Sunday, October 30, 2011
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Friday, October 28, 2011
The best tamil Student
MONTREAL — Marymount Academy welcomed back one of its own Thursday: an internationally recognized scientist -- who is only 17 years old.
Abicumaran Uthamacumaran graduated from the Cote-St-Luc Rd. school four months ago, and was put on an accelerated track.
"My plans were to go to college and then university, pursue a Bachelor's and then a Master's, Ph.D., (or) med school or something like that," said the ambitious Uthamacumaran, who was fast-tracked four years ago when he sent dozens of e-mails to professors about his passion for science.
The only one who wanted to speak with him was Dr. Phil Gold, a pioneer cancer researcher who has committed his career to improving patient care through the development of groundbreaking therapies.
"After about 10 minutes, it became quite obvious he wasn't off the wall at all, but he was a very bright guy," said Dr. Gold, who said the young man is a unique young student. "From my vantage point, he's like the big bang. He's a singularity."
Gold, who was the first director of the McGill Cancer Centre, now serves as executive director of the Clinical Research Centre of the Research Institute of the MUHC, and is a montor to Uthamacumaran.
After being mentored by the leading scientist, McGill agreed to waive the Cegep prerequisite and enrolled Uthamacumaran.
The accomplishment was recognized Thursday by the staff and students at his former high school with an honorary doctorate of science from the English Montreal School Board and Marymount Academy.
Abi, as he is known, spoke humbly to students at his alma mater Thursday.
"I'm no different than anybody in this room. We're all just at the same level," he told them, serving as inspiration for some other young minds.
"I see him, the way how he's achieved his goal, and he's continuing to strive to reach higher. It makes me feel like I can do the same," said Krystopher Collymore, a student at Marymount Academy.
Uthamacumaran said he believes when you put your mind to it, there's nothing that can't be done.
"We say the sky's the limit, but there is no limit to the sky," he said. "The sky just extends forever."
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
The Australian Tamil community says
The Australian Tamil community says it feels betrayed by the Federal Government's decision to stop a war crimes case against the Sri Lankan president proceeding in Australia.
Tamil man Jegan Waran, 63, has filed charges in the Melbourne Magistrates Court against Mahinda Rajapakse, who is in Perth for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
Attorney-General Robert McClelland's permission is required for the proceedings to go ahead, but he has ruled it out.
Mr McClelland says the president is legally entitled to diplomatic immunity.
Australian Tamil Congress national spokeswoman Sam Pari says the decision is disappointing.
"We actually have a magistrate who has set a date for the hearing and to think that the Australian legal system will allow this to take place but for a politician to then say that these proceedings can't go forward is very, very disappointing," she said.
"We also feel quite betrayed as well. We have an eyewitness who has found the courage to step forward."
Former Australian diplomat Bruce Haigh says Mr McClelland is wrong to claim he would have breached international law if he allowed a war crimes case against the Sri Lankan president to proceed in Australia.
Mr Haigh says it is clear Mr McClelland's decision has been purely based on politics.
"He doesn't want to do anything that would upset the apple cart as far as CHOGM's concerned," he said.
"But in terms of international law and in terms of Australian law, no, he would not be in breach.
"He hasn't looked at the law but he's reacted politically to the situation because it's CHOGM."
He says CHOGM should be a time to discuss human rights issues.
Jegan Waran, who lives in Sydney, was working as a volunteer in Tamil-held areas, and says Sri Lankan armed forces deliberately attacked clearly marked civilian infrastructure such as hospitals.
"Patients were killed, and patients who were in the hospital were killed, and there were other patients waiting for treatment - they were killed," he told Lateline on Monday night.
"There was a medical store where they kept the medicines. Those were destroyed - scattered all over the place you can see. Ambulances were destroyed. So I have seen that personally."
Sri Lanka's government has repeatedly denied allegations of war crimes.
The Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia, Thisara Samarasinghe, declined Lateline's request for an interview, but told 7.30 last week when he was accused of war crimes the allegations are completely without substance.
