RJ Saksi - Media Professional

Indian Premier League ( ) 2024 Player Auction list announced--Auction in Dubai on December 19th, 2023.

Out of 333 players, 214 are Indians and 119 are overseas players of which 2 players are from associate nations.

INR 2 crore is the highest reserve price with 23 players choosing to be slotted in the highest bracket. 13 players are in the auction list with a base price of INR 1.5 crore.

08 Sri Lankan players included in the IPL roster:
1 Wanindu Hasaranga
2 Kusal Mendis
3 Dushmantha Chameera
4 Dilshan Madushanka
5 Dasun Shanaka
6 Charith Asalanka
7 Lahiru Kumara
8 Nuwan Thushara

Train service from to to be suspended for 06 months!

Update: The power supply has been restored to some areas in the northern part of the Western province; Specially in hospitals & some part of Southern Province - CEB

Net Blocks reports Internet connectivity in being disrupted due to the Nation wide power outage.

Metrics show a decline in internet connectivity across Sri Lanka as the country suffers a widespread power outage; the incident, caused by a 'system failure' per authorities, has left national connectivity at 72% of ordinary levels!

Moreover - Internet services are often still functional during a power outage, provided you have an alternative power source for your internet equipment. Internet service providers (ISPs) use backup power generators and batteries to keep internet infrastructure running during a power outage.

An islandwide power failure reported due to a system failure; full power supply will be restored within two to three hours CEB said.

The government is open to reconsidering the list of items to which Value-Added Tax (VAT) will be applied from January next year, Finance Ministry.

Government is prepared to reassess the inclusion of 97 out of the 138 items; Proposed to remove VAT exemptions except from education, healthcare and certain essential food items.

The State Minister revealed that the government expects to generate an income of Rs.378 billion through the revision of the list of goods exempt from VAT.

The government has increased the VAT rate by 3% to 18% with effect from January 1, 2024.

The International Monetary Fund ( ) is poised to issue a statement in the upcoming weeks, signalling ’s exit from bankruptcy - President!

However, the President underscored that, for sustained economic stability, a departure from outdated economic methods is imperative.

He further cautioned against the implementation of conventional economic strategies, emphasizing that without adopting innovative approaches, the risk of a recurrent economic crisis looms over the nation within the next decade.

President Wickremesinghe additionally emphasized that global financial entities have acknowledged Sri Lanka’s remarkable and swift recovery from economic challenges, particularly in comparison to countries facing bankruptcy amid the global economic recession.

🔴 The Ceylon Electricity Board ( ) issued Red notices to over 5 million consumers; CEB pointing out that the disconnection rate is not unusual compared to pre-Covid years.

CEB officials said - Red bill is given after one month, in addition to that, a grace period of 10 days is given after red bills are issued, following which consumers are informed of the electricity being disconnected-- majority of consumers pay their electricity bills on time.

The CEB revealed that 544,488 disconnections and power reconnections have been made in the first 10 months of this year.

Highest cases reported after three years; 1000 reported in last 3 days!

As of December 05, a total of 78,022 cases have been reported in 2023, with the highest number being from the district, which stood at 16,509.

The has registered 36,480 cases, the highest province-wise, which represents over 47% of the total cases.

Meanwhile, has recorded 46 Dengue-related deaths.

GCE O/L 2022 (2023) EXAM Results out!

will be revised with effect from midnight today!

• Petrol 92 reduced by Rs.10 per litre to Rs.346,
• Octane 95 increased by Rs.3 to Rs.426,
• Auto Diesel reduced by Rs.27 to Rs.329
• Super Diesel increased by Rs.3 to Rs.434
• Kerosene reduced by Rs.2 to Rs.247

will start deleting inactive accounts & Files from December 1st!

This is a planned move that Google announced back in May, with the company explaining that accounts that haven’t been active for two years will face deletion.

That includes wiping all content associated with an account, which could be Drive, Google Photos and Docs files.

Sri Lanka's first facility to be built at Ambuluwawa!

scraps world-first smoking ‘generation ban’ to fund tax cuts!

The legislation, introduced under the previous Jacinda Ardern-led government, would have banned cigarette sales next year to anyone born after 2008.

Since 2004, countries including Norway, New Zealand, Uruguay, Malta, Italy, Sweden, Scotland, Bhutan, Lithuania, and the British Virgin Islands have gone smoke-free, protecting the health of millions by banning smoking in public places.

Meantime, A ban on smoking for future generations was subsequently proposed in the United Kingdom

Minister of Tourism Harin Fernando has been appointed as Sri Lanka’s new Minister of Sports & Youth affairs!

In addition to the new appointment as the Sports Minister, Harin Fernando will continue to hold his ministerial portfolios of Torusim and Land.

