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Bavarian town that accidentally ordered 12-year supply of toilet paper flushes last roll

A Bavarian town that accidentally ordered a 12-year supply of toilet paper is officially wiped out.

The mayor of Fuchstal, a small German town of around 4,000 people near Munich, says "the last roll has now been used up."

The toilet roll tale started in 2006 when a council employee mistakenly ordered two massive truckloads of the paper product.

ALABAMA SHERIFF'S OFFICE MISTKENLY ORDERS 24,000 ROLLS OF TOILET PAPER 

When the first vehicle rolled into the town, authorities realized their mistake and were able to successfully cancel the second truck. However, they were still stuck with roll upon roll on the first truck.

Trying to stash that much toilet paper was another headache.

Mayor Erwin Karg told local media that he assembled a 4-person team to find places to tuck the toilet paper around town.

"In primary schools, the secondary school, with us in the town hall --  toilet paper was hidden in the storage rooms everywhere,” he said, including the firehouse.

So just how much paper was there? Well, not as much as one would think.

US EMBASSY IN LONDON AUCTIONING OFF 1,200 ROLLS OF TOILET PAPER, 'USABLE' VOLVO

Part of the reason why it took the town more than a decade to use up the toilet paper was because of the condition of the paper itself. Residents complained the gray-colored 1-ply was too flimsy, turned brittle and yellow under exposure to sunlight. Some workers refused outright to use it and opted to bring their own toiled paper from home.

The silver-gray lining in the fiasco is that the botched order saved the city money because the price of wood rose the following year.

"We were able to save up over ($1,130) because the price of wood went up next year, which also made toilet paper more expensive," Karg was quoted by the DPA news agency as saying.

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So what now?

Karg says the city will give it another go and buy even more paper - only this time it will be 2-ply.

Source: Fox News World

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Rep. Will Hurd: Texas Farmers Could Have Land Seized to Build Wall

Rep. Will Hurd: Texas Farmers Could Have Land Seized to Build Wall

More than 1,000 Texas farmers are at risk of having their land seized by the federal government to build President Donald Trump’s long-promised border wall, Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, said Sunday.

In an interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation,” Hurd alluded to the eminent domain strategy Trump suggested in 2016 to build the wall.

"In the great state of Texas, we care about a little thing called private property, and there's going to be over 1,000 ranchers and farmers potentially impacted if the government comes in and takes their land,” Hurd said

"[Government officials] say, 'Hey, we need this land. Here's what we're going to give you.' And they get to automatically take it. And then the rancher or the landowner has to go in and fight in court,” he added.

Hurd also lamented the national emergency that Trump declared being used as a "tool that the president needs in order to solve this problem," saying it puts the nation "almost in uncharted territory."

"Our government wasn't designed to operate by national emergency,” he said. 

“Unfortunately, a Congress that existed before I was born usurped some of their power, gave some of their power away to the executive branch. Our government was designed for the most ultimate power, the power of the purse, to reside within Congress. And we shouldn't have an executive — I don't care if it's Republican or Democrat — that tries to get around Congress with this national emergency declaration."

Hurd said he’s willing to make sure “that Congress takes back some of this power as a coequal branch of government.”

“And I'm sure there will be a lot of conversations. We're almost in uncharted territory now because I think that based on my research and this is one of the first times that there has been a disagreement between the executive branch and Congress on what is indeed a national emergency,” he said.

Related Stories:

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Exclusive: Trident Energy takes lead in Petrobras oilfield sale – sources

FILE PHOTO: A man walks in front of the Brazil's state-run Petrobras oil company headquarters in Rio de Janeiro
FILE PHOTO: A man walks in front of the Brazil's state-run Petrobras oil company headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes

March 20, 2019

By Gram Slattery and Carolina Mandl

RIO DE JANEIRO/SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Warburg Pincus-backed firm Trident Energy is in exclusive talks with Petroleo Brasileiro SA to acquire a pair of Brazilian oil clusters, two sources with knowledge of the matter said this week, as the state-run company known as Petrobras moves to revive the sale effort.

Petrobras had agreed in July to enter into exclusive talks with Ouro Preto Oleo e Gas, a Brazilian energy company backed by private equity firm EIG Global Energy Partners, to sell its Pampo and Enchova shallow water oil clusters off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.

