Embattled IMF chief, Strauss-Kahn resigns finally !

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has resigned as managing director of the International Monetary Fund, after he was charged on Monday with the alleged sexual assault and attempted rape of a maid at a New York hotel.

The IMF's executive board released a letter from the French executive late on Wednesday in which he denied the allegations against him, but said he felt compelled to resign "with sadness''.

"It is with infinite sadness that I feel compelled today to present to the executive board my resignation from my post of managing director of the IMF," Strauss-Kahn said in his letter of resignation.

"To all, I want to say that I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me," the statement added.

"I think at this time first of my wife - whom I love more than anything - of my children, of my family, of my friends.

"I think also of my colleagues at the fund; together we have accomplished such great things over the last three years and more.

"I want to protect this institution which I have served with honour and devotion, and especially - especially - I want to devote all my strength, all my time, and all my energy to proving my innocence."

The IMF's previous second-in-command John Lipsky will remain as acting managing director.

Also their are some critisism against him in the procedure he followed when providing Funds to countries which are very much biased towards dictatorship and/or does anti democtratic acts.

Japan falls back into recession - Economy contracts sharply after devastating earthquake and tsunami !

Japan's economy has slipped into recession after a worse than expected performance for the first quarter of the year.

The economy contracted sharply in the first quarter as factory production and consumer spending declined in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Real gross domestic product - a measure of the value of all goods and services produced domestically - shrank at an annualised rate of 3.7 per cent in the January-March period, the country's cabinet office said on Thursday.

The result marks the second straight quarter that the world's third largest economy has lost steam and undershoots an annualised 2.3 per cent fall forecast in a Kyodo News agency survey.

While there is no universally accepted definition of a recession, many economists define it as two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction. Others consider the depth of economic decline as well as other measures like unemployment.

Japan's magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami left more than 24,000 people dead or missing, and wiped out entire towns in the hardest-hit areas.

Damage is estimated at $300bn, making it the most expensive natural disaster in history.

It damaged factories in the region, causing severe shortages of parts and components for manufacturers across Japan, especially automakers. A crippled nuclear power plant caused widespread power shortages that added to the headaches faced by businesses and households.

Seijiro Takeshita, director Mizuho International, told that recovery may take a long time because clean up efforts are taking so long.


Consumer spending falls

As a result, Japan's factory production and consumer spending both fell the most on record in March. Exports in March went south for the first time in 16 months.

Companies are reporting lower earnings and diminished outlooks for the rest of the fiscal year.

Al Jazeera's Laura Kyle, reporting from the Iwate Prefecture, said that the economic impact has also hit at a local level, with a large number of unemployed people living in the country's north.

Toyota, Japan's biggest automaker, said last week that its quarterly profit tumbled more than 75 per cent because of parts shortages after the tsunami. As of May, the crisis cost the company production of
550,000 vehicles in Japan and another 350,000 overseas.

UNP MP John Ameratunge further confirms that Ra-NIL saved Anti Democratic Mahinda who was accused of acrrying out several murders !

UNP MP and former Minister during UNP Regimes, John Ameratunge confirms that it was then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who had saved then Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was accused of acrrying out several murders at the time.

When several local and international journalists have inquired about the articles published about the above incident in several online web portals, John Ameratunge, who was at the time the Internal Affairs Minister, had confirmed that the incident was true.
He had said that Ranil Wickremesinghe had opposed the move to arrest Mahinda Rajapaksa when all arrangements for it was made.John Ameratunge has also said that although the relevant files had gone missing at the time, he had made photocopies of the files.

Magistrate Upali Samaraweera, who heard the two murder cases that were allegedly carried out on the request of Mahinda Rajapaksa, had retired, the President had appointed him as the Prisons Commissioner. The judge is now a director of the Board of Investments.

Earlier Article ; http://tiptopsl.blogspot.com/2011/05/mahinda-who-was-to-be-convicted-of.html

ICC doubtful about Sanath Jayasuriya and 3 other players over match fixing allegations

The International Cricket Council (ICC) it is learnt are doubtful whether Sri Lankan cricketers Thilekaratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya and Fervez Mahroof have been involved in match fixing.

