Passport office resumes operations after system failure

COLOMBO (News 1st) – The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has approved power cuts of 2 hours and 20 minutes on 05th December as follows;Groups ABCDEFGHIJKLPQRSTUVW: 1-hour during daytime 1-hour 20-minutes during the night

COLOMBO (News 1st) – The Department of Meteorology says that several spells of showers will occur in Northern, Eastern and North-Central provinces.Showers or thundershowers will occur elsewhere during the afternoon or night.Fairly heavy showers above 75mm are likely at some places in Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in Kandy, Nuwara-Eliya, Galle and Matara districts.The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.Condition of Rain:Showers or thundershowers will occur in several places in the sea areas off the coast extending from Batticaloa to Pottuvil. Showers or thundershowers will occur in the other sea areas around the island during the afternoon or night.Winds:Winds will be north-easterly and speed will be (25-35) kmph.State of Sea:The sea areas around the island will be slight to moderate.Temporarily strong gusty winds and very rough seas can be expected during thundershowers.

Health insurance aims to protect against uncertain... moreHealth insurance aims to protect against uncertain risks and meet health emergency requirements.

People who get Covid after being vaccinated three times tend to display similar symptoms, medical experts have discovered.

Social Work staff from justice services and representatives from Police Scotland, NHS, Education, Housing and third sector gathered at Motherwell Concert Hall recently for the first in-person Justice Conference since 2019.

STRICTLY Come Dancing fans think the right person was eliminated tonight as Kym Marsh became the tenth celebrity to leave the ballroom. The former Coronation Street actress, 43, was given a bye last week after falling ill with Covid, but despite being back to full health, Kym and pro partner Graziano di Prima were sent home after a dance-off with Molly Rainford and Carlos Gu. CBBC star Molly performed a Charleston to Hot Honey Rag from the musical Chicago, while Kym performed a Cha Cha to Fame from the musical Fame.

Covid-19 update: The death toll has climbed to 5,30,6278 with one fatality being reported from Odisha, data updated at 8 am stated. India has logged 226 new Covid infections in a day taking the tally of cases to 4.46 crore while active caseload has declined by 68 to reach 4,529, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

We LOVE Marie Osmond! And Perez does NOT love this basic yellow American mustard!

Kym Marsh has become the tenth celebrity booted off Strictly Come Dancing after battling Molly Rainford in the dance-off. The Coronation Street star faced the axe alongside her professional partner Graziano Di Prima after an intense dance-off with the CBBC star and pro Carlos Gu.

Colombo (News 1st) – There is a rapid increase in the rate of Colorectal Cancer among both men and women across the country, the Sri Lanka College of Oncologists raised the alarm on Saturday (Dec. 03). "In Sri Lanka, the number of Cancer cases detected per year is increasing.

The World Health organization (WHO) estimated that 9% of the world population now had some resistance to Covid-19, but warned that a troubling new variant could still emerge. "WHO estimates that at least 90 percent of the world's population now has some level of immunity to SARS-CoV-2, due to prior infection or vaccination," said Tedros, referring to the virus that causes Covid-19 disease. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said gaps in vigilance were leaving the door open for a new virus variant to appear and overtake the globally dominant Omicron.

Health experts are investigating cases of Strep A infection after the deaths of six young children and a rise in cases.

STRICTLY star Kym Marsh is returning for the Quarter Finals TONIGHT after she was forced to miss last's live show week due to Covid. Actress Kym Marsh, 46, began training again this week and will return to Strictly Come Dancing as she and pro partner Graziano, 28, perform a Cha Cha Cha for Musicals Week tonight. Meanwhile, former frontrunner Hamza Yassin's odds of winning Strictly 2022 have fallen away as new data reveals he’s no longer the show's favourite star.

GOOD Morning Britain host Kate Garraway gave an emotional update on Derek Draper's health this morning. The 55-year-old star appeared on Lorraine Kelly's show with co-host Ben Shephard when she opened up about her husband. Derek was taken to intensive care with Covid in March 2020 and only allowed home in April the following year.

(Reuters) – International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday that she will travel to Beijing next week with heads of other international institutions to press for quicker action on debt relief for poor and developing countries.The meetings with the country's leadership will focus on China's economic, COVID-19 and debt relief policies and will include officials from China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China, the IMF said."This is the first time, hopefully, we will be able to sit together and discuss the very pressing issues that China, and the world are faced with," Georgieva told the Reuters NEXT conference.Georgieva said that during the Beijing meetings she intends to discuss ways to accelerate China's participation in debt relief for poor and developing countries as the world's largest official bilateral creditor."I am very hopeful that when we have a chance next week to discuss these issues, we will continue on a path of finding better solutions and strengthening the capacity of the common framework to deliver," she said, referring to G20 countries' slow-to-launch common debt restructuring framework.World Bank President David Malpass told the conference that he would join the discussions in Beijing, along with officials from the World Trade Organization, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and others.Georgieva and Malpass have both called for reforms of the common framework to offer heavily indebted countries a freeze in debt service payments when they apply for debt relief and clearer timelines for reaching agreement on debt treatments.Asked if China's slowing growth would limit its appetite for agreeing to debt reductions, Georgieva said she hoped

A new study has revealed that teenagers had a tremendous impact on their mental health due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The findings claimed that pandemic-related stressors have physically aged the brains of adolescents.

