Sep 14 (NW) Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake addressed an NPP public rally in Kahatagasdigiliya on Sunday, focusing on corruption, organised crime, economic development, agriculture and the human-elephant conflict. Here are nine key points from his speech: 1. No limit to arrests over corruption: Responding to a former Minister who had reportedly called for limits on arrests, Prez AKD said there would be no limit to action against those accused of stealing public funds. more..

Sep 14 (FT) Private sector borrowing from Sri Lanka’s banking system slowed sharply in July, with net credit expanding by Rs. 169.1 billion month-on-month (MoM), down 31% from June’s Rs. 245.3 billion increase, provisional data from the Central Bank of SL (CBSL) showed. Outstanding credit to the private sector rose to Rs. 11.45 trillion in July from Rs. 11.28 trillion in June. On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, private sector credit growth eased to 26.4% from 27.4% in June. more..

Sep 14 (NW) SL was the only country where public perceptions of the United Nations improved among 37 countries surveyed by the Pew Research Center, according to its latest Global Attitudes Survey. About two-thirds of Sri Lankans, 66%, now have a favorable opinion of the UN, up from 58% when Pew last surveyed the country in 2024. Eight-percentage-point increase stands out against a broader trend of declining or more..

Sep 14 (Island) In a major boost to bilateral economic ties, Chamber of Construction Industry of SL (CCISL) and Indo–SL Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ISCCI) have signed a strategic MoU to deepen cooperation in real estate, infrastructure, and urban development. Agreement establishes a formal framework for both institutions to drive collaborative initiatives, including business delegations, high-level conferences, workshops, B2B matchmaking sessions, technical site more..

Sep 14 (EN) Colombo International Maritime Conference this year has aimed at taking the island nation as one of best logistic hubs with a fundamental shift in the current operational model, while improving the efficiency. The goal includes increasing the contribution from the ports and logistics to 10% of the GDP from the current 2.5%. Situated along the main East-West East Asia–Europe shipping lane just 6 to 10 nautical miles off the southern tip of South Asia, SL’s Port of more..

Sep 14 (DN) Manel Abeysekera, SL’s first woman entrant to the SL Foreign Service (then Ceylon Overseas Service), passed away on Thursday. She was 93. The funeral was held yesterday (13) at the Borella Kanatte Cemetery. Ms Abeysekera was born on Aug 14, 1933. She was the daughter of a civil servant and Senator, E.W. Kannangara. Her entry into the Foreign Service in 1958 came at a time when the public service was an exclusively male domain, but she made her mark and more..

Sep 14 (ST) The US-SL Fulbright Commission (US-SLFC), in partnership with the US Embassy in SL, will host the 2026 Education-USA University Fair in Colombo, Kurunegala and Kandy between September 14 and 18. The free fairs will connect SL students directly with representatives from 11 accredited US colleges and universities to discuss admissions requirements, scholarships, and academic programmes. Students will have opportunities to learn about programmes in more..

Sep 14 (TM) Sri Lanka is yet to introduce a carbon credit registry mechanism – awaiting the existing Govt's own policy on carbon trading – following the previous Govt's decision to cap the share of emission reductions that can be credited across several sectors, including renewable energy projects, at 50% and 25%, according to Ministry of Environment Director of Environment Planning and Economics Kumudini Vidyalankara. more..

Sep 14 (FT) I have lost count of how many meetings end in much the same way. The formal business is concluded, the laptops are closed, and then comes the question that often says more than the agenda ever did: where should we eat tonight, is it safe to walk back, would this be a place to bring family next time? For years, I regarded such moments as polite afterthoughts. I no longer do. They tell us whether a city is merely being visited, or beginning to be experienced as a place worth returning to. more..

Sep 14 (FT) Prime Lands Residencies, has announced the completion of the superstructures of all three towers at The Colombo Border, marking a key construction milestone. The breakthrough follows the prior topping out of Tower Cosmos and confirms that the entire project has moved through its most complex construction phase, ahead of the original schedule. The Colombo Border by Prime Lands Residencies is a landmark residential development that redefines urban living at more..

Sep 14 (FT) The Opposition SJB last week accused SL Customs of running an organised extortion racket against importers, warning that unchecked harassment by officials was driving micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) out of the import trade and threatening jobs, incomes, and tax revenue. SJB MP Mujibur Rahman said imports had declined steadily in recent months as importers, particularly MSMEs, more..

