A meeting between Upcountry Hindu Priests and the Secretary to the President, Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, was held this morning (26) at the Presidential Secretariat.

During the meeting, discussions focused on several common issues and challenges faced by Upcountry Hindu priests over several decades. The Secretary to the President stated that the necessary intervention would be made to provide systematic solutions to those issues.

It was also decided to hold discussions once every two or three months regarding these matters. Discussions were also held on the Government’s programme aimed at addressing the needs of the people in the upcountry areas and the Hindu religious leaders expressed their gratitude to the Government for providing them with an opportunity to voice their concerns.

Among those present at the meeting were Secretary General of the Sri Lanka Up-Country Hindu Priests’ Association, Dr. Shiva Sri Velu Suresh Sharma Kurukkal, together with several Hindu priests, Senior Additional Secretary to the President Roshan Gamage, Director of the Department of Hindu Religious and Cultural Affairs, Y. Aniruddhan and several others.

(PMD)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru [RCB]  might look at Gujarat Titans [GT] across the ring in Qualifier 1 of IPL 2026, and wonder if they helped create this monster. When GT went to Bengaluru on April 24, they were still a conservative side straddling the middle of the table, and happy with a 57-ball hundred from their opener. But they have been a changed unit since RCB cruised to that chase of 206 against them that day.

Since that match, the halfway point for GT, their run rate has increased by nearly a run per over. That is 20 runs per innings. By the time they faced RCB next, they were giving more importance to balls remaining than to wickets in hand while chasing. When batting first, GT were looking to score above par; there has been a pair of 229s in the two matches they have batted first in since that Bengaluru debacle.

The thing with GT is that they have a team with such strong basics that they don’t need to make only subtle changes to their approach. Their control rate has gone from 80% to 75%. A little more risk, a lot more rewards. Their bowling has only become more streamlined over this period with Jason Holder adding constant threat to an already good attack. The result is a 6-1 win-loss record in the second half of their tournament.

The United States has launched strikes on targets in southern Iran, the US military has said, as Tehran’s top negotiators gather in Qatar for talks aimed at reaching a peace deal with Washington.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it carried out the “self-defence strikes” to protect US troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.

“Targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines,” Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesperson, said in a statement to Al Jazeera late on Monday.

“US Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire.”

CENTCOM did not provide further details on the strikes.

The latest attacks come despite there being a ceasefire officially in place between the US and Iran since April 8.

Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said the strikes are likely to derail the ongoing negotiations to end the US-Israel war on Iran.

“There is very limited information coming from the US side; we don’t know the extent of the operation. It’s hard to say whether this skirmish is unusual,” he said.

“But Trump is keen to move forward with negotiations and solidify a peace deal.”

Earlier on Monday, a high-level Iranian delegation arrived in Doha to discuss roadblocks to a permanent peace deal.

The arrival of the delegation, which includes Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, came as US President Donald Trump said that peace talks were “proceeding nicely”, even as he insisted that he would not agree to anything less than a substantial deal.

“It will only be a Great Deal for all or, no Deal at all — Back to the Battlefront and shooting, but bigger and stronger than ever before — And nobody wants that!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

[Aljazeera]