COLOMBO (News 1st) – Parliamentarian & Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka told Parliament on Friday (2) that the project to dig trenches as a solution to the Human-Elephant Conflict is a failure.Sarath Fonseka said that a ruling party MP from Ampara had proposed for trenches to be dug as a solution to the human-elephant conflict.Fonseka said warned that digging up a trench that is 10 feet wide and 10 feet deep would pose a direct threat to the river systems in the country.He added that even though the Department of Wildlife Conservation had not approved the project on technicalities, a 55-kilometer-long trench has been dug up, and the allegation is that the project is being used to illegally remove soil and sand.His comments were met with strong opposition from the ruling party in the house.

COLOMBO (News 1st) – IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva told Reuters Next on Friday (2) that changes to the G20 Common Framework on debt restructuring were needed to speed up debt treatments, freeze debt service payments once a country requested help, and open the process to middle-income countries like Sri Lanka."We are concerned that there is a risk for confidence in debt resolution to be eroded at a time when the level of debt is very high," Georgieva said."We don't see at this point … a risk of a systemic debt crisis," she said, adding that countries in debt distress were not large enough to trigger a crisis that would threaten financial stability.Source: Reuters

COLOMBO (News 1st) – The 3rd term for all Government & Government-approved schools will commence on Monday (5).The Education Ministry's Additional Secretary for School Affairs Lalitha Egodawala speaking to News 1st said that the 2nd term concluded on Thursday (1) and Friday (2) was declared a holiday for all schools.Christmas holidays for schools will commence on the 22nd of December, and schools will re-open on the 2nd of January 2023.Thereafter, schools will close for a month from 20th January to 20th February 2023 for the G.C.E.

COLOMBO (News 1st) – Sri Lanka's State Ministry of Higher Education says the cut-off marks for university entrance based on the results of the recent A/L examination will be released today (2). The Ministry further said that it has planned to enrol 44,000 students in the universities this year based on the cut-off marks.Over 85,000 students applied for admission to state universities this year.The selected students are scheduled to start their academic activities in each university in January 2023.

COLOMBO (News 1st) – The Chairman of Sri Lanka Thriposha Ltd Deepthi Kularatne says Thriposha production resumed after suitable stocks of maize were made available.Nearly, 60,000 triposha packets are being produced by the company daily and are being distributed across the country.He further said that the production of triphosha products for mothers will continue.

COLOMBO (News 1st) – The Department of Meteorology says that showers or thundershowers will occur in Northern and Eastern provinces and in the Hambanthota district.Showers or thundershowers will occur elsewhere during the afternoon or night.Fairly heavy showers above 75mm are likely at some places in Western, Sabaragamuwa and Central provinces and in Galle and Matara districts.The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.Condition of Rain:Showers or thundershowers will occur at times in the sea areas off the coast extending from Puttalam to Pottuvil via Kankasanturai, Trincomalee and Batticaloa. Showers or thundershowers will occur in the other sea areas during the afternoon or night.Winds:Winds will be north-easterly and wind speed will be (20-30) kmph.State of Sea:The sea areas around the island will be slight.Temporarily strong gusty winds and very rough seas can be expected during thundershowers.

COLOMBO (News 1st) – Fitch Ratings has downgraded Sri Lanka's Long-Term Local-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'CC', from 'CCC', and has affirmed the Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR at 'RD' (Restricted Default). Fitch typically does not assign Outlooks to ratings of 'CCC+' or below.Fitch has also removed the Long-Term Local-Currency IDR from Under Criteria Observation, on which it was placed on 14 July 2022, following the publication of the updated Sovereign Rating Criteria.A full list of rating actions is at the end of this rating action commentary.KEY RATING DRIVERS:Challenging Domestic Financing Outlook: Sri Lanka continues to service its local-currency debt, but the downgrade of the Long-Term Local-Currency IDR reflects our view that a local-currency debt default is probable, in view of an untenably high domestic interest payment/revenue ratio, high interest costs, tight domestic financing conditions and rising local-currency debt/GDP in the context of high domestic fiscal financing requirements, which authorities forecast at about 8% of GDP in 2022.According to authorities, domestic interest payments in 8M22 were LKR718.8 billion, taking the domestic interest/revenue ratio to an estimated 56% in 8M22; the highest among sovereigns rated 'CCC+' and below.

