Scientists develop world’s first artificial intelligence politician

Scientists have developed the world’s first artificial intelligence politician, that can answer a person’s queries regarding local issues such as policies around housing, education and immigration.

The virtual politician, called SAM, was created by Nick Gerritsen, a 49-year-old entrepreneur in New Zealand.

“There is a lot of bias in the ‘analogue’ practice of politics right now,” said Gerritsen.

“There seems to be so much existing bias that countries around the world seem unable to address fundamental and multiple complex issues like climate change and equality,” he said.

Hague Tribunal Probes Slobodan Praljak’s Courtroom Death

As Dutch prosecutors confirmed that Bosnian Croat military chief Slobodan Praljak took poison before he died, the Hague Tribunal launched an independent review to establish what went wrong at the UN court.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on Friday launched its own independent review into the death of former Bosnian Croat military chief Slobodan Praljak, who swallowed poison in the courtroom after being sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The review will focus on “ICTY internal operations”, the UN court said.

It remains unclear how Praljak got access to the poison in the court.

“The review is mandated to undertake an assessment of relevant existing procedures as well as make any recommendations which may assist other courts in the future,” said a statement from the ICTY.

 

The outcome of the review will be made public, subject to due process and confidentiality considerations,” it added.

The probe will be led by Hassan B. Jallow, Chief Justice of The Gambia and former prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals.

British High Commissioner extols strategic direction of tourism in Sri Lanka

British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and Ambassador to Maldives James Dauris lauded the efforts rendered by the government of Sri Lanka to develop the island nation as a travel hub in Asia during his address at the dinner held by the Institute of Hospitality on Wednesday (29). 

In his address High Commissioner Darius stated that the tourism sector has bolstered the community within Sri Lanka by providing ample employment an international exposure. 

He further highlighted the strategic direction of the government stating that the country may become one of the world’s finest tourist destinations. 

His address is provided below, 

I’m honoured to have been invited to address you this evening.  The industries you lead and represent are ever more a corner-stone of the Sri Lankan economy and of the country’s economic planning. 

Within a couple of miles of here billions of dollars are being invested in new hotel and leisure complexes

Around the country hotels are being built, tea estate bungalows and heritage buildings are being renovated and given exciting new identities.  Jobs are being created and skills developed.  Tourist numbers are rising year on year and forecasts look encouraging.

[According to SLTA figures, more than 300,000 Sri Lankans are directly employed in Sri Lanka’s travel and tourism industry.   It earns the country over 3.5 billion US Dollars in foreign exchange earnings each year.  And the target is to double both revenue and employment by the year 2020, just three years from now.]

The Government recently launched it “Tourism Vision 2025”, to provide strategic direction to the tourism sector.  It envisions Sri Lanka recognised as the “world’s finest island for memorable, authentic and diverse experiences”.

Religion, a private matter, says Rahul

        Breaks silence on his Somnath temple visit row

A day after the controversy regarding his signature in a register meant for non-Hindus during his visit to the Somnath Temple in Gujarat, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said his family was ‘Shiv Bhakt’ (devotees of Shiva) and religion was a private matter.

During his second day of campaign in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home State of Gujarat, Mr. Gandhi denied signing any register except the visitors’ book at the historical temple.

“I had signed my name in one of the visitors’ books at Somnath, but people associated with the BJP wrote my name in another visitors’ book,” he said, accusing the BJP of creating the controversy in the run-up to the crucial Assembly polls.

Padmavati: Ek Dil Ek Jaan Video Song | Deepika Padukone | Shahid Kapoor ...

Seoul Metropolitan Honorary Citizenship for President Sirisena

President Maithripala Sirisena was conferred with the Honorary Citizenship of Seoul Metropolitan Government. It was conferred by Mayor of Seoul Metropolitan Government, Park Won-soon at a special ceremony held at the Mayor’s Office in Seoul today (November 30).