The Sri Lankan team lost the one day match between India and Sri Lanka played in Rajcourt on December 15, 2009 by three runs after chasing a score of 414.

It is learnt that the ICC is doubtful about Sanath’s playing at the match.Sanath recorded only five runs when the Sri Lankan team had scored 339 for three wickets by the 39th over.

but we hope Sri Lankan Players have never done such a disgusting work to tarnish Mother Lanka.

Source ; lankanewsweb

National Saving Bank Chairman's Wife Appointed as New CJ of Sri Lanka !

Senior Supreme Court Judge Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake took oaths as the new Chief Justice before Mahinda Rajapakse few days back, becoming Sri Lanka’s first woman Chief Justice.

Incidentally she is Sri Lanka’s 33rd Chief Justice, succeeding her retiring predecessor former Chief Justice Asoka de Silva.

Mahinda Rajapakse’s nomination of Dr. Bandaranayake, formerly Associate Professor of Law and the Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, as the new CJ was approved by the Parliamentary Council on May 12.

As her husband is the current CEO of NSB (also apointed by Mahinda ), their are doubts among many about the decesions being given.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi will have to face charges against war crimes - says ICC chief prosecutor !

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has sought arrest warrants for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his son, Saif al-Islam, and another Libyan official on war crimes charges.


Luis Moreno Ocampo will hand a 74-page dossier of evidence to a three-judge panel at the court in the Hague, the Netherlands, on Monday.


They will decide whether the case is strong enough for them to confirm crimes against humanity charges, and issue international arrest warrants.


"We are almost ready for trial," Ocampo said in a statement earlier. "The office collected good and solid evidence to identify [those] who bear the greatest responsibility."


The third official named was Abdullah Senussi, gaddafi's intelligence chief.
Ocampo's investigation into potential human rights violations has spanned several countries and involved sorting through around 1,500 documents, Al Jazeera's Rory Challands said.


But the two-and-a-half months it has taken to come up with a petition for arrest warrants is a "heartbeat in international justice," he added.


On Monday, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Gaddafi was looking for a "suitable place" to find exile.
"Messages have been arriving from the regime's restricted circle," he said. "Certain [members] have spoken under cover and are beginning to say that Gaddafi is looking for an honourable way out," he added.

IMF chief 'sex assault' trial postponed - Dominique Strauss-Kahn placed behind bars as his arraignment is put off so that he can undergo forensic examination.

A New York court appearance by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the International Monetary Fund [IMF] chief, to face charges he sexually assaulted a hotel chambermaid has been postponed until Monday so he can undergo an examination, his lawyers have said.

"Our client willingly consented to a scientific and forensic examination tonight ... at the request of the government and in light of the hour we have agreed to postpone the arraignment until tomorrow morning," William Taylor, his lawyer, told reporters outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Sunday.

"He's tired but he's fine," Taylor said when asked about Strauss-Kahn, who was led away from a police station in handcuffs and is currently placed behind bars.

Sri Lankan Leader, Mahinda's close friend Hassan Ali defeated at Tamil nadu Election !

One of Sri Lankan Leader Mahinda's close friend, Hassan Ali, who contested from the Congress Party at the Tamil Nadu elections, has been defeated.

He is a politiciann who has supported Sri Lankan Leader Mahinda as a powerful representative of India's Congress Party in the Tamil Nadu government..

Traditional Newspapers are Dying Today ? - 10 Reasons

Demand for the daily newspaper has been declining for some time. More and more papers are finding their subscriptions shrinking, and as a result they are able to attract fewer businesses to advertise in their papers. Today there are many ways for us to get the news quickly, and without having to read.  All of these options intrude upon the desire of people to wait for the morning paper to find out the news. Thus for the traditional newspaper, this has meant a slow death from depleting revenues, when their papers are not being bought.  It is a problem that is growing and shows no signs of improving. Here are ten factors that have contributed to the slow death of print newspapers.

Other forms of news. The local newspaper will carry stories on a wide selection of subjects in local, national and world news. However, you might not be interested in wading through all those pages just to find out some specific details on a given story. With email and RSS feeds, you can get target news sent direct to you on the areas you’re interested in. Between television, internet and radio you don’t have to spend your time looking through the paper’s pages.

