Cyclone Alfred is inching closer to the coast, leaving tens of thousands of people without power across southeast Queensland and northern NSW. Thousands more have been told to evacuate as the slow-moving storm keeps everyone on edge. Damaging winds of up to 120 km/h were already whipping through areas from Moreton Island to Byron Bay on Thursday night—possibly more than a day before the cyclone makes landfall. For people in Lismore and other flood-prone parts of northern NSW, the situation is especially dire. Many have been ordered to leave their homes as flooding is expected to cut off escape routes. NSW Premier Chris Minns warned residents not to stay behind, saying, "If they remain in the area, they become trapped, they may be without power, water, and other essential services for an extended period of time." With heavy rain on the way, evacuation routes could quickly become impassable. As of late Thursday, Alfred was 245 kilometers east of Brisbane—actually further from the coast than earlier in the evening. The cyclone is crawling at just 6 km/h, and its unpredictable movements have thrown off previous forecasts about when and where it might hit. Now, it’s expected to cross the coast as a category 2 storm either Friday night or early Saturday morning, bringing destructive winds up to 155 km/h. The rain and flooding are also a major concern. The Bureau of Meteorology has warned of up to 450 millimeters of rain in some areas, with major flood warnings issued for multiple rivers including the Logan, Albert, and Tweed rivers. More than 20 evacuation orders were issued throughout northern NSW on Thursday, impacting places like Lismore, Port Macquarie, Kyogle, and Tumbulgum. Lismore, which has been hit by floods repeatedly, is particularly vulnerable, with thousands of residents in danger of being cut off. In Port Macquarie, residents along the Hastings River had until 1 a.m. to evacuate, while areas like Billinudgel, Fingal Head, Uki, Bowraville, and Macksville were also under emergency warnings. The power situation is dire, with over 32,000 people already without electricity by Thursday night. More outages are expected as the storm progresses. The southern Gold Coast and areas south of the border, like Cabarita Beach and Tweed Heads, are among the hardest hit. Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said everyone in the region would feel the impact of the storm but praised the community for preparing well: "I know we spent a lot of time preparing. We've prepositioned everything from generators to staff and I think Queenslanders have responded really, really well." Schools are shut, and public transport is canceled across southeast Queensland. Brisbane Airport closed to passenger flights, with the last one landing at 3:35 p.m. Even the Brisbane Broncos NRL team had to take a chartered flight to Toowoomba and bus back to Brisbane after their game in Sydney. Meanwhile, some Gold Coasters made the most of the day off by heading to the beach to watch surfers tackle massive waves with the help of jet skis. The swells reached over 12 meters—reportedly the highest ever recorded at Main Beach. But authorities weren’t amused, warning of $16,000 fines for those who ignored orders to stay out of the water. The dangerous conditions even prompted a warning from Surf Life Saving Queensland, with lifesaving services manager Natalie Edwards saying there were a "large number of near misses" as people got too close to the shore and had to scramble away from sudden surges. The situation remains fluid, and residents in the impacted areas are being urged to stay indoors and stay safe.

The Prime Minister has left himself the option of calling the election this weekend, but Tropical Cyclone Alfred could throw a wrench in those plans as it heads toward Queensland and northern NSW. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has to call the election by May 17, and this weekend was seen as a prime time to do so. If he calls it now, a standard five-week campaign would lead to a polling date of April 12 — before the Anzac and Easter holidays, and avoiding the need to deliver a federal budget. But with a category two cyclone forming off the east coast, the election timing is looking a bit uncertain. Mr. Albanese had already canceled plans to head to Perth for what was expected to be a Labor victory in this weekend’s WA state election, and he’s been tight-lipped on whether he’ll delay the election announcement because of the cyclone. When asked about the timing on Sky News, he made it clear that his focus is on the safety of Australians, not politics: "I'm focused not on votes, I’m focused on lives," he said. If the cyclone makes landfall on Friday as expected, Mr. Albanese would have three days to assess the situation and figure out if an election could be called without negative fallout. If he’s aiming for that April 12 polling date, he’d need to announce it by Monday at 6 pm, but again, he’s prioritizing the cyclone and its impact. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, however, has called for the Prime Minister to delay the election announcement, saying calling it now would be "tin-eared" given the situation. It’s definitely a tricky balancing act for the PM right now.

