News

Dr. Saman Weerasinghe has been awarded the Order of Friendship (Orden Druzhby) by Russian President Vladimir Putin at Kremlin, Moscow. The honour, one of Russia’s highest civilian distinctions , recognises his decades of dedication to strengthening diplomatic, cultural, and economic ties between Sri Lanka and Russia.

Dr. Weerasinghe is the only Asian recipient of the award in 2025 , marking a proud milestone for Sri Lanka’s global diplomatic presence.

A graduate of the Moscow Medical Academy with Honours, Dr. Weerasinghe served as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the Russian Federation (2015 - 2018) and currently holds the roles of General Secretary of the Sri Lanka-Russia Friendship Society and Chairman of the Centre of the Russian Geographical Society in Colombo. His leadership has fostered cultural exchange, scientific collaboration, and enduring goodwill between the two nations.

http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/78379

Verité Research has submitted twelve evidence-based policy proposals for consideration in the 2026 National Budget. The proposals span economic growth, social welfare and governance, and are accompanied by full supporting documentation.

Members of the public and stakeholders can also explore these ideas on the Budget Proposal Hub on PublicFinance.lk, Sri Lanka’s first interactive, trilingual space for budget ideas. The Hub brings together two streams—Formulated Proposals for the Budget and Concepts for the Budget—and enables users to download templates and vote in support of proposals. Following an invitation extended to all Sri Lankans, the Hub currently hosts 12 Formulated Proposals and 17 Concepts.

(Image - Son of the Morning Light)

Once showcased as a landmark of southern development, the Magam Ruhunupura International Conference Hall (MRICH) in Hambantota today stands as a costly reminder of poor planning, weak oversight, and underutilised infrastructure. Despite massive public and donor investment, the facility continues to drain government resources, yielding little to no economic benefit.

The project’s main auditorium was financed by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) at a cost of USD 6.4 million (approximately Rs. 851.2 million) under the Hambantota Development Project, while the Sri Lankan government added another Rs. 3.83 million for ancillary construction. 

Later reporting placed the total infrastructure investment at around Rs. 3,868 million, underscoring the vast sums of money tied to this unproductive asset.

Operationally, the centre’s performance has been abysmal. Between 2017 and 2023, the managing authority spent Rs. 110.53 million on maintenance and operations but generated only Rs. 20.63 million in revenue  an operational loss exceeding Rs. 89.9 million. 

In other words, for every five rupees spent on upkeep, the facility earned barely one. Combined with the colossal capital outlay, the Magam Ruhunupura complex represents a massive fiscal burden with no measurable economic return.

A targeted review of the Urban Development Authority (UDA) and Hambantota District Secretariat records revealed that no audited financial statements for MRICH for 2024 or 2025 have been published. 

The Auditor General’s Department has referenced the project in several performance reviews of UDA operations, but there remains no standalone account detailing its financial performance over the past two years. This lack of transparency highlights serious gaps in accountability and financial management.

Officials acknowledge that attempts to activate the venue through public-private partnerships and integration into the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) sector have failed. 

Today, the centre hosts only a handful of government or local events, generating negligible returns while the state continues to fund utilities, staffing, and maintenance. According to ministry and tourism sector sources, the facility remains “chronically underutilised,” with upkeep costs far outweighing revenue.

The absence of audited accounts, coupled with years of financial losses, raises an urgent need for corrective action. 

The government should immediately publish the MRICH financial statements for 2024 and 2025 to restore transparency and public confidence. Furthermore, a forensic and performance audit must be commissioned to reconcile total capital expenditure, operational costs, and event income from 2017 to 2025, identifying where inefficiencies or mismanagement occurred. 

Most importantly, authorities must pursue a commercial rescue plan either by granting the property on a long-term private concession, integrating it into Sri Lanka’s national MICE tourism strategy through the Convention Bureau, or repurposing the venue for viable economic activity.Without such decisive measures, the Magam Ruhunupura International Conference Hall will remain an expensive monument to mismanagement, consuming millions each year while contributing nothing to the economy it was meant to uplift.

https://www.nsa.lk/

Sri Lanka last week took a significant step in global digital security by signing the United Nations Convention Against Cybercrime (UNCC) in Ha Noi, Viet Nam, joining 72 UN Member States and the European Union in what is being hailed as a landmark moment in coordinated international efforts to combat cyber-crime.

UNCC

The signing ceremony was attended by António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, and Luong Cuong, President of Viet Nam, alongside high-level delegates from 111 countries. On behalf of the Sri Lankan government the agreement was signed by Waruna Sri Dhanapala, Acting Secretary of the Ministry of Digital Economy and head of the delegation.

