SOPA Images/GettyThe California lottery has revealed who won a $1.75 billion Powerball jackpot in October—and it’s more than one person. In a press release on Friday, officials said a man named Theodorus Struyck is the representative of a group of winners who took the second-biggest prize in lottery history. It appears that personal details about Struyck have been largely scrubbed from the internet and social media. Read more at The Daily Beast. Source: www.thedailybeast.com
Source:The Nation
March 16, 2024 17:58 UTC
Sampath Bank and Visa Unveil Innovative Sampath Visa Purchasing Card for Corporate ClientsBusinessSampath Bank PLC is proud to announce its strategic collaboration with Visa, the global leader in payments, to introduce a groundbreaking addition to its Corporate Cards portfolio — the Sampath Visa Purchasing Card. Mr. Shiran Kossinna, Assistant General Manager – Card Centre, Sampath Bank, remarked, "The introduction of the Sampath Visa Purchasing Card represents our continuous effort to further streamline the expense management of the bank's valued corporate clients. With the Sampath Visa Purchasing Card, organisations truly get better control and view of their expenses, enabling smarter finance planning and management. Corporates embracing the Sampath Visa Purchasing Card can benefit from a series of advantages. For more information about the Sampath Visa Purchasing Card and its benefits, please visit www.sampath.lk or contact 1332.
Source:Sunday Times
March 16, 2024 13:31 UTC
What's more, February 2024 wrapped up both hemispheres' warmest December-through-February period on record, according to scientists from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. Looking how continents ranked, Europe, North America and South America had their warmest February on record, while Africa had its second warmest. The year-to-date (January and February 2024) temperature currently ranks as the world's warmest such period on record. There is a 45% chance that 2024 will be the warmest year in NOAA's 175-year record and a 99% chance it will rank in the top five. Arctic sea ice extent was slightly below average (by 100,000 square miles), whereas Antarctic sea ice extent was substantially below average (by 370,000 square miles), ranking second smallest on record.
Source:The Nation
March 16, 2024 04:59 UTC
Italy has one of the toughest citizenship regimes in Europe, with children born in the country to foreign parents unable to apply for an Italian passport until they are 18. Now a spokeswoman for campaign group Italians Without Citizenship, she describes the failure to allow children to become citizens as "psychological violence". "The law on access to citizenship in Italy is one of the toughest in Europe," notes demographer Salvatore Strozza. Children born and raised in Italy have no innate right to citizenship, except in rare cases where their parents are unknown or stateless. "An Argentine who has an Italian grandfather will be naturalised faster than a person born in Italy to foreign parents," he told AFP.
Source:The Nation
March 15, 2024 13:02 UTC
The danger low birth rates pose to a developing countryOpinionBy A.W. Singapore faces an ageing population and low birth rates, leading to concerns about a shrinking workforce and increased healthcare needs. Thailand is also grappling with a declining birth rate, potentially affecting its future labour force and economic growth. Economically, it may lead to a shrinking workforce, reducing productivity, and limiting the potential for economic growth. Here are 10 potential solutions for the government to solve low birth rates and increase population growth to an acceptable level.
Source:Sunday Times
March 15, 2024 12:21 UTC
Fifteen Indian fishermen held for poaching in Lankan watersNewsSri Lanka Navy has captured 15 Indian fishermen who were intruding into local marine zones off the Kovilan Lighthouse in Karainagar during a special naval operation conducted in the early hours of today (Mar. The Mailadi Fisheries Inspector will receive the seized trawler (01) and the fifteen Indian fishermen who were brought to the Kankesanthurai Harbour for further legal proceedings. A special operation was carried out by the Sri Lanka Navy to drive Indian poaching trawlers out of Sri Lankan waters. When the Northern Naval Command noticed that many Indian poaching trawlers were fishing illegally in Sri Lankan waters off the Kovilan Lighthouse, they dispatched Fast Attack Craft to chase them away which led to their capture as they continued to remain in Sri Lankan waters. Following this most recent arrest, the Navy has apprehended 16 Indian poaching trawlers and 125 Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters in 2024; they have since been turned over to the relevant authorities for onward legal action.
