Oct 29 (Island) Tertiary education is vital for sustainable growth and for producing skilled workers with critical thinking, problem-solving and advanced tech skills, central to boosting productivity , competitiveness and innovation in the economy, said Dr. Nisha Arunatilake- Director of Research, Institute of Policy Studies (IPS). ‘STEM fields including science, technology, engineering and maths are key to fostering ongoing innovation- led growth, expanding economic activity and more..

Oct 29 (DN) SL fast bowling coach Ryan van Niekerk praised his pace attack for showing character and bouncing back after conceding over 400 runs in their previous match, as SL bowled Pakistan out for just 110 to record an 8-wicket victory in the ODI tri-series at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Tuesday. With this victory, SL have qualified for the final alongside Pakistan, which will be played at the same venue on Saturday (31). SL will meet England today in their final more..

Oct 29 (DM) Capital raised through Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) could touch Rs.200 billion this year, setting a fresh high for the bourse, as it readies an ESG index, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a derivatives market and eventual demutualisation, CSE CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike said yesterday. Bourse has so far mobilised Rs.160 billion this year through debt, equity and rights issues, which is already about 30% higher more..

Oct 29 (ST) Having successfully ventured into India, the Maliban Group is setting its sights on Thailand early next year. “The initial breakthrough in Thailand partnership came from the the Embassy,” Ravi Jayawardena, CEO of Maliban, said, noting that last year, Embassy of SL in Thailand played a pivotal role in organising a significant business meeting between Maliban Biscuit Manufactories & Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company (CPF), a key subsidiary of CP Group in Bangkok. more..

Oct 29 (DN) Sri Lanka, led by Sangeeth Cooray, left yesterday to compete in the Hong Kong Sixes, which will be held from Oct 30 to Nov 1 at Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The team plans to train in Hong Kong to adjust to the conditions before the tournament. Colts CC left-handed opener Cooray, a prolific run-scorer in domestic cricket, will lead Sri Lanka for the first time. Sachitha Jayatilake, Movin Subasinghe, Ravindu Fernando, Vishen Halambage, Muditha more..

Oct 29 (FT) SL’s transition from economic stabilisation to sustainable growth, opportunities for Indian investment and the potential to build stronger partnerships in industry, technology and entrepreneurship were the key themes of the visit of Deputy Minister Chathuranga Abeysinghe to New Delhi from 22 to 23 Oct. The visit brought together high-profile int'l media engagement, discussions with Indian industry representatives, more..

Oct 29 (NW) Former SL women’s cricket captain Shashikala Siriwardene has embarked on a new chapter in her cricketing career, taking up a full-time coaching role with Plenty Valley Cricket Club in Victoria, Australia. Siriwardene is coaching the club’s women’s teams during the 2026-27 season, having previously served as a captain-coach before deciding to focus exclusively on coaching. She said she was enjoying the opportunity to help young players develop their skills while building more..

Oct 29 (FT) The FinTech Forum SL, in collaboration with the Digital Economy Ministry, will host the SL FinTech Festival 2026 powered by Visa, the country’s first-ever FinTech festival, scheduled to take place from 2-3 November 2026, at the Shangri-La Colombo. Held under the theme Building Capacity, Creating Opportunities and Scaling SL’s Digital Future, the flagship event is a landmark step toward positioning SL as an emerging FinTech and digital economy hub within Asia. more..

Oct 29 (Island) The govt seems to be using every trick in the book to abort or emasculate the Opposition’s no-confidence motion (NCM) against Speaker Dr Jagath Wickramaratne, claiming that some of its allegations are sub judice and must be amended. The Opposition, however, has refused to yield and is demanding the Speaker’s immediate resignation. The NCM contains 50 allegations, some of which are really embarrassing for the Speaker and the JVP-led NPP. Previously, more..

Oct 29 (FT) The 28th Presidential Export Awards 2026, organised by the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB), will be held on Tuesday, 08 Dec 2026 at the BMICH, under the patronage of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. This year’s awards ceremony is held to recognise Sri Lanka’s best exporters for the financial year 2025/2026. A total of 117 awards will be presented under two main categories, comprising 15 overall awards and 102 product and service sectoral awards. more..

