title: James Ellroy

text: He is a self-described recluse who possesses very few technological amenities, including television, and claims never to read contemporary books by other authors, aside from Joseph Wambaugh's "The Onion Field", out of concern that they might influence his own. However, this does not mean that Ellroy does not read at all, as he claims in "My Dark Places" to have read at least two books a week growing up, eventually shoplifting more to satisfy his love of reading. He then goes on to say that he read works by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.


title: James Ellroy

text: Hallmarks of his work include dense plotting and a relentlessly pessimistic—albeit moral—worldview. His work has earned Ellroy the nickname "Demon dog of American crime fiction."


title: James Ellroy

text: Ellroy writes longhand on legal pads rather than on a computer. He prepares elaborate outlines for his books, most of which are several hundred pages long.


title: James Ellroy

text: Dialogue and narration in Ellroy novels often consists of a "heightened pastiche of jazz slang, cop patois, creative profanity and drug vernacular" with a particular use of period-appropriate slang. He often employs a sort of telegraphese (stripped-down, staccato-like sentence structures), a style that reaches its apex in "The Cold Six Thousand". Ellroy describes it as a "direct, shorter-rather-than-longer sentence style that's declarative and ugly and right there, punching you in the nards." This signature style is not the result of a conscious experimentation but of chance and came about when he was asked by his editor to shorten his novel "L.A. Confidential" by more than one hundred pages. Rather than removing any subplots, Ellroy abbreviated the novel by cutting every unnecessary word from every sentence, creating a unique style of prose. While each sentence on its own is simple, the cumulative effect is a dense, baroque style.


title: James Ellroy

text: While his early novels earned him a cult following and notice among crime fiction buffs, Ellroy earned much greater success and critical acclaim with the L.A. Quartet"—The Black Dahlia", "The Big Nowhere", "L.A. Confidential", and "White Jazz". The four novels represent Ellroy's change of style from the tradition of classic modernist noir fiction of his earlier novels to what has been classified as postmodern historiographic metafiction. "The Black Dahlia", for example, fused the real-life murder of Elizabeth Short with a fictional story of two police officers investigating the crime.


title: James Ellroy

text: In 1995, Ellroy published "American Tabloid", the first novel in a series informally dubbed the "Underworld USA Trilogy" that Ellroy describes as a "secret history" of the mid-to-late 20th century. "Tabloid" was named "TIME"s fiction book of the year for 1995. Its follow-up, "The Cold Six Thousand", became a bestseller. The final novel, "Blood's a Rover", was released on September 22, 2009.


title: James Ellroy

text: After publishing "American Tabloid", Ellroy began a memoir, "My Dark Places", based on his memories of his mother's murder, the unconventional relationship he had with her, and his investigation of the crime. In the memoir, Ellroy mentions that his mother's murder received little news coverage because the media were still fixated on the stabbing death of mobster Johnny Stompanato, who was dating actress Lana Turner. Frank C. Girardot, a reporter for "The San Gabriel Valley Tribune", accessed files on Geneva Hilliker Ellroy's murder from detectives with Los Angeles Police Department. Based on the cold case file, Ellroy and investigator Bill Stoner worked the case but gave up after 15 months, believing any suspects to be dead. After the final pages of "My Dark Places", a contact page is provided, stating: "The investigation continues. Information on the case can be forwarded to Detective Stoner either through the toll-free number, 1-800-717-6517, or his e-mail address, detstoner@earthlink.net." In 2008, The Library of America selected the essay "My Mother's Killer" from "My Dark Places" for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of American True Crime.


title: James Ellroy

text: Ellroy is currently writing a "Second L.A. Quartet" taking place during the Second World War, with some characters from the first "L.A. Quartet" and the "Underworld USA Trilogy" reappearing in younger depictions. The first book, "Perfidia", was released on September 9, 2014. The second book is titled "This Storm" which had a release date of May 14, 2019. It was released May 30, 2019, in the United Kingdom, and June 4, 2019, in the United States.


title: James Ellroy

text: A Waterstones exclusive limited edition of "Perfidia" was published two days after its initial release and included an essay by Ellroy titled "Ellroy's History—Then and Now.". Ellroy dedicated "Perfidia" "To Lisa Stafford." The epigraph is "Envy thou not the oppressor, And choose none of his ways" from Proverbs 3:31.


title: James Ellroy

text: In collaboration with the Los Angeles Police Museum and Glynn Martin, the museum's executive director, Ellroy released "LAPD '53" on May 19, 2015. Photography from the museum's archives are presented alongside Ellroy's writings about crime and law enforcement during that era.


title: James Ellroy

text: In the fall of 2017, Ellroy investigated the murder of Sal Mineo. Reminiscent of how he investigated his mother's unsolved murder, Ellroy worked with Glynn Martin, an ex-LAPD officer, the LAPD Museum's current executive director, and co-author of "LAPD '53". Ellroy wrote about this investigation for "The Hollywood Reporter" in digital form on December 21, 2018, and it also appeared in published form in the December 18, 2018, issue of "The Hollywood Reporter" magazine.


title: James Ellroy

text: Early in January 2019, Ellroy posted news on jamesellroy.net, writing, "I’m digitally illiterate, so you’ve got to gas on the fact that I’m breaking "baaaaaaaaad" from tradition, in order to post this announcement." Ellroy posted that he had been inducted into the Everyman's Library series. Three Everyman's Library editions have be reprinted: "The L.A. Quartet", "The Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy, Volume I" and "The Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy, Volume II". The release dates for these editions, as well as "This Storm: A Novel", was June 4, 2019. Ellroy added, "Stay stirringly tuned to this website for further updates" and simply signed the finished post "Ellroy," inserting a dog's pawprint below it.


title: James Ellroy

text: In media appearances, Ellroy has adopted an outsized, stylized public persona of hard-boiled nihilism and self-reflexive subversiveness. He frequently begins public appearances with a monologue such as:


title: James Ellroy

text: Good evening peepers, prowlers, pederasts, panty-sniffers, punks and pimps. I'm James Ellroy, the demon dog with the hog-log, the foul owl with the death growl, the white knight of the far right, and the slick trick with the donkey dick. I'm the author of 16 books, masterpieces all; they precede all my future masterpieces. These books will leave you reamed, steamed and drycleaned, tie-dyed, swept to the side, true-blued, tattooed and bah fongooed. These are books for the whole fuckin' family, if the name of your family is Manson.


title: James Ellroy

text: Another aspect of his public persona involves an almost comically grand assessment of his work and his place in literature. For example, he told the "New York Times", "I am a master of fiction. I am also the greatest crime novelist who ever lived. I am to the crime novel in specific what Tolstoy is to the Russian novel and what Beethoven is to music."


title: James Ellroy

text: Structurally, several of Ellroy's books, such as "The Big Nowhere", "L.A. Confidential", "American Tabloid", and "The Cold Six Thousand", have three disparate points of view through different characters, with chapters alternating between them. Starting with "The Black Dahlia", Ellroy's novels have mostly been historical dramas about the relationship between corruption and law enforcement.


title: James Ellroy

text: A predominant theme of Ellroy's work is the myth of "closure". "Closure is bullshit", Ellroy often remarks, "and I would love to find the man who invented closure and shove a giant closure plaque up his ass." In his works characters often die or vanish quickly before otherwise traditional closure points in order to capitalize this idea.


title: James Ellroy

text: Ellroy has claimed that he is done writing noir crime novels. "I write big political books now," he says. "I want to write about LA exclusively for the rest of my career. I don't know where and when."


title: James Ellroy

text: Ellroy has frequently espoused conservative political views, which have ranged from a vague anti-liberalism to authoritarianism. In an October 15, 2009, "Rolling Stone" interview, Ellroy said that in the 1960s and 1970s "I was never a peacemaker; I was a fuck-you right-winger." He has also been an outspoken and unquestioning admirer of the Los Angeles Police Department (despite his explicit depictions of brutality, corruption and Machiavellian bureaucratic scheming in the LAPD that appear in some of his works), and he dismisses the department's flaws as aberrations, telling the "National Review" that the coverage of the Rodney King beating and Rampart police scandals were overblown by a biased media. Nevertheless, like other aspects of his persona, he often deliberately obscures where his public persona ends and his actual views begin. When asked about his "right-wing tendencies," he told an interviewer, "Right-wing tendencies? I do that to fuck with people." Similarly, in the film "Feast of Death," his (now ex-) wife describes his politics as "bullshit," an assessment to which Ellroy responds only with a knowing smile. Privately, Ellroy opposes the death penalty.


title: James Ellroy

text: In 2001, he expressed admiration for Harry S. Truman and said that he is opposed to gun control (owning 30 guns), but believes assault weapons should be banned. In the 2000 presidential election, Ellroy voted for George W. Bush "because I wanted to repudiate Gore and Clintonism and nobody hates Bill Clinton more than me..."


title: James Ellroy

text: Hillary looks like a bull dyke in a pantsuit, but at least she seems serious. McCain looks like Mr. Magoo. Obama looks like a f---ing lemur, a little rodent-like creature, a marsupial or something, I don't know. Jesus, I have no idea of what's going on in the world anymore. Where's Ronald Reagan, now that I really need him?


title: James Ellroy

text: I thought Bush was a slimeball and the most disastrous American president in recent times. I voted for Obama. He's a lot like Jack Kennedy—they both have big ears and infectious smiles. But Obama is a deeper guy. Kennedy was an appetite guy. He wanted pussy, hamburgers, booze. Jack did a lot of dope.


title: James Ellroy

text: Ellroy has subsequently denied voting for Obama and admitted that most of his statements on modern politics are willful misrepresentations. On Donald Trump, Ellroy stated that he "doesn’t have the charm of a true, world-class dictator" and "exemplifies male self-destructiveness", but also understands Trump's appeal, as "He’s the big ‘fuck you’ to all pieties."


title: James Ellroy

text: Following his parents' divorce, Ellroy was sent to a Dutch Lutheran Church by his mother every Sunday. In 2004, Ellroy had stated "I had a Christian upbringing of sorts, Lutheran. I don't go to church. I can't say I'm a Christian."


