Oct 18 (TM) Four consecutive tender cancellations have held up the full commissioning of the Colombo Port’s East Container Terminal (ECT), with the Government now making a fifth attempt to procure 15 straddle carriers even as it explores handing over operations of the State-owned facility to a private operator. With 82–85% of civil construction completed, the terminal faces a further wait of 10–12 months for the equipment to arrive after the contract is awarded, more..

Oct 18 (Island) Rubies and other precious stones from Sri Lanka are among the extraordinary treasures discovered more than a century ago in London’s famous Cheapside Hoard, which is set to go on permanent display next month at the London Museum’s new Goldsmiths’ Gallery. The hoard, comprising nearly 500 jewels and precious objects, was accidentally discovered in 1912 when a workman’s pickaxe broke through the floor of a cellar at 30–32 Cheapside, near St Paul’s Cathedral, said a news report published more..

Oct 18 (NW) Minister Bimal Rathnayake has met Norway’s Transport Minister Kamzy Gunaratnam, a SL-born politician, for discussions on road safety, sustainable transport and national reconciliation. In a social media post, Gunaratnam said she was pleased to welcome Rathnayake and his delegation to Norway’s Ministry of Transport. The discussions focused on the transition to greener transport, preventing social dumping in the transport sector and improving road safety. more..

Oct 18 (SO) Power was restored in most parts of the island by 6 p.m. yesterday following a seven-hour islandwide blackout. Although the cause of the outage was not immediately known, Minister Anura Karunathilaka said the Govt intended to appoint a high-powered committee of experts to investigate the incident. The inquiry would establish the precise cause of the blackout, identify any operational or technical shortcomings, more..

Oct 18 (NW) SL Police have denied allegations that officers assaulted Ven. Balangoda Kassapa Thero during a protest at Viharamahadevi Park in Colombo on Saturday, stating that the monk slipped and fell on a concrete step during a confrontation. In an official statement responding to a video circulating on social media alleging that police assaulted the monk while pirith chanting was underway, police said the claims were false. According to a report submitted by Cinnamon Gardens Police, more..

Oct 18 (EN) Sri Lanka's official remittances from expatriate workers rose 5.6% to US$ 734.4 million in Sept 2026, while they reached US$6,865.4 million in the first nine months of the year with an 18.1% growth. Analysts predict SL will see record high remittances this year, surpassing the historically high annual worker remittance of US$8,076.2 million hit last year. The remittances hit a seven-month low in June following the rupee’s depreciation after escalation in the Middle East, more..

Oct 18 (NW) Director General of Wildlife Conservation Ranjan Marasinghe has defended the department’s efforts to protect iconic tusker Kavantissa, who died after receiving treatment for a gunshot injury, saying the elephant was over 45 years old and approaching the latter stages of his natural lifespan. Responding to questions about the department’s failure to prevent attacks on the animal, Marasinghe said wild elephants generally live for around 50 to 60 years. more..

Oct 18 (NW) Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has called for an independent and transparent investigation into the death of iconic tusker Kavantissa, involving both local and international experts. Speaking during a visit to Siyambalangamuwa on Saturday to pay his final respects to the tusker, Premadasa said a comprehensive examination was essential to establish the circumstances surrounding the elephant’s death. more..

Oct 18 (NW) The death of Kavantissa, one of SL’s most iconic wild tuskers, has raised fresh questions over who was responsible for the gunshot injury he suffered and whether sufficient action was taken to identify those involved. Environmentalists are demanding an independent investigation into the elephant’s death, while wildlife authorities prepare to conduct a post-mortem examination to establish the exact cause. more..

Oct 18 (EN) SL’s power grid was experiencing a total system failure due to a system instability that occurred this (17) morning, the state utility provider said, and asked rooftop solar owners to disconnect. National System Operator (NSO), a successor company of the CEB, said it is currently working on restoring the system. “NSO requests the rooftop solar PV system owners to disconnect their systems until further instructions from NSO, in order to support the restoration efforts.” more..

