♥ Remembering PB Sreenivas and His Enchanting Duets With S. Janaki ♫

by D.B.S. Jeyaraj The traditional April new year dawned on a sad note for me last year.I woke up to the news that well –known singer of film songs Prathivadi Bayankara Sreenivas (P.B.S) had passed away in India. He was one of my favourite filmsong singers.I grew up with the Tamil film songs of people …

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A Poem that fits the spirit of Free Market Economy & Prosperity: “Where Lifestyle Grows Good Business”

By K. Thirukumaran Travelling along 401 East towards Montreal from Toronto, one can spot the sign “United Counties of Leeds and Grenville”, east of Kingston, Ontario. The Town of Gananoque, known for the Thousand Islands Tourism area is located in The Leeds and Grenville United Counties of Ontario. It is also the home of a …

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20,000 Land Permits Given by President in North without Consulting Provincial Council as Required by Law

by M.A. Sumanthiran M.P. (Extracts from speech in Parliament by TNA national list parliamentarian M. A. Sumanthiran during Land alienation bill debate on October 20th 2014) HON. M.A. SUMANTHIRAN ON THE LAND ALIENATION BILL EXTRACTS OF SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT ON 20TH OCTOBER 2014 UNLAWFUL AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL ALIENATION OF LAND The Bill that has been presented …

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Aftermath of “Attack in Ottawa”: “We have to be careful as a society to not generalize events like these to the community on the whole”

Peter Mansbridge, CBC National Anchor hosted a special segment of “Security Panel” on its flagship nightly current affairs program on October 22, 2014, on the topic of the aftermath of “Attack in Ottawa”. The discussion panel featured, Ray Boisvert-Former Assistant Director; Adrienne Arsenault – Senior CBC Correspondent and Amarnath Amarasingam-Radicalization Expert/ Postdoctoral Fellow, Resilience Research …

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“Crafted with passion their labor” ♫ A Tributary to Mandolin U. Srinivas and Gala for The Guardian Goddess

by K. Thirukumaran Featuring Translation of the Song “Vellai Thamarai Poovil Iruppall” A Song what can be referred as the “Anthem” of the Goddess of Wisdom, Saraswathy is “Vellai Thamarai Poovil Iruppall”. This song was written by Mahakavi Subramaniya Bharathiyaar and has been rendered by many artistes, both as vocal and also instrumental. The song …

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A “Global” Praise: ♫ “Guardian Goddess” and Mother Nature

by K. Thirukumaran Yathum ure yavarum Kelir” – All the world is my world, all humanity is my fraternity:”– Kaniyan Poongkundran-Translated by Rev Fr Xavier Thaninayagam Sakthi is the “Guardian Goddess” of Mahakavi Subramaniya Bharathiyar. He has said that Navarathri is a favorite festival of his and that he look forward to celebrate it every …

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The Vortex of Destiny: Indian Ocean Geo-Politics

Recorded 5/1/2014 Starr Forum- Indian Ocean: The vortex of destiny Speaker: Ranil Wickremesinghe, the former prime minister of Sri Lanka, is currently a Robert E. Wilhelm fellow at the Center for International Studies at MIT. The Sri Lankan politician and current leader of the Opposition in the Sri Lankan parliament was prime minister of Sri …

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Video: K. Balachander on Bharathiyar

Filmmaker K. Balachander drew deeply from Bharathi’s social consciousness. Statue of Great Tamil poet stands tall in Jaffna Peninsula, North of Sri Lanka-pic by Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai K. Balachander’s films, many of them trendsetters, explored themes of societal change, empowerment of women, defence of the downtrodden. Listen in as he pays tribute to the poet:

Sri Lanka Governments twice in my student-days confirmed that I will be safe in my ‘Homeland’ – MA Sumanthiran MP

M A Sumanthiran MP speaks in remembrance of Black July, the anti Tamil progrom and riots of July 1983. The TNA parliamentarian made the remarks ahead of a session on July 23, 2013 regarding Sri Lanka Electricity Board Amendment Bill He describes the dark period in Sri Lankan history which has split the individual and …

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When Minorities within Particular Group go on Rampage their Own Majority Cannot be Silent Spectators-Sumanthiran

Video and Full Text of remarks by Tamil national Alliance Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran at a recent Panel Discussion on “Religion, Reconciliation and Future”: Members of the Panel, Hon. Karu Jayasuriya, your Excellency and my friends, Five minutes is all I have, so I’m going to say a few things in a very disjointed way – …

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An Eye-witness Account of How the Police Suppressed Peaceful candle light Vigil Opposite Bodu Bala Sena Headquarters

By The Puppeteer To my right a man is hauled off by the police. He tries to resist but it’s futile as four policemen load him into a police jeep and drive off. I’m snapping away as the jeep speeds off into the distance, when a voice behind me asks, ‘what just happened?’ I explain …

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The Feminist Twist in Media Reports on Chinese Swim Sensation Ye Shiwen at Olympics

by Selywn Duke It’s difficult to say if the greatest drama of the 2012 Olympics has occurred inside or outside the athletic arena, but it’s hard for anything to compare to the controversy that recently surrounded 16-year-old Chinese swim sensation Ye Shiwen. The story started on Saturday when Ye shattered the women’s world record in …

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AlJazeera Video: ‘As long as human rights violations continue in Sri Lanka, people will flee and go to a safe country’

About 700 migrants have been arrested so far this year, and more than half of them in the last three weeks. The final segment of Al Jazeera’s three-part series on Australia’s immigration debate looks at attempts to stop so-called boat people from making the dangerous voyage. Al Jazeera’s Minelle Fernandez reports: Al Jazeera interview re: …

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‘Genocides and Mass Atrocities Don’t Just Happen Spontaneously: They are Always Planned’

by Hillary Rodham Clinton (Remarks made on July 24th 2012 by US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton at the US Holocaust emorial Forwatd looking symposium on Genocide prevention) Thank you very much, and it’s a tremendous honor for me to be here on this occasion for such an important conference. I want to start …

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Plight of journalists in Sri Lanka worsens after Geneva UNHRC Resolution-CPJ

By Bob Dietz The sorry situation faced by Journalists in Sri Lanka has seemingly worsened after the US sponsored resolution was passed by 24 to 15 at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 22nd. Vigil on 2nd anniversary of Prageeth Eknaligoda’s disappearance-24 Jan 2012, Pic by Sampath Samarakoon-courtesy: VikalpaSL Bob Dietz, coordinator …

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