Sep 12 (DN) Minister Anil Jayantha Fernando told Parliament that the number of Aswesuma welfare beneficiaries has dropped to 1,251,522 as of August 2026. This is down from the 2,439,917 beneficiaries recorded in 2025, representing a reduction of nearly half the recipient base. Dr. Anil Jayantha clarified that the reduction is not an arbitrary cut. Original Welfare Benefits Act governing Aswesuma programme mandates more..

Sep 12 (Island) Workers carrying out maintenance work at an old elite bungalow in Kahapathwela, within the Galagedara Police Division, unearthed a cache of 3,711 rounds of ammunition, including ammunition for various firearms, pistols and automatic weapons. The workers made the discovery while excavating a concrete-sealed pit on the premises. Four weapon storage boxes were also found at the site. The businessman, who owns the bungalow, subsequently informed the Police, more..

Sep 12 (FT) Consumer sentiment in the country continued its gradual stabilisation in Aug 2026, improving marginally to 81 from 80 in June, marking the third consecutive monthly rise since May 2026, according to the Consumer Sentiment Survey. This marks the first instance since Jan 2026 of consumer sentiment stabilising gradually over three consecutive months, survey showed. The uptick tracks movements in the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI), more..

Sep 12 (DM) Govt has allocated Rs. 65 billion to develop 26 cities across the country under its Life Cities development programme, Minister Bimal Ratnayake said. Speaking at the inauguration of the programme in Colombo, Minister said the Govt had initially selected 10 cities for the first phase of the project. He said the programme would focus on people-centred and sustainable urban development suited to the needs and more..

Sep 12 (Island) An investigation would be launched to determine whether former State Minister Sasheendra Rajapaksa was involved in demolishing a tank bund in Monaragala in an alleged search for treasure, Deputy Minister Aravinda Senarath told Parliament yesterday. Senarath said discussions had begun with relevant officials to initiate an investigation while steps were also being taken to resume and complete the long-delayed rehabilitation of the tank. more..

Sep 12 (FT) SL batter Sonal Dinusha, England pace bowler Ollie Robinson and Bangladesh fast bowler Hasan Mahmud feature on the men’s shortlist for the ICC Player of the Month award for August, while Thailand’s Suleeport Laomi and Nannapat Koncharoenkai are in contention for the women’s honour alongside Lucy Barnett, who becomes the first player from the Isle of Man to make the shortlist. Three players in the race for men’s award this time have impactful performances in Test cricket. more..

Sep 12 (NW) In early 2025, SL Police launched eTraffic under the govt’s Clean Sri Lanka programme. It skipped Google’s Play Store entirely, required sideloading from a Vercel website, sought background location, camera and storage access, and carried a tragi-comically weak privacy policy. That same week, hackers had seized the Police’s own social media accounts. I critiqued it on launch day. Two days later, when confronted with questions posed by journalists who had read my article, more..

Sep 12 (NW) A 5-megawatt (MW) solar power pilot project is planned over the Viyana Canal in Mahiyanganaya, with the govt beginning preliminary work on what is expected to be SL’s first canal-top solar project. The project will initially cover about five km of the canal with solar panels, according to SLSEA. Ministers Samantha Vidyarathna and Anura Karunathilaka reviewed the progress of the proposed project at a meeting held at the Parliament complex on Wednesday (09). more..

Sep 12 (Island) Prof. G.L. Peiris has challenged the assertion that the Supreme Court’s determination on the 22nd Amendment would be based solely on law and not Buddhist teachings, arguing that such a position is inconsistent with Article 9 of the Constitution and established judicial precedent. Prof. Peiris has said the issue had arisen during the 22nd Amendment determination proceedings when Ven. Balangoda Kassapa more..

Sep 12 (DN) More than 5,000 athletes are set to take part in the Colombo Marathon 2026, organized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Dept of Sports Development in conjunction with the 50th National Sports Festival. The event will be held tomorrow at the Galle Face Green in Colombo. The marathon has attracted strong international interest, with 130 foreign competitors from 25 countries, including elite runners from Kenya and Ethiopia, joining SL athletes on the starting line. more..

