EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

COLOMBO (News 1st)

Your Friday Morning Brief!

1. Pre-landslide warnings have been issued for the Ratnapura, Badulla, Kurunegala, and Kandy districts due to the prevailing incessant rains. The warning is due to be in effect till early this morning (October 18). 2. Former Secretary of Defence Hemasiri Fernando who is currently in remand prison has been summoned today (October 18) before the Presidential Commission probing into the alleged financial irregularities in state institutions within the past four years. He has been summoned over several irregularities said to have occurred in the digitalization process of the Peoples Bank when he was functioning as its Chairman. 3. The National Elections Commission states that over 5000 new ballot boxes are being prepared in line with the upcoming Presidential elections due to the 26-inch Presidential ballot paper this time. 4. The process of handing over the postal ballot papers to the post offices in line with the Presidential election is due to take place today (October 18). Thereby a total of over 600,000 postal ballot papers will be handed over. 5. Recording the highest water level within the year, the water level in the main water bodies close to the hydroelectric power plants has increased to 75.8%. 6. Chairman of Avant-Garde Major Nissanka Senadipathi was remanded until November 8th by an order issued by the Criminal Investigations Department when he was produced before the Permanent High Court Trial at Bar. 7. The Jaffna International airport built at a cost of Rs. 2.25 bn has been declared open as the third international airport of the country. Rs. 300 million of the project's total investment has been provided by the Indian government. 8. A group of people engaged in a satyagraha in the Matugama town yesterday (October 17) demanding that Kumara Welgama of the Kalutara district support the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. 9. A recent report published by the Auditor General's department reveals that as at the end of December 2017, the State Printing Corporation had an unclaimed debtor balance of Rs. 147 million. It is also reported that this sum of irrecoverable debt has remained so for over five years in the institution's accounting books. 10. Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez denies that the Central American nation protects drug traffickers or is a narco-state, following allegations in the U.S. trial that his brother and two other men accepted bribes from cocaine smugglers.

“Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.”