Oct 18 (DN) SL’s Under-19 women’s team, led by Chamudi Praboda, beat Bangladesh by four runs to win the Tri-Nation T20 tournament at Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad yesterday. The victory was SL’s fifth consecutive win in the tournament and their fourth successive victory over Bangladesh in the series. Opener Sanjana Kavindi once again led the batting effort with a superb 64 off 44 balls, including seven fours and two sixes, as SL posted the tournament’s highest total of 158 for six in 20 overs. more..

Oct 18 (Island) Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations set out a comprehensive and consistent framework of measures which countries should implement in order to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Countries have diverse legal, administrative and operational frameworks and different financial systems, and so cannot all take identical measures to counter these threats. more..

Oct 18 (Island) The debate on the no-confidence motion against Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne, submitted by the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), has been postponed indefinitely pending the Attorney General’s opinion on certain technical issues in the motion. Govt representatives raised the matter at a meeting of the Committee on Parliamentary Business, pointing out that several provisions of the motion required clarification and that the AG’s advice should be obtained. more..

Oct 18 (TM) Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) Co-Founder Dr. Ravindranath Dabare on Thursday called for the establishment of an international tribunal to hold transnational corporations accountable for environmental damage, citing the X-Press Pearl maritime disaster as an example of the limitations of domestic legal remedies. Addressing a session of the Friends of the Earth Int'l process more..

Oct 18 (CI) Mumbai Indians and their IPL head coach Mahela Jayawardene have parted ways ahead of the 2027 auction. Jayawardene was the MI head coach for the last two seasons, in his second stint with the franchise in that position. He had previously served in that role from 2017 to 2022. "Mumbai Indians has been a very special part of my journey for over a decade now," Jayawardene said in an MI statement. "The players, coaching team, the incredible support of the #OneFamily and more..

Oct 18 (IE) Chaminda Vaas, the former Sri Lanka fast bowler, was on Saturday announced as the fast bowling coach for Indian Premier League (IPL) side Delhi Capitals. Vaas joins a rather star-studded coaching staff, which includes Yuvraj Singh as assistant coach and is headed by former India captain Sourav Ganguly. “World Cup winner and Sri Lanka’s best ever. Welcome to Tiger Territory, coach,” the franchise posted on its official X handle. One of Sri Lanka’s greatest ever bowlers, more..

Oct 18 (TM) The number of investment proposals submitted to Board of Investment (BOI) fell by 31% in 2025, ending 3 consecutive years of recovery, while more than half of all proposals received over the past decade have either been rejected or become inactive, according to data. BOI received 81 project applications in 2025, down from 117 in 2024. Last year’s figure is less than half the 169 proposals recorded in 2016, more..

Oct 18 (TM) The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday (15) urged Parliament to expedite legal amendments required to hold long-delayed Provincial Council Elections (PC), saying it is prepared to conduct the polls as soon as the necessary legislative framework is in place. The PC Elections have been stalled because Parliament has yet to complete the legislative work relating to amendments to the electoral system and the delimitation of constituencies. more..

Oct 18 (FT) The Colombo stock market extended the rebound into a second straight session to end the week on the up. During the week, the ASPI fell 0.65% and the S&P SL20 was down 0.86%. Yesterday, the ASPI ended up 1.07% or 213.9 points at 20,185.05 and the active S&P SL20 gained 0.7% or 39.81 points to 5,738.83.Winners outweighed losers 184 to 33 with top contributions to the ASPI gain from DIAL, DIST, CCS, HNB and COMB. Turnover was over Rs. 1.1 billion on more..

Oct 18 (FT) SL’s long-awaited global tourism promotion campaign remains stalled by shortcomings in the Govt’s procurement framework, with Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake acknowledging that existing procedures are ill-suited to purchasing creative ideas and marketing expertise. He said the SL Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) had been attempting to advance the promotional initiative for around 18 months, but the process had yet to move forward, more..

Oct 18 (Island) The long awaited overhaul of Sri Lanka Cricket has reached a decisive stage, with the Supreme Court set to play a pivotal role next week in determining the fate of the proposed new constitution. For months, legal experts have been burning the midnight oil, working on sweeping reforms aimed at dragging cricket administration into the modern era and bringing its governance structure into line with international standards. The draft constitution was presented to Parliament more..

