China to play positive role to help Sri Lanka navigate the current situation – Spokesperson

COLOMBO (News 1st); Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa on Thursday (9) was appointed as the new Chairman of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on International Relations of the Sri Lankan Parliament.Moreover, MP Chamal Rajapaksa was unanimously appointed as the Chair to the Committee on Ethics and Privileges for the Fourth Session of the Ninth Parliament on Thursday (08).MP Ali Sabri Raheem proposed the name of Chamal Rajapaksa and State Minister Vijitha Berugoda seconded it.Accordingly, matters taken up during the Third Session of the Ninth Parliament which are in pending status were agreed to be taken into future consideration. Moreover, it was also discussed to hold a workshop for the heads of media organizations with the coordination of this committee.It was also decided in the committee to hold a workshop to educate Members of Parliament regarding ethics and privileges.

COLOMBO – The Government of Japan has contributed an additional US$6.6 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to provide critical food and nutrition assistance to over one million Sri Lankans.Through this funding, WFP will provide families with food baskets comprising rice, pulses and cooking oil, to meet half their monthly food needs for a period of two months. The donation will also be used to procure maize and soybean for the production of Thriposha, a fortified food product, for a period of four months, which will be supplied to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and young children at risk of malnutrition.  Mizukoshi Hideaki, Ambassador of Japan to Sri Lanka said, “We are pleased to announce that the Government of Japan has decided to provide additional humanitarian support to Sri Lanka in this critical moment.

PHILADELPHIA - Students with autism and other disabilities in the School District of Philadelphia may be eligible to apply for off-site school-to-work transition programs including Project Career Launch."The goal is to set students up for a career pathway where they have the opportunity to learn skills and grow as they transition out of special education services in the school district," said Jackie Abrams, Associate Director of Transition Pathways of the AJ Drexel Autism Institute.Currently, there are two student cohorts, one meeting at Drexel University and the second at the Community College of Philadelphia.Daniel Clark, 19, is currently enrolled in the program and interning in the Tech Lab at the School District of Philadelphia."I am still a student in high school, but I am well-developed to see what is new for me out there," said Clark. "It’s about helping young adults with disabilities to find jobs and what they want in their future."MORE LOCAL HEADLINESStudents who enroll for this additional year will be placed in internships and learn valuable life skills including finances and job placement.Josiah Diaz, 19, is handling various responsibilities since joining Project Career Launch this school year.

BERLIN (AP) - Women in Berlin will soon be allowed to go topless at the city's public swimming pools, like men, the Berlin state government said Thursday.The new bathing rules allowing everyone to go swimming without covering their torsos followed a discrimination complaint by a woman who was not allowed to go topless in a swimming pool in the capital.The woman, whose identity was not revealed, had turned to the senate's ombudsperson's office for equal treatment to demand that women, like men, can swim topless, the Berlin senate for justice, diversity and anti-discrimination said in a written statement.In reaction to the complaint and the ombudsman's involvement in the case, the Berliner Baederbetriebe, which runs the city's public pools, decided to change its clothing rules, the statement said."The ombudsperson’s office very much welcomes the decision of the Baederbetriebe, because it establishes equal rights for all Berliners, whether male, female or non-binary, and because it also creates legal certainty for the staff at the Baederbetriebe," said Doris Liebscher, the head of the ombudsperson's office.PRODUCTION - 05 June 2022, Berlin: ILLUSTRATION - A child stands at the edge of a swimming pool.

John Butler won a $100,000 lottery prize claiming it days before it was going to expire. (Massachusetts State Lottery) A Massachusetts man is $100,000 richer now thanks to the help of his significant other. John Butler bought lottery tickets before traveling to Florida last year.  He put them in a drawer but never checked them. RELATED: Massachusetts man wins $25K for life lottery prize — six timesLast week, Butler’s wife told him about a news story she watched about a lottery prize, and this prompted him to look around his home for the winning ticket, which he found, according to the Massachusetts State Lottery. RELATED: 18-year-old wins $48 million with her very first lottery ticketButler won the state’s $100,000 cash prize claiming his winnings 11 days before it was about to expire.