title: James Ellroy

text: However, when asked in a 2013 interview if there he puts the "presence of God" in his literature, Ellroy replied


title: James Ellroy

text: Yeah I do. I do and I'm a Christian. I’m not an Evangelical Christian, but God and religious spiritual feelings always guided me during the worst moments of my life, and I don't for a moment doubt it. […] And I always like getting in asides and putting it out there and stopping just short of preaching.


title: James Ellroy

text: In 2014, Ellroy stated that "I'm a Christian. I believe we are all one soul united in God." He also added that he is "conservative and theocratic" and that he is "a Christian whose every other word is f*** or sh*t."


title: James Ellroy

text: Several of Ellroy's works have been adapted to film, including "Blood on the Moon" (adapted as "Cop"), "L.A. Confidential", "Brown's Requiem", "Killer on the Road/Silent Terror" (adapted as "Stay Clean"), and "The Black Dahlia". In each instance, screenplays based on Ellroy's work have been penned by other screenwriters.


title: James Ellroy

text: While he has frequently been disappointed by these adaptations (such as "Cop"), he was very complimentary of Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland's screenplay for "L.A. Confidential" at the time of its release. In succeeding years, however, his comments have been more reserved:


title: James Ellroy

text: Shortly after viewing three hours of unedited footage for Brian De Palma's adaptation of "The Black Dahlia", Ellroy wrote an essay, "Hillikers," praising De Palma and his film. Ultimately, nearly an hour was removed from the final cut. Of the released film, Ellroy told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Look, you're not going to get me to say anything negative about the movie, so you might as well give up." He had, however, mocked the film's director, cast, and production design before it was filmed.


title: James Ellroy

text: Ellroy co-wrote the original screenplay for the 2008 film "Street Kings" but refused to do any publicity for the finished film.


title: James Ellroy

text: In a September 2008, "Daily Variety" reported that HBO, along with Tom Hanks's production company, Playtone, was developing "American Tabloid" and "The Cold Six Thousand" for either a miniseries or ongoing series.


title: James Ellroy

text: In a September 2009 interview, Ellroy himself stated, "All movie adaptations of my books are dead." In a November 2012 interview, when asked about how movie adaptations distort his books, he remarked, "[Film studios] can do whatever the [fuck] they want as long as they pay me."


title: James Ellroy

text: In an October 2017 interview with "The New York Times", Tom Hanks stated he would be interested in playing the part of Lloyd Hopkins if a film or stage adaptation was put into production.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The history of Sri Lanka is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions, comprising the areas of South Asia, Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The early human remains found on the island of Sri Lanka date to about 38,000 years ago (Balangoda Man).


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The historical period begins roughly in the 3rd century, based on Pali chronicles like the Mahavansa, Deepavansa, and the Choolavansa. They describe the history since the arrival of Prince Vijaya from Northern India The earliest documents of settlement in the Island are found in these chronicles. These chronicles cover the period since the establishment of the Kingdom of Tambapanni in the 6th century BCE by the earliest ancestors of the Sinhalese. The first Sri Lankan ruler of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, Pandukabhaya, is recorded for the 4th century BCE. Buddhism was introduced in the 3rd century BCE by Arhath Mahinda (son of the Indian emperor Ashoka).


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The island was divided into numerous kingdoms over the following centuries, intermittently (between CE 993–1077) united under Chola rule. Sri Lanka was ruled by 181 monarchs from the Anuradhapura to Kandy periods.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: From the 16th century, some coastal areas of the country were also controlled by the Portuguese, Dutch and British.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Between 1597 and 1658, a substantial part of the island was under Portuguese rule. The Portuguese lost their possessions in Ceylon due to Dutch intervention in the Eighty Years' War. Following the Kandyan Wars, the island was united under British rule in 1815.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Armed uprisings against the British took place in the 1818 Uva Rebellion and the 1848 Matale Rebellion. Independence was finally granted in 1948 but the country remained a Dominion of the British Empire until 1972.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: In 1972 Sri Lanka assumed the status of a Republic. A constitution was introduced in 1978 which made the Executive President the head of state. The Sri Lankan Civil War began in 1983, including Insurrections in 1971 and 1987, with the 25-year-long civil war ending in 2009. There was an attempted coup in 1962 against the government under Sirimavo Bandaranaike.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Evidence of human colonization in Sri Lanka appears at the site of Balangoda. Balangoda Man arrived on the island about 125,000 years ago and has been identified as Mesolithic hunter-gatherers who lived in caves. Several of these caves, including the well-known Batadombalena and the Fa Hien Cave, have yielded many artifacts from these people, who are currently the first known inhabitants of the island.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Balangoda Man probably created Horton Plains, in the central hills, by burning the trees in order to catch game. However, the discovery of oats and barley on the plains at about 15,000 BCE suggests that agriculture had already developed at this early date.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Several minute granite tools (about 4 centimetres in length), earthenware, remnants of charred timber, and clay burial pots date to the Mesolithic. Human remains dating to 6000 BCE have been discovered during recent excavations around a cave at Warana Raja Maha Vihara and in the Kalatuwawa area.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Cinnamon is native to Sri Lanka and has been found in Ancient Egypt as early as 1500 BCE, suggesting early trade between Egypt and the island's inhabitants. It is possible that Biblical Tarshish was located on the island. James Emerson Tennent identified Tarshish with Galle.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The protohistoric Early Iron Age appears to have established itself in South India by at least as early as 1200 BCE, if not earlier (Possehl 1990; Deraniyagala 1992:734). The earliest manifestation of this in Sri Lanka is radiocarbon-dated to c. 1000–800 BCE at Anuradhapura and Aligala shelter in Sigiriya (Deraniyagala 1992:709-29; Karunaratne and Adikari 1994:58; Mogren 1994:39; with the Anuradhapura dating corroborated by Coningham 1999). It is very likely that further investigations will push back the Sri Lankan lower boundary to match that of South India.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: During the protohistoric period (1000-500 BCE) Sri Lanka was culturally united with southern India., and shared the same megalithic burials, pottery, iron technology, farming techniques and megalithic graffiti. This cultural complex spread from southern India along with Dravidian clans such as the Velir, prior to the migration of Prakrit speakers.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Archaeological evidence for the beginnings of the Iron Age in Sri Lanka is found at Anuradhapura, where a large city–settlement was founded before 900 BCE. The settlement was about 15 hectares in 900 BCE, but by 700 BCE it had expanded to 50 hectares. A similar site from the same period has also been discovered near Aligala in Sigiriya.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The hunter-gatherer people known as the Wanniyala-Aetto or Veddas, who still live in the central, Uva and north-eastern parts of the island, are probably direct descendants of the first inhabitants, Balangoda Man. They may have migrated to the island from the mainland around the time humans spread from Africa to the Indian subcontinent.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Later Indo Aryan migrants developed a unique hydraulic civilization named Sinhala. Their Achievements include the construction of the largest reservoirs and dams of the ancient world as well as enormous pyramid-like stupa (dāgaba in Sinhala) architecture. This phase of Sri Lankan culture may have seen the introduction of early Buddhism.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Early history recorded in Buddhist scriptures refers to three visits by the Buddha to the island to see the Naga Kings, snakes that can take the form of a human at will.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The earliest surviving chronicles from the island, the Dipavamsa and the Mahavamsa, say that Yakkhas, Nagas, Rakkhas and Devas inhabited the island prior to the migration of Indo Aryans.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The Pali chronicles, the Dipavamsa, Mahavamsa, Thupavamsa and the Chulavamsa, as well as a large collection of stone inscriptions, the Indian Epigraphical records, the Burmese versions of the chronicles etc., provide information on the history of Sri Lanka from about the 6th century BCE.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The Mahavamsa, written around 400 CE by the monk Mahanama, using the Deepavamsa, the Attakatha and other written sources available to him, correlates well with Indian histories of the period. Indeed, Emperor Ashoka's reign is recorded in the Mahavamsa. The Mahavamsa account of the period prior to Asoka's coronation, 218 years after the Buddha's death, seems to be part legend. Proper historical records begin with the arrival of Vijaya and his 700 followers from Vanga. A detailed description of the dynastic accounts from Vijaya's time is provided in the Mahavamsa. H. W. Codrington puts it, 'It is possible and even probable that Vijaya ('The Conqueror') himself is a composite character combining in his person...two conquests' of ancient Sri Lanka. Vijaya is an Indian prince, the eldest son of King Sinhabahu ("Man with Lion arms") and his sister Queen Sinhasivali. Both these Sinhalese leaders were born of a mythical union between a lion and a human princess. The Mahavamsa states that Vijaya landed on the same day as the death of the Buddha (See Geiger's preface to Mahavamsa). The story of Vijaya and Kuveni (the local reigning queen) is reminiscent of Greek legend and may have a common source in ancient Proto-Indo-European folk tales.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: According to the Mahavamsa, Vijaya landed on Sri Lanka near Mahathitha (Manthota or Mannar), and named on the island of "Tambaparni" ("copper-colored sand"). This name is attested to in Ptolemy's map of the ancient world. The Mahavamsa also describes the Buddha visiting Sri Lanka three times. Firstly, to stop a war between a Naga king and his son in law who were fighting over a ruby chair. It is said that on his last visit he left his foot mark on "Siri Pada" ("Adam's Peak").


