CC withdraws Rules after clash with President
Two foremost events the country will witness will be a presidential election and a parliamentary general election—both pledged in Parliament by President Ranil Wickremesinghe. We need an economic plan. But to direct the economy, we will ensure that there is economic democracy and targets will be provided to the private sector. The hotels required, guides, vehicles should be provided by the private sector. We should set a target and get the private sector to achieve it.
Source:Sunday Times
December 03, 2023 15:24 UTC
Sri Lanka secures $1.52 billion in foreign financing
Sri Lanka secures $1.52 billion in foreign financing By Bandula Sirimanna View(s): View(s):Sri Lanka has secured new external financing amounting to around US$1.52 billion by entering into 13 agreements with foreign development partners and lending agencies during the period January 1 to September 30, 2023, the Finance Ministry’s fiscal management report showed. The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) extended fund facility arrangement has filled part of the external financing gap, the difference between the projected demand for and supply of foreign currency financing. A sum of $247.6 million has been secured under the Resilience, Stability, and Economic Turnaround (RESET) Development Policy Financing programme, the ministry’s latest report revealed. Accordingly the government was able to secure a substantial amount of foreign financing, amounted to$ 1,516.3 million, from January 1 to September 30, 2023It has obtained foreign financing of $1,479 million by entering into 13 agreements with foreign development partners and lending agencies during the first nine months this year. This consists of $ 333.0 million received under the IMFEFF arrangement, $350.0 million for the Economic Stabilisation programme extended by the ADB, and $495.6 million for RESET Development Policy Financing.
Source:Sunday Times
December 03, 2023 14:55 UTC
A new possible explanation for the Hubble tension
Source: phys.orgThe universe is expanding. How fast it does so is described by the so-called Hubble-Lemaitre constant. But there is a dispute about how big this constant actually is: Different measurement methods provide contradictory values.
Source:The Nation
December 02, 2023 20:33 UTC
US joins in other nations in swearing off coal power to clean the climate
(AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)DUBAI – The United States committed Saturday to the idea of phasing out coal power plants, joining 56 other nations in kicking the coal habit that's a huge factor in global warming. U.S. Special Envoy John Kerry announced that the U.S. was joining the Powering Past Coal Alliance, which means the Biden Administration commits to building no new coal plants and phasing out existing plants. The amount of coal burned in the United States last year is less than half what it was in 2008. The Powering Past Coal Alliance started six years ago and had 50 country members until Saturday when the United States and six others joined, said alliance spokeswoman Anna Drazkiewicz. "Joining the Powering Past Coal Alliance reiterates Kosovo’s clear commitment and ongoing efforts towards a socially just and clean energy sector.”___Read more of AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment.
Source:The Nation
December 02, 2023 16:04 UTC
Japan Debuts Six-Story Experimental Fusion Reactor
The biggest experimental nuclear fusion reactor in operation was inaugurated north of Tokyo today, as scientists continue to plug away at making nuclear fusion a viable source of the world’s energy. Nuclear fusion is often referred to as the holy grail of energy research, because if economical fusion reactions were realized it would greatly reduce—if altogether eliminate—humankind’s reliance on fossil fuels. The new reactor, along with its counterpart currently under construction in Europe, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), are merely experiments to prove the technological feasibility of fusion at scale. Nuclear fusion can be done in different ways, but it is regardless a much cleaner process than nuclear fission. The running joke about scalable nuclear fusion is that it is always just over the horizon—maybe 30, 50 years from now.
Source:The Nation
December 02, 2023 08:32 UTC
New methods for improving water management to develop sustainable cities
This makes it challenging for the authorities to manage water resources and the increasing demand for water while controlling sewage and pollution. Lack of usable water resources can lead to unbalanced water distribution and worse water quality. Credit: Yi QianMeasures for improvementThe researchers have made several recommendations to further improve water and environmental management in cities. "On the macro level, cities should modify their industrial structure towards one that is compatible with the water capacity. More information: Jiaxi Chen et al, Towards Sustainable Cities: Studying Evaluation Index of Water Environment Carrying Capacity, Water Resources Management (2023).