The mayor said that after establishing the twin city agreement between Seoul and Colombo in 2016, he was fortunate to visit Sri Lanka and called on President Sirisena earlier this year. “I was highly impressed with the President’s untiring efforts to develop the country, the city of Colombo and further strengthen bilateral ties with Republic of Korea. Hence, the Seoul Metropolitan Government decided to confer the Honorary Citizenship to His Excellency President Sirisena as a symbol of our close friendship”, he said.
The Citation of the Honorary Citizenship stated:

On behalf of the citizens of Seoul Metropolitan Government, am privileged to present this Certificate to, and hereby, confer Honorary Citizenship upon Maithripala Sirisena.”

Park Won-soon, Mayor, Seoul Metropolitan Government

Dual tropical threats to Sri Lanka, India next week?

A newly formed cyclonic storm and second brewing tropical threat will combine to threaten parts of India and Sri Lanka with flooding and mudslides into next week.

Cyclonic Storm Ockhi developed near Sri Lanka on Thursday and has produced rounds of heavy rainfall across the country and neighboring parts of southern India since early in the week.
A slow track to the west will take the cyclonic storm south of India before it turns northward and moves off the coast of western India into early next week.

This track will result in daily downpours across Sri Lanka and southern India through at least Saturday.
The heaviest rain is expected across Sri Lanka and southern and central Tamil Nadu as well as southern Kerala in India.

This includes areas from Puducherry, Madurai and Kochi southward. Rainfall of 50-100 mm (2-4 inches) will be common with local amounts reaching 200 mm (8 inches).

Canada: Postmedia and Torstar swap dozens of small newspapers, most to be shut down

 
Postmedia and Torstar have swapped more than 40 local community newspapers with each other, and most are destined to be shut down.

The media companies announced in a press release Monday morning that Postmedia would get two dozen community newspapers and two free commuter dailies from Torstar, and at the same time give 17 newspapers — 15 community papers and two big-city free commuter dailies — to Torstar.

No cash changed hands during the deal, as the papers "have approximately similar fair values," Postmedia said, but the fate of almost all papers is the same — they're destined to be closed either immediately or soon.

Prince Harry: Stars were aligned when I met Meghan

Prince Harry says he and US actress girlfriend Meghan Markle fell in love "so incredibly quickly" and it seemed proof that the "stars were aligned".

The fifth in line to the throne was speaking after the couple announced their engagement and plans to marry in spring 2018.

The couple told the BBC's Mishal Husain they met on a blind date and neither had known much about each other.

Prince Harry said "beautiful" Ms Markle "just tripped and fell into my life".

He believed Ms Markle and his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, would have been "thick as thieves... best friends".

Amazing surprise'

Prince Harry revealed he proposed earlier this month during a "standard, typical night for us" at his home in Kensington Palace as the couple were making roast chicken.

"It was just an amazing surprise. It was so sweet, and natural and very romantic. He got on one knee," Ms Markle said.

Prince Harry said: "She didn't even let me finish. She said 'Can I say yes'.

"Then there were hugs and I had the ring in my finger.

"I said 'Can I give you the ring?'. She said: 'Oh, yes, the ring'. It was a really nice moment. Just the two of us."

Turning to Ms Markle, Prince Harry said: "And I think I managed to catch you by surprise as well."

A New song from former President Mahinda Rajapaksa

Let go off the myths, believe in socialism China tells the people.

Chen Xi, leading Communist party figure, says members becoming politically and morally ‘degraded’ and looking to religion and superstition

One of China’s top leaders has chastised Communist party cadres for putting “ghosts and gods” before Marx and Lenin.

Writing in the party’s official mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, Chen Xi accusedsome officials of becoming politically and morally “degraded” and of looking to religion, superstition and – perhaps even worse – western-style multi-party democracy as their faith in socialism faded.