This commitment comes amid a deeply troubling surge in cyber-crime within Sri Lanka. According to the national cybersecurity agency Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (SLCERT), more than 6,500 cyber-crime complaints were lodged in the first seven months of 2025, with 1,198 of those directly tied to financial fraud.

SLCERT

Social media platforms were flagged as the primary battleground: nearly 90 % of reported incidents involve platforms such as Facebook. The tactics of the criminals have grown more sophisticated, with artificial-intelligence-driven phishing, deep-fake videos, and ransomware attacks increasingly common.

The decision by Sri Lanka to accede to the UNCC follows its earlier adoption of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime in 2015. Officials say the UNCC opens broader pathways for cooperation especially in evidence sharing and cross-border investigations under the framework of the government’s Digital Economy Blueprint and the National Cyber Protection Strategy (2025-2029).

A Cabinet directive mandates the formation of an inter-ministerial mechanism within three months to drive ratification, involving the Ministries of Justice, Foreign Affairs, Defence, and Public Security, while SLCERT has been designated national focal point for implementation.

Yet the cyber-crime statistics underline that the challenge is urgent and escalating. According to SLCERT, over 5,400 incidents were reported to date in 2025, predominantly tied to social platforms and AI-enabled scams. Cases have ranged from malware attacks to the compromise of public-sector networks.

In one alarming breach, Sri Lanka’s National Water Supply and Drainage Board’s SMS gateway was hijacked by hackers demanding Bitcoin payments via the board’s shortcode. Financial institutions have also been targeted: earlier this year multiple banks endured ransomware attacks resulting in the leak of 1.9 terabytes of sensitive data including national identity card images and transaction logs.

https://asianmirror.lk/

Sri Lanka’s signing of the UNCC marks a major milestone in its effort to enhance digital trust, anchor its international cooperation credentials and address a rapidly worsening internal threat. But analysts caution that signing alone is not enough.

With cyber-threat vectors evolving faster than regulatory responses, only an accelerated build-out of technical capacity, legislative reform and public-awareness is likely to give the government the upper hand. In this landscape the UNCC provides a crucial backbone but Sri Lanka now faces the harder test of making it operational, robust and effective in a digital era where the costs of inaction are high.

Once envisioned as a modern transport solution linking Sri Lanka’s expressways, the Expressway Transport Company (Pvt) Ltd has turned into yet another cautionary tale of bureaucratic missteps, regulatory lapses, and wasted public resources with no tangible economic benefit to the nation.

The company’s inception itself was irregular. It was established in April 2014 through Board Paper No. 1551/2014 as a fully owned subsidiary of the Road Development Authority (RDA)—without the approval of the Cabinet.

 Incredibly, the Memorandum of Association for the company had not even been presented at the time of approval. Despite these omissions, the Board proceeded to endorse its incorporation under registration number PV.98435, violating proper administrative and financial protocols.

Soon after, the Minister of Finance and Planning objected to the move, noting that the RDA had no legal authority to establish a private company. 

In response, the Cabinet of Ministers, at its meeting on 8 May 2014, directed that the Expressway Transport Company should operate under the Ministry of Highways, Ports, and Shipping as a Treasury-owned entity. 

The Cabinet further required that the Treasury’s prior approval be obtained for its Memorandum of Association and the appointment of its Board of Directors. None of these directives were followed.

What followed was nearly a decade of financial opacity and operational stagnation. In blatant disregard of Public Enterprises Circular No. 01/2021, the company failed to prepare or submit financial statements or draft annual reports for eight consecutive years (2016–2023).

 This prolonged non-compliance prevented any form of audit or accountability for the company’s financial conduct.

As the project floundered, the government’s vision for a profitable expressway transport service evaporated. Despite significant public investment including the purchase of 20 luxury buses worth Rs. 216 million—the company failed to generate sustainable revenue or deliver measurable benefits to commuters or the national economy.

Recognizing the company’s complete failure, the Cabinet of Ministers on 26 June 2023 ordered its liquidation and the dissolution of its Board of Directors, assigning 15% of expressway bus operations and the company’s fleet to the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB). Yet, as of 31 December 2023, even the liquidation process remained incomplete.

The saga of the Expressway Transport Company reflects a broader pattern of weak governance, disregard for Cabinet authority, and ineffective oversight within state institutions. Unless the government enforces stricter accountability and transparent financial management, similar ventures will continue to drain public funds without yielding any economic or social return.

LTL Holdings Ltd. has issued a strong clarification following recent proceedings before the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), asserting that the company has maintained full compliance with national audit and corporate governance standards for over four decades. The clarification comes amid intense public and parliamentary scrutiny over the relationship between the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and its partly owned subsidiary, LTL Holdings.

