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The Sri Lankan Rupee showed little movement against the US Dollar at local commercial banks today , maintaining levels similar to those recorded at the end of last week. In several banks, the selling rate continued to remain close to Rs. 312.At Seylan Bank, the dollar buying rate edged up slightly to Rs. 307.05, while the selling rate stood at Rs. 311.80. NDB Bank reported a marginal increase in its buying rate from Rs. 306.25 to Rs. 306.55, with the selling rate also rising from Rs. 312.75 to Rs. 313.05.

People’s Bank indicated a small uptick in the buying rate, moving from Rs. 306.04 to Rs. 306.23, while the selling rate increased from Rs. 312.79 to Rs. 312.99. Meanwhile, Commercial Bank maintained its previous rates, with the buying price fixed at Rs. 304.49 and the selling price unchanged at Rs. 313.

Sampath Bank also recorded a slight increase, with the buying rate rising from Rs. 305.75 to Rs. 306.75 and the selling rate climbing from Rs. 312.25 to Rs. 313.25. Overall, currency markets reflected stability, with only marginal adjustments across banks.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive Scott Weenink has resigned from his position after a prolonged and contentious debate over the future of T20 cricket in the country, officials confirmed on Friday.

Weenink, a former Wellington first-class cricketer and businessman, leaves the role after just over two years in charge. His departure follows growing disagreement between NZC leadership, players, and the organisation’s six member associations regarding a proposed new domestic T20 league.

The planned competition, provisionally titled NZ20, is intended to replace the existing Super Smash tournament. The franchise-based league would seek foreign investment and ownership, potentially involving Indian Premier League-linked franchises, and aims to attract high-profile international players. Supporters view it as a necessary evolution for New Zealand cricket, which remains the only ICC full member nation without a franchise T20 competition.

However, Weenink was understood to favour an alternative model, including the possibility of a New Zealand-based franchise participating in Australia’s Big Bash League. This difference in strategic direction ultimately led to an irreconcilable split.

In a statement, Weenink acknowledged the divide, saying his views on NZC’s future priorities differed from those of several member associations. He added that stepping aside was in the organisation’s best interests to allow new leadership to move forward with broader support.

The proposed NZ20 league has received public backing from senior players, including Test captain Tom Latham, who described the concept as a positive step that could significantly lift the standard of cricket in the country through the involvement of international talent. White-ball captain Mitchell Santner has also expressed support for the initiative.

Despite his early exit, Weenink said he was proud of the progress made during his tenure and did not wish to prolong uncertainty by remaining without full stakeholder backing. He expressed confidence in NZC’s staff to continue developing the game.Weenink is scheduled to officially conclude his role with New Zealand Cricket on January 30.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday the United States could support another major strike on Iran were it to resume rebuilding its ballistic missile or nuclear weapons programs and warned Hamas of severe consequences if it does not disarm.

Speaking beside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following a meeting at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump suggested Tehran may be working to restore its weapons programs after a massive U.S. strike in June.

"I've been reading that they're building up weapons and other things, and if they are, they're not using the sites we obliterated, but possibly different sites," Trump told reporters during a press conference.

"We know exactly where they're going, what they're doing, and I hope they're not doing it because we don't want to waste fuel on a B-2,” he added, referring to the bomber used in the earlier strike. "It's a 37-hour trip both ways. I don't want to waste a lot of fuel."

Trump, who has broached a potential nuclear deal with Tehran in recent months, said his talks with Netanyahu focused on advancing the fragile Gaza peace deal he brokered and addressing Israeli concerns over Iran and over Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Iran, which fought a 12-day war with Israel in June, said last week that it had conducted missile exercises for the second time this month.

Netanyahu said last week that Israel was not seeking a confrontation with Iran, but was aware of the reports, and said he would raise Tehran's activities with Trump.

A SECOND PHASE IN GAZA?