At the time, the clusters were expected to fetch around $1 billion. However, Ouro Preto reduced its offer and Petrobras walked away, Reuters reported in January.

Petrobras has since entered exclusive talks with Trident Energy, which had bid for the fields in 2018 but did not enter into direct talks with Petrobras because its offer was below Ouro Preto’s offer, according to the sources.

Trident was set up by former executives of independent Anglo-French oil firm Perenco in 2016. Its portfolio is comprised of production assets located in Equatorial Guinea. An acquisition of the Pampo and Enchova clusters in Brazil’s Campos Basin would mark its first foothold outside of Africa.

Petrobras and Trident did not respond to requests for comment.

Petrobras is currently divesting a wide range of mature onshore and offshore oilfields, among other assets, in a bid to cut debt and refocus on Brazil’s promising deepwater ‘pre-salt’ play. Last week, Petrobras CEO Roberto Castello Branco said he expected the company would complete $10 billion in divestments in the first four months of 2019.

The quick pivot to Trident after the collapse of talks with Ouro Preto illustrates the resolve of Petrobras to push ahead with those asset disposals. The often complex sales have proceeded in fits and starts.

Should Petrobras and Trident come to terms, the sources said, Petrobras will likely hold a final rebidding round, in which competing parties, including Ouro Preto, can submit final bids of varying values for Pampo and Enchova, so long as those bids have the same contractual terms as any agreement with Trident.

Together, Pampo and Enchova produced almost 39,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, according to July figures, making it the largest mature production asset in Petrobras’ divestment portfolio.

(Reporting by Gram Slattery and Carolina Mandl; Editing by David Gregorio)

Source: OANN

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Oregon K-9 officer stuck with more than 200 porcupine quills while pursuing suspect, police say

A police K-9 in Oregon was in pursuit of a suspect when a porcupine crossed the dog's path and pierced him with more than 200 quills, authorities said Monday.

Odin, the K-9 officer, was on the trail of a fleeing suspect — identified as 29-year-old Devin J. Wilson — on Saturday when he got in a tangle with the porcupine, the Coos County Sheriff's Office said. Several of the 200 quills went into the dog’s mouth and two stuck close to his eye.

EXOTIC CAT ON THE LOOSE IN VIRGINIA, ANIMAL CONTROL WORKING WITH OWNER TO CAPTURE IT

Police said they immediately suspended the search and rushed Odin to a veterinarian at Hanson-Meekins Animal Hospital in Coos Bay. The K-9 officer was sedated and treated for more than two hours.

K-9 officer Odin received a face-full of porcupine quills while pursuing a suspect over the weekend. Both the suspect and the porcupine remain at large, police said.

K-9 officer Odin received a face-full of porcupine quills while pursuing a suspect over the weekend. Both the suspect and the porcupine remain at large, police said. (Coos County Sheriff's Office)

“The sheriff’s office would like to offer thanks to the staff at Hanson-Meekins for their dedication and professional care, as well as to the public for the outpouring of support for K9 Odin,” a news release said.

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Dozens of people wished Odin a "speedy recovery" online. Deputies told FOX12 Oregon Odin was doing well as he rested at home, but his porcupine assailant “remains at large.”

Police said they are still seeking Wilson, who has several felony warrants.

Source: Fox News National

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South Africa faces escalating unrest if ANC doesn’t reform, opposition says

FILE PHOTO: Leader of South African opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) Mmusi Maimane arrives for the party's election manifesto launch in Johannesburg
FILE PHOTO: Leader of South African opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) Mmusi Maimane speaks during the party's election manifesto launch in Johannesburg, South Africa, February 23, 2019. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo

April 18, 2019

By Alexander Winning

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa faces escalating unrest if the governing African National Congress (ANC) party retains power in next month’s election and fails to introduce major reforms, the leader of the country’s biggest opposition party said on Thursday.

In the most hotly contested election since the end of apartheid in South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa is hoping to reverse a slide in support for the ANC, which has won every general election since Nelson Mandela swept to power in 1994.

