The search for survivors is continuing in Indonesia, two days after the tsunami hit coastal towns. The government is warning that the death toll will rise, with more than a thousand people injured and thousands more displaced from their homes.
The spot of red was what first caught Randy Heiss’s attention last Sunday as he hiked the remote expanse of land behind his ranch in Patagonia, Ariz., a town near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Randy Heiss found a balloon while hiking in Patagonia, Ariz., on Dec. 16. Attached was a note.
Draped against the sacaton grass was a balloon — or at least the tattered remnants of one. Heiss walked toward it with his dog, Feliz, thinking he should pick up the latex pieces and throw them away.
That’s when he noticed the balloon’s string was attached to a piece of paper.
“Dayami,” it read on one side, in a child’s handwriting. A hand-drawn bow accompanied the word.
Heiss flipped it over. It was a numbered list, all in Spanish.
“My Spanish isn’t very good, but I could see it was a Christmas list,” he told The Washington Post in a phone interview Friday.
Heiss was charmed. He suspected that a child had tried to send Santa Claus a Christmas wish list by balloon, something he used to do himself when he was a kid. Nobody had ever returned the letters Heiss had sent aloft — but he wondered whether he couldn’t find the girl who had sent this one.
It would be difficult, but Heiss had a few clues. About 20 miles to the southwest, just across the border, was the city of Nogales, Mexico, with a population of about a quarter-million.
It’s the time of the year that children have been waiting for. From pleading with Santa to making demands, these requests for Christmas are so 2017. (Taylor Turner/The Washington Post)
“Based on the prevailing wind, I was pretty doggone sure that’s where it came from,” he said.
Heiss brought the note home to his wife, who is fluent in Spanish and helped him translate the list. They determined that Dayami, probably a girl, had asked for an “Enchantimals” doll, an “Enchantimals” dollhouse, clothes, art supplies and slime, among other things.
A Christmas wish list in Spanish that Randy Heiss found while hiking in Patagonia, Ariz., on Dec. 16.
Heiss then posted about his quest on Facebook, attaching photos, hoping some of his friends in Nogales might know the girl’s family.
A few days passed, with no leads; Heiss worried that time was running out before Christmas. On Wednesday, he decided to send a private Facebook message to Radio XENY, an AM radio station based in Nogales, according to Nogales International, which first reported the story.
To his surprise, someone from the station called him back right away. Heiss’s wife helped explain the situation to Radio XENY host Cesar Barron, who talked about the quest to find Dayami on air and posted about it on the station’s Facebook page.
On Thursday morning, Heiss awoke to another message from Radio XENY: They had located Dayami, an 8-year-old girl, and her family, who indeed lived in Nogales. Would they be willing to arrange a get-together at the radio station?
“It just changed my entire day,” Heiss said. “Instead of going back to my office in Bisbee, I went with my wife to Walmart.”
They bought just about everything on Dayami’s list, except for the “Enchantimals” dollhouse (it was sold out). They also bought a few other toys for good measure, as they had learned that Dayami had a younger sister, 4-year-old Ximena.
Then the Heisses drove for 45 minutes, crossing the border into Nogales. They arrived at the Radio XENY offices with presents by the armload — and finally met two very excited little girls.
Their parents explained to the Heisses that Dayami had been writing a letter to Santa and sending it by balloon for years, but this was the first year anyone had found their note.
Dayami, 8, right, and Ximena, 4, hold presents from Randy Heiss and his wife, who posed as "Santa's helpers" after finding a Christmas wish list attached to a balloon.
“Their eyes were wide open with wonder,” Heiss said of the two sisters' reactions. “Like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this really did work!' "
Not wanting to spoil Santa Claus for the girls — who still believe, their parents said — Heiss and his wife told them they were “ayudantes de Santa,” or Santa’s helpers.
“It was a beautiful, beautiful experience,” Heiss said.
He paused.
“Quite healing for us,” he added.
Heiss, 60, has lived in southeastern Arizona for more than three decades and now splits his time between Patagonia and the city of Bisbee. Nine years ago, he and his wife lost their only child, a son. They have no grandchildren.
“Being around children at Christmastime has been absent in our lives,” Heiss said. “It’s been kind of a gaping hole in our Christmas experience."
He has since reflected on what a “miracle” it was that he spotted the balloon at all, let alone was able to locate Dayami and her family.
