Features
Meeting in Court; COPE; poem read at Oscar Awards 76
One of two headlines in The Island of Monday March 18 was “Let’s meet in court, JVP tells Rohitha.” The proposer JVP will be represented by former COPE Chairman Sunil Handunetti and Vijitha Herath and of course Rohitha is Abeygunawardena, always in the news. The challenge is consequent to the newly appointed Chairman/COPE threatening to bring legal action against Vijitha Herath who, Rohitha accuses, made a defamatory statement against him. Handunetti states: “We accept the challenge and dare Abeygunawardena to go before the courts. We will get an opportunity to prove all allegations against him.”
Will he? Won’t he?
Will Rohitha A institute legal action against these two stalwarts of the JVP? Cassandra places a sure bet: he won’t. Our politicians usually threaten to go to courts but definitely fight shy of doing so. If they are as white as their kapati suits, they need not fear appearing in any court or public forum. But many have skeletons rattling in their cupboards. And they rattle loud and clear.
Some even keep hidden in their closets not one but several skeletons. Is Rohitha one of these? I suppose the main reason why he will fight shy of appearing in a court case is fear that the opposite side will refer to his nickname, or sobriquet. It has been shouted out in Parliament and the reason for it sticking on him like a strip of Band Aid plaster, exposed. Cassandra has her views on this, expressed before but not in print. Rohitha himself explained either in Parliament or elsewhere how he came to have the sobriquet bequeathed on him.
His aarchie, who loved him dearly, used the loving term on him. He was her Raththaran Munupura. So, the term stuck on him. Aney, suweet no? Very plausible story too. Then it was said he frequented railway stations, Galle particularly. So what? Boys were and are fascinated by moving vehicles, more so by locomotives, those days hissing and steaming, pulling railway carriages. Cass can bet her last 1000 rupee note that like most other boys, Rohitha A aspired to be a locomotive driver hooting and puffing his way along railway lines built by the British. How did he become a politician? Must have seen how the kapati suited politicos in his area very soon got bloated with riches and poundage acquired through posh living. Sure path for getting rich fast, with the added bonus of power. Hence MP and COPE Chairman – Rohitha Abeygunawardena Amathithuma – go to Courts and face those JVPers.
Latest on the issue of COPE is the resignation of COPE member Eran Wickremaratne, honourable MP that he is. He has been an effective member of this investigative body of Parliament for many terms. His reason as given in The Island of Tuesday March 19 goes thus: “COPE was established to ensure the observance of financial discipline in Public Corporations and other semi-governmental bodies in which the government has a financial stake. By appointing a ruling party member as its Chairman, the committee fails to meet its objectives of keeping a check on the executive arm of the government.” So clear, so precise with no side tracks of stupid surmises and mention of gossipy hearsay. There are MPS deserving of honour and admiration in a collection of under-educated, dishonest 225 legislators.
Subsequently six more COPE members resigned. Cass applauded but two friends were disapproving as they contend that disagreeing members need to stay on and steer proceedings with a disapproved of MP occupying the Chair.
Conspirators
Quoted from page 1 of The Island of Tuesday March 19 is this: “Gota accuses Church of having a role in his ouster” and he means the Roman Catholic Church. The article is long and quotes his accusation in his “explosive memoir” titled ‘The Conspiracy to Oust Me from the Presidency’”. It narrates how Cardinal Ranjith and the Rajapaksa brethren saw eye to eye and had good relations, which turned completely sour and bitter after the Easter Sunday 2019 suicide bombings of churches and hotels. The word used in The Island news item is most apt: ‘explosive’ because terms like ‘Sinhala Buddhist’, ‘Catholic action’ and ‘Sinhala Buddhist majority’ are used in the book. These terms are incendiary in this land of ours. Cass has not read the book, neither will she read it.
Cass presumes the term Sinhala Buddhist was a coinage of either the Rajapaksa’s or their old political party or newly-formed party – SLPP. We were just Buddhists and remain thus. There is no meaning to the term. Are there other groupings like Tamil Buddhists? The term Sinhala Buddhist is loaded with very dangerous, nay explosive connotations, which we right thinking Buddhists reject outright.
So coming back to the list of conspirators that ousted Prez Gotabaya R in addition to foreign and local groups – political and interfering – is the Catholic Church. How many more are named in the book? Will he fish out and present more to the public?
What Cass timidly proposes, nay advice Ex-Prez GR, is to look within himself and find the real cause; also, within the advisers who crowded round him – ViyathMaga and all that – and not outside for causes that made him escape from this country. He actually need not have run away. If he resigned from the presidency he would not have been further exhorted or harmed in the slightest. The real Aragalaya wanted a system change, not blood and mayhem. This is the truth. Of course terrorists who infiltrated and then crashed in were blood and revenge thirsty. One proof of bona fides of true Aragalayists (to coin a term) was their returning a wad of notes – millions – to the authorities without taking even one note to share among themselves, the finders?