Trump said he wanted to move to the second phase of the ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas reached in October after two years of fighting in Gaza, a progression that entails international peacekeeping forces deployed in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel and Hamas accuse each other of major breaches of the deal and look no closer to accepting the much more difficult steps envisaged for the next phase. Hamas, which has refused to disarm, has been reasserting its control as Israeli troops remain entrenched in about half the territory.

Israel has indicated that if Hamas is not disarmed peacefully, it will resume military action to make it do so. During his Monday comments, Trump heaped the blame on the militant group for not disarming more promptly, arguing that Israel had lived up to its side of the deal and warning that Hamas was inviting grave consequences. "There will be hell to pay," Trump warned when asked what he will do if Hamas does not lay down its arms. He has made similar statements at previous intervals during the fighting.

Netanyahu said this month that Trump had invited him for the talks, as Washington pushes to establish transitional governance for the Palestinian enclave amid Israeli reluctance to move forward.

The deployment of the international security force was mandated by a November 17 U.N. Security Council resolution.

While Washington has brokered three ceasefires involving its longtime ally - between Israel and Hamas, Israel and Iran, and Israel and Lebanon - Netanyahu is wary of Israel's foes rebuilding their forces after they were considerably weakened in multiple wars.

Overall, Trump's comments suggested he remains firmly in Netanyahu's camp, even as some aides have privately questioned the Israeli leader's commitment to the Gaza ceasefire. His comments also suggested he is willing to risk additional hostilities related to Gaza and Iran, even as Trump has taken credit for resolving Israel's wars in both places.

Trump struck a warm tone as he greeted Netanyahu before their meeting, going so far as to say that Israeli President Isaac Herzog had told him he planned to pardon Netanyahu of corruption-related charges - a conversation Herzog's office immediately denied took place.

Netanyahu reciprocated, telling reporters after the meeting that he was gifting Trump the country's Israel Prize, which he said has historically been reserved for Israelis.

NEXT STEPS IN GAZA CEASEFIRE PLAN

Trump's plan to end the Gaza war ultimately calls for Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory and Hamas to give up its weapons and forgo a governing role.

The first phase of the ceasefire included a partial Israeli withdrawal, an increase in aid and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian detainees and prisoners.

An Israeli official in Netanyahu's circle said that the prime minister would demand that the first phase of the ceasefire be completed by Hamas returning the remains of the last Israeli hostage left in Gaza, before moving ahead to the next stages. The family of the deceased hostage, Ran Gvili, joined the prime minister's visiting entourage.

Israel has yet to open the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, also a condition of Trump's plan, saying it will only do so once Gvili's remains are returned.

Trump said that he and Netanyahu did not agree fully on the issue of the Israeli-occupied West Bank but the Republican leader did not lay out what the disagreement was.

TURKEY, SYRIA ALSO DISCUSSED

Before the meeting, Trump told reporters he would talk to Netanyahu about the possibility of stationing Turkish peacekeepers in Gaza. That is a fraught subject - while Trump has frequently praised Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Israel and Turkey have a much more circumspect relationship.

While the fighting in Gaza has abated, it has not stopped entirely. Although the ceasefire officially began in October, Israeli strikes have killed more than 400 Palestinians — most of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials — and Palestinian militants have killed three Israeli soldiers.

Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel was keen to ensure a peaceful border with Syria, and Trump said he was sure Israel would get along with President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who took power after longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad was deposed last year.

But Israel has been suspicious of the new leader, who was once a member of al-Qaeda, going so far as to bomb government buildings in Damascus this July.

(Source - Reuters)

The US government has suspended the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery program following the fatal shootings near Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, acting on the direction of President Donald Trump.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the move, stating that the program had enabled the suspect to enter and remain in the United States. “This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” Noem said in a post on X.

