COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s suspended police chief has petitioned the Supreme Court, accusing President Maithripala Sirisena of failing to prevent the Easter bombings that killed 258 people.
In a 20-page complaint, Inspector-General Pujith Jayasundara disclosed serious communication gaps between intelligence agencies and security arms of the government, all which fall under Sirisena.
In the petition submitted to court last week and seen by AFP Sunday, Jayasundara said the country’s premier spy agency, the State Intelligence Service (SIS), ordered him last year to stop ongoing police investigations into extremist militants.
The SIS, which reports directly to Sirisena, wanted the police Terrorist Investigation Department to stop all inquiries into extremist Muslim factions, including the National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ), which was blamed for the Easter Sunday bombings.
Jayasundara said the head of the SIS, Nilantha Jayawardena, did not take seriously the intelligence shared by neighboring India which warned of an impending attack by the NTJ.
Jayasundara said despite the SIS not sharing information warnings with the police department, he had initiated action to alert his senior men, but he had no input from the main spy agency.
Sirisena suspended Jayasundara after he refused to accept responsibility for the deadly attacks. The Attorney General has asked for a full bench of the apex court to decide the case.
Jayasundara said he was offered a diplomatic post if he took the fall and stepped down, but he refused as he said he was not responsible for the catastrophic intelligence failure.
He said he had been sidelined by the president since a political rift between the President and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe emerged in October.
Jayasundara’s petition came days after Sirisena publicly rebuked another intelligence official, El-Sisira Mendis, after he told a parliamentary panel that the Easter suicide bombings could have been avoided.
Mendis’s testimony appeared to put Sirisena in a poor light by implying he had not held National Security Council meetings to review threats such as the attacks carried out by Daesh.
In a statement, Sirisena denied claims by Mendis that the country’s highest security body had not met as often as it should have around the time of the attacks, which were blamed on Daesh-backed militants.
Sirisena, who is also defense minister, said in a statement he held NSC meetings twice a week, contradicting Mendis who told parliament the last meeting was on February 19, more than two months before the April 21 bombings targeting three churches and three luxury hotels.
Sirisena said he met with the national police chief and his top brass 13 days before the Easter Sunday attacks and no officer raised warnings which had been relayed by India.
Sri Lanka has been under a state of emergency since the attacks, but Sirisena announced last week that it will end in a month.
Police chief blames president for failing to prevent Sri Lanka attacks
Police chief blames president for failing to prevent Sri Lanka attacks
- The ex-police chief said the country’s intelligence services ordered him to stop investigating some extremists
- Sri Lanka’s intelligence services report directly to the president
US Army soldier shot self in head before Cybertruck exploded outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel, officials say
LAS VEGAS: The highly decorated US Army soldier inside the Tesla Cybertruck that burst into flames outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel shot himself in the head before the explosion and likely planned to cause more damage but the steel-sided vehicle absorbed much of the force from the rudimentary explosive, officials said Thursday.
Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference that a handgun was found at the feet of the man in the driver’s seat, who officials believe is Matthew Livelsberger, 37, of Colorado. The shot appeared to be self-inflicted, officials said.
Damage from the blast was mostly limited to the interior of the truck. The explosion “vented out and up” and didn’t hit the Trump hotel doors just a few feet away, the sheriff said.
“The level of sophistication is not what we would expect from an individual with this type of military experience,” said Kenny Cooper, a special agent in charge for the the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Among other charred items found inside the truck were a second firearm, a number of fireworks, a passport, a military ID, credit cards, an iPhone and a smartwatch, McMahill said. Authorities said both guns were purchased legally.
The remains were burned beyond recognition and investigators have not definitively identified them as Livelsberger, but the IDs and tattoos on the body “give a strong indication that it’s him,” the sheriff said.
Livelsberger served in the Green Berets, highly trained special forces who work to counter terrorism abroad and train partners. He had served in the Army since 2006, rising through the ranks with a long career of overseas assignments, deploying twice to Afghanistan and serving in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo, the Army said.
He was awarded a total of five Bronze Stars, including one with a valor device for courage under fire, a combat infantry badge and an Army Commendation Medal with valor. Livelsberger was on approved leave when he died, according to the statement.
