Corporal punishment has been kicked about and given another well-deserved beating. This time it was put on the rack, held up to ridicule, and tortured by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.
Tag: Op-Ed
A decade after junta’s end, Myanmar military back in control
Bangkok, Feb 2 (AP/UNB) — The man installed by army leaders as Myanmar’s president after Monday’s military coup is best known abroad for his role in the crackdown on 2007 pro-democracy protests and for his ties to still-powerful military leaders.
France’s Proxy War and the Budding Turkish-Russian Alliance
By Dr Ramzy Baroud Overwhelmed by uncontrollable circumstances, the Greek government is bracing for another financial crisis that promises to be as terrible as the last one in 2015. Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, announced, on September 12, that Athens has…
Inadequate Water, Sanitation Threatens Women Dev in Senegal
By Stella Paul HYDERABAD, India, Jul 22 2020 (IPS) – With Tabaski (Eid al-Adha) around the corner, 11-year-old Fatoumata Binta from Terrou Mballing district in M’Bour, western Senegal, wakes up early and joins her brothers Iphrahima Tall and Ismaila to…
Customised, blended post-Covid-19 learning urgently needed
May 25 2020 (IPS) – Many well-meaning education benefactors and commentators in South Africa have expressed that in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic online self-guided learning could solve some of the current teaching problems and address the educational backlog.…
COVID-19 blows away myth of First & Third World competence
JOHANNESBURG, May 15 2020 (IPS) – One of the planet’s – and Africa’s – deepest prejudices are being demolished by the way countries handle COVID-19. For as long as any of us remember, everyone “knew” that “First World” countries –…
Basic income: Finland’s final verdict
by Philippe van Parijs on 7th May 2020 @pvpbrussels The coronavirus crisis has renewed interest in the notion of a universal basic income. The full report of a two-year Finnish experiment has just appeared.
2020: Corona in an Age of Transition
By Junaid S. Ahmad It is obvious that the coronavirus pandemic will be front-page news for a good part of 2020. And for good reason, since its human toll and social dislocation has been devastating. Though not theorized in this…
Assault on media freedom in Asia worsens during pandemic
By Josef Benedict KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Apr 29 2020 (IPS) – May 3rd marks World Press Freedom Day around the world. During this COVID-19 pandemic, a robust media environment is critical: access to life-saving information is key in the fight…
Post-pandemic mental health epidemic
By Sonia Awale Apr 26 2020 (IPS) – The number of Nepalis suffering from mental health issues is increasing with the prolonged COVID-19 lockdown, and the lack of treatment and counselling means the country may be facing an epidemic of…
WHO and China: A case of geo-political misdirection
By Hassanal Noor Rashid WHO IS AT FAULT? The Covid-19 pandemic has been a real roller-coaster ride as far as geopolitics is concerned. Through the chaos and the barrage of information and updates on the on-going pandemic, there are still…
Bridging gap between hunger and food waste during a pandemic
By Seema Sanghavi NEW DELHI, Apr 14 2020 (IPS) – On March 12, the first email came in. An email from a boutique hotel that said they needed to postpone their apron order. The hotel had decided to put a…
Community Radio Response to COVID-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh
AHM Bazlur Rahman Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) has been mobilizing all community radios for developing and broadcasting awareness-building programs on COVID-19: Coronavirus contamination to protect lives and livelihoods since March 1, 2020. www.bnnrc.net
WIMN calls for new social compact in Covid-19 crisis
‘An inclusive, intersectional feminist approach is the only way out of the COVID crisis’ As the world roils with the human and economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, one thing is clear: this is no time for business as…
Bill Gates finds spiritual purpose behind coronavirus
Multi-billionaire Gates, 64 – who don:ated £85 million to combat the virus last month – believes that despite the chaos, there is ‘a spiritual purpose behind everything that happens’.
How COVID-19 is affecting women’s sexual, reproductive health
By Samira Sadeque UNITED NATIONS, Apr 7 2020 (IPS) – A little over half of women across the globe are able to freely make choices about their sexual and reproductive health, according to a latest report based on data from…
Itna sannata kyon hai bhai?
Sudhirendar Sharma During these corona time when all of us are forced into locked seclusion I wonder how would anyone respond to Imam Saab’s innocent query itna sannata kyon hai bhai? Come on, don’t ask me what sense does it…
2020: Bangladesh celebrates three New Years
Sir Frank Peters 2020 will be a year full of fun, celebrations, and joyful activities. It will be written in the annals of history, as the year Bengalis celebrated not one, not two, but three New Years! Yes, three! It…
Can the left really stop Italy’s Salvini?
by Marzia Maccaferri and Andrea Mammone on 24th February 2020 @MarziaMacCaferr Last month the Italian far-right failed to seize the left-wing bastion of Emilia-Romagna. But the election results raise wider challenges for the resistance to rising populism.
Unbelievable sight of the Everest in a cloudy evening
Mostafa Kamal Majumder It was a partially cloudy afternoon at the Nepali resort of Nagarkot where I along with more than a dozen men associated with the Panos institute South Asia stayed for several nights doing a workshop. Sponsors were…
Counter Kremlin: USAID’s strategy in the name of democracy
By Countercurrents Collective An intergovernmental coalition about a new U.S. initiative planned to counter Russia in Europe hosted a presentation on September 12, 2019, in Warsaw.
Letter to Julian Assange from NoWar2019
By World BEYOND War, October 8, 2019 Letter to Julian Assange from NoWar2019 The fourth annual conference of World BEYOND War, which was held on October 4th and 5th in Limerick, Ireland, produced this letter, which is being delivered to…
U.S. and Australia — joined at the hip
By John Menadue Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wants us to join with the U.S. in tackling the problems which Donald Trump created with Iran and presumably to soften us up to host missiles to protect the U.S. marines and…
Thrill is worth a try, risk it
Sudhirendar Sharma It is only recently, after he turned 70, that he sought to do away with the impulsive act he defined as ‘thrill’, something that seems to have eluded the forthright government official. Having known him from his pre-retirement…
Reimagining ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ on Inequality in Asia-Pacific
By Srinivas Tata and Jaco Cilliers Bangkok, Thailand, (IPS) – It’s 1962, and in a modest Hong Kong neighbourhood, a poetic love story unfolds. Filmed almost twenty years ago, Wong Kar-wai’s seminal movie In the Mood for Love captured the…
US defunds UNFPA for the third year– on wrong assumptions
By Thalif Deen UN, Jul 17 2019 (IPS) – The Trump administration, in its continued hostility towards the United Nations– and as part of its policy aimed at undermining multilateral institutions and international commitments– has withheld its annual contributions to…
Global convention on principles for building peace needed?
STOCKHOLM, May 17 2019 (IPS) – When the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) concluded a three-day forum on “Peace and Development” on May 16, the primary focus was the daunting challenges threatening global security, including growing military interventions, spreading humanitarian…
Inequality: From redistribution to predistribution & beyond?
by Liam Kennedy Soaring income inequality inevitably raises discussion of more progressive taxation. But a more fundamental focus on the ownership of capital is needed. ‘Taxes, taxes, taxes … All the rest is bullsh*t in my opinion.’ The now much-travelled…
Brexit blues and a country in meltdown after referendum
Surprise has turned to shock and utter confusion for many in the UK a week after the British voted to leave the EU. DW’s Birgit Maass lives in London and describes her case of the “Brexit blues.” This is the…
Jumatul Wida tomorrow
Jumatul Wida, the last Juma prayer during the holy month of Ramjan, will be observed across the country on Friday with due solemnity and religious fervour. Thousands of Muslim devotees will attend the Juma prayers at different mosques, seeking divine…