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Tamirabharani is the old name for the second longest river in Sri Lanka (known as Malwatu Oya in Sinhala and Aruvi Aru in Tamil). This river was a main supply route connecting the capital, Anuradhapura, to Mahathitha (now Mannar). The waterway was used by Greek and Chinese ships traveling the southern Silk Route.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The present day Sinhalese are a mixture of the Indo Aryans and the Indigenous The Sinhalese are recognized as a distinct ethnic group from other groups in neighboring south India based on the Indo-Aryan language, culture, Theravada Buddhism, genetics and the physical anthropology.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: In the early ages of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, the economy was based on farming and early settlements were mainly made near the rivers of the east, north central, and north east areas which had the water necessary for farming the whole year round. The king was the ruler of country and responsible for the law, the army, and being the protector of faith. Devanampiya Tissa (250–210 BCE) was Sinhalese and was friends with the King of the Maurya clan. His links with Emperor Asoka led to the introduction of Buddhism by Mahinda (son of Asoka) around 247 BCE. Sangamitta (sister of Mahinda) brought a Bodhi sapling via Jambukola (west of Kankesanthurai). This king's reign was crucial to Theravada Buddhism and for Sri Lanka.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The Mauryan-Sanskrit text "Arthashastra" referred to the pearls and gems of Sri Lanka. A kind of pearl, "kauleya (Sanskrit: कौलेय)" was referred in that text and also mentioned it collected from "Mayurgrām" of Sinhala. "Pārsamudra(पारसमुद्र)", a gem, was also being collected from Sinhala.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Ellalan (205–161 BCE) was a Tamil King who ruled "Pihiti Rata" (Sri Lanka north of the Mahaweli) after killing King Asela. During Ellalan's time Kelani Tissa was a sub-king of Maya Rata (in the south-west) and Kavan Tissa was a regional sub-king of Ruhuna (in the south-east). Kavan Tissa built Tissa Maha Vihara, Dighavapi Tank and many shrines in Seruvila. Dutugemunu (161–137 BCE), the eldest son of King Kavan Tissa, at 25 years of age defeated the South Indian Tamil invader Elara (over 64 years of age) in single combat, described in the Mahavamsa. The Ruwanwelisaya, built by Dutugemunu, is a dagaba of pyramid-like proportions and was considered an engineering marvel.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Pulahatta (or Pulahatha), the first of the Five Dravidians, was deposed by Bahiya. He in turn was deposed by Panaya Mara who was deposed by Pilaya Mara, murdered by Dathika in 88 BCE. Mara was deposed by Valagamba I (89–77 BCE) which ended Tamil rule. The Mahavihara Theravada "Abhayagiri" ("pro-Mahayana") doctrinal disputes arose at this time. The Tripitaka was written in Pali at Aluvihara, Matale. Chora Naga (63–51 BCE), a Mahanagan, was poisoned by his consort Anula who became queen. Queen Anula (48–44 BCE), the widow of Chora Naga and of Kuda Tissa, was the first Queen of Lanka. She had many lovers who were poisoned by her and was killed by Kuttakanna Tissa. Vasabha (67–111 CE), named on the Vallipuram gold plate, fortified Anuradhapura and built eleven tanks as well as pronouncing many edicts. Gajabahu I (114–136) invaded the Chola kingdom and brought back captives as well as recovering the relic of the tooth of the Buddha. A Sangam Period classic, "Manimekalai", attributes the origin of the first Pallava King from a liaison between the daughter of a Naga king of Manipallava named Pilli Valai (Pilivalai) with a Chola king, Killivalavan, out of which union was born a prince, who was lost in ship wreck and found with a twig ("pallava") of Cephalandra Indica ("Tondai") around his ankle and hence named "Tondai-man". Another version states "Pallava" was born from the union of the Brahmin Ashvatthama with a Naga Princess also supposedly supported in the sixth verse of the Bahur plates which states "From Ashvatthama was born the king named Pallava".


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: There was intense Roman trade with the ancient Tamil country (present day Southern India) and Sri Lanka, establishing trading settlements which remained long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: It was in the first century AD where Saint Thomas the Apostle introduced Sri Lanka's first monotheistic religion, Christianity, according to a local Christian tradition