Australia's largest petrol station has just opened in Melbourne's western suburbs, and it's already attracting plenty of keen drivers looking for a bargain. Costco's new station, located behind their soon-to-open warehouse in Ardeer, promises some serious savings. The warehouse itself won’t open until next month, but the petrol station is up and running now. Costco's Country Manager, Chris Tingman, mentioned that members can expect "exceptional savings" at the pump. The station is equipped with 38 filling positions and features extra-long hoses so drivers can fuel up from either side of their car. Plus, the latest pay-at-the-pump technology means a smooth and easy refueling experience. The new petrol station is open from 7 am to 7 pm every day at 740 Ballarat Road, Ardeer. If you’re in the area, it's definitely worth checking out! The warehouse itself will officially open on April 9, so it’s all coming together. Costco is really focusing on bringing great value to the community, especially in this fast-growing region.

රජය විසින් පවත්වාගෙන යනු ලබන ලංකා විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලය (CEB) විසින් රු. 2024 දෙසැම්බර් කාර්තුවේදී අනෙකුත් ආදායම් සහ ලාභ ආධාරයෙන් රුපියල් බිලියන 3 ක ආන්තික ශුද්ධ ලාභයක් උපයා ඇත. නිකුත් කරන ලද අතුරු ගිණුම්වලට අනුව, විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලයේ ආදායම රු. බිලියන 111.8 ක් වූ අතර 2024 දෙසැම්බර් කාර්තුවේදී රු. බිලියන 156.2 කි. විකුණුම් පිරිවැය 49% කින් රු. බිලියන 116.2 ක දළ අලාභයකට තුඩු දුන් අතර, එය බිලියන 4.49 සිට රු. 2023 දී බිලියන 78 ​​කි. වර්ෂය තුළ ඉපැයු ලාභය රු. බිලියන 144ක් වූ අතර විදේශ විනිමය සහ West Coast Power වෙත LTL හි කොටස් විකිණීමෙන් බිලියන 26 ක ප්‍රාග්ධන ලාභයක් ඉපැයු අතර එයින් ණය අඩු කරනු ලබයි.

Cyclone Alfred is slowly making its way towards southeast Queensland, and residents in several parts of northern NSW are being urged to prepare for evacuation as the storm intensifies. Forecasters predict gale-force winds will start hitting coastal areas, from Double Island Point north of the Sunshine Coast down to Grafton in northern NSW, overnight into Thursday. While Brisbane is still expected to bear the brunt of the category 2 storm's destructive core, the Bureau of Meteorology has widened its forecast for landfall, pushing it later into Friday. As of 1am Thursday (2am AEDT), the cyclone was 325 kilometers east of Brisbane, and the latest track map showed it could approach Brisbane around 1pm Friday, though there’s still some uncertainty. Earlier predictions had it crossing the coast by Thursday night. What’s making things even more concerning is that the storm is moving slowly, at just 7 km/h. A slower-moving cyclone can cause more damage, particularly when it comes to flooding. Alfred is expected to bring destructive wind gusts up to 155 km/h near its core, with 120 km/h gusts spreading across the warning area. But the real worry is the heavy rain, especially in areas south of the cyclone's eye, where up to 400mm could fall in just one day. This, combined with dangerous storm tides and abnormally high tides, could lead to major flooding. There’s also the possibility that the storm could intensify into a category 3 system just before it makes landfall, as it slows down and gains strength. In northern NSW, caravan parks and exposed areas like Pottsville, Hastings Point, Fingal Head, and Kyogle were advised to evacuate, though many residents stayed behind to ride out the storm. Some areas, like Bellinger River, are expected to face major flooding starting Friday, with the town of Bellingen at risk by Saturday. Meanwhile, southeast Queensland is taking no chances. Public transport in the region shut down at midnight Thursday, and over 1000 schools are closed. Flood alerts have been issued for around 6000 properties on the Gold Coast, with the effects expected to reach Logan. NSW Premier Chris Minns arrived in Lismore on Wednesday night to get updates from the emergency operations center, as the town braces for up to 800mm of rain in the coming days. There's concern the already weakened levee might not hold against the rising waters, but evacuation centers have been set up, and extra SES personnel have been mobilized. It’s a tense time for many in the affected areas, and everyone is being urged to stay alert and prepared for what could be a dangerous few days ahead.

