Latest Sri Lanka News and Top Stories

Sri Lanka has retained its Tier 2 status in the United States Department of State’s 2026 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report for the fifth consecutive year, the Ministry of Defence said.

A 24-year-old man has been arrested with more than 18 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine (Ice) and heroin during a police raid in the Mabola area of Wattala.

More than 1,000 students at the University of Ruhuna underwent eye examinations and hearing tests today (October 10, 2026), under the second phase of the President’s Fund programme to provide free spectacles to university students.

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, O. L. Ameer Ajwad, visited Anojan Sivarasa at Dammam Central Prison on October 8, 2026, and confirmed that he was in good health.

A luxury bus driver has been arrested by Piliyandala Police for allegedly deliberately causing a collision with a Metro bus in Miriswatta, on October 9, 2026, causing damage estimated at Rs. 342,000.

Defence Secretary Air Vice Marshal Sampath Thuyacontha (Retd) chaired the first Project Board Meeting of an initiative to strengthen Sri Lanka’s disaster risk management system at the Ministry of Defence on October 9, 2026.

Sri Lanka Police have issued a 14-day freezing order on a three-storey house worth approximately Rs. 35 million in Madapatha over suspected links to money earned through drug trafficking.

A man died after being attacked with a sharp weapon near a workers’ hostel in Colombo Port City on the night of October 9, 2026.

The Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence launched a pilot project on September 7, 2026, to begin the process of legally establishing ownership of 191 land plots allocated to Ranaviru beneficiaries in the Polonnaruwa District.

Sri Lanka has launched a national project to develop its first National Building Code, aimed at improving building safety, construction quality and protection against natural disasters.

A private bus involved in a collision with a Metro bus in Athurugiriya has been temporarily banned from operating after an inspection found that it had not been properly maintained.

Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court against a Court of Appeal order dismissing his petition seeking to prevent his arrest in connection with investigations into the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks.

A Forest Field Assistant of Department of Forest Conservation has been arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs. 10,000 to allow illegal cultivation on state-owned land.

A special committee has been appointed on the instructions of Sri Lanka President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to review and update the rules, regulations and standing orders under the Prisons Ordinance.

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has decided to dismiss former Colombo Chief Magistrate and former Moratuwa District Judge Thilina Gamage, who had been suspended from duty.