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: During the reign of Mahasena (274–301) the Theravada (Maha Vihara) was persecuted and the Mahayanan branch of Buddhism appeared. Later the King returned to the Maha Vihara. Pandu (429) was the first of seven Pandiyan rulers, ending with Pithya in 455. Dhatusena (459–477) "Kalaweva" and his son Kashyapa (477–495) built the famous Sigiriya rock palace where some 700 rock graffiti give a glimpse of ancient Sinhala.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: In 993, when Raja Raja Chola sent a large Chola army which conquered the Anuradhapura Kingdom, in the north, and added it to the sovereignty of the Chola Empire. The whole island was subsequently conquered and incorporated as a province of the vast Chola empire during the reign of his son Rajendra Chola.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa was the second major Sinhalese kingdom of Sri Lanka. It lasted from 1055 under Vijayabahu I to 1212 under the rule of Lilavati. The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa came into being after the Anuradhapura Kingdom was invaded by Chola forces under Rajaraja I and led to formation of the Kingdom of Ruhuna, where the Sinhalese Kings ruled during Chola occupation.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Sadayavarman Sundara Pandyan I invaded Sri Lanka in the 13th century and defeated Chandrabanu the usurper of the Jaffna Kingdom in northern Sri Lanka. Sadayavarman Sundara Pandyan I forced Candrabhanu to submit to the Pandyan rule and to pay tributes to the Pandyan Dynasty. But later on when Candrabhanu became powerful enough he again invaded the Singhalese kingdom but he was defeated by the brother of Sadayavarman Sundara Pandyan I called Veera Pandyan I and Candrabhanu died. Sri Lanka was invaded for the 3rd time by the Pandyan Dynasty under the leadership of Arya Cakravarti who established the Jaffna kingdom.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Also known as the Aryacakravarti dynasty, was a northern kingdom centred around the Jaffna Peninsula.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: In 1247, the Malay kingdom of Tambralinga which was a vassal of the Srivijaya Empire led by their king Chandrabhanu briefly invaded Sri Lanka especially the Jaffna Kingdom, from Insular Southeast Asia. They were then expelled by the South Indian Pandyan Dynasty. However, this temporary invasion permanently introduced the presence of various Malayo-Polynesian merchant ethnic groups, from Sumatrans (Indonesia) to Lucoes (Philippines) into Sri Lanka.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: After defeating Kalinga Magha, King Parakramabahu established his Kingdom in Dambadeniya. He built the Temple of The Sacred Tooth Relic in Dambadeniya.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: It was established by king Buwanekabahu IV, he is said to be the son of Sawulu Vijayabahu. During this time, a Muslim traveller and geographer named Ibn Battuta came to Sri Lanka and wrote a book about it. The Gadaladeniya Viharaya is the main building made in the Gampola Kingdom period. The Lankatilaka Viharaya is also a main building built in Gampola.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: After winning the battle, Parakramabahu VI sent an officer named Alagakkonar to check the new kingdom of Kotte.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Vannimai, also called Vanni Nadu, were feudal land divisions ruled by Vanniar chiefs south of the Jaffna peninsula in northern Sri Lanka. Pandara Vanniyan allied with the Kandy Nayakars led a rebellion against the British and Dutch colonial powers in Sri Lanka in 1802. He was able to liberate Mullaitivu and other parts of northern Vanni from Dutch rule. In 1803, Pandara Vanniyan was defeated by the British and Vanni came under British rule.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The first Europeans to visit Sri Lanka in modern times were the Portuguese: Lourenço de Almeida arrived in 1505 and found that the island, divided into seven warring kingdoms, was unable to fend off intruders. The Portuguese founded a fort at the port city of Colombo in 1517 and gradually extended their control over the coastal areas. In 1592, the Sinhalese moved their capital to the inland city of Kandy, a location more secure against attack from invaders. Intermittent warfare continued through the 16th century.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Many lowland Sinhalese converted to Christianity due to missionary campaigns by the Portuguese while the coastal Moors were religiously persecuted and forced to retreat to the Central highlands. The Buddhist majority disliked the Portuguese occupation and its influences, welcoming any power who might rescue them. When the Dutch captain Joris van Spilbergen landed in 1602, the king of Kandy appealed to him for help.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Rajasinghe II, the king of Kandy, made a treaty with the Dutch in 1638 to get rid of the Portuguese who ruled most of the coastal areas of the island. The main conditions of the treaty were that the Dutch were to hand over the coastal areas they had captured to the Kandyan king in return for a Dutch trade monopoly over the island. The agreement was breached by both parties. The Dutch captured Colombo in 1656 and the last Portuguese strongholds near Jaffnapatnam in 1658. By 1660 they controlled the whole island except the land-locked kingdom of Kandy. The Dutch (Protestants) persecuted the Catholics and the remaining Portuguese settlers but left Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims alone. The Dutch levied far heavier taxes on the people than the Portuguese had done.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: After the invasion of the Portuguese, Konappu Bandara (King Vimaladharmasuriya) intelligently won the battle and became the first king of the kingdom of Kandy. He built The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. The monarch ended with the death of the last king, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha in 1832.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: During the Napoleonic Wars, Great Britain, fearing that French control of the Netherlands might deliver Sri Lanka to the French, occupied the coastal areas of the island (which they called Ceylon) with little difficulty in 1796. In 1802, the Treaty of Amiens formally ceded the Dutch part of the island to Britain and it became a crown colony. In 1803, the British invaded the Kingdom of Kandy in the first Kandyan War, but were repulsed. In 1815 Kandy was annexed in the second Kandyan War, finally ending Sri Lankan independence.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Following the suppression of the Uva Rebellion the Kandyan peasantry were stripped of their lands by the Crown Lands (Encroachments) Ordinance No. 12 of 1840 (sometimes called the Crown Lands Ordinance or the Waste Lands Ordinance), a modern enclosure movement, and reduced to penury. The British found that the uplands of Sri Lanka were very suitable for coffee, tea and rubber cultivation. By the mid-19th century, Ceylon tea had become a staple of the British market bringing great wealth to a small number of European tea planters. The planters imported large numbers of Tamil workers as indentured labourers from south India to work the estates, who soon made up 10% of the island's population.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The British colonial administration favoured the semi-European Burghers, certain high-caste Sinhalese and the Tamils who were mainly concentrated to the north of the country. Nevertheless, the British also introduced democratic elements to Sri Lanka for the first time in its history and the Burghers were given degree of self-government as early as 1833. It was not until 1909 that constitutional development began, with a partly elected assembly, and not until 1920 that elected members outnumbered official appointees. Universal suffrage was introduced in 1931 over the protests of the Sinhalese, Tamil and Burgher elite who objected to the common people being allowed to vote.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Ceylon National Congress (CNC) was founded to agitate for greater autonomy, although the party was soon split along ethnic and caste lines. Historian K. M. de Silva has stated that the refusal of the Ceylon Tamils to accept minority status is one of the main causes of the break up of the Ceylon National congress. The CNC did not seek independence (or "Swaraj"). What may be called the independence movement broke into two streams: the "constitutionalists", who sought independence by gradual modification of the status of Ceylon; and the more radical groups associated with the Colombo Youth League, Labour movement of Goonasinghe, and the Jaffna Youth Congress. These organizations were the first to raise the cry of "Swaraj" ("outright independence") following the Indian example when Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu and other Indian leaders visited Ceylon in 1926. The efforts of the constitutionalists led to the arrival of the Donoughmore Commission reforms in 1931 and the Soulbury Commission recommendations, which essentially upheld the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of ministers headed by D. S. Senanayake. The Marxist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), which grew out of the Youth Leagues in 1935, made the demand for outright independence a cornerstone of their policy. Its deputies in the State Council, N.M. Perera and Philip Gunawardena, were aided in this struggle by other less radical members like Colvin R. De Silva, Leslie Goonewardene, Vivienne Goonewardene, Edmund Samarkody and Natesa Iyer. They also demanded the replacement of English as the official language by Sinhala and Tamil. The Marxist groups were a tiny minority and yet their movement was viewed with great interest by the British administration. The ineffective attempts to rouse the public against the British Raj in revolt would have led to certain bloodshed and a delay in independence. British state papers released in the 1950s show that the Marxist movement had a very negative impact on the policy makers at the Colonial office.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The Soulbury Commission was the most important result of the agitation for constitutional reform in the 1930s. The Tamil organization was by then led by G. G. Ponnambalam, who had rejected the "Ceylonese identity". Ponnamblam had declared himself a "proud Dravidian" and proclaimed an independent identity for the Tamils. He attacked the Sinhalese and criticized their historical chronicle known as the Mahavamsa. The first Sinhalese-Tamil riot came in 1939. Ponnambalam opposed universal franchise, supported the caste system, and claimed that the protection of minority rights requires that minorities (35% of the population in 1931) having an equal number of seats in parliament to that of the Sinhalese (65% of the population). This "50-50" or "balanced representation" policy became the hall mark of Tamil politics of the time. Ponnambalam also accused the British of having established colonization in "traditional Tamil areas", and having favoured the Buddhists by the Buddhist temporalities act. The Soulbury Commission rejected the submissions by Ponnambalam and even criticized what they described as their unacceptable communal character. Sinhalese writers pointed to the large immigration of Tamils to the southern urban centres, especially after the opening of the Jaffna-Colombo railway. Meanwhile, Senanayake, Baron Jayatilleke, Oliver Gunatilleke and others lobbied the Soulbury Commission without confronting them officially. The unofficial submissions contained what was to later become the draft constitution of 1944.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The close collaboration of the D. S. Senanayake government with the war-time British administration led to the support of Lord Louis Mountbatten. His dispatches and a telegram to the Colonial office supporting Independence for Ceylon have been cited by historians as having helped the Senanayake government to secure the independence of Sri Lanka. The shrewd cooperation with the British as well as diverting the needs of the war market to Ceylonese markets as a supply point, managed by Oliver Goonatilleke, also led to a very favourable fiscal situation for the newly independent government.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Sri Lanka was a front-line British base against the Japanese during World War II. Sri Lankan opposition to the war led by the Marxist organizations and the leaders of the LSSP pro-independence group were arrested by the Colonial authorities. On 5 April 1942, the Indian Ocean raid saw the Japanese Navy bomb Colombo. The Japanese attack led to the flight of Indian merchants, dominant in the Colombo commercial sector, which removed a major political problem facing the Senanayake government. Marxist leaders also escaped to India where they participated in the independence struggle there. The movement in Ceylon was minuscule, limited to the English-educated intelligentsia and trade unions, mainly in the urban centres. These groups were led by Robert Gunawardena, Philip's brother. In stark contrast to this "heroic" but ineffective approach to the war, the Senanayake government took advantage to further its rapport with the commanding elite. Ceylon became crucial to the British Empire in the war, with Lord Louis Mountbatten using Colombo as his headquarters for the Eastern Theatre. Oliver Goonatilleka successfully exploited the markets for the country's rubber and other agricultural products to replenish the treasury. Nonetheless, the Sinhalese continued to push for independence and the Sinhalese sovereignty, using the opportunities offered by the war, pushed to establish a special relationship with Britain.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Meanwhile, the Marxists, identifying the war as an imperialist sideshow and desiring a proletarian revolution, chose a path of agitation disproportionate to their negligible combat strength and diametrically opposed to the "constitutionalist" approach of Senanayake and other ethnic Sinhalese leaders. A small garrison on the Cocos Islands manned by Ceylonese mutinied against British rule. It has been claimed that the LSSP had some hand in the action, though this is far from clear. Three of the participants were the only British colony subjects to be shot for mutiny during World War II.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Two members of the Governing Party, Junius Richard Jayawardene and Dudley Senanayake, held discussions with the Japanese to collaborate in fighting the British. Sri Lankans in Singapore and Malaysia formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of the anti-British Indian National Army.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The constitutionalists led by D. S. Senanayake succeeded in winning independence. The Soulbury constitution was essentially what Senanayake's board of ministers had drafted in 1944. The promise of Dominion status and independence itself had been given by the Colonial Office.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The Sinhalese leader Don Stephen Senanayake left the CNC on the issue of independence, disagreeing with the revised aim of 'the achieving of freedom', although his real reasons were more subtle. He subsequently formed the United National Party (UNP) in 1946, when a new constitution was agreed on, based on the behind-the-curtain lobbying of the Soulbury commission. At the elections of 1947, the UNP won a minority of seats in parliament, but cobbled together a coalition with the Sinhala Maha Sabha party of Solomon Bandaranaike and the Tamil Congress of G.G. Ponnambalam. The successful inclusions of the Tamil-communalist leader Ponnambalam, and his Sinhalese counterpart Bandaranaike were a remarkable political balancing act by Senanayake. The vacuum in Tamil Nationalist politics, created by Ponnamblam's transition to a moderate, opened the field for the Tamil "Arasu Kachchi" ("Federal party"), a Tamil sovereignty party led by S. J. V. Chelvanaykam who was the lawyer son of a Christian minister.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Dominion status followed on 4 February 1948 with military treaties with Britain, as the upper ranks of the armed forces were initially British, and British air and sea bases remaining intact. This was later raised to independence itself and Senanayake became the first Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. In 1949, with the concurrence of the leaders of the Ceylon Tamils, the UNP government disenfranchised the Indian Tamil plantation workers. This was the price that Senanayake had to pay to obtain the support of the Kandyan Sinhalese, who felt threatened by the demographics of the tea estates where the inclusion of the "Indian Tamils" would have meant electoral defeat for the Kandyan leaders. Senanayake died in 1952 after falling from a horse and was succeeded by his son Dudley Senanayake, the then minister of Agriculture. In 1953 he resigned following a massive "Hartal" ("general strike") by the Left parties against the UNP. He was followed by John Kotelawala, a senior politician and an uncle of Dudley Senanayake. Kotelawala did not have the enormous personal prestige or the adroit political acumen of D. S. Senanayake. He brought to the fore the issue of national languages that D. S. Senanayake had adroitly kept on the back burner, antagonising the Tamils and the Sinhalese by stating conflicting policies with regard to the status of Sinhala and Tamil as official languages. He also antagonized the Buddhist lobby by attacking politically active Buddhist Monks who were Bandaranaike's supporters.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: In 1956, the Senate was abolished and Sinhala was established as the official language, with Tamil as a second language. Appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London were abolished and plantations were nationalised to fulfil the election pledges of the Marxist program and to "prevent the ongoing dis-investment by the owning companies". In 1956, the Sinhala Only Act came into being. This established Sinhala as the first and preferred language in commerce and education. The Act took effect immediately. As a consequence vast numbers of people, mostly Burghers, left the country to live abroad as they felt discriminated against. In 1958, the first major riots between Sinhalese and Tamils flared up in Colombo as a direct result of the government's language policy.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The leftist Sinhalese Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna drew worldwide attention when it launched an insurrection against the Bandaranayake government in April 1971. Although the insurgents were young, poorly armed, and inadequately trained, they succeeded in seizing and holding major areas in Southern and Central provinces before they were defeated by the security forces. Their attempt to seize power created a major crisis for the government and forced a fundamental reassessment of the nation's security needs.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The movement was started in the late 1960s by Rohana Wijeweera, who became a Maoist and participated in the pro-Beijing branch of the Ceylon Communist Party, He was increasingly at odds with party leaders and impatient with its lack of revolutionary purpose. His success in working with youth groups and his popularity as a public speaker led him to organize his own movement in 1967. Initially identified simply as the New Left, this group drew on students and unemployed youths from rural areas, most of them in the sixteen-to-twenty-five-age-group. Many of these new recruits were members of minority so called 'lower' castes (Karava and Durava) who felt that their economic interests had been neglected by the nation's leftist coalitions. The standard program of indoctrination, the so-called Five Lectures, included discussions of Indian imperialism, the growing economic crisis, the failure of the island's communist and socialist parties, and the need for a sudden, violent seizure of power. Between 1967 and 1970, the group expanded rapidly, gaining control of the student socialist movement at a number of major university campuses and winning recruits and sympathizers within the armed forces. Some of these latter supporters actually provided sketches of police stations, airports, and military facilities that were important to the initial success of the revolt. In order to draw the newer members more tightly into the organization and to prepare them for a coming confrontation, Wijeweera opened "education camps" in several remote areas along the south and southwestern coasts. These camps provided training in Marxism–Leninism and in basic military skills.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: While developing secret cells and regional commands, Wijeweera's group also began to take a more public role during the elections of 1970. His cadres campaigned openly for the United Front of Sirimavo R. D. Bandaranaike, but at the same time they distributed posters and pamphlets promising violent rebellion if Bandaranaike did not address the interests of the proletariat. In a manifesto issued during this period, the group used the name Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna for the first time. Because of the subversive tone of these publications, the United National Party government had Wijeweera detained during the elections, but the victorious Bandaranaike ordered his release in July 1970. In the politically tolerant atmosphere of the next few months, as the new government attempted to win over a wide variety of unorthodox leftist groups, the JVP intensified both the public campaign and the private preparations for a revolt. Although their group was relatively small, the members hoped to immobilize the government by selective kidnapping and sudden, simultaneous strikes against the security forces throughout the island. Some of the necessary weapons had been bought with funds supplied by the members. For the most part, however, they relied on raids against police stations and army camps to secure weapons, and they manufactured their own bombs. Wijeweera was arrested and sent to Jaffna Prison, where he remained throughout the revolt. In response to his arrest and the growing pressure of police investigations, other JVP leaders decided to act immediately, and they agreed to begin the uprising at 11:00 P.M. on 5 April 1971. Rebel groups armed with shotguns, bombs, and Molotov cocktails launched simultaneous attacks against seventy- four police stations around the island and cut power to major urban areas. The attacks were most successful in the south. By 10 April, the rebels had taken control of Matara District and the city of Ambalangoda in Galle District and came close to capturing the remaining areas of Southern Province.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The new government was ill-prepared for the crisis that confronted it. Bandaranaike was caught off guard by the scale of the uprising and was forced to call on India to provide basic security functions. Indian frigates patrolled the coast and Indian troops guarded Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayaka while Indian Air Force helicopters assisted the counteroffensive. Sri Lanka's all-volunteer army had no combat experience since World War II and no training in counterinsurgency warfare. Although the police were able to defend some areas unassisted, in many places the government deployed personnel from all three services in a ground force capacity. Royal Ceylon Air Force helicopters delivered relief supplies to beleaguered police stations while combined service patrols drove the insurgents out of urban areas and into the countryside. After two weeks of fighting, the government regained control of all but a few remote areas. In both human and political terms, the cost of the victory was high: an estimated 10,000 insurgents—many of them in their teens—died in the conflict, and the army was widely perceived to have used excessive force. In order to win over an alienated population and to prevent a prolonged conflict, Bandaranaike offered amnesties in May and June 1971, and only the top leaders were actually imprisoned. Wijeweera, who was already in detention at the time of the uprising, was given a twenty-year sentence and the JVP was proscribed.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Under the six years of emergency rule that followed the uprising, the JVP remained dormant. After the victory of the United National Party in the 1977 elections, however, the new government attempted to broaden its mandate with a period of political tolerance. Wijeweera was freed, the ban was lifted, and the JVP entered the arena of legal political competition. As a candidate in the 1982 presidential elections, Wijeweera finished fourth, with more than 250,000 votes (as compared with Jayewardene's 3.2 million). During this period, and especially as the Tamil conflict to the north became more intense, there was a marked shift in the ideology and goals of the JVP. Initially Marxist in orientation, and claiming to represent the oppressed of both the Tamil and Sinhalese communities, the group emerged increasingly as a Sinhalese nationalist organization opposing any compromise with the Tamil insurgency. This new orientation became explicit in the anti-Tamil riots of July 1983. Because of its role in inciting violence, the JVP was once again banned and its leadership went underground.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The group's activities intensified in the second half of 1987 in the wake of the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord. The prospect of Tamil autonomy in the north together with the presence of Indian troops stirred up a wave of Sinhalese nationalism and a sudden growth of antigovernment violence. During 1987 a new group emerged that was an offshoot of the JVP—the Patriotic Liberation Organization (Deshapremi Janatha Viyaparaya—DJV). The DJV claimed responsibility for the August 1987 assassination attempts against the president and prime minister. In addition, the group launched a campaign of intimidation against the ruling party, killing more than seventy members of Parliament between July and November.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Along with the group's renewed violence came a renewed fear of infiltration of the armed forces. Following the successful raid of the Pallekelle army camp in May 1987, the government conducted an investigation that resulted in the discharge of thirty-seven soldiers suspected of having links with the JVP. In order to prevent a repetition of the 1971 uprising, the government considered lifting the ban on the JVP in early 1988 and permitting the group to participate again in the political arena. With Wijeweera still underground, however, the JVP had no clear leadership at the time, and it was uncertain whether it had the cohesion to mount any coordinated offensive, either military or political, against the government.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The Democratic Socialist republic of Sri Lanka was established on 22 May 1972. By 1977, the voters were tired of Bandaranaike's socialist policies and elections returned the UNP to power under Junius Jayewardene, on a manifesto pledging a market economy and "a free ration of 8 seers (kilograms) of cereals". The SLFP and the left-wing parties were virtually wiped out in Parliament, although they garnered 40% of the popular vote, leaving the Tamil United Liberation Front led by Appapillai Amirthalingam as the official opposition. This created a dangerous ethnic division in Sri Lankan politics.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: After coming to power, Jayewardene directed the rewriting of the constitution. The document that was produced, the new Constitution of 1978, drastically altered the nature of governance in Sri Lanka. It replaced the previous Westminster style, parliamentary government with a new presidential system modeled after France, with a powerful chief executive. The president was to be elected by direct suffrage for a six-year term and was empowered to appoint, with parliamentary approval, the prime minister and to preside over cabinet meetings. Jayewardene became the first president under the new Constitution and assumed direct control of the government machinery and party.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The new regime ushered in an era that did not augur well for the SLFP. Jayewardene's UNP government accused former prime minister Bandaranaike of abusing her power while in office from 1970 to 1977. In October 1980, Bandaranaike's privilege to engage in politics was removed for a period of seven years, and the SLFP was forced to seek a new leader. After a long and divisive battle, the party chose her son, Anura. Anura Bandaranaike was soon thrust into the role of the keeper of his father's legacy, but he inherited a political party torn apart by factionalism and reduced to a minimal role in the Parliament.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The 1978 Constitution included substantial concessions to Tamil sensitivities. Although TULF did not participate in framing the Constitution, it continued to sit in Parliament in the hope of negotiating a settlement to the Tamil problem. TULF also agreed to Jayewardene's proposal of an all-party conference to resolve the island's ethnic problems. Jayewardene's UNP offered other concessions in a bid to secure peace. Sinhala remained the official language and the language of administration throughout Sri Lanka, but Tamil was given a new "national language" status. Tamil was to be used in a number of administrative and educational circumstances. Jayewardene also eliminated a major Tamil grievance by abrogating the "standardization" policy of the United Front government, which had made university admission criteria for Tamils more difficult. In addition, he offered many top-level positions, including that of minister of justice, to Tamil civil servants.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: While TULF, in conjunction with the UNP, pressed for the all-party conference, the Tamil Tigers escalated their terrorist attacks, which provoked Sinhalese backlash against Tamils and generally precluded any successful accommodation. In reaction to the assassination of a Jaffna police inspector, the Jayewardene government declared an emergency and dispatched troops, who were given an unrealistic six months to eradicate the terrorist threat.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The government passed the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act in 1979. The act was enacted as a temporary measure, but it later became permanent legislation. The International Commission of Jurists, Amnesty International, and other human rights organizations condemned the act as being incompatible with democratic traditions. Despite the act, the number of terrorist acts increased. Guerrillas began to hit targets of high symbolic value such as post offices and police outposts, provoking government counterattacks. As an increasing number of civilians were caught in the fighting, Tamil support widened for the "boys", as the guerrillas began to be called. Other large, well-armed groups began to compete with LTTE. The better-known included the People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam, Tamil Eelam Liberation Army, and the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization. Each of these groups had forces measured in the hundreds if not thousands. The government claimed that many of the terrorists were operating from training camps in India's Tamil Nadu State. The Indian government repeatedly denied this claim. With the level of violence mounting, the possibility of negotiation became increasingly distant.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: In July 1983, communal riots took place due to the ambush and killing of 13 Sri Lankan Army soldiers by the Tamil Tigers using the voters list, which contained the exact addresses of Tamils. The Tamil community faced a backlash from Sinhalese rioters including the destruction of shops, homes, savage beatings and the burning of Jaffna library. A few Sinhalese kept Tamil neighbours in their homes to protect them from the rioters. During these riots the government did nothing to control the mob. Conservative government estimates put the death toll at 400, while the real death toll is believed to be around 3000. Also around 18,000 Tamil homes and another 5,000 homes were destroyed, with 150,000 leaving the country resulting in a Tamil diaspora in Canada, the UK, Australia and other western countries.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: In elections held on 17 November 2005 Mahinda Rajapakse was elected president after defeating Ranil Wickremasinghe by a mere 180,000 votes. He appointed Wickremanayake as Prime Minister and Mangala Samaraweera as Foreign Minister. Negotiations with the LTTE stalled and a low-intensity conflict began. The violence dropped off after talks in February but escalated again in April and the conflict continued until the military defeat of the LTTE in May 2009.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: The Sri Lanka government declared total victory on 18 May 2009. On 19 May 2009, the Sri Lankan military led by General Sarath Fonseka, effectively concluded its 26-year operation against the LTTE, its military forces recaptured all remaining LTTE controlled territories in the Northern Province including Killinochchi (2 January), the Elephant Pass (9 January) and ultimately the entire district of Mullaitivu.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: On 22 May 2009, Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa confirmed that 6,261 personnel of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces had died and 29,551 were wounded during the Eelam War IV since July 2006. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara added that approximately 22,000 LTTE fighters had died during this time. The war caused the death of 80 000-100 000 civilians. There are allegations that war crimes were committed by the Sri Lankan military and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) during the Sri Lankan Civil War, particularly during the final months of the Eelam War IV phase in 2009. The alleged war crimes include attacks on civilians and civilian buildings by both sides; executions of combatants and prisoners by both sides; enforced disappearances by the Sri Lankan military and paramilitary groups backed by them; acute shortages of food, medicine, and clean water for civilians trapped in the war zone; and child recruitment by the Tamil Tigers.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Several International bodies including UNROW Human Rights Impact Litigation Clinic, Human Rights Watch and Permanent People's Tribunal have raised allegations on the Sri Lankan Government for genocide against Tamils. On 10 December 2013, Permanent People's Tribunal unanimously ruled Sri Lanka guilty of the crime of genocide against the Tamil people.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Presidential elections were completed in January 2010. Mahinda Rajapaksa won the elections with 59% of the votes, defeating General Sarath Fonseka who was the united opposition candidate. Fonseka was subsequently arrested and convicted by court martial.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: In January 2015 presidential elections Mahinda Rajapaksa was defeated by the common candidate of opposition, Maithripala Sirisena, and Rajapaksa's attempted return was thwarted in the parliamentary election the same year by Ranil Wickremesinghe This resulted in a unity government between the UNP and SLFP