Cass quotes two religious sayings to prove her point that the Ex Prez will find all the reasons for his ouster within himself, his brothers, his coterie of advisors.
“First cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” The Holy Bible makes this command, not helpless Cassandra, so please no white van for her.
“In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you,” That is the Buddha’s wise saying. In this case we can substitute the word ‘served’ for ‘loved’ and ‘graciously’ you let go. So, fitting is the final bit of Buddha’s advice in the case under discussion. There are no two words about it: Gotabaya was a powerful commander during the civil war but a failure as the president of the country.
The saddest report on Gaza
Multitudinous are the reports, documentaries, speeches, poems on Gaza and the severity of the travails of its people. Palestinian children themselves have cried out vocally, in song and in writing. To Cass the most heart wrenching was the poem read out by journalist Chris Hedges to the glittering audience on Oscar night 2024 in Hollywood. “Why do they kill children?” he asked. “All that was familiar is gone” “Who will die next? You mother, your father?” “Are these your last moments on this earth?” and he speaks of injuries, blindness, amputations and starvation. He speaks as a journalist reporting the attacks of Israel on the Gaza strip and Rafah particularly. “We have children like you: precious, innocent, loved.” and that’s why we come over. He ends on a hopeful note of “I will be old” and you would travel the world in safe planes. With tears he ends: “We have failed you but we will film and report – not much help, but …”
Eight babies have been born in the UK using genetic material from three people to prevent devastating and often fatal conditions, doctors say.
The method, pioneered by UK scientists, combines the egg and sperm from a mum and dad with a second egg from a donor woman.
The technique has been legal here for a decade but we now have the first proof it is leading to children born free of incurable mitochondrial disease.
These conditions are normally passed from mother to child, starving the body of energy.
This can cause severe disability and some babies die within days of being born. Couples know they are at risk if previous children, family members or the mother has been affected.
Children born through the three-person technique inherit most of their DNA, their genetic blueprint, from their parents, but also get a tiny amount, about 0.1%, from the second woman. This is a change that is passed down the generations.
None of the families who have been through the process are speaking publicly to protect their privacy, but have issued anonymous statements through the Newcastle Fertility Centre where the procedures took place.
“After years of uncertainty this treatment gave us hope – and then it gave us our baby,” said the mother of a baby girl. “We look at them now, full of life and possibility, and we’re overwhelmed with gratitude.”
The mother of a baby boy added: “Thanks to this incredible advancement and the support we received, our little family is complete. “The emotional burden of mitochondrial disease has been lifted, and in its place is hope, joy, and deep gratitude.”
Mitochondria are tiny structures inside nearly every one of our cells. They are the reason we breathe as they use oxygen to convert food into the form of energy our bodies use as fuel.
Defective mitochondria can leave the body with insufficient energy to keep the heart beating as well as causing brain damage, seizures, blindness, muscle weakness and organ failure.
About one in 5,000 babies are born with mitochondrial disease. The team in Newcastle anticipate there is demand for 20 to 30 babies born through the three-person method each year.
Some parents have faced the agony of having multiple children die from these diseases.
Mitochondria are passed down only from mother to child. So this pioneering fertility technique uses both parents and a woman who donates her healthy mitochondria.
The science was developed more than a decade ago at Newcastle University and the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and a specialist service opened within the NHS in 2017.
There was a case of epilepsy, which cleared up by itself and one child has an abnormal heart rhythm which is being successfully treated.
These are not thought to be connected to defective mitochondria. It is not known whether this is part of the known risks of IVF, something specific to the three-person method or something that has been detected only because the health of all babies born through this technique is monitored intensely.
Another key question hanging over the approach has been whether defective mitochondria would be transferred into the healthy embryo and what the consequences could be.
The results show that in five cases the diseased mitochondria were undetectable. In the other three, between 5% and 20% of mitochondria were defective in blood and urine samples.
This is below the 80% level thought to cause disease. It will take further work to understand why this occurred and if it can be prevented.
Prof Mary Herbert, from Newcastle University and Monash University, said: “The findings give grounds for optimism. However, research to better understand the limitations of mitochondrial donation technologies, will be essential to further improve treatment outcomes.”
The breakthrough gives hope to the Kitto family.
Kat’s youngest daughter Poppy, 14, has the disease. Her eldest Lily, 16, may pass it onto her children.
