The Lotus Tower in Colombo will be opened for the public on Thursday. Colombo Lotus Tower Management Company said that keeping the tower closed will only add to the financial losses of the tower. Major General (Retired) Prasad Samarasinghe said that the observation deck and a few areas in the tower will be open to the public from 15th September. Tickets will be priced at 2000 rupees and 500 rupees to enter the tower. He said that the tower will be open from 2.00pm to 10.00pm on weekdays and 12.00pm to 11.00pm on weekends. The tower will also be open for school tours at a special rate. The 350-metre Lotus Tower has been built at an estimated 113 million US dollars.

At the 18th Kazan International  Film Awards held in Russia, Sarath Kothalawala and Kumara Thirimadura, who played the lead roles in the film “The Newspaper,” represented Sri Lanka and won the joint Best Actors Award.

This film was able to garner high acclaim in several foreign film festivals previously. The film was directed by the above winning two actors as well while Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardena, Ravindrara Guruge and W. Premasiri are the co-producers of the film. The awards ceremony was held last Sunday night in Russia’s Kazan Province with Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardena receiving the award on behalf of the two actors.

The Minister of State for Media Shanta Bandara started his duties today. Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, Member of Parliament Nimal Siripala de Silva, Secretary of the Ministry of Media Anusha Palpita, Director General of Government Information Dinith Chinthaka Karunaratne and Postmaster General Ranjith Ariyaratne were present at this occasion.

Sri Lankan actors Sarath Kothalawala and Kumara Thirimadura, who played the lead roles in the film “The Newspaper,”  won the joint Best Actors Award at the 18th Kazan International Film Awards held in Russia.

The 18th edition of the film festival was organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan city administration in Russia.

The awards were accepted by Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardena, the producer of the movie, on behalf of Kothalawala and Thirimadura.

“The Newspaper” is a movie woven around a small poor family in a remote village at dry zone who faced a series of miseries due to a wrong news report published in the national media stating that their son is involved in a suicide bomb blast carried by the LTTE terrorists.

This film was able to garner high acclaim in several foreign film festivals previously.

The film was directed by Kothalawala and Thirimadura  while Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardena, Ravindrara Guruge and W. Premasiri are the co-producers of the film.

Senior Journalist Dinith Chinthaka Karunaratne assumed duties as the Director General of Government Information Department yesterday (8).

With experience over three decades in the field of mass media, Karunaratne has held numerous positions including the Associate Editor position. He began his career as a journalist attached to the Lankadeepa Sinhala newspaper of the Wijeya Newspapers Company.

Karunaratne is a past pupil of Ananda College, Colombo. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Bio-Science. He has also completed his higher education in Mass Media and Communication from the Santa Monica College in California.

Mass Media Secretary Ministry and ANCL Chairman Anusha Pelpita, former Director General of Government Information Mohan Samaranayake and officials of the Ministry of Mass Media and Department of Government Information were present on this occasion held at the department.

Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and the nation’s figurehead for seven decades, has died aged 96, Buckingham Palace