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital, Colombo, were targeted in a series of coordinated Islamic terrorist suicide bombings. A total of 267 people were killed,<ref name="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/sri-lanka-election-observers-report-poll-day-violations-191116095400943.html"></ref> including at least 45 foreign nationals, three police officers, and eight bombers, and at least 500 were injured. All eight of the suicide bombers in the attacks were Sri Lankan citizens associated with National Thowheeth Jama'ath, a local militant Islamist group with suspected foreign ties, previously known for attacks against Buddhists and Sufis.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Sri Lankan President, Maithripala Sirisena, decided not to seek re-election in 2019. In November 2019 presidential election former wartime defence chief Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected as the new President of Sri Lanka. He was the candidate for the SLPP, the Sinhalese-Buddhist nationalist party, and brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: In August 2020 parliamentary elections the party, led by the Rajapaksa brothers, got a landslide victory. Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Sri Lankan president and brother of current president, became the new Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: Since 2010, Sri Lanka has witnessed a sharp rise in foreign debt The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic-induced global recession accelerated the crisis and by 2021, the foreign debt rose to 101% of the nation's GDP, causing an economic crisis. In March 2022, spontaneous and organized protests by both political parties and non-partisan groups over the government's mishandling of the economy were reported from several areas. On 31 March, a large group gathered around the residence of Gotabaya Rajapaksa to protest against the power cuts that had reached over 12-hours a day. The protest was initially spontaneous peaceful protest by citizens until the police attacked the protestors with tear gas and water cannons and the protestors burned down a bus carrying riot control troops. The government declared a curfew in Colombo.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: On 9 July 2022 after many months of protests, the President's residence was stormed by protesters. The President escaped and then fled the country on a military jet to the Maldives. His departure followed months of mass protests over soaring prices and a lack of food and fuel. The country's foreign currency reserves have dipped low and the country has missed debt interest payments. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president, who declared a state of emergency in western providences. Thousands of Sri Lankan protesters streamed the streets of the capital, Colombo.