Poppy is in a wheelchair, is non-verbal and is fed through a tube.
“It’s impacted a huge part of her life,” says Kat, “we have a lovely time as she is, but there are the moments where you realize how devastating mitochondrial disease is”.
Despite decades of work there is still no cure for mitochondrial disease, but the chance to prevent it being passed on gives hope to Lily.
“It’s the future generations like myself, or my children, or my cousins, who can have that outlook of a normal life,” she says.
The UK not only developed the science of three-person babies, but it also became the first country in the world to introduce laws to allow their creation after a vote in Parliament in 2015.
There was controversy as mitochondria have DNA of their own, which controls how they function.
It means the children have inherited DNA from their parents and around 0.1% from the donor woman.
Any girls born through this technique would pass this onto their own children, so it is a permanent alteration of human genetic inheritance.
This was a step too far for some when the technology was debated, raising fears it would open the doors to genetically-modified “designer” babies.
Prof Sir Doug Turnbull, from Newcastle University, told me: “I think this is the only place in the world this could have happened, there’s been first class science to get us to where we are, there been legislation to allow it to move into clinical treatment, the NHS to help support it and now we’ve got eight children that seem to free of mitochondrial disease, what a wonderful result.”
Liz Curtis, the founder of the Lily Foundation charity said: “After years of waiting, we now know that eight babies have been born using this technique, all showing no signs of mito.
“For many affected families, it’s the first real hope of breaking the cycle of this inherited condition.”
[BBC]
Fast-breaking developments in US-Russia relations and US-Ukraine ties could very well be pointing to the wasting war in the Ukraine theatre currently approaching a dangerous tipping point. The US has reached the crucial decision to equip Ukraine with the necessary lethal arms to counter Russia’s ongoing missile and drone strikes on it and if implemented could mark a qualitatively new phase in the conflict between the West and Russia in Ukraine, which could have serious implications for regional and even world peace.
‘We want to make sure Ukraine can do what it wants to do, US President Donald Trump is quoted as saying following a recent meeting he had with NATO chief Mark Rutte in Washington, subsequent to indicating that the US will be sending ‘top of the line weapons’ to Ukraine through NATO countries. Such weaponry could include Patriot air defence systems which are generally seen as an effective answer in particular to Russia’s air strikes on Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is on record that he had thanked the US President for his ‘willingness to support Ukraine and to continue working together to stop the killings and establish a lasting and just peace.’
Going ahead, the West would need to bear in mind that the supplying of exceptionally lethal arms to the Ukraine through its mediation could be seen by the Putin regime as hostile acts directed at the Russian state. That is, the West would be considered as involving itself physically in the ongoing hostilities between Russia and the Ukraine, necessitating the West, and more specifically NATO countries, to brace for Russian military strikes on them. Needless to say, such an eventuality would bode ill for international stability and peace.
Accordingly the West would need to assess very finely the consequences of its decisions on the Ukraine front. While the US President’s recent statements on these questions could be seen by some as mere rhetoric Trump is also on record as having indicated that his patience is wearing thin with Putin over the central issue of bringing peace to the Ukraine.
Inasmuch as Trump needs to trod gingerly going ahead so must Putin. In the event of full scale hostilities breaking out between the East and West in the Eastern European theatre no camp would stand to gain; this ought to be plain to the main antagonists, since they are evenly matched in terms of military capability. Even if the conflict in the Ukraine stagnates at a proxy stage, the costs for both sides would be staggering in human and material terms. Russia would need to recollect Afghanistan and the US would need to take itself back to the numerous proxy wars it fought in the then Third World.
However, although there are great uncertainties and perils for the world in the event of the current proxy war in the Ukraine degenerating into a more frontal East-West military confrontation in Europe, President Trump could be considered as holding the ‘Trump card’ to force a negotiated end to the present crisis.
This ‘Trump card’ takes the form of the economic strife which may descend upon the world in the event of the Trump administration going fully ahead with its ‘reciprocal tariff’ based trade wars with the majority of countries.
The US under President Trump may not be the most popular major power but it continues to be critical to the world’s current economic health. However much unpalatable it may be, the truth is that the economic vibrancy and prosperity of the US are key to many a country’s material survival. This is on account of the multiple economic linkages between the US and the rest of the world. The weaker the economy the greater is its dependence on the US and its largesse. For example, Sri Lanka knows this only too well.
The Trump administration is on record that it would be imposing what are described as ‘secondary tariffs’ on those countries whose economic operations are even indirectly benefiting Russia and if implemented could bring about crippling economic hardships for quite a few countries.
Major economic powers, China and India, are fully aware of these consequences. This is the reason why they would prefer not to undermine current economic arrangements between them and the US and between the latter and the rest of the world.