Authorities identified the suspect as Claudio Neves Valente, a Portuguese national. According to Providence, Rhode Island Police Chief Oscar Perez, Valente entered the United States on a student visa in 2000 and later obtained permanent resident status in 2017. He was found dead on Thursday evening from what police described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

President Trump has long been critical of the diversity visa lottery, which he argues poses security risks. The suspension follows a broader pattern in which his administration has used violent incidents to justify tighter immigration measures. Previously, after a November attack involving an Afghan national that killed National Guard members, the administration imposed strict immigration restrictions on Afghanistan and several other countries.

The DV lottery program allocates up to 50,000 green cards each year through a random selection process for applicants from countries with low levels of immigration to the United States, many of them in Africa. For the 2025 lottery, nearly 20 million people applied worldwide, with more than 131,000 selected when including family members. Portuguese citizens secured only 38 of those slots.Applicants selected through the lottery are invited to apply for permanent residency and must undergo interviews at US consulates, along with the same security checks and eligibility requirements applied to other green card applicants.

A tragic fire has claimed the lives of 16 people at a nursing home on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, according to international media reports.

Around 12 others were injured in the blaze and have been admitted to hospital for treatment.

The fire reportedly broke out at approximately 8:31 p.m. last night (28), at a time when many of the elderly residents were resting inside their rooms. Several of the victims were later found lifeless in their own quarters, highlighting the sudden and devastating nature of the incident.

Indonesia, an archipelagic nation made up of more than 17,000 islands, has witnessed frequent deadly fire incidents, often linked to dense urban settings and limited emergency access.

Earlier this month, another major fire in the capital Jakarta engulfed a seven-storey office building, killing at least 22 people — underscoring the recurring danger posed by such disasters.

Libyan Army Chief Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad has been killed in a tragic plane crash near Ankara, Turkey, according to official reports.

The military commander was travelling aboard a private jet carrying four senior army officers and three staff members when the aircraft went down. The jet had departed from Ankara and was en route to Tripoli, Libya, at the time of the accident.

All eight people on board were killed in the crash.

Moments before the incident, the pilots reportedly alerted air traffic control to a technical malfunction and attempted to dump fuel in preparation for an emergency landing. However, the aircraft crashed before it could land.

Investigations into the cause of the crash are currently underway.

General Al-Haddad had travelled to Turkey to take part in high-level discussions aimed at strengthening defence and security cooperation between the two countries.

In response to his death, the Libyan government has declared three days of national mourning, describing the loss of the army chief as a major blow to the nation.

Pakistan, which has one of the highest population growth rates in the world along with high levels of inflation, will have to continue shelling out more money for contraceptives like condoms since the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has rejected a request by the Shehbaz Sharif government to slash GST rates.

According to Pakistan-based The News, condoms, which attract 18% GST, will remain expensive in Pakistan since IMF has firmly said no to the Federal Board of Revenue's (FBR) recent proposal.

It said that such measures should only be discussed in the upcoming budget.

But why is Pakistan listening to IMF? It’s because Pakistan is currently under an IMF bailout programme, which comes with strict conditions on taxes, spending and revenues.

According to the report, the FBR had reached out to the IMF at its headquarters in Washington via email, hoping for a GST relief on contraceptives.

It pegged the revenue impact of the relief at anywhere between PKR 400-600 million. It conveyed the wish of Shehbaz Sharif at a virtual meeting that followed.

However, the IMF rejected the demand, saying that tax reliefs are not possible in the middle of a fiscal year, especially at a time when the country is already struggling to meet its revised revenue targets.

The report said that IMF also rejected a proposal by Pakistan to cut GST on sanitary pads and baby diapers.

Pakistan’s population growth rate stands at a staggering 2.55 percent — among the highest in the world — with nearly six million people added each year, highlighting the growing disconnect between policy intent and fiscal decision-making.

Recently, the IMF imposed 11 new conditions on Pakistan under its $7 billion bailout programme to crack down on corruption. This took the total IMF compliance requirements on Pakistan to 64 over the last 18 months.

(Source - Moneycontrol.com)

As the rest of the world rushes to harness the power of artificial intelligence, militant groups also are experimenting with the technology, even if they aren’t sure exactly what to do with it.

