News

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has announced that the temporary relaxation of the QR code-based fuel quota system for petrol-powered vehicles will officially end from midnight tomorrow (18), marking the return of regular fuel distribution procedures.

According to the CPC, motorists using petrol-powered vehicles will once again be required to obtain fuel through the QR code-based quota system from that time onward.

Despite the reinstatement of the quota mechanism, the existing odd-even number plate system for fuel distribution will continue to remain in force for all vehicles, ensuring that the current traffic and fuel management measures stay in place.

The QR system had been temporarily suspended during the festive Sinhala and Tamil New Year period to provide greater convenience for motorists travelling during the holiday season.

Earlier, on April 11, CPC Chairman D. J. Rajakaruna had stated that the temporary easing of the system was introduced in view of the New Year, allowing drivers to obtain petrol without the use of the quota process during the specified period.

With the festive period drawing to a close, the CPC’s decision signals a return to its standard fuel monitoring framework from midnight tomorrow.

More than 300 humanoid robots participating in China’s second robot half-marathon on Sunday will be facing tougher terrain designed to test their technical advancements, as Beijing seeks to develop the industry into a major pillar of its economy.

Over 70 teams, almost five times as many as last year, will be competing in the 21 km (13 miles) race in Beijing that includes paved slopes and parkland.

“It will certainly be interesting to see the progress in durability of components and battery lifetime compared to last year,” said Georg Stieler, Asia managing director and head of robotics at Stieler, a technology consultancy.

“Humanoid robot makers need to find a balance between quality in products which are still under constant evolution and price pressure.”

While all of last year’s entrants were remotely controlled, this time almost 40% of the robot participants will navigate the course autonomously, the organisers have said, in a high-profile demonstration of the industry’s growing capabilities. But the event is also likely to highlight the challenges Chinese firms face as they try to create robots that can effectively mimic human ⁠movement and performance.

In last year’s race some robots crashed and fell near the starting line, while the winning Tiangong Ultra model, developed by the state-backed Beijing Innovation Center of Humanoid Robotics in collaboration with UBTech, finished in 2 hours and 40 minutes, comfortably ahead of its humanoid rivals but more than double the time of the human winner of the conventional race.

Tiangong Ultra will navigate “fully autonomously” this year, relying solely on its sensors to avoid obstacles, and closely mimic the human gait through large-scale data simulation training, the Center of Humanoid Robotics said in a statement.

“When the robot runs at speeds approaching those of professional human athletes, the time window for perception and decision-making is extremely short, placing very high demands on computing power, algorithms, and system response speed,” it said.

Social media videos of the robots training in Beijing at night this month showed some models successfully imitating human running and reaching speeds of 14 km per hour, but others’ movements were more jerky and some fell over or crashed into railings, suggesting they might struggle to make it to the finishing line.

China dominates global humanoid robot installations, accounting for more than 80% of the 16,000 units installed worldwide in 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The top U.S. vendor, Tesla, only accounted for 5% of global humanoid installations, the report said.

⁠Domestic market leaders AgiBot and Unitree each shipped more than 5,000 units last year - the highest globally - while Unitree has pledged to expand production capacity to 75,000 humanoid robots annually.

‘DANCING DISGUISED AS WORKING’

While the half-marathon might make for entertaining viewing, experts say the skills on display do not translate to the widespread commercialisation of humanoid robots in industrial settings, where manual dexterity, real-world perception and capabilities beyond small-scale, repetitive tasks are crucial.

Currently, Unitree’s humanoid models are primarily used by research institutions, for dance performances and as interactive guides in service establishments, according to its IPO prospectus.

And while some humanoids might be able to complete a half-marathon, even in China they remain years away from widespread domestic or industrial deployment, ⁠experts say.

“The reason our applications aren’t taking off is that the robots’ IQ is too low. The models are poor, their success rates are low,” said Tang Wenbin, founder of embodied intelligence startup Yuanli Lingji at a Beijing tech forum last month.

“Honestly, the whole industry’s level is still at a very elementary stage ... Right now, a lot of what we see is ‘dancing disguised as working’.”

The Chinese government has named embodied intelligence, or physical AI, as one of the key ⁠industries it wants to nurture as it looks to automation to boost economic productivity and upgrade traditional manufacturing.

Chinese robotics firms are still struggling to develop the AI software that would enable humanoids to match the efficiency of human factory workers, while components manufacturers are contending with cost pressures, analysts said.

As they seek to improve the software, firms are ploughing resources into large-scale real-world data collection, using human workers fitted with sensors ⁠and deploying more humanoids to factory floors.

In 2024, UBTech had fewer than 10 humanoids in factories. Last year, that number jumped to more than 1,000.

This year, it aims to launch 10,000 full-size humanoid robots, including new models tailored for a variety of commercial settings, Chief Business Officer Michael Tam said during a media tour to the company’s Shenzhen showroom in southern China.

