Colombo (LNW): Cathay Pacific, the award-winning Hong Kong-based airline, has announced the resumption of flights to and from Colombo beginning on 02 February, 2024.
After a hiatus of four years, Cathay Pacific is set to soar Sri Lankan skies once again, serving valued local customers and continuing its commitment to connect people across the globe, the airline said. Cathay Pacific is returning with its Airbus A330 aircraft offering three flights a week operating from Colombo, ensuring a comfortable and premium travel experience for all customers.
The aircraft is configured in a two-cabin-class layout with 293 seats, comprising 28 in Business class, and 265 in Economy.
The resumption marks the revival of a long-standing aviation partnership between Hong Kong and Sri Lanka. For both business and leisure travellers, the flights will serve as a gateway, offering exceptional connectivity via Hong Kong to the Chinese Mainland, North America, Northeast Asia, and the Southwest Pacific.
As Sri Lanka continues to welcome a growing number of leisure and business travellers, while recognising the diversity of Colombo’s travellers, Cathay Pacific is gearing up to embark on a new chapter of connectivity, convenience, and customer satisfaction.
Anand Yedery, Regional Head of Customer Travel and Lifestyle, South Asia, Middle East and Africa said “This is an important occasion as we announce the relaunch of flights from Colombo. Cathay Pacific’s return not only signifies our commitment to our customers, but also showcases the vital role Sri Lanka plays in our network.
He said “In the past few years, we have invested in our product and inflight experience, including the dining menu, entertainment and more.
We are excited to have our customers experience these service enhancements, convenient connections to key destinations worldwide such as Melbourne and Toronto, and our intermodal air-to-sea ferry options for travel into the Greater Bay Area.
He added We look forward to welcoming Sri Lankan travellers aboard our flights and delivering a journey that exceeds their expectations.”
In addition to passenger services, Cathay continues to play a significant role in the economy by supporting local industries and connecting them to the world through its air cargo services. Cathay Cargo’s expertise ensures vital goods reach their destinations swiftly and securely, re-enforcing its brand ethos – “We Know How”.
Colombo (LNW): Mastercard – a Global Technology Company in the payments for goods and services benefiting people, businesses & governments for safe financial transactions has partnered with the Colombo Port City Economic Commission for Port City development.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the two entities to collaborate by leveraging Mastercard’s City PossibleTM platform for the development of Port City Colombo, an export-oriented, multi-service-focused Special Economic Zone.
Mastercard‘s global expertise and solutions will play an important role in contributing technological insights on digital payments, among other possible digital solutions for a digitally inclusive ecosystem within Port City Colombo.” commented, Dinesh Weerakkody – Chairman, Colombo Port City Economic Commission.
Colombo Port City Economic Commission envisions positioning Port City Colombo, as a modern, sustainable, Smart City, and a future investment hub.
Mastercard’s global City PossibleTM network is an innovative initiative pioneered by Mastercard, which brings together experts, organizations, and cities to create tailored solutions that promote more inclusive and sustainable urban development.
To date, City Possible with its unique solutions has benefitted communities worldwide, ensuring cities are more inclusive and sustainable.
City Possible will collaborate with the Colombo Port City Economic Commission to explore new models in urban innovation for Port City Colombo.
The partnership will leverage businesses, academia, and strategic partnerships, to help the Port City Colombo in becoming more connected and resilient.
Further, Mastercard will leverage its extensive global experience to address challenges related to governance, urban mobility, digital payments, and cyber security, using its cutting-edge technologies and best practices from across various global markets.
The MoU also aims to explore areas of collaboration for digital insights platforms, unique solutions such as City Key and consultancy services to help Port City Colombo thrive and grow.
“The objective of the Port City is to create a vibrant business district in Colombo to appeal to the region and on a global scale, more importantly to foster global investments, spur innovation, and create new employment opportunities, ultimately enhancing Sri Lanka’s competitiveness on the international stage.
Aligned to these goals, Mastercard is delighted to partner with Colombo Port City Economic Commission to onboard Port City Colombo as part of City Possible initiative.
It supports the special economic zone in advancing inclusive and sustainable urban development and adapts to create a more inclusive digital world,” said Sandun Hapugoda – Country Manager Mastercard Sri Lanka and Maldives.