Edited excerpts: Do you think covid-19 pandemic has come to endemicity, in India and the world? From CDC’s perspective and the US administration side of things, we are ready to shift our response in the US, and we feel that we are approaching the time when we can manage covid-19 without using lockdowns etc. SARS-CoV-2 remains a public health priority for us, but we are in a better position to respond. We can definitely say that we are at a point where covid-19 doesn’t have to disrupt our lives which is what really most endemic diseases are.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating allegations of two so-called “police stations” in Quebec that are suspected to be operated by Chinese government officials.The RCMP confirmed by email Thursday morning an open investigation by the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team in the province into the two alleged outposts: one in Montreal and another in Brossard, a suburb on the city’s south shore.The police force added it’s possible that Chinese Canadians “have been victims of the possible activities conducted by these centres” and that any form of “intimidation, harassment and harmful of diaspora communities or individuals in Canada will not be tolerated.” Read more: At least one Chinese ‘secret police station’ based in Vancouver, civil rights group says “We are carrying out police actions aimed at detecting and disrupting these foreign state-backed criminal activities, which may threaten the safety of persons living in Canada,” the RCMP said in a statement.The Mounties have also created a phone line to report any threats in Quebec.The RCMP said it could not comment further on the alleged police stations, citing the ongoing probe. The investigation was first reported Thursday by the Journal de Montréal.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau briefly addressed the allegations in a scrum early Thursday, saying “we’re making sure the RCMP is following up on this and that our intelligence systems are taking this seriously.”“This is an issue that concerns us enormously,” he added.

road in Willamette National Forest.The forest road in western Oregon is not typically maintained for winter travel, according to the Lane County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue. So when the motorist tried to traverse the remote road, his vehicle became stuck in the snow.The Lane County Sheriff's Search and Rescue team at Willamette National Forest.

Genesis guitarist and bassist Mike Rutherford has updated fans on the state of Phil Collins’ health.Collins has experienced issues with his health since suffering a spinal injury in 2007, which damaged vertebrae in his upper neck and also left him with nerve damage. The injury has impacted his ability to perform, and at Genesis’ last ever show in March 2022, he performed in a wheelchair.Now, Rutherford has spoken about Collins’ health in an interview on BBC Breakfast to promote his upcoming tour with Mike + The Mechanics, in which Collins’ son Nic will be playing drums.Speaking about Collins’ condition, Rutherford said: “As you know, Phil is a bit… He’s much more immobile than he used to be, which is a shame, but at the tour, he was in good spirits.

The Bank of Canada held its benchmark interest rate steady on Wednesday — a decision real estate players and economists say will have major implications for the Canadian housing market.

Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India, Milinda Moragoda said that the economic integration is the key to enhancing the exiting relations between India and Sri Lanka to a special relationship. He made these remarks while addressing the officers of the Indian Armed Forces at the prestigious Army War College, Mhow, on the topic ‘Trajectory of Sri Lanka India Relations: 2030’.Speaking to the officers of the Indian Armed Forces who are following the Joint Higher Command Course, High Commissioner Moragoda broadly highlighted the strategic significance of Indo-Lanka relations drawing from the historical ties to the present status of the special relationship between the two countries.  Elaborating on the vibrant Indo-Lanka relations, High Commissioner Moragoda highlighted the key role played by India by way of extending much-needed financial assistance worth nearly USD 4 billion, which served as the lifeline that rescued Sri Lanka’s economy from a total collapse.He also deliberated upon the strong defence cooperation that exists between the two countries and the continued training assistance extended to the members of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces by India, including the training opportunities offered by the Army War College.

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka's Human Rights Commission has decided to summon Public Security Minister Tiran Alles for an inquiry on 13th March 2023, at 10 AM.The inquiry will be held to seek a clarification on the measures adopted by Sri Lanka Police to contain protests in Colombo and Kelaniya on the 7th and 8th of March 2023.The inquiry will take place at the Human Rights Commission premises in Colombo. In addition, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has decided to conduct an inquiry on the measures adopted by Sri Lanka Police and the Armed Forces to control protests that took place close to the University of Colombo on the 7th and 8th of March, and at the Kelaniya University on the 8th of March.HRCSL has informed the country's police chief to submit a list of Senior Police officers who were on the field to control the said protests before the 10th of March. 

