Dec 25 (ST) A growing debate has emerged over the blanket withholding of several antibiotic medications from an Indian pharmaceutical company in Gujarat this week, over suspicions of one non-antibiotic medication being contaminated. This is as many in health circles also reiterated the need for SL to have its own accredited state-of-the-art laboratory to test medications coming into the country, in the light of drug failures more..

Dec 25 (FT) Pakistan on Tuesday successfully organised the privatisation process of the national flag carrier, selling it at PKR 135 billion (approx. $ 483 million) to a consortium led by a local investment company. The ceremony to privatise Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was held in Islamabad, where all three pre-qualified parties, including Lucky Cement, private airline Airblue, and investment firm Arif Habib, deposited their sealed bids into a transparent box. more..

Dec 25 (TM) As Sri Lankans welcome another Christmas, the festive season is celebrated in a sombre mood. The last six years have not been kind to the island nation, and just when things seemed to be getting back to normal, Mother Nature reminded us that human impact on the fragile environment of the Blue Planet will be revisited on us in terrible ways. Cyclone Ditwah has left SL battered and bruised in ways many didn’t imagine possible. A World Bank report – more..

Dec 25 (FT) Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar visited Sri Lanka on 22 Dec. Arriving on the island in Ditwah’s wake and as the personal envoy of Prime Minister Modi, his visit is more than a diplomatic formality. It is a substantive reaffirmation of a Sri Lanka–India partnership built on the bedrock of strategic reliability. As Sri Lankans, we must all extend our sincere appreciation for the speed and scale of India’s response to the devastation of Cyclone Ditwah. more..

Dec 25 (Island) Christmas has dawned while SL is reeling from the cumulative impact of multiple disasters which snuffed out hundreds of lives and destroyed many homes and livelihoods. It is a time of hope. Its ethos, which emphasises hope, compassion and giving, could not be more relevant in these difficult times when the task of looking after a large number of disaster victims and helping rebuild their shattered lives has become a top national priority. Santa came here the other more..

Dec 25 (TM) Cyclone Ditwah struck SL in late November, and it left a trail of destruction across the island with over 600 lives lost, around 10% of the population affected, and infrastructure, farmlands, and tea estates heavily damaged. With rebuilding costs estimated at up to $ 7 billion, the storm posed the country’s biggest test since its 2022 economic collapse. Yet, while the humanitarian cost has been grave, analysts now suggest that more..

Dec 25 (ST) Over the past 25 years, China’s GDP has surged from just above US$1 trillion to more than $18 trillion. No other major economy in the world has matched China’s scale and speed of growth during the first quarter of the 21st century. But China has a problem! One of the serious challenges that China has to deal with was its own stubborn demographic and structural rigidities involving critical growth and development implications. It would be better for us in SL more..

Dec 25 (CT) Cyclone Ditwah was not merely a climatic event; it was a stark economic and social rupture that exposed the deep vulnerabilities embedded within Sri Lanka’s labour market. ILO’s recent brief offered a sobering assessment of the disaster’s reach, estimating that up to 374,000 workers were affected by the flooding and landslides that followed the cyclone’s landfall on 26 Nov. This figure alone illustrated how closely livelihoods in SL remained tied to climate-sensitive sectors, more..

Dec 25 (FT) Securities and Exchange Commission of SL (SEC) has granted a deferment of the suspension of trading in the shares of Softlogic Holdings, which was scheduled to take effect on 31 Dec 2025. The SEC has extended the deferment until 31 Aug 2026. Softlogic’s securities were transferred to the Watch List on 28 Nov 2023, 25 April 2024, and 16 December 2024, following the inclusion of an emphasis of matter on going concern in the independent auditors’ reports for more..

Dec 25 (DM) Landslides are not a new phenomenon for people in Aranayaka, a town in Kegalle District. In 2016, following the Samasara Kanda landslide, at least a 100 people succumbed to injuries while over 150,000 people were impacted. But this time, as many as 68 landslides have been triggered in this district since the Lower Kadugannawa incident, displacing many people and forcing them to look for alternative places to settle. Studies indicate that the 2016 landslide occurred in more..

