Oct 12 (NW) Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake has alleged that money generated through drug trafficking is being used to finance media outlets, YouTube channels, websites and protests aimed at attacking his govt. Addressing a public rally, the Prez claimed that individuals linked to the drug trade were attempting to undermine the govt’s efforts to eliminate narcotics and organised crime. He said the govt had taken significant steps to combat drug trafficking and organised criminal activities, more..

Oct 12 (NF) Ministry of Defence says the country’s continued Tier 2 ranking in the USDS’s 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report reflects the govt’s ongoing efforts to combat human trafficking. Ministry said this marks the fifth consecutive year SL has retained its Tier 2 status. Ministry highlighted the launch of the National Strategic Action Plan to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking for 2026 to 2030 as a key step towards strengthening SL’s response to human trafficking. more..

Oct 12 (ST) The CIABOC has said its investigations revealed that although a request for a CT scanner for the Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital was made by the Carlton Suwa Udana Project, the National Savings Bank (NSB) drew a cheque for Rs. 10 million in favour of the Siriliya Foundation headed by former first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa. It also alleged that the money was instead used to purchase a house in Torrington Place. more..

Oct 12 (FT) Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake will inaugurate the SL Economic and Investment Summit 2026 today at the Shangri-La Colombo. Organised by The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, the two-day Summit will feature senior business leaders, policymakers, and international experts discussing SL’s economic priorities and investment prospects. Held under the theme Positioning Sri Lanka in a Changing Global Economy: Resilience, Reform, and the Future of Economic Policy, more..

Oct 12 (FT) Private sector borrowing from SL’s banking system slowed for a second consecutive month in August. Net credit expanded by Rs. 105.7 billion month-on-month (MoM), smallest increase since April and 37% below July’s Rs. 169.1 billion. Outstanding credit to the private sector rose to Rs. 11.56 trillion in August from Rs. 11.45 trillion in July. Year-on-year (YoY) growth eased to 24.5% from 26.4% in July. August’s increase was less than half the Rs. 226.8 billion recorded in August 2025. more..

Oct 12 (NW) Prez has announced that public sector salaries will increase again in Jan 2027, with the starting salary of a teacher rising to Rs. 65,000 and that of a doctor to Rs. 94,000. Addressing a public rally, Prez said the govt had already increased public sector salaries through its first budget and would implement another increase at the beginning of next year. He said strengthening the public service was essential for implementing development projects and improving the delivery of govt services. more..

Oct 12 (NW) SL has established its second king coconut village in the Badulla District as part of a national programme to develop 250 king coconut villages across the country. The village was inaugurated in Dehigama, Rideemaliyadda, on Saturday, under the Ceylon King Coconut Village – 250 programme, which aims to expand cultivation and increase export earnings. The programme aims to increase SL’s annual king coconut production by 25 million nuts and boost export revenue from more..

Oct 12 (AD) Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake stated that agreements already signed with private fuel companies will be amended in the future. He said certain conditions in agreements signed with private fuel companies had limited the CPC in its ability to determine fuel prices flexibly and regulate the market. Prez stressed that the govt would take measures to protect consumers rather than allow private companies to operate more..

Oct 12 (FT) Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) is calling for a balanced approach in SL in terms of taxation of legal products and enforcements on illicits, which have seen sharp growth over the last decade. Consumption of legal products has been on the decline in SL due to stretched consumer affordability driven by excise-led increases in price. However, smoking has increased relatively due to a thriving illegal and illicit market and availability of more affordable alternatives such as beedi. more..

Oct 12 (EN) SL’s foreign reserves fell 1.1 percent to US$ 6,851 million by the end of Sept 2026, down from 6,929 million dollars a month earlier amid central bank purchasing US$ 64.2 million on a net basis in the month. Central Bank has been aggressively buying dollars to boost the reserves. Analysts say the Central Bank’s year end reserve target of US$8 billion is achievable with the dollar inflows from the IMF and other multilateral institutions in the final quarter of 2026. more..

Oct 12 (DN) Sri Lanka women’s under 19 team led by Chamudi Praboda determined to continue their winning form when they meet Pakistan today (12) for the third time of the Tri-Nation series at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad. Sri Lanka already played 4 matches in their series. They started with a defeat against Pakistan by 5 wickets. But Sri Lanka fought back strongly to win back to back matches against Bangladesh and Pakistan and once again they will meet Pakistan today. more..