McMahill said Livelsberger rented the Tesla electric vehicle in Denver on Saturday and the sheriff displayed a map showing that it was charged in the Colorado town of Monument near Colorado Springs on Monday. On New Year’s Eve, it was charged in Trinidad, Colorado, and three towns in New Mexico along the Interstate 40 corridor.
Then on Wednesday, the day of the explosion, it was charged in three Arizona towns before video showed it on the Las Vegas Strip about 7:30 a.m.
McMahill said investigators obtained charging station photos showing Livelsberger “was the individual that was driving this vehicle” and was alone.
“We’re not aware of any other subjects involved in this particular case,” the sheriff said.
Authorities searched a townhouse in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Thursday as part of the investigation. Neighbors said the man who lived there had a wife and a baby and did not give any sign of posing a danger to anyone.
Cindy Helwig, who lives diagonally across a narrow street separating the homes, said she last saw the man she knew as Matthew about two weeks ago when he asked her if she had a tool he needed to fix the SUV he was working on.
“He was a normal guy,” said Helwig, who said she last saw his wife and baby earlier this week. Helwig noted that people in the townhome on a hill with views of the mountains don’t interact much except for when they’re getting the mail or walking their dogs.
Another neighbor, Keni Mac, who said she had only seen the man around the neighborhood, said he had tattoos and an “even keeled” demeanor. Mac said she saw the wife, who goes to her gym, walking their dog Wednesday morning.
The explosion of the truck, packed with firework mortars and camp fuel canisters, came hours after 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter early on New Year’s Day, killing at least 15 people before being shot to death by police. That crash was being investigated as a terrorist attack. The FBI said Thursday that they believe Jabbar acted alone, reversing its position from a day earlier that he likely worked with others.
Both Livelsberger and Jabbar spent time at the base formerly known as Fort Bragg, a massive Army base in North Carolina that is home to multiple Army special operations units. However, one of the officials who spoke to the AP said there is no overlap in their assignments at the base, now called Fort Liberty.
Chris Raia, FBI deputy assistant director, said Thursday that officials have found ‘no definitive link’ between the New Orleans attack and the truck explosion in Las Vegas.
Seven people nearby suffered minor injuries when the Tesla truck exploded. Video showed a tumble of charred fireworks mortars, canisters and other explosive devices crowded into the back of the pickup. The truck bed walls were still intact because the blast shot straight up rather than to the sides.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday afternoon on X that “we have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself.”
Musk has recently become a member of Trump’s inner circle. Neither Trump nor Musk was in Las Vegas early Wednesday. Both had attended Trump’s New Year’s Eve party at his South Florida estate.
“It’s not lost on us that it’s in front of the Trump building, that it’s a Tesla vehicle, but we don’t have information at this point that definitively tells us or suggests it was because of this particular ideology,” said Spencer Evans, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Las Vegas.
Musk spent an estimated $250 million during the presidential campaign to support the former president. He was at Trump’s resort on election night and has been a frequent guest there. Trump has named Musk, the world’s richest man, to co-lead a new effort to find ways to cut the government’s size and spending.
Ethiopia defense minister visits Somalia in sign of detente
NAIROBI: Ethiopia’s defense minister traveled to Somalia on Thursday, a senior official in Mogadishu said, the first bilateral visit since relations nosedived a year ago over an Ethiopian plan to build a naval base in a breakaway Somali region.
Somalia’s state minister for foreign affairs, Ali Omar, confirmed Ethiopian Defense Minister Aisha Mohammed Mussa’s visit in a message to Reuters but did not say what she was there to discuss. Ethiopia’s government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Ethiopia has up to 10,000 troops in Somalia to fight militants from Al-Shabab, but Mogadishu has threatened to expel them if Addis Ababa did not renounce an agreement it reached a year ago with the breakaway Somaliland region.
The preliminary deal called for Somaliland to lease a stretch of coastline for an Ethiopian naval base and commercial port in exchange for possible recognition of Somaliland’s independence.
Somaliland has had effective autonomy since 1991 but its independence has not been recognized by any other country. Mogadishu considers it an integral part of its territory and called its deal with Ethiopia an act of aggression.
Heartbroken father pays tribute to Kareem Badawi, the Palestinian-American university student killed in New Orleans attack
- Belal Badawi tells Arab News that the death of his smart, friendly and athletic son has left his family in shock
- Belal describes the attacker as evil ‘who did not follow the religion of our people’
CHICAGO/LONDON: The father of a Palestinian-American university student killed in the New Orleans terror attack has described how the death of his “smart, polite and athletic” son has left his family heartbroken.