Cost. Why pay for the newspaper when you can get the same information on the internet for free? This is pure cost consideration.  There may be some coupons you like in a given paper, but they may never offset the actual cost of subscriptions.
Price of materials.  Paper costs have been going up for a long time. But newspapers are only able to charge a set amount for their paper, or they will not find any subscribers. It is a difficult balance to maintain. It is another area that is causing them to struggle, that many people don’t realize.

Influence Of Owners. Newspapers can be affected in how they present and report the news by the philosophies of their owners. Those biases can be evident by the stories they choose to publish. Many people are looking for news sources that will give them multiple views.

Convenience. Unless you have the paper delivered to your house, and even then it can be subject to weather, there are times it is easier to look on the internet at your convenience. You can quickly search through items online for your topics of interest, rather than having to scan the pages of a traditional newspaper.

Delivery problems. There is a low tolerance these days for poor customer service.  How many times will you pay for the daily paper if you have problems with your deliveries? It is just easier to look to other means to find out what you want to know.

Watching Versus Reading. Why read through lots of paragraphs when the news on the television will show you what is happening, often in live video footage. It doesn’t have to take as much time, and you can enjoy other activities at the same time.

Listening Versus Reading. Just like with watching, listening to the news on the radio can be done while you are doing other things. You can listen while you are driving in your car while driving to and from work. We have become a multi-tasking society.
Limited Interests. The more we get exposed to the entire world’s problems, the more we may wish to just dwell on limited or specialized news interest. We now have the ability to choose what areas of news coverage we want to receive.

Competition. It isn’t that newspapers aren’t trying to keep up with the changes in information, they have their online sites too. Technology is simply leaving them behind in a race that they are finding it hard to compete in.

Today the future for the traditional newspaper is not very promising. Many have begun to search for ways to improve or change their approach to deal with this reality, but it appears to be a losing battle.


by Sheryl Owen
http://www.changeofaddress.org/blog/2011/10-reasons-traditional-newspapers-are-dying/

Kochi stay mathematically alive with a thumping win over RR !

Kochi Tuskers Kerala 98 for 2 (Hodge 33*) beat Rajasthan Royals 97 (Menaria 31, Hodge 4-13, Sreesanth 2-16) by eight wicket. (Current points table at the end of the article)

The short boundaries in Indore proved to be bad masters for Rajasthan Royals. The small playing field seemed to be playing on their minds as batsman after batsman in the middle order perished to reckless strokes. Brad Hodge was at the receiving end of those gifts, ending up with a career-best 4 for 13, but it was perhaps a tight first spell from Sreesanth - three overs for 15 runs and the wickets of Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane - that set the desperation in. Kochi chased the paltry 98 in style, giving their net run-rate a boost too.

(Photo ; Shane Warne Bowled by Hodge) Coming into the game, both the teams had an outside chance of making it to the play-offs, but Rajasthan didn't seem too optimistic on that front. They knew the remoteness of the outside chance, and took the opportunity to make six changes to their side. Rajasthan now stand knocked out, and Kochi, with 12 points from 13 games, need to win their last game and need Kolkata and Punjab to lose theirs.

None of Rajasthan's experiments worked. RP Singh and Sreesanth offered no freebies. Faiz Fazal was caught plumb in front by a full toss before Sreesanth got Dravid with a nice outswinger. Rahane followed up a flick from wide outside off to mid-on with a shuffle too far across, making it 26 for 3 in 5.2 overs.

Rajasthan didn't look to rebuild; they knew they would need a substantial total here. Ashok Menaria began with a six off Sreesanth, Shane Watson with three off debutant left-arm spinner P Prashanth. At 56 for 3 after eight, it seemed like Rajasthan were on their way back, but Watson played all around a full delivery from Prasanth Parameswaran.

Now began the Hodge show. He kept tossing the ball up, the Rajasthan batsmen kept trying to hit the ball into the jungles of Madhya Pradesh. All of Hodge's four victims thought they could hit him for sixes; they could not have been more wrong. Pinal Shah managed to go as far as long-on, Jacob Oram failed to even get a touch, Shane Warne dragged one slog-sweep on, and Menaria found long-off. When Menaria fell, Rajasthan had slumped to 89 for 9 in the 16th over, and they were not going to get many more.