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Archives for November 2014

U.S Ebola Response Coordinator Ron Klain: Ebola as a weapon 'unlikely'

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White House Ebola czar Ron Klain says the United States has ramped up its training and equipment to handle U.S. patients.

White House Ebola czar Ron Klain says the United States has ramped up its training and equipment to handle U.S. patients.

by Eric Bradner, CNN

Washington: White House Ebola czar Ron Klain on Tuesday downplayed the chances of Ebola being used as a biological weapon after a scare in New Zealand.

Klain said he was briefed Tuesday after a small vial supposedly sent by jihadis and containing Ebola was sent to the offices of the New Zealand Herald newspaper. The newspaper sent the vial to Australia for testing.

“Based on our best information, I think the odds are high that this turns out to be a hoax,” Klain said on CNN’s “The Lead” with Jake Tapper.

He said U.S. officials are “always watching intelligence traffic and other indicators” to see if terror groups are using Ebola or other diseases as biological weapons, but that “we’re not aware of any credible threat” and that the odds of that happening are low.

Klain touted the overall U.S. response to Ebola cases here and to the outbreak in West Africa, saying health officials have “tried to learn the lessons from Dallas,” where the first case was diagnosed in the United States, by increasing training, preparation and protective gear at health facilities nationwide.

“What we’ve shown now is that we can successfully identify and isolate an Ebola patient, we can make sure he doesn’t infect other people, we can treat him, and we can send him home safely,” he said.

When President Barack Obama tapped Klain as his Ebola response coordinator, Republican lawmakers howled that the long-time political operative — Klain served as Vice President Joe Biden’s chief of staff and helped Obama with debate preparation during his re-election campaign — isn’t a medical professional.

But Klain told Tapper on Tuesday that he isn’t serving in a role that requires a medical background.

“My role isn’t to give medical advice, it’s to coordinate this massive response that President Obama has marshaled here at home and in Africa,” Klain said.

Israeli army issues arrest warrant against a 2 year old child

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Hamza Hatem Zeidani - Silwanic

Hamza Hatem Zeidani – Silwanic

by Saed Bannoura, IMEMC & Agencies

The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan (Silwanic), in occupied East Jerusalem, has reported that the Israeli army issued an arrest warrant against a two-year-old child, and that the army told the family he is “wanted” for questioning by the security forces.

The family said that an Israeli security officer, accompanied by several soldiers, stormed their home, and told them they have an arrest warrant for their child, Hamza Hatem Zeidani, and that they asked the soldiers, whether they realize they are after a 2-year-old child.

The soldiers actually confirmed they are coming after the child, and the family told them he lives in the house next door, but the soldiers did not go there to arrest him.

Earlier on Wednesday, the soldiers kidnapped four Palestinians from Silwan and the Suwwana neighborhood, after searching and ransacking their home.

Silwanic said the soldiers kidnapped Ra’ed Ra’fat Abu Gharbiyya, 17, Ahmad Mansour Abu Gharbiyya, 17, from Suwwana neighborhood, and Mohammad Ziad Zeidani, 16, and Kayed Yahia Rajabi, 19, from the al-Bustan neighborhood.

Members of the Zeidani family said the soldiers confiscated three computers from their home when they kidnapped their son Mohammad.

UNHCR: 13.6 million displaced by conflict in Iraq and Syria

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Syrian Kurdish refugees try to get warm around a fire at a refugee camp in the town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province, on November 7, 2014. AFP / Aris Messinis

Syrian Kurdish refugees try to get warm around a fire at a refugee camp in the town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province, on November 7, 2014. AFP / Aris Messinis

by Al-Akhbar

About 13.6 million people, equivalent to the population of London, have been displaced by conflicts in Syria and Iraq, many without food or shelter as winter starts, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.

“The whole humanitarian community is facing shortfalls. People are becoming numb,” said Amin Awad, who heads UNHCR’s Middle East and North Africa bureau.

“Now when we talk about a million people displaced over two months, or 500,000 overnight, the world is just not responding,” he told reporters in Geneva.

The 13.6 million include 7.2 million displaced within Syria – an increase from a long-held UN estimate of 6.5 million, as well as 3.3 million Syrian refugees abroad, 1.9 million displaced in Iraq and 190,000 who have left to seek safety.

The vast majority of Syrian refugees have gone to Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey, countries which Awad said “are putting us all to shame” with their support for homeless Syrian families.

“Other countries in the world, especially the Europeans and beyond, should open their borders and share the burden.”

UNHCR says it is short of $58.5 million in donations to prepare 990,000 people for winter, money that would cover basic supplies such as plastic sheeting and warm clothing.

Awad said Russia and China, both in the UN Security Council, came in bottom of a list of top donors and should contribute more.