Oct 18 (FT) Vehicle registrations rose 18% month-on-month to 54,214 units in Sept from 45,811 in August, driven mainly by a rebound in two-wheelers and three-wheelers. Registrations rose across most major categories, though volumes remained below levels recorded earlier in 2026. Two-wheelers accounted for the bulk of the increase, rising to 38,747 units from 33,498. Of these, 38,178 were brand-new. TVS led overall for more..

Oct 18 (FT) I have been following the recent grid connected rooftop solar PV conundrum posted on social media and feel compelled to respond. State technocrats have been slow to adapt to the rapid developments taking place in the business of rooftop harnessing of solar. Term disruptive technology is not new. However, the disruption today is supercharged, and national policy makers with conventional mindsets seem to be overwhelmed. They appear to lack vision, the ability to more..

Oct 18 (Island) Paris has exploded in protests barely two weeks after peacefully assembling nearly a million people on its streets to welcome and salute Pope Leo XIV on his first visit to France. The good Pope himself has since been diagnosed with lung cancer and is convalescing after surgery in the Vatican. The protest triggers in France are youth frustrations over the state of the country’s education system and the broken conditions of its schools. The scale and mode of more..

Oct 18 (Island) A group of Buddhist monks and laypersons were staging a sit-in near the Presidential Secretariat at the time of going to press. The police obtained a court order yesterday morning prohibiting the protest on the grounds that it was being held in a high-security zone. Speculation was rife that the police would be able to disperse the protesters. However, all indications are that the campaign for the release of Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera from prison is unlikely more..

Oct 18 (Island) There seems to be no end in sight to controversies the JVP-NPP govt creates. It has been reported that the ruling party parliamentary group has proposed that the no-confidence motion (NCM) submitted by the Opposition against Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne be referred to the Attorney General for his opinion and recommendations. Some Opposition politicians have claimed on social media that this move could be a bid to block the debate on the NCM. more..

Oct 18 (SO) Coal Commission is now beginning to shed light on a trail of transactions that could reveal how some of the country’s most consequential coal deals were handled. Appointed by the Prez on Apr 17, Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry is tasked with investigating irregularities in coal purchases and transactions. Commission is chaired by SC Justice Gihan Kulatunga, with Court of Appeal Judge more..

Oct 18 (DM) There is an uncomfortable question SL must confront as the Govt considers its economic future beyond the current IMF programme. If the country has restored macroeconomic stability after its worst economic crisis in decades, why does it still need to look to another programme to sustain its recovery? The question is not whether SL should continue working with the IMF. Given its debt obligations, limited room for fiscal manoeuvre and exposure to external shocks, more..

Oct 18 (FT) When I introduced the Mahaweli Doctrine in the Daily FT in July, I argued that SL’s foreign policy should behave like its greatest river: not divide but connect; not isolate but unite; and link villages to global markets, local enterprise to international opportunity, and ancient wisdom to modern statecraft. That proposition has become even more urgent, especially following the Washington summit between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping. more..

Oct 18 (TM) On Tuesday (13) afternoon, in the kind of rain that empties Colombo’s streets, a crowd of civil society activists, trade unionists, and human rights defenders gathered near the Presidential Secretariat. They had come to protest against the Govt’s proposed Protection of the State from Terrorism Bill, and they wanted the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) of 1979 repealed along with it. When they tried to march towards building, more..

Oct 18 (SO) With no end in sight to the two major conflicts – the United States (US)-Iran War and the Russia-Ukraine War, the world is facing an unprecedented energy or rather a fossil fuel crisis. Although there is no direct link between the two wars, energy is the common thread that runs through both of them. The Iran War started on Feb 28 this year and Iran, outflanked by the US-Israel war machine, resorted to “asymmetrical warfare”, namely the closure of vital Strait of Hormuz, more..

Oct 18 (TM) Few would quarrel with the Govnt’s resolve to break the grip of organised crime. Daylight gang shootings, drug networks that reach into Police stations, and underworld figures running their operations from prison cells have badly shaken public confidence. Sri Lanka ratified the United Nations (UN) Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in 2006 but never passed the law needed to give it effect, so a dedicated statute is long overdue. more..