Sep 30 (Island) Civil society activist Gamini Viyangoda on Monday lambasted the NPP govt for its failure to act promptly on the Supreme Court cancelling the presidential pardon granted to the General Secretary of BBS Galagodaatte Gnanasara. Addressing a gathering at the SL Foundation to mark the launch of Rajapaksha Samagama and Pasku Praharaye Thoththa Babala by Lasantha Ruhununuge and Tharindu more..

Sep 30 (FT) India has informed SL investigators that illicit funds were used in the Krrish construction project in Colombo, CIABOC told the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court. Information came through a mutual legal assistance communication, a formal channel through which govts exchange evidence and information for criminal investigations and prosecutions. CIABOC Assistant Legal Director Ama Wijesinghe said the communication was held by the CID, which is conducting a joint investigation more..

Sep 30 (NW) Former Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa told court he could not recall details of the abduction of journalist Keith Noyahr or whether anyone had contacted him about the incident while he was Defence Secretary. Rajapaksa testified on Tuesday from the Colombo Magistrate’s Court via Zoom in a case before the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court concerning the disappearance of social activists Lalith Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganandan in Dec 2011. Relatives of the two men filed the complaint, more..

Sep 30 (Island) A Rs.160 million-plus diesel discrepancy at the Lakvijaya power plant in Norochcholai has triggered an internal investigation, raising questions over the handling of public funds and the controls governing fuel purchased for electricity generation. The discrepancy surfaced during an internal audit of diesel supplied to the plant from Kolonnawa & Sapugaskanda fuel terminals, according to senior officials familiar with more..

Sep 30 (Island) Following a gazette notification issued by Minister of Justice Nanayakkara re-establishing the old Bogambara Prison as a correctional facility, 75 inmates were sent to the renovated prison recently. These inmates were transferred from the Colombo Remand Prison and the Magazine Prison. Meals for them are provided by the Dumbara-Pallekele Prison. This prison was originally established in the year 1876. Under the Kandy Development Project, Prisons Dept more..

Sep 30 (DN) Sri Lanka needs to establish a minimum level of sovereign artificial intelligence (AI) capability to ensure that technologies increasingly driving the economy, public services and national development remain under adequate national control, Chief Advisor to the President on Digital Economy Dr. Hans Wijesuriya said. Delivering the keynote address at AI Amplified Sri Lanka – AI Week 2026 in Colombo, Dr. Wijesuriya said in Colombo yesterday, AI should be embedded into more..

Sep 30 (FT) Digital Marketing Association of SL (DMASL) recently called on Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake to brief him on the Association’s role in SL’s digital marketing and creative ecosystem, its mandate for the industry, and the vision behind the upcoming Digital Summit Asia, SL 2026. The meeting provided an opportunity for DMASL to discuss the continued evolution of SL’s digital ecosystem and the role industry-led organisations can play in developing talent, more..

Sep 30 (Island) Ceylon Chamber of Commerce is expanding its work to strengthen business continuity across SL’s private sector, with the latest in a continuing series of Business Continuity Management (BCM) workshops completed this week. The work directly supports the National Disaster Management Plan 2023–2030, which identifies the Ceylon Chamber as a lead implementing entity responsible for helping private-sector businesses prepare and implement more..

Sep 30 (FT) Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa yesterday accused the Govt, Central Bank of SL (CBSL) and Dept of Census & Statistics (DCS) of painting a misleadingly positive picture of the country by using survey data up to a decade old to depict poverty. Premadasa said SL Socio-Economic Data 2026 report, released on 28 Sept, used recent data for macroeconomic indicators, trade, prices, govt finance, debt, labour and tourism, more..

Sep 30 (DN) SL’s Asian Games Gold medalist Rumesh Tharanga continued his form to bring honor to the motherland by winning Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, Diamond League Series and the World Ultimate Championship final in a row is an incredible achievement in 2026 season. His determination and commitment to the sport is always very high and it pave the way for his success. Rumesh was confident of winning the Asian Games Gold before the meet but the weather badly more..

Sep 30 (Island) Every cricket fan remembers that Angelo Mathews was Sri Lanka’s captain when Australia were whitewashed 3-0 in the Test series of 2016. Most will also remember Graham Ford, the master tactician, was Head Coach. But hardly anyone remembers the curator. Perhaps they are not expected to. Curators rarely make headlines. Yet the truth remains that Godfrey Dabare produced the surfaces tailor made for Rangana Herath to weave his magic and the rest, as they say, is history. more..