Sep 14 (DM) SL javelin star Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage capped his remarkable season with another major victory, winning the men’s javelin at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship Budapest 26 on Sunday. Pathirage produced a winning throw of 91.09m to claim the title, becoming the first athlete to throw beyond 90 metres in Hungary. The victory adds another milestone to a stunning season for the Sri Lankan, who had won 11 of his 12 competitions before arriving in Budapest. more..

Sep 14 (DN) Sri Lankan driver Yevan David completed his rookie season in the 2026 FIA Formula 3 Championship with 35 points after the final round at the Madring Circuit in Madrid, Spain yesterday. The 18-year-old finished 18th among 34 drivers in the FIA Formula 3championship standings. The AIX Racing driver collected his final championship point by finishing 10th in the second Feature Race. He started from ninth place and fought hard to remain inside the points. more..

Sep 14 (CI) England Lions routed SL by nine wickets in the second T20 warm-up at Beckenham, coasting past a DLS-adjusted target of 73 from eight overs with 10 balls remaining. Kamil Mishara was the tourists' top-scorer with 31, as they posted 156 for 9, but rain fell at the innings break, initially reducing England's innings to 12 overs and then eight. Paul Walter top-scored with 34 not out and he sealed the win with a huge six. The sides agreed to play 13-aside, with a maximum of 11 players batting. more..

Sep 14 (DN) Int'l athletes came to the fore at the Colombo Marathon while Julius Ugandan Ochieng of Uganda and Aynalem Kasahun Teferi of Ethiopia emerged men’s and women’s champions in the full marathon event at the inaugural Colombo Marathon held in Colombo yesterday. The experienced Uganda marathoner Julius won the men’s full marathon comfortably with a timing of 2 hr 18.54 sec followed by Kenyan athlete Geoffrey Brgen at second place with a timing of 2 hr 20.43 sec. more..

Sep 14 (CI) A commanding opening stand between Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana, followed by an excellent overall bowling effort, gave India their eighth Asia Cup title, fourth in T20 format, as they beat previous champions SL by 72 runs in Dubai. Shafali and Mandhana put up 129 for the first wicket, the highest partnership for any wicket in the Women's T20 Asia Cup, to power India to 183 for 5. Sri Lanka's chase never got going, more..

Sep 14 (Island) Sri Lanka’s state university system, long celebrated as the crown jewel of the nation’s free education policy, is currently navigating one of the most perilous periods in its modern history. What was once envisioned as a reliable engine for social mobility and intellectual leadership is now burdened by severe operational deficiencies that threaten its fundamental integrity. The recent decision by the FUTA to stage a trade union action, following a week of growing unrest, more..

Sep 14 (Island) Hurly-burly was done over the weekend, with the SLPP and the govt holding two rallies in Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, respectively, but the propaganda brigades of the JVP/NPP and the Opposition are still clashing over crowd sizes. The SLPP and its allies are over the moon about their rally’s impressive turnout. The JVP-NPP social media activists claim that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s meeting had a higher crowd density. more..

Sep 14 (CT) On 11 Sept, Young Lawyers’ Association held a public seminar at the National Library Auditorium in Colombo titled Why Should We Mobilise for a New People’s Constitution? The panel featured distinguished legal experts, including Professor Savitri Goonesekere, Rohan Edrisinha, President’s Counsel Geoff Alagaratnam, and President’s Counsel Saliya Pieris. In this article, I contend that authentic renewal requires transcending Majoritarian-Minoritarian Trap more..

Sep 14 (SO) Why does a Govt with a two-thirds Parliamentary majority need to return to the streets? Prez AKD answered this at the NPP meetings to mark two years in power in Bulathsinhala and Beruwala. Some previous administrations too had possessed Executive Power and large Parliamentary majorities. However, for these administrations, these advantages only triggered disdain for public opinion and a sense of entitlement, which ultimately led to the loss of public support. more..

Sep 14 (SO) Few politicians have witnessed as many turning points in SL’s post-independence political history as DLF leader Vasudeva Nanayakkara. From the rise of the Left and the upheavals of the 1970s to the political changes that followed the end of the war and the recent transformation under the NPP, he has been both an observer and a participant in many of the country’s defining political battles. more..

