With the decentralisation of the activities of the President’s Fund to District Secretariat offices, there has been a notable increase in the number of medical assistance applications received.

Consequently, it has become essential to familiarise relevant staff at these offices with the newly introduced computerised online system and to provide them with the necessary training.

As part of this initiative, a training programme has been organised for 21 June 2025 at the Kilinochchi District Secretariat. This session is intended for District Secretaries and subject officers handling matters related to the President’s Fund in the districts of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar and Vavuniya in the Northern Province.

The primary objective of the programme is to enhance the knowledge and skills of the officials, thereby increasing the number of beneficiaries in the Northern Province, delivering higher quality services, introducing the updated online system and ensuring more efficient and responsive service delivery.

A key priority of the current President and the administration is to transform the President’s Fund,  which was previously limited to a small group of recipients in Colombo, into a truly national initiative that benefits people throughout the country. In line with this vision, similar training programmes are expected to be implemented in other provinces in the near future.

(President’s Media Division)

Just hours after winning the South Korean presidency, Lee Jae-myung pledged to “unite the people” in his inauguration speech on Wednesday.

Lee enters office at a time when the country is still grappling with deep divisions, which were further triggered after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s shock martial law declaration last December.

“I will start with reviving the economy and healing the people,” he told an audience at the National Assembly. “Regardless of who you supported in this election… I will be the president of all the people.”

Lee, a candidate of the liberal Democratic Party, was elected with nearly 50% of the vote.

He blamed the country’s political turmoil on “political factions with no desire to work for the lives of the people”.

“I will work to unite the people,” he said, adding that he would “become a president who ends the politics of division.”

But it’s not just domestic issues he has to contend with. Lee has urgent foreign challenges as well – such as navigating the US-Korea alliance under the new Trump administration, balancing its relations with China and dealing with its closest neighbour North Korea.

Lee also pledged to build a “flexible, pragmatic government” and announced that an emergency economic task force would be “activated immediately”.

(BBC News)

A fire has broken out at a timber sales outlet along the Piliyandala-Colombo main road in Bokundara, Piliyandala.

Four fire trucks and a team of firefighters from the Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia Municipal Council have rushed to the scene to contain the blaze. Authorities are also seeking additional support from the Colombo Municipal Council fire brigade.