Ramaphosa, who replaced scandal-plagued Jacob Zuma as ANC leader more than a year ago, has cast himself as a reformer but has been hampered by party infighting.

“If nothing changes radically now by the ballot box, … there will be more protests, and then who knows?” Mmusi Maimane, head of the Democratic Alliance (DA) party, told reporters when asked whether South Africa faced a violent future.

“50 percent of young people in this country can’t find work. They will act, give them the time,” Maimane added. The overall unemployment rate in Africa’s most advanced economy is around 27 percent.

Opinion polls predict the ANC will hold onto its majority in the May 8 election, but they differ over its margin of victory.

The DA, which has roots among white liberals in the apartheid era, elected Maimane as its first black leader in 2015 to widen its appeal and improved its national standing by winning control of several major cities in 2016.

But it has since become embroiled in internal disputes, and some analysts think Ramaphosa’s reformist credentials will help the ANC eat into the DA’s liberal support base.

Maimane said on Thursday that the DA had not done enough to capitalize on the failings of the ANC, whose reputation was tarnished by a series of corruption scandals under Zuma.

He criticized Ramaphosa’s track record on reform.

“Fighting corruption isn’t reforming … any government must do that,” Maimane said.

An ANC spokesman acknowledged receipt of questions from Reuters on Maimane’s comments but did not respond.

The DA opposes ANC policy proposals like changing the constitution to facilitate land expropriation without compensation. It supports selling off stakes in struggling state firms to bolster their finances, whereas conservative parts of the ANC are suspicious of any form of privatization.

The DA leader said one goal on May 8 was to bring the ANC’s vote share below 50 percent, from 62 percent at the 2014 election.

“Then we will have a grand negotiation in South Africa about political reform,” Maimane said. The DA received 22 percent of the vote in 2014.

(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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Ukraine presidential candidate wants debate with drug tests

The debate about a presidential runoff debate in Ukraine is escalating.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the comic actor who easily beat President Petro Poroshenko in the first round, is proposing that a debate between the two before Ukraine's April 21 presidential runoff be moderated by the candidate who came in third place, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Zelenskiy on Thursday said that Tymoshenko could guarantee an honest debate because she doesn't support either candidate.

Tymoshenko, however, has consistently denounced Poroshenko for failing to rein in corruption and has run against him for president twice.

Zelenskiy wants the debate to be held April 19 in Kiev's Olimpiskiy Stadium, the country's biggest arena and said both candidates should take drug tests. Poroshenko's campaign spokesman said the president will wait for Zelenskiy at the stadium Friday morning for the tests.

Source: Fox News World

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Ex-ministers keep up pressure on Canada’s Trudeau over scandal

FILE PHOTO: Independent MP Wilson-Raybould speaks during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa
FILE PHOTO: Independent MP Jody Wilson-Raybould speaks during a news conference with Jane Philpott on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie/File Photo

April 4, 2019

By Steve Scherer

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Two former ministers who were expelled from Canada’s ruling Liberal Party this week kept up pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday, saying he should have apologized for inappropriately trying to influence a criminal proceeding.

The two-month old scandal centers on Jody Wilson-Raybould, who in February said officials had leaned on her while she was justice minister last year to ensure construction company SNC-Lavalin Group Inc escaped a corruption trial.

Former Treasury Board chief Jane Philpott resigned her post because she disagreed with how Trudeau had handled the matter. He turfed both women from the Liberal caucus on Tuesday in a bid to end a scandal which is undermining his support ahead of a federal election in October. [L1N21K1V6]

“There is very good evidence that there were attempts to have political interference with a very serious criminal trial,” Philpott said in an interview with Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

“I have tried to suggest that the way to deal with this is to speak the truth, to admit that mistakes were made, to apologize to Canadians for it and find out how it happened and make sure it never happens again,” Philpott said in one of her first interviews since being ejected from caucus.

Wilson-Raybould, in an interview with the Globe and Mail newspaper, also said Trudeau should have “accepted responsibility and apologized to Canadians”.

Wilson-Raybould says officials urged her to overrule prosecutors who insisted SNC-Lavalin must face trial on charges of bribing Libyan officials between 2001 and 2011. The firm wanted to take advantage of a law passed last year allowing it to escape with a fine.

