Posts Tagged ‘News’
Happy Earth Day! 10 things you can do to help the planetBy Editor - April 22nd, 2010 |
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Today will mark the 20th anniversary of environmental action, education and leadership in Canada, and the 40th anniversary of Earth Day in Canada. Here are the 10 things you can do, as suggested by Earth Day Canada last year. Happy Earth Day |
Jean apologizes for Canada’s role in RwandaBy Editor - April 21st, 2010 |
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Governor-General Michaëlle Jean formally apologized to Rwandans for Canada’s role as part of the international community that failed to act “soon enough” to prevent the 1994 genocide. Declaring the genocide was made possible by the “indifference and inaction of the international community,” Jean said “Canada acknowledges and takes responsibility as part of the international community for not having responded soon enough to what was happening here.” |
Amnesty International: Sri Lanka’s new parliament must drop emergency lawsBy Editor - April 21st, 2010 |
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Sri Lanka’s first post-war parliament must get rid of draconian emergency laws that have allowed for decades of widespread human rights abuses, Amnesty International said on Tuesday. Ahead of the first sitting of Sri Lanka’s first post-war parliament on 22 April, Amnesty International is calling on Sri Lanka to lift the State of Emergency that has been in force almost continuously since 1971, and to abolish the Prevention of Terrorism Act and other associated emergency security laws and regulations, replacing them with human rights-friendly laws. |
Detention centre like a prison, say TamilsBy Editor - April 21st, 2010 |
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[Tamil] asylum seekers who were removed from an Indonesian port earlier this week say they are now being kept in cramped conditions in a detention centre which is like a prison. About 150 Tamil boat people were put on buses on Monday and transported from the Port of Merak to Jakarta’s main airport. |
Early Tamil ScriptsBy Editor - April 18th, 2010 |
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If you look from top to bottom, you can see how the letters have changed over the years. Before, Tamil manuscripts were written on palm leaves, so the letters were more curved so the leaves wouldn’t rip, and with the onset of better writing mediums, the letters have become more defined. These palm (olai) manuscripts could last three or four centuries. Take a look at some of the old olai manuscripts below. Now you know why we have so many curves in our letters! |
Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions dating back to 1st century BCE to third century CE offer the fundamental evidence that Tamil is a classical languageBy Editor - April 16th, 2010 |
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Dr. Asko Parpola, the Indologist from Finland, is Professor Emeritus of Indology, Institute of World Cultures, University of Helsinki, and one of the leading authorities on the Indus Civilisation and its script. On the basis of sustained work on the Indus script, he has concluded that the script — which is yet to be deciphered — encodes a Dravidian language. As a Sanskritist, his fields of specialisation include the Sama Veda and Vedic rituals. |
Toronto Public Library – Tamil ResourcesBy Editor - April 16th, 2010 |
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The Toronto Public Library has books, DVDs, CDs, and more in many different languages, Tamil being one of them. The following libraries have Tamil books/DVDS/Magazines and other resources, so check it out. |
New racist attacks on refugees [Australia]By Editor - April 11th, 2010 |
![New racist attacks on refugees [Australia]](http://ctya.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/kevin-rudd.jpg) |
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The federal Labor government announced a moratorium on processing claims for asylum for people coming from Sri Lanka or Afghanistan on April 9. This means refugees from Afghanistan will be detained for six months before they can even begin the application process. For refugees from Sri Lanka, the wait will be three months. This is Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s final abandonment of an election promise that refugees’ claims would be processed quicker, and refugees detained for shorter periods, than under the notoriously anti-refugee Howard government. Rudd’s closure of the large mainland detention centres (such as Baxter), and the off-shore camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island, was achieved by concentrating detained refugees on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. |
Overwhelming Tamil majority rejects elections under Sri Lankan StateBy Editor - April 10th, 2010 |
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A record number of candidates, numbering more than 1800 contested for the parliamentary seats in the North and East, but Eezham Tamils responded to it by a record low in participation. The turnout was only 18 percent in the North. Even after including the displaced it is only 23%. The clear verdict of Eezham Tamils, said in the most profound democratic way under circumstances possible, is that they have no confidence in democracy under Sri Lankan State. |
Canadian Competition RoundBy Editor - April 9th, 2010 |
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On March 27th, 2010, Investors Beyond Borders held their Canadian round with 5 teams competing. The event was held at the Hart House at the University of Toronto St.George campus. York, Ryerson and UofT students all competed for the coveted prize of joining the IBB team in Macedonia, who will eventually face off against the other regions’ winners. |
