The office of businessman Dhammika Perera has issued a warning over fake, AI-manipulated videos circulating on social media that falsely portray him promoting investment schemes.

In an official notice, Perera’s office clarified that he has no connection with the videos, investment platforms or claims featured in them.

The statement described the videos as malicious attempts to mislead the public.

The public has been urged to report such content to the relevant social media platforms, Sri Lanka CERT at report@cert.gov.lk or law enforcement authorities.

Perera’s office also advised the public to rely on his official social media accounts for authentic information. (Newswire)

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Getty Images, one of the world’s largest providers of stock photography and editorial images, has announced plans to file for bankruptcy and return to private ownership as it struggles with mounting debt and growing competition from artificial intelligence-generated content.

According to Reuters, the company announced on October 12 that it would begin an expedited Chapter 11 bankruptcy process in the coming weeks, following a restructuring agreement expected to be completed by the end of 2026.

The announcement follows the collapse of Getty Images’ planned merger with rival Shutterstock.

Under the restructuring agreement, affiliates of the Getty family and Koch Equity Development will acquire full ownership of the company, taking it private.

The investors have committed to providing up to $533 million in new equity, while holders of unsecured bonds have agreed to cancel $270 million in debt.

Getty Images reported approximately $2.1 billion in total debt as of June 30, 2026, compared with a market valuation of just $20.74 million as of October 9.

The company’s shares have lost approximately 99% of their value since it returned to public markets in 2022 through a deal that valued the business at around $4.8 billion.

The New York Stock Exchange also began proceedings to delist Getty Images at the end of September.

Despite the bankruptcy filing plans, Getty Images said its operations would continue normally and vendors would be paid in full during the restructuring process.

The development comes as traditional photography and visual-content businesses face increasing competition from AI-generated images, which are reshaping the global stock photography market.

Getty Images is a major supplier of photographs and videos to news organisations, publishers and businesses worldwide.

The restructuring marks a significant turning point for one of the most recognised names in the global photography industry. (Newswire)

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Australian biosecurity authorities have stopped a traveller returning from Sri Lanka from bringing elephant dung fridge magnets into the country, citing potential risks to agriculture, the environment and wildlife.

The unusual souvenirs, made from elephant dung, were declared by the traveller upon arrival in Australia.

Authorities warned that animal waste products could carry harmful bacteria, parasites, insect larvae and weed seeds, potentially threatening livestock health and introducing invasive plants.

Although the magnets were sold as souvenirs, Australian authorities said such products were not permitted to enter the country due to biosecurity concerns.

The traveller voluntarily disposed of the magnets before leaving the airport.

Authorities used the incident to remind international travellers that souvenirs purchased overseas are not necessarily permitted into Australia.

They urged travellers to check Australia’s biosecurity import requirements before bringing animal-based products into the country. (Newswire)

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President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has announced that public sector salaries will increase again in January 2027, with the starting salary of a teacher rising to Rs. 65,000 and that of a doctor to Rs. 94,000.

Addressing a public rally in Nikaweratiya on Sunday (Oct. 11), the President said the government had already increased public sector salaries through its first budget and would implement another increase at the beginning of next year.

He said strengthening the public service was essential for implementing development projects and improving the delivery of government services.

The President also announced plans to recruit 121,000 new public sector employees, including teachers, police officers and Grama Niladhari officers.

He said recruitment would be carried out through examinations and interviews instead of political appointments.

President Dissanayake further announced plans to increase allowances for Grama Niladhari officers, Pirivena institutions and teacher trainees.

He emphasised that a strong and efficient public service was essential for the country’s development. (Newswire)

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At least 12 people have been killed and 309 others injured in the latest attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, amid escalating attacks on the country’s civilian aviation infrastructure.

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said the fatalities included four Saudi citizens and eight foreign nationals from Bangladesh, the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan.

Some of the injured are in critical condition and are receiving treatment at hospitals, while authorities are assessing the damage caused by the attack. Airport operations were temporarily suspended following the incident, with passengers advised to contact their airlines to check flight arrangements.

