Jean Arasanayagam nee Solomons: Halleluyah! Halleluyah! … In HER Memory
ONE: T. Ramakrishnan: “Sri Lanka’s poet-writer, Jean Arasanayagam, passes away,”
Jean Arasanayagam, one of Sri Lanka’s leading contemporary English literary voices, died in Kandy, Sri Lanka, on July 30 evening after a brief illness. She was 87. She is survived by her husband, Thiagarajah Arasanayagam, also a writer-painter-playwright, and two daughters. Her funeral will take place in Kandy on Friday, August 2. The civil war was one of the main subjects of the author of 50 books and recipient of several awards
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Gifts to Lanka: China pats itself on the Head
Cheng Xueyuan, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Sri Lanka, in Sri Lanka Güardian, July 2019, where the title is “Chinese military is actively providing more and more international public safety products
August 1st 1927 was the founding date of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. In the past 92 years, from war to peace, PLA had gone through arduous struggles to epic accomplishments of national independence, people’s liberation and peaceful development. Chinese people and PLA are peace-loving. China will continue to develop itself by securing a peaceful international environment and, at the same time, uphold and promote world peace through its own development.
New office and auditorium complex of the Sri Lanka Military Academy aided by China
Australia takes Tough Line on Asylum Seeking Boat People
Asiri Fernando, in Sunday Times, 28 July 2019, where the title is
Five Sri Lankan men who attempted to reach Australian shores by boat were repatriated to Colombo this week. Several attempts by Sri Lankans to sail illegally into Australia the past three months have raised questions if human smugglers are probing Canberra’s resolve to stop such incursions following the federal election in May.
Three such attempts were intercepted by the Australian and Sri Lankan authorities since then, resulting in 66 Sri Lankans being repatriated, a spokesperson for the Australian Department of Home Affairs said. Police said all those sent back were adult males. Australian authorities notified their Sri Lankan law enforcement counterparts via the Sri Lankan High Commission in Canberra prior to deporting the asylum-seekers by air.
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SL Army built Centre for Disabilities given to Kelaniya University
News Item in Island, 25 July 2018 …http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=207948
he AYATI Center – Sri Lanka’s first National Center for Children with Disabilities, was ceremonially handed over by the Sri Lankan Army to the Faculty of Medicine- University of Kelaniya on July 18. Graced by members of the Sri Lanka Army along with AYATI Trustees, partners, academics, donors and many more, this occasion marked the completion of construction of the AYATI Center. The center will be opened to the public by end 2019, providing its services free of charge to help children with disabilities in Sri Lanka.
Bearding Boris Johnson
Luke Slattery, in The Australian, 25 July 2019 where the title runs “Boris’s greek tragedy might reveal his achilles heel”
It is difficult to watch the concluding moments of a 2015 “intelligence squared” live debate between philhellene Boris Johnson and academic Mary Beard on the subject of Greece v Rome and not be concerned by the new British Prime Minister’s inability to prevail. Of course, Greece bests Rome in anything other than a contest of arms, or perhaps an aqueduct building competition. You don’t have to be a classicist to realise that.Exhibit A: Athens invented democracy; Rome destroyed it.
Ludicrous Science. Huge Error Margins in Death Toll Figures
Chandre Dharmagunawrdena, in Island, 26 July 2019, where the title is “Genocide Claims, Number Games and their margins of error”
June 23, 1983 known as “Black July” was a day of shame for Sri Lanka where a government calling itself a “Dharmista Rajya” (a Righteous Regime) permitted, aided and abetted armed mobs to attack a section of its defenseless citizens — civilian Tamils. The fact that there were looters, or the possibility that other forces fished in troubled waters (http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=74181), or that most DIG’s of the time were Tamils (http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=74047), etc., are irrelevant to the very clear-cut main issue. That state-aided terror happened in the CAPITAL itself is a FACT and not some allegation based on a numbers game of guessing how many Tamils lived in the Metropolis before and after the event.
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Lanka’s National Security Apparatus: Its Tempestuous and Unholy History
Edward Gunawardena, in Island, 22 July 2019 where the title is “The National Security Council and police intelligence”
Since the happenings on Easter Sunday 2019, much discussion has been focused on the National Security Council – the premier decision making body on matters concerning National Security. With obscure beginnings, commencing in the early years of the Sirimavo Bandaranaike regime in the sixties, the NSC has a history of over six decades. Concerned persons in governance, particularly the political stakeholders, appear to be clueless as to the composition, responsibilities, functions and the manner of operation of this organization.
http://www.dailymirror.lk/news-features/What-went-wrong-with-the-NSC-/131-168808
Challenging Hannah Beech on the Gintota Disturbances in November 2017: A Clarification
Gerald Peiris,
I was in error (albeit an inaccuracy regarding the date) when I said in my earlier message to you that there was no attack on the Muslims in Gintota on 12 November 2017. There was, in fact, a riot which began several days later.
Initial unrest was triggered off by a traffic accident along the Galle-Colombo highway on 12 November involving a motorcyclist (Sinhalese) and two pedestrians (a Muslim woman and her daughter) which ended with police mediation and the motorcyclist made to pay Rs. 25,000 as compensation to the victims (treated for minor injuries as ‘OPD patients’ at Galle).
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