title: History of Sri Lanka

text: In July 2022, protesters occupied President's House in Colombo, causing Rajapaksa to flee and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to announce his own willingness to resign. About a week later, Parliament elected Wickremesinghe as president, on .


title: Shannon Purser

text: Shannon Purser (born June 27, 1997) is an American actress. She made her acting debut as Barb in the Netflix drama series "Stranger Things" (2016–2017), for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.


title: Shannon Purser

text: Purser made her film debut in the supernatural horror film "Wish Upon" (2017), and starred in the romantic comedy "Sierra Burgess Is a Loser" (2018). She also portrays the recurring role of Ethel Muggs in the CW teen drama series "Riverdale" (2017–present).


title: Shannon Purser

text: Purser was born on June 27, 1997, in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2016, Purser was attending Kennesaw State University. She formerly worked at a movie theater in her hometown of Roswell, Georgia, but quit in order to focus on acting.


title: Shannon Purser

text: Purser made her acting debut in the Netflix science fiction drama series "Stranger Things". She portrayed the character Barbara Holland, an intelligent and outspoken girl, who is the best friend of Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer). Despite her only being a minor character, several outlets called Barb one of their favorite characters. This role brought Purser to international fame, and earned her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.


title: Shannon Purser

text: Purser portrays Ethel Muggs in The CW's teen drama series "Riverdale". In 2018, she played the titular role in the film "Sierra Burgess Is a Loser". She had a minor role in the comedy film "Life of the Party", which ended up being cut. Purser played Annabelle Bowman, a member of the drama troupe at Stanton High, in the drama "Rise," and read the audiobook of "Leah on the Offbeat".


title: Shannon Purser

text: Purser is an amateur visual artist and musician. She has spoken about living with OCD, and regularly advocates for mental health and anxiety-awareness. On April 18, 2017, Purser came out as bisexual in a Twitter post.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: Inkheart is a 2008 fantasy adventure film directed by Iain Softley, produced by Cornelia Funke, Dylan Cuva, Sarah Wang, Ute Leonhardt, Toby Emmerich, Mark Ordesky, Ileen Maisel and Andrew Licht, written by David Lindsay-Abaire, music composed by Javier Navarrete and starring Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, Andy Serkis, and Eliza Bennett. It is based on Cornelia Funke's 2003 novel of the same name.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: Produced by New Line Cinema, the film was released theatrically on December 12, 2008, in the UK and January 23, 2009, in the US by Warner Bros. Pictures. "Inkheart" received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $62,450,361 on a $60 million budget.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: "Inkheart" was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on April 13, 2009. On January 12, 2009, a video game based on the film was released for the Nintendo DS.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: Parents Mortimer "Mo" Folchart (Brendan Fraser) and his wife Teresa "Resa" Folchart (Sienna Guillory) read the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood" to their baby daughter Meggie, as a red velvet hood appears out of thin air. Twelve years later, Meggie (Eliza Bennett) visits an old book shop in Europe with her father, unaware that he is secretly looking for a copy of the book "Inkheart". Shortly after Mo finds the book, Meggie encounters a horned marten outside the shop and it tries to bite her fingers. A man (Paul Bettany) suddenly appears from the shadows, claiming to be an old friend. Mo comes out of the shop, recognizing the man as Dustfinger, who quickly asks him to "read him back into the book". Mo flees with Meggie.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: Mo takes Meggie to visit her great-aunt Elinor (Helen Mirren) in Italy. There he tells Meggie that nine years ago, while reading to her from "Inkheart", he inadvertently brought Dustfinger out of the world of the book and into the world Mo and Meggie live in, through a gift he possessed from birth. Unfortunately, the book's villain, Capricorn (Andy Serkis), and one of his henchmen, Basta (Jamie Foreman), were also brought out of the book. Fleeing with his infant daughter, Mo realizes his wife Resa has been taken into the book. Capricorn arrives with Basta, who captures the group, destroys Elinor's library and takes "Inkheart". Mo, Meggie, and Elinor are taken to Capricorn's new castle in the "real" world.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: During their imprisonment, Mo explains his gift to Meggie and Elinor, stating that when he reads a person or an object out of a book, someone from the real world is sent into it, hence his wife's disappearance. Capricorn forces Mo to use his gift, acquiring treasure from one of the stories in "The Arabian Nights", and imprisoning Farid (Rafi Gavron), one of the 40 Thieves. Dustfinger, who was promised a return into the book, is betrayed by Capricorn. The group escapes using the tornado from "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz".


title: Inkheart (film)

text: Elinor leaves to recover what is left of her library as the others head for Alassio, the town of "Inkheart"s author Fenoglio, who may have another copy. Dustfinger is initially afraid of learning his fate in the book, but eventually joins them. When they meet Fenoglio (Jim Broadbent), the author's ecstatic reaction to seeing his creation alive leads Dustfinger to learn he dies at the end of the book while trying to save his marten, Gwin. Angry, he berates Fenoglio before eventually telling Mo that Resa is trapped in the castle and has lost her voice.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: Mo and Dustfinger take Fenoglio's car and Farid stows away in the trunk. At Fenoglio's house, Meggie begins reading out loud, bringing Toto from "The Wizard of Oz". Basta bursts in with his men and takes the group to Capricorn. Elinor, having decided to stay, realizes something is amiss and pursues them. At the castle, Capricorn orders Meggie to bring a monster called the Shadow out of "Inkheart" and threatens to harm her mother if she does not comply. Mo sneaks into the castle. Dustfinger is captured, but escapes after Meggie informs him of Capricorn's intentions.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: Mo attempts to free Meggie and the others, as Capricorn forces her to read the Shadow out of the book. Dustfinger returns to the castle with Farid and sets it on fire. The distraction allows Fenoglio to give Meggie a rewrite of part of "Inkheart" that he wrote to help Meggie stop Capricorn's plan. As Elinor arrives with the creatures Capricorn imprisoned, Meggie writes out the story on her arm. As she reads out her creation, Capricorn turns into ashes as the Shadow devours him, his henchmen vanish, the Shadow explodes, and all the read-out creatures back are returned where they belong, including Toto. In addition, she grants Fenoglio's wish to live in the world he created, while reuniting her and Mo with her mother and restoring her voice. Dustfinger is also safely read back into "Inkheart", where he is reunited with his wife Roxanne. In the real world, Farid reveals he kept Gwin with him, thus allowing Dustfinger to avoid his own death. As Mo and his family leave with Farid, Meggie agrees to teach him how to read and Farid agrees to teach her how to use the dragon breath, the fire breathing ability of Dustfinger's which Farid learned.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: Shortly after the novel was published, author Cornelia Funke sent a copy of "Inkheart" along with a note to Brendan Fraser, explaining that he was her inspiration for the character of Mo.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: So I get this book. It shows up in the mail. 'Dear Brendan,' it's inscribed, 'Thank you for inspiring this character.' I can feel my leg getting pulled already. 'What? Where's Ashton Kutcher?' 'I hope that you get a chance to read this aloud to your kids one day. Best wishes, Cornelia Funke.' I had no idea from a bar of soap who she was, so I Googled her. Wow, so much work, she's prolific. I think part of the story is that a little girl who was bilingual, I think she was a Brit but she spoke German fluently, had discovered a copy of Tintenherz which she loved and read, and wrote to either it was Cornelia or the publisher and asked why isn't this published in English? And I think Cornelia probably wanted to know the answer to that question too. So once it was, it just became a snowballing thing and then that really got her out there and led to the acclaim and popularity of her work.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: It was this that motivated director Iain Softley and the casting department to consider Fraser first for the role in the film. Fraser told Softley that if it was determined that he was not right for the role, not to feel obligated to use him on the project. Softley was ultimately impressed with Fraser's performance and contracted him for the film. Public auditions were held for the role of Meggie Folchart with the intention of casting an unknown actress, however the role eventually went to Eliza Bennett who had already worked extensively on television and film at the time. Funke, was quoted as saying that "we had our second screening (summer 2007), which went well, and I really loved the movie, but they are still changing things, especially at the end." Inkheart was filmed at Shepperton Studios near London, England and on location in Balestrino, Albenga, Alassio, Entracque and Laigueglia, Italy, in 2006 and 2007.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: The production also visited Hever Castle in Kent to shoot the exterior for Elinor's Tuscan villa setting.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: Double Negative created the menacing animated character, The Shadow, along with other creatures and visual effects for the film. The finale of the film takes place within a ruined amphitheater nestled in the Italian mountains; this is the lair of Capricorn, one of the villains Mo has accidentally "read" into the real world. The visual effects work included the digital augmentation of the bluescreen set, the billowing, pyroclastic monster, The Shadow, the surreal winged monkeys with their raven black feathers and Capricorn's final transition.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: As with the production of "", the production progressed very slowly. The American release was originally set for Christmas 2007, but then was changed from its original release date of Christmas 2007 then towards March 19, 2008. Due to the writer's strike, the film was pushed back more and more, and eventually opened December 12, 2008 in the UK and January 23, 2009 in the US.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 38%, based on 144 reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The site's consensus reads, "Heavy on clichés and light on charm, this kid-lit fantasy-adventure doesn't quite get off the ground." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 49 out of 100, based on reviews from 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: Kirk Honeycutt of "The Hollywood Reporter" disliked the film, saying: "Whatever made the German novel "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke so popular that it got translated into 37 languages is nowhere in evidence in its film version", and "The main problem is the central concept itself."