The head of the Houthi media office said in a post on X following Saturday’s attack that the group had “shut down Riyadh international airport”. The Houthis have also warned airlines to avoid Saudi airspace, declaring it a zone of military operations after the Yemeni government launched an offensive against the group on Monday.

US President Donald Trump condemned the attack, saying it was “not acceptable”, and said he would speak with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Trump also indicated that Washington could join Saudi Arabia’s military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, saying the United States was evaluating the possibility and would make a decision soon. (Newswire)

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Nearly 30 children who had stopped attending school for an extended period have resumed their education following an initiative by the Community Policing Unit of the Grandpass Police Station in Colombo.

According to Sri Lanka Police, the initiative began after officers visited Bloemendhal Sinhala Vidyalaya as part of a World Children’s Day programme, during which ice cream was distributed to students.

During the programme, the school’s deputy principal informed Police Sergeant Samarawickrama, the officer in charge of the Community Policing Unit, that several students had been absent from school for a long period.

The officer obtained a list of the students and discussed the matter with Grandpass Police OIC Chief Inspector Dissanayake, who initiated efforts to locate the children and encourage them to return to school.

With the support of senior police officers, teams visited the children’s homes and spoke to their parents, explaining the importance of education and reminding them that schooling is compulsory until the age of 16.

Police also assured families that assistance would be provided to help their children continue their education.

Following the intervention, nearly 30 children from Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities arrived at the Grandpass Police Station in their school uniforms, where officers offered guidance and refreshments before facilitating their return to school.

The Community Policing Unit has also introduced a follow-up programme to monitor the children’s attendance and identify their needs, including schoolbooks, educational supplies and nutritional support.

According to police, the initiative has received financial contributions from the Grandpass Police OIC and several other officers.

Sri Lanka Police has encouraged the public to inform their nearest police station or relevant authorities about children who have dropped out of school or have been absent for extended periods, allowing steps to be taken to support their return to education. (Newswire)

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Former Sri Lankan cricket captain Sanath Jayasuriya has joined calls for clemency for Sri Lankan national Sivarasa Anojan, making a public appeal to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to consider granting him a pardon on humanitarian grounds.

In a social media post, Jayasuriya highlighted the unity among Sri Lankans, regardless of religion or ethnicity, in supporting the humanitarian appeal.

“As Sri Lankans, we stand together, regardless of our religion or ethnicity. We humbly appeal to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to kindly consider granting a pardon to our fellow Sri Lankan, Sivarasa Anojan, on humanitarian grounds,” he said.

Jayasuriya also tagged Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs in his post.

The former captain’s appeal adds a prominent voice from Sri Lanka’s sporting community to calls seeking clemency for Anojan.

Anojan, a Sri Lankan migrant worker from Kalmunai, was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia over a social media post deemed insulting to Islam.

A Sri Lankan legal delegation has been working with Saudi lawyers to challenge the sentence, with an appeal scheduled to be filed before the Saudi Supreme Court.

The Sri Lankan government is also pursuing diplomatic efforts to seek clemency. (Newswire)

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Dialog Axiata PLC has donated modern surgical and medical equipment worth Rs. 87 million to Chilaw District General Hospital to help restore and strengthen health care services affected by Cyclone Ditwah.

The equipment was handed over at the hospital on Oct. 7, as part of Dialog’s Rs. 420 million contribution to the government’s “Rebuilding Sri Lanka” national programme.

The donation includes surgical equipment for two operating theatres damaged by flooding, a modern endoscopy system, defibrillators, multiparameter monitors, syringe pumps and pulse oximeters.

The Minister of Health and Mass Media Dr. Nalinda Jayathissa, who attended the handover ceremony, commended hospital staff for their efforts to restore medical services within a short period following the disaster.

The minister also outlined several planned development projects at the hospital.

Construction of previously suspended hospital buildings is expected to resume in 2027, while work on a new accident and emergency treatment unit, estimated to cost Rs. 5 billion, is expected to begin shortly and be completed within two and a half years.

The ministry has also allocated Rs. 11 billion for the hospital’s future development.