සමකාලීන අවශ්‍යතා සමඟ ගැලපෙන ආයතනික රාමුවක් ස්ථාපිත කිරීම සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකා රේගුව තුළ ව්‍යුහාත්මක ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන බව ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කළේය. 2025 අයවැය සහ ආයතනික ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගතකරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා රේගුවේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නිලධාරීන් සමඟ ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලයේ පැවති සාකච්ඡාවකදී ජනාධිපතිවරයා මෙම අදහස් පළ කළ බව ජනාධිපති මාධ්‍ය අංශය (PMD) වාර්තා කළේය. මෙම සාකච්ඡාවේදී රේගු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ වත්මන් ක්‍රියාකාරීත්වය පිළිබඳ අකාර්යක්ෂමතාව, වංචා, දූෂණ සහ මහජන අප්‍රසාදය වැනි තීරණාත්මක කරුණු පිළිබඳව ද අවධානය යොමු වූ බව ජනාධිපති මාධ්‍ය අංශය (PMD) පැවසීය. මෙම අභියෝගවලට ප්‍රතිචාර වශයෙන් දෙපාර්තමේන්තු මෙහෙයුම් කඩිනම් කිරීම සහ සේවා සැපයීමේ කාර්යක්ෂමතාව ඉහළ නැංවීම ඉලක්ක කරගත් නව තාක්ෂණයන් අනුගමනය කිරීම පිළිබඳව ජනාධිපති දිසානායක මහතා අවධාරණය කළේය. දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ නව ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගත සැලසුම් පිළිබඳව මෙහිදී ගැඹුරින් සාකච්ඡා කෙරුණු අතර, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රේගුව තුළ පවතින අකාර්යක්ෂමතා තුරන් කිරීම සඳහා දැඩි නීති ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන ලෙස ජනාධිපති අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා නිලධාරීන්ට උපදෙස් දුන් බව එම නිවේදනයේ වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් වේ. තවද මානව සම්පත් කළමනාකරණය, බඳවා ගැනීමේ ක්‍රියාවලීන් සහ යටිතල පහසුකම් සංවර්ධනය කඩිනම් කිරීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවය ද ජනාධිපතිතුමා අවධාරණය කළේය. පසුගිය වසරේ රේගුව විසින් සාර්ථක ලෙස ළඟා කර ගත් ආදායම් ඉලක්ක ද ජනාධිපතිතුමා විසින් පිළිගනු ලැබූ අතර, වත්මන් වසරේ ආදායම් ඉලක්කය සපුරා ගැනීම සඳහා රේගු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව අනුගමනය කළ යුතු ක්‍රියාමාර්ග පිළිබඳව ද අවධානය යොමු කළ බව ජනාධිපති මාධ්‍ය අංශය (PMD) පවසයි. කම්කරු අමාත්‍ය සහ ආර්ථික සංවර්ධන නියෝජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ආචාර්ය අනිල් ජයන්ත ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතා; ජනාධිපති ලේකම් ආචාර්ය නන්දික සනත් කුමානායක, මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් මහින්ද සිරිවර්ධන මහතා; ජනාධිපති ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ අතිරේක ලේකම් රසල් අපොන්සු මහතා; ශ්‍රී ලංකා රේගු අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් පී.බී.එස්.සී. නෝනිස්; සමඟ ශ්‍රී ලංකා රේගුවේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නිලධාරීන් පිරිසක් ද මෙම සාකච්ඡාවට සහභාගි වූහ.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred is causing major headaches for travelers, with both Qantas and Virgin Australia announcing they’ll be suspending operations in Brisbane from this afternoon. The cyclone is expected to hit the Queensland and northern NSW coast late tomorrow or Saturday as a category 2 storm, bringing damaging winds and heavy rain. Airlines are offering flexible options for rescheduling flights affected by the cyclone. Here’s what you need to know: Qantas and Jetstar Cancellations Qantas and Jetstar have cancelled several domestic flights to and from southeast Queensland and northern NSW. This includes the Gold Coast, Ballina, and Coffs Harbour airports. Flights to Lord Howe Island were already suspended earlier this week as the island braces for the worst of the storm. A Qantas spokesperson said operations in Brisbane will be suspended from mid-afternoon Thursday. They emphasized the priority of keeping passengers, staff, and aircraft safe and offered flexible options like travel credits and fee-free date changes. Cancelled Flights Include: Brisbane:  Qantas flights suspended from mid-afternoon and Jetstar from midday until at least midday Friday. Gold Coast:  Qantas suspended until 1:00 pm (AEST) Friday, Jetstar until 3:00 pm (AEST) Friday. Coffs Harbour:  Qantas suspended until midnight Thursday. Ballina:  Qantas and Jetstar suspended until midnight Thursday. Sunshine Coast and Hervey Bay:  Currently operating as scheduled. Virgin Australia Cancellations Virgin Australia is running a “limited schedule” to and from Brisbane until 4 pm today, after which operations will be suspended. They’re reaching out to affected passengers and offering updates as the situation evolves. Cancelled Flights Include: Gold Coast:  Suspended from this afternoon through to midday Friday. Brisbane:  Limited schedule until 4:00 pm, then full suspension until further notice. Ballina, NSW:  Flights suspended until Friday. What About REX? For those flying with REX, the airline is offering flexibility for travelers with bookings before March 4 for travel between March 4 and March 8. You can rebook for free on the same route or region (travel must be completed by June 30) or request a travel credit valid for 12 months. No rebooking fees apply, but fare differences will if the original fare is unavailable. Passengers will receive updates via text and email for any schedule changes. What Should Travelers Do? If you have a flight scheduled, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on your airline’s updates and reach out to customer service if needed. Stay safe, and if you can delay non-essential travel, it might save you a lot of hassle!