LOS ANGELES - Purchasing a $22.5 million mansion? Check!Powerball jackpot winner Edwin Castro can cross that off his list of purchases following his record-setting $2.04 billion win.Castro splurged on the Hollywood Hills mansion less than 30 days after his win was first announced on Valentine's Day, according to The Dirt. The 13,578-square-foot home boasts 5-bedrooms, 6-bathrooms, and overlooks the Sunset Strip. The "modern retreat" listed by luxury realtors The Agency had an original asking price of $29.95 million.The man who won the $2 billion Powerball last November in Altadena just purchased his very own Hollywood Hills mansion.

(Reuters) – Sri Lanka aims to announce a debt-restructuring strategy in April and step up talks with commercial creditors ahead of an International Monetary Fund review of a bailout package in six months, the nation's central bank governor told Reuters.The crisis-hit island has secured financing assurances from all its major bilateral creditors, including India and China, and so has set the stage for the IMF to give its final approval for a $2.9 billion, four-year bailout package on March 20, the multilateral lender said on Tuesday.The bailout is the culmination of months of negotiations as Sri Lanka looks to emerge from its worst economic crisis in more than seven decades."When you see the staff level agreement published – that will contain our commitment to debt restructuring and that will also reveal medium-term debt targets for us to restore debt sustainability on a long-term basis," central bank Governor P. Nandalal Weerasinghe said on Thursday."So somewhere in April we will announce … how we are going to meet those medium-to-long-term (debt) targets.

A Hong Kong runner has completed Sri Lanka’s 22-day Pekoe Trail in just 58 hours.Sri Lanka holds a special place in Hyun Chang Chung’s heart and with an emotional connection in mind the decided to run the newly minted 300-kilometre Pekoe Trail.When he heard an old acquaintance had designed a multi-day trail route to help promote tourism in Sri Lanka, Chung’s ears pricked up.The trail is split into 22 stages, each designed to take one day. But Hong Kong-based Chung, just 49 year-old, finished it in just 58 hours.The Pekoe Trail is a 300km hiking route that connects tea plantations across the country.

COLOMBO (News 1st); Six university students who were arrested during Wednesday (8) night's protest at the Kelaniya University will be produced to the Mahara Magistrate on Thursday (9).Sri Lanka Police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse a group of university students at the Kelaniya University premises. This protest commenced at around 9 PM on Wednesday (8).This protest was organized against the arrest of Student Leader Kelum Mudannayake, and Student Activist Dilshan Harshana, and the students demanded their immediate release.Though tear gas and water cannons were used multiple times to disperse the protesting students, they continued to engage in the protest until midnight.One lane along the Colombo – Kandy main road was completely blocked due to the protest, disrupting the movement of traffic.

The children of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will now be referred to as prince and princess after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made public that they are claiming the royal titles.

 Sri Lanka’s rupee, which became the world’s best performing currency this year amid hopes of an International Monetary Fund bailout, may resume declines and lose a fifth of its value against the dollar by end-2023, according to Fitch Solutions.“We are optimistic that Sri Lanka will be able to secure an IMF board approval by early 2Q-2023,” said Seah Wang Ting, country risk analyst at Fitch Solutions. Nevertheless, there’s potential for disruptions after the initial board approval as authorities may find it challenging to stay on track with the IMF program amid a weakening economy and a local election likely on the horizon, he said.Fitch maintained its forecast for the rupee to weaken to a record low of 390 per dollar by year-end.

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Criminal Investigations Department arrested a 34-year-old man for fraud.Sri Lanka Police said that the suspect had doctored invoices to defraud approximately Rs.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California Gov. Gavin Newsom is delivering on his word to cut ties with Walgreens over the drugstore chain's stance on distributing abortion pills.On Wednesday, California officials announced the Golden State won't renew its $54 million contract with Walgreens because the company said it won't dispense the abortion medication, mifepristone in 20 states. "California will not stand by as corporations cave to extremists and cut off critical access to reproductive care and freedom," said Newsom.