“Politically they cannot really be indifferent, therefore humanitarian is an imperative and it has to be put first and foremost if there is no (political) settlement … They need to contribute one way or the other, like the others do,” he said.

Lack of funds

The UN refugee agency said Tuesday it had been forced to slash the number of people it can help prepare for winter in conflict-ravaged Syria and Iraq for lack of funds.

Awad lamented that his agency was forced to make “tough choices.”

The agency said it was facing a shortfall of $58 million (47 million euros) for its efforts to prepare millions of displaced people in Syria and Iraq for winter.

As a result, as many as one million displaced people desperate for blankets, kerosene, warm clothes and other items needed to keep warm and dry may have to go without assistance, it warned.

“I wish we could support everybody, and I wish that we could keep everybody warm,” Amin told reporters in Geneva, adding however that “the world is not responding.”

“Many fled with nothing,” UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters.

With winter already on the doorstep, and temperatures falling as low as minus 16 degrees Celsius in some parts of Syria and Iraq, UNHCR has already invested $154 million in winter aid for the devastated countries.

But because of the funding shortfall, it has been forced to revise down the number of people it can help.

The agency had planned to help 1.4 million people in Syria and 600,000 people in Iraq, but now expects to reach only 620,000 in Syria and 240,000 in Iraq.

As a result, UNHCR said it was being forced to make “some very tough choices over who to prioritize.”

“The needs are massive but funding has not kept up apace with the new displacement,” Fleming said.

Those at higher, colder altitudes, as well as vulnerable people such as the sick, the elderly and newborns, are first in line for aid, Amin said.

He noted that 11 young children froze to death in Syria last year.

“The same can happen this year with children, elderly and frail persons,” he warned.

(Reuters, AFP)

Asaduddin Owaisi stresses on political empowerment of Muslims, says vote bank myth dead

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Asaduddin Owaisi

Hyderabad/INN: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday stressed the need for increase in political representation of Muslim community in the elected bodies across the country.

Speaking in the ‘Meet the press’ programme organised by the Telangana Union of Working Journalists  (TUWJ) at Basheerbagh Press Club here, Asaduddin Owaisi said that the community’s development depends on its representation in the law making bodies. However, he said that the representation has to be real. “The benami leadership of Muslims will not help the community in any way,” he said while referring to Muzaffarnagar riots which occurred despite Uttar Pradesh having more than 60 Muslim MLAs.

The MIM President also described the term Muslim vote bank as a myth and said that same myth got shattered in the recently held parliamentary elections in the country. “There has not been the Muslim vote bank rather a Majority vote bank in India from the first elections in the year 1956,” he said.

Asaduddin Owaisi also announced that his party would contest Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka. However, the party is yet to decided on its participation in Delhi and Jharkhand Assembly elections. When asked about the GHMC elections, he said it was too early to comment on the same as the corporation was still under the process of undertaking delimitation of divisions.

The MIM chief criticised a section of media for targeting the MIM on its entry into Maharashtra politics. “Some people are unhappy with the MIM winning two Assembly seats in Maharashtra. “When I am participating in the democratic process no one has the right to call me anti national.” He said defamation notices have been sent to the political leaders of Maharashtra who made such statements against him and his party.

Stating that the slogan of “Jai Bheem, Jai Meem” would have a long-term impact, he said that the MIM would hard to unite Dalits and Muslims to ensure the political empowerment of both the communities.

Asaduddin Owaisi accused the BJP of having dual stand on communalism. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making statements defending the patriotism of Muslims, other BJP leaders are raking up communal tension by raising non-existing issues like Love Jihad. He also objected to the appointment of Prasar Bharti Director Surya Prakash and said he does not fulfill the criteria of Prasar Bharti charter.

The MIM president reiterated that his party was against the Haj subsidy and instead asked the Centre to release the subsidy amount for the education and employment of Muslim girls. He praised the TRS Government for enhancing the budget for minorities’ welfare in Telangana and hoped that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao would review all the schemes quarterly. Stating that his party was not against the Metro Rail Project, he suggested the government and Metro Rail authorities to take a different route in Old City. He said it would be ideal if the Metro Rail is taken from Bahadurpura and Kalapather to Falaknuma.

US Commitment to Terror, Expansionism, Maintains Israel’s Illegal Wall

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by Robert Barsocchini

As seen in the below graphic from the Washington Post, essentially every country recognizes the State of Palestine, except for Western Europe and some of the places it has conquered, such as North America, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as some US “partners” that “wouldn’t want to ruffle Washington’s feathers”, including “South Pacific island nations like Kiribati and Nauru” (WaPo).

palestine-Recognition

The US has for decades used terrorism to singularly prevent Palestine from becoming a full UN member state. Likewise, without the US providing the muscle and money, Israel would not be able to continue, in defiance of the world, to occupy, colonize, ethnically cleanse, and commit terrorism and massacres against Palestine.