Minister Harin Fernando previously served as the Minister of Sports from 2019 – 2020, during which time he was commended by the ICC for tackling corruption in cricket.

He was commended for working hard to bring legislation in Parliament making corruption in sports a crime where corruptors could end up in jail. Thus, making Sri Lanka the first Asian nation to legalize corruption in sports as a punishable offence.

’s removed by President Ranil Wickremesinghe. This followed weeks of political and administrative chaos in cricket leading to ICC suspending the country’s cricket board.

“Letter removing Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe from his Ministerial & other posts have been sent to the Minister” Senior official in the President’s office.

Meantime, "President is trying to frame me. My life is at risk, I may be killed today or tomorrow. If something were to happen to me, the President and his advisor Sagala Ratnayake should be held responsible" Sports Minister said earlier today.

BEAST MOOD ON 🔥 PM Takes Sortie On Tejas Aircraft In Bengaluru!

Presidential, Parliamentary elections will be held next year: President!

Both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections will be held next year, President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced!!

He told Parliament that the Provincial Council and Local Government elections could be held in 2025.

Meantime, President said - "I will not postpone any of the elections"

The GCE A/L Examination 2023 will be held as scheduled from 4 – 31 January 2024, the Ministry of Education announced today.

Issuing a statement, the Ministry said that the petition which was filed before the Supreme Court, calling for the postponement of the examination, was withdrawn by the petitioner today (Nov 22).

The Ministry said, therefore, that the examination will be held as planned in January next year.

⭕️ : Many post offices opened 24/7 to pay fines!

Steps have been taken to operate 13 postal offices in the Western Province 24/7 to enable the public to pay their traffic fines even at night.

Accordingly, the postal offices in Slave Island, Havelock Town, Wellawatte, Borella, Kotahena, Battaramulla, Nugegoda, Dehiwala, Mount Lavinia, Moratuwa, Panadura, Kalutara, and Seethawakapura will operate around the clock for this purpose.

The Postal Department further said that the respective post offices will only accept fines outside working hours.

📢 Ministry updates for Students: The results of the 2022 GCE O/L Examinations will be released in the next few days, Ministry of Education.

Moreover, All necessary preparations have been made to hold the 2023 GCE A/L Examinations which will be conducted in November this year.

The Grade 5 Scholarship Re-Correction
Application is open from November 27 to December 4, 2023; Submit Your Application Online through your School Principal.

suspension cannot be lifted; BUT in the country will continue as normal - Board members!

Moreover, ICC has moved the Under 19 World Cup to South Africa from -- The decision has been taken by the ICC board in view of the administrative uncertainty in Sri Lanka Cricket,

After a detailed deliberations, the board has decided to uphold the November 10 decision to suspend the SLC. The board said that while cricket involving the island team will continue uninterrupted, the suspension, however, will not be overturned.

SLC Sammi Silva attended the board meeting, held at ITC Narmada in Ahmedabad today.

⭕️ 2023 Grade five scholarship exam: Cut-off marks released!

announces that support is coming to next year; but will keep iMessage exclusive!

RCS vs. SMS: What's the difference?

The key difference between RCS and SMS is that SMS sends messages over the cellular network, while RCS content requires data connectivity before it can be transmitted. In some situations where data connectivity is not available, it's still possible to send and receive SMS-supported messages. With the expansion of LTE and 5G, however, internet connectivity is plentiful in most areas, enabling a feature-rich service.

As a result, RCS is considered by many to be a more convenient and wide-ranging communications platform than SMS and even other OTT counterparts, like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Telegram

Meantime, RCS has been available through major U.S. carriers since 2019. Global carriers began offering RCS in 2022. Smartphones running Android OS 5.0 and higher can access RCS; users can enable or disable RCS chats via Settings > Chat features. From here, simply toggle the Enable chat features on to enable RCS.

Grade 5 Examination 2023 results released & can be viewed on www.doenets.lk

https://www.doenets.lk/examresults

🔴 Value Added Tax to be increased from 15-18% -- It will be imposed on 100 items that were NOT previously taxed!

The much-awaited will be presented today!

❌ suspends Sri Lanka with immediate effect!

SLC Crisis: Court of Appeal Issuing the order to Suspended for 14 days the functions of the SLC interim committee appointed by the Sports Minister.

to increase to 18% in 2024 to meet IMF revenue targets!

QR code replaces chip on driving cards; Demerit points system for traffic offences has also been included in the smart driving licenses!

Will Attend Landmark Safety Summit Today!

Now use 2 WhatsApp accounts simultaneously on WhatsApp--Multiple Accounts features Coming to

Domestic prices have been revised with effect from today - Ceylon Petroleum Corporation!

gears up for 's fastest format as Inaugural LANKA set to kick off with player Auction!

Public warned of rise in cases!

approves -free entry for visitors from , 06 other countries. Details here👇🏻