Australia's economy has finally climbed out of a per-capita recession, thanks to the strongest quarter of growth in two years. New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows GDP grew by 0.6% in the December quarter, marking the highest growth since December 2022. Over the past year, the economy grew by 1.3%. Katherine Keenan, head of national accounts at ABS, said growth was seen across the board, with both public and private spending contributing. Exports of goods and services also helped boost the economy. After a tough seven quarters of economic contraction on a per-person basis, per-capita GDP finally ticked up by 0.1% in December. Treasurer Jim Chalmers called the data a sign that the economy is picking up momentum, saying, "These numbers for the December quarter reflect the substantial and very encouraging progress Australians are making together in our economy." He highlighted that inflation is down, incomes are rising, unemployment is low, interest rates are easing, and now growth is strengthening. The boost came largely from increased household spending—up 0.4% after being stagnant in September—during Black Friday sales and Christmas shopping. Both private and public investment were also up for the quarter, and Australians saved more, with the household savings ratio rising to 3.8%.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජාතික තේ අලෙවිය 2025 පෙබරවාරි මාසයේ දී පහත වැටීමක් වාර්තා කළ අතර, කිලෝග්‍රෑමයකට සාමාන්‍ය මිල රු. 1,168.93 (US$ 3.96). මෙය රු. 16.50 (US$ 0.07) අඩුවීම 2025 ජනවාරි සාමාන්‍ය රු. 1,185.43 (US$ 4.03). වසරින් වසර, 2025 පෙබරවාරි සඳහා සාමාන්‍යය ද රු. 1,320.71 (US$ 4.25) 2024 පෙබරවාරි මාසයේ දී රු. 151.78 (ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් 0.29). 2025 වර්ෂයේ ජාතික විකුණුම් සාමාන්‍යය රු. 1,177.35 (US$ 4.00), රු. 116.43 (US$ 0.11) 2024 සාමාන්‍ය රු. 1,293.78 (US$ 4.11). උන්නතාංශය අනුව තේ අලෙවිය විශ්ලේෂණය කිරීමෙන් 2025 පෙබරවාරි සඳහා මිශ්‍ර ප්‍රතිඵල අනාවරණය විය. High Grown හැර අනෙකුත් සියලුම උන්නතාංශයන් පෙර මාසයට සාපේක්ෂව පහත වැටීමක් වාර්තා කළේය. ඉහළ වර්ධනය වූ කාණ්ඩය ශ්‍රී ලංකා රුපියලේ (LKR) කොන්දේසිවල සෘණ විචල්‍යයක් පෙන්නුම් කළ නමුත්, වසරින් වසර US$ අගයන්හි ධනාත්මක ලාභයක් වාර්තා කළේය. ඊට ප්‍රතිවිරුද්ධව, මධ්‍යම වර්ධනය වූ සහ අඩු වර්ධනය වූ කාණ්ඩ වසරින් වසර LKR සහ US$ යන දෙකෙහිම සෘණාත්මක විචලනයන් අත්විඳින ලදී.

Wall Street's been hit hard as the trade war between the U.S. and its major trading partners heats up, wiping out all the gains on the S&P 500 since Donald Trump was elected. And now, that slump is spreading to the Australian sharemarket, with the S&P/ASX 200 dipping by 0.2% or 18.4 points at the start of trading. The drop comes after the Trump administration imposed tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China, with all three countries retaliating. That’s sparked concerns about a slowdown in the global economy. The S&P 500 dropped 1.2%, with more than 80% of its stocks closing lower. The Dow slid 1.6%, and the Nasdaq lost 0.4%. In fact, the Nasdaq briefly hit a 10% drop from its recent high, which usually signals a market correction, but gains in tech stocks like Nvidia and Microsoft helped ease the damage a bit. Financial stocks were some of the biggest losers on the S&P 500. JPMorgan Chase fell by 4%, and Bank of America dropped by 6.3

