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UN demands action after Sri Lanka anti-Muslim riot

[email protected] (Agencies)
June 17, 2014

Alutgama, Jun 17: Sri Lanka slapped an indefinite curfew in a popular tourist region on Monday after rioting Buddhist mobs killed three Muslims in a surge of religious violence that triggered international concern.

Riot-victim grievesLocal community leaders accused authorities of doing little to prevent Sunday night's carnage that made hundreds of Muslims homeless after attacks on their homes, shops, factories, mosques and even a nursery.

The most senior Muslim member of President Mahinda Rajapakse's government threatened to resign at the decision to allow militant Buddhists to rally in the flashpoint region.

"Three deaths have occurred and 78 people have been seriously wounded in the mob attacks... Places of Muslim religious worship have also been attacked with total impunity," Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem said as he toured the damage in the neighbouring towns of Alutgama and Beruwala.

"The government allowed the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) to hold their gathering and therefore they must take responsibility for what has happened," he said, referring to a hardline outfit better known as the Buddhist Force.

Hakeem told reporters that he was now under pressure from his own supporters to quit the government to protest the failure to prevent the attacks, the latest in a series of violent incidents involving the BBS.

The UN human rights chief Navi Pillay expressed concern that the religious riots could spread to other areas of Sri Lanka and demanded that Colombo immediately bring the perpetrators of Sunday's attacks to justice.

"The government must urgently do everything it can to arrest this violence, curb the incitement and hate speech which is driving it, and protect all religious minorities," Pillay said in a statement issued in Geneva.

"I am very concerned this violence could spread to Muslim communities in other parts of the country," she added.

The United States, which has led international condemnation of Sri Lanka's human rights record, had also urged Colombo to end the violence.

The unrest erupted on Sunday night when followers of the BBS staged a protest over a recent road rage incident in the area.

After stones were allegedly thrown at them, the BBS supporters then tore through the two towns, attacking people on the street and setting fire to property and vehicles.

Local residents said police did little to protect them when the Buddhist mobs started their onslaught around sundown in the mainly Muslim towns which are around 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of the capital Colombo.

Police fired teargas and imposed a night-time curfew but the violence went on for several hours, according to residents.

"We pleaded with the police to come and stop the mob attacking our houses but the police did nothing," said Mujahedeen, a resident of Alutgama's Milton Road where around a dozen buildings were set on fire.

Police chief NK Illangakoon said the situation was "improving" although the curfew would remain overnight Monday.

He said eight people had been arrested in connection with the riots, but added that an unspecified number of them had already been freed on bail.

President urges 'restraint'

Both towns are popular beach resorts frequented by international tourists, but there were no reports of any foreigners or hotels being caught up in the violence.

However, hotels told their guests to remain indoors while Western embassies advised their nationals to avoid travelling to the region.

Rajapakse, currently in Bolivia, said in a statement that he would not allow "anyone to take the law into their own hands" and urged "restraint".

The attacks are the latest in a series of religious clashes to hit the island following unrest in January and also last year when Buddhist mobs attacked a mosque in the capital Colombo.

BBS leader, Buddhist monk Galagodaatte Gnanasara, is currently on bail after being arrested in May on a charge of insulting the Quran.

Sri Lanka, facing an international probe of its war record in crushing separatists Tamil rebels in may 2009, is also criticised for its alleged failure to protect minority religious groups.

Muslims make up about 10 percent of Sri Lanka's 20 million population.

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UN demands action after Sri Lanka anti-Muslim riot

Alutgama, Jun 17: Sri Lanka slapped an indefinite curfew in a popular tourist region on Monday after rioting Buddhist mobs killed three Muslims in a surge of religious violence that triggered international concern.

Local community leaders accused authorities of doing little to prevent Sunday night's carnage that made hundreds of Muslims homeless after attacks on their homes, shops, factories, mosques and even a nursery.

The most senior Muslim member of President Mahinda Rajapakse's government threatened to resign at the decision to allow militant Buddhists to rally in the flashpoint region.

"Three deaths have occurred and 78 people have been seriously wounded in the mob attacks... Places of Muslim religious worship have also been attacked with total impunity," Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem said as he toured the damage in the neighbouring towns of Alutgama and Beruwala.

