, negotiating plans, projects and actions for the benefit of all of society, but in particular, for the vulnerable ones. This is who I am." Hailed by some as the "heroine of Mexico,"
Gorrostieta was reportedly abducted on Nov. 12. The Daily Mail, citing Mexican newspaper El Universal, reports that the 36-year-old was "ambushed by a car" as she was driving her daughter to school in the city of Morelia, located in the north central part of the state of Michoacan. She was allegedly "hauled from her vehicle and physically assaulted as horrified witnesses watched," the news website reports. She is also said to have "begged for her child to be left alone" before entering her abductors' car "willingly." The woman's body was finally found later that week in another part of the state.
Spanish international news agency EFE writes: According to local media, Gorrostieta had suffered wounds on her knees and two apparently fatal blows to the back of the neck. She also bore marks indicating she had been handcuffed. Authorities did not indicate any possible suspects in the homicide, but said it was likely the work of organized crime.
Michoacan's forests and mountains are "used by drug traffickers to grow marijuana and produce synthetic drugs," according to EFE. Several drug gangs, including the prominent La Familia Michoacana, have been active in the region. According to the BBC, about "two dozen mayors have been murdered since President Felipe Calderon declared war on drug traffickers six years ago."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=w5avRfAfpCk
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