Oct 5 (AD) The Sri Lankan government will make decisions while safeguarding the country’s sovereignty and identity, while remaining prepared to intervene when necessary on humanitarian grounds, Minister of Foreign Affairs Vijitha Herath has stated. The Foreign Minister made the remarks at an event held today (4), while clarifying reports concerning Iranian vessels anchored near SL's maritime boundary. more..

Oct 5 (FT) BBS General Secretary Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera was arrested on Saturday on an outstanding warrant and remanded until today (5) by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court. Officers of the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) produced Gnanasara Thera before the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The court also ordered that steps be taken to produce him before the Court of Appeal today. The CCD arrested Gnanasara Thera at a forest monastery in Thiniyawala, Kalutara. more..

Oct 5 (AD) The 2026 Colombo International Book Fair, which commenced on Sept 25, concluded today (4) after drawing large crowds over its 10-day run. The annual book fair was held at the BMICH premises in Colombo, attracting visitors from across the island. One of the highlights of this year’s exhibition was the opportunity given to school and university students who successfully passed a news-reading screen test conducted at the Derana Zone at the exhibition premises. more..

Oct 5 (Island) The govt has chosen not to respond to questions raised by the UNHRC regarding the detention of Suresh Sallay in connection with the ongoing investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks. CID arrested the ex-official in late February this year. Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, more..

Oct 5 (NW) Housing, Construction and Water Supply Minister Dr. Susil Ranasinghe said 5,000 houses constructed with government assistance are scheduled to be handed over to the public today (5) to mark World Habitat Day. The Minister made the remarks while addressing a media briefing. He said arrangements have been made to hold this year’s World Habitat Day celebrations today, under the theme A Safe Home for All, with PM Dr. Harini Amarasuriya as the chief guest. more..

Oct 5 (DM) Minister Vijitha Herath has clarified that no licence fees or other payments are required for singing or playing songs at weddings, family functions or other private gatherings, dismissing recent claims circulating on social media. Herath said there were no restrictions or charges imposed on people for singing songs at private events, including wedding receptions. He explained that under national and international intellectual property laws, lyricists and musicians hold rights to more..

Oct 5 (ST) A travel ban will be sought against Shiranthi Rajapaksa, if she fails to appear before the FCID before the extended deadline granted to her expires, a Public Security Ministry source said. Ms Rajapaksa, who had left for medical treatment overseas, had requested 14 days to provide a statement to the FCID regarding the Siriliya foundation she headed. The ministry source said police would seek a travel ban if she failed to appear in time. more..

Oct 5 (DN) SL T-20 cricket team led by Kusal Mendis left yesterday to Pakistan for three T-20 match series against Pakistan. The tourney will commence on Oct 9. Skipper Kusal Mendis said that they are going to test few young players in this series to form a good team focusing on the next World Cup. “Despite the recent England T-20 series loss there are few positives in it. We are going to ready for the two World Cups, ODI and T-20 and this will be good preparation for it, said skipper Mendis. more..

Oct 5 (ST) Govt has called bids for 1,000 brand-new, automatic-transmission, 4WD diesel double-cabs. The tender was advertised on Sept 29, with a closing date of Oct 22. Procuring entity is the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, which has also separately called bids for 175 tractors, 100 backhoe loaders, 100 gully emptiers and 160 tippers. Double-cab procurement is the largest of the lot. more..

Oct 5 (DM) Melwa Group has rejected the allegations that its new cement plant in Seeduwa is being built in an environmentally sensitive zone. It suggested that some of the criticism could be driven by parties with business interests rather than by people living in the area. Melwa Group Head of Sales and Brand Malik Kannangara took a lighter view of the controversy, remarking that the critics had given the brand publicity before it had even started production. more..

Oct 5 (FT) Central Bank of SL (CBSL) was a net buyer of $ 64.2 million from the domestic foreign exchange market in September, down 89% from the record $ 579 million it bought in August, as the rupee weakened against the US dollar after two months of recovery. Rupee closed at Rs. 330.83 per dollar on 30 Sept from Rs. 328.01 at end-August, a depreciation of 0.85% during the month. This widened its year-to-date (YTD) depreciation to 6.3% from 5.5% at end-August, already exceeding more..