"The government allowed the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) to hold their gathering and therefore they must take responsibility for what has happened," he said, referring to a hardline outfit better known as the Buddhist Force.

Hakeem told reporters that he was now under pressure from his own supporters to quit the government to protest the failure to prevent the attacks, the latest in a series of violent incidents involving the BBS.

The UN human rights chief Navi Pillay expressed concern that the religious riots could spread to other areas of Sri Lanka and demanded that Colombo immediately bring the perpetrators of Sunday's attacks to justice.

"The government must urgently do everything it can to arrest this violence, curb the incitement and hate speech which is driving it, and protect all religious minorities," Pillay said in a statement issued in Geneva.

"I am very concerned this violence could spread to Muslim communities in other parts of the country," she added.

The United States, which has led international condemnation of Sri Lanka's human rights record, had also urged Colombo to end the violence.

The unrest erupted on Sunday night when followers of the BBS staged a protest over a recent road rage incident in the area.

After stones were allegedly thrown at them, the BBS supporters then tore through the two towns, attacking people on the street and setting fire to property and vehicles.

Local residents said police did little to protect them when the Buddhist mobs started their onslaught around sundown in the mainly Muslim towns which are around 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of the capital Colombo.

Police fired teargas and imposed a night-time curfew but the violence went on for several hours, according to residents.

"We pleaded with the police to come and stop the mob attacking our houses but the police did nothing," said Mujahedeen, a resident of Alutgama's Milton Road where around a dozen buildings were set on fire.

Police chief NK Illangakoon said the situation was "improving" although the curfew would remain overnight Monday.

He said eight people had been arrested in connection with the riots, but added that an unspecified number of them had already been freed on bail.

President urges 'restraint'

Both towns are popular beach resorts frequented by international tourists, but there were no reports of any foreigners or hotels being caught up in the violence.

However, hotels told their guests to remain indoors while Western embassies advised their nationals to avoid travelling to the region.

Rajapakse, currently in Bolivia, said in a statement that he would not allow "anyone to take the law into their own hands" and urged "restraint".

The attacks are the latest in a series of religious clashes to hit the island following unrest in January and also last year when Buddhist mobs attacked a mosque in the capital Colombo.

BBS leader, Buddhist monk Galagodaatte Gnanasara, is currently on bail after being arrested in May on a charge of insulting the Quran.

Sri Lanka, facing an international probe of its war record in crushing separatists Tamil rebels in may 2009, is also criticised for its alleged failure to protect minority religious groups.

Muslims make up about 10 percent of Sri Lanka's 20 million population.

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News Network
May 21,2020

London, May 21: Working mothers in Europe and the United States are taking on most of the extra housework and childcare created by lockdown - and many are struggling to cope, a survey showed on Thursday.

Women with children now spend an average 65 hours a week on the unpaid chores - nearly a third more than fathers - according to the Boston Consulting Group, which questioned parents in five countries.

"Women have been doing too much household work for too long, and this crisis is pushing them to a point that's simply unsustainable," Rachel Thomas, of U.S.-based women's rights group LeanIn.Org, said in response to the data.

"We need a major culture shift in our homes and in our companies ... We should use this moment to build a better way to work and live – one that's fair for everybody."

Researchers say fallout from the pandemic weighs on women in a host of ways, be it in rising domestic violence or in lower wages, as some women cut paid work to take on the new duties.

With lockdowns shutting schools and keeping citizens at home, creating a mountain of domestic work, public campaigns from Georgia to Mexico have urged men to do their fair share.

But women, who on average already do more at home than men, are now shouldering most of the new coronavirus burden, too, said the survey of more than 3,000 working parents in the United States, Britain, Italy, Germany and France.

Women's unpaid hours at home have nearly doubled to 65 hours a week, said the survey, against 50 logged by an average father.

British women are more likely to support others in the COVID-19 pandemic and are finding it harder to stay positive, according to separate analysis released this week by polling firm Ipsos MORI and feminist organisation The Fawcett Society.

It is "no surprise" to see women do more childcare and housekeeping on top of their day jobs, Jacqui Hunt of women's rights group Equality Now, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

However, there are "hopeful signs" that men in West Africa are sharing more childcare during the pandemic in a shift in social norms, found a small rapid analysis by humanitarian organisation CARE International released on Wednesday.