COLOMBO (News 1st) – Sri Lanka's Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda said recently (29) that due to the fuel crisis, steps will be taken to introduce electric motor boats for fishermen from next year.The Minister mentioned this at the meeting of the Ministerial Consultative Committee on fisheries in Parliament.The minister pointed out that it is expected to introduce electric motor boats that can travel 100 kilometres using batteries and the cost is only 86 rupees per day to fishermen engaged in small-scale fishing.The Minister also mentioned that attention has also been paid to providing electricity generation facilities through solar panels and wind turbines for boats using kerosene and diesel.State Minister of Fisheries Piyal Nishantha, mentioned that a special mobile service is being implemented successfully by the ministry to solve the problems faced by the fishermen.

COLOMBO (News 1st) – Sri Lanka's President, Prime Minister, Speaker and other public representatives stood in unity with the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus for Global Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) on Thursday (1).A wristband given to Parliamentarians with the message “Let’s Unite to end Gender Based Violence” as a sign of support.

NEW DELHI : National AIDS toll-free helpline, lifetime free ART services and regular viral load monitoring for PLHIV are some of the steps taken by the government to strengthen HIV/AIDS and STD response, said Union Minister of state for Health and Family Welfare, Bharati Pravin Pawar on Thursday.  Addressing the World AIDS Day celebrations, the minister said that the World AIDS Day is an opportunity to show solidarity with people living with HIV (PLHIV) and create awareness for the same. “The theme of this year’s World AIDS Day is ‘Equalize’, which is a slogan for a call to action for all connected with this crusade.

COLOMBO (News 1st) – Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that a bill on gender equality and women's empowerment will be submitted to Parliament soon and he also instructed the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus to prepare the bill. The President emphasized that women's representation should be increased not only in the Parliament but also in other sectors and the public sector as well as the private sector should focus their attention in this regard. The President pointed out that the representation of women in the First Council of Sri Lanka was 2% and 91 years after universal suffrage, the representation of women in the current parliament is only 5.3%. President Ranil Wickremesinghe made these observations by joining the Committee Stage Debate on the budget proposal for the financial year 2023 in parliament on Thursday (01). Statement issued by the President's Media Division:“I expect to speak especially on the Ministry under me. We thank the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus for commencing a 16-day campaign against Gender-Based Violence (GBV). It was in 1931 that Sri Lankans got the universal franchise.

Sarah Beeny has been inundated with supportive messages from fans today after she shared a positive update following her recent cancer diagnosis.The 50-year-old shared a selfie of her wearing a purple woolly hat as she enjoyed a walk out in the open.Alongside the post, she revealed she was feeling more "human" following a recent picture of her back in hospital for treatment.She wrote: "It may be cold but WHAT a beautiful morning!!"One of my very fav hats I’ve been given and feeling human! You were right - it does pass!"Many of the presenter's 245,000 followers flocked to her post to comment.Zara Tindall's hug with Mike on I’m A Celeb questioned by Ant and DecSusieqbach typed: "Hang on in there, Sarah. Looking marvelous, out there using all your senses, smell that air, hear those birds, see those views."Shelleylilburne wrote: "Very cute hat...

COLOMBO (News 1st)- Sri Lanka's Public Security Secretary S. Hettiarachchi expects to deploy the Police Special Task Force to crack down on drugs and underworld criminal activity."Prisons are reaching maximum capacity because of the rising number of drug users.

Stephen Robinson insists St Mirren will “play their part” in protecting players from developing dementia after they’ve retired.

COLOMBO (News 1st) – Sri Lanka Police raided a gambling den operated by a ruling party member of the Medagama Pradeshiya Sabha, and arrested eight people. The police noted that the suspect local government member was operating the gambling den in a car park owned by him.

A Scottish woman ended up with 28 cats after being unable to get her pets neutered during the coronavirus pandemic.

The owner of an equine training centre in Highland Perthshire – who spent 20 years leading mountain expeditions across the world – says her enterprise is starting to kick on after she bought the land for her business just days before the first Covid pandemic lockdown.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday he has tested positive for COVID-19 at the Group of 20 meetings in Bali, just days after hosting many world leaders, including President Joe Biden, for a summit in Phnom Penh. In a posting on his Facebook page, the Cambodian leader said that he had tested positive Monday night and that the test had been confirmed by an Indonesian physician on Tuesday morning. He said he was returning to Cambodia and was canceling his meetings at the G-20 as well as the following APEC economic forum in Bangkok.

