May 14 (FT) CB Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe yesterday drew a sharper distinction between the CBSL’s role as banker to the Govt and its function as regulator of licenced banks, as scrutiny intensified over the Treasury’s $ 2.5 million phishing scam and the Rs. 13.2 billion fraud uncovered at NDB. Governor sought to clarify where operational responsibility sits within Sri Lanka’s public payments architecture and more..

May 14 (DN) Sinhala publication of the book Buddhist–Muslim Dialogue was launched at a ceremony held at the BMICH on Tuesday. Event was organised by the Tanweer Institute for Islamic Studies and Interfaith Dialogue as part of its ongoing efforts to promote interreligious understanding and peaceful coexistence in SL. The book was jointly authored by Dr. Asad Shiraz and Tripitakaacharya Ramesh Madushanka. The launch was held under the patronage of Ven. Professor Gallelle more..

May 14 (DN) With the commencement of the tourist season in Pottuvil-Arugambay, health authorities have launched surprise inspections at restaurants and hotels to ensure the cleanliness and hygiene of food consumed by tourists. The arrival of both foreign and local tourists has now begun in the Pottuvil and Arugam Bay areas. While large numbers of foreign visitors are seen in the surfing zones of Arugam Bay, many local tourists frequent the bathing spots in the area. more..

May 14 (Island) The widespread torrential rains currently experienced countrywide are expected to provide significant financial relief to the debt-ridden CEB by sharply increasing hydroelectric power generation and reducing dependence on costly thermal and coal-powered electricity generation. Senior engineers of the CEB said the rapid rise in water levels in major catchment areas and reservoirs had already strengthened more..

May 14 (TM) Central Environmental Authority (CEA) has directed the developer of the Ambuluwawa cable car project to repair environmental damage linked to the project, following observations and reports submitted by both civil society groups and State institutions. CEA Director General Kapila Rajapaksha said that the project remains suspended, but that the developer has been instructed to dismantle any remaining structures that pose a threat to the environment and to more..

May 14 (NW) A private bus travelling from Kalpitiya to Colombo has come under police investigation after a video showing the vehicle dangerously overtaking another bus in the Madampe area circulated on social media. Officers from the Madampe Police Station stopped the bus on the same day after observing the traffic violations shown in the video. The driver was severely warned, and his driving licence was taken into police custody while a temporary licence was issued. more..

May 14 (NW) UNP has questioned Prez AKD over his congratulatory message to newly elected Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, raising concerns over diplomatic protocol. UNP said it was surprised to see the SL Prez extend personal congratulations to the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The party said that, as Head of State, congratulatory messages of this nature are generally reserved for fellow Heads of State and not foreign provincial or state leaders. more..

May 14 (AD) PM Harini Amarasuriya stated that the guidance of religious leaders is essential to further strengthen harmony and solidarity among communities in multicultural areas such as Anamaduwa, where Sinhala, Tamil, and Muslim communities live together in harmony. PM made these remarks while addressing the official ceremony held today (13) at Sudampaya, Anamaduwa, to present the Sannas Patra conferring the title of Chief Sanghanayaka of Rajavanni more..

May 14 (TM) The SJB, is yet to decide whether it will make submissions to the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate alleged irregularities in coal imports and coal power generation, while the SLPP plans to make submissions in the coming days. SJB General Secretary and MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara said the Party had not yet discussed the matter. “We have not discussed this yet. more..

May 14 (ST) Accused former Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody has accepted three out of the 31 points presented to him by the CIABOC during the pre-trial conference on the case prior to the case being taken up at the High Court. Accordingly, Mr Jayakody has accepted that he had served at the Lanka Fertiliser Company during the period relating to the charges against him and that he was also a member of the company’s procurement committee. It was decided to consider the other points more..

May 14 (FT) UAE and SL yesterday discussed expanding bilateral trade and economic cooperation, with a focus on ports, aviation, maritime connectivity, and a proposed trade agreement between the two countries. Discussions took place during a meeting between UAE Ambassador to SL Khaled Nasser Al Ameri and Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe. Both sides reviewed growing economic ties between the two countries, with bilateral trade currently estimated at around $ 1.5 billion. more..

