Aug 30 (ST) More than 300 traffic fines are paid daily only in the Western Province by the newly launched Gov Pay platform, top officials said. Channa de Silva, CEO LankaPay, said that with the launch of this payment system on August 4, there was an increasing trend in traffic fine payments in the Western Province. “It started with about 60 traffic fines, went on to 200 and now about 300,” he said. Noting that manual payments are still more than the Gov Pay payments, more..

Aug 30 (FT) Fourth Public Policy Dialogue Forum organised by the NEXUS Research Group brought a full house to the Governor’s Hall of the 80 Club on Thursday, centring debate on a blunt question: After two years of macro-stabilisation, where is SL’s economic growth? Opening the forum, NEXUS Chairman Prof. Charitha Herath acknowledged gains achieved with IMF support: debt restructuring traction, easing inflation, and steadier currency management. “Stability is only the first step” more..

Aug 30 (FT) United Petroleum, the Australian energy giant that made a high-profile entry into Sri Lanka’s fuel retail market in August 2024, has fully withdrawn from the country, marking a major setback for the Govt’s strategy to diversify the sector. CPC Managing Director Dr. Mayura Neththikumarage confirmed the development, stating that United Petroleum had formally notified its decision to exit three months ago. more..

Aug 30 (FT) NDB Bank, in partnership with NewsFirst, celebrated the Grand Finale of the SL Vanithabhimana Awards on 20 Aug, honouring extraordinary women across the island and marking a milestone season that advanced beyond recognition to long-term empowerment through the program’s five-year sustainability model. This year built on the initiative’s expanded structure, including the introduction of the Digital Entrepreneur and Foreign Employment categories, while more..

Aug 30 (ST) Sri Lanka’s fiscal position improved distinctly in the first half of 2025, with resilient revenues and a shrinking budget deficit pointing towards progress in financial consolidation. According to the Ministry of Finance’s Fiscal Review Report for January–June 2025, government revenue ascended nearly 24.7% year-on-year to Rs. 2.3 trillion while the deficit narrowed by 32.3% to Rs. 405.6 billion, compared with Rs. 598.9 billion in the same period of 2024. more..

Aug 30 (ST) The developer of the govt’s e-procurement portal has been issued a strict Oct 2025 deadline by the Cabinet of Ministers – its second extension – to expand the platform to accommodate large-scale international and national competitive bidding (ICB and NCB) projects. Promise.lk, electronic govt procurement (e-GP) system, is a major IMF structural benchmark aimed at improving transparency, accountability and efficiency. But the platform continues to more..

Aug 30 (DM) The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), in celebration of its 100th year anniversary, honoured Kasturi Chellaraja with the title of Sri Lankan Iconic Woman 2025. The award recognises her exceptional leadership, resilience, and transformative contributions to business and society. The ceremony, held at the Sapphire Banquet Hall, BMICH, brought together distinguished leaders, innovators, and visionaries to celebrate the nation’s most accomplished women. more..

Aug 30 (Island) Dept of Probation and Child Care Services has identified 14,834 children in vulnerable circumstances across the country, its officials disclosed at the Colombo District Secretariat on Thursday during the District Multi-Stakeholder Drug Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Programme. An official from the Dept of Probation and Child Care Services said that Child Rights Promotion Officers were currently more..

Aug 30 (CT) International and local firms competing for SL’s high-profile flood mapping project are facing a major setback after the Govt introduced a last-minute requirement: all Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data must be processed entirely within the country. The condition, which was not included in the original tender, has blindsided bidders, many of whom had planned to rely on internationally reputed laboratories with the expertise to handle large-scale LiDAR datasets. more..

Aug 30 (AD) A group of 108 young couples in Jaffna entered into the happy union of marriage at a mass wedding ceremony yesterday at the Selva Sannithi Murugan Temple in Jaffna. They had previously been unable to get married due to economic constraints. However, a couple living in Dubai and currently based in Singapore funded the wedding ceremony and provided them with the opportunity to begin married life. The donors paid for all the jewellery & wedding attire of the 108 couples. more..

Aug 30 (DM) In the wake of the arrest of former Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe over the alleged misuse of state funds for a foreign trip, the govt said it would probe similar malpractices involving other former Heads of State based on complaints, a Minister said. CID arrested Mr. Wickremesinghe last week and produced him before the Colombo Fort Magistrate. Later, he was remanded. Now he is on bail. more..

Aug 31 (SO) Seismic shifts are under way in global politics mainly as a result of the punitive reciprocal tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on friends and foes alike. Although a US Federal Court ruled on Friday that the tariffs are illegal, since only the Congress is empowered to make such decisions, they still remain in place as the legal process will take some time to resolve. Prez Trump also has the advantage of a Conservative supermajority in the US Supreme Court, more..

