Breaking News 148

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lankan authorities have decided to lift the restriction that was imposed for travel between 11 PM & 4 AM.

Issuing new guidelines, the Health Ministry also elaborated the number of people that can be accommodated at restaurants, weddings, and meetings.

(The Hindu); Billionaire Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group that was chosen to develop a major port terminal project in Sri Lanka, is scheduled to meet President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Colombo on Monday (25), according to official sources in Colombo and New Delhi.

“It is a private visit and Mr. Adani is expected to meet the President to discuss the West Container Terminal project,” a senior official told The Hindu on Sunday (24) night.

The source requested anonymity while confirming the “high profile visit” that is said to include meetings with “top Sri Lankan dignitaries”.

Adani’s visit comes less than a month after the Adani Group, in a virtual ceremony, signed a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) agreement with its Sri Lankan partner in the project John Keells Holdings, and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), to jointly develop the West Container Terminal (WCT) at the Colombo Port.

According to sources in India familiar with the development, Adani “is interested in projects related to ports, power and renewable energy” in Sri Lanka, reported The Hindu.

“Adani will discuss possible projects in these sectors when he meets President Rajapaksa,” a source said, reported The Hindu.

Following Sri Lanka’s controversial decision early this year to scrap a 2019 trilateral agreement with India and Japan to jointly develop the East Container Terminal at the Colombo Port, the Rajapaksa government offered the WCT project as “a compromise”.

According to The Hindu, Unlike in the ECT project envisaged earlier, there is no Indian governmental role in

the WCT project, with the Adani Group entering the picture as a private investor, amid questions from Sri Lankan experts on the apparent lack of transparency in how the investor was chosen.

Confirming the project in a tweet on March 15, 2021, Adani said: “Grateful to the leaders of GoI, GoSL, SLPA & John Keells for the opportunity to build WCT, Colombo. This partnership is a symbol of the deep strategic relations between countries with great intertwined history. It will launch decades of container growth.”

COLOMBO (News 1st); Lanka IOC has decided to increase fuel prices with effect from midnigt on Thursday (21).

92 Octane by Rs. 5/-
Auto Diesel by Rs. 5/-

COLOMBO (News 1st); Farmers in Ridiyagama, Hambantota have recently decided not to release water from the Ridiyagama Reservoir for cultivation this season due to the lack of fertilizer.

The farmers pointed out that water is being wasted due to the fact that farmers have not yet started cultivating in their fields.

They emphasized that cultivation will only commence after they have been provided with fertilizer.

Farmers in the Medamulana and Attanayala areas in the Udayala Agrarian Services Division in Hambantota also protested, stating that they too are in a dire situation without fertilizer.

Meanwhile, farmers in Madatugama, Kekirawa also staged a protest demanding fertilizer and agrochemicals for the Maha season.

Farmers of the Madatugama Movement in Kandalama and many organizations including the Kalkiriyagama Farmers’ Organization participated in the protest.

Meanwhile, another farmers’ protest was held in the Dambagolla paddy field in Mahiyanganaya today morning.

For months, Farmers across many areas in Sri Lanka have been protesting against the

shortage of fertilizer in the country.

The ban on chemical fertilisers — widely used in the tea and rice industries — was opposed by farmers who staged protests after reporting failing vegetable crops as existing stocks began to run out within weeks.

The promulgated regulation restricting and banning the import of fertilizers and agrochemicals is leading to widespread concern among Sri Lanka’s farmer community, industry associations, practitioners, and agricultural professionals.

The Sri Lankan Government has also decided only to use organic fertilizer in the country and plans on importing organic fertilizer from overseas.

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka may be a small island compared to China, Russia, the US or India, yet if Sri Lanka develops expertise, the country would be equal to all other countries when it comes to cyber-warfare, said BJP strongman Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday (13).

There is no such thing called a ‘Big Country’ or a ‘Small Country’ in the new domain & new structure of national security, especially when it comes to cyber-warfare, he said.

He said if Sri Lanka takes on the determination to be a cyberwar capable country in the next 15 years, Sir Lanka will become one of the world powers.

‘The problem with cyber warfare is, you just don’t know where they are. Today, if a rocket is fired you can track it. But, in cyber warfare you have absolutely no idea until someone claims responsibility for it,” said the BJP MP adding there is no longer a frontline or captured territory in cyber-warfare.

Sri Lanka must have an objective to develop cyber tools and use it for its defense, he said.

Subramanian Swamy said that China was responsible for the March 2021, two-hour blackout in Bombay (Mumbai).

“Don’t push us too hard, or the lights will go out again, was the Chinese announcement,” said Subramanian Swamy.

As a priority, Sri Lanka must have cyber security, with its new area on currency as well, as currency like Bitcoin have made governments irrelevant, he said.

“When it comes to cyber currency, there is no way that a government can control it. Yet, people have already started making billions from it. That capacity of its misuse is enormous,” he added noting that it is the same with cyber technology, where if it falls into the hands of a terrorist, there will be no way of knowing where they are attacking from.

The education you get should be more oriented toward learning about cyber warfare, said Subramanian Swamy.

“We need to give up the concept of Big-Strong nations, Global Powers, and so on. These wars may be bilateral. But multilateral wars with cyber-warfare will mean the end of the earth,” he added, noting there will be no way to save the earth, though we survived during World War 1 and 2.

“World War 3 will be the last war we will ever be fighting if it happens,” he warned.

Countries must get together and pool resources to develop each other’s cyber warfare capabilities or intelligence capability including education, he added.

“A Prime Minister should not be a person who does not understand cyber warfare. He needs to be well aware,” he said commenting on global leadership, adding future politicians must also be aware.

Subramanian Swamy, an economist, said if Sri Lanka makes the correct economic policies, the resources will not be a problem.

Sri Lanka must be cyber technology savvy to survive as a nation, or you will be at the mercy of those who are, said the BJP Strongman.

“I don’t think the 21st Century Security should worry you. We are potentially able to develop a system that is superior to everybody else,” he remarked.

COLOMBO (News 1st); An on going project inside the Muthurajawela Wetlands was suspended on Tuesday (12), following a News 1st Expose’.

The development projects spans across a 30 acre areas in the wetlands and several constructions including a small wewa, canals, access roads and bridges have been built.

The Director Genera of the Urban Development Authority said the project went ahead with UDA approval, however, following a News 1st report,it was decided to commence an immediate inquiry into the project.

A senior source at the Lands Development Corporation told News 1st that the project was suspended pending inquiry.