News

Lanka Sathosa has decided to drop the prices of five essential items with effect from the 22nd of September 2022.

Sathosa has revised the prices of the following products:

1. Imported Big Onions (1 kg)

New Price: Rs. 150/- - Old Price: Rs. 175/-

2. White Sugar (1 kg)

New Price: Rs. 278/-  - Old Price: Rs. 285/-

3. Imported White Kekulu Rice (1 kg)

New Price: Rs. 179/- - Old Price: Rs. 185/-

4. Imported Nadu Rice (1 kg)

New Price: Rs. 185/- - Old Price: Rs. 194/-

5. Imported Dhal (1 kg)

New Price: Rs. 415/- - Old Price: Rs. 429/-

The visiting hours of the Colombo Lotus Tower have been amended for the public from tomorrow (20), the Colombo Lotus Tower Management Company announced.

Head of the Company Major General (Retired) Prasad Samarasinghe said thereby, the Lotus Tower will be open to the public from 12 noon to 10.00 pm on weekdays from tomorrow.

He further said that the Lotus Tower will be open to the public from 10.00 am to 11.00 pm on weekends.

Sections of the Colombo Lotus Tower, also known as Nelum Kuluna, were declared open to the public on 15th September.

An income of Rs 7.5 million has been earned within the first 3 days since the opening of the Lotus Tower in Colombo.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that a special book exhibition including books and documents of rare and historical value that have been taken from Sri Lanka to foreign countries, is expected to be organized in conjunction with the 75th Independence Commemoration.

The President said this when he joined the 23rd Colombo National Book Fair at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall premises this morning (22).

The President also said that he hopes to obtain the support of the Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association for the Independence Commemorative Book Exhibition.

The President, who arrived at the book exhibition this morning, was received by the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association, Mr. Samantha Indivara and group.

Sri Lanka Foundation Chairman Saman Athaudahetti, members of the Book Publishers Association, Vijitha Yapa, H.D. Premasiri, Ariyadasa Weeraman and Atula Jayakody were also present on this occasion.

This year’s book fair includes over 400 booths of local and foreign book publishers and the president visited the booths and observed them, while engaging in conversation with the book publishers and writers.

The President also interacted with the public who were present at the book fair.

A income of Rs 7.5 million has been earned within the first 3 days since opening the Lotus Tower in Colombo to the public, the Chief Administrative Officer of the Colombo Lotus Tower Company said.

During the first 3 days, about 14,000 people have visited the Colombo Lotus Tower, retired Major General Prasad Samarasinghe further said.

He also added that the time slot allowed for people to visit the Tower has also been extended since Saturday (17).

Accordingly, public can now visit to view the tower from 12:00 pm to 11:00 p.m. However, tickets will be issued only until 10:00 pm.

The first consignment of rice from an Australian donation totaling AUD22 million (approximately USD15 million) arrived in Sri Lanka and will soon be distributed to those most affected by the ongoing economic crisis

The consignment, consisting of 600 metric tonnes of rice, forms part of a larger consignment of rice, pulses and cooking oil, due to arrive in the country soon.

“Australia and Sri Lanka share many decades of friendship, and this latest contribution is an extension of our goodwill during this unprecedented crisis,” said Paul Stephens, Australia’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. “We are supporting WFP to provide life-saving food to people who are struggling with price increases, job losses and reduced incomes”.

“Australia was the first to contribute to WFP’s emergency response, enabling us to kick-off much needed assistance to those hard-hit by the ongoing crisis,” said Abdur Rahim Siddiqui, WFP Sri Lanka’s Representative and Country Director. “Through Australia’s generous donation, we are providing cash and in-kind food to the most vulnerable, including pregnant and breastfeeding women and school children,” he added.

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis has increased the level of food insecurity and recent WFP surveys show the situation could deteriorate further in the coming months without urgent assistance. Launched in June, WFP’s emergency response aims to help 3.4 million of those most at risk.

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe accompanied by his wife Prof. Maithree Wickremesinghe and SL Ambassador Saroja Sirisena paid their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall, London.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe met Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Rt. Patricia Scotland QC yesterday (20), during his visit to the United Kingdom (UK) to attend the State Funeral Service of the Late HM Queen Elizabeth II.

They discussed Sri Lanka’s engagement with the Commonwealth Secretariat and matters of mutual interest.