Aug 31 (TM) Recharged and discharged, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s exit from the ICU of the National Hospital of SL last Friday (29) was far less dramatic than the commotion surrounding his hurried admission there just hours after being remanded by the Magistrate’s Court a week earlier. Yet, as always with Wickremesinghe, there was method in the apparent quietude. The master tactician appears to have used those five days in hospital not merely for convalescence, but for recalibration. more..

Aug 31 (TM) Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) and his JVP-led NPP Govt, after creating history as the administration under whose watch a former Executive Prez was arrested and remanded, is continuing to push its anti-corruption drive targeting members of former govets, resulting in Opposition parties uniting against what it claims to be political victimisation. Main Opposition SJB claims that while it is supportive of action more..

Aug 31 (CT) In Ranil Wickremesinghe’s parlance a cynic would probably describe the former president’s predicament as being the result of an L-Board arrest. Mr. Wickremesinghe himself might have described it as such had he not been weakened and silenced owing to excessive dehydration during and after his police questioning and long court hearing last Friday. As has now been extensively reported, the former president has multiple health issues which given his age would seem to have been concerningly more..

Aug 31 (GV) Some truths are not uncovered by force. They rise slowly, persistently, from the ground because the dead cannot remain forgotten forever. In the quiet village of Chemmani, nestled within the war scarred terrain of the Jaffna peninsula, a patch of soil became the unlikely custodian of one of the nation’s most haunting secrets. What lay beneath was not just a series of mass graves but the buried echoes of an entire generation; names never recorded, stories never told, justice never more..

Aug 31 (ST) At the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB), several trade unions are on strike protesting against the National Transport Commission’s decision to implement a unified bus timetable for SLTB and private buses. Trade unions affiliated to the ruling NPP and its main constituent party, VP, however, are conspicuous by their absence in this trade union action. This is rather ironic given that they have been at the forefront of opposing more..

Aug 31 (ST) My dear Uncle Ranil, Rajitha and Rathana hamuduruwo, I didn’t think I will be writing to all of you in one letter. I am doing so because the three of you have something in common: you have been detained into custody over the past few days. The reasons for that are different, but it does seem as if the wheels of justice are now turning at breakneck speed! Uncle Ranil, you have had a rollercoaster ride in the last week. You were first interrogated about some expenses on a trip more..

Aug 31 (ST) Trial and tribulations revolving around the 8th Executive Prez of SL and leader of the UNP turned out to be a cause célčbre which mercifully petered out from what could have been an ugly showdown between the Opposition ranks and the Govt. Govt leaders were straining every sinew to show they had no hand in the prosecution of the former president, clearly their bete noire for some reason. Their narrative was: corrupt elite versus oppressed masses. The slip was showing. more..

Aug 31 (Island) On Aug 22, at the Colombo Fort magistrate’s court, a SL citizen named Ranil Wickremesinghe(RW) arraigned before the presiding judge, Honourable Ms Nilupuli Lankapura, was committed to remand custody, pending investigations in to charges of alleged misuse of public funds for a private purpose, whilst holding a public office of the highest sensitivity, responsibility, prominence and importance. When the alleged offence was committed, alleged fraudster more..

Aug 31 (TM) Former President of the Netball Federation of SL (NFSL) Tamara Dharmakirti-Herath says that a consistent programme should be lined up by the Ministry of Sports if players are to harbour hopes of a bright future in the sport for SL. She asserted that without a professionalised and well-coordinated programme, it would be all but futile to expect players to perform miracles when competing in both regional and global competitions. Dharmakirti-Herath made these comments more..

Aug 31 (TM) Ministry of Justice is seeking a sum of Rs. 375 million to establish 25 three-person panels to open inquiries on 10,531 files of missing persons from the period prior to 2000. These panels being established are to operate under the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) for files that had not been investigated before. Minister Harshana Nanayakkara revealed these plans during an event organised by the OMP commemorating more..

Aug 31 (Island) CaFFE has called upon the NPP govt to hold the Provincial Council (PC) polls, which the UNP-led Yahapalana govt caused to disappear without a trace about eight years ago. Since the indefinite postponement of the PC polls in 2017, we have had four Presidents and three govts, and there have been six elections. The PCs have been under the Provincial Governors appointed by the Prez. Some political commentators have rightly pointed out that Opposition politicians who are more..