Sep 12 (FT) Colombo stock market yesterday shrugged off a 3-day losing streak to end the week in green. During the week, the ASPI and the S&P SL20 lost 1.1% and 0.9% respectively. Yesterday, despite losers edging gainers 100 to 99, ASPI ended up 0.12% or 25 points at 21,382.74, but the S&P SL20 ended marginally 0.02% down, or 1.46 points at 6,002.46. The positive contributors to the ASPI were HAYC, CARG, SAMP, LOLC, SEMB and DIMO. Market turnover was over Rs. 1.1 billion more..

Sep 12 (FT) Minister Aruna Karunathilake said that the Govt is preparing to grant systematic concessions on batteries used in renewable energy storage, beginning with systems above 100 kilowatts. He said discussions had recently been held with the President, and a framework is being developed to ensure concessions are provided under a structured process. Minister cautioned, however, that SL has yet to establish quality standards for battery systems. more..

Sep 12 (PMD) President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has appointed Dr. Roshanie Dissanayake as the Secretary to the Ministry of Science and Technology. The letter of appointment was handed over to Dr. Dissanayake by Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake at the Presidential Secretariat this morning (11). Dr. Roshanie Dissanayake has also served as an Additional Secretary (SLAS – Special Grade) at the Ministry of Public Admin, PCs & LG. more..

Sep 12 (ST) There has been a notable rise in the reporting of child abuse cases in recent years, with this year’s reported cases escalating to 6,615 by August alone, compared to 5858 cases reported by August last year and 5725 cases by August in the year before that. In addition, a seasonal pattern is suggested in the data as well, with case reports peaking during June and July each year. Experts note that high-temperature weather, more..

Sep 12 (Island) Ceylon Motor Traders’ Association (CMTA), established in 1919 is the most senior automotive association in SL affiliated with the CCC, is calling for greater consistency, transparency and fairness in the policies governing the country’s automotive sector, stressing that a sustainable vehicle import framework must ensure a level playing field across the entire industry. The Association’s concerns come at a time when the automotive sector continues to operate under more..

Sep 12 (CI) Sri Lanka survived an all-time all-round display from Fatima Sana to triumph over a spirited Pakistan and seal a second-straight Asia Cup final berth against India. Sana, a rare Player of the Match from the losing side, struck 47 off 36 to drag Pakistan to 130 for 5, and then finished with figures of 4 for 38 - inclusive of two double-wicket overs - but SL's all-round excellence eventually overcame Sana's bloodymindedness. In their chase, SL were reduced to 5 for 2, and then 33 for 4, more..

Sep 12 (ST) More than 1,500 statements have been recorded so far in the ongoing investigations into the recent riots in Negombo, Mahara, Kuruwita and Magazine prisons, while concerns over prison overcrowding and delays in drug-related cases remain unresolved. The investigations by the CID have led to the arrest of several inmates on various charges, including aiding and abetting violence and murder, police said. more..

Sep 12 (FT) SL’s policy-driven distortions in the vehicle market are reducing the country’s attractiveness to global automotive manufacturers, with authorised distributors warning investment decisions are increasingly being assessed against a market in which they effectively control only a fraction of total vehicle business. Ceylon Motor Traders’ Association (CMTA) representatives in a media briefing on Thursday, flagged the issue went beyond the immediate impact on distributors, more..

Sep 12 (FT) Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Chairman Dr. Parakrama Dissanayake outlined five priorities he believes should shape the logistics industry’s future agenda. Addressing the 9th Annual General Meeting of the SL Association of NVOCC Agents (SLANA) on Thursday, he urged the freight forwarders to build resilience, digitise, and get ahead of sustainability and policy demands before they become unavoidable. The five-point recommendations of Dissanayake include; more..

Sep 12 (FT) KOKO, a leading buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform, has partnered with Ceylinco General Insurance to introduce Sri Lanka’s first customised medical insurance offering designed exclusively around the needs of KOKO customers. The partnership marks a first for SL’s fintech and insurance sectors, bringing together Ceylinco General Insurance’s decades of expertise in health insurance with KOKO’s understanding of its customer community to create a medical more..

Sep 12 (FT) In a historic milestone for SL business media and entrepreneurial leadership, SL entrepreneur and business communicator Stefan de Alwis is putting the island nation on the international map through The 3i Show, hosting an exclusive, high-impact dialogue with globally renowned entrepreneur, investor, and mentor Jeff Hoffman. The engagement marks a defining moment where a homegrown Sri Lankan platform is directly engaging the world’s most prominent business leaders, more..

