The Department of Meteorology has issued an Amber advisory for strong winds affecting the Central, Sabaragamuwa, Northern and North Central provinces, and the Trincomalee and Hambantota districts. The advisory is in effect until 3.30 p.m. tomorrow (04). Winds of 40–50 kmph are expected at times in the affected areas due to active south-west monsoon conditions. The public has been advised to stay alert for further weather updates and advisories.

Amber warning issued for strong winds

The Department of Railways has incurred losses exceeding Rs. 1 million due to delays in issuing season tickets to public sector employees for April and May, according to the Sri Lanka Railway Station Masters’ Union. Union Secretary Kasun Chamara Jayasekara stated that the delays were linked to an overtime-related dispute within the department. He noted that the extended validity of April season tickets reduced May ticket sales, resulting in revenue losses for the Railway Department.

Railway Dept loses over Rs. 1 mn due to season ticket delays

India's information technology stocks were headed for their biggest single-day drop in over four months on Wednesday as investors assessed the impact of AI on demand for traditional software services.&nbsp;The IT index was down 5.8 per cent at 29,310.25 points. If losses hold, this would be its worst day since February 4.&nbsp;India's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services slumped 9 per cent and led losses, while Bengaluru-based Infosys and Wipro dropped 4.3 per cent and 3.7 per cent, respectively.&nbsp;Source: Reuters

India's IT stocks head for worst day in four months

The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs met in Parliament under the chairmanship of Ananda Wijepala. Members of Parliament discussed several issues related to police services, including strengthening police stations, ensuring police representation in District Coordination Committees and curbing illegal sand mining in the Kilinochchi area. The meeting was attended by deputy ministers, MPs, the Inspector General of Police and officials of the Ministry of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs.

Ministerial Committee reviews public security matters in Parliament 

Severe tropical storm Jangmi ripped across Japan on Wednesday (Jun 3) morning, with fierce winds and torrential rain disrupting transport and businesses, and knocking out power for tens of thousands of homes. &nbsp;The storm's centre lay off the central, main island of Honshu, tracking northeast towards the greater Tokyo region with maximum sustained winds of up to 25m per second, Japan's Meteorological Agency said, adding that some areas along the Pacific coast are at an increasing risk of "life-threatening disasters". &nbsp;The storm, with a central pressure of 980 hPa, has cut power to nearly 60,000 households so far, government spokesperson Minoru Kihara said during a regular press briefing. &nbsp;"If you sense any danger, please do not hesitate to take early action to protect your lives," Kihara said. &nbsp;Evacuation advisories were issued to hundreds of thousands of residents in eight prefectures across southwestern, central and eastern Japan. &nbsp;Airlines including Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways had cancelled nearly 900 international and domestic services on Wednesday morning. &nbsp;Singapore Airlines (SIA) also rescheduled 14 flights on Tuesday and Wednesday due to the storm. &nbsp;Flights operating between Singapore and Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo, as well as between Singapore and Los Angeles via Tokyo, have been retimed, SIA said in an advisory on Tuesday. &nbsp;SIA said that it would be contacting all customers booked on the retimed flights to inform them about changes to the flight schedules. "As the situation remains fluid, other SIA flights may be affected," the airline said. &nbsp;"Affected customers may request to be reaccommodated on alternative flights or seek a full refund of the unused portion of their ticket," it added. &nbsp;Some bullet train services in Kyushu, in the southwest, and areas of western Japan were delayed, while East Japan Railway said that some rail services in the Tokyo area were suspended and more could be affected over the course of the day. &nbsp;Bracing for severe weather conditions, Toyota Motor said on Tuesday that it would suspend operations at 13 domestic plants on Wednesday morning. Suzuki Motor is also halting work at all five plants in Shizuoka Prefecture, east of Tokyo, in the morning. Source: Reuters