Aug 31 (Island) Cricket in Harare between Zimbabwe and SL invariably stirs memories of that fateful tour 21 years ago, a series that put SL on the world map for more reasons than one. It was in Zimbabwe in 2004 that Muttiah Muralitharan, toppled Courtney Walsh’s record to become Test cricket’s highest wicket-taker. From then on, Murali and Shane Warne were locked in a neck-and-neck tussle, trading blows like prizefighters until Warne’s retirement left Murali to reign supreme. more..

Aug 31 (ST) Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) may have recorded its highest-ever revenue in 2024, but the governing body continues to bleed millions in legal expenses, with figures from its latest financial statements raising eyebrows over the organisation’s priorities. SLC has been embroiled in a staggering 44 cases across various courts in the country. These include proceedings before the magistrate’s court, district court, commercial high court and even the court of appeal. more..

Aug 31 (SO) Royal College, with a 10-point cushion, will have a slight edge when they take on traditional rivals Trinity College in the 79th annual Bradby Shield second leg rugby encounter on Sept 6 at the Royal Sports Complex in Colombo. The lads from Reid Avenue will take the field brimming with confidence and having defeated their opponents 15-5 in the first leg played last week at the Trinity Rugby Stadium in Pallekele, Kandy. The stage is set for another epic encounter as Royal, more..

Aug 31 (ST) The revenues from the 2023 ICC Men’s World Cup, Asia Cup, and a surprise windfall from cricket’s global governing body, have helped SLC post a far brighter set of accounts for the year ending Dec 31, 2024. On paper, the numbers suggest a remarkable turnaround from the deep losses of 2023. Yet behind the headline growth and surplus lies a more complicated story of ballooning costs, dependency on external more..

Aug 31 (AD) Dr. Iresha Fernando, Director of the Kandy National Hospital states that out of the 58 acres of land belonging to the hospital, 28 acres have been occupied by unauthorised settlers. Dr. Iresha Fernando mentioned that buildings continue to be constructed on this land, and as a result, the hospital is facing severe difficulties in carrying out its operations. The Kandy National Hospital, which is the second-largest national hospital in SL, also functions as a teaching hospital. more..

Aug 31 (NW) Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Jaffna on Saturday, marking the International Day of the Disappeared with a march calling for justice for loved ones who vanished during SL’s conflict. The demonstration was organized by the Association of Relatives of Enforced Disappearances (ARED) and began at the Sangilian statue in Jaffna town, where participants lit a torch in memory of more than 400 people who died during Sri Lanka’s longest ongoing protest — more..

Aug 31 (EN) SL Customs has detained about 1,000 more Chinese-made BYD electric vehicles arriving on the island over the declaration of motor capacity which is used to calculate taxes, official. Customs released the first 1,000 detained BYD electric vehicles amid a court case, with the importer giving a bank guarantee until the matter is resolved. “Another 1,000 BYD vehicles have now been detained. This time it is not only Atto 3 more..

Aug 31 (PMD) Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake stated that future incentives will be introduced to encourage export diversification and the development of value-added products. Prez further said that the role of govts is to support industries rather than hinder them and he underscored the necessity of consulting with relevant sectors during the regulation drafting process, ensuring sufficient time is allocated for their execution. Prez made these remarks yesterday (29) more..

Aug 31 (DM) Western Province Governor Hanif Yusoof announced plans to implement a humane and evidence-based dog population management programme across the province. Governor said a meeting was held with experts, local authorities, health officials & animal welfare organisations to discuss the initiative. He noted that the programme is aligned with the internationally recognised One Welfare model, which integrates animal welfare, public health and environmental sustainability. more..

Aug 31 (SO) Sri Lanka Customs (SLC), a key revenue collection body for the state is ahead of its revenue collection target of Rs. 2,115 billion, accumulating Rs. 142 billion above the target, as at the end of last week, a feat attributed to enhanced anti-corruption measures and increased import taxes on vehicles this year. SLC achieved its highest-ever revenue collection of Rs. 1,533 billion last year despite restrictions on imports. “The milestone we achieved is due to institutional reforms more..

Aug 31 (SO) Reeling from the over 30-year war that devastated the Northern and the Eastern Provinces, mostly people in Mannar continue to face new challenges on a daily basis threatening their survival due to life and livelihood damaging development activities in the picturesque island. Residents of the island have been raising concerns repeatedly and have come out to the streets in protest against large-scale wind power projects and sand mining activities that they say threaten their land & livelihoods. more..

Aug 31 (TM) The Govt has intensified its investigations into former Presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena, along with key associates from the previous administrations, amid allegations of large-scale misappropriation of public funds and involvement in criminal acts. This development comes just days after the arrest, remand, and subsequent release on bail of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe more..