International cricket stadium project –will sanity prevail?
The issue of whether parliamentary elections could be held any time soon in view of the public health situation has been engaging the attention of the public for the past few weeks. The focus has now shifted to the Supreme Court with several Petitioners invoking the jurisdiction of the highest court in a bid to [...]
Rotting with improvement in the Covid lockup
Locked up in the administrative capital of Sri Jayewardhenepura for the 61st consecutive day, watching birds and squirrels romping in the garden as cyclonic clouds sailed over, we were reminded of a stale joke at a school concert over five decades ago. An old lady on stage was weeping profusely over the loss of her [...]
Protecting women during the pandemic
BANGKOK – Last month, Sheuly rushed into a Dhaka hospital in need of emergency treatment. The 25-year-old Bangladeshi woman had just given birth at home – thinking it a safer setting than the hospital during a pandemic. But as she began to suffer from post-partum hemorrhage – one of the leading causes of maternal death [...]
Let evidence, not talk radio, determine whether the outbreak started in a lab
The president and his secretary of state made a startling claim last week: that there is enough evidence to suggest with a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology is the source of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. That declaration followed a frenzy of activity of cable TV and talk radio. On April 15, [...]
Will UN chief and senior management volunteer pay cuts in crisis-stricken world body?
UNITED NATIONS, May 20 (IPS) – As a spiralling financial crisis threatens to undermine the UN’s day-to-day operations worldwide, a proposal being kicked around, outside the empty corridors of the UN, has triggered the question: will senior officials, including the Secretary-General, the Deputy Secretary-General (DSG), Under-Secretaries-Generals (USGs), including 60 heads of UN agencies, Funds and [...]
From trade unionism to Parliament, the seasoned voice
“One should associate with a noble person who is intelligent, wise, learned, virtuous and dutiful, just as the moon follows the path of stars ” – The Dhammapada (SukhaVagga) This verse from ‘The Dhammapada’ comes to mind whenever I see Minister Dinesh Gunawardena amidst the general public in his numerous political activities. Dinesh, known as [...]
A shining specimen both on the field and off
From the white epaulettes of an Officer Cadet of the Military Academy to the sword and baton insignia of a General Officer lies one of the toughest career journeys spanning over three decades. It is even tougher when it begins during a war that also goes on for decades. Yet some who embark on this journey are so [...]