When 22 year old Wikum Kuruppu finished his double degree in Science and Arts at the University of Monash, he wanted to take a year off doing volunteer work, before immersing himself in a career.
Born in Panadura, he migrated with his family to New Zealand when he was just two, and then moved on to Australia where he studied and grew up. Now straddling adulthood, he wanted to give something back to the world before embarking on a career but instead of Africa, his mother convinced him he owed something to Sri Lanka in particular.
Dr Brian Seniwiratne, the 81 year old Sri Lankan born Australian has been deported by the Malaysian immigration authorities today. Dr Senivaratne. Dr Seniwiratne is trained as a Gastroenterologist, Physician and has a practice located in Wynnum. He has been a long-time critic of the Sri Lankan Government over its treatment of Tamils.
A recent article in IPS by Sri Lankan journalist Amantha Perera highlights the difficulties faced by the widow of war victims in both Nepal and Sri Lanka.
In Nepal she highlights the story of Sita Tamang, whose husband went missing in 2004. When Tamang tried to claim compensation from the government more than 7 years after her husband’s disappearances she was met with resistance and demands that she produce paperwork substantiating their union.
A Group of 42 human rights and political activists and journalists from Southern Sri Lanka entering Tamil homeland in the north were detained by police in Jaffna and prevented from attending a protest to mark international human rights day in Jaffna on 10 December 2011, while events to mark Human Rights Day including protests in other parts of Sri Lanka such as in Colombo, Kandy and Kurunegela were allowed to take place without disruption. The police also tried to disperse the locals who gathered in Jaffna town to join the rally.
Tamil Solidarity organised an urgent protest in front of the Sri Lankan High Commission in London yesterday demanding an immediate unconditional release of Jaffna University students.
Sri Lanka’s first Communications Satellite SupremeSAT – 1 was launched today on board China’s Long March 3B/E Launch Vehicle from the Xi-chang Satellite Launch Centre.
SupremeSAT – 1 was launched successfully at Sri Lankan time 15:43hrs from the Space Center in China, Vijith Peiris Group CEO of SupremeSAT said. “This is a proud moment for us as citizens of Sri Lanka,” he told Ada Derana.
Sri Lanka becomes the 45th country to own a Communication Satellite and becomes the third South Asian country to have launched a satellite after India and Pakistan.
In Turkey on 16 July, the trial against 46 lawyers, three employees of law firms and a journalist who are suspected of having ties with the Union of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK) started. The Turkish authorities regard the KCK as the local branch of the banned Kurdish labour party PKK. The majority of the suspected lawyers is (or was) involved in the defence of Abdullah Öcalan. According to the office of the prosecutor, the suspects have communicated instructions from Öcalan to his supporters. The lawyers are accused of “working for, or belonging to, a terrorist organisation.”
Convenor of the Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF) Udul Premarathne was arrested by police today. A representative of the Inter University Student’s Federation said that Premaratne was arrested when he came out after attending a discussion and press briefing at the UNP party headquarters Sirikotha.