EAST GERMANTOWN - Students at Imhotep Charter High School are changing lives through their stem program. Through the use of 3D printers, they are bringing clean water everywhere from Mississippi to Ghana."I am one of the first people in my family to be doing something this big," student JaNiece Watters said.Five months ago, STEM ambassadors from Imhotep Institute Charter High School traveled to Jackson, Mississippi to aid in the city’s water crisis.RELATED COVERAGE:Student Musa Wilson stated, "Knowing that we changed lives down in Jackson, Mississippi is really monumental for us, especially as young, Black kids."Now the students will be taking 3D printed water filters overseas to a town in Ghana, called Kheta, where the water can’t even be used to wash hands."We’re going to be helping over 3,000 students across 10 different schools in Ghana," Watters continued.From water filter design and 3D printing, to product testing and research, each of the students has a fundamental role in the life-changing project."We’re trying to produce 200 and it probably takes around seven to eight hours to make one, so we’re getting ahead early," student Cyril Woodland said.Shirley Posey is the director of STEM at Imhotep and says being proud is an understatement."We’re trying to cultivate our scholars to be critical thinkers, to be problem solvers.

NASA officials Tuesday provided post-flight updates on Artemis I mission’s technical performance, along with any impacts the mission may have on the timeline of Artemis II.Artemis I launched on Nov. 16, 2022 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center near Orlando, Florida and then returned on Dec.

TJX Companies recalls nearly 82,000 office chairs over a potential fall hazard. (Consumer Product Safety Commission) TJX Companies has recalled nearly 82,000 office chairs that were sold at its company owned stores nationwide because they can break and cause injuries, according to safety regulators. The back of the office chairs, which were sold at Marshalls, T.J.

Andie Rosafort, 31, a lunch lady in the New Fairfield school district, was charged with second-degree sexual assault, enticing a minor by computer and risk of injury to a minor. (Connecticut State Police) A married Connecticut school employee allegedly had sex with a student, sent him "several" nude photos and videos for months, and asked him to send her sexually explicit videos, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital.Andie Rosafort, 31, was arrested in February and charged with second-degree sexual assault, enticing a minor by computer and risk of injury to a minor after a month-long police investigation while she was working for New Fairfield Public Schools.Rosafort had worked in the cafeteria at New Fairfield Middle School.

Colombo (News 1st) – International Women's Day Special on Newsline: Sri Lanka – Women Fighting for Equity in Challenging Circumstances

The Chinese government represents an “existential threat” to Canada, a Liberal MP says amid a new Global News report into Beijing’s suspected foreign interference efforts.

Read more: Anything less than a public inquiry on foreign interference is not enough: Poilievre, Singh This document was derived from 100 Canada Security and Intelligence Service reports and was produced by the Intelligence Assessment Secretariat.

Colombo (News 1st) – International Women's Day Special on Face The Nation: Women's Rights in Sri Lanka.

Canada’s chief of the defence staff said Tuesday he wanted Canadian fighter jets to shoot down the unidentified object that flew over Yukon last month, but they were prevented from reaching the area first due to weather slowing their takeoff.

Nurses suffering from Long Covid have told how their lives and careers have been left in ruins after picking up the virus as they cared for others.

BATON ROUGE, Ga. - Investigators in Baton Rouge want to talk to the person who may have been the last to see a 42-year-old Georgia man alive.The body of Nathan Millard, a Covington resident, was found Monday behind a shuttered funeral home wrapped in a rug and plastic, according to several Louisiana news sources.The Baton Rouge Police Department held a press conference on Tuesday afternoon to give an update in the case.Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy J. Paul, Jr.

travellers from China from 5 January 2023 due to surge of infections. It had stated that all travellers to the US from China will be required to take a COVID-19 test no more than two days before travel and provide a negative test before boarding their flight.  China was battered with a surge in cases after it abruptly abandoned its zero-COVID policy in early December, unleashing the virus on its 1.4 billion population.