title: Inkheart (film)

text: Bill Goodykoontz of "The Arizona Republic" enjoyed the film, saying: ""Inkheart" is entertaining enough, if not always easy to follow. And if it does nothing else, at least it may inspire kids to read, if for no other reason than to help make sense of it all." A. O. Scott said the film "aims for a blend of whimsy and tingly suspense but botches nearly every spell it tries to cast. Its opening scenes are more confusing than intriguing, and the acceleration of the plot leads to a sense of busyness rather than suspense. A movie that can produce the image of Helen Mirren astride a unicorn has some claim on the audience's interest, and a movie that can make that image seem perfectly uninteresting is in some serious trouble."


title: Inkheart (film)

text: The film grossed $2,110,000 during its opening day in 2,655 theaters. It opened at #7 at the U.S. box office with $7,725,000, with a worldwide gross of close to $13 million. It yielded just $1 million from its opening in the UK, ranking fourth, while coming in third at $1.8 million in Germany. It later came to make $5,781,992 in the UK, $10,112,691 in Germany, $1,222,364 in Australia, $1,484,027 in France, $3,289,477 in Italy, $1,815,500 in Taiwan, $2,951,290 in Spain, $2,665,476 in South Korea, $1,681,477 in Russia, $2,378,200 in Mexico, and $1,080,825 in Malaysia, plus $4,187,389 from smaller countries. "Inkheart" made $17,303,424 in the United States, and $45,146,937 internationally, making the final worldwide gross of the film to be $62,450,361. It made $8.3 million in US DVD sales during its first week.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: Javier Navarrete won the award for Best Original Score for a Fantasy Science Fiction Film for this film at the IFMCA Award.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: "Inkheart" was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on April 13, 2009. It was released in the United States on June 23, 2009. It was released in Australia on September 24, 2009 on DVD and Blu-Ray and re-released on August 10, 2016 on both DVD and Blu-Ray.


title: Inkheart (film)

text: On January 12, 2009, a video game based on the film was released for the Nintendo DS. On Metacritic the game has a score of 39/100 based on eight critic reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


title: Dutasteride

text: Dutasteride, sold under the brand name Avodart among others, is a medication primarily used to treat the symptoms of a benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), an enlarged prostate not associated with cancer. A few months may be required before benefits occur. It is also used for scalp hair loss in men and as a part of hormone therapy in transgender women. It is usually taken by mouth.


title: Dutasteride

text: The most commonly reported side effects of dutasteride, although rare, include sexual dysfunction and depression. In the largest available study of 6,729 men with BPH, 9% experienced erectile dysfunction (compared to 5.7% treated with a placebo), 3.3% experienced decreased sex drive (vs 1.6% of placebo), and 1.9% had enlarged breasts (vs 1% of placebo). Exposure during pregnancy is specifically contraindicated because antiandrogens such as dutasteride have been shown to interfere with the sexual development of male fetuses.


title: Dutasteride

text: Dutasteride was patented in 1993 by GlaxoSmithKline and was approved for medical use in 2001. In the United States and elsewhere, it is available as a generic medication. In 2018, it was the 291st-most commonly prescribed medication in the US with more than 1million prescriptions.


title: Dutasteride

text: Dutasteride is used for treating BPH, colloquially known as an "enlarged prostate". It is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. for this indication. A 2010 Cochrane review found a 25–26% reduction in the risk of developing prostate cancer with 5α-reductase inhibitor chemoprevention.


title: Dutasteride

text: Dutasteride is approved for the treatment of male androgenetic alopecia in South Korea and Japan at a dosage of 0.5 mg per day. Several studies have found it to induce hair regrowth in men more rapidly and to a greater extent than even the highest approved dosage of finasteride. The superior effectiveness of dutasteride relative to finasteride for this indication is because the inhibition of 5α-reductase and consequent reduction of DHT production within the hair follicles is more complete with dutasteride. Dutasteride is also used off-label in the treatment of female pattern hair loss.


title: Dutasteride

text: Other 5α-reductase inhibitors such as finasteride (a type 2 inhibitor) have been used off-label to treat excessive hair growth in women with hirsutism. Since dutasteride is an inhibitor of both type 1 and 2 5α-reductases, it could theoretically be a more effective therapy for hirsutism. However, dutasteride is not recommended for this indication due to a lack of supportive clinical evidence and a substantial risk of birth defects in female patients who inadvertently become pregnant.


title: Dutasteride

text: Dutasteride is sometimes used as a component of hormone therapy for transgender women in combination with an estrogen and/or another antiandrogen such as spironolactone. It may be useful for treating scalp hair loss or in those who have issues tolerating spironolactone.


title: Dutasteride

text: Dutasteride is provided in the form of soft, oil-filled gelatin capsules containing 0.5 mg dutasteride each.


title: Dutasteride

text: Women who are or who may become pregnant should not handle the drug. Dutasteride can cause birth defects in male fetuses, specifically ambiguous genitalia and undermasculinization. This is due to its antiandrogenic effects similar to what is seen in 5α-reductase deficiency. For the same reason, women who are currently pregnant should never take dutasteride. People taking dutasteride should not donate blood to prevent birth defects if a pregnant woman receives blood and should also not donate blood for at least 6 months after the cessation of treatment due to the drug's long elimination half-life.


title: Dutasteride

text: Children and people with known significant hypersensitivity (e.g., serious skin reactions, angioedema) to dutasteride should not take it.


title: Dutasteride

text: Dutasteride has overall been found to be well tolerated in studies of both men and women, producing minimal side effects. Adverse effects include headache and gastrointestinal discomfort. Isolated reports of menstrual changes, acne, and dizziness also exist. A small risk of sexual side effects has been documented in men taking the drug during the first few months of therapy.


title: Dutasteride

text: The FDA added a black-box warning to dutasteride in 2011 describing an increased risk of high-grade prostate cancer in those who take the drug. No direct mechanistic link between 5α-reductase inhibitors and prostate cancer has been established. This is not due to a direct link between dutasteride or other 5α-reductase inhibitors and cancer "per se", but rather that those who take 5α-reductase inhibitors may have a decrease in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, and therefore increases in PSA (which are an indicator of possible cancer) may be masked in those who take the drug. This is thought to delay cancer diagnosis so that patients taking 5α-reductase inhibitors present with a higher-grade tumor at the time of diagnosis. The American Urological Association advises that increased risk for patients taking these drugs leads to higher prostate cancer-specific and all-cause mortality. The AUA also advises that this affect can be alleviated with more frequent screening and lower PSA cutoffs for diagnostic biopsies in men taking dutasteride or other 5α-reductase inhibitors. Dutasteride is known to reduce the growth and prevalence of benign prostate tumors.A 2018 meta-analysis found no higher risk of breast cancer with 5α-reductase inhibitors.


title: Dutasteride

text: Sexual and mood side effects, such as erectile dysfunction, loss of libido, depression, and reduced semen volume occur in as many as 4.8% of patients taking 5α-reductase inhibitors including dutasteride. In affected men, semen volume is decreased an average of 30%, with a smaller subgroup of patients also experiencing a decrease of sperm motility of 6-12%. Sperm shape and function are unaffected and the impact on male fertility is unknown. These negative effects reverse by 3-4 months after discontinuation of the drug.


title: Dutasteride

text: In a study of 6,729 men with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH, a condition where the prostate grows unnassociated with cancer), 9% had erectile dysfunction (compared to 5.7% treated with a placebo), 3.3% experienced decreased sex drive (vs 1.6% of placebo), and 1.9% had enlarged breasts (vs 1% of placebo). These effects were noted to resolve over time, with many fewer men reporting any adverse effects by the end of the 4 year study. The rate of discontinuation of the drug due to adverse effects was less than 5%.


title: Dutasteride

text: A subset of men affected by sexual and mood side effects report persistent loss of libido, depression, and erectile dysfunction for several years after discontinuing treatment. This remains a highly contested topic in the academic literature due to disagreements about whether the nocebo effect may play a role, whether self-report questionnaires are reliable for this data, and whether enough objective evidence exists to conclude these effects are persistent after discontinuation of the drug. The Post-Finasteride Syndrome Foundation (PFSF) was created with a medical advisory board to study the topic (finasteride is a similar 5α-reductase inhibitor) and lawsuits alleging harm from the drug are ongoing. Concerns from the PFSF and other patient advocates led the FDA to add a black-box warning to Finasteride for possible risks of suicide in June 2022. Some experts have questioned the basis of the black-box warning, given that it relies on anecdotal patient-reported outcomes rather than prospective trials.


title: Dutasteride

text: No specific antidote for overdose of dutasteride is known, since the drug is extremely safe and well tolerated. Research studies show that even at 100 times the normal dose, dutasteride is not lethal. Treatment of dutasteride overdose should be based on symptoms and should be with supportive therapies. The long elimination half-life of dutasteride should be taken into consideration in the event of an overdose of the medication. Dutasteride has been used in clinical studies at doses of up to 40 mg/day for a week (80 times the therapeutic dosage) and 5 mg/day for 6 months (10 times the therapeutic dosage) with no significant safety concerns or additional side effects.


