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One turbine of Uma Oya hydro project connected to national grid – Kanchana
Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera has posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the ‘First unit turbine of 60MW of the 120 MW Uma Oya Hydro project was synchronized and connected to the National Grid successfully on Saturday (27).
With the long delays due to the challenges of political protests against the project, covid pandemic and the financial crisis the project teams and officials have been able to successfully complete phase one and expect to connect the unit two turbine by mid February.’
An Iranian thriller film that explores corruption and state violence in the country has won the the Palme d’Or, the coveted top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
It Was Just an Accident, directed by dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, was crowned at the world-famous festival on Saturday, hours after a power outage briefly threw the event off course.
The festival’s crowd burst into a roaring standing ovation for Panahi, who has endured years of travel bans and prison terms in Iran due to his provocative cinema, often produced in secret. He had been banned from leaving Iran for more than 15 years.
“Art mobilises the creative energy of the most precious, most alive part of us. A force that transforms darkness into forgiveness, hope and new life,” said jury president Juliette Binoche when announcing the award.
On stage, Panahi said what mattered most was the future of his country.
“Let us join forces,” Panahi said. “No one should tell us what kind of clothes we should wear, or what we should or shouldn’t do.”
Partly inspired by Panahi’s own experience in jail, It Was Just An Accident follows a man named Vahid (played by Vahid Mobasseri), who kidnaps a man with a false leg who looks just like the one who tortured him in prison and ruined his life. Vahid sets out to verify with other prison survivors that it is indeed their torturer, and then decide what to do with him.
Critics have praised the film as a clever, symbolic exploration of justice that blends dark humour with its intense themes.
The festival’s Grand Prix, or second prize, was awarded to Joachim Trier’s Norwegian family drama, Sentimental Value, his lauded follow-up to The Worst Person in the World.
Kleber Mendonca Filho’s Brazilian political thriller, The Secret Agent, won two big awards: best director for Fihlo and best actor for Wagner Moura.
The jury prize was split between two films: Oliver Laxe’s desert road trip, Sirat and Mascha Schilinski’s German, generation-spanning drama, Sound of Falling.”
Best actress went to Nadia Melliti for The Little Sister, Hafsia Herzi’s French coming-of-age drama.
Cannes also honoured Hasan Hadi’s The President’s Cake with a best first film award, marking the first time an Iraqi film has won an award at the festival.
The Cannes closing ceremony took place after a major power outage struck southeastern France on Saturday, knocking out traffic lights and forcing businesses to close along the main shopping street in the Alpes-Maritimes holiday region. Police suspect arson as the cause.
Geopolitical tensions were also a constant backdrop at the festival, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the genocide in Gaza and US President Donald Trump’s proposal of tariffs on foreign-made films fuelling discussion.
More than 900 actors and filmmakers signed an open letter denouncing the genocide in Gaza, according to the organisers.
[Aljazeera]
A decade ago, a portrait of the British monarch caused a row in Canadian politics. Now, the King is being invited to deliver the Speech from the Throne. What’s changed?
In 2011, shortly after forming a majority Conservative government, Prime Minister Stephen Harper caused a national uproar when he sought to emphasise Canada’s ties to the British monarchy. In one example, he replaced two artworks by a Quebec painter with a portrait of the Queen.
Some rebuked the gesture as being out of touch with modern times. Canada has, throughout its 157-year-old history, sought increasing independence from the British monarchy, while still remaining a part of the Commonwealth.
When Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau succeeded Harper four years later, the Queen’s portrait went down, the Quebec paintings, back up.
Fast forward to 2025, and a paradoxical shift has occurred in Canada’s relationship with the Crown. In a transparent show of Canada’s sovereignty and independence against threats from US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Mark Carney – a Liberal – has invited King Charles the III to open the 45th Canadian parliament.
The move is “a huge affirmation and statement about the uniqueness of Canada and its traditions,” Justin Vovk, a Canadian royal historian, told the BBC – “a theatrical display that is meant to show what makes Canadians separate from Americans” and not, as Trump has often repeated, a “51st state”.