Oct 29 (FT) SL yesterday formally joined the global Orange Movement as the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and the Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) signed an MoU to bring Orange Bonds into the local capital market. Orange Bonds channel capital to gender equality and climate resilience. The CSE also announced completion of the framework for the country’s first two Orange Bonds, with issuance targeted by Dec 2026. more..

Oct 29 (Island) Diplomacy is as much about what is left unsaid as what is explicitly declared. A diplomat of an independent nation need not advocate a powerful neighbour’s regional hegemony in so many words to help legitimise it. The process can be more subtle: presenting that neighbour’s strategic ambitions as inherently beneficial, treating alternatives as outdated, and describing the expansion of its regional influence as a natural condition of stability and prosperity. more..

Oct 29 (FT) In a proud celebration of industrial excellence, innovation and national achievement, Flexiprint Ltd, secured two prestigious accolades at the CNCI Achiever Awards 2026, held at Cinnamon Life, Colombo, on the evening of 15 Oct 2026. The company received the Silver Award in the National Level Manufacturing Sector – Extra Large Category and was recognised with a Top Ten Award, reinforcing its position as a leading force in Sri Lanka’s printing and packaging industry. more..

Oct 29 (TM) In the year 2000, the world’s eye-health community came together around one simple message: prevent avoidable blindness and protect the gift of sight. That message has not changed in more than two decades. The World Sight Day is observed on the second Thursday of October, and this year (2026) it fell on 8 Oct. It reminds the public, decision-makers and health-service providers that eyesight is a foundation of a good life. Sight is how a child learns, how a farmer reads the sky, more..

Oct 29 (DN) A small faction of the Buddhist clergy continues to be preoccupied with the revoking of a Presidential pardon granted to Venerable Galabodaaththe Gnanasara Thera last week while the govt responded with a commitment to uphold the rule of law and order and the concept of equality before the law for all. Venerable Gnanasara Thera was found guilty of contempt of court following an incident at the Homagama Magistrate’s court when he disrupted proceedings in a case related to more..

Oct 29 (AI) A new bill before Sri Lanka’s parliament that grants the authorities sweeping arbitrary powers to tackle organized crime and deny suspects’ human rights should be immediately withdrawn, Amnesty International said today. The Prevention of Organised Crimes bill, tabled in SL’s parliament on 6 Oct, contains provisions that would make confessions extracted under duress admissible in court, more..

Oct 29 (DM) Every crisis changes who holds the advantage. It favours those who see early, act with purpose and keep their nerve. The Iran War 2026 is such a moment. It began on 28th February, when the United States and Israel struck Iran’s nuclear and military sites and killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the opening attack. Iran answered with thousands of drones and missiles. By 10th May, the UAE’s Ministry of Defence said its air defence had intercepted nearly 2,850 of them. more..

Oct 29 (ST) As the current IMF programme is approaching its conclusion in March 2027, Sri Lanka must confront a difficult question, which is being one of the hot topics of the day: Should the govt seek yet another IMF programme – of course, the 18th programme? Or should the policy makers take a decisive step to bring this vicious cycle of repeated bailouts to an end? The answer is not, however, a political decision, although we have not hesitated to make such decisions in the past. more..

Oct 29 (SO) Good news for SL all around as our island nation has received a major boost in int'l tourism after Arugam Bay was named Asia’s best beach in the Condé Nast Traveller Readers’ Choice Awards 2026, with three other SL beaches also securing places among the region’s top 20. Arugam Bay, the celebrated surfing destination on Sri Lanka's Eastern Coast, topped the Asian rankings with an impressive score of 98.84, more..

Oct 29 (TM) With the first anniversary of Cyclone Ditwah approaching fast, the risk of landslides in the hill country remains a matter of serious concern. NBRI has warned repeatedly this year that slopes weakened during the cyclone could fail even under moderate rainfall. The scale of the problem is not in doubt. During Cyclone Ditwah, some mountainous areas received over 500 mm of rain within 24 hours, against the 150 mm threshold at which landslides are considered likely. more..