The event was attended by Puttalam District parliamentarians, senior health officials, hospital administrators and Dialog Axiata representatives, including Chairman David Lau and Group CEO Supun Weerasinghe. (Newswire)

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A bill published in a Gazette supplement proposes that the next Sri Lanka Cricket chairperson be selected from among seven Independent Directors, with the board choosing the chairperson by majority vote.

The proposed Sri Lanka Cricket Act does not make the chairperson’s post a separate elected position. A candidate must first qualify as an Independent Director, be nominated by the Nomination Committee and appointed to the board before being eligible for the top post.

The document is a bill, not an enacted law.

Who could qualify as an Independent Director?

The bill sets out six categories for the seven Independent Director positions:

A chartered accountant who has been a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka for at least 15 years.

An attorney-at-law with at least 15 years of active legal practice in Sri Lanka.

A former cricketer of good standing who played at least 15 international matches before the three-year period immediately preceding appointment.

An IT professional with a postgraduate qualification in computer science or information systems and extensive corporate experience.

A marketing or global brand-management professional with a recognised qualification and a proven track record.

Two people with an unblemished reputation and expertise in fields including accounting, finance, management, law, IT, marketing, sport or governance. Senior executives such as chief executive officers and general managers are among those who may qualify.

At least two of the seven Independent Directors must be women. The bill provides for Independent Directors to serve four-year terms and to be eligible for one further term, subject to the process set out in the legislation.

How would candidates be selected?

A seven-member Nomination Committee would invite applications, assess candidates and nominate people it considers fit and proper. Its members would represent the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, the Ministry of Sports, the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors, the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing and the National Sports Council.

Committee members must have good moral standing, recognised qualifications and substantial experience in the relevant field. They cannot be office bearers of SLC members, SLC directors or people subject to the bill’s disqualifications. The committee would appoint its own chairperson from among its members.

Who would be disqualified?

The bill would bar a person from serving as either an Independent Director or an Elected Director if they are a Member of Parliament, a Provincial Council member or a local authority member; are an SLC employee, a Nomination Committee member or an office bearer of an SLC member; or are not a Sri Lankan citizen.

It would also disqualify people declared insolvent or of unsound mind by a court, and people convicted within the preceding 10 years of specified offences involving moral turpitude, fraud, dishonesty, corruption or violence, where the sentence was at least six months’ imprisonment. The rule applies whether or not the sentence was suspended. A person previously removed from an SLC-related office for disciplinary reasons or misconduct would also be disqualified.

The bill bars people who worked as professional journalists in print or electronic media during the three years before nomination. It also lists owners, beneficial owners, co-owners and major shareholders of media organisations.

Parents or siblings of players in a National Pool or National Team would be ineligible. So would anyone who acted as a match official or coach in a cricket tournament conducted or authorised by SLC during the previous three years, or who is an agent or manager of a cricket player.

Other disqualifications cover people who, during the preceding year, sold or supplied sports goods or cricket equipment to Sri Lanka, conducted sports training schools or provided cricket-related financial services.

A candidate would also be disqualified if they or an immediate family member has an interest in a betting, gaming or wagering organisation, or is employed in its day-to-day operations. The bill defines immediate family for this purpose as a spouse, parent, sibling, son, daughter, son-in-law or daughter-in-law.

The restrictions further cover people penalised, banned, suspended or disqualified by SLC’s disciplinary committee, the Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency, the World Anti-Doping Agency, the ICC, the ACC or a related cricket association for offences involving prohibited substances, corruption, betting, match-fixing, spot-fixing or misuse of insider information. The bill also lists a person who represented the country in an approved cricket-related international sports event and had not returned to Sri Lanka.

Past cricket administration and the eight-year limit

A person who previously served on the predecessor body’s Executive Committee, as an Elected Director or as an office bearer of an SLC member cannot be appointed as an Independent Director. Because the chairperson must come from the Independent Directors, those past roles would prevent that person from becoming chairperson.