“When we talk about AI, it relies on how much data, especially high-quality data, we can collect,” he said.

Source: Reuters

Global oil prices retreated slightly on Friday morning in Asia after a ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel came into effect.

The conflict strained a two-week conditional ceasefire between the US and Iran, with Tehran saying Israel’s attacks on Lebanon were a breach of the agreement.

The price of the global benchmark Brent crude fell by nearly 1% to $98.50 (£72.86) a barrel, while US-traded oil was down by 1.2% at $93.60.

Major Asian markets edged lower on Friday morning after climbing during the week. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dipped by 0.8%, while the Kospi in South Korea was lower by 0.3%.

Source: BBC

In a major crackdown on maritime drug trafficking, the Sri Lanka Navy has seized 10 local multi-day fishing trawlers allegedly involved in smuggling narcotics during the first three months of this year.

The announcement was made today (17) by Navy Media Spokesperson Commander Buddhika Sampath while addressing the media following the arrival of a trawler carrying narcotics at the Dikowita Fisheries Harbour.

According to the Navy, the seized vessels were found transporting a large quantity of dangerous drugs, including crystal methamphetamine, commonly known as “ice,” along with heroin, hashish, and cocaine.

Authorities revealed that more than 1,800 kilograms of illicit narcotics have been taken into custody from the intercepted trawlers so far this year, marking one of the most significant maritime drug seizures in recent months.

Commander Sampath further stated that the estimated street value of the confiscated drugs exceeds Rs. 44 billion, highlighting the scale of the illegal operation and the severe threat it poses to the country.

The latest seizure underscores the Navy’s intensified efforts to combat organized drug trafficking networks operating through Sri Lankan waters.

Crude oil prices rose in early trading Sunday.

The price of U.S. crude oil jumped 6.4% to $87.88 per barrel after trading resumed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

The price of Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 6.5% to $96.25 per barrel.

The market reaction followed more than two days of rising hopes, and then dashed expectations, involving the strait.

Sunday’s early gains erase a portion of the losses seen Friday, when crude plunged more than 9% after Iran’s foreign minister said the strait had reopened to commercial tankers.

Source: AP

A patient receiving treatment at Nagoda General Hospital was arrested yesterday (14) following allegations of sexual harassment involving a female doctor on duty.

The suspect, identified as a resident of Mahagama in Agalawatte, had been admitted to Ward No. 22 after being transferred from Pimbura Hospital on Tuesday afternoon. Police stated that he was undergoing treatment for epilepsy along with complications linked to excessive alcohol consumption.

According to the complaint, the incident unfolded while the patient was being examined in the ward. The doctor had approached his bedside to check his blood pressure when he allegedly touched her chest inappropriately. She immediately reprimanded the patient and warned him against such conduct.

However, the situation reportedly escalated moments later. As the doctor attempted to operate a medical testing device, the patient is accused of harassing her a second time in a similar manner.

The doctor subsequently informed the Chief Medical Officer in charge of the ward and lodged a formal complaint at the police post within the hospital premises. Acting swiftly, officers from Kalutara South Police took the suspect into custody.

He remains under treatment at the hospital under strict police guard and is due to be produced before the Matugama Magistrate’s Court.

Artificial intelligence-driven chatbots are giving users problematic medical advice about half the time, according to a new study, highlighting the health risks of the technology that is becoming increasingly integral in day-to-day life.

Researchers from the US, Canada and the UK evaluated five popular platforms – ChatGPT, Gemini, Meta AI, Grok and DeepSeek – by asking each of them 10 questions across five health categories.

Out of the total responses, about 50 per cent were deemed problematic, including almost 20 per cent that were highly problematic, according to findings published this week in medical journal BMJ Open.

The chatbots performed relatively better on closed-ended prompts and questions related to vaccines and cancer, and worse on open-ended prompts and in areas like stem cells and nutrition, according to the study.

Answers were often delivered with confidence and certainty, though no chatbot produced a fully complete and accurate reference list in response to any prompt, the researchers said.

There were only two refusals to answer a question, both from Meta AI.

The results highlight the growing concern about how people are using generative AI platforms, which are not licensed to give medical advice and lack the clinical judgment to make diagnoses.

The explosive growth of AI chatbots has made them a popular tool for people seeking guidance on their ailments and OpenAI has said that more than 200 million people ask ChatGPT health and wellness questions every week.

The platform announced in January health tools for both everyday users and clinicians, and Anthropic said the same month its Claude product is launching a new health care offering.

A major risk to the deployment of chatbots without public education and oversight is that they could amplify misinformation, the BMJ Open study authors said. 

The findings “highlight important behavioural limitations and the need to reevaluate how AI chatbots are deployed in public-facing health and medical communication”, they wrote.

These systems can generate “authoritative-sounding but potentially flawed responses”, they wrote. 

Source: BLOOMBERG