Trudeau has denied any wrongdoing, saying he and officials had wanted to make sure Wilson-Raybould understood the potential for job losses if SNC-Lavalin were found guilty.

In an editorial, the Globe and Mail, which broke the SNC-Lavalin story in February, said Trudeau should have immediately apologized and moved on.

“Name the error. Make it right. End the story,” the newspaper said. Instead, the slow-burning affair, with details trickling out of a House of Commons justice committee inquiry, has taken a heavy toll.

At the start of the year, the Liberals looked well placed to win the October election, but an Ipsos poll last week showed them trailing the rival Conservative Party by 10 percentage points.

Trudeau may address the affair when he speaks later on Thursday in Quebec, the province where SNC-Lavalin has its headquarters.

(Reporting by Steve Scherer; editing by David Ljunggren and Susan Thomas)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Naqvi Founder and Group Chief Executive of Abraaj Group attends the annual meeting of the WEF in Davos
FILE PHOTO: Arif Naqvi, Founder and Group Chief Executive of Abraaj Group attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Tom Arnold

LONDON (Reuters) – A London court case to extradite Arif Naqvi, founder of collapsed private equity firm Abraaj Group, to the United States on fraud charges was adjourned until May 24, a court official said on Friday.

Naqvi was remanded in custody until that date, the official said. A former managing partner of Dubai-based Abraaj, Sev Vettivetpillai, was released on conditional bail to appear again at Westminster Magistrates Court on June 12, the official said.

Under the U.S. charges, both men are accused of defrauding U.S. investors by inflating positions held by Abraaj in order to attract greater funds from them, causing them financial loss, the official said.

Vettivetpillai could not be reached for a comment.

Naqvi, in a statement released through a PR firm, has pleaded innocent.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that Naqvi and his firm raised money for the Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund, collecting more than $100 million over three years from U.S.-based charitable organizations and other U.S. investors.

Naqvi and Vettivetpillai were arrested in Britain earlier this month. Another executive, Mustafa Abdel-Wadood was arrested at a New York hotel, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Griswold said at a hearing in Manhattan federal court on April 11.

Abdel-Wadood appeared at the Manhattan hearing and pleaded not guilty to securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy charges.

(Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: OANN

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Former Vice President Joe Biden announces his 2020 candidacy
Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in this still image taken from a video released April 25, 2019. BIDEN CAMPAIGN HANDOUT via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

April 26, 2019

By James Oliphant

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, in his first interview as a Democratic presidential candidate, said on Friday that he does not believe he treated law professor Anita Hill badly during the 1991 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Biden had joined the burgeoning 2020 Democratic field a day earlier.

Biden’s conduct during those hearings, when he was chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, became a renewed subject of controversy after the New York Times reported that Biden had called Hill earlier this month in the run-up to his presidential bid and that Hill was dissatisfied with Biden’s expression of regret.

Appearing on ABC’s “The View,” Biden largely defended his actions as a senator almost 30 years ago, saying he believed Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment levied at Thomas and tried to derail his confirmation.

Activists have long been unhappy that Hill was questioned in graphic detail by the all-white, all-male committee chaired by Biden.

“I’m sorry she was treated the way she was treated,” Biden said, but later, he asserted, “I don’t think I treated her badly. … How do you stop people from asking inflammatory questions?”

“There were a lot of mistakes made across the board and for those I apologize,” he said.

Biden praised Hill as “remarkable” and said she is “one of the reasons we have the #MeToo movement.”

Asked why he had not reached out to Hill earlier, Biden said he had previously publicly stated he had regrets about her treatment and that he “didn’t want to quote invade her space.”

That seemed to be a reference to another controversy that looms over Biden’s presidential run: allegations by several women that he made them uncomfortable by touching them at political events.

Biden also addressed that criticism, saying he was now more “cognizant” about a woman’s “private space.” But he maintained that he had been “trying to bring solace.”

He suggested he was still trying to sort out the guidelines for his conduct going forward.

“I should be able to read better,” he said. “I have to be more careful.”

Pressed by the show’s panel for an apology to his accusers, Biden would not entirely capitulate.