Without US muscle backing its terror and expansionism, Israel, despite being the strongest force in the Mid East and in possession of the “world’s best” air force and a large, rogue nuclear arsenal, would have no choice but to decolonize Palestine and remain within its own universally recognized borders, which are those that existed before June, 1967, when Israel illegally invaded and began colonizing and ethnically cleansing areas beyond those lines.

For approximately 40 years, the US has vetoed, generally alone (aside from Israel), every UN resolution demanding that Israel comply with this worldwide legal, democratic consensus.  The vote is typically 165 countries against the US and Israel, and sometimes five or six other countries (European-conquered lands and some tiny islands such as Micronesia).

Obama has continued the reign of terror and expansion, specifically rejecting, at the UN, the demand for Israel to cease even future settlement activities, let alone abandon its current illegal settlements, all war crimes. This particular resolution was brought at the 15 member Security Council, and received 100% approval aside from Obama’s isolated vote of rejection, which is enforceable only due to the US dedication to terrorism and democracy-prevention.

On the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Palestinians have tried to call attention to the wall that still exists, the illegal US-backed wall that Israel is building and using as one of its means of illegally annexing Palestinian territory. Dr. Noam Chomsky, for one, has pointed out that if the wall were about security and not illegal expansionism, it could simply be made gigantic and utterly impenetrable, and be put on Israel’s legal border, which countries are allowed to do.

Palestinians break through illegal Israeli annexation wall. Photo: RT

Dr. Norman Finkelstein has suggested that Palestinians physically break down the wall en masse, as a non-violent solution, since the highest court in the world ruled that the wall is illegal and must be deconstructed, but the USA is preventing UN member states from carrying out the legally required and universally supported task.

Since the recent US/Israeli massacre against Palestine, Israel has continued its ongoing cease-fire violations, and has also announced or built thousands of new illegal settlement units in Palestine, and has illegally stolen over 4,000 more acres of Palestine (see here and here).

Note that although the Washington Post published the above map, a chief reason that the US is able to continue to illegally back Israel, and even increase illegal support for Israel as Obama has done (in defiance of the US population), is that US media never provides the full context of the situation, as Professor Edward Said pointed out (as noted by Jews for Justice in the Middle East):

It is simply extraordinary and without precedent that Israel’s history, its record — from the fact that it..is a state built on conquest, that it has invaded surrounding countries, bombed and destroyed at will, to the fact that it currently occupies Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian territory against international law — is simply never cited, never subjected to scrutiny in the U.S. media or in official discourse…

Edward Said in “The Progressive.” May 30, 1996

Given the full and accurate picture of how Israel has come into existence and what it does, already dwindling US public support for Israel (much of which, however, is based on religious fundamentalism) would certainly decrease, as public support for US atrocities generally decreases as information about them increases.

Robert Barsocchini is a researcher focusing on global force dynamics.  He also writes professionally for the film industry. Here is his blog.  Also see his free e-book, Whatever it Takes – Hillary Clinton’s Record of Support for War and other Depravities. Click here to follow Robert and his UK-based colleague, Dean Robinson, on Twitter.

Affordable, quality professional legal services to vulnerable sections through trained lawyers, paralegals: Nyayika case studies

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From left: Gagan Sethi, Prof Madhava Menon, Rajendra Joshi and Satyajeet Mazumdar

From left: Gagan Sethi, Prof Madhava Menon, Rajendra Joshi and Satyajeet Mazumdar

by Counterview

A public event in Delhi, National Meet on Social Lawyering — organized by the Centre for Social Justice and Lawyers for Change — saw release the book ,“Nyayika – Making Professional Legal Services Accessible”, which deals with how Nyayika carried out its unique experiment over the last one year of its existence as a private non-profit company. Prof Madhava Menon, chancellor, Guru Ghasidas Central University, Chhattisgarh, who released the book, said the Nayika  model of community lawyering offering affordable legal services with sensitivity to the poor and the vulnerable should focus more on people and communities rather than courts. He added, there was a need to move away from court-centric lawyering towards a process of bringing justice to the people by using administrative and other mechanisms outside the courts to enable people to claim their rights and entitlements, and live with dignity.

Among those who took part in the event included founding directors of Nyayika, Rajendra Joshi, founder of SAATH Charitable Trust;  Gagan Sethi, founder of Janvikas; Nupur Sinha, executive director of the Centre for Social Justice; and Satyajeet Mazumdar, CEO of Nyayika.

