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Indonesia says scores missing after illegal gold mine collapses

Rescue workers carry a victim during an evacuation process following the collapse of an illegal gold mine at Bolaang Mongondow regency in North Sulawesi
Rescue workers carry a victim during an evacuation process following the collapse of an illegal gold mine at Bolaang Mongondow regency in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, February 26, 2019 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Picture taken February 26, 2019. Antara Foto/Humas Basarnas/ via REUTERS

February 27, 2019

By Agustinus Beo Da Costa and Kanupriya Kapoor

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesian officials said on Wednesday dozens of rescuers were using spades and ropes to dig out around 45 people who were feared buried by the collapse of an illegal gold mine on the island of Sulawesi that killed at least one person.

Rescuers said they could hear the voices of some of those trapped in makeshift mining shafts in a muddy hillside in the Bolaang Mongondow area of North Sulawesi province and believed many were still alive.

“We are able to detect that many of them are still alive because we can hear their voices, as there are some places where air is getting in and out and there are gaps in the mud,” Abdul Muin Paputungan of Indonesia’s disaster agency said by phone.

Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said one body had been recovered by 8 a.m on Wednesday (0100 GMT) after the mine collapsed the previous evening. Indonesian media reports put the death toll at three.

The Indonesian government has banned such small-scale gold mining, although regional authorities often turn a blind eye to the practice in more remote areas. With little regulation, such mines are prone to accidents.

Search-and-rescue teams and military officers were working together but using simple tools such as spades and ropes because conditions remained dangerous, with the land still prone to shifting and sliding, Paputungan said.

He said the families of victims had started gathering at the mine site to wait for news.

PATCHY RECORD

Photos released by the disaster agency showed rescue workers and villagers on a muddy hillside scrambling to pull out survivors and carry them away on stretchers during the night.

Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said dozens of people had been mining for gold when beams and support boards broke suddenly.

“Evacuation efforts continued through the night because of the number of people estimated to be buried,” he said.

The issue of mining safety was thrust back into global prominence this year after a dam in Brazil holding back mining waste burst, killing more than 300 people.

Resource-rich Indonesia has a patchy record on mining safety, particularly small-scale unlicensed mines. At least five people were killed in the same part of Sulawesi last year after an illegal mine collapsed during heavy rain.

The area is also home to a gold mine operated by PT J Resources Asia Pasifik, where production began in 2013.

Agung Pribadi, a spokesman for Indonesia’s mining ministry, said by phone three mining inspectors had been sent to assist in the rescue and that illegal mines had recently been shut in the area.

“Maybe now they have started again,” he said.

Gatot Sugiharto, who heads a group called the Citizens Mining Association, estimated there were about 200 similar unlicensed mines around Indonesia, with 10 in that area of Sulawesi alone.

He said such mines operated in a gray area, with authorities reluctant to give them permits because it would mean official supervision and attention to safety.

Sugiharto estimated that an experienced miner might be able to survive for up to three or four days under the rubble if they could find air pockets and were not crushed by rocks.

“They can breath slowly and usually they don’t panic. If there is no poisonous gas they can survive for some time,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Gayatri Suroyo; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Paul Tait)

Source: OANN

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Las Vegas convenience store clerk accused of murder trying to stop ‘beer skip’

Las Vegas police say a woman working at a convenience store has been charged with murder after using deadly lethal force trying to stop a “beer skip” theft.

Police said Suse Antunez-Garcia, 26, was working at the gas station convenience store just before 6:15 a.m. Friday when she fired two rounds into a vehicle, striking the victim, a man in his 40s, in the lower back and in the leg.

“The male victim was shot while he was getting back into the vehicle during the beer skip,” Lt. Ray Spencer said, according to video posted by Fox 5 Las Vegas.

FLORIDA MAN, 32, FAKES ROBBERY TO GET OUT OF GOING INTO WORK: POLICE

He was dropped off at a hospital 15 minutes after the shooting and was pronounced dead.

The victim was shot after he and a female accomplice entered the store and stole three cases of beer, Spencer said. They arrived in a vehicle being driven by a second man.

