Appointments for 2,819 nurses and promotions for 76

Appointment letters were presented to 2,819 trainee nurses from the 2020 student nursing cohort, who completed the three-year Higher Diploma course at nursing colleges under the Ministry of Health and Mass Media, recruiting them to the Sri Lankan health service as Grade III nursing officers.

The ceremony was held at Temple Trees on Sunday morning (01), under the patronage of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

The 2,819 nursing officers who were appointed had sat the GCE Advanced Level examination in the Science and Mathematics streams in 2019 and 2020. They entered 16 nursing colleges across the island in 2023 and successfully completed the three-year Higher Diploma course.

The newly appointed nursing officers will be assigned to hospitals and healthcare institutions across the island administered by the central government and provincial councils.

Alongside the presentation of these appointment letters, promotion letters were also presented, under the patronage of the President, to 76 Grade I nursing officers (Hospital Services) for promotion to the Special Grade of nursing officers (Hospital Services).

Addressing the event, Minister of Health and Mass Media Dr Nalinda Jayatissa said that steps had been expedited to fill vacancies in order to address staff shortages across the country’s hospital system and provide the public with a higher-quality healthcare service.

The Minister noted that, since 2017, the Ministry had given special attention to filling vacancies in the nursing service.

He further stated that, in line with the health policy and strategic plans for the next decade (2025–2035), staffing requirements had been forecast using scientific data. Accordingly, arrangements had been made, subject to the approval of the Department of Management Services of the Ministry of Finance, to recruit 13,000 personnel to the nursing service over the three-year period from 2027 to 2029.

Deputy Minister of Health Dr Hansaka Wijemuni, Secretary to the Ministry of Health and Mass Media Dr Anil Jasinghe, and several additional secretaries, deputy directors-general and other ministry officials attended the event.

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‘Arnab’ fallout worsens as ‘Murasu’ threatens seas

Warning for strong winds and rough seas Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre Issued at 03.00 p.m. 01 November 2026, valid for the next 24 hours.

For: Multi-day boats in the Bay of Bengal deep sea areas off the coast extending from Mannar to Trincomalee via Kankasanthurai.

The Deep Depression over the Southeast Bay of Bengal has intensified into a Cyclone and named as ‘MURASU’ and was located near latitude 12.1°N and longitude 85.3°E at 11.30 a.m. on 01 November 2026.

Cyclone Murasu is very likely to move west-northwestwards and intensify further into a Severe Cyclonic Storm over the West-central Bay of Bengal around 2nd November morning. Thereafter it is very likely to move northwestwards and cross Andhra Pradesh coast to India as a Severe Cyclonic Storm during midnight of 2nd to early hours of 3rd November, 2026.

Wind speeds in the sea areas marked under the “Warning” category in the map below, may increase to (70-80) kmph at times, heavy thundershowers can occur, and these sea areas will become very rough.

Therefore, Naval and fishing communities are warned not to venture to the deep-sea areas bounded by 10N-15N and 80E-90E, until further notice.

Further, Naval and fishing communities operating in those sea areas are advised to move to safe areas. Also, naval and fishing communities are warned not to venture to the deep sea areas off the coast extending from Mannar to Trincomalee via Kankasanthurai until further notice.

The Sri Lanka Navy is continuing search and rescue operations today, 1 November 2026, to locate 7 fishermen who have failed to return after setting sail from Kudawella and Chalai.

Four (4) fishermen failed to return after departing from the Kudawella fisheries harbour on 21 October while another 3 fishermen have not been heard of since leaving the Chalai area for fishing activities on 26 October.

Naval ships and craft attached to the Southern, Northern and Eastern Naval Commands have been deployed to cover the respective sea areas as operations continue.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, says it has covered 90% of the $6.3bn (£4.7bn) assets stolen in a hack on Thursday.

The remaining 10% may take longer to source in the required amounts, the company added.

Binance has consistently pledged to cover 100% of the losses from what is suspected to be crypto’s biggest hack on record and said it has set aside more than $6.34bn in company funds to do so.

“Binance will absorb the financial impact of these stolen funds, not our users,” the company said in a statement on Saturday.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said on Saturday that North Korea was responsible for the hack.

Two analytics firms previously told the BBC they had robust intelligence pointing to North Korean state-backed hacking unit the Lazarus Group, also known as TraderTraitor – which was specifically named by the FBI – as the likely culprits.

Binance said it had replenished the stolen assets using various funds and its own corporate treasury.

All holdings of the cryptocurrencies bitcoin, ethereum and Tether are covered, along with seven other widely-traded crypto assets, the company said.

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