Tropical storm Jangmi batters Japan, cuts power to 60,000 homes

Shrey Parikh, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Rancho Cucamonga, California, won the Scripps National Spelling Bee in a spell-off on Thursday, correctly ​spelling 32 words rapid-fire over 90 seconds to claim the $50,000 ‌cash prize.&nbsp;He defeated Ishaan Gupta, a 12-year-old seventh-grader from Jersey City, New Jersey, who got 25 words correct from the same list, after having been sequestered during Shrey's ​turn.&nbsp;Both advanced to the dramatic finale in the televised competition after ​they survived 18 rounds without misspelling a word on the ⁠final day. The eliminatory spell-off was introduced in 2021 after the ​2019 competition ended with eight co-champions who kept spelling words correctly.&nbsp;Event organizers said ​Shrey's winning word, from a long list of obscure selections, was "bromocriptine," which is "a polypeptide alkaloid that is a derivative of ergot and mimics the activity of dopamine," according to ​the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary.&nbsp;He advanced to the spell-off by nailing Philepitta, ​a genus of Madagascan birds, while Ishaan matched him in the 18th round with Ertebolle - ‌of ⁠or belonging to an Early Neolithic or Late Mesolithic culture in the Baltic region.&nbsp;The Scripps National Spelling Bee is one of the most well-known academic competitions in the U.S., tracing its origins to 1925, when the Louisville ​Courier-Journal newspaper invited ​students to participate ⁠in a national spelling contest.&nbsp;Over the decades, the spelling bee has evolved into a highly competitive event that ​draws hundreds of participants from across the U.S. and around ​the ⁠world.&nbsp;Contestants qualify through a series of local and regional bees, spelling complex and obscure words, sometimes piecing together previously unknown words after learning the language of ⁠origin, ​pronunciation and definition.&nbsp;Some 247 finalists, all aged 15 ​or younger, competed in the televised national competition over three days at the DAR Constitution ​Hall in Washington.&nbsp;Source: Reuters&nbsp;

California teen wins National Spelling Bee with 'bromocriptine'

Poland wants to ban under-16s from using mobile phones in schools from September 1 and plans to introduce stricter age verification rules to access pornography, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday.&nbsp;Countries including the Netherlands, South Korea and Italy have banned smartphones in schools due to concerns over their impact on concentration and behaviour. Others have banned - or are considering banning - children's access to social media.&nbsp;The proposed bill would ban children aged 7-15 from using phones on school premises, including breaks between classes, and give schools legal bases for creating deposits to store phones.&nbsp;"We propose a ban on cell phone use in primary schools during lessons and breaks ... We are convinced that parents and teachers should have such a tool," Tusk said.&nbsp;“We have a civilizational problem of addiction of virtually everyone, especially the youngest, to platforms, games, etc. We realize that this can have disastrous consequences for children's lives and for the country.”&nbsp;A separate bill proposed by the minister for digital affairs would impose new obligations on websites offering pornography so as to restrict children's access.&nbsp;The age verification mechanism cannot be based on age declarations, biometric data, or data about the user's online activity but must be designed in accordance with privacy and personal data protection requirements, the government said earlier in a justification to the bill.&nbsp;In February, Education Minister Barbara Nowacka also outlined plans to ban children under 15 from using social media, opening the door to a potential clash with major U.S. tech firms.&nbsp;Tech companies argue the focus should be on how devices are used rather than outright bans, with parental controls and other targeted restrictions available. They also point to benefits of smartphones for learning, communication and safety.&nbsp;Source: Reuters