Both countries are former British colonies, but America’s founding fathers took a different path and severed all formal connections to the Crown nearly 250 years ago.
Canada’s separation from the monarchy has been more gradual, and its ties have never been completely broken. Canada’s parliamentary system is modelled after Britain’s Westminster system. The British monarch is still formally the head of state, but their duties are often carried out by their Canadian representative, called the governor general.
Loyalty to the Crown was seen as important to Canada’s politicians in the 19th Century who wanted to maintain separation from the US, said Canadian royal historian and commentator Carolyn Harris.
That later changed in the 1960s, as Quebec – Canada’s majority French-speaking province – began to assert its own distinct identity and threatened separation. This led to an era of politicians like Lester B Pearson and Pierre Elliott Trudeau who worked to untangle Canada from its British colonial past.
In 1982, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau repatriated Canada’s constitution, giving full legislative power to the federal government and the provinces, and removing it from British parliament.
Ms Harris noted that Canada remained a constitutional monarchy throughout these periods. What fluctuated, however, was how much the prime minister of the day chooses to embrace that connection.
Carney’s invite to King Charles III signals that his government will be one that is much more supportive of the Crown, Mr Vovk said, marking “a very different tone” from previous Liberals.
A British monarch has not delivered Canada’s throne speech since 1977, and has not opened a brand new session of parliament since 1957, making the King’s upcoming visit a truly rare occasion.
It comes at a consequential time for Canada.
Carney heavily campaigned on standing up to Trump, after the US president spent months undermining Canada’s sovereignty by saying it would be better off as a US state.
Trump also imposed a series of tariffs that have threatened Canada’s economic stability, given that the US is its largest trade partner by far.
When announcing the visit last month, Carney called it “a historic honour that matches the weight of our times”.
He added that the King’s visit “clearly underscores the sovereignty of our country”.
Both historians, Mr Vovk and Ms Harris, noted that the bulk of Canada’s modern population is indifferent to the British monarchy. Some are even critical of it.
The coronation of King Charles III in 2023 made way for fresh scrutiny of the Crown’s historic mistreatment of indigenous people in Canada, and questions on whether the new monarch will move towards reconciliation.
Quebec politicians are also still calling for Canada to cut ties with the monarchy. On Friday, the separatist Bloc Québécois party said it will again seek to scrap the need for elected officials to swear allegiance to the King.
Some Canadians will be intrigued by the pomp and pageantry of the King’s visit, Mr Vovk said, but its chief purpose is to send a political message from Canada to the world.
It is also a way for Prime Minister Carney to improve the relationship with Trump, who is famously a fan of the British monarchy and its history.
“Strengthening the relationship with the monarchy puts a stamp on legitimacy that transcends individual parties and the current political climate,” Mr Vovk said. “Politicians come and go, but the monarchy has always remained.”
It also works to tie Canada closer to Europe – a key objective of Prime Minister Carney, a former governor of the Bank of England, who has spoken about the need for Canada to find new allies as it navigates its changing relationship with the US.
The visit is notable for the Crown, too.
It will be the King’s first to Canada as reigning monarch. He and the Queen had intended to visit last year, but cancelled their plans due to his cancer diagnosis.
The palace has promised a throne speech that will “mark a significant moment between the Head of State and the Canadian people”.
And while it will be a short trip – the King and Queen will arrive Monday morning and depart Tuesday evening – the palace said they hope the trip will be “an impactful one”.
[BBC]
Only twice in 22 attempts before Saturday night had Delhi Capitals (DC) successfully chased down a total of 200 or more. By hunting down 207 against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Jaipur, they not only saw a 21-year-old Sameer Rizvi hit his maiden IPL fifty in a winning cause but also dented PBKS’ hopes of a top-two finish this season.
The defeat still leaves PBKS at No. 2 on the points table, but with every chance of them finishing third and thus having to play the Eliminator if results in the upcoming matches don’t go their way.
DC required 91 runs to win from the last 46 balls – a required rate of nearly 12 runs an over. From then onwards, Rizvi went after all kinds of bowling PBKS threw at him – and at crunch moments.