Source:The Nation
December 02, 2023 08:16 UTC
Ethereum’s Goerli Testnet to Cease Support and Undergo Final Upgrade
In an announcement on Thursday, November 30, the Ethereum development team announced that the blockchain’s multi-client testnet Goerli shall lose support from the client and Ethereum Foundation testing teams. The Ethereum Foundation has advised users relying on Goerli for stable testnet environments to migrate beforehand. While Goerli is likely to be the first testnet to activate the Dencun upgrade, the Ethereum team will announce the specific date very soon. Danksharding stands out as the imminent significant Ethereum upgrade, leveraging distributed data sampling to augment the scalability of the Ethereum network. The post Ethereum’s Goerli Testnet to Cease Support and Undergo Final Upgrade appeared first on CoinGape.
Source:The Nation
December 01, 2023 10:10 UTC
Pick the Best Image in This Nature Photography Contest
Online voting is now open for the People’s Choice Award winner in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest, an annual competition developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. You can chose your favorite from among 25 shortlisted photos of the near-50,000 submitted to the competition. From mudskippers and bulrushes to lions and jellyfish, the natural world has something for everyone... and it’s up to you which gets the final say. You can vote for a winner online or in person at the museum. See the impressive lineup here.
Source:The Nation
November 29, 2023 08:30 UTC
Solar activity likely to peak next year, new study suggests
Source: phys.orgResearchers at the Center of Excellence in Space Sciences India at IISER Kolkata have discovered a new relationship between the sun's magnetic field and its sunspot cycle, that can help predict when the peak in solar activity will occur. Their work indicates that the maximum intensity of solar cycle 25, the ongoing sunspot cycle, is imminent and likely to occur within a year. The new research appears in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.
Source:The Nation
November 28, 2023 20:05 UTC
How can we evaluate the quality of global water models?
Source: phys.orgA new international study has tested the extent to which global water models agree with one another and with observational data. Using a new evaluation approach, the research team, which includes IIASA researchers, can show in which climate regions the models agree and where they differ.
Source:The Nation
November 28, 2023 16:37 UTC
Web Summit: Will Web3 Gaming Ever be Mainstream?
Web Summit: Will Web3 Gaming Ever be Mainstream? Animoca Brands CEO Robby Yung, EndeavorXR CEO Amy Peck and Gamee co-founder CEO Bozena Rezab joined Decrypt's Stephen Graves on stage at Web Summit to talk about the future of Web3 gaming.
Source:The Nation
November 28, 2023 07:32 UTC
Breaking: TrueUSD (TUSD) Stablecoin Depegs, Here’s Why
Currently, TUSD price trades at $0.996 after trying to repeg. TUSD Depegs Amid Market ConcernsTrueUSD (TUSD) stablecoin started to depeg starting the week as traders liquidated their holdings amid rising concerns after the exit of Changpeng “CZ” Zhao as CEO of the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance. The depeg worsened on November 27 and 28, with the TUSD price falling to as low as $0.995. Riyad Carey, a researcher at Kaiko, reported that TUSD stablecoin peg looked shaky due to some big market orders selloff. Also Read:The post Breaking: TrueUSD (TUSD) Stablecoin Depegs, Here’s Why appeared first on CoinGape.
Source:The Nation
November 28, 2023 07:32 UTC
Where are all the double planets?
Source: phys.orgA recent study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society examines formation mechanisms for how binary planets—two large planetary bodies orbiting each other—can be produced from a type of tidal heating known as tidal dissipation, or the energy that is shared between two planetary bodies as the orbit close to each other, which the Earth and our moon experiences.
Source:The Nation
November 27, 2023 17:32 UTC
10 Long-Dead Languages Still Affecting Society Today
There are literally thousands of languages spoken all over the world today—and thousands more long-dead languages that were spoken by small (or large) groups in the past and are no longer used. In this list today, we’ll take a look at ten dead languages that—while gone for good—are still affecting the modern world and inspiring the way we speak. [3]7 Old EnglishCan Modern English Speakers Understand Old English? And that Middle English is what our current modern English is most directly based upon, with its Old English roots still way down the line. Like how Old English eventually transitioned toward Modern English, Old High German can say the same thing for its current-day evolution.
Source:The Nation
November 27, 2023 09:21 UTC
A fullerene-like molecule made entirely of metal atoms
Source: phys.orgA small team of chemists from Nankai University, Nanjing Tech University and Shanxi University, all in China, working with a colleague from Universidad San Sebastián, in Chile, has, for the first time, created a fullerene-like molecule made entirely of metal atoms.
Source:The Nation
November 26, 2023 17:07 UTC