Poland to ban phones in schools, restrict access to pornography

OpenAI's ChatGPT has crossed 1 billion global monthly active app users, becoming the fastest app ever to reach the milestone, according to estimates from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.&nbsp;The record comes amid growing competition between Anthropic and OpenAI for dominance in the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence market.&nbsp;ChatGPT reached 1 billion MAUs in May, roughly three years after launch, surpassing the pace set by apps including Google Maps, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, Sensor Tower said.&nbsp;The firm said U.S. ChatGPT users who installed Anthropic's Claude app in the first quarter of 2026 spent 5 per cent less time on ChatGPT one month after installation, compared with their average usage in the prior eight months.&nbsp;Anthropic confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering on Monday, while Reuters has reported that OpenAI is also preparing to file for an IPO in the coming weeks.&nbsp;As of the second quarter to date, Claude had 56 million global monthly active app users, while its year-over-year MAU growth of about 640 per cent significantly outpaced ChatGPT's 62 per cent growth, according to Sensor Tower.&nbsp;Source: Reuters

ChatGPT app hits 1 billion monthly active users in record time, data shows

Microsoft says its new quantum chip is vastly more reliable than its previous version, paving the way for a quantum computer solving commercially useful problems within three years.&nbsp;At the heart of quantum computing are qubits, which offer the promise of answering questions that defeat today's machines, but are notoriously delicate and unstable.&nbsp;Microsoft says the qubits on Majorana 2, its new chip, survive for an average of 20 seconds, rather than the milliseconds of Majorana 1.&nbsp;That means the new chip is 1,000 times more reliable - an improvement in performance the tech giant compares to the difference between a phone that needs charging every day to one which needs charging every few years.&nbsp;"We will have a quantum machine in 2029 that can solve commercially viable, reasonable problems", said Zulfi Alam, corporate vice president of Microsoft Quantum.&nbsp;That would still require huge further advances as such a device would require millions of qubits - the current chip, Alam said, has 12.&nbsp;Assessing the firm's claims are difficult because it does not release the full details of what it has discovered publicly, citing commercial confidentiality.&nbsp;There is a worldwide race to develop the technology, given its potential to take on tasks currently considered too enormous for even the most powerful traditional computers.&nbsp;Microsoft has spent 20 years pursuing an approach to quantum computing known as "topological".&nbsp;The firm's approach to this is based on exploiting the properties of a so-called quasi-particle, which had existed only in theory, since it was first predicted in the 1930s by Italian physicist Ettore Majorana.&nbsp;To do this it had to exploit a novel state of matter - different from the three familiar states of liquid, solid or gas.&nbsp;Paul Stevenson, a physics professor at the University of Surrey, said the tech giant's timeline sounded plausible - if its research lived up to its claims.&nbsp;"Microsoft appears to have made a leap in their attempt to produce viable topological qubits," he said.&nbsp;“If they succeed, they will leap from being a player with no production quantum computer, to being a serious player in the race to make the next generation of fault-tolerant machines.”&nbsp;False start&nbsp;Microsoft's focus on topological qubits has, at times, been controversial.&nbsp;It was forced to retract a paper published in the journal Nature in 2018 in which it claimed to have found evidence for the Majorana.&nbsp;But it continued working on it, and its first Majorana chip was released in 2025.&nbsp;However, Microsoft faced considerable scepticism, including over its claims about Majorana's, from unconvinced experts.&nbsp;Henry Legg, a physicist at the university of St Andrews, told the BBC at the time that in his opinion Microsoft's quantum research had "moved firmly away from science and entered the realm of faith".&nbsp;Today, Jason Zander, executive vice president of Microsoft Quantum and Discovery, said: "We stand behind it 100%.&nbsp;“We really look to scientific rigor. We welcome the debate that has always been part of physics... the key thing I would tell people, go read the papers and look what's there, go talk to the experts that we have given deep information to.”&nbsp;Microsoft is part of the final stage of a quantum development programme run by the US defence research agency Darpa which aims to "verify and validate the firm's utility-scale quantum computer concept" and says it has shared all of its data and workings with it, including commercially sensitive material, for assessment.&nbsp;But a paper its published alongside the announcement has not been peer reviewed - a process where it is reviewed by independent experts - and scientists the BBC spoke to wanted more information.&nbsp;The second generation of the Majorana chip is based on the same principles as the first but is more effective in part because the scientists replaced aluminium with lead as a superconductor.&nbsp;While the team is using AI to try to improve and speed up its efforts, Zander said it was human scientists who had come up with the idea of changing materials.&nbsp;The qubit quandary&nbsp;Microsoft's hoped-for timeline raises the possibility of its quantum computers taking on problems which could take decades to solve, such as getting rid of microplastics, or coming up with better fertilisers for food production.&nbsp;Zander said he could see a role for humans, AI and quantum computers.&nbsp;"If you look at removing forever chemicals, getting rid of microplastics, things like that, those are things traditionally, if we take 15, 20, 30 years to figure out that's a very long time," he said.&nbsp;"We want to compress that time cycle as much as possible, and so being able to have humans with AI move quicker and compress that timeframe, I think is actually great.&nbsp;“So it's not about eliminating humans, it's about giving humans tools that can help them accelerate that process, that's actually going to help society, I think.”&nbsp;But holding that process back is the fundamental difficulty of quantum computing.&nbsp;Qubits are extremely fragile and even tiny changes in temperature or a small vibration can affect them and cause errors.&nbsp;Keeping them going for longer is a big challenge for the entire quantum industry.&nbsp;Quantum machines are in their infancy and while many companies are racing to build a scalable computer, nobody is known to have succeeded yet.&nbsp;Some also think we may have written off the computers of today too soon.&nbsp;"We don't know what the limit [of classical computers] is," Sir Demis Hassabis, the co-founder of Google Deepmind, recently told author Sebastian Mallaby in the book The Infinity Mind.&nbsp;Source: BBC