Oct 5 (TM) SL's lack of a staff-level agreement on the seventh review of the IMF's EFF does not indicate the country has derailed from its reform path, and discussions may take additional time to reach agreement on key policies and parameters, IMF Resident Representative for SL Dr Martha Tesfaye Woldemichael said recently, speaking at a roundtable organised by Sampath Bank. During the discussion, Woldemichael addressed concerns surrounding proposed amendments to more..

Oct 5 (Island) The proposed new constitution for Sri Lanka Cricket is now in the public domain and has understandably become the talking point among stakeholders of the great game. There is considerable excitement that the new constitution could usher in an era of professionalism and accountability in cricket administration. Inevitably, there are also parties with vested interests painting a grim picture. Their warnings need to be taken with a generous pinch of salt. more..

Oct 5 (TM) The National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) is reviewing around 6,000 registered medicines as part of an ongoing process to set Maximum Retail Prices (MRPs) for all medicines registered in the country. NMRA Chairman Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama said that the MRP would be assigned to brands when the NMRA issued or renewed their report licences and/or registration licences. more..

Oct 5 (FT) In a landmark verdict, the Right to Information Commission (RTIC) has ordered Royal College, Col 7, to immediately hand over hidden accounting records detailing an alleged multi-million rupee fraud involving short-banked match ticket sales. The ruling delivers a stinging rebuke to school authorities who insisted that their elite alumni body operated beyond the reach of State audit laws. The controversy traces back to the First XV rugby seasons of 2017 and 2018 more..

Oct 5 (FT) Sri Lanka’s banks have built up their foreign currency holdings abroad while cutting what they owe overseas, and private companies have continued to repay more foreign debt than they take on, the Central Bank of SL’s (CBSL) External Sector Bulletin for August 2026 showed. The banking sector’s foreign assets, which include deposits and placements with banks abroad and holdings of foreign securities, rose to $ 6.6 billion by end-July from $ 5.5 billion at end-2025. more..

Oct 5 (FT) Govt’s Budget returned to surplus in August, posting a cumulative surplus of Rs. 35.4 billion for the first eight months of 2026, after deficits in June and July had pushed the balance into the red, the Finance Ministry’s latest Fiscal Review Report showed. The turnaround implies a surplus of around Rs. 145 billion for August alone, against a cumulative deficit of Rs. 109.72 billion at end-July. more..

Oct 5 (FT) As tourism increasingly moves beyond conventional leisure experiences, SL is seeking to turn its rich wetland ecosystems into destinations for wellness, conservation and community-based economic activity, with an int'l summit opening in Kotte on 9 Oct. Wellness in Wetlands Int'l Conference (WIWC) 2026, scheduled from 9 to 12 Oct in the historic Kingdom of Kotte, will bring together 34 int'l experts from 15 countries, including environmental psychologists, ecologists more..

Oct 5 (Island) GS1 Lanka marked its 10th Annual General Meeting with a focus on the next stage of product identification in SL, as businesses prepare for the wider adoption of 2D barcodes and the growing demand for trusted product information. Addressing the AGM, GS1 Lanka president Revan Fernando noted that GS1 has been giving SL products a globally recognised identity for more than 30 years. He pointed to the shift from traditional barcodes to 2D barcodes as the next major more..

Oct 5 (Island) Proposed SL Cricket Bill addresses an important question: how can SLC be governed without making its Board overly dependent on the politics of its membership-based electoral system? Its answer is a 14-member Board: seven Elected Directors chosen by SLC voting members and seven Independent Directors nominated through a separate committee. The Bill also sets eligibility and disqualification requirements and establishes specialist committees. more..

Oct 5 (FT) The Govt has made compliance with Sri Lanka Standards (SLS) mandatory for imported passenger car tyres and pneumatic tyres for three-wheeled motor vehicles, effective 1 January, 2027. The regulations were promulgated by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in his capacity as Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, under the Imports and Exports (Control) Act, No. 1 of 1969, and published in Extraordinary Gazette No. 2508/27 more..

