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The nation is gradually embarking on a path of illuminated development – President
Ranil Wickremesinghe in his Diwali message said that the nation is gradually embarking on a path of illuminated development and called upon everyone to unite and steer Sri Lanka towards being a developed country by 2048.
The full text of the Presidents message:
Greetings to all Hindu devotees of Sri Lanka on this auspicious occasion of Diwali, a significant festival celebrating triumph of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance and good over evil.
Diwali festivities commemorate epic legends of victory secured by God Vishnu restoring the balance of good and evil in troubled times.
Devotees illuminate lamps and participate in religious rites, upholding the shared aspiration of infusing light within every soul.
Reflecting on the country’s recent experience of an unprecedented economic crisis, the government sought to have Sri Lanka navigate through unparalleled challenges. Presently, the nation is gradually embarking on a path of illuminated development, seeking to dispel the preceding times of darkness.
As we celebrate Diwali, it is my fervent hope that the nation unites on this occasion and becomes a beacon, igniting the lamps of prosperity across the country, steering Sri Lanka towards being a developed country by 2048.
May this festival of lights bring prosperity and wellbeing while extending happy Diwali wishes to all Sri Lankans and Hindus worldwide.
The Sri Dalada Maligawa has announced that due to the large number of devotees coming to Kandy to venerate the sacred tooth relic, the time of exposition of the sacred tooth relic has been extended by an hour.
Accordingly the public can pay homage from 11.30am upto 05.30pm from today [21]
US Vice-President JD Vance has arrived in the Indian capital, Delhi, where he is due to hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi amid global trade tensions sparked by Washington’s tariff policies.
The talks are likely to focus on fast tracking a much-awaited bilateral trade deal between the two countries.
Vance is also expected to go on a sightseeing tour of Agra and Jaipur with his family.
His visit comes as countries across the world rush to negotiate trade deals before US President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs ends on 9 July.
“The two sides will also exchange views on regional and global developments of mutual interest,” India’s foreign ministry said ahead of Vance’s visit.
The vice-president is accompanied by his children and wife Usha Vance whose parents migrated to the US from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
After his arrival in Delhi on Monday morning, Vance visited the Akshardham temple complex in the city.
He is due to meet the Indian prime minister for formal talks later in the day and Modi is to host Vance for dinner in the evening.
The visit comes amid escalating trade tensions between Washington and several countries after Trump announced steep reciprocal tariffs on them.
Trump, who has repeatedly called Delhi a tariff abuser, had announced a tariff of 27% on India before he temporarily paused it on 9 April.
India has already slashed tariffs on some US goods, with further cuts expected as the balance of trade is still stacked heavily in favour of Delhi, which enjoys a $45bn trade surplus.
India’s average tariffs of around 12% are also significantly higher than the US’s 2%.
Until recently, the US was India’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching $190bn (£144bn).
Prime Minister Modi was among the first leaders to meet Trump after his inauguration. Modi hailed a “mega partnership” with the United States following his meeting with the president.
Trump and Modi set an ambitious target to more than double bilateral trade to $500bn, as the two leaders announced a deal for India to import more from America, including oil and gas.
Weeks later, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard visited India, followed by a US delegation led by Assistant Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch.
Vance’s India tour is also seen as significant as Trump is likely to visit the country later this year for the Quad summit, which will also host leaders of Australia and Japan.
Speaking about Vance’s engagements in India, Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal last week said Delhi was “very positive that the visit will give a further boost to our bilateral ties”.
[BBC]
Mumbai Indians (MI) put together a third straight win in IPL 2025 as they outgunned a Chennai Super Kings (CSK) side shorn of hitting power. The lack of batting showed in how they played a highly cagey brand of cricket, only targeting certain pockets and conceding match-ups without protest. It took them three overs to hit a boundary, then they went 27 balls in the middle overs without even attempting one, only to cap it off with no boundary in the 17th and 18th overs, bowled by MI’s best bowlers on the night: Jasprit Bumrah and Mitchell Santner.