PMD: In a significant move towards ensuring the safety and well-being of Sri Lankan migrant workers and enhancing economic prosperity, State Minister for Foreign Employment Promotion, Mr. Jagath Pushpakumara, has announced the development of a comprehensive national foreign employment policy. The policy has been submitted for approval to the Cabinet of Ministers, marking a milestone in Sri Lanka’s commitment to its overseas workforce.
Speaking at a press conference held at the Presidential Media Centre under the theme ‘Collective Path to a Stable Country’, State Minister Jagath Pushpakumara outlined the pivotal achievements of his ministry within a year and its ambitious goals for the future.
“When we took over this ministry, the country was in a situation where it could not even pay for an oil ship coming to this country. But due to the far-sighted decisions taken by President Ranil Wickremesinghe after assuming the office of President, we have been able to make many significant transformations in the field of foreign employment within a short period of one year,” noted State Minister Pushpakumara.
The development of a national foreign employment policy, supported by experts, is a key highlight of the ministry’s achievements. This policy aims to safeguard the rights and security of Sri Lankan expatriate workers and has been submitted for Cabinet approval, reflecting the government’s commitment to their welfare.
Additionally, the State Minister emphasized the ministry’s efforts to combat human trafficking, enhance judicial and investigative activities, and further regulate foreign employment agencies through a comprehensive revision to the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Agency Act.
In terms of remittances, State Minister Pushpakumara expressed optimism about reaching the target of US $ 7000 million annually, as set by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in 2022. He highlighted that in 2022, 311,056 Sri Lankans registered through the Foreign Employment Bureau to work abroad, and by July 2023, nearly 200,000 had already registered for overseas employment. The total amount of foreign remittances received in 2022 was US $ 3789.40 million, with US $ 3363.6 million received by July 2023.
The State Minister also addressed concerns about illegal money transfers through unregulated channels, stressing the potential harm such practices can inflict on innocent people and urging adherence to legal and transparent remittance channels.
In addition to these accomplishments, State Minister Pushpakumara highlighted various initiatives aimed at improving the lives of migrant workers and their families. These include free insurance for all Sri Lankans registering for foreign employment, scholarships for the children of low-income migrant workers, relief for returning workers after accidents abroad, and extensive training programs to prepare individuals for overseas employment.
The State Minister underscored the importance of registering with the Foreign Employment Bureau and working with registered foreign employment agencies to ensure safe and legal overseas employment. He urged the public to report any attempts by individuals or groups misusing government names to exploit unsuspecting job seekers.
Looking ahead, State Minister Jagath Pushpakumara outlined several upcoming initiatives, including low-interest multi-purpose loan programs, housing projects for expatriate workers, and bilateral agreements with countries to create high-earning labour opportunities.
In concluding remarks, the State Minister stated, “In my capacity as the Minister of State responsible for this portfolio, I implore the public to prioritize the registration process with the Foreign Employment Bureau and to seek overseas employment via formal work visas rather than tourist visas. It is of paramount importance to collaborate solely with registered foreign employment agencies, a list of which is duly publicized on the bureau’s official website. Should any individuals or groups solicit funds, misusing the names of Cabinet Minister or myself, under the guise of facilitating easy foreign employment, I beseech the public to promptly report such incidents to our investigative department. Rest assured, we will take immediate and appropriate action.”
State Minister Jagath Pushpakumara’s comprehensive approach to foreign employment endeavours to establish a secure, prosperous environment for Sri Lankan expatriate workers while actively contributing to the economic advancement of the nation.
Sept 6 (Reuters) – Moderna (MRNA.O) and rival Pfizer (PFE.N) on Wednesday said their updated COVID-19 vaccines generated strong responses in testing against the highly mutated BA.2.86 subvariant of the coronavirus that has raised fears of a resurgence of infections.
Moderna said its shot generated an 8.7-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies against BA.2.86 compared with an untreated natural antibody response in clinical trials in humans. The variant is currently being tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“We think this is news people will want to hear as they prepare to go out and get their fall boosters,” Moderna head of infectious diseases Jacqueline Miller said in an interview, adding that the data should also help reassure regulators.
Pfizer said its updated vaccine with partner BioNTech (22UAy.DE) elicited a strong antibody response against BA.2.86 in a preclinical study in mice.
Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech and relative newcomer to the COVID vaccine market Novavax (NVAX.O) have created versions of their shots aimed at the XBB.1.5 subvariant, the dominant variant through most of 2023. Those are expected to be rolled out this autumn.
Moderna shares were down 1.6% and Pfizer shares were off nearly 3% in afternoon trading.
TD Cowen analyst Tyler Van Buren said Wednesday’s news was unlikely to raise the share price because people already assume the mRNA vaccines will continue to be effective against new COVID variants as they crop up. Both the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech shots are based on mRNA technology.
“This was not an anticipated catalyst that people were waiting for,” he said, adding that Moderna continues to be a favorite target of Wall Street short sellers who bet that shares will fall.
The CDC has previously indicated that BA.2.86 may be more capable of causing infection in people who previously had COVID or were vaccinated with previous shots. The Omicron offshoot carries more than 35 mutations in key portions of the virus compared with XBB.1.5, the target of the updated shots.
Moderna said it had shared the new finding on its vaccine with regulators and submitted it for peer review publication. The retooled shot has yet to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but is expected to be available later this month or in early October.
Last month, Moderna and Pfizer each said their new vaccines appeared to be effective against another new subvariant of concern dubbed EG.5 in initial testing.
European regulators have since backed the Pfizer/BioNTech shot, with Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approving the vaccine on Tuesday, but have yet to make any announcements on Moderna’s updated vaccine.
BA.2.86 has now been detected in Switzerland and South Africa as well as Israel, Denmark, the U.S. and Britain according to a WHO official.
While it is important to monitor the variant, several experts told Reuters it is unlikely to cause a wave of severe disease and death because of immune defenses built up worldwide from mass vaccination and prior infection.
Colombo (LNW): Reports are being received on children and women being used for begging, and steps will be taken to curb this situation, emphasised State Minister Geetha Kumarasinghe.
Accordingly, the State Minister noted that she will hold a preliminary discussion with relevant institutions including the police, local authorities, and the National Child Protection Authority to curb this situation.
Attention was drawn to this when the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Women, Children Affairs and Social Empowerment met in Parliament recently under the chairmanship of State Ministers Geeta Kumarasinghe and Anupa Pascual.
It was discussed that the use of children and women for begging has become a business as it is common to hire children for begging, some children are given drugs and used for begging, and women pretend to be pregnant. Although there are legal provisions in this regard, attention was also paid to the issues of proper implementation at the practical level.
The State Ministers directed the officials to take steps to get relevant data in connection with the survey of beggars in this country to be started by the Department of Social Services in September.
Accordingly, it was further decided to prepare a special discussion about this in the coming week and take immediate action.
MPs Pyankara Jayaratne, Sanjeeva Edirimanna, Mudita Prashanthi, Lalith Varankumara participated in the meeting.
Colombo (LNW): The Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) will refurbish and reassign 15 double decker buses for the use in tourism, Daily Mirror reported quoting Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardena.
These buses are in need of repairs at the moment, and later will be used for passenger transport between the Anuradhapura Railway Station and the Sacred City, in a bid to break the monopoly of three-wheeler operations, who happen to charge exorbitant rates from the pilgrims, the Minister told Daily Mirror.
The move will also help strengthening the tourism sector.
MUMBAI, Sept 6 (Reuters) – The Indian rupee is likely to weaken more on Wednesday after the dollar index rose to the highest in just under six months on weak risk and rising U.S. Treasury yields.
Non-deliverable forwards indicate rupee will open at around 83.10-83.12 to the U.S. dollar, compared to 83.04 in the previous session which was a two-week low.
U.S. Treasury yields rose on Tuesday with the 10-year yield now about ten basis points shy of the recent high. Expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep rates high for longer have prompted investors to push the 10-year yield to the highest since 2007.
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said on Tuesday that he felt U.S. treasury yields were about where they should be and cautioned against assumptions about no further Fed tightening.
The dollar index rose to the highest since mid-March.
Resilient U.S. yields will keep the dollar “well-bid” and all eyes today will be on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Ritesh Bhansali, vice president at Mecklai Financial, said.
When the rupee dropped below 83 last month, the RBI intervened both in the onshore over-the-counter market and the non-deliverable forwards market to prevent it from hitting a record low.