In a statement, LTL Holdings said it was invited to the COPE session on 24 October 2025 “for the purpose of questioning in respect of the examination of the CEB,” and that the invitation did not specify any areas of inquiry. However, the company said it was surprised when the session focused solely on LTL’s internal operations rather than its interactions with the CEB.

Responding to COPE’s remarks about auditing practices, LTL Holdings maintained that it is not subject to direct audit by the Auditor General under the National Audit Act or the Constitution, as it is not classified as an “auditee entity.”

The company emphasized that all its subsidiaries are independently audited twice a year by shareholder-appointed auditors including the CEB and that those results are consolidated into the CEB’s own financial statements. “The Auditor General has every right to inquire about LTL’s audited financials through the CEB, and we have always cooperated fully,” the statement said.

On the controversial Employee Trust issue, LTL explained that the 10 % Employee Trust was created by mutual agreement between its two original shareholders the CEB and ABB of Norway and not by employees themselves. The Trust was later converted into Teckpro Investments Ltd. to resolve a regulatory issue related to LTL’s foreign operations. “No CEB employee was ever allocated shares or received dividends,” the company stressed.

LTL also addressed allegations regarding changes in shareholding and the CEB’s reduced stake. The company said that the CEB’s transfer of part of its LTL Holdings shares to West Coast Power Ltd. was part of a government-mandated debt restructuring initiative, and that LTL merely carried out CEB’s instructions to register the new shareholder.

The CEB’s stake was thus reduced from 63 % to 35 %, while West Coast Power remains a state-controlled entity. “All shareholder composition changes occurred due to external circumstances, never through actions initiated by LTL,” it noted.

Addressing concerns over potential conflicts of interest, LTL clarified that its current CEO resigned from the CEB in 1997 before joining LTL Holdings, and only later subscribed to one share in its subsidiary Lakdhanavi Ltd. in 2000 well after his transition from public service. “There was no conflict of interest at any time,” the company stated.

LTL further emphasized that all power-generation projects undertaken by its subsidiary Lakdhanavi have been awarded through competitive bidding under the CEB’s 20-year Long-Term Generation Expansion Plan (LTGEP), approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) following public consultation.

“We have never obtained a project outside the LTGEP framework,” the statement concluded, reaffirming that LTL’s operations are fully aligned with national energy planning and regulatory oversight.

A major row has erupted in Sri Lanka’s north-western coastal region as the government reveals it will proceed with only three private-sector wind power installations on Mannar Island — and no further expansion amid sustained local protests and delays.

According to the official cabinet decision, the three projects are:

• The Thambapavani Wind Farm (also known as the Mannar Wind Farm Phase I). Owned by Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and partly funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB), it provides 103.5 MW of capacity and was built at an estimated cost of about US$135 million (ADB loan) to US$200 million in total. It has been connected to the national grid since December 2020. 

• The Windscape Mannar project by Ceylex Renewables (Pvt) Ltd. (Liege Capital Holding) in which a 20 MW plant is planned; investment amounts of about LKR 6.5 billion (~US$ 30 million) have been floated. 

• The forthcoming 50 MW plant awarded to Hayleys Fentons Ltd. via its subsidiary HayWind One Ltd.. A US$ 50 million investment, secured through competitive bidding at a rate of 4.65 US cents per kWh, was announced in May 2025 and is expected to enter the grid within 18 months. 

Despite this pipeline, the government has delayed implementation and clarified that no additional wind projects will be initiated on Mannar Island beyond these three. The decision follows continuous protests mounted by island residents and environmental groups, who cite threats to local livelihoods, protected ecosystems (including migratory bird routes) and inadequate community consultation. 

While Thambapavani is already operational, the other two private-sector projects have faced delays. The Windscape Mannar 20 MW project is slated for December 2025 start, and the HayWind 50 MW unit for December 2026 according to government documentation. 

However, in light of intensifying local opposition, the government under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has mandated that no project may proceed without explicit consent from the island’s inhabitants. Cabinet Spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa stated that public concerns on environmental and social issues were taken “into consideration”. 

The situation remains tense: the initially larger scheme by Adani Green Energy for a US$ 442 million, 250-MW wind-farm on Mannar was abandoned earlier this year after tariffs became contested and local resistance mounted. 

Analysts say the delays and partial roll-out are undermining Sri Lanka’s ambition to scale wind power, particularly on resource-rich Mannar Island, where wind conditions produce a plant-factor over 40 %. 

With only 123.5 MW (103.5 + 20) confirmed and 50 MW pending, the island is far from the originally planned 300 MW plus from private and public partnerships. 

In sum, while Sri Lanka moves ahead with three wind power schemes on Mannar, the concrete rollout remains hindered by environmental and community opposition  and the government’s insistence on consent has created fresh uncertainty about delivery timelines, investment flows and grid-integration of these renewable assets.

