A crash programme which aims to equip the younger generation with the knowledge of English and Information Technology (IT) is being planned by the Government. Knowledge of these twin subjects is essential to cater to the requirements of the local and international job market.

Accordingly, a Presidential Task Force comprising 23 senior Government and private sector officials and academics has already been set up to arm today’s youth with the knowledge of English and IT so that they are better equipped as future employees.

The youth of Sri Lanka have been found wanting in their knowledge of English and IT, especially those from rural areas. With the introduction of these highly effective English and IT teaching methods which are currently being utilised in India, this situation is expected to change for the better.

The Task Force has especially been formed to resolve English and IT-related issues among Advanced and Ordinary Level qualified students, who have not been able to enter universities or the job market.

The group will meet monthly to discuss the progress of the project and a report will be forwarded to the President. This Task Force will also be responsible for the launch of the Year of IT and English in 2009.

The project would involve the private corporate sector along with other public and private educational institutions and Government agencies.

US and Canadian researchers said killer whales can hear the difference between Chinook and other types of salmon.

Researchers said the whales, which swim the waters off British Columbia and Washington State, used echolocation to sort the Chinook from the Coho and Sockeye salmon. The whales apparently prefer Coho because it is a fattier fish.

The researchers found "the echo structure from similar sized but different species of salmon were different and probably recognizable by foraging killer whales," bioacoustician Whitlow Au of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology said in a release.

Marine ecologist John Horne of the School of Aquatic and Fisheries Science at the University of Washington, Seattle, said the secret to the killer whale's ability to choose their favourite entree (dish served between other meat and fish dishes) is the salmon's swim bladder, which controls the buoyancy of the fish and is responsible for most of the reflected sound energy, Canwest News Service reported.

The report, presented at a recent meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in Florida, said the swim bladder on a Chinook salmon is half the size of other salmon species.

- United Press International

Migrant-related issues will become the focus on December 18, which is International Migrants Day as declared by the United Nations General Assembly.

A ship of African migrants

This is the date in 1990 when the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (Migrant Workers Convention) was adopted.

The Convention came into effect on July 1, 2003, and says all migrants, irrespective of their immigration status, should be able to enjoy certain fundamental rights including the right to be free from poverty, the right to equality before the law and in conditions of work, and the right to urgent medical care. It had been ratified by over 34 states as at 2000 while all states have been urged to do so.

The International Migrants Day focuses attention on the plight of millions of migrants around the world who are denied access to even their basic fundamental rights. Such abuses are overlooked and even accepted. The UN General Assembly has stressed the need to make further efforts to ensure respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants.

Migrant workers play an important role in the development process of their native as well as host countries. Their skills and labour support the economies of their host countries while the money they send home drive the economies of their own countries.

This is very much true in the case of countries like Sri Lanka, where the national economies are propped up by the thousands of people working abroad. But they are unrecognised, unappreciated and undervalued.

This day honours their contributions to the economies and well-being of their host and home countries and promotes respect for their basic human rights. Families of such migrant workers should also recognise the contributions they have made not only to their families, but to their country.

Representatives of SAARC countries vowed to establish a network of cooperation in the region to deal with the violations, and protect and promote the rights of the child.

With an agreement of increasing coordination among the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the South Asian regional consultation meeting of national rights commissions, governmental bodies and civil society representatives on child rights concluded in Katmandu recently.

According to eKantipur.com report, the consultation meeting, jointly organised by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Nepal and Save the Children, stressed the consolidated efforts of the NHRIs and the formation of the Working Group of Secretary Level. The meeting also requested the NHRC Nepal to take initial responsibility.

This type of consultation meeting of the NHRIs was organised for the first time in the SAARC region with the joint effort of NHRC Nepal and Save the Children on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

- Xinhua
 

An anglerfish

You may have heard the word ‘angler’. This is a word which refers to people who fish with hooks and lines, usually for sport. They sometimes even hold competitions to see who can catch the biggest fish using their hooks and lines.

There is also a fish by the name of anglerfish. Also known as the devil-fish (Lophius piscatorius), it is a fish with a wide mouth, enormous jaws and pointed teeth and a huge appetite.

They live in the deep dark parts of the ocean which are not penetrated by sunlight at all.

There are deep-sea anglerfish which are transparent; the depths of the ocean are so dark that you may realise that there’s no point in being vividly coloured.

Did you know that the anglerfish ‘fishes’ other fish with its own bait? This fish attracts other fish (its prey) by waving a glowing filament attached to its head. This filament acts as the bait; other fish who think this is a worm and approach it are gobbled up by the anglerfish.

However, some male anglerfish lack this ‘fishing pole’. What’s more, males are much smaller than the females.