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Agencies
April 17,2020

Washington, Apr 17: A record number of 4,591 Americans have died in the last 24 hours due to the deadly novel coronavirus in the US, which has the highest number of COVID-19 casualties in the world.

According to the Johns Hopkins University data, by 8 pm on Thursday, as many as 4,591 Americans have died in the last 24 hours, The Wall Street Journal said.

The previous highest was 2,569 on Wednesday.

By Thursday, more than 662,000 Americans tested positive with the coronavirus.

The dreaded disease, which originated in Wuhan city in China in December last year, has so far claimed more than 144,000 lives and infected over 2.1 million people.

The virus has infected over 671,000 people and claimed more than 33,000 lives, the highest for any country in the world.

New York City and its adjoining areas, including New Jersey and Connecticut have emerged as the epicenter of the virus in the US.

New York alone accounts for 226,000 cases of infections and 16,106 deaths.

In New Jersey, as many as 3,518 people have died of the disease and 75,317 have tested positive.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, till April 14, four per cent of the Americans infected with COVID-19 were of Asian origin and nearly one-third (30 per cent) were African Americans.

US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that experts and scientists report that his strategy to slow the spread of the virus has saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

Models predicted between 1.5 million and 2.2 million US deaths. If there was no mitigation, it could have even been higher than that and between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths with mitigation. It is looking like we will come far under even these lowest numbers, he said.

Noting that experts say the curve of the virus has flattened, and the peak in the new cases has passed, Trump said that nationwide, more than 850 counties or nearly 30 per cent of the country have reported no new cases in the last seven days.

Because of our early and aggressive action, we have avoided the tragedy of health care rationing and deadly shortfalls that have befallen in many other nations, nations which wherever possible we are helping, he said.

According to Trump, at least 35 clinical trials are already underway, including antiviral therapies, immune therapies, and blood therapies in the form of convalescent plasma. So far, more than 3.5 million tests have been carried out.

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News Network
February 19,2020

Washington, Feb 19: Sri Srinivasan, a prominent Indian-American judge, has created history by becoming the first person of South Asian descent to lead a powerful federal circuit court considered next only to the US Supreme Court.

Srinivasan, 52, became the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

An Obama appointee who has already been considered for a Supreme Court seat twice, donned the mantle of the chief judge of the DC federal court circuit on February 12.

Srinivasan succeeded Judge Merrick Garland, who has been a member of the DC Circuit since 1997 and Chief Judge since 2013. He will remain on the bench, a press release said.

Notably, Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court by the then president Barack Obama was blocked by Senate Republicans in 2016.

Srinivasan, was appointed to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in May 2013.

He was the first ever Indian-American to be appointed to the second most powerful court of the US.

Neomi Rao, nominated by President Donald Trump, is the second Indian American on this powerful judiciary bench.

History being made on the DC Court of Appeals. Congratulations, Judge Srinivasan! Senator Mark Warner said.

Congratulations to Judge Sri Srinivasan on becoming the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit! A milestone for the Indian-American/Kansan community (and yet another piece of evidence my family can use that I'm underachieving), US Federal Communications Commission Chair Ajit Pai said.

According to The Washington Post, Srinivasan spoke recently about his path to the bench at an event celebrating women in the law, a field where men still dominate leadership positions.

"Everybody doubts their belonging and worthiness in some measure. I definitely did and still do. This is just going to be a part of the thing when you're looking out in the world in which everyone isn't like you. It's natural to doubt whether you belong and whether you're worthy, he said, "but you do belong and you are worthy.

Born in Chandigarh, and raised in Lawrence, Kansas, he received a B.A. from Stanford University, a J.D. from Stanford Law School, and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Following graduation, he served as a law clerk to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the US Solicitor General, and as a law clerk to US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

From 2011 until his appointment to the US Court of Appeals, Judge Srinivasan served as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States.

He has argued 25 cases before the US Supreme Court. He has also taught appellate advocacy at Harvard Law School as well as a seminar on civil rights statutes and the Supreme Court at Georgetown University Law Center.

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