President Wickremesinghe also attended a reception hosted by the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs the Rt. James Cleverly, MP at the Church House on September 18.

The events also provided the opportunity for the President to interact with world leaders.

The Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera says that every paddy farmer will be given a bundle of 50 kg of urea fertilizer for free in the upcoming harvest season.

He stated that the proposal received the President's approval.

Joining a small-scale agribusiness program held in Agunukolapalasse on Saturday (17), the Minister said that bundle will be provided to farmers with less than 2.5 acres of farmland.

Sri Lanka Cricket’s Executive Committee says it has come to a mutual agreement with Tom Moody, who was functioning as the “Director of Cricket,” to exit from his contract with immediate effect.

The Executive Committee of the SLC, after much deliberation, was of the opinion that Tom Moody’s services are no longer required as he was directly reporting to the Technical Advisory Committee, which has ceased to exist now.

Moody’s appointment as the Director of Cricket, effective March 1, 2021, was made based on a recommendation by the Technical Advisory Committee of the SLC.

Sri Lanka Cricket also expressed gratitude Moody for his contribution to the game of cricket in Sri Lanka during his tenure.

Speaking in this regard, Moody commented, “It was a privilege to service SLC again and I’m proud of what I managed to achieve during my term with the guidance of the Technical Advisory Committee.”

President Ranil Wickremesinghe says that cricket team captain Dasun Shanaka and the team took advantage of their defeats and made themselves stronger to advance forward to the Asian Cup.

The President, speaking further, said that it is not difficult to lead the country towards victory in the face of the world if the team continues to think in the same way.

The President also pointed out that working together as a team helped them to win.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe was addressing the felictation ceremony held for the Sri Lankan athletes who won their respective Asia-level wins; the Cricket team and the team which won the Asian Netball Championship, in addition to the medalists of Commonwealth Games.

Meanwhile, at the request of Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe, Sri Lanka Cricket took steps to present Rs. 2 million to each player in the Netball team symbolizing its support towards the sport.

Sri Lanka won 4 medals in the 22nd Commonwealth Games held recently in Birmingham, Britain.

Palitha Bandara won the silver medal in the discus throw event in the para sports category, while Yupun Abeykoon won the 100m event, Nethmi Ahimsa Poruthota in the women's 57kg wrestling competition and Dilanka Isuru Kumara won the bronze medals in the weightlifting 55kg category.

The silver medalist was awarded Rs.10 million from the sports fund, each bronze medalist was awarded Rs. 05 million and their coaches were awarded 25% of the same value.

News 1st

The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has approved power cuts for 1 hour and 20 minutes for the next two days.

PUCSL Chairman Janaka Ratnayake said that the power cuts will be enforced between 6.00 pm – 10.00 pm on Tuesday (20) and Wednesday (21).

Thereby, power cuts for 1 hour and 20 minutes will be enforced for Groups A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, and W during this period.

Gautam Adani became the world's second richest person today, but only for a brief period. The tycoon surpassed Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and Louis Vuitton's Bernard Arnault to grab the second spot with a net worth $154.7 billion, showed Forbes' real-time billionaires list, before he was pushed back to the third position by Arnault.

Elon Musk remains the richest person with a net worth of 273.5 billion.

Last month too, Mr Adani had overtaken Arnault to grab the third spot, but was behind Musk and Bezos. This time he overtook Bezos for a brief period.

With him occupying the second spot, Arnault was pushed to the third with his family's net worth falling to $153.5 billion as it slumped by $4.9 billion. He has reoccupied the position with his wealth totalling $152.8 billion though it fell further.

Mr Adani's wealth, meanwhile, slumped to $151.3 billion as his gains were slash to $1.1 billion from over $4 billion, and he settled at the third position.

Bezos stands fourth with a wealth of $149.7 that declined by $2.3 billion.

Mukesh Ambani, who heads the Reliance Industries Ltd, is at the eighth spot and is worth $92 billion.

Mr Adani, a first-generation entrepreneur, heads the Adani Group which comprises of seven publicly listed companies spanning infrastructure, mining, energy, and other sectors.

Over the past five years, Adani Enterprises has invested heavily in new growth sectors including airports, cement, copper refining, data centres, green hydrogen, petrochemical refining, roads and solar cell manufacturing.

NDTV 

It also plans to foray into the telecom space and has massive plans to grow its green hydrogen and airports businesses.

Adani Group has also committed $70 billion for green energy infrastructure.