“So, I invaded your space,” he replied. “I mean, I’m sorry this happened. But I’m not sorry in a sense that I think I did anything that was intentionally designed to do anything wrong or be inappropriate.”

Biden, 76, served as former President Barack Obama’s vice president for two terms. He is competing with 19 others for the Democratic presidential nomination and the chance to likely face President Donald Trump next year in the general election.

His first public event as a presidential candidate is scheduled for Monday in Pittsburgh.

(Reporting by James Oliphant; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of Tesla is seen in Taipei
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Tesla is seen in Taipei, Taiwan August 11, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Noel Randewich

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Tesla Inc’s stock slumped over 4% on Friday to its lowest price in two years, rounding out a rough week that included worse-than-expected quarterly results and a pitch by Chief Executive Elon Musk on autonomous cars that failed to win over investors.

With investors betting Tesla will soon raise capital, the stock has fallen 13% for the week to its lowest level since January 2017, before the launch of the Model 3 sedan aimed at making the electric car maker profitable.

One positive development for Tesla: a U.S. District Court judge on Friday granted a request by Musk and the Securities and Exchange Commission for a second extension to resolve a dispute over Musk’s use of Twitter.

On Wednesday, Tesla posted a worse-than-expected loss of $702 million for the March quarter. Musk said Tesla would return to profit in the third quarter and that there was “some merit” to raising capital.

Musk is still battling to convince investors that demand for the Model 3, the company’s first car aimed at the mass consumer market, is “insanely” high, and that it can be delivered efficiently to customers around the world.

Tesla ended its first quarter with $2.2 billion, down from $3.7 billion in the prior quarter, and the company is planning expansions including a Shanghai factory, an upcoming Model Y SUV, and other projects.

(GRAPHIC: Tesla’s cash – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DyJjX6)

On Monday, Musk hosted a self-driving event, where he predicted Tesla would have over a million autonomous vehicles by next year. Some analysts perceived the presentation as a way to deflect attention from questions about demand, margin pressure, increasing competition and even Musk’s ongoing battle with U.S. regulators.

Tesla’s stock has now fallen 29 percent in 2019 and the company’s market capitalization has declined to $41 billion from $63 billion in mid-December.

(GRAPHIC: Tesla’s declining market cap – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dwd62r)

Analysts now expect Tesla’s revenue to expand 19% in 2019, compared with 83% growth in 2018 and 68% growth in 2017, according to Refinitiv.

Following Tesla’s quarterly report, 12 analysts recommend selling the stock, while 11 recommend buying and eight are neutral. The median analyst price target is $275, up 16% from the stock’s current price of $236. Berenberg analyst Alexander Haissl has the most optimistic price target, at $500, while Cowen and Company’s Jeffrey Osborne has the lowest, at $160, according to Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said Friday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s rare public criticism of the Obama administration was a “soft” way of accusing the previous administration of covering up Russia’s attempts at hacking the 2016 presidential election.

While speaking Thursday in New York at the Public Servants Dinner of the Armenian Bar Association, Rosenstein said that the Obama administration “chose not to publicize the full story about Russian computer hackers and social media trolls and how they relate to Russia’s broader strategy to undermine America.”

During an appearance on “America’s Newsroom” Friday morning, Huckabee called the comments an “unusually candid moment for Rosenstein.”

“I thought it was a soft way of him saying there was a cover-up,” Huckabee said. “They knew the Russians were attempting to influence the election and attempting to hack the election but they didn’t fully disclose that to the American people and certainly didn’t disclose it to the Trump campaign.

SWALWELL NOT CERTAIN TRUMP ISN’T A ‘RUSSIAN ASSET’

“Instead they tried to set a trap for them. It failed. The Trump team did not take the bait. And that’s the one conclusion that we can certainly come away with from the $35 million worth of investigation,” Huckabee continued.

Next week, Attorney General William Barr will testify before Congress and is expected to answer questions about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of President Trump, which found that there was not adequate evidence to conclude that President Trump and his administration colluded with Russia, though the president could not be exonerated in terms of the possibility that he obstructed justice.

Barr will testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee next Wednesday and to the House Judiciary Committee the following day.