The bill separately limits service as an Elected Director to eight aggregate years over a person’s lifetime. It counts time served as an Independent Director, Elected Director, office bearer or member of the predecessor body’s Executive Committee toward that total. A person who reaches the eight-year limit is permanently ineligible for election as an Elected Director. (Newswire)

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A new fleet of 122 Metro buses was officially launched today (29) to operate along seven routes in the Western Province, as part of a government initiative aimed at reducing traffic congestion in Colombo and improving the quality of public transport.

The buses were launched at the Thalangama Metro Bus Depot under the patronage of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and will operate on designated routes and schedules centred around Colombo.

Announcing the next phase of the programme, Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development Bimal Rathnayake said the Government expects to import another 50 buses before the Sinhala and Hindu New Year.

These buses are expected to be deployed for intercity services covering Jaffna, Kandy and Galle.

The Minister also said an urban transport permit system should be introduced as the Metro service expands, with the aim of reducing congestion in major cities. The Government intends to subsequently involve the private sector in the programme.

He also called on mayors to identify and establish suitable parking facilities near relevant bus terminals to promote a Park & Ride system, allowing motorists to leave their private vehicles and use public transport to enter congested urban areas.

Rathnayake further revealed that the Chinese Government has agreed to provide 100 buses to Lanka Metro Transit, following discussions held during President Dissanayake’s visit to China.

The Minister said the Government has invested approximately Rs. 7.5 billion in establishing the Metro service, describing the investment as a sign of the country’s economic strength.

The Metro bus programme originated from a 2025 Budget proposal, which allocated Rs. 3 billion to purchase 100 low-floor buses to modernize public transport.

Of the 122 buses launched today, 104 were received by Sri Lanka, while eight were provided by the Government of Japan.

The initial Metro network consists of seven main routes covering approximately 188.7 kilometres. One of the main objectives is to reduce the number of private vehicles entering Colombo, particularly vehicles carrying only one person.

Meanwhile, the design of a fully digitalized system for Metro bus operations has been completed and procurement has commenced. The system is expected to cover fleet management, passenger information, fare collection and operational monitoring.

Plans for Metro bus depots have also been finalized, while infrastructure development has commenced. The Road Development Authority and Colombo Municipal Council are working on improvements to bus stop facilities.

Minister Rathnayake added that the Government plans to eventually expand the Metro bus project to several other major cities across Sri Lanka. (Newswire)

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Sri Lanka has been ranked among the world’s 10 fastest-improving travel and tourism economies in the World Economic Forum’s 2026 Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI).

According to the latest index, Sri Lanka recorded a 4.3% improvement in its TTDI score between 2024 and 2026, placing the country 10th among economies showing the largest gains during the period.

Albania topped the list of fastest improvers with a 7% increase, followed by Viet Nam at 6.3%, Laos at 6.1%, Qatar at 6%, Malaysia at 5.8%, Thailand at 5.6%, the Philippines and Morocco at 5.5% each, Nepal at 5.1% and Sri Lanka at 4.3%.

The World Economic Forum said emerging tourism markets, particularly in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East and North Africa regions, were improving their competitiveness faster than many established destinations.

Overall, 92% of the 110 economies assessed in the 2026 index improved their scores from 2024, while the global average increased by 2%.

The index evaluates countries across 17 pillars covering areas including tourism infrastructure, air connectivity, cultural and natural resources, enabling conditions and sustainability.

Japan was ranked the world’s top-performing travel and tourism economy in 2026, followed by the United States, Spain, Australia and France.

The findings come as global tourism continues its post-pandemic expansion, with a record 1.5 billion international tourist arrivals recorded in 2025, according to the World Economic Forum. (Newswire)

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By Karu Jayasuriya

It was exactly 50 years ago today that I held my daughter Indira in my arms for the first time. As I write these few words for her, I cannot put into words the pain I feel in my heart at this moment. I do not know if there can be a more painful experience for a father than having to celebrate the birthday of his child on a day when that child is no longer beside him. Especially when that child was someone who shared love, kindness and sensitivity throughout her life, the emptiness she left behind is even greater.