Providing quality professional legal services, both litigative and non-litigative, through trained lawyers and paralegals in its law centres, Nyayika addresses one the main barriers in access to quality legal services for people from the middle and lower income groups – the high fees of a lawyer – by providing its services for a fixed and affordable fee payable according to a payment schedule. Those unable to pay are offered free services. Nyayika follows transparent processes, assures speedy disposal of cases and is accountable towards its clients, a client friendly standardized operating procedure, and a robust monitoring and information system across eight centres in Gujarat – Ahwa, Modasa, Mandvi, Bharuch, Palanpur, Amreli, Vadodara, and Ahmedabad.

Below we reproduce some of the selected success stories of Nyayika, which would showcase how the new model has worked in solving people’s problems:

Child sex abuse in school, Mota Vijuda, Amreli district:

A child studying in class five was sexually abused by his school teacher, following which his father lodged a written complaint to the school principal. Based on the complaint, the principal brought the incident to the notice of the district education officer (DEO), who initiated an inquiry. Finding substance in the complaint, the teacher was transferred to another school. Nyayika learnt of the incident from a local newspaper. It approached the father of the child, the school principal and parents of two other children of the school and took their statements. The child’s parents regretted that the authorities had not acted sufficiently against the accused.

Nyayika sought copies of the written complaint of the father and the reply he had received from the DEO. An FIR was registered under Sections 4, 8 and 10 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 against the teacher. On investigation, police found that the complaint was true. Meanwhile, the accused sought anticipatory bail from the court, which was rejected on Nyayika’s plea backed by the public prosecutor. The accused was arrested and is in jail. It took just a month to book the culprit. It has created considerable awareness among people about Nyayika’s ability to seek justice. The teacher community, on the other hand, has become wary of acting in a highhanded manner.

Compensation to Amreli’s workers:

About a year ago, Nyayika learnt that many workers from Amreli district belonging to different talukas — Savarkundra, Lathi, Jaffrabad and Dhari – were not getting any compensation under the Workers’ Insurance Scheme. They would apply for compensation to the district labour officer, who would send the applications for approval to the director, insurance, Gandhinagar. After a lapse of seven to eight months, the director, insurance, Gandhinagar, would return most of the applications saying these workers could not be covered under the insurance scheme. The applications would be rejected, saying the workers did not adequate proof.

Nyayika filed a right to information (RTI) application to know about number of persons from Amreli district who had applied for insurance under the scheme,  how many applications were pending, and how many were rejected.  Based on the RTI reply, Nyayika called a meeting in Amreli of those whose names were rejected. Forty of them turned up for the meeting. Participants were asked why their names were rejected. They replied reason included insufficient documents. As all the workers were consumers of the insurance scheme, Nyayika decided to approach a consumer court for redressal of the grievance.

Twenty of the workers agreed to file complaint before the consumer court under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, under sections 12 and 13. A reply was sought from the director, insurance, Gandhinagar, as to why these persons were not paid insurance amount. The director, insurance, gave several reasons, including failure to send the application to him on time and insufficient documents, including identity cards. These replies were challenged through 20 affidavits, which were forwarded by Nyayika to the consumer court. It was argued that in the case the time period, the period should be counted not from the date of the accident but of the date on which the dispute commenced. As for identity card s, it was suggested that the workers did have them from the talati or the mamlatadar, which was equal to that of the certificate issued by the labour officer.

The consumer court ruled in favour of the workers. Each worker received Rs 1 lakh as insurance amount plus Rs 25,000 as interest. Each of the 20 received Rs 1.25 lakh. The director, insurance, Gandhinagar, who would evade giving proper answer found reason to become more vigilant. The workers became aware of the importance of identity card, and also that they could approach the consumer court to get compensation.

Land acquisition case in Babracot village, Amreli district:

This case relates to land acquisition carried out for mining by Ultratech in Babracot village of Rajula taluka in Amreli district for the company’s cement plant.  The land acquisition had taken place in 1993, and six farmers agreed to sell their land to the company for Rs 70,000 per bigha under an agreement. During Nyayika’s interaction with the villagers, it came out that the company did not pay the full amount. Worse, the company quietly transferred in some land which belonged to the farmers in its name.

During the meeting, Nyayika explained to farmers about the land acquisition law. The six persons, whose land was acquired, agreed that their land had been taken away fraudulently, but had no proof, hence were helpless. Nyayika decided to file RTI application to get documents of the land which was transferred to the company, including ownership details and the amount paid to the farmers. Within 30 days Nyayika received reply. It was found that the company had not paid in accordance with the prevailing market rate. It was also found that the company had fraudulently taken away some pieces of land. The agreement required that the company would provide job to the affected farmers and their families, but this was not done.

