News
Pandemic demands revamped, including international order
The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the fragility of the US-led liberal international order, says professor John Ikenberry of Princeton University, but the world should rebuild the system and improve it. Ikenberry, a prominent US scholar whose focus is the liberal international order, acknowledged that the liberal order had been “breaking up” for years and said the pandemic had revealed the system’s limits and the need for international cooperation. “But it’s not done yet,” Ikenberry, a professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University and a Global Eminence Scholar at Kyung Hee University, told The Korea Herald in a recent interview via Zoom. “It’s an order that we want to see succeed for another cycle of history. It has been the most successful world order in history, defined in terms of provision of security, the generation of wealth and social justice.” He called on people to defend this order, rebuild it and make it better for the post-pandemic era. “All the great advances in the liberal international order over the last century has been done when liberal democracies have worked together and been dominant in the international system,” said Ikenberry. “We should hope that these countries, led by the US and its allies, can step forward and put forward an agenda for a strengthened set of institutions, regimes and protocols for what might be a permanent pandemic.” For the system to be restored effectively, it will need to be more inclusive, the scholar said. “We are at a crisis. How can we rebuild it and how can we make it better? I think that involves making it more inclusive, not just the same old countries running the show, but broadening the coalition,” he said, adding that democratic countries such as South Korea and Australia need to play greater roles on the international stage. But this expansion is not only limited to the like-minded democracies, but also to those nations that don’t necessarily share similar ideologies, namely China and Russia, he said, stressing simultaneous competition and cooperation. -Korea Herald
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation to provide the required provisions to purchase the green gram harvest in a competitive manner with the private sector by expanding the program initiated by the National Food Promotion Board, on the advice of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation,
Green gram has been cultivated in an area of about 16,500 hectares in the 2025 Yala Season and intermediate season and a harvest of about 14,600 metric tons of green gram is expected. Currently, green gram harvesting has started in the Hambantota district, and it has been reported that middlemen are buying the harvest for a low price of Rs. 450/- per kilogram.
Approval has been granted at the cabinet meeting held on 08-02-2021 to award 326 bridge construction contracts to the State Development and Construction Corporation for the construction of bridges across the island under the Rural Bridges Program.
The construction of a further 23 bridges has been assigned to the Road Development Authority.
It had been decided in the year 2022, to stop the construction of 184 bridges, where construction had not been initiated. The construction of 45 bridges from the 142 remaining bridges have already been completed.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Transport, Highways, and Urban
Development to recommence the construction of the remaining 74 bridges by the State Development and Construction Corporation and to complete the construction expeditiously.
Policy approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was granted at their meeting held on 16.06.2025 to repeal the Parliamentary Pension Act No. 1 of 1971 of the State Council.
In keeping with the promise given to all Sri Lankans who supported the vision of ‘A wealthy country – A beautiful life’ which appeared in the policy declaration of the Government, a draft bill has been prepared by the Legal Draftsmen for
repealing the Parliamentary Pension Act with the objective of cancelling pensions rights given to elected members of the Parliament and their spouses.
As the Attorney General has given clearance to the draft bill, the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was granted to the proposal submitted by the Minister of Justic and National Integration to publish the said draft bill in the government gazette notification and subsequently to be presented to the Parliament for its concurrence.
Vijayakanth Viyaskanth added to Sri Lanka squad for tri-series
Purchasing of 2025 green gram harvest
Cabinet approves the completion 74 bridges under the Rural Bridge Program
‘Heartbroken’ Alcaraz pulls out of Davis Cup Finals
Parliamentary Pension Act No. 1 of 1971 to be repelled
Cabinet nod to appoint Dr. (Eng.) K. Waligepolage as Director General of Irrigation
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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