The foundation stone laying ceremony for the proposed seven-storey Sadaham Mandiraya at the historic Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte Rajamaha Viharaya was held on 03rd of January with the participation of Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya.

The religious programme, organised to coincide with the Duruthu Full Moon Poya Day, commenced with the chanting of Seth Pirith by the Maha Sangha.

Subsequently, the Prime Minister participated in laying of the foundation stone, formally marking the commencement of construction of the seven-storey Sadaham Mandiraya.

The Sadaham Mandiraya will be constructed as a centre dedicated to the preservation of Buddhist heritage while providing Dhamma education and spiritual guidance for future generations.

The event was graced by the presence of Chief Incumbent of the Kotte Rajamaha Viharaya, Venerable Aluth Nuwara Anuruddha Thero, together with members of the Maha Sangha; and attended by the Deputy Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development, Chathuranga Abeysinghe, local political representatives, state officials, and a large gathering of devotees.

(Prime Minister’s Media Division)

WEATHER FORECAST FOR 05 JANUARY 2026
Issued at 05.30 a.m. on 05 January 2026 by the Department of Meteorology 

The low-level atmospheric disturbance is currently established to the southeast of the island.

Showers will occur at times in the  Eastern and Uva provinces and in Nuwara-Eliya, Matale, Polonnaruwa, and Mullaittivu districts. Fairly heavy showers above 50 mm are likely at some places in the Eastern province and in Nuwara-Eliya, Matale, Badulla, Polonnaruwa, and Mullaittivu districts.

Several spells of showers will occur in the Anuradhapura, Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Vavuniya districts. Showers or thundershowers may occur at a few places in the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in Galle and Matara districts after 2.00 p.m.

Strong winds up to 50 kmph can be expected at times over the  Eastern slopes of the central hills, the Northern, North-central, North-western and Eastern provinces and in Hambantota, Gampaha, Colombo and Monaragala districts.

The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.

After two heartbreaks, it was third time lucky for Desert Vipers as they broke the final hoodoo, defeating MI Emirates by 46 runs to claim their maiden ILT20 title in Dubai.

The win was headlined by captain Sam Curran, who held the Vipers innings together with an unbeaten 74 off 51 balls. He was helped by Max Holden (41 off 32) and Dan Lawrence (23 off 15) as Vipers notched up an impressive 182 for 4 in their 20 overs.

MIE never got their chase going, losing wickets at regular intervals. Naseem Shah was at his fiery best, picking up 3 for 18 in his four overs, while Usman Tariq curbed the runs in the middle overs, returning 2 for 20. David Payne also picked up 3 for 42, all three of his wickets coming in an over, as MIE were bowled out for 136 in 18.3 overs. It was fitting that the most consistent team of the season took home the title.

Vipers’ win means that ILT20 has now had a different winner in each of the first four seasons – Gulf Giants, MIE, Dubai Capitals and now Vipers.

Fakhar Zaman didn’t take time to go after Shakib Al Hasan, depositing him over wide long-on second ball of the innings. MIE were sloppy with their fielding, and both Fakhar and Jason Roy cashed in. After Fakhar collected a boundary off first ball off AM Ghazanfar, Roy hit left-arm quick Muhammad Rohid for back-to-back fours as Vipers raced to 34 for 0 after three overs. But Fazalhaq Farooqi helped MIE hit back with a double-wicket opening over.

Roy first flat-batted a short-of-a-length delivery straight to short midwicket before Farooqi cleaned up Fakhar with a peach of an inducker that pitched just outside off and swung back in breaching the opener’s defenses. Curran took five balls to get off the mark but closed out the powerplay in style with three straight fours off Farooqi as Vipers reached 59 for 2 in six overs.

While Holden took his time to settle, Curran kept the scorecard ticking. He pulled offspinner Tajinder Singh twice through midwicket before guiding Kieron Pollard past short third. Holden, going just about a run-a-ball, found his groove as well as he took Tajinder inside out over covers and then planted him over long-on as Vipers raced past 100 in the 12th over.

Mystery spinner Arab Gul broke the 89-run third-wicket stand by accounting for Holden but Lawrence ensured the momentum wasn’t lost. He smoked Gul over covers second ball before Curran reached his fifty off 39 balls as Vipers eyed a late push. That came via a 21-run 18th over with Curran and Lawrence sending Romario Shepherd over the fence three times. Vipers collected 46 runs off the last four overs to breach the 180-mark.