Legal notice was served to the company on behalf of the six farmers. The notice demanded payment as per the market rate, and also payment against mental and physical harassment, misuse of the farm land, loss to agriculture and livelihood. In each case, Rs 3 to 4 lakh was demanded as compensation. The company called the farmers for a compromise. The farmers insisted that they should be paid compensation, or else they would approach the court of law. The matter is at the pre-litigation stage. Thanks to Nyayika’s intervention, the farmers in the region became aware of land-related issues.

Incestual rape in Ankaleshwar, Bharuch district:

This case relates to rape of a 14-year-old girl by her father in Ankaleshwar. Studying in seventh standard, the victim lived with his father, who had divorced his wife, with whom their son lived. The girl became pregnant a couple of times, and she was given capsule to trigger abortion. The father would threaten her that she would be murdered if she opened her mouth. During one vacation, the girl’s paternal aunt (chachi) took her to her mother’s residence. When the school vacation ended, the mother asked her to return, but she refused, and divulged what all had happened to her. The mother told everything to the child’s grandmother. A complaint was registered with the Ankaleshwar police station.

The police sought Nyayika’s help. A senior activist Pramilaben, who took personal interest in the matter, took statements from the child, the mother and the grandmother. She also got the child medically examined. An application was filed seeking compensation for the rape victim. Police was told to arrest the accused, which was done within a week. The accused person’s bail application was got rejected with the help of public prosecutor.

Nyayika’s intervention proved crucial. Pramilaben Varmora, a senior paralegal activist with Nyayika, took statement from the grandmother, the mother, and the victim. The father’s lawyer sought to argue out that the mother, who was a divorcee and had illicit relationship with someone, had put up a false case. The public prosecutor was told that the father’s lawyer should argue only on the complaint, and not about the character of the mother. The court agreed. It sentenced the father to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,000. The rape victim received Rs 20,000 as compensation within a year.

Employment dispute in Vadoara:

Mr A (the complainant) was employed at ABC Info Soft Solutions Pvt Ltd (the employer) since December 19, 2013. The employer terminated the services of Mr A on April 10, 2014 through a termination letter sent on email. No termination notice was issued even though his contract with the employer required one month’s notice to be issued. Mr A’s salary for the month of March was also not paid. When this issue was raised by Mr A before the employer, it was alleged that Mr A had deleted data from the employer’s PC, hence his services were terminated without notice.

Mr A approached Nyayika on the May 9, 2014. Nyayika sent a legal notice to the employer on May 13, 2014 demanding payment of the salary due, which was Rs 40,000. The employer in turn filed a complaint before the police on May 16, 2014 against Mr A for the loss caused to the company from the data so deleted. The employer then replied to the legal notice on May 19, 2014 agreeing to settle the dispute through conciliation. The first conciliation sitting was held at the police station where Mr A was accompanied by a Nyayika lawyer. The employer agreed to take back the police complaint and agreed to pay part of the salary due to Mr. A. The second conciliation sitting was held at a café, where after much negotiation, the employer agreed to pay a sum of Rs 25000 to Mr A to settle the dispute.

The fees charged by Nyayika from Mr A for the entire process was Rs 1,500 only.

Conciliation in a case of domestic violence:

Mr N and Ms D were in a relationship. They decided to secretly get married and got a registered marriage done on October 20, 2000. Thereafter, they started living with their respective parents. However, their parents soon came to know of this, after which Ms D moved in to the residence of Mr N. Ms D continued her studies, obtained a degree and joined a school as a dance teacher. Meanwhile, Mr N was unemployed because of which his parents started to scold and quarrel with him frequently. This resulted in the couple moving out of the house and living independently in 2003.

Ms D managed the household expenses and sent her husband to an African country for a job. Somehow it did not work out and Mr N had to return to India in the year 2005. Ms D gave birth to a boy in the same year. In the year 2011, Ms D managed to purchase a house from her savings. She also had a second child, a daughter in the same year. Mr N was still unemployed. He developed a habit of drinking, and would also beat up Ms D. He started getting suspicious of Ms D, and this led to frequent arguments. On May 27, 2014, Mr N started a quarrel and Ms D retaliated. On hearing shouts, neighbours intervened and called up Ms D’s mother. Ms D left for her mother’s place at night.

Ms D approached Nyayika on May 28, 2014. The Nyayika lawyer listened to what Ms D had to say. Initially, Ms D wanted a divorce but was counseled about the process and all its pros and cons. Thereafter, she decided that to issue a legal notice to her husband through Nyayika and asked him to be present for mutual conciliation at the Nyayika office. A notice was served to Mr N on June 2, 2014 and the conciliation was fixed for the June 17. The conciliation took place in the presence of Ms D’s mother. Mr N was given a hearing after which both parties put forth their terms and conditions for entering into a compromise. Ms D wanted an assurance from Mr N that he would stop drinking and hitting her. Mr N wanted an assurance from Ms D that she would not get be vacated from the house they were living.. A compromise agreement was reached.  Both parties signed the same in the presence of a notary on June 18, 2014.