Amber warning issued for strong winds

Railway Dept loses over Rs. 1 mn due to season ticket delays

Railway Dept loses over Rs. 1 ...

India's IT stocks head for worst day in four months

India's IT stocks head for wor ...

Ministerial Committee reviews public security matters in Parliament

Ministerial Committee reviews ...

Tropical storm Jangmi batters Japan, cuts power to 60,000 homes

Tropical storm Jangmi batters ...

California teen wins National Spelling Bee with 'bromocriptine'

California teen wins National ...

Poland to ban phones in schools, restrict access to pornography

Poland to ban phones in school ...

ChatGPT app hits 1 billion monthly active users in record time, data s ...

ChatGPT app hits 1 billion mon ...

Microsoft says new quantum chip 1,000 times more reliable than predece ...

Microsoft says new quantum chi ...

Railway Dept loses over Rs. 1 mn due to season ticket delays

Railway Dept loses over Rs. 1 ...

India's IT stocks head for worst day in four months

India's IT stocks head for wor ...

Ministerial Committee reviews public security matters in Parliament

Ministerial Committee reviews ...

Tropical storm Jangmi batters Japan, cuts power to 60,000 homes

Tropical storm Jangmi batters ...

California teen wins National Spelling Bee with 'bromocriptine'

California teen wins National ...

Poland to ban phones in schools, restrict access to pornography

Poland to ban phones in school ...

ChatGPT app hits 1 billion monthly active users in record time, data s ...

ChatGPT app hits 1 billion mon ...

Microsoft says new quantum chip 1,000 times more reliable than predece ...

Microsoft says new quantum chi ...

Bringing the news paper to your fingertips

Railway Dept loses over Rs. 1 mn due to season ticket delays

Railway Dept loses over Rs. 1 ...

India's IT stocks head for worst day in four months

India's IT stocks head for wor ...

Bringing the news paper to your fingertips

Ministerial Committee reviews public security matters in Parliament

Ministerial Committee reviews ...

Tropical storm Jangmi batters Japan, cuts power to 60,000 homes

Tropical storm Jangmi batters ...

California teen wins National Spelling Bee with 'bromocriptine'

California teen wins National ...

Poland to ban phones in schools, restrict access to pornography

Poland to ban phones in school ...