Dec 25 (Island) Peace on Earth to all people of good-will is the perennial and the pristine song of Joy and hope aired in every nook and corner during every Christmas season commemorating the Birth of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. In his own day, Jesus of Nazareth was himself a wonderful instrument of peace and reconciliation in his own homeland of Palestine. He was open to all classes of people, whatever their ethnicity, race, more..

Dec 25 (GV) Important events in the Christian calendar are to be regurlarly reviewed if they are to impact on the lives of people and communities. This is certainly true of Christmas. Years ago a modest rural community did exactly this, urging a pre-Christmas probe of the events around Jesus’ birth. From the outset, the wise men aroused curiosity. Who were these visitors? Were they Jews? No. were they Christians? Of course not. As they probed the text, the representative character of more..

Dec 25 (CT) This cursory missive is prompted by the painfully comical sight of our Deputy Mister of Tourism performing something comparable to a Baila Jig with a group of foreign tourists celebrating the restoration of a minuscule part of the hill country railway tracks severely damaged in the recent disaster. The question we must ask today is should we restore the hill country train track at all? If so, at what cost and who should pay for it. The Railways was the iron arm of the British Empire. more..

Dec 24 (FT) International Labour Organisation (ILO) said that the floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah have put around 16% of national GDP at risk, valued at around $ 16 billion, with impacts concentrated in a limited number of districts. “This spatial concentration increases the likelihood of uneven recovery and prolonged local economic disruption if not addressed through targeted interventions”, ILO said more..

Dec 24 (AD) The Northern Railway Line will be fully reopened for train operations from today. Accordingly, from today, the Yal Devi Express will operate on the Northern Railway Line from Colombo Fort to Kankesanthurai, as scheduled. Additionally, seat reservation facilities will be made available in the first class and second class compartments of the Yal Devi Express. Meanwhile, train operations on the Eastern Railway Line up to Batticaloa are also scheduled to commence today. more..

Dec 24 (DM) The number of Sri Lankans seeking foreign employment has declined sharply, Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA) said, blaming fraud and mismanagement by politicians of the previous govt. ALFEA member Muhammad Azam said prospects for foreign employment have been blurred due to past fraudulent practices, discouraging many job seekers. Issue was discussed at a recent meeting of the Association of Registered Foreign more..

Dec 24 (FT) The Cabinet of Ministers approved the resumption of eight major health infrastructure projects that were previously suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis, accepting revised cost estimates and extended completion timelines that will raise the total State expenditure to Rs. 16.2 billion. The projects were halted following recommendations by the Re-strategising more..

Dec 24 (NW) India’s PM Narendra Modi has written to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, reaffirming India’s commitment to support Sri Lanka’s relief, recovery and rehabilitation efforts following Cyclone Ditwah. The letter confirms that External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar has been sent as Special Envoy to discuss continued cooperation and a comprehensive assistance package. The Special Letter addressed to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake by PM of India, more..

Dec 24 (CI) A quick glance at the head-to-head record is enough to show the gulf between India and Sri Lanka in women's T20Is. Despite that, the manner in which India have swept SL aside two games in a row would have surprised watchers and the hosts alike. The story in the second T20I followed a similar script to the first. Once again, India's spinners squeezed SL's middle order before one of their top-order batters made easy work of the chase. Left-arm spinners Vaishnavi Sharma more..

Dec 24 (FT) The Govt has commenced the first phase of relief assistance to industries affected by Cyclone Ditwah, with the Ministry of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development initiating a recovery program to restore industrial activity disrupted by the severe weather conditions and nationwide impact of the disaster. As an initial stabilisation measure, a one-time financial grant of Rs. 200,000 per industrial unit has been authorised to support the revival of affected businesses. more..

Dec 24 (Island) Sprinter Lakshima Mendis and triple jumper Pasindu Malshan won the best athlete titles at the track and field championship of the National Youth Sports Festival which saw ten meet records being renewed at Diyagama over the weekend. ‎Lakshima and Malshan both established new meet records in their pet events. Malshan cleared a distance of 16.11 metres to win the men’s triple jump with a new mark. In the women’s 400 metres, Lakshima clocked 54.12 seconds to win more..

Dec 24 (NW) China is prepared to extend all necessary assistance to Sri Lanka at all times and is ready to share its experience with Sri Lanka under the Rebuilding Sri Lanka programme, stated Wang Junzheng, Member of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Secretary of the CPC Committee of Xizang Autonomous Region. Wang Junzheng made these remarks during a meeting with Prez Anura more..