TRUMP ASSESSES 2020 DEMS; TAKES SWIPES AT BIDEN, SANDERS; DISMISSES HARRIS, O’ROURKE; SAYS HE’S ROOTING FOR BUTTIGIEG 

“It is going to be a theater, an absolute show,” Huckabee said of the hearings. “Just like the Kavanaugh hearings were and like everything else is in Congress. We ought to close the curtain on them and can’t come back until after the election. They aren’t doing their job anyway. We aren’t paying them because they’re doing a wonderful service to the country and spare us the hypocrisy of thinking they’re interested in getting to the bottom of the facts,” he continued.

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Ultimately, Huckabee argued, if Americans “took their partisan hats off,” they would see that President Trump was exonerated by the investigation.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Sri Lanka's former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa greets his supporters after his return from the United States, in Katunayake
Sri Lanka’s former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa greets his supporters after his return from the United States, in Katunayake, Sri Lanka April 12, 2019. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

April 26, 2019

By Sanjeev Miglani and Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s former wartime defense chief, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said on Friday he would run for president in elections this year and would stop the spread of Islamist extremism by rebuilding the intelligence service and surveilling citizens.

Gotabaya, as he is popularly known, is the younger brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the two led the country to a crushing defeat of separatist Tamil rebels a decade ago after a 26-year civil war.

More than 250 people were killed in bomb attacks on hotels and churches on Easter Sunday that the government has blamed on Islamist militants and that Islamic State has claimed responsibility for.

Gotabaya said the attacks could have been prevented if the island’s current government had not dismantled the intelligence network and extensive surveillance capabilities that he built up during the war and later on.

“Because the government was not prepared, that’s why you see a panic situation,” he said in an interview with Reuters.

Gotabaya said he would be a candidate “100 percent”, firming up months of speculation that he plans to run in the elections, which are due by December.

He was critical of the government’s response to the bombings. Since the attacks, the government has struggled to provide clear information about how they were staged, who was behind them and how serious the threat is from Islamic State to the country.

“Various people are blaming various people, not giving exactly the details as to what happened, even people expect the names, what organization did this, and how they came up to this level, that explanation was not given,” he said.

On Friday, President Maithripala Sirisena said the government led by premier Ranil Wickremesinghe should take responsibility for the attacks and that prior information warning of attacks was not shared with him.

Wickremesinghe said earlier he was not advised about warnings that came from India’s spy service either, presenting a picture of a government still in disarray since the two leaders fell out last October.

Gotabaya is facing lawsuits in the United States, where he is a dual citizen, over his role in the war and afterwards.

The South Africa-based International Truth and Justice Project, in partnership with U.S. law firm Hausfeld, filed a civil case in California this month against Gotabaya on behalf of a Tamil torture survivor.

In a separate case, Ahimsa Wickrematunga, the daughter of murdered investigative editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, filed a complaint for damages in the same U.S. District Court in California for allegedly instigating and authorizing the extrajudicial killing of her father.

Gotabaya said the cases were baseless and only a “little distraction” as he prepared for the election campaign. He said he had asked U.S. authorities to renounce his citizenship and that process was nearly done, clearing the way for his candidature.

‘DISMANTLE THE NETWORKS’

He said that if he won, his immediate focus would to be tackle the threat from radical Islam and to rebuild the security set-up.

“It’s a serious problem, you have to go deep into the groups, dismantle the networks,” he said, adding he would give the military a mandate to collect intelligence from the ground and to mount surveillance of groups turning to extremism.

Gotabaya said that a military intelligence cell he had set up in 2011 of 5,000 people, some of them with Arabic language skills and that was tracking the bent towards extremist ideology some of the Islamist groups were taking in eastern Sri Lanka was disbanded by the current government.

“They did not give priority to national security, there was a mix-up. They were talking about ethnic reconciliation, then they were talking about human rights issues, they were talking about individual freedoms,” he said.

President Sirisena’s government sought to forge reconciliation with minority Tamils and close the wounds of the war and launched investigations into allegations of rights abuse and torture against military officers.

Officials said many of these secret intelligence cells were disbanded because they faced allegations of abuse, including torture and extra judicial killings.

Muslims make up nearly 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 22 million, which is predominantly Buddhist.

(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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