February 10, Colombo (LNW): President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has departed Sri Lanka this (10) morning for a significant three-day official visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The visit, scheduled from February 10 to 13, follows an invitation extended by UAE President Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and forms part of the ongoing diplomatic relations between the two nations.

During his time in the UAE, President Dissanayake will attend the prestigious ‘World Government Summit 2025’ in Dubai, where he is set to address an international audience on various topics related to governance, development, and collaboration between nations.

As part of the visit, the President will also engage in high-level bilateral talks with President Bin Zayed, discussing several key areas of mutual interest, with a focus on strengthening diplomatic and economic ties.

Accompanying the President are several prominent officials, including Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism Vijitha Herath, Minister of Energy Kumara Jayakody, as well as 13 other senior government representatives.

Their participation underscores the importance of the visit and the potential for Sri Lanka to enhance its relationships with the UAE and other nations in the region.

In the President’s absence, the Sri Lankan government has appointed four acting ministers to manage the operations of key ministries.

These interim appointments will ensure the continued smooth functioning of the government during this brief period.

The following acting ministers have been designated:

• Acting Minister of Digital Economy: Deputy Minister of Digital Economy Eranga Weeraratne
• Acting Minister of Defence: Deputy Minister of Defence Aruna Jayasekera
• Acting Minister of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development: Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Economic Development Dr. Anil Jayantha Fernando
• Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment, and Tourism: Deputy Minister of Foreign Employment Arun Hemachandra

February 10, Colombo (LNW): Plantation and Community Infrastructure Samantha Vidyarathna has announced plans to provide immediate housing for families still residing in temporary relief camps after being displaced by landslides in recent months.

Speaking at a meeting held at his ministry today (10), the Minister confirmed that the construction of permanent homes for these families would commence in the first week of March.

The meeting, which included Ministry Secretaries and officers from the tri-forces, focused on urgent measures to address the plight of those still living in makeshift shelters.

Minister Vidyarathna revealed that, in the Kegalle District, 22 families have been forced to live in relief camps following landslides that destroyed their homes.

In addition, 51 families in Haldummulla, situated in the Badulla District, have been living in a disused tea factory in Kabaragala for the past five years, with many of them raising children in the inadequate facilities.

The Minister stressed that the Ministry of Plantation and Community Infrastructure would allocate the necessary funds to build permanent homes for these displaced families.

The construction work will be overseen by the tri-forces, with the Sri Lanka Army managing the projects in Haldummulla and Kabaragala, while the Sri Lanka Navy will lead the efforts in Kegalle.

To ensure that the process moves swiftly, Minister Vidyarathna outlined that government officials would visit the Kabaragala camp on Saturday (15) and the Kegalle camp on Monday (17).

These visits aim to expedite the housing construction process and provide much-needed support to the affected families.

The Minister assured that the government is committed to resolving this longstanding issue and giving these families the stable, permanent homes they desperately need.

February 10, Colombo (LNW): The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has announced that scheduled power outages will continue across Sri Lanka on Monday (10), and Tuesday (11).

These outages are expected to last for one and a half hours during each of the two days, between the hours of 3:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., and will be implemented island-wide.

The electricity supply disruptions will be staggered across different zones to ensure a more manageable distribution of available power.

These temporary outages are part of ongoing efforts to balance the grid following a series of unforeseen technical issues that have affected the national power system.

A significant event unfolded on Sunday, 9th February, when a nationwide power failure struck at approximately 11:15 a.m.

The outage, initially caused by an incident at the Panadura grid substation, was triggered by a monkey entering the facility, resulting in an imbalance that knocked out the system.

This disruption left the entire island without power for a period of time.

The restoration process was slow and faced complications due to the lower electricity demand typical on a Sunday. However, by 6:00 p.m., most areas had their power restored.

Unfortunately, just as power began to return, another problem emerged at the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant, where an automatic safety protocol led to the disconnection of all three generators.

This further intensified the already critical power shortfall, as the national grid lost an additional 900 megawatts.

By late evening, demand for electricity began to rise, especially as people returned home from work. This led to more regional blackouts, and the CEB was forced to draw additional power from thermal plants to fill the gap.

Despite the team’s best efforts, the entire island did not experience a full restoration of electricity until 9:45 p.m.

In light of these ongoing challenges, the CEB has confirmed that it will take around four days to fully restart the three generators at the Norochcholai plant. Until then, power cuts will continue as the plant is gradually brought back online and integrated back into the national grid.

The CEB assures the public that efforts are underway to resolve the power crisis and stabilise the supply as soon as possible.

Visit here to see the time periods and zones for the power cuts scheduled by the CEB: https://lankanewsweb.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/CEB-Press-Release-2025-02-10.pdf

February 10, Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka has driven itself into being an amusement show before the international eye over the recent islandwide blackout to which the interference of a monkey was attributed.

The outage, which struck at approximately 11:30 AM local time (0600 GMT) yesterday (09), was triggered when the mischievous primate entered an electrical grid substation and caused a disruption in the power system, according to reports.

Initially believed to be the result of a technical failure, Energy Minister confirmed later that the outage was in fact the result of the monkey’s interference with the infrastructure.

Efforts to restore power began immediately, and authorities worked tirelessly for nearly 5 to 6 hours to bring electricity back online.

As the power supply was gradually restored, regions across Sri Lanka began to regain electricity, bringing relief to millions of affected residents.

Despite the chaos, the peculiar nature of the incident quickly gained international media attention, transforming the Sri Lankan monkey into an unlikely global sensation.

The unusual cause of the blackout has sparked widespread curiosity, with many across the world now looking to Sri Lanka as the site of one of the most bizarre power failures in recent memory.