Sep 20 (ST) For Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the coming week is shaping up to be one of the most pivotal weeks of his presidency. On Sept 23, it will be exactly two years since Mr Dissanayake was sworn in as the 9th Executive Prez of SL, having emerged victorious at the prez election held on Sept 21, 2024. Even as he marks two years in office, NPP govt is moving next week to debate perhaps the most crucial piece of legislation more..

Sep 20 (ST) Govt will begin talks with the IMF to implement a new fuel subsidy aimed at avoiding further burden on the public from petrol and diesel price hikes, senior govt official said. Talks will begin shortly amid the escalation in the West Asian war, which is disrupting energy supplies and driving up fuel prices worldwide. “Increasing fuel costs further will place a burden on the public as well as impact the work in industrial zones, electricity generation costs, and the transport sector. more..

Sep 20 (DM) The Govt will provide Rs. 60 million to each district to identify and improve unsafe and dangerous locations on roads that are not part of the national road network. The funding is part of a Rs. 1.5 billion national programme aimed at reducing road accidents by addressing physical safety hazards on roads. Local govt institutions will identify dangerous locations within their respective areas and carry out the required safety improvements under the programme. more..

Sep 20 (ST) New regulations have been gazetted requiring a licence to play songs at weddings, parties, banks, supermarkets, private and corporate events & DJ shows, in a move described as a measure to protect intellectual property rights. The regulations gazetted by the Association of Creators and Publishers of SL (ACPOSL) under the National Intellectual Property Office of Sri Lanka came into force last Tuesday. more..

Sep 20 (NW) Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has released what he describes as the full, unedited footage of his meeting with UN Resident Coordinator in SL Marc-André Franche, following controversy over remarks attributed to the UN official in a leaked video from a closed-door civil society meeting. Premadasa said reports circulating in certain sections of the media had created misleading impressions about his recent meeting with Franche and the views exchanged between them. more..

Sep 20 (AD) Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Employment Arun Hemachandra will undertake an official visit to the State of Qatar from today (20) to 23 Sept, leading the SL delegation to the SL–Qatar Joint Committee Meeting on labour and foreign employment cooperation. The Joint Committee is being reconvened after a lapse of more than five years and will provide an important platform for the two countries to review existing cooperation and identify areas for more..

Sep 20 (TM) Injured Sri Lanka white-ball cricket Captain Kusal Mendis, who missed the ongoing three-match T20I bilateral series against England, is likely to rejoin the squad ahead of the three-game One-Day-International (ODI) series, according to Team Manager Mahinda Halangoda. Mendis, a right-handed wicketkeeper-batter, has been dogged by recurring injuries in the recent past and was also forced to miss the two-match Test series against India, which SL lost 1-0 last month. more..

Sep 20 (ST) Former SLC Selection Committee Chairman Pramodya Wickramasinghe has gone before Commercial High Court of Colombo seeking Rs. 75 million in damages over the alleged unfair and improper termination of his two-year appointment. Wickramasinghe, who was appointed on Dec 17, 2025 with the approval of the Minister of Sports, claims that his appointment was brought to an early end by the Cricket Transformation Committee without prior notice, more..

Sep 20 (TM) The proposed Feed-in Tariff (FIT) for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) has been referred for a policy-level decision, with the Ministry of Energy warning that locking SL into a high tariff for 15 years before competitive bidding establishes a market price could ultimately make battery storage costlier than diesel-fired generation. Ministry of Energy Secretary G.M.R.D. Aponsu said that BESS tariff proposed by more..

Sep 20 (ST) Sri Lanka is currently taking measures to ensure that local companies are not impacted by any form of secondary sanctions by the US should they service US sanctioned vessels calling at any ports around the country. Deputy Minister Janitha Kodituwakku said that based on information provided by US Embassy on any vessels sanctioned by them, the SL authorities are taking measures to ensure that the country’s organisations will not face any secondary sanctions. more..

Sep 20 (Island) SL have conceded an unassailable 2-0 lead to England in the three match T20I series and were staring down the barrel of a whitewash heading into Saturday’s final game at Old Trafford. Despite travelling to the UK well in advance and playing warm up games to acclimatise to conditions, SL have barely landed a punch. Both defeats have come by massive margins and more worryingly, they have exposed just how far the team has fallen behind the leading sides in T20 cricket. more..