FLORIDA MAN ARRESTED FOLLOWING ROBBERY, SHOOTING AT POLICE: OFFICIALS

Antunez-Garcia fired her weapon after she chased after the store manager who ran out first and tried to stop the man and woman from fleeing, the lieutenant said.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Antunez-Garcia was booked into the Clark County Detention Center, WJBF-TV reported Saturday.

Source: Fox News National

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Geraldo on ‘The Five’: Give Rep. Omar ‘a break’

On "The Five" on Friday, co-hosts Jesse Watters and Geraldo Rivera debated comments made by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., regarding 9/11 and her progressive colleagues defending her.

“I don't think she's a hero. I also don't think she's a victim. I think she's a below-average talent who doesn't have this sensibility to survive very much longer in Congress,” Watters told his co-hosts, criticizing Omar for her remarks and her defense.

CRENSHAW CALLS OUT OMAR FOR DESCRIBING 9/11 ATTACKS AS 'SOME PEOPLE DID SOMETHING'

Rivera asked Watters, “How do you know that?”

Watters then said that if not for her friendship with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., the Democratic Party would “cast her aside because she’s not worth the trouble.”

For the first time in history you have two Muslim women in the Congress of the United States. They carry an enormous burden

— Geraldo Rivera on Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib

Omar is being scrutinized after a speech at a Muslim rights group’s event in which she described the 9/11 terror attacks as “some people did something”.

Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., have staunchly defended defended Omar and criticized her critics, saying the attacks are racist and anit-Muslim.

“What I don't like is that she never really acknowledges what she says once she's attacked. She says you're only attacking me because of my identity not what I actually said,” Watters said.

Rivera defended Omar, noted that she was receiving death threats, and compared her situation to former President John F. Kennedy’s Catholicism being debated during his presidential campaign.

That brought a response from Watters.

I think she's a below average talent who doesn't have this sensibility to survive very much longer in Congress.

— Jesse Watters on Rep. Ilhan Omar

“If this was a white guy saying this, a white straight male Christian freshman Democrat congressman, you don't think the Republicans would be running up the score on something like that?” Watters asked Rivera.

“It's a gotcha. I mean let her learn on the job. Give her a break, Jesse,” Geraldo said.

Co-host Dana Perino then interjected, criticizing Omar for consistently saying or releasing her controversial thoughts.

“I can remember one time where I was taken out of context. And the reason for that is because I'm thoughtful about what I'm going to say. Every week she complains about being taken out of context,” Perino said.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

Rivera responded by addressing the significance of Omar and Tlaib being the first Muslim women in Congress.

“But you know what the difference is here, for the first time in history you have two Muslim women in the Congress of the United States. They carry an enormous burden,” Rivera said.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Club for Growth: Trump Budget Deficits Similar to Obama's

The Club for Growth offered some constructive criticism of the White House budget unveiled Monday, saying the Trump administration and lawmakers on Capitol Hill need to work together to lower the federal deficit.

The group's president David McIntosh first praised the 2020 spending blueprint for helping to continue economic growth, but he quickly turned into a critic.

"Club for Growth remains deeply concerned about the deficits within the budget proposal, which totals over $1 trillion each year until 2023," McIntosh said in a statement. "These deficits mirror the deficits President Obama left on the American people.

McIntosh then brought up entitlement programs, saying they need to be reformed in order to stay afloat and lower costs.

"Club for Growth encourages President Trump to work with Congress to make abrupt reforms that save these important programs for future generations," he said.

"Club for Growth also encourages every Member of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate to look in the mirror and demand better of yourself on federal spending."

Source: NewsMax America

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Massachusetts won’t score students on slavery essay question

Massachusetts education officials have decided on the unusual step of not scoring 10th grade students on a statewide exam question that some considered racially insensitive.

The Boston Globe reports that the essay question on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam was based on a passage from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Underground Railroad." Students were asked to write an essay from the perspective of a white woman who's conflicted about helping an escaped slave and uses derogatory language toward her.

Students complained that they were put in the uncomfortable position of either using racist language or sacrificing historical accuracy. The Massachusetts Teachers Association objected to the MCAS question. The organization says answering it could be especially traumatic for African American students.

State Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley says the question was intended to challenge students, but he fully understands the concerns.

Source: Fox News National

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Rep. Omar Calls Stephen Miller a ‘White Nationalist’

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., no stranger to saying how she feels, called a senior member of the Trump administration a "white nationalist" Monday afternoon.

Omar tweeted this in response to a claim senior White House adviser Stephen Miller was behind pulling the nomination of a candidate to serve as the director of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement:

"Stephen Miller is a white nationalist. The fact that he still has influence on policy and political appointments is an outrage."

Acting ICE director Ron Vitiello was picked to serve as director of the agency, but the White House withdrew the nomination in a surprise move late last week. It has been alleged Miller was pushing for someone with a stronger stance on the subject of illegal immigration, which led to President Donald Trump pulling the nomination.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Boston Globe opinion writer wished he peed on Bill Kristol’s dinner, says Nielsen must be blackballed

The Boston Globe posted an Op-Ed by a one-time waiter expressing regret he didn't urinate on the dinner of a conservative pundit and hope that outgoing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen be kept unemployed and face confrontation in public over what he deemed "ethnic cleansing."

“Keep Kirstjen Nielsen unemployed and eating Grubhub over her kitchen sink,” read the headline of the article published on Wednesday, written by Luke O’Neil, an occasional writer for the Guardian, with bylines as well in The New York Times, New York magazine, and elsewhere.

TRUMP AIDES TARGETED IN CORPORATE BLACKLIST EFFORT BY IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS

“One of the biggest regrets of my life is not pissing in Bill Kristol’s salmon,” read the article’s first sentence before it was shortly scrubbed, with the Globe issuing a prominent editor's note saying that while the previous tone wasn’t appropriate, they now embrace the content of the article. “A version of this column as originally published did not meet Globe standards and has been changed. The Globe regrets the previous tone of the piece,” the note read.

Luke O’Neil, an occasional writer for the Guardian, with bylines as well in the New York Times, New York Magazine, and elsewhere.

Luke O’Neil, an occasional writer for the Guardian, with bylines as well in the New York Times, New York Magazine, and elsewhere. (Facebook)

The piece goes on to accuse Nielsen of being a “reluctant triggerman for Donald Trump’s inhumane policies of ethnic cleansing” and call for throwing out current and former administration officials from restaurants over the administration's zero-tolerance enforcement of anti-illegal immigration policies that existed prior to Trump's election.

O’Neil wrote that “it was the last time I remember being proud to be an American” after a string of instances last year in which Nielsen, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and others were forced to leave restaurants due to rowdy protesters.

“It was also one of the only times it seemed like any of the architects of this ruinous xenophobic pre-pogrom might be forced to contend, however briefly, with the consequences of their policy decisions,” he added.

“It was also one of the only times it seemed like any of the architects of this ruinous xenophobic pre-pogrom might be forced to contend, however briefly, with the consequences of their policy decisions.”

— Luke O'Neil

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: KIRSTJEN NIELSEN ‘OVERSAW ONE OF THE LARGEST-SCALE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN HISTORY’

The article then criticized media figures for “scolding” the protesters who ushered the officials from public places, stating that he supports America becoming a country where Republicans aren’t allowed to eat at certain restaurants.

“Sadly, the scolding seems to have done its job,” O’Neil bemoaned. “It’s been a while since we’ve been treated to a soulless Trumpist going viral for going hungry, and the sacristy of the restaurant seems to have held.”

“It’s been a while since we’ve been treated to a soulless Trumpist going viral for going hungry, and the sacristy of the restaurant seems to have held.”

— Luke O'Neil

The writer admits that the situation at the southern border predates the Trump administration, but he adds that members of both the Trump and Obama administrations should be sent to prison, or at least be thrown away out of a restaurant.

“Yes, much of our mistreatment of migrants was ongoing long before the Trump gang came along. Throw the Obama-era lot in prison too, for all I care. At the very least, throw them out of a restaurant,” he wrote.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The article concludes by giving a “permission” to the members of the public to tell Trump officials “where to go and what they can do with themselves when they arrive there, but, you know, said in a more specific and traditional Boston colloquialism.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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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.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

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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