Colombo, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka’s economic meltdown has spiralled into a full-blown hunger crisis, with half of the families in the island nation forced to reduce the amount they feed their children, according to a child rights charity. The Sri Lankan government and the international community must act now to prevent the country’s children from “becoming a lost generation”, Save the Children warned in a report published on Thursday. Since late 2021, the South Asian island nation is in the grip of its worst ever economic crisis, fuelled by a lack of foreign reserves and mounting foreign government debt.…
Author: National Tone
Canada’s Denis Shapovalov was handed a 6-4, 6-4 second-round loss by American Taylor Fritz at the Mexican Open Wednesday. After taking a 2-1 lead in the opening set, Shapovalov dropped the next three games. Fritz kept the Richmond Hill, Ont., native at bay from then on, as Shapovalov only got within a game before dropping the set. In the second, Fritz jumped out to a 5-1 edge. A Shapovalov forced error led to a deuce, from which Fritz took the advantage with a winner and proceeded to win his fifth game with another forced error from the Canadian. Shapovalov won…
North Korean leader stresses need to build ‘rich and highly-civilised’ communities amid reported food shortages.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has urged officials to meet agricultural production targets amid reported food shortages, declaring “nothing is impossible” under the leadership of the ruling Workers’ Party. Kim said during a ruling party meeting on Wednesday that officials should concentrate on meeting grain production targets “without fail”, increasing yields at all farms and eradicating “internal factors that have a negative effect on the development of agriculture”, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. Kim, the third generation of his family to rule…
Edmonton Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins better be careful, otherwise, he might find himself as the team’s new enforcer. In the third period of the Oilers’ Wednesday night tilt with the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs, Nugent-Hopkins did something out of his typical line of work, picking a fight with Toronto’s Justin Holl. The not-so-heavyweight tilt happened after Holl delivered a large hit to Oilers forward Kailer Yamamoto, which caused Nugent-Hopkins to come to his teammate’s defence. The fight, while not long, saw both players deliver a few blows, but ended with a flurry from Nugent-Hopkins that saw him end up on…
Taipei, Taiwan – As the arrival of artificial intelligence-powered chatbots sends shockwaves through the global tech industry, China is racing to produce versions of its own. China’s search-engine giant Baidu has announced plans to release a chatbot called ERNIE sometime in March, following the pioneering launch of ChatGPT, which has prompted existential questions about the future of sectors ranging from education to journalism and healthcare. Chinese tech shares rallied in response to the news and authorities have pledged to beef up their support of the sector. Similar projects to ERNIE are under way at Chinese tech giants Huawei, Alibaba, Tencent,…
Washington, DC – The United States has slammed a top Israeli minister for saying a Palestinian village that had been attacked by settlers needed to be “wiped out“, calling his comments “repugnant”. US Secretary of State spokesperson Ned Price also urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “publicly and clearly” disavow the remarks that his Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich made against the West Bank village of Huwara. “These comments were irresponsible. They were repugnant. They were disgusting,” Price told reporters on Wednesday. “And just as we condemn Palestinian incitement to violence, we condemn these provocative remarks that also amount to…
The Ottawa Senators have acquired defenceman Jakob Chychrun from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for a conditional first-round pick in 2023, a conditional second-round pick in 2024 and a second-round pick in 2026. .acf-block-preview .instagram-twitter-container width: 340px; margin: 0 auto; The 2023 first-round pick is top-five protected, and if met, becomes a 2024 unprotected first-round pick. Also, the second-round pick in 2024 will become a 2024 first-round pick top-10 protected if the Senators make the 2023 Eastern Conference finals. And if that condition is met, the pick becomes an unprotected 2025 first-round pick. .acf-block-preview .instagram-twitter-container width: 340px; margin: 0 auto;…
The changes arrive in the midst of growing concerns globally over the app’s security and ability to push certain content.TikTok has said that every account held by a user under the age of 18 will have a default 60-minute daily screen time limit in the coming weeks. The changes arrive during a period in which there are growing concerns among different governments about the app’s security and ability to alter its algorithm to push certain posts. The update, announced on Wednesday, also mirrors gaming rules imposed on minors in China, where TikTok’s parent company ByteDance was formerly based. It has…
The Anaheim Ducks will not dress defencemen John Klingberg and Dmitry Kulikov on Wednesday against the Washington Capitals because of trade-related reasons. The NHL’s trade deadline is Friday — and contenders will be looking at the two Ducks blue-liners. Klingberg, 30, has eight goals and 16 assists for 24 points in 50 games this season. A fifth-round draft pick, 131st overall, by the Stars in 2010, Klingberg has 79 goals and 319 assists for 398 points in 602 career games with Dallas and Anaheim. After leaving Dallas as a free agent, Klingberg signed a one-year pact over the summer with…
President Joe Biden hails move by Eli Lilly as a ‘big deal’, calling on other manufacturers to also reduce prices.United States President Joe Biden has welcomed a move by a major drug manufacturer to significantly cut the price of insulin, a life-saving medication for people suffering from diabetes. Eli Lilly had said on Wednesday that it will slash prices for some older insulin products later this year and immediately give more patients access to a cap on costs to fill prescriptions. Biden called the move a “big deal”, calling on other manufacturers to follow it. “Eli Lilly, the largest manufacturer…