Sep 20 (Island) As Asia continues to account for a growing share of global economic activity, Sri Lanka faces an important opportunity to strengthen its links with regional trade networks, supply chains and economic corridors. How the country can make better use of these connections to attract investment, expand trade and strengthen its position in regional value chains will be among the key questions at the SL Economic & Investment Summit 2026, organised by CCC on 12-13 Oct 2026. more..

Sep 20 (EN) Sri Lanka’s monthly foreign exchange revenue from tourism rose for the first time in 10 months in Aug 2026 and gained 2.1% from a year ago to US$264.4 million, Central Bank said. The rise comes despite a 3.3% fall in the monthly tourist arrivals in August, data showed. Tourism revenue has been falling since Oct 2025 with the govt-owned tourism promotion body’s revision of the daily average spending per tourist and the duration of the tourist stay. more..

Sep 20 (DM) The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) has clarified that an advertisement circulating on social media listing prices for various medical tests is not an official advertisement issued by the Authority. The CAA said the public should not assume that the prices listed for tests such as FBS, RBS, HbA1C, Lipid Profile, LFT, RFT, UFR, CRP, CT, MRI, Ultrasound, Mammogram and DEXA are maximum charges prescribed by Authority. more..

Sep 20 (NW) A 27-year-old motorcyclist died after suddenly collapsing when he stopped his motorcycle following a signal from traffic police in Manipay on Saturday morning. Police said traffic officers had signaled the rider to stop after observing him riding while speaking on a mobile phone. After pulling the motorcycle off the road and stopping, rider suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed. With the assistance of area residents, he was taken by a 1990 ambulance to Jaffna Teaching Hospital, more..

Sep 20 (DM) Two suspects, including a police sergeant, have been arrested within an hour of an armed robbery at a liquor store near Anuradhapura Junction in Trincomalee. Suspects had allegedly entered the liquor store last night (18) and threatened employees with a T-56 firearm before fleeing with cash. Acting on information received about the robbery, Trincomalee Police officers arrested the two suspects while they were staying at a temporary lodging facility within Uppuveli more..

Sep 20 (DM) INTERPOL has issued a blue notice on former minister Basil Rajapaksa following a request by the CIA as authorities step up efforts to trace and bring back individuals wanted in connection with ongoing legal proceedings, Minister Ananda Wijepala said. Minister said the govt is using international law enforcement mechanisms to track down former politicians and other wanted individuals who more..

Sep 20 (NW) SLPP lawyer Manoj Gamage has rejected claims regarding alleged email communications linking MP Namal Rajapaksa to Airbus in connection with the SriLankan Airlines aircraft transaction, saying false information is being spread. Gamage said there was no direct email correspondence between Rajapaksa and Airbus and claimed none of the emails referred to contained Rajapaksa’s name. He said the email exchanges were between officials connected to more..

Sep 20 (DM) Air tickets were presented to 204 Sri Lankan migrant workers selected for employment opportunities in Israel at a ceremony held at SLBFE auditorium yesterday (18). The tickets were presented under the patronage of SLBFE Chairman Kosala Wickramasinghe. The workers were selected for employment in the hotel, restaurant, industrial and agricultural sectors in Israel. Of the 204 workers, 43 were selected for hotel-sector jobs, 144 for restaurant-sector jobs, more..

Sep 20 (CI) Sri Lanka hold a slight edge over Pakistan heading into Sunday's semi-final, although contests between the two sides have generally been close in this format. Their most recent meeting came in the Asia Cup semi-final, where SL overcame Pakistan despite an all-round threat from Fatima Sana. In the Asian Games quarter-final, Pakistan were pushed hard again, surviving a Thailand scare in a rain-affected chase of 92. They slipped to 47 for 4 before Sana came to their rescue, more..

Sep 20 (DM) Former Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe on Thursday said that he cannot take over the nation now if needed, as he is not in Parliament now. Mr Wickremesinghe made this remark in response to a question raised by a youth as to whether he is prepared to take over the nation once again. Questions were raised by the youth from the former Prez during a programme to mark the 120th birth anniversary of the late Prez J.R. Jayewardene. “I cannot take over the nation now as I am not more..