For extremist organizations, AI could be a powerful tool for recruiting new members, churning out realistic deepfake images and refining their cyberattacks, national security experts and spy agencies have warned.

Someone posting on a pro-Islamic State group website last month urged other IS supporters to make AI part of their operations. “One of the best things about AI is how easy it is to use,” the user wrote in English.

“Some intelligence agencies worry that AI will contribute (to) recruiting,” the user continued. “So make their nightmares into reality.”

IS, which had seized territory in Iraq and Syria years ago but is now a decentralized alliance of militant groups that share a violent ideology, realized years ago that social media could be a potent tool for recruitment and disinformation, so it’s not surprising that the group is testing out AI, national security experts say.

For loose-knit, poorly resourced extremist groups — or even an individual bad actor with a web connection — AI can be used to pump out propaganda or deepfakes at scale, widening their reach and expanding their influence.

“For any adversary, AI really makes it much easier to do things,” said John Laliberte, a former vulnerability researcher at the National Security Agency who is now CEO of cybersecurity firm ClearVector. “With AI, even a small group that doesn’t have a lot of money is still able to make an impact.”

How extremist groups are experimenting

Militant groups began using AI as soon as programs like ChatGPT became widely accessible. In the years since, they have increasingly used generative AI programs to create realistic-looking photos and video.

When strapped to social media algorithms, this fake content can help recruit new believers, confuse or frighten enemies and spread propaganda at a scale unimaginable just a few years ago.

Such groups spread fake images two years ago of the Israel-Hamas war depicting bloodied, abandoned babies in bombed-out buildings. The images spurred outrage and polarization while obscuring the war’s actual horrors. Violent groups in the Middle East used the photos to recruit new members, as did antisemitic hate groups in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Something similar happened last year after an attack claimed by an IS affiliate killed nearly 140 people at a concert venue in Russia. In the days after the shooting, AI-crafted propaganda videos circulated widely on discussion boards and social media, seeking new recruits.

IS also has created deepfake audio recordings of its own leaders reciting scripture and used AI to quickly translate messages into multiple languages, according to researchers at SITE Intelligence Group, a firm that tracks extremist activities and has investigated IS’ evolving use of AI.

‘Aspirational’ — for now

Such groups lag behind China, Russia or Iran and still view the more sophisticated uses of AI as “aspirational,” according to Marcus Fowler, a former CIA agent who is now CEO at Darktrace Federal, a cybersecurity firm that works with the federal government.

But the risks are too high to ignore and are likely to grow as the use of cheap, powerful AI expands, he said.

Hackers are already using synthetic audio and video for phishing campaigns, in which they try to impersonate a senior business or government leader to gain access to sensitive networks. They also can use AI to write malicious code or automate some aspects of cyberattacks.

More concerning is the possibility that militant groups may try to use AI to help produce biological or chemical weapons, making up for a lack of technical expertise. That risk was included in the Department of Homeland Security’s updated Homeland Threat Assessment, released earlier this year.

“ISIS got on Twitter early and found ways to use social media to their advantage,” Fowler said. “They are always looking for the next thing to add to their arsenal.”

Countering a growing threat

Lawmakers have floated several proposals, saying there’s an urgent need to act.

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said, for instance, that the U.S. must make it easier for AI developers to share information about how their products are being used by bad actors, whether they are extremists, criminal hackers or foreign spies.

“It has been obvious since late 2022, with the public release of ChatGPT, that the same fascination and experimentation with generative AI the public has had would also apply to a range of malign actors,” Warner said.

During a recent hearing on extremist threats, House lawmakers learned that IS and al-Qaida have held training workshops to help supporters learn to use AI.

Legislation that passed the U.S. House last month would require homeland security officials to assess the AI risks posed by such groups each year.

Guarding against the malicious use of AI is no different from preparing for more conventional attacks, said Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, the bill’s sponsor.

“Our policies and capabilities must keep pace with the threats of tomorrow,” he said.

(Source - APnews)