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa left for India on an official three-day tour today.

During the visit, he is expected to meet several government ministers and high-ranking officials.

MP Sajith Premadasa is also expected to attend several events while in India.

The Opposition Leader left the country for India a short while ago.

(Source - newswire)

In an ambitious move into Sri Lanka’s burgeoning electric-vehicle market, John Keells CG Auto (Pvt) Ltd (JK CG Auto), a joint venture between John Keells Holdings PLC and Nepal’s CG Motors of the Chaudhary Group, teamed up with Chinese automaker BYD to bring in electric vehicles (EVs) to Sri Lanka. What started as a green mobility landmark has now morphed into a serious public-interest controversy.

Since August 2025, more than 1,000 BYD units have been held by Sri Lanka Customs over allegations that the motor capacity of the imported EVs was allegedly understated enabling lower duty/tax payouts. 

While JK CG Auto says all imports remain unaffected and are proceeding, customers are clearly suffering delays and uncertainty. 

A public protest on 4 November at the BYD showroom in Colombo captured the frustration. Customers, many of whom had put down advances, demanded swift action and clarity. 

At the heart of the saga lies the capacity classification of the vehicles. JK CG Auto contends that the models imported into Sri Lanka are the version with a 100 kW motor, certified by BYD as appropriate for markets such as Singapore, Nepal and Sri Lanka whereas other markets use a 150 kW version. JKCG further states that the hardware and software cannot simply be altered post-manufacture. 

However, Customs has formed a technical committee to verify the true capacity and has retained vehicles for inspection. In one recent ruling, the Court of Appeal ordered Customs to expedite the scanning and testing of the detained vehicles. 

Complicating matters are the Nepalese origins of the joint venture partner. CG Motors has previously been accused of manipulating vehicle classifications in Nepal for example importing minibuses under different HS codes to pay vastly lower duties. 

That history now casts a shadow on the Sri Lankan venture.From a broader perspective, this case reveals how bold statements of EV-infrastructure growth run head-first into regulatory, tax and governance realities. 

While Sri Lanka, following the lifting of its long-standing vehicle import ban in January 2025, opened up its market to new players, regulatory oversight appears to lag. The possibility of under-declared vehicle specs means potential losses to the Treasury, while the customer side faces delays and uncertainty.

For JK CG Auto and its backers, the reputational stakes are high: a high-profile green mobility launch is now tainted by questions of duty skirts and tax fairness. For Sri Lanka, it raises urgent questions about the governance of vehicle import regimes, transparency of major conglomerate ventures, and the fairness of tax enforcement.

In short: while the future of EVs remains a priority for national policy and for corporate strategy, the country may be watching one of its biggest EV launches stumble into the very terrain it hoped to leave behind murky classification, duty ambiguity and public-interest scrutiny.

A 46-year-old woman from Dematagoda, who was taken into custody for obstructing police duties and acting aggressively during a traffic stop, has been remanded until November 10.

The Gampaha Magistrate’s Court granted the extension when she was produced before it today.

According to police, the woman ignored orders to stop her vehicle for a traffic violation, prompting her arrest. She now faces legal proceedings for both the traffic offense and her aggressive conduct towards law enforcement officers.

The Clinical Research Unit of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, has developed a breakthrough drug that can significantly reduce high blood pressure.

Director of the Clinical Research Unit, Professor Asitha de Silva, said at a media briefing that the research began nearly ten years ago and focused on combining three commonly used drugs into a single tablet for more effective treatment and patient convenience. Prof. Asitha de Silva

“Although there is no medicine that can completely cure high blood pressure, this new drug can effectively control it,” Professor de Silva said. “By combining three drugs into one, patients only need to take one tablet a day, and it has proven to control blood pressure in 88% of patients.”

He said that extensive clinical trials were completed in 2024, and the findings were submitted to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA approved the drug in June, and the WHO added it to its Essential Medicines List in September this year.

Professor de Silva further emphasized that close control of high blood pressure using this drug could reduce the risk of stroke by as much as 60%.

(Source - Dailymirror)

A suspect known as ‘Madusankha’, alias ‘Samaposha’, who is believed to be a member of an organized criminal gang, has been arrested by the police.

The arrest was carried out by the Colombo North Division Crime Investigation Unit.

According to the Police, the suspect is a close associate of Gamagedara Saranga Pradeep, also known as ‘Welle Saranga’, a notorious organized criminal and major drug trafficker.

The suspect was apprehended in the Grandpass area, and the Police recovered 26.890 grams of ICE narcotics in his possession.

The Police further stated that the suspect is also connected to five separate murder cases.

(Source - Newswire)