Sep 21 (FT) Passport Reports’ September data place SL 35th among 199 countries in the Welcoming Ranking, while the SL passport is ranked 170th globally. Passport Reports, which prepares and publishes passport reports for 199 countries in 34 languages, records a Mobility Score of 53 and global access of 26.8% for SL passport holders. Of the 53 destinations counted in the mobility score, 16 are visa-free, more..

Sep 21 (Island) Sri Lankans always use highways and waterways recklessly as if they had a death wish. This fact is borne out by the chilling statistics about fatal road accidents and drowning incidents. About seven people, including five youths, have drowned in separate incidents during the past week alone, according to media reports. Road accidents snuff out about seven lives a day. Drowning reportedly causes about 600-900 deaths annually. The disturbing cluster of drowning incidents more..

Sep 21 (Island) As climate variability becomes an increasing challenge for nations worldwide, Sri Lanka faces growing concerns over the impact of El Niño, a natural climate phenomenon that can disrupt rainfall patterns, increase temperatures, and place additional pressure on agricultural production. For a country where agriculture remains a vital part of the economy and rural livelihoods, preparing for climate uncertainty has become essential to safeguarding food security. more..

Sep 21 (FT) Four years after SL defaulted on its external debt, the country’s economic stabilisation is, by most conventional measures, a genuine achievement. Reserves have been rebuilt, a primary surplus delivered, debt restructuring is largely complete, and the sovereign rating has been moving in the right direction. It was against this backdrop that CCC Chairperson Krishan Balendra, used the SL Retail Forum 2026 to argue that SL should consider a follow-on IMF-supported program, more..

Sep 21 (TM) Across the island, families, businesses, schools and places of worship can see the attraction of rooftop solar. A panel installed today can reduce exposure to electricity-price shocks, ease the country’s dependence on imported fuel and turn an unused roof into a small power station. At a national level, solar energy can help Sri Lanka conserve foreign exchange, improve energy security and move towards its climate goals. Sri Lankans have already shown they are willing to invest. more..

Sep 21 (TM) DCS has released SL’s economic growth figures for the second quarter of 2026. The economy grew by 4.2% compared with the same quarter of 2025. In the first quarter, year-on-year growth was 5.1%. Therefore, the pace of growth eased by 0.9 percentage points. This is not a collapse. A 4.2% growth rate, particularly after the shocks SL faced during the quarter, is still welcome. In fact, real GDP during the first half more..

Sep 21 (DN) Japan’s population of people aged 100 or older has surpassed 100,000 for the first time, reaching a record 107,677 people as of Sept 2026. Women make up about 88 percent of the total, numbering 94,298, while men account for 13,379. This marks the 56th straight year that Japan’s centenarian count has hit a new record. Sri Lanka’s elderly population (aged 60 and older) stands at 18 percent of the total population, amounting to nearly 3.92 million people. more..

Sep 21 (ST) The UN had warned that this year’s El Niño would not be the run-of-the-mill phenomenon the world was accustomed to expecting each year. The fearsome spectre that caused world temperatures to go over the top or take nosedives would, the UN warned, be a scale-busting torrent that would leave a horrific trail of destruction and havoc of a magnitude the world had never experienced before. Furthermore, the UN has warned that it’s on track to potentially more..

Sep 21 (SO) SL’s 2022 economic crisis was the result of years of policy and management shortcomings, compounded by the pursuit of politically popular decisions over necessary economic reforms according to former State Minister Shehan Semasinghe. Semasinghe discussed the measures taken to stabilise the economy following the crisis, the country’s debt restructuring process and the challenges SL faces in building more..

Sep 21 (TM) When the rains fail, the damage does not check whether a Ministry has the mandate to deal with it, and it does not ask whether the person affected holds a formal contract. That is the hard lesson in the latest figures on the dry spell brought on by El Niño, and it is one the Government cannot afford to overlook. On 10 Sept, Environment Minister Dr Dammika Patabendi told Parliament that 78,368 people from 25,037 families in seven Districts had lost their livelihoods. more..

Sep 21 (CT) President AKD is attuned to the rhythm of the universe. He has pronounced that only a group better than the NPP would be trusted by people to replace the NPP, come next elections. On Sept 23rd Prez AKD completes two years in office. Two years in office Prez AKD remains committed to a Socal Contract of State Accountability and Good Governance. His reading of power is in sharp contrast to his Minister of Agriculture K D Lalakantha who speaks of refashioning state apparatus more..

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..