From a very young age, Indira was a loving child who filled our little home with kindness, compassion and love. She loved not only people, but also animals that could not express their pain through words. If she saw a dog or a cat alone on the road, she never simply walked past. If she saw an injured animal, it became her problem. If she saw an animal that was hungry, she could not find peace of mind. She brought them home. She nursed them back to health. She gave them food. She loved them.

To her, they were not merely animals. She believed that they too were living beings made of bones, flesh, blood and veins, beings who could feel pain. That was my daughter. Her heart was extremely sensitive. She saw things that others did not see. She felt the pain of another person that others could not feel. From a young age, she had a deep bond with art. She firmly rejected measuring the value of people based on race, religion or caste. She considered people with human compassion to be the truly worthy ones.

She married a foreigner who had a kind heart and was engaged in social service. She was also deeply devoted to the Dhamma. She believed in karma and believed that every action we take in life has a meaning. When I think about the final chapter of her life, what amazes me most today is that understanding.

In the name of motherhood, she sacrificed her life for an unborn child. When she unfortunately developed cancer, her little son Dylan had been conceived and was growing inside her womb. According to medical advice, the medicines used for treatment could have affected the baby. Because of this, she refused to undergo treatment. Perhaps seeing the little smile of the son growing inside her, who had not yet seen the light of this world, was more important to her than her own life. Perhaps a mother’s love had awakened within her, and the desire to give life to an unborn child had overcome everything else.

Whatever the reason, in the end she was fortunate enough to see her little son with her own eyes. Although she began treatment afterwards, as it gradually became clear that the treatment was failing, the weight I felt in my heart as a father cannot be put into words. Yet even knowing this, she did not give up on life.

She did not live thinking only about her own pain. She thought about her children and her husband. She thought about what their lives would be like after she was gone. She planned their future. She wrote those plans down. Even though she knew that she would no longer be with them, she tried to fulfil her responsibilities as a mother until the very last moment. That was the extent of the love in my daughter’s heart.

There is an incident that I still cannot forget. A phone call I once received still weighs heavily on my heart with pain. It was the call informing me that the final moments of her life were approaching. I stayed beside her during her final days. She was becoming weaker. Yet her thoughts were still about other people. With trembling lips, she kept saying, “Kettle, kettle,” trying to invite her sister who had come at that moment to have a cup of tea. A loving sister who, even in the face of death, was trying to invite another sister to have a cup of tea. I will never forget that moment.

In the end, we reached the moment that no father ever wishes to face. I was holding her hand. It was my daughter’s hand. The way she had held onto my little finger with her tiny hand as a child and tried to walk, the way she had brought a helpless cat home from the road and pulled me by the hand to show it to me, and the times we spent together with happiness and love all began appearing in my mind like scenes from a film, one after another.

My elder daughter was there too. Her eyes were filled with tears, but as a doctor she was somewhat calm. Yet I could see that she was under a kind of pressure I had never seen her experience before. She looked at her younger sister, then looked at me and said to me with great pain: “Thaththa, now let Nangi go…” I heard those words. How can a father’s heart ever be ready to let his child go. I did not want to let go of that hand. How could I? It was the hand of my daughter, who had been a part of my life for 40 years. But in the end, I had to let go of that hand.

The moment I let go of her hand, she left this world. When I let go of your hand that day, I did not know that I would never be able to hold that hand again. Even today, my hands are empty. But within those empty hands, your memory, your smile, your kindness and the warmth of your hand have never left my memory. If only I had been given another moment to hold your hand, if only you could have lived, I would have held your hand and never let it go. But I know that reality was not to be. I was holding her hand. The next moment, she was no longer there.

People say that time heals all pain. But there is something I have learnt. Time does not heal some pain. Time teaches us to live with that pain.

Indira’s memory still lives in our home today. Whenever I see a helpless dog or cat on the road, I remember her. I remember her when I see a painting, hear music or think about the karma she believed in. But Indira did not leave us only with the pain she suffered. The pain she endured became a mission to reduce the suffering of other children. When a child suffers from cancer, we came to understand that for a family, fighting the disease alone is not enough. They need many other things.

