After months of threats and pressure tactics, the United States has bombed Venezuela and toppled its president, Nicolas Maduro, who was seized and taken to New York, where he will be put on trial.

Maduro arrived on Saturday evening at a military base in the US after his “capture” by US forces in Caracas.

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has slammed the “kidnapping” of Maduro and said that he is “the only president of Venezuela”.

US President Donald Trump says the “,US will run Venezuela and tap its vast oil reserves, but he gave few details on how the US will do this.

The United Nations Security Council is due to meet today (Monday) on the matter, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saying the US actions set “a dangerous precedent”.

(Aljazeera)

WEATHER FORECAST FOR 04 JANUARY 2026
Issued at 05.30 a.m. on 04 January 2026 by the Department of Meteorology 

The low-level atmospheric disturbance located to the east of Sri Lanka continues to influence the island’s weather. Accordingly, showery condition is expected to enhance over the Northern,
Eastern, and Uva Provinces during the coming days from January 5th

Showers will occur at times in the Eastern and Uva provinces and in Polonnaruwa, Matale and Nuwara-Eliya district.
A few showers will occur in the Anuradhapura and Hambantota districts. Showers or thundershowers may occur at a few places in Sabaragamuwa provinces and in Kaluthara, 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.

Teachers, principals up in arms against alleged NGO driven education reforms

Teachers, principals and education professionals on Friday vowed to commence a nationwide campaign against the government’s plans to reform the education sector at the expense of what they described as cultural values.

President of the All-Ceylon United Teachers’ Association Ven Yalwala Pannasekera thera addressing a press conference yesterday said that trade unionists would join forces to urge the government to withdraw its educational reforms.

“We are ready to form a common front with education professionals, teachers and principals against this government. We demand that the government withdraw these reforms or get ready to go home,” Ven Pannasekera said.

“Some modules promote homosexuality. Contents in some of the modules being distributed have been copied from Indian text books.

We ask the government to explain why it had paid the National Education Institute curriculum designers,” Ven Pannasekera said.

Meanwhile, representatives of 16 teachers’ and principals’ unions visited the National Child Protection Authority yesterday to lodge a complaint demanding a probe into the inclusion of materials promoting homosexuality in school books.

Concerns were also raised at a National Sangha Council meeting held in Colombo last week at the Colombo Foundation Institute, organised to discuss the objectives of the proposed reforms.

Addressing the gathering, Professor Venerable Induragare Dhammaratana Thera said the reforms required extensive discussion, consultation with subject experts and consideration of the experience of senior administrators.

He warned that the proposed education reforms could trigger the biggest crisis currently facing the country. “Implementing these reforms in this manner will harm future generations and could even destroy the present government,” he said, likening the process to “forcing a round peg into a square hole.”