Source:Sunday Times
March 15, 2024 08:22 UTC
Source: phys.orgResearchers have developed a new machine learning system to improve the accuracy and efficiency of sewer-river system models. This innovative approach, detailed in an article published in Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, promises to significantly reduce parameter calibration time and enhance model precision in predicting urban water pollution.
Source:The Nation
March 15, 2024 06:15 UTC
The Bandaranaike Museum Committee has taken steps to publish the second limited edition of the Pictorial Biography; ‘SIRIMAVO - Steering the Destiny of a Nation’ in collaboration with the Sarasavi Bookshop and it is now available for sale, the Bandaranaike Museum Committee said. This coffee table book, ‘SIRIMAVO- Steering the Destiny of a Nation’ presents the remarkable story of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, an extraordinary Prime Minister who pioneered new paths in both national and international arenas. The book ‘SIRIMAVO - Steering the Destiny of a Nation’ is published under the auspices of the Bandaranaike Museum Committee and edited by three esteemed professionals in their own fields; Sarath Perera, Nalaka Gunawardena, and WMK Wijayabandara. The foreword of the book ‘SIRIMAVO- Steering the Destiny of a Nation’ was penned by Deshmanya M.D.D. Peiris, a distinguished administrative officer who served as the Prime Minister’s Secretary during the second term of Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
Source:The Nation
March 14, 2024 14:26 UTC
(NewsNation) — The U.S. House approved a plan to ban the social media app TikTok, but there is still a long road ahead before it’s potentially implemented. TikTok, which has more than 150 million American users and is highly popular with young Americans, is owned by Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd. Under the bill, app stores or web hosting services in the U.S. would be blocked from having ByteDance-controlled applications, including TikTok, unless the app completely cuts ties with its China-based company. The choice is TikTok’s.”FILE – The TikTok app logo is displayed on Sept. 28, 2020, in Tokyo. The measure banning TikTok has elicited strong reactions from both supporters and opponents who are now one step closer to a potential ban.
Source:The Nation
March 13, 2024 21:33 UTC
However, petty personal and political calculations took precedence over the countryThis political grandstanding is nothing more than benefitting from the country’s misery. When even a remotely cohesive nation is faced with an existential crisis, its disparate stakeholders momentarily set aside their differences. Two years back, it was an existential crisis that threatened the state’s very existence as a cohesive and functioning unit. Sri Lankan politics suffer from a strong sense of self-seeking opportunism that prevents the country from forging a common goal. This also raises concern about the country’s uncertain political future, where political parties thrive in harnessing public anger rather than offering solutions.
Source:The Nation
March 13, 2024 18:35 UTC
Source: phys.orgIn 2021, two Stony Brook University researchers—Jason Jones, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, and Steven Skiena, Ph.D., Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Computer Science—began conducting a survey study on attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI) among American adults. Some of their recent findings, published in the journal Seeds of Science, show a shift in Americans' views on AI.
Source:The Nation
March 13, 2024 05:59 UTC
Source: phys.orgNepal has ordered Everest mountaineers to carry mandatory trackers after one of the deadliest seasons last year—and remove their excrement using compostable bags similar to those used for dog waste.
Source:The Nation
March 12, 2024 22:06 UTC
New Chief Secretaries appointed for North and Wayamba ProvincesNewsPresident Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed Mr. L. Ilangovan as the new Chief Secretary of the Northern Province. Mr. Ilangovan, a distinguished officer of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service, has previously served in various ministries in the Northern Province and held the position of Northern Province Governor's Secretary. Prior to his appointment as the Chief Secretary, he served as the President's Additional Secretary for Northern Province Development at the Presidential Secretariat. Meanwhile, Ms. Deepika K. Gunaratne was appointed as the new Chief Secretary of the Wayamba Province. Her appointment letter was handed over by President's Secretary Mr. Saman Ekanayake at the Presidential Secretariat today.
Source:Sunday Times
March 12, 2024 21:46 UTC
Source: phys.orgNumerous measurement stations around the world provide us with data about air quality, allowing us to enhance it. Although we are increasingly collecting data from marine areas, access to such data is considerably more challenging. Signals are poorly transmitted through water, differences in both pressure and currents hinder measurement devices and there is an absence of pre-constructed computing infrastructure.
Source:The Nation
March 12, 2024 20:57 UTC