Sep 12 (FT) SL Ports Authority (SLPA) is set to launch a long-awaited logistics hub within the next two to three months, incorporating free-zone and bonded warehousing facilities and opening a new avenue for foreign direct investment, SLPA Chairman Dr. Parakrama Dissanayake said. He said the facility could fundamentally alter Colombo’s value proposition by allowing it to move beyond its 4-decade role as a transshipment more..

Sep 12 (Island) After the economic crisis of 2022, and the IMF programme that followed, some are of the opinion that stability was achieved, but followed by not out of danger yet. Where is the stability then? We know that the cause of the crisis was a lack of foreign exchange. However, IMF programme focused on the fiscal aspects, not one that enhanced export earnings. So, we are once again in a situation, facing the same problem, with the fiscal discipline thrust on us. more..

Sep 12 (ST) Situated in the heart of Galle, Kathiresan Koyil has housed a rich display of mural paintings since the late 18th century. Yet written histories have largely overlooked this site. Apart from the fact that these murals may be among the oldest surviving specimens of Hindu mural painting in Sri Lanka, their stylistic characteristics reveal striking connections with Kandyan and colonial period Buddhist murals, as well as contemporaneous mural traditions in South India. more..

Sep 12 (FT) The Nobel Prize for Economics was not one of the original prizes established by Alfred Nobel, which in 1901 included five awards, for: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace. The Economics prize was created in 1968 by Sweden’s central bank, nearly seven decades after the original Prizes. The initiative came from Riksbank Governor Per Asbrink, an economist by training and powerful Social Democratic central banker who had more..

Sep 12 (DN) The political cartoon is not merely a newspaper feature intended to provide simple humour; it is a powerful medium of expression that reflects the conscience of a democratic society. In SL journalism, Winnie Hettigoda stands out as a visual artist who pursued a courageous ideological practice in the face of state censorship, political crises and the evolution of media technology. From his first exhibition, Saththwa Roopa (Animal Figures), through Sebaawe Sithuwama more..

Sep 12 (SO) SJB and UNP are moving towards an electoral alliance, with the two parties preparing to contest at the next election together while retaining their separate political identities. SJB General Secretary, MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara said the two sides had already held discussions and reached a broad understanding on working together. He said an alliance was a more practical option than SJB members returning to the UNP, more..

Sep 12 (Island) Killings are reported with monotonous regularity in this country. Two children were killed in a grenade attack on a house in Dehiwala in the early hours yesterday. Their father, who sustained serious injury in the attack, is receiving treatment in hospital. The attackers came, lobbed the grenade and fled in a trishaw. The police have blamed an underworld gang for the attack, claiming that the attackers had mistaken the victims’ house for the residence of an associate more..

Sep 12 (TM) Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s 3-day visit to SL this week is strategically more significant than the relatively modest value of the agreements signed in Colombo might suggest. Since the visit of K C Pant 38 years ago, in the troubled aftermath of the Indo-SL Agreement and the notice given to Indian troops stationed in the North and East in 1987-90, this is the first visit by an Indian Defence Minister. It comes at a time when India is increasingly defining security in Indian Ocean more..

Sep 12 (TM) There was a time when a ship could determine the fate of a port simply by refusing to call there. For centuries, Galle was Ceylon’s principal maritime gateway, a familiar stopping place for the great steamship lines and an important coaling station on the routes to the East. Colombo was a less impressive proposition, an exposed roadstead whose limitations were obvious to mariners. Yet, within a generation, more..

Sep 12 (GV) A dimly lit stage comes into view, otherwise completely empty. A young man with his hair tied back rushes down the staircase. He speaks without a voice, crying out in silence, while our eyes remain fixed upon him. Slowly, the empty stage begins to fill. A graceful young woman appears and opens a large, white, shelf-like box on display. From it she pulls out a red cloth and carries it to the young man. The man asks us, seated in our red theatre chairs, how we are. more..

Sep 12 (CT) There are newspapers that record history. There are others that merely follow it. And then there are those rare publications that become part of history themselves—not because they command imposing buildings, printing presses or great financial resources, but because they possess the courage to publish what others would prefer to leave unsaid. Colombo Telegraph (CT) belongs unmistakably to that final category. On 12 Sept 2026, CT completes 15 years of publication. more..