The fees charged by Nyayika for the entire procedure was Rs 1,000 only.

The book can be downloaded by clicking here.

Where are the bodies, MH17 families ask

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Flowers and mementos left by local residents at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 are pictured near the settlement of Rozspyne in the Donetsk region in this July 19, 2014 file photo. CREDIT: REUTERS/MAXIM ZMEYEV/FILES

Flowers and mementos left by local residents at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 are pictured near the settlement of Rozspyne in the Donetsk region in this July 19, 2014 file photo. CREDIT: REUTERS/MAXIM ZMEYEV/FILES

by Anthony Deutsch and Thomas Escritt, Reuters

Amsterdam: Daisy Oehlers and Bryce Fredriksz, a Dutch couple in their early 20s, were sitting near the left wing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 on their way to a holiday in Bali, when “high energy objects” – as officials later called them – struck the plane over eastern Ukraine.

Their bodies were torn apart and scattered across miles of the conflict zone below.

Three months later, Daisy’s cousin Robby checked into a cheap hotel in Donetsk to start searching the area for any trace of his relatives. “There was a crater from a rocket impact just next to the nose part of the aeroplane,” he said. “I found a blue suitcase. It wasn’t hers.”

Oehlers, a singer, and the relatives of as many as 50 other victims are growing increasingly frustrated by the fact that the authorities have not helped them trace loved ones lost on July 17, when the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot out of the sky.

All 298 passengers and crew – two-thirds of them Dutch – were killed. The Dutch government, a leading Russian trading partner, still hesitates to call it an attack.

Attempts to recover parts of the aircraft and human remains have repeatedly been called off due to fighting on the ground. Families also say the Dutch government is not giving them enough information. One law firm has said it is preparing to sue the government for negligence over its handling of the case.

Bryce and Daisy’s relatives have Bryce’s foot and part of a bone for Daisy, but no more. Relatives of nine people on board the Boeing 777 have no remains at all. Some families are waiting for enough body parts to hold funerals.

“How much do you need?” asked Oehlers. “30 percent? 40 percent?”

He spent three days searching the site between Donetsk and Luhansk, the rebel-held eastern Ukrainian towns that have been flashpoints in the conflict, and took a TV crew to draw attention to his family’s mounting anger. He said he saw signs of bombardment on the field, where stray dogs wandered. Winter is approaching. As fighting persists, the families’ hopes diminish.

“You just wonder; what are they doing?” he said of the authorities. “If it was another country, they’d just grab their stuff and head out there. I don’t know what the spirit of Dutch politics is, but I think they are too soft.”

HELD TO ACCOUNT

The Dutch are conducting two parallel investigations: one into the cause of the crash, and a criminal inquiry – the single largest in Dutch history. There are now 100 Dutch law enforcement officials involved in that case, including 10 prosecutors, said spokesman Wim de Bruin.

But no forensic investigators have made it to the crash site. That makes the recovery of evidence nearly impossible.

Washington says it has intelligence that overwhelmingly backs the theory that the plane was shot down by a missile fired by pro-Russian separatists. Russia denies any involvement.

Many Dutch also believe the plane was downed by rebels using missiles provided by Moscow. But their leaders, mindful of the country’s heavy reliance on Russian energy, have never assigned blame. Prime Minister Mark Rutte has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to assert his influence over the rebels.

Pieter Omtzigt, legislator with the opposition Christian Democratic Appeal party and a member of the foreign affairs committee, says the government is not being open enough.

He submitted a list of 43 questions about the disaster, of which he said 29 went unanswered, including one about Russian and Ukrainian cooperation and whether crash investigators had access to key U.S. intelligence.

“On all these questions, we haven’t had an answer,” he told Reuters in an interview. “I want to see full proof – if you kill 298 people you have to be held accountable.”

“COME GET ME!”

The challenges facing the Dutch investigators are extreme.

The closest comparison is the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, which killed 254 people. The investigation, conducted in peacetime Scotland, took three years, during which 4 million pieces of evidence were recovered from a crash site spanning 2,000 sq km (770 sq miles). It took a decade to go to trial.

“We searched rivers, lochs and reservoirs and recovered many personal effects, pieces of aircraft and debris, as well as other much more difficult ‘recoveries’ I’d rather not go into here,” said one police diver involved in the search.