Not only did MI manage a run-rate boost with the win that takes them to eight points in eight matches, they also welcomed Rohit Sharma back to runs. Rohit scored his first fifty this IPL – his previous highest was 26 – they put together their first half-century opening stand this IPL, and Suraykumar Yadav got the better of CSK’s spin threat with his various sweeps.
This match was played on the pitch that produced 430 runs for RCB and MI. The toss, as usual, was a big advantage at Wankhede. Which should make it important to look for above-par scores, but CSK took the pragmatic route: don’t risk 120 all out looking for 200. Consequently, their openers tested waters for too long, timing shots straight to fielders. When Shaik Rasheed finally hit one in the air, and for a four, CSK had only 16 in three overs.
Rachin Ravindra by now felt he had to target the change bowler without a sighter. He looked to go big down the ground, and edged the first ball by Ashwani Kumar. His replacement at the wicket, CSK’s younger player of all time, the 17-year-old Aush Mhatre injected some life to the innings with flair reminiscent of Dwayne Bravo. It still meant only 48 runs in the powerplay. The unperturbed MI stayed with Deepak Chahar for a fourth straight over, eventually resulting in the legcutter that got Mhatre out for 32 off 15.
Santner produced a beauty in the eighth over at 77kmph to have Rasheed stumped on the defence, but that brought together Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja. They have batting behind these two, but it’s MS Dhoni, Jamie Overton and Vijay Shankar. So these two decided not to hit anything even though their coming together meant Santner was taken off despite figures of 2-0-8-1. Put together, CSK didn’t make a boundary attempt between Mhatre’s dismissal and the return of Boult in the 12th over.
To be fair to CSK, they did well when they went after Boult and Ashwani, taking 85 in the six overs bowled by them. Dube raced away from 16 off 19 to a 30-ball fifty even as Jadeja hovered around a run a ball. However, when Bumrah got Dube with a slower ball, it allowed MI to bring back Santner for the 18th over because Dhoni and Jadeja were in the middle.
Santner bowled the 18th without a boundary, and it was only a late surge from Jadeja off Boult in the last over that took CSK to a modicum of respectability.
MI have been resurgent in recent times, but they might feel this was the final missing piece in the puzzle. A sizeable opening partnership, and Rohit carrying on from a quick start. He was severe on early errors from the quick bowlers, haring away to 32 off 18 in the powerplay, hitting three sweetly timed sixes. Only R Ashwin managed to keep him quiet. However, he went on to get the better of Ashwin when he slog-swept him for a six in the eighth over.
That six still didn’t take Rohit to a run a ball in his head-to-head against Ashwin in all these years, but it must have provided him a sense of victory against his old foe. Rohit was not the only one getting better of nemeses. Suryakumar entered this match with just 50 runs and four dismissals off 65 Jadeja deliveries. It was Jadeja that brought Suryakumar into the middle with the wicket of Ryan Rickleton in the seventh over. In the ninth over, Surya drove Jadeja over extra cover for four followed by a swept six, his first career six off Jadeja.
This was only a harbinger of what was to come. In all, Surya played nine sweeps for a whopping 35 runs. Three of them flew over the ropes, four others ended in the advertising boards. He outpaced Rohit with ease, and his flourish made sure MI got a bit net-run-rate boost, winning with 4.2 overs to spare.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians177 for 1 in 15.4 overs (Ryan Rickelton 24, Rohit Sharma 76*, Suryakumar Yadav 68*; Ravindra Jadeja 1-28, Matheesha Pathirana 0-34) beat Chennai Super Kings 176 for 5 in 20 overs (Shaik Rasheed 19, Ayush Mhatre 32, Ravindra Jadeja 53*, Shivam Dube 50; Jasprit Bumrah 2-25, Deepak Chahar 1-32, Ashwani Kumar 1-42, Mitchell Sabtner 1-14) by nine wickets
[Cricinfo]
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