News
KDU and CUI, Pakistan collaborate on advanced biomaterial research

University Islamabad in Pakistan (CUI) and General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) in Sri Lanka have inked a Document of Understanding to collaborate on advanced biomaterial research.
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Tabassum Afzal, Rector CUI and Major General Milinda Peiris, Vice Chancellor, KDU signed the document of collaboration at a ceremony held online, COMSATS said in a press release.
The Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Biomedical Materials (IRCBM), a state of the art research centre at CUI Lahore campus will collaborate with KDU on respective national regulations on safety and security of sensitive materials, goods, technologies and equipment.
Prof. Afzal said that the core focus of partnership between CUI and KDU will be in the field of advanced biomaterials and allied areas that are much needed in Pakistan. “While there is a limited development of products such as synthetic skin substitute, wound dressings for foot ulcer patients, artificial bone fillers, disease monitoring and diagnostic devices and stem cells linked with therapies in our part of the world. The future is indeed bright with the kind of functional partnership such as the one we are signing today.”
Prof. Afzal also added that interdisciplinary research in IRCBM is globally recognized and transnational in nature. “It is our crown jewel because of its high impact factor research. While CUI continues to grow within Pakistan, we are also very keen on developing our international linkages and partnership with centres of excellence in the developing world.”
The centre was established in the year 2008 to research and deliver indigenously-developed low-cost healthcare solutions to the local market.
Prof. Afzal conveyed his satisfaction that currently three brilliant and outstanding Sri Lankan students are studying in CUI doing their MS degrees. He desired hosting more international students from Sri Lanka, thus offered 100 percent tuition fee waiver to the Sri Lankan students particularly from KDU.
Major General Milinda Peiris said that the objectives of collaboration is to cooperate and develop the activities related to any field in which CUI and KDU have shared interests, such as biomaterials, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, sensors and biosensors and allied fields.
In addition, both universities will explore possibility of exchange of programs for students, faculty members and scientists, joint supervision of PhD students, mutual organisation of lectures, conferences, symposia and training programmes.
Maj. Gen. Dr. Shahid Ahmad Hashmat (Retd.) former High Commissioner of Pakistan in Sri Lanka informed about efforts of the Government of Pakistan for the promotion of educational and research opportunities with Sri Lanka. He explained efforts of the Higher Education Commission, Government of Pakistan to offer fully funded scholarships to the students of Sri Lanka who wish to study BS, MS and PhD programmes in leading universities of Pakistan.
UI Niyas, Counsellor (Political and Trade), High Commission of Sri Lanka in Pakistan thanked for giving opportunity to the Sri Lankan High Commission in Islamabad to witness signing of DOU between top universities of both countries. He appreciated KDU as well as CUI’s development and growth.
He said that he is very happy and confident that this collaboration will be the initial step and will open more avenues of partnership between the two universities.
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Earliest Sri Lanka can recover from bankruptcy is in 2027 – Dr Bandula Gunawardena

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Foreign News
Pope Francis to evict Cardinal Raymond Burke from Vatican

Pope Francis is evicting US Cardinal Raymond Burke, an outspoken critic, from his Vatican apartment and revoking his salary.
Cardinal Burke is part of a group of American conservatives who have long opposed the Pope’s plans for reforming the Catholic Church.
A Vatican source told the BBC that Pope Francis has not yet carried out his intention to evict the 75-year-old and the decision is not meant as a personal punishment, the source added. Instead, it comes from the belief that a person should not enjoy cardinal privileges while criticising the head of the church.
Still, the move is “unprecedented in the Francis era”, Christopher White, a Vatican observer who writes for the National Catholic Reporter, told the BBC. “Typically, retired cardinals continue to reside in Rome after stepping down from their positions, often remaining active in papal liturgies and ceremonial duties,” he said. “Evicting someone from their Vatican apartment sets a new precedent.”
White warned that the decision could “provoke significant backlash” and deepen divides between the Vatican and the US church, where there is already “fragmentation”.
Cardinal Burke has yet to respond to the news and the BBC has reached out to his office for comment.
The Pope revealed his plan to act against the cardinal at a meeting with heads of Vatican offices last week. His frustration with US detractors who take a more traditional or conservative view on several issues appears to be coming to a boil.
Earlier this month, he fired Joseph Strickland, a conservative Texas bishop who had blasted his attempts to move the church to more liberal positions on abortion, transgender rights and same-sex marriage. The removal followed a church investigation into governance of the diocese.
A few months before, the Pope told members of the Jesuit religious order in Portugal that there was “a very strong, organised, reactionary attitude in the US church”, which he called “backward”, according to the Guardian.
Tensions with Cardinal Burke, who was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI, have been simmering for nearly a decade, with the American prelate openly criticising Pope Francis over both social and liturgical issues.
“Cardinal Burke’s situation seems to stem from his gradual alienation from the Pope,” said White. “It appears the Pope perceives Burke as fostering a cult of personality, centred around traditionalism or regressive ideals. This action seems aimed at limiting Burke’s influence by severing his ties to Rome.”

Most recently, the cardinal held a conference called The Synodal Babel in Rome on the eve of the Pope’s synod, or meeting of bishops, last month.
He also joined fellow conservatives in publishing a “declaration of truths” in 2019 that described the Catholic church as disoriented and confused under Pope Francis, saying that it had moved away from core teachings on divorce, contraception, homosexuality and gender. Notably, he disagreed with the Pope promoting Covid vaccines.
Within church politics, he and Pope Francis were at odds over the firing of the head of the Knights of Malta after the order’s charity branch was found to have distributed condoms in Myanmar.
The Pope, in turn, has demoted Cardinal Burke within the church hierarchy or moved him to posts with less influence over the years.
Michael Matt, a columnist for the right-wing Catholic newspaper The Remnant, wrote that the most recent action taken against Cardinal Burke showed that Pope Francis was “cancelling faithful prelates who offer hierarchical cover to pro-life, pro-family, pro-tradition hardliners”. He accused the Pope of putting critics into “forced isolation”.
(BBC)
Foreign News
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger dies aged 100

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has died at the age 100.
He served as America’s top diplomat and national security adviser during the Nixon and Ford administrations.
In a statement, Kissinger Associates, a political consulting firm he founded, said the German-born former diplomat died at his home in Connecticut but did not give a cause of death.
During his decades long career, Mr Kissinger played a key, and sometimes controversial, role in US foreign and security policy.
Born in Germany in 1973, Kissinger first came to the US in 1938 when his family fled Nazi Germany. He became a US citizen in 1943 and went on to serve three years in the US Army and later in the Counter Intelligence Corps. After earning bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD degrees, he taught international relations at Harvard.
In 1969, then-President Richard Nixon appointed him National Security Adviser, a position which gave him enormous influence over US foreign policy in two administrations.
(BBC)
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