"Nomadland" wins 04 BAFTA awards.

"Nomadland" won four prizes including best picture on Sunday 11 April 2021 at the 74th edition of British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards. "Nomadland" filmmaker Chloe Zhao became only the second woman, and the first woman of color, to w…

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Ranking of World Universities 2020 published.

The 2020 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) is released by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy.  Since 2003, ARWU has been presenting the world top universities annually based on transparent methodology and objective third-party data. It has been recognized as the precurs…

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Former US Attorney General and legal activist Ramsey Clark dies at age 93.

Ramsey Clark, the former US attorney general and legal activist, has died at the age of 93. Clark served as attorney general in President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration in the late 1960s and is recognized for supervising the drafting of the 1968 Civil Rights Act. Pres…

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United Arab Emirates names its first female astronaut.

The United Arab Emirates named the next two astronauts in its space programme on 10th April, including the country’s first female astronaut. Noura al-Matroushi is the UAE’s first female astronaut. The announcement gave no biographical information about her or her male count…

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Niger's President Bazoum appoints former Minister Mahamadou as Prime Minister.

Niger’s newly elected President Mohamed Bazoum has appointed former minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou as prime minister to head his new cabinet. Mahamadou, 66, previously served as a minister in charge of the finance and mining . He was the chief of staff to former President Ma…

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U.S. Sanctions Pakistani National for Allegedly Operating Human Smuggling Organization.

The United States on April 07 imposed sanctions on a Pakistani national and a smuggling organization it said he runs to help people migrate illegally from Pakistan and Afghanistan into the United States. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Abid Ali Khan and the transnati…

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World Parkinson's Disease Day - 11 April.

World Parkinson's Disease Day is celebrated on the 11th of April of every year to raise awareness of to support people affected with Parkinson's disease and to educate the community of its causes, symptoms and the medical/surgical treatment methods available. It is …

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SLAF swimmer sets new Asian record swimming across Palk Strait.

Leading Aircraftman Roshan Abeysundara of Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) says that set a new Asian record by swimming 59.3 kilometers across the Palk Strait in just 28 hours, 19 minutes, and 43 seconds. Early morning on Saturday (April 10), Abeysundara kicked off his record-brea…

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India finalizes air bubble pact with Sri Lanka.

India has established a bilateral air bubble arrangement with Sri Lanka for operation of special international passenger flights between the two countries, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Saturday. With this, India now has such pacts with 28 countries, including Afghanis…

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Mars Helicopter Flight Delayed to no Earlier than April 14.

Based on data from the Ingenuity Mars helicopter that arrived late Friday night, NASA has chosen to reschedule the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s first experimental flight to no earlier than April 14. During a high-speed spin test of the rotors on Friday, the command sequence c…

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Jeff Bezos endorsed higher corporate tax rates. But it won't cost him much.

A year ago, Joe Biden, then the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, was picking a fight with Amazon over how little it paid Uncle Sam. Now Biden is president, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is on a lonely island supporting the White House's plan -- to raise corpora…

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NASA releases stunning photo of beautiful blue dunes on Mars.

The U.S. space agency released a breathtakingly beautiful photo alongside a post titled, "Blue Dunes on the Red Planet." As noted in the post, the dunes surround Mars' northern polar cap and were created by gusts of wind. The image below shows an area (80.3 deg…

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St. Vincent Volcano erupts on Caribbean Island.

The Caribbean island of St Vincent has been blanketed in a layer of ash, bringing major disruption after a volcano erupted on Friday (09). White-coloured dust has covered buildings and roads around the island, including in its capital Kingstown. The La Soufrière volcano was s…

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China fines Alibaba Group $2.8 billion in monopoly probe.

China imposed a fine of 18.2 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) on Alibaba Group after an anti-monopoly probe, part of a regulatory crackdown that has raised concerns about the future of Jack Ma’s tech empire. The penalty is equivalent to 4% of Alibaba’s domestic sales in 2019, Chi…

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Biden proposes $24.7 billion NASA budget in 2022 to support moon exploration and more.

More than two months after taking office, President Joe Biden has offered a first look at his budget priorities, and the signs for NASA are generally promising. The administration today (April 9) unveiled a so-called "skinny budget" for fiscal year 2022, which begi…

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Israel 'will not co-operate' with ICC war crimes investigation.

Israel says it will not co-operate with an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into possible war crimes in the occupied territories. In a letter to the court, Israel says the ICC is "acting without authority" in carrying out the probe. The ICC ga…

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'Lost golden city' found in Egypt reveals lives of ancient pharaohs.

The discovery of a 3,000-year-old city that was lost to the sands of Egypt has been hailed as one of the most important archaeological finds since Tutankhamun's tomb. Famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass announced the discovery of the "lost golden city" near Luxor. He…

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UK unveils 43 million pounds package for Hongkongers.

The UK government has launched a 43 million pound (USD 59.6 million) package to support British National (Overseas) families that settle in the country, funding local councils nationwide to help the new arrivals from Hong Kong with housing, education and employment who are …

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Virginia becomes first Southern state to legalize marijuana.

Virginia became the first Southern state to legalize marijuana, as lawmakers voted to approve Gov. Ralph Northam’s proposed changes to a bill that will allow adults to possess and cultivate small amounts of the drug starting in July. The final version of the legislation woul…

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Prince Philip has died at aged 99.

