News
US Amb Chung visits South Asia’s first submarine cable depot
Reiterating SLT-MOBITEL’s crucial role in connecting Sri Lanka to the world, the National ICT Solutions Provider recently invited US Ambassador Julie Chung to visit South Asia’s First Submarine Cable Depot, located in Galle.
SLT established Galle Submarine Cable Depot Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture with Indian Ocean Cable Ship Pte. Ltd which in turn is a joint venture between Singapore Telecom and Orange Marine of France. The Depot started operations in 2018 and is the only one of its kind in South Asia. The cable repair ship Asian Restorer is stationed in Galle as part of the facility. The strategic location of the Depot enables swift submarine cable repair and maintenance work in the region as all submarine cables from Europe to Asia and Far East run within close reach of Galle. The Depot stores spare cables as well as tools and test equipment required to repair mid sea submarine cable faults.
Conducting the tour for Ambassador Chung and Economic Unit Head Phillip Loosli were Rohan Fernando – SLT Group Chairman, Lalith Seneviratne – SLT Group CEO, Janaka Abeysinghe – SLT CEO, and senior management of SLT Mobitel.
SLT-MOBITEL has continually expanded its global footprint, strengthening Sri Lanka’s connectivity through five international submarine cable systems namely SEA-ME-WE 3, SEA-ME-WE 4, SEA-ME-WE 5, Bharat Lanka and Dhiraagu-SLT. Enhancing SLT-MOBITEL’s global network connectivity is the proposed SEA-ME-WE 6 submarine cable system that will run between Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Western Europe. Designed with a capacity of transferring more than 100 Terabits of data per second, it is scheduled to be completed in 2025.
The commissioning of the new cable system is pivotal to SLT-MOBITEL’s plans to focus on supporting rich media and video content in the future. The cable network is a vital component of SLT-MOBITEL’s 5G network as well in providing low latency machine to machine communications for the industries. The investment in SEA-ME-WE 6 cable has moved Sri Lanka’s global connectivity capacity to the next level – with Terabits of capacity; ensuring that Sri Lanka, through SLT-MOBITEL, is geared to take on the anticipated exponential growth in data traffic.
A specialists committee has been appointed by the Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation adhering to the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers dated 29.12.2025 for submitting appropriate recommendations analyzing the provisions of the draft bill formulation in regard to Animal Welfare.
Based on the recommendations of the said Committee, the Legal Draftsman has been instructed at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers held on 18.05.2026 to prepare the final bill on the animal welfare.
Wherefore, the Legal Draftsman has formulated the draft bill and the clearance of the Attorney General has been received in the connection.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation to publish the said draft bill in the
Government Gazette Notification and subsequently forward the same to the Parliament for its concurrence.
Under the legal provisions for elections in this country since 2004, it is mandatory for voters who come to mark their votes to verify their identity through a valid identity card, and it is also mandatory for all such voters to be marked with an appropriate mark using indelible ink. The dual purpose of these two functions is to prevent a voter from voting more than once in a single election.
It has been observed that having to follow two different
methods at the same time to achieve the same objective hinders the efficiency of the duties performed at the polling stations and also incurs additional costs to the government.
Therefore, it has been deemed appropriate to remove the legal provisions regarding the use of indelible ink and marking the voter with the appropriate mark from all election acts.
Accordingly, the development activities of the province, as well as national security, will benefit. Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the
President to take necessary steps to remove the legal provisions
• Section 36 of the presidential Election Act, No 15 of 1981
• Section 38 of the Parliamentary Election Act, No 01 of 1981
• Section 36 of the Provincial Council Election Act, No 02 of 1988
• Section 53 A of the Local Government Elections Ordinance (262 Authority)
• Section 21 of the Referendum Act No 7 of 1981
News
Showers will occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and in Galle, Matara, Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya districts
WEATHER FORECAST FOR 24 JUNE 2026
Issued at 05.30 a.m. on 24 June 2026 by the Department of Meteorology
Several spells of showers will occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and in Galle, Matara, Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya districts. Showers or thundershowers may occur at a few places in the Uva province and in Ampara and Batticaloa districts after 2.00 p.m.
Fairly strong winds about (30-40) kmph can be expectedat times over the Western slopes of the central hills, the Northern, North-central, North-western and Southern provinces and in Trincomalee district.
The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damage caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.
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Animal Welfare Draft Bill to be Gazetted
Legal provisions on marking voters using indelible ink during elections removed
Showers will occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and in Galle, Matara, Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya districts
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