“We now have friends for life,” Heiss said. “And, for a day, that border fence with its concertina wire melted away.”
A growing movement of organisations in Jerusalem are offering proxy prayer services to Christians and Jews willing to pay to have their divine requests delivered in the holy city.
For millennia, pilgrims have longed to connect with God on these Middle Eastern hills sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims.
Today, businesses and fundraising charities have tapped into a global market among those who are unable to visit the ancient walled city but want to hire a surrogate to pray in their stead.
One website, Holy Land Prayer, provides a tiered set of services, ranging from $15 to $40 (£11 to £30), for a priest to read out a prayer in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Jesus is believed to have been crucified, buried and resurrected.
“We want to help people experience the power of prayer in their lives, especially when they feel like they cannot pray for themselves,” the site says.
The top-end option includes lighting a candle and the placing of the individual’s photo next to it, with video footage being sent to them by email. Holy Land Prayer said in an email to the Guardian that several hundred prayers were processed a month, with most of the money being donated to the church that is considered the holiest site in Christianity.
Salvation Garden, a startup company, runs a sophisticated website operating in four languages where people can fill out a form for bespoke prayer requests.
Customers can choose pre-written prayers, such as “Our Father”, or suggested prayers on healing, but they can also write their own and select which priest they need to deliver their wishes: Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant.
While the basic prayer service is free, paid-for extras include a video of the prayer being carried out, or a printed certificate to be sent by post.
Salvation Garden told the Guardian it believes the Holy Land should be accessible to all, including those who cannot make it to Jerusalem. It said a lot of requests came via Facebook, and the company is to release a smartphone app soon.
For Jews, the holiest site for prayer is the Western Wall. Revered as one of the last remnants of the Temple Mount, people place slips of paper containing written prayers into the cracks of the limestone wall. Now, several Jewish groups offer to print and place prayers sent to them by email, often for free.
One “Western Wall prayer delivery service” offers to deliver prayers within 30 days for $29, or an “express” 24-hour delivery for $79 (discounted from $99).
Another Jewish charity raises funds by asking for donations, starting from $2 a day, in return for “prayer agents” – often rabbis or Torah scholars – praying at the wall on behalf of the donor for 40 consecutive days.
The most elaborate service has a minimum donation of $3,600 and offers 10 people praying daily, as well as extras including reading the entire Book of Psalms.
Jews praying by the Western Wall. Photograph: Valery Sharifulin/Tass
Western Wall Prayers was set up by Batya Burd-Oved who says the most common prayer request is in relation to marriage, followed by healing. “But, I’ll tell you, we’re praying right now for someone to pass their bar exam, or for the kids to get a job, or for custody of children,” she said.
“People will pray for anything. Anything they don’t have control over.”
Burd-Oved, a devout Jew, set up the foundation after meeting her former husband just days after he finished 40 days of prayers at the ancient stones. He had been praying for a wife following a string of failed dating attempts.
Convinced by the strength of the practice, Burd-Oved started offering to pray for friends at the site and said 80% got their wishes.
During the past 13 years, the charity has grown to employ close to 40 rabbinical scholars who have little income. A large part of the donation goes to them and their communities. Clients are expected to conduct their own prayers at home for the entire period.
Burd Oved said most people chose the $2 a day option but the $3,600 package also got picked occasionally. “It’s a lot of money. It’s a huge ordeal. Not everybody has that much money to spend.”
She said she believed in her work. “You’re going to laugh, but even though I live in the Old City, I probably hire people for myself seven or eight times a year, because I just see how powerful it is.”
This picture taken on June 25, 2017 shows a child holding a toy in front of the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, a day before the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Xinjiang has seen an explosion in the construction of “vocational training" centers for the region's Muslim minorities. Source: AFP
EARLIER this week the Malaysian government has chided Beijing’s alleged abuse of minority ethnic Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang in a move that would likely add further strain to its cooling ties with China.
According to Bernama, the Southeast Asian nation’s Deputy Foreign Minister Senator Datuk Marzuki Yahya said Malaysia condemned all forms of oppression against any ethnic or minority group “as long as their human rights struggle is based on the law and constitution of the country”, according to Bernama.
However, the relatively small country insists it would take a cautious approach in expressing its views in matters that happen in other countries.