From three off four balls at that stage, he got a top-edged four off a tennis-batted swat off right-arm seamer Azmatullah Omarzai. Next ball, he went low to scoop a short ball after spotting that the fine leg fielder was brought in. The tone was set, and Rizvi kept playing his shots fearlessly.
Facing the left-arm pace of Marco Jansen, Rizvi pulled him for six to end the 14th over. That shot kept DC afloat in the chase. But with the required rate once again heading towards two runs per ball, Rizvi swung left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar for a massive six over midwicket. Some luck went Rizvi’s way when an inswinging attempted yorker from Omarzai resulted in an inside-edged four in the 18th over, but he deserved it.
Rizvi even heaved Arshdeep Singh for six, and finished the chase with a sweep off Marcus Stoinis, with the ball nearly gone out of the ground. His unbeaten 58* off 25 balls was his highest IPL score.
Karun Nair celebrated his recall into India’s Test side after eight years by stylishly swiping Jansen for six first ball. But he only ticked along to 11 off nine balls, until he went 4, 4, 4, 4 off legspinner Praveen Dubey in the 11th over. There was the slog sweep through square leg, the sweep behind square, the pull through midwicket, and the sweep past short fine leg.
That run of boundaries got Nair going, and he launched Jansen for six over mid-off in the 14th over, and late cut Brar for four in the 15th. Nair’s stay ended when he got too across to the left-arm spinner, and saw his leg stump uprooted for 44 of 27 balls to end the over. But with Rizvi set, Stubbs and Ashutosh Sharma to come, and the requirement down to 52 off 30 balls, the foundation for DC’s win had been laid.
PBKS were 60 for 2 after the powerplay, with the loss of wickets not preventing them from going after the bowling. The sixth over, bowled by Vipraj Nigam, went for 16 runs, with Shrevas Iyer getting off the mark with a boundary through cover. The score was 77 for 3 after eight overs – both Prabhsimran Singh and Josh Inglis fell after cameos – but Shreyas kept PBKS going.
When Kuldeep Yadav floated it outside off, Shreyas twice heaved him for a six. When the length was there from Mohit Sharma to drive, he went over cover. When the length was too short, like from Mukesh Kumar, or too full, like from Vipraj Nigam, Shreyas capitalised with boundaries. He got to his fifty off 33 balls by clipping Mukesh for four to end a 25-run 17th over, but had plenty of support in the death overs.
Twenty-six balls were left in PBKS’ innings when Stoinis arrived to bat at No. 7. He faced 16 of those, and crashed 44* with three fours and four sixes. Two leg-side sixes and a drilled drive for four to beat Faf du Plessis at long-off came off Mukesh in the 17th over. Kuldeep threatened to slow PBKS down with two wickets in the 18th, but Stoinis remained unmoved.
He went after Mohit Sharma in the penultimate over of the innings. Mohit had dropped Stoinis when on 18, and paid the price for it. Stoinis went 6, 4, 4, 6 off four of the first five legal balls of the 19th over: a pull over midwicket, a flick to deep square leg, another pull to deep square, and a loft over long-off.
With three balls left, Brar flung Mustafizur Rahman for six over midwicket and took PBKS past 200, their seventh such score this season. But that didn’t prove to be enough, with PBKS still left fighting to play Qualifier 1.
Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 208 for 4 in 19.3 overs (KL Rahul 35, Faf du Plessis 23, Sameer Rizvi 58*, Karun Nair 44, Sediqullah Atal 22, Tristan Stubbs 18*; Harpreet Brar 2-41, Marco Jansen 1-41, Praveen Dubey 1-20) beat Punjab Kings 206 for 8 in 20 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 28, Jos Inglis 32, Shreyas Iyer 53, Nehal Wadhera 16, Shashank Singh 11, Marcus Stoinis 44*; Mukesh Kumar 1-49, Mustafizur Rahman 3-33, Vipraj Nigam 2-38, Kuldeep Yadav 2-39) by 6 wickets
[Cricinfo]
India’s colonial past revealed through 200 masterful paintings
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