The above positions should not be misunderstood to mean that the rest of the world should be in a subservient relationship with the US. There is no question of the US exercising some sort of suzerainty over the rest of the world. This is not the case but in international relations the primacy of economics over politics may need to be recognized; economic realism needs be a cornerstone of foreign policy.
It would be quite some time before the BRICS grouping reaches the commanding heights of the world economy. Right now, it would be self-defeating, given the US’ continued economic power, for the South in particular to gloss over the might of the West and depend lopsidedly on the BRICS powers for its entire economic sustenance and survival. Indeed, a Non-aligned foreign policy remains best for the South.
It does not follow from the above considerations that the West could continue to turn a blind eye to the dangers posed to it and the world from the Ukraine conflict. Immense caution and foresight would need to go into its moves to arm Ukraine with its more sophisticated and exceptionally lethal weaponry. A cornered enemy in the battlefield, suffering overwhelming losses, cannot be expected to be continually discreet. With its patience relentlessly wearing thin it could unleash its Weapons of Mass Destruction, thus driving the world to the brink of destruction.
Accordingly, it is hoped that better counsel would prevail over all concerned and that differences would be resolved at the negotiating table. May be harsh economic realities would come to dictate terms and propel the quarters concerned to give cool rationality rather than the avarice born of self-aggrandizement a chance in their dealings with each other.
I’m sure the whole of Sri Lanka is eagerly looking forward to the arrival of Bollywood heartthrob Shah Rukh Khan, due in Colombo, next month, for the grand opening of the City of Dreams.
What makes Shah Rukh Khan standout is not only his acting prowess but also his looks.
At 59-plus, he looks absolutely great … or, let’s say, simply awesome.
Generally, people in their late fifties, or even in their mid-fifties, look frail, and some can’t even walk steadily.
So, what is Shah Rukh Khan’s secret to looking young, and, remember, he will be hitting 60 on 2nd November, 2025!
Yes, diet, is given top priority where Shah Rukh Khan is concerned.
While many of us need around four meals a day, Shah Rukh focuses on two main meals a day – lunch and dinner – and avoids snacking or elaborate dishes.
His meals often include sprouts, grilled chicken, broccoli, and sometimes dhal. And don’t we all love dhal!
While he enjoys sharing meals with others when he’s with family or travelling, even if it means indulging in richer dishes, like biryani or parathas, his core diet remains consistent, he says.
Wonder what would be his menu during his very short stay in Sri Lanka! Perhaps traditional Indian foods like tandoori chicken and mutton biriyani, roti, parathas, food cooked with ghee! He also likes the drink lassi, I’m told.
Perhaps, we should also ask him to check out some of our dishes, as well … a good rice and curry menu, with dhal!
It isn’t diet alone that has given Shah Rukh his young look but, he says, exercise, too, has played an important part, especially where his physique is concerned.
Young Shah Rukh Khan in the early ‘90s
Shah Rukh refers to his fitness journey during the pandemic, saying during the pandemic he decided to work hard on his body.
He focused on building a strong physique, and, by exercising consistently, he achieved a body he is proud of today.
Another factor responsible for his leaner, healthier body, and a sharper appearance, is that he has completely quit smoking
This major lifestyle change has also helped him maintain a leaner, healthier body, and a sharper appearance, he says.
Strangely, his sleep routine is totally different to what experts say. We are told that we need between seven and nine hours of sleep per night for optimal health.
Shah Rukh admits he has an unusual sleep schedule and this generally happens when he has a busy shooting schedule.
He usually goes to bed around 5.00 am and sleeps for about four–five hours. Even though it’s not ideal, he manages it around his busy shooting schedule.
In fact, Shah Rukh is a night person and usually loves working in the night. He also loves night shoots. He had said, “I usually head to bed around 5.00 am. On shooting days, I wake up by 9 or 10 in the morning. After coming back home late at night — sometimes around 2.00 am — I take a shower and get a workout in before I finally sleep.”
On the work front, he will be seen next in the movie ‘King’, due for a grand release in 2026.
Shah Rukh Khan continues to inspire millions with his commitment to fitness and I hope Sri Lankans will take a cue from this Bollywood heartthrob and maintain a leaner, healthier body.
President opens Wax Museum at the historic Ehelepola Walawwa in Kandy
Police SI’s who demanded free service at a SPA interdicted
Dozens dead, others missing in huge fire at hypermarket in Iraq’s Kut
Babies made using three people’s DNA are born free of hereditary disease
Indictments served on former Minister Keheliya Rambukwella and family
Deepti digs deep to deliver India’s four-wicket win
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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