“This approach takes into account Malaysia’s policy to not interfere with the internal affairs of other countries without reasonable cause,” he was quoted as saying.
“Referring to what happened to the Uighur ethnic minority in Xinjiang (China), Malaysia has voiced its views and recommendations on the international stage so that China will ensure that the rights and freedom of religion and harmony of its people are protected,”
He said during the 45th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Dhaka, Bangladesh in May, Malaysia and other OIC members had requested the OIC secretary-general to hold talks with the Chinese government to voice their collective views on the treatment of the Uighurs in China.
“Hence, the government has constantly monitored developments in the region and will continue to seek the best solution to this issue through regional and international cooperation forums,” he said.
China has been accused of rights abuses in Xinjiang, torture of Uighur detainees in concentration camps and tight controls on their religion and culture. However, Beijing has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
This picture taken on June 26, 2017 shows men dancing in front of the Id Kah Mosque after the morning prayer on Eid al-Fitr in the old town of Kashgar in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Source: AFP
Over the years, hundreds, possibly thousands, of Uighurs have escaped the unrest by travelling clandestinely via Southeast Asia to Turkey.
Beijing accuses separatist extremists among the Uighur minority of plotting attacks on China’s Han majority in the restive far western region of Xinjiang and elsewhere.
In February, Reuters reported that Malaysia was under great pressure from China to deport the 11 ethnic Uighur Muslims who fled to the southeast Asian nation after a Thai jailbreak last year.
However, the Malaysian authorities freed the men and sent them to Turkey on humanitarian grounds, much to Beijing’s displeasure.
The Beijing-Kuala Lumpur ties had already tested since Dr. Mahathir Mohamad became prime minister after a stunning election victory in May and cancelled more than US$20 billion worth of projects awarded to Chinese companies.
On Monday, Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Xiao Qian on Monday to convey the concerns of Indonesia’s Muslims over the plight faced by the Uighurs.
“The Foreign Ministry stressed that in accordance with the universal declaration of human rights, religious freedom and belief are human rights and it is the responsibility of all countries to respect it,” ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said, as quoted by the Jakarta Post.
In repose, a Chinese Embassy spokesman in Jakarta insists that “China is a country with multiple ethnic groups and religions”.
“As prescribed in the Constitution, all Chinese citizens enjoy the freedom of religious belief,” the spokesman said in a statement.
Instead, the Chinese government said it was facing the threat of religious extremism in Xinjiang, adding many of its 14 million residents had struggled to find jobs due to their poor command of the nation’s official language and lack of skills.
“This has made them vulnerable to the instigation and coercion of terrorism and extremism,” the statement said.
“In light of the situation, Xinjiang has established professional vocational training institutions as the platform, providing courses on China’s common language, legal knowledge, vocational skills, along with de-radicalisation education for citizens influenced by extremist ideas.”
Homelessness in the UK is at record levels according to the housing charity Crisis.
Research from the charity published today suggests 170,000 people are homeless – and for every person sleeping rough, there is another living in a car or a tent.
Every year more than a thousand ex-servicemen and women find themselves homeless. Many veterans struggle to adapt to civilian life, often because of mental health problems.
We went to meet some former soldiers who have struggled.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Pollution levels in New Delhi have hit their worst this year in the past two days - earning a “severe” to “emergency” rating and indicating conditions that can spark a public health crisis.
Christmas Day in the Indian capital is also forecast to be bleak.
Senior government officials said the main reasons for the surge in the amount of toxic smog trapped over New Delhi were unusually cold air, including fog, and a lack of wind.
This mean that vehicle fumes, pollution from coal-fired power plants and industries, as well as smoke from fires being burned to keep people warm hangs over the city.
Data from the government’s Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed the air quality index, which measures the concentration of poisonous particulate matter, was an average of 449 on Monday, only slightly better than the 450 on Sunday.
The index measures the concentration of tiny poisonous particulate matter, or PM 2.5, that are less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which can be carried deep into the lungs.
The previous highest recording this year was 447 on June 15, when there was a dust storm.
Anything above 100 is considered unhealthy.
In some parts of Delhi, pollution levels hit 654 on Monday, among the worst recorded this year, and visibility in some parts of the city was just 200 metres, the weather department said.
Environmentalists said that inaction by the authorities was inexcusable and a concerted effort was needed to reduce pollution from vehicles and industry.