Even then, the trial of two Libyan intelligence agents, at a specially constituted Scottish court in a disused Dutch military base, secured only one conviction. To this day, many relatives are convinced that the man eventually convicted was innocent.

In the Netherlands, Rutte is under growing pressure: his popularity has dropped since the MH17 crash.

Silene Fredriksz, Bryce’s 51-year-old mother, said she is having difficulty sleeping. “It is simply taking too long,” she said. “I hear him call: ‘come get me!'”

(Edited by Sara Ledwith)

Anand breaks jinx, defeats Carlsen in third match

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Viswanathan Anand Carlsen Jinx

Chennai: Indian chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand Tuesday defeated World Champion Magnus Carlsen in 34 moves in the third game of their world title match held in Russia, in the process breaking the “Carlsen Jinx” bugging him since losing the world title to Carlsen last year.

At the end of the third game in the 12 game match, both the players have 1.5 points each.

Grandmaster Nigel Short tweeted: “I said at the start of the game, ‘contrary to popular belief, the match is not over’. However, for some Indian trolls, I am anti-Anand.”

In the Queen’s Gambit Declined opening, playing white, Indian ace Anand started confidently and the moves progressed as per the book with the champion castling on the King side.

While Anand was pushing out his pawns to pave the way for his pieces, Carlsen brought out his queen side knight.

On move 7, Anand started pushing his c-pawn and his other pawns on the queen side and Carlsen similarly responded.

A flurry of activity began on move 11 with Anand traded his white bishop for Carlsen’s white bishop. Following that, Anand gave up his b-pawn in order to advance his c file pawn to the seventh rank.

Anand’s 17th move of putting his knight on the g5 square aiming for a play centered around his pawn on the seventh rank.

This made Carlsen to go into deep thought for a whopping 32 minutes to make his move.

This prompted world number 7 Grandmaster Anish Giri to tweet: “Interesting, the axiom that Magnus has an unearthly memory is being challenged right now.”

Speaking to IANS, world number 23 Grandmaster P.Harikrishna said: “It is unclear why Carlsen took so long. Seems he was figuring out the way to take Anand out of theory/home preparation.”

Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujarathi tweeted that the board position was reached in Aronian-Adams but Harikrishna said the Aronian-Adams, though ended in a draw, was not an easy one.

“The position is actually good for Anand as Carlsen’s queen is not in active play and there is not much of an active coordination among his pieces,” Harikrishna said.

At this point Anand exchanged his knight on g5 for Carlsen’s knight on e4 square. The champion captured the white piece with his knight on f6.

Experts were of the view that the game was on razor edge and a mistake by any one of the player would be disastrous.

Soon the other two knights got exchanged and Anand’s queen got into active play, a luxury that was not available for Carlsen.

In move 32, Carlsen gave up his rook for Anand’s black bishop and facing further loss of a piece, resigned.

Reacting to the game, Giri told IANS: “I don’t think there was a change in strategy for Anand. The strategy has always been fine, just today it finally worked out well. Anand got very lucky that Carlsen was completely unaware of this relatively well known variation.”

“If Carlsen had been better prepared, the game should have been ended in a draw, but then again that’s the weakness of Carlsen so there are no “ifs”. I am very glad that Anand came back, now we will have a real fight!” he said.

“The game once again proves that Anand plays well in complicated situation which is not Carlsen’s forte,” Harikrishna told IANS.

He said Anand seemed to have prepared well whereas the opening seems to have surprised Carlsen.

“It is difficult to play this position with black pieces,” he added.

He agreed that the win will bring a lot change for Anand and it is good to bounce back.

On Wednesday Carlsen will play white.

(IANS)

Remembering MSS Pandian, the Mentor and Teacher Extraordinaire

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Noted scholar and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Professor M.S.S. Pandian, considered an authority on the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu, passed away on 10th November 14, following a cardiac arrest. Pandian, 57, died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, where he was rushed following a cardiac arrest. He is survived by his wife S. Anandhi and a daughter.

MSS Pandian

by Aakshi Magazine

For those of us who were taught by him, MSS Pandian left an indelible mark, and his sudden death is hard to process.

There was nothing intimidating about Pandian, despite his scholarship. He was that rare academic whose academics was never isolated from his politics, it actually stemmed from it. He brought his politics to the classroom, which made his classes unique.

His work on caste in Tamil politics ( Brahmin and Non-Brahmin: Genealogies of the Tamil Political), and the lens with which he looked at history and politics, is subversive in a society (and academia) where caste is always masked and never discussed directly for what it is. So was his non-nationalistic worldview. This could not have been easy to do. Apart from being a supporter of the Tamil Eelam struggle, in recent years, he also became a keen follower and supporter of the Kashmir struggle for azadi. Pandian could take these stands and discuss them with students, and not be worried that he was being “simplistic” as academics tend to be. For him, complexity of ideas did not mean cynicism, especially towards movements for justice and equality. Yet his academics was never activist jargon either.

