Shani Diluka Music is a universal language Q: Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music? A: I’d say my inspirations were destiny and Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco. My first contact with music was in kindergarten when I and 14 other children chosen to attend classes for exceptionally talented children, created by the late Princess Grace. At 10, I was on French national television, portrayed as a child prodigy. Then I was encouraged to apply to the renowned National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris (CNSMDP). It is highly competitive and open to musicians worldwide…
Author: LMD International
Financial Times – July 21, 2023 Headline inflation in Japan rose to 3.3 per cent in June, outpacing the US figure for the first time in eight years and underscoring how Asia’s most advanced economy is no longer an outlier in global inflation. Price pressures in Japan, which has battled deflation for most of the past three decades, have proven to be broader and stickier than expected. This increases the pressure on the Bank of Japan, which meets next week and faces calls from investors to unwind its ultra-loose monetary policy. Japan remains the world’s only central bank with negative…
Financial Times – July 26, 2023 Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI team up to establish best practices but critics argue they want to avoid regulation Four of the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence companies have formed a group to research increasingly powerful AI and establish best practices for controlling it, as public anxiety and regulatory scrutiny over the impact of the technology increases. On Wednesday, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI launched the Frontier Model Forum, with the aim of “ensuring the safe and responsible development of frontier AI models”. In recent months, the US companies have rolled out increasingly powerful…
The Guardian – 25 July, 2023 A collapse would bring catastrophic climate impacts but scientists disagree over the new analysis The Gulf Stream system could collapse as soon as 2025, a new study suggests. The shutting down of the vital ocean currents, called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (Amoc) by scientists, would bring catastrophic climate impacts. Amoc was already known to be at its weakest in 1,600 years owing to global heating and researchers spotted warning signs of a tipping point in 2021. The new analysis estimates a timescale for the collapse of between 2025 and 2095, with a central…
BBC – July 28, 2023 Final commands were sent to Europe’s Aeolus satellite on Friday to bring it out of the sky. The space laser, which was designed to map Earth’s winds, re-entered the atmosphere over Antarctica. Any debris that might have survived the fiery descent would have fallen well out of harm’s way. The British-built spacecraft’s mission was hailed a success for the novel data it provided to weather forecasters looking several days ahead. Aeolus was regarded as something of a revolution. Image caption,A Japanese weather satellite catches a bright flash high over Antarctica. Was this Aeolus streaking to…
LMD ALUMNI OVERSEAS Rizla Jaleel Local connections Q: In your capacity as an LMD alumni living abroad, your thoughts on our international edition are…? A: I believe that LMD International is a great way to reach a wider audience and provide readers with a more diverse range of content. Moreover, it can be a great way to connect people from different parts of the world. Q: And as a Sri Lankan living overseas, what do you miss the most about your motherland? A: I miss the feeling of being surrounded by family, the delicious food, and the festivals and celebrations…
Reuters – July 28, 2023 China faces a long slog to artificial intelligence supremacy. It wants to be a leader in the field by 2030 and this month unveiled new rules governing the technology that are less onerous than expected. But closed online ecosystems, Beijing’s controls on internet content and U.S. curbs on semiconductor exports to the world’s second largest economy will hamper progress. There were high expectations of what the People’s Republic could achieve with the technology seen as having the power to solve some of the most pressing challenges on the planet. “In the age of AI, where…
Arabian Business – July 30, 2023 Saudi Arabia has allocated $7.8 billion for Riyadh Expo 2030 Saudi Arabia has revealed its readiness to welcome over 120 million visitors for Expo 2030 in a new video on Twitter. Titled ‘Riyadh, ready to welcome the world in Expo 2030,’ the 39-second clip showcased the cityscape of Riyadh, highlighting the nation’s remarkable journey into becoming a modern metropolis. Riyadh, ready to welcome the world in Expo 2030#RiyadhExpo2030 pic.twitter.com/YVQayXNzUo— Riyadh Expo 2030 (@Riyadh_Expo2030) July 25, 2023 At the heart of Expo 2030 lies Saudi Arabia’s commitment to sustainable growth, a central theme that the…
THE BIG IDEA Senaka Senanayake says he’s been lucky to be able to paint – and live off it Q: How would you describe your work – and what has influenced your style over the years? A: I have been painting for almost 60 years and over the years, my style has changed. As a child, it was vastly different when I was in school and university, which was very different to my present style. My earliest style was a reaction to life and the people of Sri Lanka. I painted what I saw around me. When I went to…
Financial Times – July 28, 2023 The Bank of Japan has eased controls on its government bond market, altering a cornerstone of its ultra-loose monetary policy and prompting a surge in the country’s benchmark bond yields to the highest level in nine years. In an unexpected move, the BoJ said it would offer to buy 10-year Japanese government bonds at 1 per cent in fixed-rate operations, in effect widening the trading band on long-term yields. The central bank added that it was technically maintaining its previous 0.5 per cent cap on 10-year bond yields, but this level would be a…