Oct 5 (TM) Sri Lanka’s fuel import bill has surged by 61.6% to $4.07 billion in the first eight months of this year, increasing the country’s import expenditure on fuel by $1.55 billion compared to the same period last year. The sharp increase comes despite the Govt’s continued efforts to manage fuel consumption and expenditure, with the latest figures showing that the pressure on the country’s import bill has intensified rather than eased as more..

Oct 5 (FT) Govt has signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to secure a concessional loan of $ 35 million from ADB, together with a grant of Euro 15.4 million from the European Union (EU) ($ 16.94 million) and a grant of $ 5.5 million from the Japan Fund for the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JFJCM). Energy Ministry in collaboration with Electricity Distribution Lanka Ltd (EDL) and Lanka Electricity Company Ltd (LECO), will implement the project from 2026 to 2030 in support of the Govt’s more..

Oct 4 (FT) Establishing a university is a monumental undertaking that tests the limits of traditional leadership. The creation of a higher education institution requires a delicate synthesis of academic vision, bureaucratic navigation, administrative foresight, and financial sustainability. It is a decade-long endeavour so complex that it routinely eludes even seasoned corporate executives and veteran administrators. For an individual whose entire life has been forged outside more..

Oct 5 (Island) Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) has held several media briefings during the past several months to highlight a host of unresolved issues affecting the university system, but the govt seems to be unconcerned. Addressing the media, the FUTA raised those problems once again, pointing out that all state universities had been left with only about 5,000 teachers because a large number of academics had already left the country, mostly for economic reasons. more..

Oct 4 (TM) Sri Lanka spent US $ 4,072.1 million on fuel imports between January and August this year, according to the Central Bank. That is 61.6% more than in the same period of 2025, an additional US $ 1,551.5 million. August alone cost US $ 450.6 million, up 76.5% on a year earlier. For a country that only recently emerged from a punishing foreign exchange crisis, these are not statistics to be filed away. They are a warning that we keep ignoring. The timing makes it worse. more..

Oct 5 (SO) For 309 days, an unfamiliar, suffocating silence hung over the historic platform of the Peradeniya Railway Station. The brass bell remained mute, the signal arms stayed frozen against the misty hill country sky, and the iron rails. Normally polished to a mirror shine by the relentless grinding of daily express trains, the rails slowly succumbed to a dull, rusted sheen. On Friday that heavy silence was finally shattered. more..

Oct 5 (ST) Actors of various shades have operated in relative obscurity for decades, avoiding direct public gaze, to try to claim a piece of the priceless natural resource that Sri Lanka has in surplus – fresh water. This wealth has been SL’s oil for thousands of years and has continued to be surveyed from within and by external financial interests, multilateral development banks, and development finance institutions. It is a foundational resource that Sri Lankans broadly believe more..

Oct 5 (GV) As the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) met in September, the situation in Sri Lanka was on the agenda as the state again tried to fend off concerns about its patchy record. The government was also represented at the UN General Assembly, which met amid stark tensions between leaders of superpowers, along with countries under their patronage, and much of the rest of the international community. It made occasional useful points, yet sent out mixed messages. more..

Oct 5 (ST) Minister Vijitha Herath was in New York this week attending UNGA. While there, he met with outgoing UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Mr Guterres’s term as UN Secretary General is set to expire on Dec 31 this year. During his discussions with the UN Secretary General, Minister Herath was pleasantly surprised to learn that he was quite knowledgeable on SL. Mr Guterres is Portuguese & served two terms more..

Oct 5 (ST) Gnanasara hamuduruwaney, I thought I must write to you even though, at the time of writing, we are unaware of your exact whereabouts. Instead, we have been told that a warrant has been issued for your arrest. After a period of relative quiet, you have again become the talk of the town – and I daresay for all the wrong reasons. Of course, controversy is nothing new to you. You seem to thrive on it. You have been charged, first with drunken driving and then trespassing, more..

Oct 5 (GV) We have lost a dear friend and comrade. Basil Fernando died in Hong Kong on Sept 30 aged 81. He was a lawyer, jurist, poet, philosopher and Marxist and he never made peace with injustice. Asia has lost one of its bravest defenders of human dignity. Those of us who knew him have lost a man of rare warmth, wit and moral courage. Basil was born in Wattala on Oct 14, 1944. He came from a poor fishing village and overcame the barriers of caste and class to become a firebrand more..