Kareem Badawi, 18, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was celebrating New Year with his friend Parker Vidrine when a US Army veteran plowed his truck into the crowd in the city’s French Quarter, killing 15 people.
Kareem’s father Belal told Arab News that his son was in his first year at the University of Alabama studying mechanical engineering.
“He was a smart little kid, an ‘A’ student,” he said. “He was full of life. Very responsible.
“He also just loved his friends. He had a lot of friends here and at school. He enjoyed his social life, a good person always treating people with respect. He loved people and loved to build relationships and friends.”
At 6 feet 5 inches tall, Belal said that his son loved athletics and sport and excelled at sport, including football.
“It’s so awful for our family for him to be killed that way,” Belal said. “It just shocked the whole family. He was an honest, smart kid, good-looking.
“He just wanted to enjoy his life.”
Belal said that his son had traveled to New Orleans for New Year “where everybody goes like Dubai for the holiday break.”
His friend Parker, who attended the same high school as Kareem, is in a critical condition.
“We are praying for Parker and his recovery,” Belal said. “They said he is stable and we pray for him to get better.”
Belal, a Muslim, described Kareem’s killer as evil and not representative of the Muslim faith.
“Kareem did no harm to anyone,” he said. “This evil came and did what it did. I don’t think this is Islam. It is not the religion of our people. It is wrong. What kind of people would hurt or harm civilians, innocent people and others?”
The FBI said the attacker, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, had posted videos on social media on the morning of the attack saying he supported Daesh.
Belal said that the FBI were still holding Kareem’s body and that all the family could do was pray for their son and all the other victims of the attack.
“They are not releasing anything yet so we are mourning and suffering and praying,” he said. “We pray for all the people who died and were injured including our son.
“We can’t sleep, for two days. It is very hard. It hurt us. This terrible thing has broken my heart.”
Kareem had joined the Sigma Chi fraternity at the University of Alabama.
The university’s President Stuart Bell described Badawi’s death as “heartbreaking.”
“I learned today that Kareem Badawi, one of our students at the University of Alabama, was killed in the terrorist attack in New Orleans,” Bell said in a statement. “I grieve alongside family and friends of Kareem in their heartbreaking loss.”
He urged people to take a moment to pray for those impacted by the tragedy.
Badawi graduated from the Episcopal School of Baton Rouge in May 2024 along with Parker.
The school said that it was “deeply saddened’ to learn of Badawi’s death in the attack and that Parker had been critically injured.
“It is with a profound sense of sorrow and grief that we share difficult news involving members of our Episcopal family,” the statement said. “Earlier today, we learned of a horrific attack in New Orleans that has tragically impacted our school community.”
The statement added: “Please keep the Vidrine and Badawi families in your thoughts and prayers.”
The school has scheduled an evening prayer service for the victims.
An Instagram post by the Palestinian Youth Movement described Badawi as a Palestinian-American who was a star athlete in high school, excelling in both basketball and football.
“He was beloved to all in his community in Baton Rouge,” it said.
The other victims identified in the media so far include: Nicole Perez, a 28-year old mother; Tiger Bech, 27, a Princeton University graduate; Nikyra Dedeaux, 18, an aspiring nurse from Mississippi; Reggie Hunter, 37, a father of two from Baton Rouge; Matthew Tenedorio, 25, an audiovisual technician, and Hubert Gauthreaux, 21, a graduate from the Archbishop Shaw High School in New Orleans.
Sri Lanka launches nationwide program to become ‘cleanest country in Asia’
- ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ initiative aims to help ‘lift the nation,’ along with digitalization, poverty eradication
- New government wants to usher in ‘transformative change’ for the country in 2025, president says
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's new government has launched a nationwide project aiming to make it the cleanest country in Asia and enforce the principles of environmental justice.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake kicked off the “Clean Sri Lanka” initiative on New Year’s Day, saying it would be focused on restoring the island nation’s environmental system.
Dissanayake, during a launching ceremony at the presidential secretariat in Colombo on Wednesday, said: “This endeavor goes beyond merely cleaning up the environment.
“It aspires to restore the deeply eroded and deteriorated social and environmental fabric of our motherland. We aim to create cleanliness and rejuvenation across all sectors of society.”
