Author: Buzzer Editorial

The 2025 Budget is scheduled to be presented to Parliament today (17), marking the first budget to be presented by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake since assuming office.Parliament will convene at 10:30 a.m. this morning (17) for the President’s Budget Speech.The final draft of Budget 2025 was presented for Presidential review at the Presidential Secretariat, yesterday (16).Accordingly, President Dissanayake and Finance Secretary Mahinda Siriwardana engaged in discussions focusing on the key fiscal priorities for the year ahead, the President’s Media Division (PMD) reported.Meanwhile, in a post on ‘X’, President Dissanayake stated that he is “Committed to a budget that drives progress…

A preliminary discussion on the final phase of drafting the Budget 2025, which is scheduled to be presented to Parliament on February 17, was held Yesterday (13) at the Presidential Secretariat under the leadership of President Anura Kumara Disanayake.The discussion was attended by Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation K.D. Lalkantha, Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Co-operative Development, Wasantha Samarasinghe, Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Economic Development Dr. Anil Jayanta Fernando, Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance Mahinda Siriwardana, along with several senior government officials.

The Supreme Court has informed Parliament of its determination on the Local Authorities Elections (Special Provisions) Bill.A majority of the three-judge bench ruled that certain clauses of the bill are inconsistent with the Constitution and, therefore, require a special majority for passage. However, one judge dissented, stating that the bill could be passed with a simple majority.The ruling was presented to Parliament today (14) by Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had offered to talk about easing tariffs, buying more U.S. oil, gas and combat aircraft, concessions that may deter a trade war.The agreements came as the two leaders huddled for White House talks hours after Trump unveiled a roadmap for reciprocal tariffs on every country that puts duties on U.S. imports, his latest trade salvo directed at American friends and foes that the White House says will strengthen economic and national security.Some of the goals were aspirational: India wants to increase by “billions of dollars“ its purchases…

Pakistan players Shaheen Shah Afridi, Saud Shakeel and Kamran Ghulam have been fined for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct during their tri-nation series match against South Africa in Karachi on Wednesday.Shaheen was fined 25 per cent of his match fee after he was found to have breached Article 2.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “inappropriate physical contact with a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other person (including a spectator) during an International Match.”The incident occurred in the 28th over of South Africa’s…

At least 28 people have been injured, some of them seriously, when a car drove into a group of people in the German city of Munich, authorities say.Authorities did not provide details of the incident near the centre of Munich that took place about 10:30am (09:30 GMT) on Thursday, including whether the victims were hit deliberately.Police said on the social media platform X that the driver was “secured” at the scene and no longer posed any danger. A damaged Mini Cooper could be seen at the scene.The fire service said at least 28 people were injured, two of them seriously,…

A vehicle belonging to Puttalam District NPP Parliamentarian Mohamed Faisal was involved in an accident in Wennappuwa this morning (14), resulting in the death of one person.According to police, the incident occurred while the vehicle was on its way to the Parliament. MP Faisal’s brother, who was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident, has been arrested by police.

The Department of Meteorology says that mainly fair weather will prevail over most parts of the island.Meanwhile, cold weather can be expected in the Northern, North-central, Eastern, North-western and Central provinces during the early morning.Misty conditions can be expected at some places in North-central, Sabaragamuwa, Central, North-western and Uva provinces during the morning, the department said.

More than 250 people from 20 nationalities, including a Sri Lankan national, who had been working in telecom fraud centres in Myanmar’s Karen State have been released by an ethnic armed group and brought to Thailand, the BBC reported.The report said the group includes a total of 260 workers including 221 men and 39 women, from Ethiopia, Kenya, the Philippines, Malaysia, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Nepal, Uganda, Laos, Burundi, Brazil, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, India, Ghana and Cambodia.According to the BBC, one of the workers is a Sri Lankan national while the majority are Ethiopians (138).The workers, more than…

The Minister of Power announced that there will be no daily power cuts from today (14 February) as power generated by one unit of the Norochcholai power plant has been added to the national grid.This comes as the previously inactive Norochcholai Power Plant has reached operational status. One of the three generators of the coal power plant has now been successfully reconnected to the national grid, supplying 300 megawatts of electricity.On Sunday (Feb 09), Sri Lanka faced a widespread power outage that affected the entire island from around 11.15 a.m. The cause of the outage was linked to an incident…