Oct 29 (TM) No discussion about foreign policy is complete without acknowledging geopolitical realities. The world is entering an era often described as the great fragmentation, creating growing uncertainty and instability in international affairs. Recently, at the Bay of Bengal Conversation in Bangladesh, several geopolitical experts discussed the major crises shaping global politics today. The event was organised by the Centre for Governance Studies. more..

Oct 28 (NW) Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake met with representatives of tourism industry associations at the Presidential Secretariat today to discuss strategies for achieving national targets of generating US$ 10 billion in tourism revenue and attracting five million tourists to SL by 2030. The session involved extensive discussions on key steps required to further promote and expand the country’s tourism sector. Particular attention was given to enhancing domestic air travel facilities, more..

Oct 28 (EN) SL’s Welfare Benefits Board (WBB) has removed 331,653 unqualified individuals from the Aswesuma welfare registry while adding 153,511 newly eligible beneficiaries following an extensive re-certification process. The board officially published its first updated list on Wednesday, confirming that 991,800 individuals have qualified to receive cash benefits under the Poor and Extremely Poor categories. Under the updated findings, 628,658 individuals qualified more..

Oct 28 (DN) Our Govt’s vision is to provide opportunities for wrongdoers to transform their lives and rejoin society as good citizens while enforcing the Law, which is the true meaning of rehabilitation, Minister Harshana Nanayakkara stated. He said that a Prison is not a separate world isolated from society, but a reflection of the country’s own society and the Govt’s goal is to build a Prison system that upholds Rule of Law, more..

Oct 28 (TM) Some people displaced by Cyclone Ditwah are reluctant to leave relief camps where they continue to receive Government assistance, despite ongoing efforts to relocate them to safer housing, an official from the Defence Ministry said. Additional Secretary (Disaster Management Division) at the Ministry, Dharmathilaka Gamage said that the Government continued to provide necessary facilities to camp residents while working to provide permanent housing solutions. more..

Oct 28 (Island) India International Centre (IIC), Delhi in collaboration with the Gangaramaya Temple, Colombo launched the SAMHiTA (South Asian Manuscript Histories and Textual Archive) Palm-Leaf Manuscript Digitisation Project at the Gangaramaya Temple, on Friday (23). The Project is undertaken with the financial assistance from the Indian govt. Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha attended the launch ceremony and a site visit at the Temple. Venerable Dr. Kirinde Assaji Thera, more..

Oct 28 (Island) Former Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris has warned that the NPP govt plans to grant police powers to the armed forces and confer sweeping powers on the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence under the proposed Protection of the State from Terrorism Bill. Prof. Peiris explained how the proposed legislation could be used to silence the democratic Opposition and suppress the media. The former MP said the Bill posed a grave threat more..

Oct 28 (NW) Mohamed Shareef Adam Lebbe, alias Gafoor Mama, has been sentenced to 12 years of rigorous imprisonment after pleading guilty to charges related to the possession and collection of explosives and other prohibited materials at a property in Lactowatta, Wanathavilluwa. The sentence was imposed by the Colombo Special Trial-at-Bar today, after the 63-year-old defendant, who is the third accused in the case, pleaded guilty to five charges filed against him. more..

Oct 28 (NW) Permanent Trial-at-Bar of the Colombo High Court today ordered that MP Namal Rajapaksa, who is currently in remand custody over the controversial Airbus transaction, be produced before court through prison authorities on Nov 19. The order was issued when Rajapaksa was produced before the Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar today in connection with the case. Rajapaksa was produced following an order issued by Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama more..

Oct 28 (DM) Former Board of Investment (BOI) Chairman Thilan Wijesinghe has sought an investigation as to how he came to be named in a High Court case where his lawyers could not trace any reference, in a list of 50 corruption cases tabled in Parliament, after Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake withdrew his name last week, he said. Minister Bimal Rathnayake tabled the 10-page document on October 8 to counter claims that the Govt was pursuing political revenge. more..

Oct 28 (AD) Human Rights Commission of SL has summoned the Officer-in-Charge of the Homagama Police Station and two other officers to appear before the Commission to provide information regarding the death of a man reportedly found dead inside a police cell at the station. The officers have been summoned to appear tomorrow, according to Commissioner Attorney-at-Law Nimal G. Punchihewa. As part of its investigation into the incident, Human Rights Commission has more..