“If this is not an emergency, then what is?” asked Delhi-based environmentalist Vimlendu Jha.
The “severe” to “emergency” ratings mean that the air is not only hazardous for citizens with existing respiratory problems but can also seriously affect healthy people.
Conditions are likely to remain severe on Tuesday, a holiday for Christmas. The PM 2.5 level may average above 400 and hit a high of 534 in some places, CPCB data showed.
WHO CARES?
CPCB announced measures such as shutting factories and construction sites in heavily polluted areas until Wednesday along with an advisory to avoid using diesel-powered vehicles.
“The situation might improve slightly but is likely to continue in severe category until afternoon of Dec. 26, when wind speeds will pick up and improve dispersion of pollutants,” said a task force headed by the CPCB.
Steps this year have failed to make much difference and instead there has been finger-pointing between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration, the city government and the governments of states around the capital.
The apparent lack of concern about the toxic air among ordinary folk gives federal and local politicians the cover they need for failing to address the problem, say pollution activists and social scientists.
During October and November, the federal government had blamed neighbouring states for failing to curb the burning of stubble in fields, but Delhi’s air worsened in December, data showed.
India’s toxic air claimed 1.24 million lives in 2017, or 12.5 percent of total deaths, according to a study published in Lancet Planetary Health this month.
“We are definitely seeing an increase in the number of patients with respiratory problems,” said Doctor Desh Deepak, at the government-run Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.
A damning report by the World Health Organization this year said India was home to the world’s 14 most polluted cities, with Delhi the sixth worst.
Slideshow (3 Images)
For a second year, New Delhi’s chief minister has likened the city to a “gas chamber”.
A city government spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Reporting by Neha Dasgupta; Editing by Martin Howell, Robert Birsel
THE efficiency of a country’s healthcare ecosystem is often measured by the number of physicians per 1,000 people.
IS ASIA COMFORTABLE WITH APP-BASED HEALTHCARE SOLUTIONS?
Soumik Roy | 17 August, 2018
For countries in Asia, such as China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, and even Singapore, that number is quite small — especially when compared to Australia, the US, or the UK. Asia is in the low 1.0 score range while Australia measures in at 2.5 overall.
Hence, for these countries, it’s important to make sure that qualified physicians are available to care for patients who need their attention.
Up until now, we’ve heard of scientists and technology companies toying with the idea of using artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionize the healthcare industry by creating robots to replace doctors.
Although that might be a bit ahead of its time, AI-based systems — working on mobile and tablet devices — are already here and making quite a significant difference to the overall healthcare ecosystem.
Imagine a world where an AI-based solution is the first point of contact for a patient at a clinic.
Basic diagnosis can be performed and appropriate medication can be prescribed for common diseases such as a fever, cough, cold, viral infection. Cuts, bruises, and surface infections too can be reviewed and referred to nurses with helpful directions.
In fact, AI-based systems could even talk to a patient with a broken or fractured arm or leg and provide directions to the imaging center for the x-ray before a doctor looks at it and a nurse cleans, medicates, and plasters the wound.
CHINESE INSURER USES AI TO TRANSFORM HEALTHCARE
Tech Wire Asia | 14 February, 2018
AI is making a debut in the west
In the UK, a company called Babylon has developed impressive AI-based diagnostics solutions to do just this — and the company believes the system is more reliable than human doctors. The algorithm was administered a test usually offered by the Royal College of General Practitioners — and it performed much better than the average doctor.
Babylon is also the company that is working with the UK’s NHS to create apps that transform the country’s healthcare ecosystem. In time, AI could become a part of its portfolio of offerings to the country’s residents.
Being a technology hub and a leader in new and emerging technologies, AI is already making a dent in the healthcare space in the country.
In fact, there’s a company in the ophthalmology space that has already received the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration and is set to help several patients in the coming months.
According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the software is designed to detect diabetic retinopathy which occurs when high blood sugar damages blood vessels in the retina — and it does the job quite effectively.
CHINA’S QUEST FOR BETTER HEALTHCARE WITH AI
Tech Wire Asia | 27 June, 2018
Asia isn’t far behind
Closer to home, China’s Ping An too is working on AI solutions in the healthcare space. It debuted the One Minute Clinic at an event earlier this year and seemed keen on installing booths wherever there was a need for one.