May 14 (TM) Human Rights Commission of SL (HRCSL) has proposed sweeping legal reforms to give its recommendations greater force, including recognising the failure to comply with its directives as an offence amounting to contempt against the authority of the Commission. In a letter addressed to the President, the HRCSL argued that the move is necessary to strengthen accountability and ensure that its recommendations are not ignored with impunity. The Commission also noted that more..

May 14 (DN) Experienced SL weightlifters Chinthana Vidanage and Indika Dissanayake will compete today at the Asian Weightlifting Championship currently being held in Gujarat, India. Vidanage will compete in the men’s 79kg category, while Dissanayake will take part in the 71kg event. Vidanage won SL’s first Commonwealth Games gold medal in weightlifting when he claimed the men’s 62kg title at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Australia. He later secured a silver medal in more..

May 14 (TM) Medical & Civil Rights Professional Association of Doctors (MCPA) claimed that nearly 10,000 patients are currently on waiting lists for heart surgeries and related procedures at State hospitals. MCPA President Dr Chamal Sanjeewa claimed the base cost of bypass surgeries and stent procedures at private hospitals has now reached nearly Rs 1.5 million. "Total cost could increase several-fold depending on number of days more..

May 14 (FT) The SL delegation from PIM to Bhutan headed by Director Dr. Asanga Ranasinghe and consisting of Senior Professor Ajantha Dharmasiri, Dr. Samantha Rathnayake and Tharindu Ameresekere met with the Bhutan PM Dasho Tshering Tobgay at the 17th South Asian Management Forum at the Royal Institute of Management Bhutan. Pleasantries were exchanged between the parties at the Royal Institute of Management Bhutan following the keynote more..

May 14 (ST) SL has stepped in to implement Green Hydrogen and Ammonia projects, with the BOI inviting Requests for Information (RFI) till June 5, 2026. The govt has given priority to these projects for export and energy storage, targeting 70 per cent renewable energy by 2030. The Ministry of Energy and the BOI are accepting information for green hydrogen/ammonia project development. The feasibility studies with partners like Greenstat Hydrogen have evolved into concrete plans more..

May 14 (FT) Parliament’s Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) has raised serious concerns over financial irregularities and long-outstanding loan recoveries at the Dept of Cooperative Development, flagging losses of over Rs. 167 million and ordering fresh action on delayed reforms. Dept was summoned before COPA to review the National Audit Office triennial audit reports covering 2021 to 2023, more..

May 14 (DM) The Colombo Stock Exchange ended today’s session on a negative note, as weaker-than-expected Banking sector earnings for the quarter dampened overall investor sentiment. Declines in both QoQ and YoY performances across several banking counters triggered selling pressure during the first hour of trading, pushing the ASPI down by over 100 points intraday before the market gradually stabilized. Despite the early weakness, the market managed to maintain its levels during the more..

May 14 (EN) A visiting Chinese delegation headed by Xin Chunying, Member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), has met officials of SL’s Parliament and promised further bilateral cooperation. She met speaker Jagath Wickramaratne and emphasized the importance of strengthening parliamentary diplomacy between the two legislatures and reaffirmed China’s continued commitment to further enhancing bilateral cooperation for mutual more..

May 14 (FT) Sampath Bank said it has reported a total operating income of Rs. 28.5 billion and Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs. 6.2 billion for the quarter ended 31 March 2026. Total operating income was supported by steady growth in Net Interest Income (NII), up 5% year-on-year (YoY) and net fee and commission income, up 28% YoY. Notwithstanding this performance, PAT declined by 26% YoY due to significantly higher impairment provisions of Rs. 4.5 billion recognised in response to more..

May 14 (TM) The Aswesuma programme was born out of necessity. After the economic collapse of 2022, hundreds of thousands of families lost what little financial footing they had. Govt needed to act, and Aswesuma was the answer: a structured cash transfer scheme that placed money directly into the hands of the most vulnerable. That was the right call. But welfare, by design, must have a direction. It cannot simply be a monthly deposit that continues indefinitely while the underlying conditions more..

May 14 (FT) Govt announced plans to triple SL’s economy to $ 300 billion by transforming the critical small and medium enterprise (SME) sector via the first-ever National SME Strategy Framework. Framework, branded SME NEXUS has a five-pronged strategic outlook – transformational growth; integrated approach; market orientation; entrepreneurial society; and outcomes and impact focus; three implementation approaches more..