“Some don’t believe in Marx and Lenin but believe in ghosts and gods; they don’t believe in ideals but believe in sorcery; they don’t respect the people but do respect masters,” wrote Chen, who was last month handed a spot on China’s 25-member Politburo. 

He added: “As Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out … cadres need to be both red and professional.” 

Members of the officially atheist Communist party have always been required to shun religion. However, activists say hostility to religion has intensified since Xi Jinping became China’s leader in 2012 and began clamping down on potential sources of opposition. 

Chen’s article follows reports that Christians in the eastern province of Jiangxi were being told to rid their homes of images of Jesus and the cross and replace them with portraits of Xi. 
Qi Yan, a local official, told the South China Morning Post the move – which has already seen some 1,000 Xi portraits handed out and hung – was part of an anti-poverty drive that seeks to convince misguided believers that Xi and his political disciples could improve their lot, not the son of God.

Shangri -la Colombo open November 16

Every great city deserves a truly great international hotel - a special place that reflects the importance and the beauty of its location with world-class luxury and the very finest service.

Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo is delighted to welcome you to the enchanting capital of Sri Lanka - a precious jewel in the Indian Ocean, with a glittering cultural heritage and a long, proud history.

Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo will be the second property in Sri Lanka for the luxury Asian hospitality group – joining Shangri-La’s Hambantota Golf Resort and Spa, which opened in June 2016 – and is anticipated to be one of the most prominent hotel launches in Sri Lanka in nearly 30 years. 

Located at One Galle Face along the Galle Face Green promenade, which is the most exclusive address in Colombo, Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo will offer uninterrupted Indian Ocean views in most of its 500 guestrooms and suites and 41 serviced apartments

The hotel sits on 10 acres of land that will also soon accommodate an office tower, two residential buildings and a high-end shopping mall, bringing a new level of luxury to the thriving, metropolitan city of Colombo.  
The hotel is a 40-minute drive from the Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport. 

Buddha Tattoo: Sri Lanka court decides not to harm Buddhism.

Naomi Coleman, from Coventry, was detained for four days in April 2014 and then deported from the country halfway through her holiday
A BRITISH woman who was kicked out of  Sri Lanka for having a tattoo of Buddha on her arm has won £3,600 compensation.

Naomi Coleman, from Coventry, was held for four days in April 2014 before being deported from the country during her holiday.

The mental health nurse took legal action against the Sri Lankan authorities after her unceremonious return to the UK.

A court has now ruled there was "no legal basis" for her arrest and admitted she had been subject to "degrading treatment" by some officers and a prison guard.

One jail guard "made several lewd, obscene and disparaging remarks of a sexually-explicit nature" towards Ms Coleman.

Police officers had also forced her to give them money during her tattoo ordeal.

Granting her compensation of 800,000 Sri Lankan rupees - about £3,600 - the country's Supreme Court said her treatment was "scandalous and horrifying."

Zimbabwe Crisis: Army 'secures' Mugabe and take's control of Harare.

Zimbabwe's army insisted that President Robert Mugabe is safe as it took over the state broadcaster and arrested a number of senior government officials during a night that saw military vehicles patrolling the streets of the capital while gunfire and explosions rang out.

Military officers denied they had carried out a coup, announcing on state TV that they were targeting a ring of government plotters following a power struggle that saw the vice-president flee the country last week. Emmerson Mnangagwa was fired in a move paving the way for Grace Mugabe, the president’s wife, to take over.

"It is not a military takeover of government," an army spokesman said in a televised statement. "We wish to assure the nation that his excellency the president... and his family are safe and sound and their security is guaranteed.

Pakistan boy arrested on charges of sexually assaulting hen

"Hussain has also confessed to his crime. The boy said he did it out of sexual frustration," Station House Officer Sarfraz Anjum said

In a bizarre case, a 14-year-old boy has been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a hen in Pakistan’s Punjab province of Pakistan, a media report said Tuesday. Mansab Ali, a resident of Jalapur Bhatian police station Hafizabad, some 200km from Lahore, told police that his neighbour Ansar Hussain “abducted” his hen on November 11 and “raped” it.