I was taught by him during my Master’s degree in JNU. He had also joined the same year, and his two classes in which he taught us the ideas of Phule, Periyar, Ambedkar as well as Nationalism and Regional movements, were revelatory. He made us question and think, and made History relevant in a way nothing else did. During my Master’s I questioned a lot of things about academics, and it was Pandian’s classes which made me feel understood, even as they taught me so much.

It wasn’t just what he taught, but also how he taught, and I think we should talk about this so that we do not forget it. Pandian never intimidated anyone and made academic ideas accessible. No jargon, so much depth, but also respecting the fact that each student’s intelligence (and interest) is different. We had to write a seminar paper in our final semester and I remember how tense he was because all of us were struggling with writing a long paper for the first time. I remember one particular discussion in which a very unsure and nervous student told Pandian what his seminar paper would be on. Pandian was gentle with him, asking him questions in accordance with his idea, which helped make his paper clearer. By the end of the semester, his seminar paper had grown and developed, but in his own way. I don’t think any other teacher would have had this patience, or this understanding. This was his gift. I know of a friend who he mentored and guided through her M.Phil thesis even though he had never even met her then, nor was she even from the University where he taught. I know there must be more stories like this.

To me too, he has been a mentor. He was always helpful and encouraging, writing recommendations when I needed them, helping me get an internship, or even helping in “breaking” a news story. He edited the draft of my PhD proposal with keen interest, and was always an email away even though we had never actually met again since my Master’s 3 years ago. I also remember a draft of a work on films that he had once talked about and then shared with me, and also mentioned something on Kashmir, work which we would not get to see.

Sometimes, Pandian would send out emails about his daughter to his students, and we could sense he was perhaps alone staying in Delhi. It must have been hard for him. The last email he sent was about a drawing his daughter had made in class about equality and justice. There were parts of his personality which perhaps we will never understand. There was a phase when he would write un-thought out comments on student’s walls on facebook, which he would later apologize for.

Once when I hadn’t got admission to a PhD programme I had applied to, he wrote- “some we win, most we lose”. For us shocked by his sudden death, perhaps he would say- “take it easy”. My thoughts are with his wife and his daughter. Maybe knowing so many mourn with them will give them strength.

The author is a research scholar at University of St Andrews, Scotland and independent film critic.

Third of Modi's council of ministers faces criminal charges: ADR

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modi-cabinet

New Delhi:  Atleast 30 percent of the ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s council of ministers have criminal charges against them, think tank Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said here Monday.

According to ADR, 20 of 64 ministers analysed on the basis of their own declarations face criminal charges, while 92 percent of the ministers are multi-millionaires.

An ADR statement said affidavits of 64 of 66 ministers (including Modi) had been analysed and details of union ministers Suresh Prabhu and Birendra Singh had not been scrutinised as they were not yet members of either house.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley however said any suggestions there were criminals in the cabinet were “completely baseless”.

“These are cases arising out of criminal accusations, not cases out of a crime,” Jaitley told reporters on Monday, adding that the prime minister had personally vetted the new ministers.

According to ADR, 11 (17 percent) ministers have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to attempt to murder, communal disharmony, and electoral violations.

Of the 21 newly inducted ministers, eight have declared criminal cases.

“Ramshankar Katheria from Agra constituency has declared a case related to attempt to murder. Among the rest of the ministers, Uma Bharti from Jhansi of BJP had also declared a case related to attempt to murder,” the statement added.

The release said that among the newly inducted ministers, Y.S. Chowdary, Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh belonging to Telugu Desam Party, had declared the highest total assets of Rs. 189.69 crore followed by Jayant Sinha (BJP) from Hazaribagh with assets worth Rs.55.67 crore and Mahesh Sharma (BJP) from Gautam Budhha Nagar with total assets worth Rs.47.37 crore.

The average assets size of the newly-inducted ministers is Rs.18.48 crore. In totality, the average assets size per minister is Rs.14.25 crore, the release added.

Of the 64 ministers, 59 are multi millionaires.

The highest increase in assets has been declared by Sharma, owner of a hospital chain in UP. The assets of Sharma rose by Rs.31.52 crore from Rs.15.85 crores as Lok Sabha MP in 2009 to Rs 47.37 crores in 2014.

Chowdary declared the highest total assets of Rs.189.69 crores followed by Sinha with assets worth Rs.55.67 crores and Sharma with total assets worth Rs.47.37 crores.

(IANS)

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