Oct 12 (FT) A delegation from SL–Thailand Business Council (SLTBC) consisting of the President Rizan Nazeer and a few Exco members met with Thailand Ambassador Paitoon Mahapannaporn recently. Strategic dialogue focused on unlocking new economic avenues, advancing implementation of the landmark SL–Thailand Free Trade Agreement (FTA), and operationalising the newly signed labour cooperation frameworks. FTA was signed on 3 Feb 2024 but is not yet in force. more..

Oct 12 (TM) Central Bank inflation target of 5% allowed it the flexibility to only increase interest rates by 1% or 100 bps in May – and forego further tightening, Director of Economic Research Lasitha Pathberiya said, speaking on the CBSL's panel discussion on inflation target review on Friday. Speaking of a hypothetical 2% inflation target, Pathberiya said: "If we had the inflation target of 2% at that time, then our response would have more..

Oct 12 (FT) Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of SL (FCCISL) participated in a high-level consultation convened by the Dept of Commerce at the request of the Trade Ministry recently. FCCISL was represented by State Affairs Committee Director Ruwan De Silva, and Secretary General Thilan Wijesinghe. Consultation brought together leading trade chambers and industry associations to review international trade developments and strengthen collaboration more..

Oct 12 (DN) SL’s Asian Games players Ravindu Laksiri and Chanithma Sinaly emerged as the Men’s and Women’s Open champions respectively at the 18th SL Air Force Open Squash C'ship 2026, which concluded at the Air Force Squash Complex in Ratmalana. Laksiri captured the Men’s Open title ahead of runner-up Shamil Wakeel, while Nevindu Lakman finished third and Royal College player Matheesha Wijesekara took fourth place. Sinaly took the Women’s Open crown, with more..

Oct 12 (CI) Maaz Sadaqat crashed 96 off 51, Sahibzada Farhan clobbered 73 off 44, and Pakistan scorched their way through the last 12 overs of their innings to mount a fearsome total of 215 for 3. Pakistan reaped 156 runs just in the last 12 overs of their innings, as a 73-run stand between Sadaqat and Farhan was followed by a manic 72-run partnership between Sadaqat and Hasan Nawaz. SL's batting was woeful in response. more..

Oct 12 (Island) Down but not out may be too uncharitable a way to describe a global agency that was launched with lofty expectations 81 years ago, and has just entered its ninth decade of existence with more forebodings than promises. The precarity of the UN’s circumstance is also a reflection of the crassness of its chief benefactor, the US under its current president. Stellar American Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, both Democrats, led their country to virtually more..

Oct 12 (CT) 2026 Nobel Peace Prize winner is Navaneetham (aka Navi) Pillay for her efforts to promote peace, international law, and human rights. She is a South African jurist born into a family of Indian Tamil origin. As India Today (9) notes, she is a South African jurist born into a family of Indian Tamil origin. Hers was a simple family with the father being a Durban Bus Driver. She overcame much, having once been banned from the chambers of South African judges because of her skin color. more..

Oct 12 (TM) For decades, taxpayers have been told that State-owned enterprise exists to shield the vulnerable from the harsh realities of the open market. Few institutions embodied this promise more visibly than Lanka Sathosa. Established originally as the Co-operative Wholesale Establishment, its declared mandate was simple and noble: to act as the primary importer and retail distributor of essential commodities, stabilising prices, breaking private import cartels, and ensuring that more..

Oct 12 (TM) When something goes wrong, it is usually a police officer who arrives first. Whether it’s a collision on a busy highway, a night-time robbery, a crowd that has turned ugly: the uniform is what frightened people look for. We expect courage and competence from these men and women at any hour and in any weather. What we seldom ask is what the job costs them. IGP Priyantha Weerasooriya, offered a sobering answer at an event in Biyagama. SL Police, he said, has the highest number of more..

Oct 12 (TM) SL recorded 14 laboratory-confirmed human rabies deaths in 2025, according to the Ministry of Health’s Public Health Veterinary Services (PHVS). Each of those deaths was preventable. Rabies is fatal once clinical symptoms appear, yet it can be stopped entirely if a bite is treated in time and the dogs that carry the virus are vaccinated. Who should vaccinate those dogs is now a matter of divided opinion, more..