“‘When someone makes an inquiry, the ‘AI doctor’ is the first to respond. After the AI algorithm sorts the patient’s basic condition and symptoms, the system automatically transfers the patient to a corresponding real doctor, and the real doctor makes a diagnosis according to the patient’s symptoms and prescribes medication,” said a company representative at the event.
“The ‘AI doctor’ plays the role of assistant to the real doctor, effectively improving efficiency in responding to inquiries. This is how we were able to achieve rapid responses to inquiries,’ said the Ping An Good Doctor booth staffer,”
Being the startup magnet that Singapore is, it too has attracted a few AI-powered healthcare service providers.
Most recently, Tricog, an AI-powered EKG (electrocardiogram) analysis company received fresh funding to expand its footprint in Singapore and in other parts of Asia.
Discovery AI, another AI-powered solution created under Singapore’s National University Health System has also made a debut recently — and seems to be helping the medical fraternity a great deal.
“A lot of time is needed to pull out patient data, collate it, review it, and then decide what to do. With AI, we can have tools which can be automated to pull out and collate data and present them in ways which make it much easier for health professionals to make decisions for patients,” said Ministry of Health’s Office for Healthcare Transformation’s Executive Director Professor Tan Chorh Chuan.
To be honest, AI has the potential to not only transform healthcare but also totally transform the patient experience — even without a dramatic change to the number of doctors per 1,000 patients.
In the near future, an AI-first healthcare ecosystem might be a reality, and create a comfortable experience for patients, offering better and more timely support overall.
More than 200 babies are born in the UK each year with spina bifida, where the spine and spinal cord do not develop properly during pregnancy, causing a gap in the spine.
It often results in problems that include paralysis of the legs, incontinence and sometimes learning difficulties.
The condition is usually treated after birth, but the earlier it is repaired the better for long-term health and mobility.
In the past, patients had to travel abroad for the procedure.
It is not known what causes spina bifida but a lack of folic acid can increase the risk.
Kate Steele, chief executive of charity Shine, said: "Although open pre-natal surgery is not a cure for spina bifida, and is not suitable for every pregnancy, any medical advances which will potentially improve the health and social outcomes for a baby born with spina bifida is very good news, and Shine welcomes this progress."
'Life-changing treatment'
Among the other treatments that will be routinely offered on the NHS is the drug everolimus for epileptic seizures caused by a genetic condition that results in benign tumours developing in the body and brain, known as tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC).
More than 300 people, mostly children, will benefit from this new treatment that reduces the number and severity of seizures.
Louise Fish, chief executive of the Tuberous Sclerosis Association, said: "We're delighted that NHS England has decided to fund this life-changing and potential life-saving treatment from April 2019 onwards.
"We'll be working with TSC clinics across England to help them get ready to prescribe this drug to more people who can benefit from it."
The other treatments that will be funded from 1 April 2019 are:
Small bowel transplantation service (adults) and small bowel transplantation (children)
Selexipag for pulmonary hypertension
Trientine dihydrochloride for Wilson's Disease
Selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) for chemotherapy refractory / intolerant metastatic colorectal cancer
Metreleptin for congenital leptin deficiency
Gemcitabine and capecitabine as adjuvant treatment for resected pancreatic cancer
Sunday, December 23, 2018 In her signature article ‘Telling it Like it Is’ comprising part of a collection of writings with the same title, the late Anne Abeysekera asks an important question, ‘Do we in Sri Lanka have the courage and honesty to tell it like it is?’
This question was asked and that article penned in the now defunct ‘’Sun” newspaper soon after the ethnic violence of July 1983. It is a query straight from the heart and remains relevant for us now as it was then. Indeed, there is a strange poignancy in these reflections as I review the book (Perera-Hussein, 2018)on request of members of her family. For Sri Lanka now, is vastly changed in many respects from the land which Anne (1925-2015) knew and loved.
Need for collective introspection Yet when assessing what she wrote decades ago, it is as if she was prescient in her forebodings in regard to the losses that this land of our birth would sustain in due course of a tortured journey. From the promising model of multi-cultural democracy in South Asia at independence, this has become a land where violence is interwoven into the societal fabric, instigated by constant spewing of toxic propaganda by power-hungry politicians. And while momentary and sometimes unfortunately fleeting victories may be won against the march of anti-democratic forces at one point or another, we need to engage in collective introspection as to how this unhappy fate came to pass.