HONG KONG - A gruesome murder case that happened in the former British colony of Hong Kong has sent shockwave throughout Asia and the rest of the world.According to officials with the Hong Kong Police Force, four people have been arrested in connection with the murder of Abby Choi, a model and social media influencer who was known amongst the city's rich and famous.Here's what you should know about the murder.(This story contains details that some may find disturbing. Discretion is advised)While statements issued by officials with the Hong Kong Police Force did not identify the victim, Hong Kong English newspaper South China Morning Post (SCMP) has identified the victim as Abby Choi Tin-fung.The Associated Press, along with Hong Kong Chinese news website HK01, have also identified the victim as Abby Choi.According to Hong Kong Police, Choi was last seen during the afternoon hours on this day.In an article published by SCMP, it is stated that Choi was set to pick up a daughter she had with her ex-husband, but the child was never picked up.A missing person's report, according to police, was filed on Feb.

oe Biden speaks at the International Association of Fire Fighters legislative conference in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, March 6, 2023. The Biden administration is nearing completion of an executive order that would restrict investments by US compa WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden on Tuesday proposed new taxes on the rich to help fund Medicare, saying the plan would help to extend the insurance program's solvency by 25 years and provide a degree of middle-class stability to millions of older adults.In his plan, Biden is overtly declaring that the wealthy ought to shoulder a heavier tax burden.

Colombo (News 1st) – State Minister of Technology Kanaka Herath stated that Sri Lanka is in need of an Online Safety Act to regulate social media.He made these comments during an adjournment motion presented by the ruling faction highlighting the importance of regulating social media and formulating relevant laws in Parliament on Tueday (07)."SLCERT is empowered to regulate this. They will initiate a program in this regard.

Pennsylvania who went missing more than 30 years ago and was legally declared dead has turned up, very much alive, in a nursing home in Puerto Rico.Patricia Kopta, 83, was last seen by her family in Pittsburgh in 1992, according to a missing person flyer posted by the Pennsylvania Emergency Response Center. At the time, she was a well-known street preacher known as “The Sparrow” because of her slight build.Her husband Bob Kopta reported her missing in 1992, noting it wasn’t uncommon for his wife to leave for short periods of time.

Colombo (News 1st) – The International Monetary Fund announced on Tuesday (07) that Sri Lanka has received financial assurances from all its major bilateral creditors. This paves the way for the IMF Board to consider the approval of the Staff Level Agreement for financing under the Extended Fund Facility on March 20.Earlier in the day, China gave assurances that it will support Sri Lanka's debt restructuring, clearing the biggest hurdle for the nation to secure a USD 2.9 billion bailout from the IMF. The IMF approval for a USD 2.9 billion loan depended on financial assurance from all Sri Lankan creditors.

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka has now received financing assurances from all major bilateral creditors, said Krishna Srinivasan, Director of Asia and Pacific Department of IMF on Tuesday (7).This paves the way for consideration by the IMF’s Board on March 20th the approval of the Staff Level Agreement reached on September 1st, 2022 for financing under an Extended Fund Facility. Approval by the Board would also catalyze financing from other creditors, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, he said in a statement.The arrangement will support the authorities’ program of ambitious reforms, that they have already embarked upon, which will help Sri Lanka emerge from its current crisis and set it on a trajectory of strong and inclusive growth, said Krishna Srinivasan, Director of Asia and Pacific Department of IMF.

TOKYO - Japan’s space agency intentionally destroyed a new H3 rocket minutes after its launch Tuesday because the ignition failed for the second stage of the country's first new rocket series in more than two decades.Coming three weeks after an aborted launch due to a separate glitch, the H3's failure was a setback for Japan’s space program — and possibly for its missile detection program — and a disappointment for space fans who were rooting for Tuesday's retrial.The H3 rocket with a white head blasted off and soared into the blue sky from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan as fans and local residents cheered. It followed its planned trajectory and the second stage separated as designed, but the ignition for it failed, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.JAXA officials apologized for the failure, and said it sent a command to destroy the rocket about 14 minutes after liftoff as there was no hope for it to complete its mission.Japan's next-generation H3 rocket failed after liftoff on March 7, 2023, with the space agency issuing a destruct command after concluding the mission could not succeed.