The rupee’s fell to 83.16 last month, just shy of the lifetime low of 83.29.
Poor risk appetite further boosted demand for the safe-haven dollar. U.S. equities dropped overnight and most Asian gauges were lower.
A few analysts reckon that the dollar was over-valued at current levels.
“We suspect a deterioration in the economic outlook remains the only real path for the mis-valuation gap to close,” ING Bank said in a note.
“What this gap is telling us now is that the dollar correction, once the U.S. data turns, can be quite rapid and substantial.”
KEY INDICATORS: ** One-month non-deliverable rupee forward at 83.17; onshore one-month forward premium at 9.5 paisa ** USD/INR NSE September futures settled at 83.1275 on Tuesday ** USD/INR September forward premium at 6.25 paisa ** Dollar index up at 104.78 ** Brent crude futures up 0.1% at $90.1 per barrel ** Ten-year U.S. note yield at 4.26% ** As per NSDL data, foreign investors sold a net $287.1mln worth of Indian shares on Sep. 4 ** NSDL data shows foreign investors sold a net $3.2mln worth of Indian bonds on Sep. 4
Colombo (LNW): In an effort to enhance the inclusion of differently-abled persons in the Parliament of Sri Lanka, a few selected groups of the staff and Members of Parliament went through basic sensitisation sessions from Aug 18 to 23, 2023.
Parliamentary Task Force for Disability Inclusion, the Media Division and Public Outreach Division of the Communications Department of Parliament, and the Select Committee of Parliament to look into and report to Parliament its recommendations to ensure gender equity and equality with special emphasis on looking into gender-based discrimination and violations of women’s rights in Sri Lanka participated in this.
This series of sensitisation sessions is the very first step in the long-term process of strengthening the capacity of parliament on the inclusion of differently-abled.
The Parliament of Sri Lanka is taking steps to make the whole of parliament – including physical, digital and social spaces – friendly for the differently-abled. In the beginning of this year, a comprehensive assessment of parliament’s accessibility to persons who are differently-abled was conducted. The report recommended a number of areas for improvement including physical constructions, making the parliament website and digital spaces friendly for the differently-abled and capacity development of the staff and Members of Parliament.
As a result, the Secretary General of Parliament appointed a special Task Force on the inclusion of the differently-abled to work on this in a consistent and sustainable manner. The Task Force comprises Heads of Departments and is chaired by the Assistant Secretary General of Parliament. Further, in response to the recommendations of the assessment report, a training manual is developed with modules focused on different aspects of the inclusion the differently-abled in the context of parliament and the parliament secretariat. This manual will be vernacularised and will be used for capacity strengthening in future.
It was emphasised that a person with impairment coupled with environmental, attitudinal and institutional barriers will experience being differently-abled, thereby allowing them to in society as equal citizens.
Therefore, if we remove the barriers, we will not have to draw a line between those who are differently-abled and those who are not. As society and institutions, what we need to strive for is to remove these barriers so that persons who are differently-abled can participate in society like any other person without impairments.
During the sessions, the participants engaged in practical activities to help them experience and hence better understand the realities of persons who are differently-abled. An international consultant with years of experience on the subject conducted the sensitisation sessions while a pool of local trainers joined the training session as observers. These efforts of parliament are supported by the National Democratic Institute and funded by USAID.
Scientists have grown an entity that closely resembles an early human embryo, without using sperm, eggs or a womb.
BBC: The Weizmann Institute team say their “embryo model”, made using stem cells, looks like a textbook example of a real 14-day-old embryo.
It even released hormones that turned a pregnancy test positive in the lab.
The ambition for embryo models is to provide an ethical way of understanding the earliest moments of our lives.
The first weeks after a sperm fertilises an egg is a period of dramatic change – from a collection of indistinct cells to something that eventually becomes recognisable on a baby scan.
This crucial time is a major source of miscarriage and birth defects but poorly understood.
“It’s a black box and that’s not a cliche – our knowledge is very limited,” Prof Jacob Hanna, from the Weizmann Institute of Science, tells me.
Starting material
Embryo research is legally, ethically and technically fraught. But there is now a rapidly developing field mimicking natural embryo development.