One explanation may lie in the fact that this is a society accustomed to brutality where terrible suffering has been inflicted by periodic waves of deaths and disappearances following from civil and ethnic conflict and deadly institutional decay resulting in those desperate for help not knowing whom to turn to. From a casually ruled people following a casually won independence from colonial rule, the darkness of rabid political ambition on the part of leaders who were never able to put the national interest above their own petty preoccupations impacted with brutal force on decent, law-abiding society. For the most part, these were men of letters who had both the capacity and the intelligence to make a difference. But the effect and impact of their negative influence through catastrophic rule has been savage.
Even so, the nervously unsettling question as to whether communal divisions are more deeply entrenched in peoples’ mindsets, quite apart from what is prompted by political chicanery, cannot but arise. I recall a story, real rather than apocryphal, of a reputed and quite brilliant civil law practitioner who, when entreated by the police to open up a few charitable homes for displaced Tamil refugees in 1983, snapped with annoyance, ‘take them elsewhere.’On the other hand, thousands of ordinary Sinhalese people welcomed those displaced into their homes spontaneously and willingly. The contrast between the seemingly ‘highly educated’ and those not so, is perhaps telling.
Calling out the political establishment And as we count down a far too tempestuous year and head into an uncertain 2019 with a dangerously teetering economy, I cannot but think that Anne, whom I first knew in my teens as a mother of a friend and a role model for activists, would have been simultaneously appalled and thrilled at the happenings of the past few weeks. At a foundational level, she would have been outraged at the violation of the Constitution and would have said as much with characteristic penchant for ‘telling it like it is.’ But that said, she would also have been wonderfully heartened by the vibrant activism of citizens otherwise uninterested in politics who called out the corrupt political establishment, quite irrespective of party colours, in scathing criticism. In fact, it was the ferocity of the unexpected ‘citizens’ outbursts that took conniving politicians by surprise and was in large measure, responsible for their retreat.
These elements of straightforwardness and integrity were constants in Anne’s writings; coruscatingly honest, always true to the personal stories of those affected and never succumbing to agenda-driven scribblings or egocentric ramblings of those professing to be ‘experts’ in a chosen field. In that particular contribution titled ‘Telling it Like it Is’, she reflects on the fact that ‘wrong impressions can be created by the omission of facts and the refusal to call a spade, a spade.’
This is in the context of the communal violence in 1983 where she observes that, despite the undeniable ferocity of attacks on ordinary Tamil civilians by organised government mobs, ‘there has been a noticeable reluctance on the part of some to admit this.’ It is this line which earlier propelled my recollection of the irritated response of a man of seeming stature and more than ordinary intelligence but who chose not to help when asked. And it is this attitude that Anne deplores, even though perchance, that specific incident would not have been personally known to her.
‘Senseless savagery is never a solution’ Then again, the other side of the human tragedy gripping Sinhala civilians is dwelt upon with compassion. In a piece written for the Sunday Times a year later, she reminds after attending the remembrance of a fallen military man of senior rank that, ‘it is right and fitting that we should give all the support we can to the men in the security forces and to do whatever we can to lessen the pain – if that is possible- of the families who have fallen.’ In that same essay, she ruminates that ‘most of us, whichever community we belong to, are neither haters or practitioners of violence…senseless savagery will never resolve the problems that divide us.’
Due to constraints of space, it would be impossible to reflect on the many threads of beautifully expressed reasoning that runs through this compact collection of essays. Let it suffice to say that this is a book to read when the world outside seems more disconnected than usual and a tad crazier than normal. It is a cheery and refreshing read, not chockful of platitudes but rather reflecting homespun wisdom that comes from a life well lived.
For the young who know Sri Lanka only in the signal madness of what passes for civic life today, it would be good to glimpse a different and gentler reality. Her tacking of gender biases is related with humour and no small wit.
A most enduring lesson A short while before she passed away, I remember having an animated discussion with her on the state of democratic affairs in this ‘far-from-paradise isle’ where she remained as cheery and optimistic as ever, always believing in the power of the human spirit to prevail against all odds. This resilience then, was another constant of hers, surely a comfort to her family, her friends and the community with which she involved herself with warmth and infinite grace.