Sep 20 (CI) Sri Lanka saved their most dismal batting performance of the series for last as they were bowled out for 124, a target which England knocked off in just 9.4 overs. The result secured a 3-0 series sweep, and subjected SL to a 15th consecutive loss in T20Is against England, who regained the ICC No. 1 ranking from India in the process. It was Harry Brook and Jos Buttler once more in the thick of the chase, more..

Sep 20 (ST) My dear Mahinda maama, I am writing to you with mixed emotions after seeing you on stage at the rally organised by the pohottuwa last week. This must be a difficult time for you, with Namal baby behind bars, even if it is only temporarily, and Shiranthi jetting off to Singapore for what is supposed to be medical treatment. Namal baby had delegated the task of organising the rally to Tisakutti. It was supposed to be a repeat of Mahinda sulanga, the rally at Nugegoda more..

Sep 20 (ST) A year ago, SL’s nearly new govt won time – and sympathy – from the int'l community at the UNHRC to put the country’s human rights house in order. There was also immediate bonding between the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, and the new govt, the former calling it a historic opportunity for transformative reforms and the govt losing no time in inviting him to visit the country with open access, in the naïve belief that its openness would turn the tide of adversity. more..

Sep 20 (Island) AI Snake Oil is the title of a 2024 book authored by Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor, two Indo-American computer science academics at Princeton Uni. Book became a popular primer on the subject. The long subtitle – What Artificial Intelligence Can DO, What it Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference – is summarily indicative of what the book is about. Within two years, however, the somewhat tempering message of the book would appear to have been overtaken more..

Sep 20 (TM) A quarter of a century has passed since 11 Sept 2001, when airplane attacks targeted the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. The smoke that billowed high into the sky that day permanently altered the global political map. Thereafter, nothing remained as it was before. The US’s declaration of a Global War on Terror was not merely a military campaign; it served as a historical turning point that fundamentally and radically reshaped more..

Sep 20 (ST) The awarding of a tender to obtain black shoe polish for the SL Police has not only taken the shine off the uniformed footwear of police personnel but also drawn allegations that the awarding of the tender was manipulated to suit certain individuals. Police Department had called for tenders to procure 350,000 tins of black shoe polish in April last year, and out of six bidders, the lowest bidder had been selected in Sept last year. more..

Sep 20 (Island) The 120th birth anniversary of President J.R. Jayewardene (JRJ) was commemorated in Colombo on Thursday. The well-attended event, with a representative audience, brought the UNP and its offshoot, the SJB, together, with their leaders, former President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, respectively, stressing the need for their parties to unite and fight what they described as the JVP-led NPP govt’s dictatorial rule. more..

Sep 20 (SO) Sri Lankans voted for Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the NPP two years ago mainly because they had trust in his personal honesty. They had heard promises to fight corruption before and had seen those promises broken within months. Following the sheer trauma of the 2022 economic collapse, voters turned to Dissanayake because of his distance from the political establishment that had governed SL into bankruptcy. They also thought he would be willing to act against those more..

Sep 20 (TM) As Sri Lanka awaits the judicial decision on the controversial 22nd Amendment, expected this week, the Opposition is rallying to protest the amendment. However, all is not going according to plan, it is learnt. The Nidahas Meheyum Madhyasthanaya (Independent Operations Centre), a group composed of several political activists and lawyers, aims for collective action to defeat the 22nd Amendment Bill in Parliament. more..

Sep 20 (TM) In a few days, the NPP will mark two years in office. After much political upheaval, long periods of poor governance, and an economic meltdown, SL public propelled Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the NPP to an electoral win with high hopes. Many were willing to overlook the disdain they held for the NPP’s core, which remains, functionally, the JVP, a movement that has twice attempted to overthrow an elected govt through violent insurgency and terror tactics, more..

Sep 20 (SO) Two years ago, Sri Lankans voted simply not for a new Govt, but for a different way of governing. The NPP came to office on a powerful promise: to break with the political practices of the past, clean up the Govt and deliver a more accountable, efficient and equitable State. Two years on, the question is no longer whether the Government has a reform agenda. It clearly does. The real test is whether that agenda is producing durable results for the economy, more..