It was from that understanding that the Indira Cancer Trust was born. On that journey, my beloved elder daughter Lanka made a great sacrifice. What began in a small room became, within a short period, a “Suwa Arana” that provides shelter to children suffering from cancer across the country, with the generous support of donors and the kindness of people. With the support of embassies and various donors, many services are carried out through the Trust, from providing solar power systems to supplying necessary household equipment.

Providing travel expenses for patients travelling to and from clinics and the Apeksha Hospital, providing food and necessary medicines, assisting families who cannot afford the funeral expenses when a patient dies, trying to bring smiles back to children suffering from cancer through hair-donation programmes, and supporting their education through the parent-sponsor system are among those services.

Suwa Arana also provides accommodation, daily meals, sanitation facilities and emotional support for children receiving treatment and their families. It coordinates with hospitals and clinics to provide the support needed for treatment. It provides medical equipment, clothing and other essential items. It provides scholarships and school supplies so that children can continue their education.

Through cancer awareness programmes, health screening programmes and community outreach programmes, it also works to increase understanding of the disease and encourage early detection. These are only the services that can be mentioned in a list. Behind every one of those services is the same idea. “Not allowing another child to suffer alone the pain that she herself suffered.”

My elder daughter Lanka is leading that mission. She is a doctor. But to me, before she is a doctor, she is my daughter. Perhaps that is why, sometimes, when I look at her, I see Indira. The things Indira could not do are being carried forward by Lanka, my daughter, in memory of her. One daughter left us, but her love flows through the hands of another daughter to thousands of people today. As a father, I have a humble sense of pride in that. But within that pride there is pain. The roots of the tree called the Indira Cancer Trust grew from the pain of my daughter.

To my Indira… Even though ten years have passed, time cannot reach the place a daughter holds in her father’s heart. The day you left us, it was only your breath that stopped. Your love did not stop. That love has today become the shade of a Suwa Arana. It has become a smile on another child’s face. It has become hope shining in a mother’s eyes. It has become strength for a helpless family. So, my daughter, Although your life was short, your love had no end. You left us. But you never left our hearts. To me, you are still my youngest daughter.

If you were here with us, you would be 50 years old. I would have kissed your forehead and wished you a happy birthday. We would have brought the whole family together and had dinner with little Dylan and little Thilini. But today, all I have left to do is speak to you through my memories. My daughter, That cruel cancer may have stopped your breath, but it could not kill your love.

But I could never say goodbye to you from my heart.

You are still alive today in the compassionate hand that wipes away the tears of a helpless child, in a mother’s hope, in the comfort that comes to a father’s silent pain, and in the hand extended to save another life.

Happy birthday, my daughter Indira.

(The author, Sri Lankabhimanya Karu Jayasuriya is a former Speaker of Parliament)

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Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has urged Sri Lanka not to get carried away by their victory over England as the two teams prepare for the ODI series decider at The Oval on Sunday.

Sri Lanka defeated England by 16 runs in the second ODI, with captain Kusal Mendis producing a match-winning 121 off 100 balls as the visitors levelled the series 1-1.

Speaking on Sky Sports after the match, Sangakkara said Sri Lanka should take confidence from the victory but must approach the deciding match as a completely new contest.

“I think they’ve got to take a breather after this, really recoup to understand where they sit still in terms of their skill and their execution,” Sangakkara said.

He warned that Sri Lanka could get “a little bit carried away with the win” and approach the decider as though it were simply a continuation of the second ODI.

“No, it’s a new pitch, it’s a new day and they’ve got to restart,” he said.

However, Sangakkara said there were several aspects of Sri Lanka’s approach that should not change.

“The one thing they don’t have to change, and they must not change, is that intent, that belief, that competitiveness,” he said.

Sangakkara added that Sri Lanka have the ability to compete with leading international sides if they build partnerships with the bat, execute intelligently with the ball and stick to the basics.

He also described Jos Buttler’s hamstring injury during England’s run chase as a “very, very pivotal moment,” saying it brought Sri Lanka back into the contest at a stage when Buttler was changing the tempo of the innings in England’s favour.