But in the end, the most enduring lesson that she left behind was that an ‘ordinary’ man, woman or child can do the most extraordinary things and even challenge the might of the State, as she herself did in countless ways. That must surely remain an inspiration.
As a result of the showers received from Thursday evening to Saturday morning. streets are flooded and several thousands of families have had to take shelter in 12 refugee camps hosting 600 families. The road from Paranthan to Mullaitivu is impassable with three sections of road under as much as 3.5 feet of water.
In Viswamadu at the Manikkapillaiyar Temple, a cantor has disappeared having been carried away by the raging waters.
Kilinochchi has had 400 mm of rain. All reservoirs are overflowing – through Punnaineeraavi, Tharmapuram, Kandaavalai, Pannangkandiyai. Christmas Carol Services have been cancelled. All houses at the centre of the Aananthapuram town are flooded. Iranaimadu tank with a capacity of 36 feet depth has 38 feet of water, and has had all gates opened, adding to rains that fell directly on these unfortunate villages.
Extensive loss of livestock is reported as shown in the photographs from Mankulam.
In Mullaitivu water is being released from Muththaiyan Kulam, Vavunik Kulam and Udaiyaarkattuk Kulam, Two thousand four hundred families are affected.
In Mannar District 110 persons from 38 families are in shelters. Eleven fishing boats are damaged.
In Jaffna Peninsula several places are affected. Of note is that the 30 km stretch of road from Maruthang Kerni has been shut down. Likewise as a result of flooding in the Achchuveli, Thondamanaaru, Kopai and Vaatharawaththai areas, the flood gates at Thondamanaaru have been opened.
Livestock Lost in Mankulam
A fear of the refugees concerns the accuracy of official reporting. Following the last cyclone, the Gaja Cyclone of 16 Nov. 2018, GA Jaffna, N. Vethanayagan, reported that 978 houses were damaged. Going by regulations, he authorized 3 days of cooked food for each affected person and Rs 10,000 as first installment compensation for each house.
2018-12-23
More than 45,000 people from nearly 14,000 families had been affected due to the heavy rains and floods in all the five districts of the Northern Province, the Disaster Management Center (DMC) said.
The affected districts are Mullaithivu, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Vavuniya and Jaffna.
The DMC said that 8,539 people had been sheltered in 52 welfare camps.
Meanwhile, President Maithripala Sirisena directed relevant officials to provide immediate relief to the affected people.
The Mullaithivu main road has been blocked due to the floods.
In the Kilinochchi District all the sluice gates of the Iranaimadhu Tank have already been opened and a large number of families have been displaced.
The Navy and the Army personnel were engaged in relief and rescue missions in the Mullaithivu and Kilinochchi Districts, which are worst affected by the inclement weather condition.
Accordingly, the Navy has deployed nine dinghies and six relief teams in aforesaid areas since December 22, to assist victims.
Naval personnel attached to the North Central Naval Command were promptly deployed into action following the flood situation and they reached displaced people in Iranaimadhu, Samikulam, Oddusuddan and Vasanthapuram to rescue the people.
The Sri Lanka Air Force said a Bell-212 helicopter and Y12 aircrafts had been deployed on flights over Iranaimadhu and Mullaithivu areas to assess flood situation.(Romeh Madushanka and Sithum Chaturanga)
An 8-year-old girl in Mexico attached a note for Santa to a balloon. A man across the border found it. (Randy Heiss)
Oliver Holmes in Jerusalem-
EARLIER this week the Malaysian government has chided Beijing’s alleged abuse of minority ethnic Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang in a move that would likely add further strain to its cooling ties with China.
23 Dec 2018
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Pollution levels in New Delhi have hit their worst this year in the past two days - earning a “severe” to “emergency” rating and indicating conditions that can spark a public health crisis.
AI is becoming a key tool in the healthcare sector. Source: Shutterstock
22 December 2018
Sunday, December 23, 2018
A fear of the refugees concerns the accuracy of official reporting. Following the last cyclone, the Gaja Cyclone of 16 Nov. 2018, GA Jaffna, N. Vethanayagan, reported that 978 houses were damaged. Going by regulations, he authorized 3 days of cooked food for each affected person and Rs 10,000 as first installment compensation for each house.
22 December 2018
2018-12-23