New Emirates first class cabin

From First Class to Economy Class cabins, new Emirates 777 aircraft boasts multi-million dollar upgrade

Dubai: Emirates released images of its new first class suite on Sunday morning at the Dubai Airshow, complete with large beds, dining spaces, and virtual windows.

The first pictures of the overhauled suites show large rooms, plush designs and bright, airy cabins that are completely sealed off from the rest of the plane.

Dubai’s flagship airline also revealed images of its new economy and business class cabins, highlighting a new colour code and larger, leather seats.

Emirates unveiled completely refreshed interiors for its Boeing 777 aircraft, including its highly anticipated new First Class private suites. 

With floor to ceiling sliding doors and design features inspired by the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Emirates’ new suites offer up to 40 square feet of personal space.

Hyderabad: India city offers cash to round up beggars

Officials in Hyderabad in southern India plan to offer citizens 500 rupees ($7.60; £5.80) to identify beggars as part of an initiative to declare the city "beggar free" after 15 December.
The city's police commissioner has also declared a two-month ban on begging.

Critics say the move is due to a trip by US president's daughter Ivanka Trump, but officials deny this.

The past week has seen police in the city round up beggars outside places of worship, and bus and railway stations.

They are being sent to a rehabilitation centre near Hyderabad's central prison.

Ms Trump will visit Hyderabad for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit on 28 and 29 November.

Hyderabad similarly saw beggars temporarily bundled out of the city when former US President Bill Clinton visited in March 2000.

"This 500 rupees is an incentive announced by the prisons department, one of the agencies involved in the drive to make Hyderabad beggar-free. The aim is to make the Hyderabad public a stakeholder in effective implementation of the prevention of begging act," M Sampat who heads the rehabilitation centre, 

More than 140 killed by earthquake in Iran-Iraq border region

Rescuers battle to find survivors trapped under collapsed buildings after the 7.3 magnitude quake

More than 140 people have been killed in Iran and Iraq after a magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit the border region between the two countries, state media said.

At least 141 people were killed in Iran, according to the country’s disaster management organisation, after the quake struck the region at 9.20pm local time on Sunday. More than 850 were injured, the organisation’s spokesman, Behnam Saeedi, told state television.

Rescuers worked through the night to find people trapped in collapsed buildings after the earthquake, which was felt as far west as the coast of the Mediterranean.

It affected several Iranian provinces and the deputy governor of Kermanshah province on the Iraqi border told state television that the death toll would rise.

“There are still people under the rubble. We hope the number of dead and injured won’t rise too much, but it will rise,” Mojtaba Nikkerdar said.

Nearly 100 of the victims were in the town of Sarpol-e Zahab, about 15km (10 miles) from the border. The main hospital of the town was severely damaged and struggling to treat hundreds of injured people, state television reported.

President’s daughter gets ground role at Air India due to security reasons

Swati, who doesn't use a surname, was a cabin crew on Air India's long-haul Boeing 787 and Boeing 777 flights, but for nearly a month now she has been deputed with Air India's integration department at the airline's headquarters here, the official said

President Ram Nath Kovind’s daughter Swati, who was an air hostess with national carrier Air India, has been assigned ground duties because of security reasons, according to the airline’s spokesperson. Swati, who doesn’t use a surname, was a cabin crew on Air India’s long-haul Boeing 787 and Boeing 777 flights, but for nearly a month now she has been deputed with Air India’s integration department at the airline’s headquarters here, the official said.

Chandika Hathurusingha: Bangladesh coach resigns

Chandika Hathurusingha has resigned from his role as head coach of the Bangladesh national team.

The Sri Lankan, 49, had been in charge since 2014 and led the Tigers to maiden Test wins over England and Australia.

However, Bangladesh were heavily beaten in their most recent series in South Africa, where they failed to win a single game on tour.