Oct 12 (DM) Over the past few weeks controversy in our country has been raging over the right of prison authority’s to disrobe a monk (in this particular case, a re-convicted person). However, whether the man of the cloth be he/she, Buddhist, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish or Hindu, under secular legal systems, justice does not differentiate between religious figures and lay people once convicted. The present controversy arose after prison authorities unrobed a controversial, monk who over the past more..

Oct 12 (DM) As SL approaches the 80th anniversary of independence in 2028, we must confront an uncomfortable reality: Our collective memory is fading too quickly. The 2022 Aragalaya and economic collapse are already receding from public consciousness. So too are the COVID-19 pandemic and the Easter Sunday attacks of 2019. Further back lie wounds that have not been fully understood, acknowledged or healed: the 30-year civil war— militarily concluded in 2009 — JVP uprisings more..

Oct 12 (SO) From a political movement that once secured just three percent of the vote to one that commands a sweeping electoral mandate, the NPP has undergone a remarkable transformation. In this interview,, Minister Bimal Ratnayake reflects on the movement’s rise, his own political journey, the challenge of retaining public confidence and the NPP’s efforts to reshape public transport and urban development. more..

Oct 12 (GV) International Day of the Girl Child is a day to recognise girls’ rights, voices and potential and to call attention to the barriers that can prevent girls from growing up safe and free to shape their own futures. In Aug and Sept 2026, SL saw significant public concern over Facebook and other social media groups reportedly circulating and soliciting private and intimate images of women and girls without consent. The public response has also shown something important; more..

Oct 12 (Island) 51 govt MPs have proposed a parliamentary select committee (PSC) probe into the 1983 anti-Tamil violence, known as Black July, and make recommendations to Parliament. Their call has come close on the heels of a private member’s motion presented by DTNA MP Selvam Adaikalanathan, demanding that a PSC be appointed to establish the truth about the 1983 ethnic violence, assess the damage and recommend measures to prevent its recurrence. more..

Oct 11 (ST) It was a situation Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayke would rather not have been in, but last week he and those in his govt were in for a rude awakening, facing a backlash from senior members of the Buddhist clergy as well as many others over the handling of the case involving controversial monk Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera. The uproar was not due to the imprisonment of Gnanasara Thera, more..

Oct 11 (NW) Minister Anura Karunathilaka says the govt will not increase fuel prices to meet the demands of private fuel suppliers at the expense of consumers. Minister said private fuel companies have the option of determining their own selling prices based on their costs, in accordance with the agreements governing their operations. He stressed that the govt was not prepared to burden consumers by increasing fuel prices simply to accommodate the requirements of private companies. more..

Oct 11 (DM) Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, O. L. Ameer Ajwad, visited Anojan Sivarasa at Dammam Central Prison on October 8 to inquire about his well-being and current situation. During the visit, the Ambassador held an extensive discussion with Sivarasa, listened to his needs and concerns, and assured him that the Embassy would provide all possible consular and legal assistance under the guidance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism. more..

Oct 11 (ST) CPC plans to open 75 new fuel stations shortly as a dispute with private fuel companies over price hikes has disrupted services in several areas of the country, senior govt officials said. CPC Chairman D.J. Rajakaruna said that authorisation had been granted to open the new fuel stations, particularly in areas where there were no CPC-run sheds, and this number would be increased further if the need arose. more..

Oct 11 (NW) The special committee appointed to review and update regulations and standing orders under SL's Prisons Ordinance has held its first meeting at the Presidential Secretariat. Committee was appointed following discussions between President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and members of the Maha Sangha representing the three Nikayas on Oct 8. The meeting was held on Friday afternoon, with officials from the ministries of Buddhasasana, Justice & Public Admin, more..

Oct 11 (AD) The first day of the foot march, which began in Kandy this morning (10) in protest against the removal of Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero's monastic robes and calling for his release, concluded in Kadugannawa this evening. The Buddhist monks are scheduled to continue the six-day march on foot from Kandy to Colombo. Earlier today, a special blessing ceremony and a Sathya Kriya (Act of Truth) titled Justice for the Robe were held at the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy, more..