Sep 30 (NW) The foundation stone for 51 new housing units was laid at the Alagolla Estate in the Badulla District on Sept 29, by the Assistant High Commissioner of India in Kandy, Saranya V. S., alongside SL’s Plantation and Community Infrastructure Minister Samantha Vidyaratna and Deputy Minister Pradeep Sundaralingam. The housing units are being constructed under Stage 2 of IHP Phase IV, which was launched in Oct 2025 by Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake. more..

Sep 30 (TM) SL plans to establish an international Gem Hub in Colombo next year as part of efforts to develop the country’s gem and jewellery industry into a higher-income economic sector, with the Govt looking to ease import and export restrictions affecting the industry, Minister Sunil Handunnetti said at the Ceylon Gemlogue 2026. Speaking at the event, Handunnetti said: “For more than 2,000 years, world has known this island through extraordinary brilliance of its gemstones. more..

Sep 30 (ST) Demography statistics published recently has projected a significant fall in SL’s youth population count, tugging at the very heart of the country’s economy. The report on population and housing in Feb 2026 by the DSC said that there has been a 4.5% decline in the youth (upto 14 years of age) population. Out of a total population of 21.7 million, the 60 years and older category has risen to 18% this year, more..

Sep 30 (ST) An interim stay order imposed on the Archaeology Dept on the conservation of an ancient Dagoba around the hot water wells in Kanniya, Trincomalee has been vacated by the Trincomalee HC Judge N.M.M. Abdullah. Taking into consideration submissions made on behalf of the Attorney General the stay order was vacated. The stay order was previously issued after taking into consideration a petition filed by an owner of the nearby Kovil, Ramani Ganesh who claimed more..

Sep 30 (FT) Frontier Research expects the rupee to begin a fresh appreciation cycle closer to the end of the year, with inflation turning negative by mid-2027 and rates easing further. Frontier Research Head of Macroeconomic Advisory Chayu Damsinghe told a recent investor forum organised by the firm that the rupee could strengthen to around Rs. 325 per dollar by the end of 2026 and Rs. 315 by end-2027, and further if Brent crude falls to $ 85 a barrel by October or November. more..

Sep 30 (FT) National Development Bank (NDB) said it had engaged a foreign agency specialising in tracing stolen money and digital assets to recover funds lost in the fraud uncovered at the bank earlier this year, as the final forensic report put the loss at Rs. 13.64 billion. The figure is Rs. 60 million more than that identified in the auditor’s interim report in June. Bank said it had received the final report from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India, more..

Sep 30 (FT) Cabinet has approved Gazetting amendments to the 109-year-old Trust Ordinance and submitting them to Parliament, in a move to make the ownership of trusts more transparent and bring the law in line with global anti-money laundering standards, Minister Nalinda Jayatissa said yesterday. He said the Attorney General had cleared the Trust (Amendment) Bill drafted by the Legal Draftsman. Cabinet approved a resolution by the Minister of Justice to publish more..

Sep 30 (FT) Classic Travel, a longstanding leader in SL’s corporate travel sector and the outbound travel arm of the Expolanka Leisure Cluster, has further strengthened its industry standing by securing one of the industry’s most prestigious accolades at the World Travel Awards 2026. With over three decades of experience serving the evolving travel needs of businesses across the country, Classic Travel was named SL’s Leading Travel Company 2026, following a rigorous evaluation process more..

Sep 30 (DM) SL faces a multi-pronged economic threat from any further escalation of the Middle East conflict, ADB said, as it warned that the fallout could simultaneously hit the import costs, exports, remittances, tourism, foreign reserves and the govt’s fiscal position. In its ADB Outlook Sept 2026, the ADB said the risks to SL’s economic outlook remain tilted to the downside, with the Middle East conflict posing a particularly broad threat to an economy still rebuilding its external buffers. more..

Sep 30 (FT) Court of Appeal has recently quashed the appointment of the Deputy Tea Commissioner of the SL Tea Board (SLTB), on the basis that the interview panel has exercised their discretion in an arbitrary and/or irrational and/or unreasonable manner in allocating marks. This was when the Petition filed by the SLTB Assistant Tea Commissioner B.M.K. Madushanka, challenging the appointment of the Deputy Tea Commissioner, was taken up before Justice Mayadunne Corea more..