He added: “Every citizen must take responsibility for fulfilling their respective duties to ensure the success of this collective vision.”
The program is one of the main priorities of his administration, alongside poverty eradication and digital transformation.
Dissanayake assumed the top job in September and further consolidated his grip on power after his National People’s Power alliance won a majority in the legislature in November.
He is leading Sri Lanka as the nation continues to reel from the 2022 economic crisis — its worst since independence in 1948.
“Our firm resolution is to usher in transformative change for our country this year,” he said. “This year marks the start of a new political culture in our country, as we lay the necessary foundations for its development.”
The “Clean Sri Lanka” program is a part of efforts that will be overseen by an 18-member task force.
When Dissanayake announced the initiative last month, he said it aimed “to make Sri Lanka the cleanest country in the Asian region.”
The “Clean Sri Lanka” official website says it aims to engage communities to keep public spaces safe and clean, streamline waste disposal across the country and ensure that its world-famous beaches are clean.
It also seeks to fight corruption, promote accessible infrastructure for people with disabilities, improve air and water quality, and reduce the nation’s carbon footprint.
“If we do not make ours a cleaner country, our roads to be safer, how can we expect to develop tourism? Unless we make our public spaces disabled-friendly, how can we get them involved in the economy,” it stated, adding that the initiative was crucial to help Sri Lanka rebuild its battered economy.
Sri Lanka’s poor waste management was under global spotlight in 2022 when several elephants — which are endangered in the country — were found dead after consuming plastic in an open landfill in the eastern village of Pallakkadu.
The nation of 22 million people generates more than 1.5 million tonnes of plastic waste annually but recycles only 3 percent, compared to the world average of 7.2 percent.
NGOs in Afghanistan face closure for employing women
- New measure enforces a 2022 decree restricting women’s work at NGOs
- UN warns removing women workers will affect availability of humanitarian aid
KABUL: National and foreign nongovernmental organizations in Afghanistan are facing closure for employing women following new rules enforcing a 2-year-old decree that restricted the work of female NGO staff.
In an official letter addressed to the organizations, the Taliban-run Ministry of Economy said on Dec. 29 that failure to implement the measures would mean that “all activities of the offending organization will be suspended and the work license they received from this ministry will be revoked.”
The order enforces a decree from December 2022 that barred national and international NGOs in Afghanistan from employing women. This is part of a series of curbs that, in the three years since the Taliban took power, have restricted women’s access to education, the workplace, and public spaces.
“This letter is a follow-up of the original letter from 2022 ... Some NGOs have reached an understanding with the officials at the local level to allow female employees to attend to their work in these organizations and at the community level, while others were stopped,” an official at a women-led international NGO told Arab News.
“A complete ban on female employees will adversely affect the operations of NGOs and will further marginalize the women of Afghanistan ... Donors will not fund men-only organizations. In addition, it’s difficult to work with women in the community without female staff.”
Two years after the Taliban government ordered NGOs to suspend the employment of Afghan women, it is not only the organizations’ work and the women themselves that have been affected, but also entire families.
When Wahida Zahir, a 26-year-old social worker in Kabul, had to leave her job at an NGO, her closest family members lost their main support.
“I was the only one in my family who had a job and with the ban on female work two years ago, my family lost the main source of income. My brothers are still studying and my father is ill,” she said.
“I live with stress and tension every moment of every day. We are literally living like prisoners. There’s a new restriction every other day. It is as if there is no other work that the government does.”
The UN has warned that removing women from NGO work “will directly impact the ability of the population to receive humanitarian aid,” with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights calling on the Taliban to revoke the decree.
“The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan remains dire, with more than half the population living in poverty,” it said. “NGOs play a vital role in providing critical life-saving assistance — to Afghan women, men, girls and boys.”
In the wake of the humanitarian crisis that Afghanistan has been facing for years, it needs more women engaged in social work, not less, say activists.
“The country needs more female aid workers, educators and health professionals to reach to the most vulnerable groups of the population, including women and children,” said Fazila Muruwat, an activist in the eastern Nangarhar province.
“Afghanistan is a traditional society. Communities in Afghanistan are more accepting of humanitarian and other forms of support when aid workers include women. Otherwise, it will be all men’s show and women will remain vulnerable in all aspects of their life.”
