Category Archives: life stories

Hot Press: Young Nizamdeen of Lanka arrested on Terrorism Charges in Sydney

I = News Item in NewsCom.au, 31 August 2018, entitled “Sydney man charged with terror offences”

A SRI Lankan man working at a Sydney university has been charged over a document that police allege contained plans for terrorist attacks. Mohamed Kamer Nilar Nizamdeen was arrested by counter-terrorism officers at the University of NSW in Kensington on Thursday. It followed a tip-off from a worker at the university, who police said found a notebook that allegedly named several locations and individuals as “potential targets”. “They are symbolic locations within Sydney,” Detective Acting Superintendent Mick Sheehy told reporters on Friday.

Mohamed Nizamdeen was employed by the University of New South Wales.Picture: FacebookSource:Supplied

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Filed under australian media, education, ethnicity, fundamentalism, historical interpretation, jihad, legal issues, life stories, Muslims in Lanka, politIcal discourse, religiosity, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, world events & processes

Imran Khan is Ultimate Hope for Indo-Pak Amity — says Gavaskar

S.  Venkat Narayan, in Island, 21 August 2018 where the title is “Sunil Gavaskar: If “Immy” Khan’t usher in a new eram of friendship between India and Pakistan, nobody can”

Sunil Gavaskar, the Indian cricket legend, friend and rival of Imran Khan during their cricketing years, has expressed the hope that Khan will succeed in improving the strained relations between their nuclear-armed countries.  “Not just Pakistanis but the Indians also want him to take care of the problems between the two countries and bring a new zest to the relationship, for if Imran ‘Khan’t then nobody can!” Gavaskar declared in a special article published in The Times of India today.

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Nillanthan Maha steps out: Essays in Sinhala on the Sinhala-Tamil Interface

Nillanthan Maha, translated by Jivendran Nadarajah & Athula Vithanage… and courtesy of IDSLANKA.ORG

ONE =නිලාන්දන්: තිස් පස් වසක් රක්නා කළු ජූලියේ උරුමය කුමක්ද?

TWO =නිලාන්දන්: නයාරු ධීවර ගැටුම පිටුපස විජයෝන්මාදයේ සෙවණැලි

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Presidency Stakes: A Constitutional Knot that is Gordian as Gordian can be

Neville Ladduwahetty,in The Island, 29 August 2018, where the title runs “Interpreting the 19th Amendment”

The hot topic in town is whether former twice elected Presidents Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa are qualified to seek reelection under provisions of the 19th Amendment. Dr. Nihal Jayawickrama in a legally well analyzed article titled “Disqualifying Twice Elected Presidents – A Failed Endeavour” (Sunday Island, August 19, 2018) argues that since Parliament did not provide in the 19th Amendment, a disqualification that would apply retrospectively former twice elected Presidents are not disqualified from seeking reelection.

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“Hitler had …. ball” by Holy Cross College Female Band wins Prize at Malaysian Competition

Holy Cross College, Sri Lanka,International Marching Band competition Malaysia 2018 Bronze Medalist

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Filed under charitable outreach, commoditification, cultural transmission, education, female empowerment, life stories, sri lankan society, travelogue, Uncategorized

Repression of Uighurs in China: Why Islamic States are Silent

Alexandra Ma, in UK Business Insider, 17 August 2018, where  the title runs Why the Muslim world isn’t saying anything about China’s repression and ‘cultural cleansing’ of its downtrodden Muslim minority”

China’s crackdown on its Uighur citizens, a mostly-Muslim ethnic minority group, has faced heavy international scrutiny in recent months. In August the United Nations said it was “deeply concerned” by reports that China had forced as many as 1 million Uighurs into internment camps in Xinjiang, western China. In April, the US State Department said it had heard of Uighurs who had “disappeared” or were unexpectedly detained.

Meanwhile, Muslim countries have been deafeningly silent.

 Map showing the projects subsumed under the Belt and Road Initiative as of December 2015. Reuters

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Fervent Faces as Signs of Extremism and Deceit? From Lakemba to Lanka

Michael Roberts

The video report on Lakemba in Sydney by Emma Reynolds is causing a minor stir. My reproduction of the web report in Thuppahi and its circulation drew comments from one George Rupesinghe who challenged her sweeping presentation of “Muslim monoculturalism” and the alleged no-go sites in Lakemba.

Says Rupesinghe: “This Canadian woman came to Oz merely to draw attention to herself. She set out to be deliberately provocative and the police officer very rightly warned her against using her “free speech” rights to incite unrest. Besides the mosque there is a Christian (Uniting) Church on the main street. Another Christian Church just off the main street along the Lakemba Street and a Catholic Church also on Lakemba Street.” Continue reading

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Michelle de Kretser: From Methodist College to Global Platforms

ONE: Wikipedia Notice on Michelle de Kretser

Michelle de Kretser = born 11 November 1957 =  an Australian novelist who was born in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), and moved to Australia in 1972 when she was 14.[1]   De Kretser was educated at Methodist College, Colombo and in Methodist College, Colombo,[2] and in Melbourne and Paris.

She worked as an editor for travel guides company Lonely Planet, and while on a sabbatical in 1999, wrote and published her first novel, The Rose Grower. Her second novel, published in 2003, The Hamilton Case was winner of the Tasmania Pacific Prize, the Encore Award (UK) and the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Southeast Asia and Pacific). Her third novel, The Lost Dog, was published in 2007. It was one of 13 books on the long list for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for fiction. From 1989 to 1992 she was a founding editor of the Australian Women’s Book Review. Her fourth novel, Questions of Travel, won several awards, including the 2013 Miles Franklin Award, the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal (ALS Gold Medal), and the 2013 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards for fiction. It was also shortlisted for the 2014 Dublin Impac Literary Award. Her 2017 novel, The Life to Come, was shortlisted for the 2018 Stella Prize.[3]

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Michelle de Kretser secures Miles Franklin Award Once Again: Two Reports

I = Jason Steger: “Michelle de Kretser wins her second Miles Franklin award,” Sydney Morning Herald, 27 August 2018

The first time Michelle de Kretser​ won the Miles Franklin Literary Award she missed out on much of the excitement and fuss – she was overseas at a writers festival and was woken in the middle of the night to hear the good news. On Sunday, however, she was fully rested and firmly ensconced at the Melbourne Writers Festival, ready to pick up the prize for her most recent novel, The Life to Come.

Winner of the 2018 Miles Franklin Literary Award Michelle de Kretser. Winner of the 2018 Miles Franklin Literary Award Michelle de Kretser …. Photo: Meredith O’Shea

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Goodness Gracious Me!….. Mama Mia to perform in Sri Lanka

Tina Edward Gunawardhana, in Daily Mirror, 26 August 2018

Mamma Mia will be staged at the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapakse Theatre for an eight day run from 22-30 December as part of their international tour and will be their first ever performance in South Asia.

Mamma Mia is Just Craymer’s ingenious vision of staging the story telling magic of Abba’s timeless songs with an enchanting tale of family and friendship unfolding on a Greek island. Mamma Mia’s appeal is such that it has been seen by over 60 million people in 50 productions in 16 different languages worldwide. When it was first released in 2008 Mamma Mia the movie became the highest grossing live action musical film of all times. A sequel Mamma Mia Here we go again had its global release in July 2018. Continue reading

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