විශ්‍රාමික විනිසුරුවන්, විශේෂයෙන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ, රාජ්‍ය හා පෞද්ගලික යන දෙඅංශයේම තනතුරු සඳහා පත් කිරීමට රජය ගෙන ඇති තීරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් නීතිඥ සමුහය කනස්සල්ල පළ කර තිබේ. නිවේදනයක් නිකුත් කරමින් නීතීඥ සමුහය පවසන්නේ විශ්‍රාමික විනිසුරුවරුන්, විශේෂයෙන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ, රාජ්‍ය සහ පෞද්ගලික යන දෙඅංශයේම තනතුරු සඳහා පත්කිරීම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සහ වෙනත් රටවල නීති ප්‍රජාවගේ සහ සාමාන්‍ය ජනතාවගේ අවධානයට ලක්වන කරුණක් බවයි. විශ්‍රාම ගිය පසු විනිසුරුවරුන් ලබා ගත් වටිනා අත්දැකීම් සහ අවබෝධය අපතේ යා යුතු බව මින් අදහස් නොවේ. ඔවුන් තම පාලන කාලය තුළ අපක්ෂපාතීව කටයුතු නොකළ බවට සැකයක් ඇති නොවන අයුරින් ඔවුන්ගේ දැනුමෙන් රට හොඳ ප්‍රයෝජන ගත යුතු බවද එහි සඳහන් වේ. පත්කිරීම් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ජාතික සම්මුතියක් සහතික කරන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සභාව වැනි යාන්ත්‍රණයන් හරහා ඔවුන් පත් කරන්නේ නම්, විශ්‍රාමික විනිසුරුවරුන් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා කොමිෂන් සභා, විමර්ශන කොමිෂන් සභා හෝ ශ්‍රී ලංකා නීති කොමිෂන් සභාව වැනි ආයතනවල සාමාජිකයන් හෝ සභාපතිවරුන් ලෙස පත් කිරීමට විරුද්ධ විය නොහැකි බව නීතිඥ සමුහය වැඩිදුරටත් පැවසීය. ඔවුන්ගේ විශේෂඥ දැනුම නීති අධ්‍යාපනය සහ විනිසුරුවරුන් සහ නීතිඥයින් පුහුණු කිරීම සඳහා ද යොදා ගත හැකිය. ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ විනිසුරුවරුන්ගේ විශ්‍රාම ප්‍රතිලාභ සේවයේ නියුතු විනිසුරුවරුන්ගේ වැටුප් හා ප්‍රතිලාභවලට සමාන විය යුතු බවට නීතිඥ සමුහය යෝජනා කර ඇත. ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් හෝ ලිඛිත නීතියෙන් අවසර දී ඇති පරිදි මිස ඔවුන්ට මුදල් ලාභයක්, වාසියක් හෝ ප්‍රතිලාභයක් ගෙන දෙන කිසිදු කාර්යයක් ඔවුන් ඉටු නොකළ යුතුය. මෙම කරුණු ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව හෝ ව්‍යවස්ථා ප්‍රතිපාදන මගින් නියාමනය කළ යුතු බව එහි වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් වේ.

Millions of Aussies in Queensland and northern New South Wales are on high alert as Tropical Cyclone Alfred barrels toward the coast. The storm is expected to make landfall in the next 48 hours, bringing heavy rain, wild winds, and the risk of flash flooding. When will Cyclone Alfred hit? Cyclone Alfred is predicted to make landfall late Thursday night or early Friday morning. Senior meteorologist Christie Johnson said the storm could cross the coast around 1-2 a.m. Friday, but that timing might shift by an hour or two either way. Who's in the firing line? If you’re anywhere between the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast—including Brisbane—you could be in the path of the cyclone. Damaging winds up to 130 km/h are expected from Wednesday, with even stronger gusts of up to 155 km/h possible along the coast and nearby islands from Thursday afternoon. The storm is also bringing monster swells, with waves over seven metres already recorded, and the potential for 200 to 400 mm of rain, which could lead to flash flooding. You can keep an eye on the storm's path using the Bureau of Meteorology’s (BOM) track maps on their website, which are updated regularly. Where will it hit hardest? The Bureau’s warning zone stretches from Double Island Point in Queensland to Grafton in New South Wales, covering major areas like Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, and Byron Bay. A ‘watch zone’ is also in place from Sandy Cape to Double Island Point, including K’gari. Northern NSW towns like Ballina and Lismore are also bracing for impact. How close is the cyclone to Brisbane? As of Wednesday morning, Cyclone Alfred is about 465 km east of Brisbane. It's currently a category 2 storm, packing wind gusts near the centre of up to 130 km/h. Stay safe, and keep checking for updates as the storm moves closer!