Britain’s Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, has died aged 99, Buckingham Palace has announced. The prince married Princess Elizabeth in 1947, five years before she became Queen, and was the longest-serving royal consort in British history. In March, the Duke o…

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Thilanka Abeywardena becomes SLIM’s first-ever female President.

SLIM Elects New President and EXCO at 51st Annual General Meeting. The Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) held its 51st Annual General Meeting, which saw the induction of its new President Thilanka Abeywardena, who will spearhead the Institute as its 43rd President. Thi…

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SDRs and debt holidays still just a band-aid for debt-hobbled countries

Debt experts, charity groups and investors welcomed news on Wednesday (07) that the world’s poorest countries will get new IMF funds and pandemic debt relief, but they also cautioned that for some it would still only be a band-aid solution. A new $650 billion allocation of t…

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Public awareness on Risks in investing in Virtual Currencies in Sri Lanka.

Considering the recent inquiries on virtual currency usage in the international and domestic markets, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) wishes to inform the public of the risks associated with investing in Virtual Currencies. “Virtual Currencies (VCs)” are digital tokens…

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Dilshi Kumarasinghe has set a new national record.

Dilshi Kumarasinghe has set a new national record at the National Athletics Trials 2021. Triple Gold medalist of South Asian Games blazed the track to clinch the victory of the women’s 800m crossing the tape in 2:02.52. The event commenced at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colomb…

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World Homeopathy Day - 10 April.

Every year on April 10th, World Homeopathy Day honors the memory of Dr. Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy. The day also challenges understanding and strategies that will further develop homeopathy. Homeopathy comes from the Greek words homeo, wh…

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China approves bid to build fifth rocket launch site.

A port city in eastern China has launched an ambitious plan to build the country’s fifth rocket launch site, under a longer-term goal to ramp up space infrastructure to meet the demands of an expected boom in commercial missions. An engineering company in eastern Zhejiang pr…

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New Zealand bans entry of travellers from India.

New Zealand has temporarily suspended entry for all travellers from India, including its own citizens, for about two weeks following a high number of positive coronavirus cases arriving from the South Asian country. The move comes after New Zealand recorded 23 new positive c…

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Vietnam National Assembly selects Prime Minister & President.

Vietnam's legislature voted Monday (05) to make Pham Minh Chinh, a member of the Communist party with a history as a security official, the country's next prime minister. Outgoing Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was appointed as the new president. The votes of the ne…

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Sri Lanka bans palm oil imports, tells producers to uproot plantations.

Sri Lanka banned imports of palm oil and new palm plantations, and told producers to uproot existing plantations in a phased manner, in a surprise move that baffled the edible oil industry. Palm oil imports and the number of plantations have been increasing in recent years i…

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NASA introduces America’s first astronauts on April 09, 1959.

On April 9, 1959, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) introduces America’s first astronauts to the press: Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Walter Schirra Jr., Alan Shepard Jr. and Donald Slayton. The seven …

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Inside of BIA goes live on Google Indoor Maps.

Google Indoor Maps was launched at Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) today, becoming the first indoor facility to enable this feature in Sri Lanka. SriLankan Airlines and Airport & Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Private) Limited teamed up in a remarkabl…

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Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) appoints new Selection Committee.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) today announced the appointment of a new Selection Committee chaired by former Sri Lankan cricketer Pramodya Wickramasinghe. The 06-member panel was ratified by the Minister of Youth and Sports Namal Rajapaksa, it said. Accordingly, the following membe…

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Import of textile fabrics to be banned in Sri Lanka.

State Minister of Batik, Handloom Fabrics, and Local Apparel Products Dayasiri Jayasekara says that steps have already been taken to ban the import of textile fabrics. The relevant gazette notification has been approved by Parliament as well, the State Minister said. Minister…

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Which countries will benefit most from an IMF SDR increase ?

The world’s top finance ministers are set to back a new $650 billion allocation of the International Monetary Fund’s own currency, Special Drawing Rights, to help low-income countries hit by the current global pandemic. We explain what SDRs are, how they are used and which c…

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Central Bank continues its Accommodative Monetary Policy Stance.

The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, at its meeting held on 07 April 2021, decided to maintain the Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) and the Standing Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) of the Central Bank at their current levels of 4.50 per cent and 5.50 per c…

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Ceylon Tea Demonstration and Tasting in South Africa.

Sri Lanka High Commission in South Africa in collaboration with Sri Lanka Tea Board organized a “Ceylon Tea Demonstration & Tasting” at Brooklyn Mall on 27 March 2021. Representing the tea traders, two leading Ceylon Tea brands in South Africa, Dilmah & Basilur join…

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FIFA suspends Pakistan, Chad football federations over interference.

FIFA has suspended the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) due to third-party interference and also the Chadian Football Association (FTFA) with immediate effect due to government interference, soccer’s global governing body said. A group of football officials led by Ashfaq H…

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Current Sri Lanka cricketers to play Legends team in charity match.

A Sri Lanka Legends team is set to take on a team of current Sri Lankan cricketers, including those who have represented the national team, in a charity match on May 4 in Pallekele. The match is set to be televised and could also be the first in Sri Lanka to host fans since…

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