"I would categorically say it is not the learning of Sri Lankan military to fire at a hospital. That has never happened in our military," he said.
He says by defeating the Tamil Tigers, or LTTE, the Sri Lankan military in fact saved Tamil civilians.
"My most important achievement in the military was saving these civilians who were under the clutches of terrorists. So there is no base logic to target civilians. I reject that," he said.
Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser is attending CHOGM in Perth, and believes the Federal Government has failed to take a strong enough stance against alleged human rights abuses on both sides of the conflict in Sri Lanka.
"To this point I think we've got one leg each side of a barbed wire fence. That's a rather uncomfortable position to be in you've ever tried it," he said.
When he was prime minister, Malcolm Fraser used CHOGM to push for Rhodesia's independence as Zimbabwe.
"If I single out Robert Mugabe for a particularly warm welcome, it's because his presence here is a tangible reminder of the effectiveness of the modern Commonwealth," Mr Fraser said at the time.
Some things do not work out as planned, but Mr Fraser still believes the Commonwealth forum can and must be used for change.
"People forget that at the time it was hailed as a success; for over 10 years Mugabe governed reasonably, and it was only after that that there has been a steady and terrible decline with atrocities and brutality and thuggery taking over," he said.
"So the Commonwealth has, in the past, done substantial things, and it can do it again.
"I do believe there needs to be a fuller and better inquiry into actions of the government and of the Tamils, because the reports that have come out from not only the UN Human Rights Commission but also from the International Crisis Group suggests that there have been major atrocities by both sides in this conflict."
Mr Fraser says stronger action needs to be taken, but he doesn't think suspending Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth is the answer.
"Under current circumstances, holding the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka in two years' time is quite inappropriate," he said.
"I wouldn't rub Sri Lanka out. I'd say postpone it if other business has to be cleared up first. And we might need more time to do that.".
Attorney-General Robert McClelland's permission is required for the proceedings to go ahead, but he has ruled it out.
Mr McClelland says the president is legally entitled to diplomatic immunity.
Australian Tamil Congress national spokeswoman Sam Pari says the decision is disappointing.
"We actually have a magistrate who has set a date for the hearing and to think that the Australian legal system will allow this to take place but for a politician to then say that these proceedings can't go forward is very, very disappointing," she said.
"We also feel quite betrayed as well. We have an eyewitness who has found the courage to step forward."
Former Australian diplomat Bruce Haigh says Mr McClelland is wrong to claim he would have breached international law if he allowed a war crimes case against the Sri Lankan president to proceed in Australia.
Mr Haigh says it is clear Mr McClelland's decision has been purely based on politics.
"He doesn't want to do anything that would upset the apple cart as far as CHOGM's concerned," he said.
"But in terms of international law and in terms of Australian law, no, he would not be in breach.
"He hasn't looked at the law but he's reacted politically to the situation because it's CHOGM."
He says CHOGM should be a time to discuss human rights issues.
Jegan Waran, who lives in Sydney, was working as a volunteer in Tamil-held areas, and says Sri Lankan armed forces deliberately attacked clearly marked civilian infrastructure such as hospitals.
"Patients were killed, and patients who were in the hospital were killed, and there were other patients waiting for treatment - they were killed," he told Lateline on Monday night.
"There was a medical store where they kept the medicines. Those were destroyed - scattered all over the place you can see. Ambulances were destroyed. So I have seen that personally."
Sri Lanka's government has repeatedly denied allegations of war crimes.
The Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia, Thisara Samarasinghe, declined Lateline's request for an interview, but told 7.30 last week when he was accused of war crimes the allegations are completely without substance.
"I would categorically say it is not the learning of Sri Lankan military to fire at a hospital. That has never happened in our military," he said.
He says by defeating the Tamil Tigers, or LTTE, the Sri Lankan military in fact saved Tamil civilians.
"My most important achievement in the military was saving these civilians who were under the clutches of terrorists. So there is no base logic to target civilians. I reject that," he said.
Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser is attending CHOGM in Perth, and believes the Federal Government has failed to take a strong enough stance against alleged human rights abuses on both sides of the conflict in Sri Lanka.
"To this point I think we've got one leg each side of a barbed wire fence. That's a rather uncomfortable position to be in you've ever tried it," he said.
When he was prime minister, Malcolm Fraser used CHOGM to push for Rhodesia's independence as Zimbabwe.
"If I single out Robert Mugabe for a particularly warm welcome, it's because his presence here is a tangible reminder of the effectiveness of the modern Commonwealth," Mr Fraser said at the time.
Some things do not work out as planned, but Mr Fraser still believes the Commonwealth forum can and must be used for change.
"People forget that at the time it was hailed as a success; for over 10 years Mugabe governed reasonably, and it was only after that that there has been a steady and terrible decline with atrocities and brutality and thuggery taking over," he said.
"So the Commonwealth has, in the past, done substantial things, and it can do it again.
"I do believe there needs to be a fuller and better inquiry into actions of the government and of the Tamils, because the reports that have come out from not only the UN Human Rights Commission but also from the International Crisis Group suggests that there have been major atrocities by both sides in this conflict."
Mr Fraser says stronger action needs to be taken, but he doesn't think suspending Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth is the answer.
"Under current circumstances, holding the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka in two years' time is quite inappropriate," he said.
"I wouldn't rub Sri Lanka out. I'd say postpone it if other business has to be cleared up first. And we might need more time to do that.".
Monday, October 24, 2011
Sri Lanka documentary cleared by Ofcom
Ofcom said images featured in the documentary, broadcast in June, "whilst brutal and shocking", did not exceed what the Channel 4 audience would have expected, given the pre-transmission warning about the nature of the content and the programme's scheduling at 11.05pm, well after the 9pm watershed.
The media regulator received 118 complaints about the documentary, about issues including impartiality, offensiveness and the broadcast of misleading material, but concluded it had not breached the broadcasting code on any of these counts.
Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, which focused on a UN investigation into alleged war crimes during the final weeks of the country's civil war, included a number of images of murdered and tortured bodies, and also of partially clothed women who, it was suggested in the documentary, had been sexually abused prior to their death.
The documentary featured mobile phone footage, photographs and eyewitness accounts gathered by programme-maker ITN Productions.
The regulator said: "Channel 4 has a unique public service remit to provide programming that is challenging, diverse and likely to provoke debate. Consequently, the broadcaster has a history of broadcasting very challenging material from war zones (including graphic footage) and seeking out the voices and views of those who may not be represented.
"The images included in this programme, whilst brutal and shocking, would not have exceeded the expectations of the audience for this Channel 4 documentary scheduled well after the watershed with very clear warnings about the nature of the content."
On the question of impartiality, Ofcom noted that Channel 4 had put all the significant allegations included in the documentary to the Sri Lankan government and broadcast the limited statement that was provided.
The documentary also included previous Sri Lankan government statements relating to the final stages of the civil war against the Tamil Tigers, including a clip of an official claiming that the first video of an alleged execution shown in the programme was a fake.
Ofcom also said the documentary was only required to maintain due impartiality on its specific subject – the government offensive against the Tamil Tigers in the final stages of the war – and not the conflict as a whole.
"Ofcom therefore concluded that overall Channel 4 preserved due impartiality in its examination of the Sri Lankan government's actions and policies during its offensive and there was no breach of [the broadcasting code]," Ofcom concluded.
In response to complaints that the programme was misleading, Ofcom said Channel 4 had taken reasonable steps to establish that the material included in Sri Lanka's Killing Fields was not faked or manipulated, and had not materially misled viewers in the way it was presented on air.
SEE video
Last week Dorothy Byrne, the Channel 4 head of news and current affairs, told the Lords communications committee that programmes such as Sri Lanka's Killing Fields faced PR pressure from the Sri Lankan government.
She said a demonstration held outside the Channel 4 headquarters in London was organised by the Sri Lankan ministry of defence.
To contact the MediaGuardian news
Saturday, October 22, 2011
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