Ensitrelvir can shorten symptoms of mild to moderate COVID-19 by about a day Ensitrelvir, a new antiviral drug, has been shown to shorten symptoms of mild to moderate COVID-19 and moreover, it has the potential to prevent long COVID, study has shown. Here's all you need to know about the drug, can it really prevent long COVID and why the experts are still skeptical about it.  Ensitrelvir has been developed by Shionogi in Osaka, Japan and they claim that it shorten symptoms of mild to moderate COVID-19 by about a day and reduce the number of days people test positive for coronavirus.  The trial data was presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.  The trial involved roughly 1,200 people and aimed to determine whether the drug could accelerate recovery.

China’s foreign minister blamed the U.S. for rising tensions between Washington and Beijing and said if the U.S. does not change its path no amount of guardrails can prevent derailment and there will “surely be conflict and confrontation.”The U.S.

ALSO READ: H3N2 also spreads like Covid, says ex-AIIMS chief Randeep Guleria As per researchers, capturing coronavirus in this ways would prevent it from reaching and infecting more people, who added the coronavirus could be detected and destroyed using electrical pulses. "We discovered that electric current can pass through the spike protein and because of this, the protein can be electrically detected," co-author of study Essam Dief, a PHD candidate at Curtin University, said.

Hundreds of police officers have been signed off work with long Covid since the start of the pandemic, new date has revealed.

The Medical and Family Welfare Minister of Tamil Nadu, Ma Subramanian, announced on Tuesday that the state's health department will conduct more than 1,000 fever camps on March 10. This decision was made due to a reported increase in fever cases among the public in the state. Subramanian added, "Tamil Nadu Health Department to conduct a mega fever camp where 1000 camps all over the state to be conducted on 10th March from 9 AM.

Though The Tragically Hip knows how important it is for some people to play My Music At Work, they don’t seem to want Pierre Poilievre to use their tunes for his.

COLOMBO (News1st) – China has given assurances that it will support Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring, clearing the biggest hurdle for the South Asian nation to secure a $2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.According to Bloomberg Sri Lanka’s largest bilateral creditor gave written support for the debt restructuring via the Export-Import Bank of China on March 6. Bloomeberg quoted people familiar with the situation as saying the letter meets the requirements of the IMF.China’s backing completes the support Sri Lanka needs from creditor nations to allow the IMF board to approve the loan that was agreed upon by the Fund staff in September. 

Colombo (News 1st) – State Minister of Foreign Affairs Tharaka Balasooriya says that "Sri Lanka actively participated and contributed to the process," of agreeing upon the historic High Seas Treaty.After more than 20 years of negotiations, over 100 member states of the United Nations on Saturday (4th) finally agreed upon the text of the historic High Seas Treaty, the world's first international treaty aimed at protecting the millions of species that inhabit the world's oceans.The High Seas Treaty places 30% of the seas into protected areas by 2030, aiming to safeguard and recuperate marine nature.The agreement was reached on Saturday evening, after 38 hours of talks, at UN headquarters in New York.The negotiations had been held up for years over disagreements on funding and fishing rights.The last international agreement on ocean protection was signed 40 years ago in 1982 – the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.When News 1st reached out to State Minister of Foreign Affairs Tharaka Balasooriya in this regard, he said that "Sri Lanka actively participated and contributed to the process."He added, "An agreement was reached following more than a decade of discussions on the 4th of March 2023 by UN member states to have an internationally legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity beyond areas of natural jurisdiction under the united nations law of the sea."  That agreement established an area called the high seas – international waters where all countries have a right to fish, ship and do research – but only 1.2% of these waters are protected.Marine life living outside of these protected areas has been at risk from climate change, overfishing, and shipping traffic.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday committed to new steps his government will take to combat foreign interference, including additional independent investigations and further steps toward establishing a foreign agents registry.