May 14 (FT) Hatton National Bank (HNC) said that against a backdrop of heightened economic volatility, bank recorded a Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs. 9.95 billion in the first quarter of 2026, reflecting disciplined balance sheet expansion and sustained improvements in asset quality. At Group level, performance remained resilient, with PAT reaching Rs. 10.35 billion for the quarter. Bank in a statement said: During 1Q 2026, interest income recorded a year-over-year (YoY) growth of 10%. more..

May 14 (CT) An enlightened mind is like a life-giving herb that makes human existence in the world peaceful. A SL monk who is taking the Buddhist tradition from America to the entire world through Vipassana meditation. Today, at the age of 99, he is mature in both academic knowledge and practical understanding. Millions of monks and laypeople around the world benefit from his Dhamma knowledge. Accordingly, the religious mission of the Most Venerable Henepola Gunarathana more..

May 14 (Island) US Prez Donald Trump’s recent statement at a business summit that he would leave the White House in eight or nine years is widely considered a light-hearted remark intended to provoke his critics. It has apparently had the desired impact, but it has also evoked the dreadful memories of his refusal to concede defeat after losing the 2020 prez election, his unruly supporters’ attacks on the US Capitol, and his previous statements that he would seek a third term. more..

May 14 (TM) Superstar Vijay (Chandrasekaran Joseph Vijay) first became Ilayathalapathy. Now, he has taken oaths as Chief Minister (CM) Thalapathy Vijay. The few hours that followed looked less like a political transition and more like the opening scenes of a blockbuster Tamil film. Seconds before taking oaths, he lifted a table on the stage by himself to help others. Minutes later, he was taking selfies. The crowd roared. Cameras swirled around him. For a moment, politics itself looked cinematic again. more..

May 14 (TM) As tractors rolled into paddy fields across Sri Lanka for the 2026 Yala season, a different kind of anxiety travelled alongside the farmers preparing their land. It was not only the fear of drought, pests, or fluctuating paddy prices. This time, the uncertainty came packed into sacks of urea, or the lack thereof. Across the global market, fertiliser prices are once again soaring upward, driven by a geopolitical crisis more..

May 14 (SO) While grappling with various local challenges including the recent fuel crisis spurred by Middle East tensions, the Govt boosted its international image in the past few days with the two high level visits of Prez Dr. Mohamed Muizzu of the Maldives and Vietnam Prez Tô Lâm. Thus in a single week, Sri Lanka hosted two strategically important leaders in the region, signalling that the island-nation is emerging once again as a diplomatic beacon in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). more..

May 14 (ST) For the last couple of months, I have been trying to unravel the thinking process—if that is what it is—of that cacophonous and egregious president of the US, Donald Trump. If it was just his convoluted and confused talk that has caused so much bother, one might excuse him. After all, he is an American, and they have this habit of making things stand on their heads. Trump made quite a hash of his first term as president, even to the point of letting loose some armed & adventurous more..

May 14 (SO) The demand for public transport has increased significantly over the past few years, but the quality of the supply remains poor and is improving slowly. However, a major transition in the private bus industry has taken place in recent months with many air-conditioned bus services (Luxury buses) coming into operation in large numbers on long-distance (Inter-provincial) routes. Many of these buses are new, more..

May 14 (CT) The massive turnout at the last May Day rallies, coupled with the strategic insights gained from the recent Vietnamese delegation’s visit, has undeniably forced Sri Lanka into a moment of reckoning that demands a clear, disciplined vision for national survival. This convergence of populist energy and a proven blueprint for Vietnam’s success signals that we can no longer afford to drift. While IMF & official statistics suggest a stabilizing economy, the ground reality for more..

May 14 (GV) For decades, the Tamil people have endured war, displacement, political betrayal, economic neglect & repeated cycles of disappointment. Yet despite these hardships, the aspirations of the Tamil people have remained remarkably consistent: dignity, equality, meaningful power sharing, economic opportunity, cultural protection and a secure future for the next generation. A new and deeply important question is emerging across the North, East and more..