This research, published in the journal Nature, is described by the Israeli team as the first “complete” embryo model for mimicking all the key structures that emerge in the early embryo.
“This is really a textbook image of a human day-14 embryo,” Prof Hanna says, which “hasn’t been done before”.
Instead of a sperm and egg, the starting material was naive stem cells which were reprogrammed to gain the potential to become any type of tissue in the body.
Chemicals were then used to coax these stem cells into becoming four types of cell found in the earliest stages of the human embryo:
epiblast cells, which become the embryo proper (or foetus)
trophoblast cells, which become the placenta
hypoblast cells, which become the supportive yolk sac
extraembryonic mesoderm cells
A total of 120 of these cells were mixed in a precise ratio – and then, the scientists step back and watch.
About 1% of the mixture began the journey of spontaneously assembling themselves into a structure that resembles, but is not identical to, a human embryo.
“I give great credit to the cells – you have to bring the right mix and have the right environment and it just takes off,” Prof Hanna says. “That’s an amazing phenomenon.”
The embryo models were allowed to grow and develop until they were comparable to an embryo 14 days after fertilisation. In many countries, this is the legal cut-off for normal embryo research.
Despite the late-night video call, I can hear the passion as Prof Hanna gives me a 3D tour of the “exquisitely fine architecture” of the embryo model.
I can see the trophoblast, which would normally become the placenta, enveloping the embryo. And it includes the cavities – called lacuna – that fill with the mother’s blood to transfer nutrients to the baby.
There is a yolk sac, which has some of the roles of the liver and kidneys, and a bilaminar embryonic disc – one of the key hallmarks of this stage of embryo development.
‘Making sense’
The hope is embryo models can help scientists explain how different types of cell emerge, witness the earliest steps in building the body’s organs or understand inherited or genetic diseases.
Already, this study shows other parts of the embryo will not form unless the early placenta cells can surround it.
There is even talk of improving in vitro fertilisation (IVF) success rates by helping to understand why some embryos fail or using the models to test whether medicines are safe during pregnancy.
Prof Robin Lovell Badge, who researches embryo development at the Francis Crick Institute, tells me these embryo models “do look pretty good” and “do look pretty normal”.
“I think it’s good, I thinks it’s done very well, it’s all making sense and I’m pretty impressed with it,” he says.
But the current 99% failure rate would need to be improved, he adds. It would be hard to understand what was going wrong in miscarriage or infertility if the model failed to assemble itself most of the time.
Legally distinct
The work also raises the question of whether embryo development could be mimicked past the 14-day stage.
This would not be illegal, even in the UK, as embryo models are legally distinct from embryos.
“Some will welcome this – but others won’t like it,” Prof Lovell-Badge says.
And the closer these models come to an actual embryo, the more ethical questions they raise.
They are not normal human embryos, they’re embryo models, but they’re very close to them.
“So should you regulate them in the same way as a normal human embryo or can you be a bit more relaxed about how they’re treated?”
Prof Alfonso Martinez Arias, from the department of experimental and health sciences at Pompeu Fabra University, said it was “a most important piece of research”.
“The work has, for the first time, achieved a faithful construction of the complete structure [of a human embryo] from stem cells” in the lab, “thus opening the door for studies of the events that lead to the formation of the human body plan,” he said.
The researchers stress it would be unethical, illegal and actually impossible to achieve a pregnancy using these embryo models – assembling the 120 cells together goes beyond the point an embryo could successfully implant into the lining of the womb.
Colombo (LNW): The inauguration ceremony for the “Bachelor in Arts in Applied Police Studies” course jointly initiated and provided by the National Police Training Academy and the University of Sri Jayawardenapura for the development of professional knowledge and capacities of the Sri Lanka Police officers was held on September 04, 2023 at the Auditorium of the Crimes Reporting Division, under the patronage of Public Security Minister Tiran Alles.
The registration of the first batch of Police officers for the course has also taken place during the event.
This educational project was attended by 150 course followers and aims the preparation of the required pool of human resources backed by a proper plan for the provision of a professional and quality Police service to the society of Sri Lanka.
Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security Viyani Gunathilaka, Chairman of the University Grants Commission Sr. Prof. Sampath Amaratunga, the Vice Chancellor and other lecturers of the University of Sri Jayawardenapura and many senior Police officers took participation in the event.