Dec 24 (FT) Minister Nalinda Jayatissa said Sri Lanka has not yet fully assessed the overall economic impact of Cyclone Ditwah, stressing that the damage estimates released so far are based only on an initial assessment and that a comprehensive evaluation would take at least another four weeks. He noted that the recent findings released by the World Bank reflect a rapid, preliminary assessment carried out soon after the disaster, and should not be interpreted as more..

Dec 24 (NW) SriLankan Airlines has launched a one-month international destination promotion campaign on 16 December 2025, aimed at restoring global confidence in Sri Lanka following Cyclone Ditwah and reaffirming the country’s readiness to welcome travellers. The campaign will run across Meta and the Google platforms, promoting Colombo as the gateway to Sri Lanka, and will target key source markets in Europe (London, Paris, and Frankfurt), Australia, and Pan-India. more..

Dec 24 (CT) The Fort Magistrate’s Court, yesterday (23), issued a warrant for the arrest of Jaffna District Independent MP Ramanathan Archchuna for failing to appear in Court in connection with a case alleging the intimidation of a Police officer attached to the Fort Police and violations of the Motor Traffic Act. Fort Magistrate Isuru Neththikumara issued the warrant when the case, filed by the Fort Police, was taken up for hearing, and the suspect MP was absent. more..

Dec 24 (DN) Two defending champions Viren Nettasinghe and Ranithma Liyanage once again qualified to play men’s and women’s finals after their semi finals in the 73rd National Badminton Championships played at S.Thomas Gymnasium yesterday. Nettasinghe the most experienced shuttler of the tournament played men’s open semi final with bottom seed Thilina Rajakaruna and 34 minutes two setter game ended in favour of Nettasinghe 21-12 ,21-6. more..

Dec 24 (FT) SJB MP Harsha de Silva strongly criticised renewed calls to suspend SL’s external sovereign debt repayments following Cyclone Ditwah, warning that such a move would jeopardise the country’s fragile recovery, undermine investor confidence, and derail access to climate financing needed for long-term reconstruction. His remarks came after a group of 121 prominent int'l economists & academics more..

Dec 24 (FT) The Cabinet approved a set of targeted trade and tariff reforms aimed at addressing the critical shortage of bait fish required by the deep-sea fishing fleet, while safeguarding the interests of local fishing communities. Accordingly, the Cabinet decided to introduce a new Harmonised System (HS) code specifically for the import of milk fish and to restrict such imports to registered fishing societies. In addition, special tax of Rs. 180 per kg will be imposed on imported Wekkaya fish, more..

Dec 24 (DN) Former SL fast bowler and skipper Lasith Malinga tipped to be appointed National team’s fast bowling consultant for the National squad which is getting ready for the forthcoming T-20 World Cup. The former captain Malinga has previously served the National side in a consultative role on multiple occasions offering his experience and expertise to support the player development. A senior official of SLC confirmed that Malinga is already with National team training sessions more..

Dec 24 (ST) SL’s booming vehicle import sector, which played a pivotal role in driving tax revenues to record highs in 2025, is bracing for a notable slowdown next year, raising concerns about potential fiscal gaps. An analysis by the COPF shows that nearly Rs. 600 billion of the Rs 1 trillion increase in total tax revenue this year came from taxes on vehicle imports, surpassing govt expectations by over Rs. 200 billion. more..

Dec 24 (ST) The CIABOC has directed its officials to consider legal representations made on behalf of Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody on allegations against him on the misappropriation of funds while serving at the Fertiliser Corporation in 2015, and submit its report within next week. Minister has requested permission for his counsel to call over and make submissions, but the Commission gave permission to make written submissions. The action is to be filed in the HC against the minister more..

Dec 24 (CT) From the crowded streets of Colombo to the professional football pitches of the Maldives, Praveena Perera’s journey is a powerful story of determination, courage, and breaking long -standing stereotypes in South Asian sport. A standout figure in Sri Lankan women’s football, Praveena recently made headlines by signing with TC Sports Club in the Maldives league. Her move not only marked a major milestone in her own career but also signalled a significant step forward for more..