The three-match ODI series is level at 1-1, with the deciding match scheduled to be played at The Oval on Sunday. (Newswire)

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The Catholic Church has welcomed the court verdict against those convicted in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, but says the judgment should not be considered the end of efforts to uncover the full circumstances behind the bombings.

Speaking to reporters, Director of Mass Communications for the Archdiocese of Colombo, Rev. Fr. Jude Krishantha Fernando, said the Church was satisfied that a verdict had been delivered after victims and their families had waited for years for justice. 

He said the judgment would also send a strong message against religious extremism, stressing that religion should never be distorted to justify violence.

However, Fr. Krishantha said those convicted represented only one part of the case and called for investigations to continue into whether others were involved in facilitating the attacks or allowing them to take place.

He alleged that intelligence and security officials had sufficient information to prevent the attacks but failed to act, and called for investigators to establish whether there was any wider involvement or motive behind that failure. 

Previous official inquiries have examined the handling of advanced intelligence, while the Supreme Court has also ruled on fundamental rights petitions concerning failures by senior officials. 

Fr. Krishantha also called for further legal action, where supported by evidence, against individuals identified in previous investigations and commission recommendations, saying the Church would consider the justice process complete only after all those responsible for the attacks and any related failures were properly investigated.

The Church has consistently called for investigations to identify whether there were additional individuals behind the attacks and for those responsible to be prosecuted. (Newswire)

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Police have warned that passengers travelling on expressways without an available seat belt could face legal action.

Deputy Inspector General of Police W.P.J. Senadheera, who is in charge of the Police Traffic Management and Road Safety Division, said vehicles using expressways should carry passengers according to the number of seats equipped with seat belts.

He said that if the rear seat has only two seat belts, only two passengers should travel there.

Senadheera added that if a third passenger travels in the middle without a seat belt, police will take legal action against that passenger. (Newswire)

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Three Thai women have been arrested at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake in two separate operations involving more than 7 kg of suspected narcotics.

According to police, officers attached to the Police Narcotics Bureau’s airport unit arrested a 38-year-old Thai woman who arrived from Bangkok in the early hours of September 20.

She was allegedly found in possession of 3 kg and 220 g of kush and 1 kg and 852 g of hashish.

In a separate operation at the airport’s arrival terminal, officers arrested two other Thai women, aged 31 and 36, who had arrived on a flight from Bangkok.

Police said one woman was allegedly carrying 1 kg and 994 g of kush and 620 g of hashish, while the other was arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting the offence.

The two operations resulted in the seizure of a total of 7 kg and 686 g of suspected narcotics.

The Police Narcotics Bureau is conducting further investigations. (Newswire)

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BYD is recalling 32,009 of its Shark 6 PHEV ute because a fault means the spare wheel could detach. The issue affects all three variants of the model: the Premium, Performance and Dynamic Cab Chassis.

“For involved vehicles, BYD has identified that in certain circumstances incorrect installation of the spare wheel, incorrect positioning of the spare wheel tray or insufficient fastening torque may cause abnormal wear of the spare wheel support cable,” the brand said in a statement.

“Continued movement and friction during vehicle operation may cause the cable to fail, resulting in spare wheel detachment. This may create a hazard to other road users and potentially cause serious injury or death.”

The recall applies to vehicles made from August 2024 to June this year, and affects 28,543 examples of the Shark 6 Premium, 2100 of the Performance and 1366 of the Dynamic Cab Chassis. BYD is advising owners to remove their spare wheel until vehicles can be repaired.

Shark 6 owners can visit BYD’s Vehicle Recall Information page here and enter their vehicle identification number to find out whether their ute has been caught up in the recall. If it is, BYD will fix the issue free of charge by replacing the assembly.

The Shark 6 was a smash hit in Australia when it arrived in October 2024. BYD sold almost 5000 of them in the first three months of 2025, but the end of the fringe benefits tax exemption for plug-in hybrids saw numbers drop off.