Sep 30 (FT) SL’s economy is going through its most fundamental structural change in seven to eight decades, Frontier Research said, warning that the shift will reward capital-intensive, margin-driven businesses and could leave labour-intensive, volume-based players facing an existential squeeze. “SL economy is fundamentally different from anything we have seen for the last 70 to 80 years,” Frontier Research Head of more..

Sep 30 (ST) Amid protests by the opposition both within and outside the House, Parliament on Friday (25) overwhelmingly passed the Twenty Second Amendment (22A), as the NPP govt showed its strength with all 158 MPs being present to secure its passage into law. The Supreme Court had earlier determined that the Bill, which primarily aims to raise the retirement age of superior court judges, did not require approval at a people’s referendum. Therefore, two-thirds special parliamentary more..

Sep 30 (Island) I have always noticed the little paper tags that are inside the packaging of some products that say quality assured or quality control. I often wonder who might have checked the product and stamped that tag, but I also forget the tag soon enough. Decades later, when I entered academia, I was taken aback by the emphasis placed on quality assurance in our universities. It is not something that could be forgotten and done away with; entire uni system is obsessed with quality assurance. more..

Sep 30 (GV) Some political remarks vanish with the news cycle. Others refuse to disappear because they reveal a question larger than the speaker may have intended. Deputy Minister Dr. Prasanna Gunasena’s recent distinction between governing power and state power belongs to the second category. It deserves attention not because a single speech proves an authoritarian design but because the words touch a fault line running through SL’s constitutional history: where should more..

Sep 30 (TM) The families arrived at Sri Bodhirukkharama Viharaya in Ketawala carrying bags packed for an emergency: a cup, a plate, medical records, important documents, and bank passbooks. At the entrance, State officials were ready to register each household as it came in. Inside the premises, separate spaces had been set aside for women and men, as they had been when the temple served as a Suraksha Centre during Cyclone Ditwah. Once everyone had settled more..

Sep 30 (TM) Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s indication that the Govt is considering removing certain taxes through the upcoming budget has brought renewed attention to the question of how much fiscal space SL has for further tax relief. While such measures could ease some of the tax burden on households, they also come at a time when the Govt is seeking to maintain revenue collection and meet fiscal and debt obligations under its more..

Sep 30 (Island) Underworld death squads are in overdrive, eliminating their rivals. On Sunday, a gunman armed with an assault rifle opened fire on a trishaw, killing its driver and a woman in Baddegama. Another woman, injured in the attack, died in hospital. A video of the attack shows the assassin, who arrives in a car, using controlled, individual shots rather than a burst. Such killings carried out by professional hitmen remind us of Hollywood blockbusters depicting street more..

Sep 30 (TM) Sri Lankans have learnt, at some cost, that a war fought thousands of miles away can empty a household purse on our shores. The Cabinet is to consider a Rs 41 billion fuel subsidy meant to shield consumers over the next three months from the latest surge in global petroleum prices. The instinct behind it is understandable. Whether it is sustainable is a harder question, and the public deserves an honest answer to it. The numbers explain the anxiety. more..

Sep 30 (SO) MP and Attorney-at-Law Lakmali Hemachandra defended the Govt’s 22nd Amendment to the Constitution as a broader judicial reform aimed at strengthening the capacity of the justice system, retaining judicial experience and addressing delays, rejecting criticism that the measure was designed to benefit a particular judge. Speaking on the legislation during the parliamentary debate on Thursday, Hemachandra said more..

Sep 30 (DM) We have always known this truth: Corruption was not just rampant; it was endemic and looked ineradicable. The sarcastic saying aimed at Lankans – in SL, it’s not what you know but whom you know that matters – was directly related to this corruption. But getting rid of this destructive corruption element was not seen as a top political priority. Some people talked of Singapore, how Lee Kuan Yew eliminated it using draconian methods. Oh, but that’s Singapore, they said. more..

Sep 30 (DM) Sri Lanka has launched a diplomatic cum legal battle to save the life of one of its migrant workers who has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia over blasphemy against Islam. Sivarasa Anojan, a 26-year-old Sri Lankan migrant worker from Kalmunai, faces a death sentence by a Saudi appellate court after prosecutors successfully appealed to have his initial cybercrime sentence upgraded under strict Sharia law. Anojan was working as a quantity surveyor in Saudi more..