Sep 14 (DM) Trump administration’s handling of the conflict with Iran has an apt local simile: That is how Sri Lanka plays cricket these days. Both reveal neither strategy nor conviction, and run on whims. America’s masterful mismanagement of Iran has now turned a containable threat into a global contingency. Prez Donald Trump has blown hot and cold against the Islamic Republic of Iran, bombed its nuclear sites while the regime negotiators were at the table, and now the bruised Ayatollahs more..

Sep 14 (DM) On Sept 8, Indian Defence Minister Ranjith Singh arrived in Colombo. It was the first visit of an Indian Defence Minister to our country in 38 years. It is also the first visit of an Indian Defence Minister to Sri Lanka since the controversial deployment of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) during the late 1980s. The JVP at that time vociferously decried the deployment of Indian troops here and what it referred to as Indian interference in Sri Lanka’s internal problems. more..

Sep 14 (ST) Sri Lanka presented a series of key proposals on fisheries policy at the 37th Session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI 37) this week at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO) in Rome, Italy. The proposals covered sustainable management of marine resources, protection of small-scale fisheries and regional cooperation. Representing Sri Lanka, more..

Sep 14 (ST) My Dear DS and SWRD, I am writing to both of you, as you stare at the Indian Ocean from your statues near the Presidential Secretariat, because the two parties both of you founded observed significant anniversaries recently. The Greens marked 80 years. The Blues weren’t far behind, commemorating 75 years. Seeing those events, I am not sure whether to be happy or sad. Both events were relatively small gatherings, held in modest meeting halls rather than being more..

Sep 14 (ST) Any visit by a defence minister raises alarms, especially since the previous visit by the Indian defence minister in 1987 was after the Indian Air Force intruded into SL airspace to halt Operation Vadamarachchi, stopping the final military push back then to defeat the LTTE on the battlefield. That probably explains the initial effort at downplaying the current visit by both govts – that the minister was arriving to sign three innocuous MoUs relating to cadets of both countries, more..

Sep 13 (ST) When the then Indian Defence Minister Krishna Chandra Pant visited SL in June 1988, Indian troops under a peacekeeping flag (IPKF) were assigned to ostensibly subdue the LTTE in the north and east of the country while govt troops were redeployed to put down an insurgency by the JVP in the rest of the country. Mr Pant had arrived in Colombo as Indian troop casualties had begun to mount after the LTTE launched attacks more..

Sep 13 (DM) Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake said claims of political revenge and attempts to gain public sympathy would not deter the Govt from taking legal action against those accused of corruption and misappropriation of public funds. Addressing the farmers’ rally in Polonnaruwa, the Prez said the Govt had no personal disputes or desire for revenge against anyone, but had a responsibility to bring to justice those responsible for damaging the country through corruption. more..

Sep 13 (NW) SLPP MP Namal Rajapaksa, currently in remand custody, has sent a message to supporters attending the party’s Jana Satana rally in A'pura, saying he would not bow to what he described as the govt’s political pressure. In the message issued from the Colombo Remand Prison, Rajapaksa thanked supporters for their solidarity and described the A'pura rally as a decisive new beginning for the SLPP’s political movement. “I see you from behind the iron bars of more..

Sep 13 (ST) Early last month, the TRCSL, operating under the Ministry of Digital Economy, blocked access within SL to 24 websites that it said had been unlawfully providing online gambling and betting services without obtaining the required licences. Citing Gambling Regulatory Authority Act of 2024, it said that any person or entity providing or promoting online gambling services in SL without obtaining a valid licence commits an offence: more..

Sep 13 (SO) Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake has requested India’s support to repatriate 10 drug traffickers and organised criminals currently in Indian custody after fleeing SL and taking refuge in India. The President made the request directly to Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during a meeting held during Singh’s official 3-day visit to SL which concluded on Sept 10. President Dissanayake also sought India’s intervention to curb the repeated intrusion of Indian fishing vessels into more..

Sep 13 (ST) The govt may consider a request by private operators to adjust their fuel prices according to the landed cost in view of the fluctuating world fuel prices, Minister Anura Karunathilaka said. “There is no legal hurdle to such fuel price adjustments going by the agreements in place with these private operators,” the minister said. Meanwhile, private fuel operators have informed the govt that escalating landed costs for fuel due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East are making it difficult more..