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Agriculture should be made more appealing to youth – Mahinda Amaraweera
Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industries, Mahinda Amaraweera, at a press conference held at the Presidential Media Centre (PMD) on the theme ‘Collective path to a stable country’ today (11), said that Agriculture should be made more appealing to youth. He pointed out that at present the majority of the farming community were over fifty years of age and the youth were reluctant to take up the challenge.
Assuming duties at the ministry during a challenging period, Minister Amaraweera recounted his proactive approach to instill confidence in farmers. He said that with his encouragement and assurances, farmers have gradually increased paddy cultivation to an impressive 512,000 hectares and have achieved the highest yield in recent times.
Looking ahead to 2024, the Minister outlined the government’s agricultural priorities, with a focus on four key crops. While paddy cultivation has achieved success, efforts are underway to encourage the cultivation of maize, chillies, and yams. An on-going program aims to foster domestic cultivation of these crops, with dedicated areas allocated for each type. The government envisions self-sufficiency in growing these crops, reducing reliance on imports.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that Canada’s old relationship with the United States, “based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation, is over”.
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa after a cabinet meeting, Carney said Canadians must “fundamentally re-imagine our economy” in the face of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
He said Canada would respond with retaliatory tariffs that will have “maximum impact” on the US.
Trump announced on Wednesday he would target imported vehicles and vehicle parts with a 25% tax, stating: “This is permanent.”
Carney, the Liberal Party leader, called the original Canada-US Automotive Products Agreement signed in 1965 the most important deal in his lifetime. “That’s finished with these tariffs,” he said in French.
He continued that Canada can sustain an auto industry with the US tariffs provided the government and business community work to “re-imagine” and “retool” the industry.
Canada needs to build an economy Canadians can control, he said, and that would include rethinking it’s trade relationship with other partners. It remains to be seen whether Canadians can have a strong trading relationship with the United States going forward, he added.
Carney has switched his campaign plans ahead of next month’s general election to confront the latest import duties.
The US has already partially imposed a blanket 25% tariff on Canadian goods, along with a 25% duty on all Aluminum and steel imports. Canada has so far retaliated with about C$60bn ($42bn; £32bn) of tariffs on US goods.
The new car tariffs will come into effect on 2 April, with charges on businesses importing vehicles starting the next day, the White House said. Taxes on parts are set to start in May or later.
Early on Thursday morning, Trump warned Canada and the EU against joining forces versus the US in the trade war.
“If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, large scale Tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both,” he posted on his Truth Social platform.
Carney met his ministers in Ottawa on Thursday morning to “discuss trade options”. He had originally been scheduled to campaign in Quebec.
He said during his press conference that President Trump had reached out to him last night to schedule a call, and that it would take place in the “next day or two”.
If it takes place, this would be the first call between the pair.
Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservatives, the main opposition party, called the tariffs “unjustified and unprovoked”.
The NDP, a left-wing party that previously helped prop up the minority Liberal government of ex-PM Justin Trudeau, also switched its campaign plans on Thursday.
Jagmeet Singh, the NDP leader, spent the day meeting union leaders and car workers in Windsor, Ontario, an auto manufacturing hub across from Detroit, Michigan.
He said the US tariffs are a “betrayal” against a close ally, saying that “Donald Trump has started an illegal trade war with Canada” for “absolutely no reason”.
He said any auto company that moves their operations out of Canada because of the tariffs should be blocked from selling cars in the country.
Canadians go to the polls on 28 April.
The US imported about eight million cars last year – accounting for about $240bn in trade and roughly half of overall sales.
Before the match, many expected Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to post the first 300-plus total in the IPL. There were reasons to speculate that. SRH had posted 286 for 6 in their previous game, also in Hyderabad, and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) were without at least two of their first-choice bowlers.
Forget 300, SRH could not even score 200. They managed only 190 for 9 with Shardul Thakur picking up 4 for 34, his best figures in the IPL.
Still, 190 was not a small total, but Nicholas Pooran made it look minuscule. He smashed 70 off just 26 balls, hitting six fours and as many sixes on the way. By the time Pat Cummins had him lbw, LSG needed only 71 from 68 balls.
Mitchell Marsh, who was playing second fiddle to Pooran, also scored a fifty before Abdul Samad applied the finishing touches.
LSG chasing down their target with 23 balls and five wickets to spare was giving SRH a taste of their own medicine. Last season, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma had taken just 9.4 overs to chase down LSG’s 165 at this very venue.