COLOMBO (News 1st) – The Director General of the Police Special Investigations Unit has been ordered by the Inspector General of Police to conduct a special probe regarding the activities of the Chief Police Inspector of Panadura South Police.The IGP has ordered to conduct a special probe with regard to the incident in which a female Police officer was grabbed by the neck and manhandled by a male officer while enroute to arrest several female protestors involved in a mothers' protest march in Panadura on Saturday (12).Police Media Spokesperson SSP Nihal Talduwa pointed out that the Police respects the rights enshrined in the Constitution, which ensures the right to freedom of assembly and the right to freedom of expression. Moreover, he stressed that the Police continously emphasize on protecting the rights of women, and the special probe will also focus on whether the female Police officer was wronged in this regard. Future action will be taken in accordance with the recommendations made by the Director of the Special Investigations Unit, SSP Thalduwa added.

A rogue property dealer pocketed £100,000 from a house sale after buying it with a government Covid loan his companies weren’t eligible for.

LINO LAKES, Minn. (FOX 9) - Today, 21-month-old Gabi is a happy and healthy girl who loves playing with her big sister and her parents.

COLOMBO (News 1st) – A special meeting was held in Parliament to discuss the draft bill for the establishment of the Budget Office of the Parliament.The special meeting was attended by the Party leaders and members of the Committee on Parliamentary Business.    The Members of Parliament who were present had a lengthy discussion on the draft bill related to the establishment of the budget office of the parliament. Also, it was decided to meet again in two weeks after further study of this bill.

I'M A Celebrity viewers turned on Babatúndé Aléshé after saying he believed a bonkers conspiracy theory about the Covid vaccine - before making a VERY quick U-turn. The Celebrity Gogglebox star was having a frank discussion with Matt Hancock MP about rumours that swirled during the coronavirus pandemic. Babatunde told Matt: “I’m a conspiracy theorist.

I'm A Celebrity campmate Mike Tindall is reportedly being investigated for potentially breaching the show's strict Covid-19 rules.

MIKE Tindall has been investigated over breaching I'm A Celeb's strict Covid rules by playfully tackling an assistant producer, it has been revealed. The former England Rugby ace, who is married to the late-Queen's granddaughter Zara Philips, could have broken ITV rules that dictate cast and crew members must remain at least two meters apart at all times.

Ulrika Jonsson, 55, paid tribute to her daughter today as she turned 22 by sharing a sweet message on Instagram.The Gladiators star has previously opened up about Bo Jonsson’s heartbreaking health struggles. In view of her 204,000 followers, Ulrika shared a moving video montage including different pictures of Bo throughout her life to the tune of Harry Styles’ song As It Was.She captioned the sweet snaps: “My darling girl. 22 today!“How you got this far in life remains a mystery but is definitely a miracle of hope and medicine.“You’re determined; wilful; obstinate.

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! star Olivia Attwood was apparently not forced to leave the ITV show for Covid reasons, despite previous reports claiming otherwise.The celeb shocked viewers when she left the Australian-based series within the first 24 hours of arriving. The Love Island star entered the jungle last Sunday alongside the likes of Boy George, and radio DJ Chris Moyles, and quickly made an impact on fans.During her brief time on the show, Olivia was tipped as a possible Queen of the jungle, but fans were soon left disappointed after ITV confirmed she had to exit the show on medical grounds.On Monday night, host Declan Donnelly said: "Unfortunately, Olivia Attwood has left the jungle for medical reasons and sadly won't be returning."Ant McPartlin added: "Now, she does feature in tonight's show, which was filmed before she had to leave.

COLOMBO (News 1st) – The computer system of the Department of Immigration and Emigration at the Katunayake International Aiport has failed.A Senior Official at the Immigration and Emigration Department told News 1st that it has not affected the clearance of passports as the BIA. 

COLOMBO (News 1st) – The system failure at the Immigration and Emigration Department has been restored.Passport services will re-commence as usual from Wednesday (9), said Immigration and Emigration spokesperson Piyumi Bandara. The Department of Immigration and Emigration earlier announced that there is a delay in issuing passports on Tuesday (8) due to a system issue.Immigration and Emigration spokesperson Piyumi Bandara told News 1st that the department has suspended accepting applications for passports, adding that the system is being restored.

COLOMBO (News 1st) – The Department of Immigration and Emigration said that there is a delay in issuing passports on Tuesday (8) due to a system issue.Immigration and Emigration spokesperson Piyumi Bandara told News 1st that the Department has suspended accepting applications for passports, adding that the system is being restored.

responded on Instagram after her recently went viral for all the wrong reasons. “I needed to be in my studio today because this is where I ground myself and heal," Simpson captioned the clip, in which she's seen singing along to her 2020 track “Party of One.” “As much as I have learned to block out destructive noise… peoples’ comments and judgements can still hurt deeply with their incessant nagging.”This content can also be viewed on the site it from.In the ad, Simpson gives viewers a tour of her daughter Birdie's bedroom, designed in collaboration with Pottery Barn Kids. When the spot premiered on social media, however, fans began to express concern for Simpson.