title: Dutasteride

text: Ongoing clinical trials are investigating whether dutasteride may be an effective treatment for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), because dutasteride may inhibit the conversion of progesterone to allopregnanolone, a neurosteroid metabolite, which may be responsible for some of the debilitating symptoms of PMDD.


title: Dutasteride

text: Dutasteride belongs to a class of drugs called 5α-reductase inhibitors, which block the action of the 5α-reductase enzymes that convert testosterone into DHT. It inhibits all three forms of 5α-reductase, and can decrease DHT levels in the blood by up to 98%. Specifically it is a competitive, mechanism-based (irreversible) inhibitor of all three isoforms of 5α-reductase, types I, II, and III ( values are 3.9 nM for type I and 1.8 nM for type II). This is in contrast to finasteride, which is similarly an irreversible inhibitor of 5α-reductase but only inhibits the type II and III isoenzymes. As a result of this difference, dutasteride is able to achieve a reduction in circulating DHT levels of up to 98%, whereas finasteride is able to achieve a reduction of only 65 to 70%. In spite of the differential reduction in circulating DHT levels, the two drugs decrease levels of DHT to a similar extent of approximately 85 to 90% in the prostate gland, where the type II isoform predominates.


title: Dutasteride

text: Since 5α-reductases degrade testosterone to DHT, the inhibition of these enzymes could theoretically cause an increase in testosterone. A 2018 review found that initiation of 5α-reductase inhibitors did not result in a consistent increase in testosterone levels. Among the studies analyzed, there was no statistically significant change in testosterone levels from 5α-reductase inhibitors overall, though men with lower baseline testosterone levels did show an increase.


title: Dutasteride

text: In addition to inhibition of DHT production, 5α-reductase inhibitors such as dutasteride are also neurosteroidogenesis inhibitors, preventing the 5α-reductase-mediated biosynthesis of various neurosteroids, including allopregnanolone (from progesterone), (from deoxycorticosterone), and 3α-androstanediol (from testosterone). These neurosteroids are potent positive allosteric modulators of the GABA receptor and have shown antidepressant, anxiolytic, and pro-sexual effects in animal research. For this reason, decreased neurosteroid production is one hypothesized mechanism for sexual dysfunction and depression associated with 5α-reductase inhibitors such as dutasteride.


title: Dutasteride

text: The oral bioavailability of dutasteride is about 60%. Consumption with food does not adversely affect its absorption. Peak plasma levels occur 2 to 3 hours after administration. Dutasteride is present in semen at levels up to 3 ng/ml, with no significant effects on DHT levels of sexual partners. The drug is extensively metabolized in the liver by "CYP3A4". It has three major metabolites: 6'-hydroxydutasteride, 4'-hydroxydutasteride, and 1,2-dihydrodutasteride. The former two are formed by "CYP3A4", while the latter is not. All three metabolites are active; 6'-hydroxydutasteride has similar 5α-reductase inhibitor potency as dutasteride, while the other two are less potent. Dutasteride has an extremely long terminal or elimination half-life of about 4 to 5 weeks. Its elimination half-life is increased in the elderly (170 hours for men aged 20–49 years, 300 hours for men aged >70 years). No dosage adjustment is necessary in the elderly nor in patients with renal impairment. Because of its long elimination half-life, dutasteride requires 5 to 6 months to reach steady-state concentrations. It also remains in the body for a long time after discontinuation and can be detected up to 4 to 6 months. In contrast to dutasteride, finasteride has a short terminal half-life of only 5 to 8 hours. Dutasteride is eliminated mainly in the feces (40%) as metabolites. A smaller portion (5%) is eliminated unchanged in the urine.


title: Dutasteride

text: Dutasteride, also known as "N"-[2,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-3-oxo-4-aza-5α-androst-1-ene-17β-carboxamide, is a synthetic androstane steroid and a 4-azasteroid. It is an analogue of finasteride in which the "tert"-butyl amide moiety has been replaced with a 2,5-"bis"(trifluoromethyl)phenyl group.


title: Dutasteride

text: Dutasteride was patented in 1996 and was first described in the scientific literature in 1997. It was approved by the FDA for the treatment of BPH in November 2001, and was introduced on the United States market the following year under the brand name Avodart. Dutasteride has subsequently been introduced in many other countries, including throughout Europe and South America. The patent protection of dutasteride expired in November 2015, so the drug has since become available in the United States in a variety of low-cost generic formulations.


title: Dutasteride

text: It was approved for the treatment of scalp hair loss in South Korea in 2009 and in Japan in 2015. It has not been approved for this indication in the United States, though it is often used off-label.


title: Dutasteride

text: Dutasteride is sold primarily under the brand name Avodart, but also in combination with tamsulosin under the brand names Combodart and Duodart. Dutasteride is also available in India in combination with alfuzosin under the brand names Alfusin-D and Dutalfa.


title: Dutasteride

text: Dutasteride is available widely throughout the world, including in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, many other European countries, Australia, and South Africa, as well as in Latin America, Asia, and elsewhere. It is available as a generic medication in many countries, including the United States.


title: Jerry Sloan

text: Gerald Eugene Sloan (March 28, 1942 – May 22, 2020) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He played 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) before beginning a 30-year coaching career, 23 of which were spent as head coach of the Utah Jazz (1988–2011). NBA commissioner David Stern referred to Sloan as "one of the greatest and most respected coaches in NBA history". Sloan was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.


title: Jerry Sloan

text: After playing college basketball with the Evansville Purple Aces, Sloan was selected by the Baltimore Bullets with the fourth overall pick of the 1965 NBA draft. He spent his rookie season with the Bullets before playing the remainder of his career with the Chicago Bulls, retiring due to injuries in 1976. Nicknamed "the Original Bull", he was a two-time NBA All-Star, a six-time member of the All-Defensive Team and the first player to have his number retired by the Bulls. Sloan then became a coach, and had a career regular-season win–loss record of 1,221–803, placing him third all time in NBA wins at the time he retired. He was the fifth coach to reach 1,000 NBA victories and is one of two coaches in NBA history to record 1,000 wins with one club (the Utah Jazz). Sloan coached the Jazz to 15 consecutive playoff appearances from 1989 to 2003. He is one of only four coaches in NBA history with 15-plus consecutive seasons that have a winning record. He led Utah to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998, but lost to Chicago both times.


title: Jerry Sloan

text: After Tom Kelly stepped down as manager of the Minnesota Twins in Major League Baseball in 2001, Sloan became the longest-tenured head coach in American major league sports with their current franchise. He resigned mid-season from the Jazz in 2011 before returning in 2013 as an adviser and scouting consultant.


title: Jerry Sloan

text: Born and raised in Gobbler's Knob, Illinois, south of McLeansboro, Sloan was the youngest of 10 children and was raised by a single mother after his father died when Jerry was 4 years old. He would wake up at 4:30 a.m. to do farm chores and then walk almost two miles to get to school in time for 7 a.m. basketball practice. After school, he would walk back home from practice. Sloan graduated an all-state player from McLeansboro High School in 1960.


title: Jerry Sloan

text: Sloan played college basketball for the Evansville Purple Aces from 1962 to 1965, where he was named the Indiana Collegiate Conference (ICC) Player of the Year in 1963 and 1965 and a three-time first-team All-ICC selection. He was chosen as the 19th overall pick in the 1964 NBA draft by the Baltimore Bullets but he remained in college and led the Purple Aces to their second in two consecutive Division II national titles.


title: Jerry Sloan

text: Sloan was selected fourth in the 1965 NBA draft by the Baltimore Bullets. The Chicago Bulls, an expansion team, selected Sloan in the 1966 NBA expansion draft. He became known as "the Original Bull", known for his tenacious defense, leading them to the playoffs in their first season, and to their first and only division title before the Michael Jordan era; after a series of knee injuries, he retired in 1976. He averaged more than 18 points a game in 1970–71, and over 15 points per game three other seasons.


title: Jerry Sloan

text: Despite his height of only , his career rebounding average was 7.4 rebounds per game, with one season having an average of 9.1 rebounds. He was a career 72 percent free throw shooter. His number 4 jersey was subsequently retired by the Chicago Bulls in 1978, becoming the first retired jersey in franchise history.


title: Jerry Sloan

text: While at Evansville, coach Arad McCutchan suggested that Sloan coach at his alma mater. After retiring in 1976, Sloan took the Evansville job, but withdrew after five days. That same season, the Evansville basketball team and coaching staff were killed in a plane crash at Evansville Airport.


title: Jerry Sloan

text: Two years later, Sloan was hired by the Bulls as a scout. After one season in this role, he became an assistant coach with the team. In 1979, Sloan was promoted to the position of head coach. He held the position for less than three seasons, winning 94 games and losing 121. He led the team to the playoffs in his second year, but was fired after a poor start during the following campaign.


title: Jerry Sloan

text: After departing Chicago, Sloan became a scout for the Utah Jazz for one season. He then became coach of the Evansville Thunder of the Continental Basketball Association for the 1984 season but never coached a game instead accepting an assistant coach position with the Jazz. After Frank Layden became team president in December 1988, the Jazz chose Sloan as the new head coach. Sloan enjoyed a successful run of 16 consecutive seasons of taking his team to the playoffs, during which time he coached future Hall of Famers Karl Malone and John Stockton, along with other players including Jeff Hornacek, Antoine Carr, Tom Chambers, Mark Eaton, and Jeff Malone.


title: Jerry Sloan

text: Sloan led the Jazz to six division championships and 10 seasons with greater than 50 wins. He also took the Jazz to the NBA Finals twice, losing in 1997 and 1998, both times to his old team, the Chicago Bulls, led at the time by Michael Jordan. By the end of this period, he had joined Pat Riley and Phil Jackson as the only coaches with 10 or more seasons winning 50 or more games. After the retirement of long-time Jazz players Malone and Stockton, Sloan coached a younger group of players, including Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko, Mehmet Okur, and later, Deron Williams.