LSG knew the only way to stop the marauding SRH batting unit was to take early wickets. Shardul went in search of swing in the first over but did not find success. But in his next over, he dismissed Abhishek and Ishan Kishan off successive balls. Abhishek pulled a short ball into the hands of deep square leg, and Kishan was caught down the leg side.
Head went after the returning Avesh Khan, hitting him for two sixes and a four in the fourth over. Two overs later, he tried to take on Ravi Bishnoi but ended up skying a slog sweep. Pooran, though, put the chance down at long-on. Four balls later, Bishnoi failed to latch on to a tough return catch.
Head was on 35 at the time of the first drop but it cost LSG only 12 as Prince Yadav made a mess of Head’s stumps for his first wicket in the IPL.
Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klaasen took SRH past 100 in the 11th over before Klaasen was run out in a bizarre fashion. Nitish hit a full toss from Prince to the bowler’s left. Prince failed to hold on to the catch but the ball found a way to ricochet onto the stumps at the non-striker’s end with Klaasen well outside his crease. Soon after, Bishnoi castled Nitish for 32 off 28, leaving SRH in a spot of bother.
In keeping with the team ethos, the SRH batters kept attacking. But while they kept hitting sixes, they also kept getting out. Aniket Verma smashed Bishnoi for two back-to-back sixes and repeated it against Digvesh Rathi in the following over before getting out for 36 off 13 balls. Cummins walked in at No. 8, hit the first three balls he faced for three sixes, and was out on the fourth. That took SRH to 180 for 8 after 18 overs. However, only ten runs came from the last two.
Mohammed Shami removed Aiden Markram in the second over of the chase but Pooran took the attack to the opposition. His first boundary came via a misfield before he smoked Simarjeet Singh over deep midwicket twice in two balls.
Bringing on a left-arm orthodox spinner with Pooran in the middle is always risky. But Cummins took that gamble with Abhishek. Pooran faced only two balls from him and slog-swept both for sixes. He has now hit seven sixes off nine balls against Abhishek in T20 cricket.
He didn’t spare Adam Zampa either, hitting him for two sixes and a four in the seventh over. Off the first 20 balls he faced, he hit five fours and six sixes.
Marsh was on 37 off 22 balls when Pooran got out. He had hit Shami for two straight sixes in the powerplay. In the 11th over, he hit Cummins for back-to-back fours to bring up his fifty off 29 balls. Cummins had him caught at long-on soon after but it was too late.
At the end of 11 overs, LSG needed only 53. They did lose Rishabh Pant and Ayush Badoni along the way but their victory was never in doubt. Samad, a former SRH player, smashed an unbeaten 22 off eight balls to complete the formalities.
Brief scores:
Lucknow Super Giants 193 for 5 in 16.1 overs (Nicholas Pooran 70, Mitchell Marsh 52, Rishabh Punt 15, David Miler 13*, Abdul Samad 22*; Mohammed Shami 1-37, Pat Cummins 2-29, Adam Zampa 1-46, Harshal Patel 1-48) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 190 for 9 in 20 overs (Travis Head 47, Aniket Verma 36, Nitish Kumar Reddy 32, Heinrich Klassen 26, Pat Cummins 18, Harshal Patel 12*; Shardul Thakur 4-34, Avesh Khan 1-45, Digvesh Rathi 1-40, Ravi Bishnoi 1-42, Prince Yadav 1-29) by five wickets
[Cricinfo]
Six tourists were killed and 39 rescued when a submarine sank in the Egyptian Red Sea, the local governor confirms.
The accident happened around one kilometre off the coast of Hurghada The governor says the tourists were from Russia, Norway, Sweden, and India – all six who died were Russian.
A Telegram post from the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, says that according to unconfirmed reports the submarine hit a reef and lost pressure and that the collision happened at a depth of 20 metres (65 feet), the post adds. The company website says it takes tourists to a maximum depth of 25 metres.
The post adds that all excursions and ticket sales for the tours have been suspended, and all other recreational submersible dives off the Hurghada coast have been cancelled.
[BBC]
Canada PM Mark Carney says old relationship with US ‘is over’
Showers or thundershowers will occur at several places in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, and Uva provinces and in Nuwara-Eliya district after 2.00 p.m
Gender inequality is not a women’s issue, it is a societal issue that demands attitudinal and behavioural transformation. – Prime Minister
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