In June, BYD Australia chief operating officer Stephen Collins said the brand is hoping to “get back to at least 1500 units a month” with an uplift coming courtesy of the cab-chassis version and top-spec 3500kg towing option. (WhichCar )

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Sri Lankan-born politician Kamzy Gunaratnam has been appointed Norway’s new Minister of Transport, marking another milestone in her political journey from Jaffna to the Norwegian Cabinet.

The Norwegian government officially appointed Gunaratnam to the post on September 11, replacing Jon-Ivar Nygård. As Transport Minister, she is responsible for policies relating to the transport of people and goods, as well as postal services.

Born Khamshajiny Gunaratnam in Sri Lanka in 1988, she moved to Norway with her family as a young child and later became active in Norwegian politics through the Labour Party.

Gunaratnam entered the Oslo City Council in 2007 at the age of 19 and went on to serve as Oslo’s deputy mayor from 2015 to 2021. She was elected to Norway’s Parliament, the Storting, in 2021 and was re-elected for the 2025-2029 term.

She is also a survivor of the 2011 Utøya massacre, when a gunman attacked a Labour Party youth camp.

Gunaratnam has continued to maintain an interest in developments in Sri Lanka during her political career in Norway.

In February 2026, she raised Sri Lanka’s human rights situation during a debate in the Norwegian Parliament, recalling that she was born in war-torn Sri Lanka in 1988.

She also specifically referred to the discovery of human remains at Chemmani in Jaffna and raised concerns over unresolved questions surrounding people who disappeared during the conflict. (Newswire)

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Sri Lanka 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.

The eight-percentage-point increase stands out against a broader trend of declining or largely unchanged perceptions of the UN across the countries surveyed.

Pew said favorable views of the UN had declined significantly in 10 countries since it last asked the question. Nigeria recorded one of the sharpest declines, falling from 80% in 2025 to 63% in 2026, while favorable views in the Philippines dropped by 16 percentage points from 2024.

Across all 37 countries surveyed, a median of 55% of adults expressed a favorable opinion of the UN, while 37% viewed the organization unfavorably.

The survey also found a significant generational divide in Sri Lanka. Younger Sri Lankans were more likely to view the UN positively than older adults, with an 18-percentage-point difference between the youngest and oldest age groups measured.

Similar age differences were recorded in a number of other countries, with Pew noting that younger adults generally tend to hold more positive views of the UN.

Globally, perceptions varied considerably. The UN was viewed more favorably than unfavorably across most of the Asia-Pacific countries surveyed, while Israel recorded the most negative assessment, with 79% expressing an unfavorable opinion.

The findings are based on Pew Research Center’s Spring 2026 Global Attitudes Survey and were released ahead of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, which opened on Sept. 8. (Newswire)

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By Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa

In early 2025, Sri Lanka Police launched eTraffic under the government’s ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ programme. It skipped Google’s Play Store entirely, required sideloading from a Vercel website, sought background location, camera and storage access, and carried a tragi-comically weak privacy policy. That same week, hackers had seized the Police’s own social media accounts. I critiqued it on launch day. Two days later, when confronted with questions posed by journalists who had read my article, the then Police Media Spokesman insisted there was “only a connection through an account”, revealing how little to nothing the institution understood about data security, and the right to privacy.

News reports now indicate the Police launched the eponymous ‘Sri Lanka Police’, built by Vampior Designs (Private) Limited, with an SOS button, reporting to specialised units, and a chatbot.

I examined version 1.0.11, the Google Play release, using a copy of the installation file (i.e., the APK) whose digital signature confirms it as Google’s own build. Though I did not install or run the app, I deconstructed it, and read what it contains – permissions, web addresses, labels buried in its code, certificates etc, and also checked where its servers sit. I then compared the findings with the app’s Google Play data safety declaration and the developer’s own privacy policy.

For starters, this app is far better built than eTraffic, and carries no advertising, analytics or social media trackers, encrypts everything in transit, locks login credentials in the phone’s secure storage, offers a fingerprint lock, and detects tampered phones and faked GPS to deter hoax alerts.

Nothing in the app’s code suggests it reads SMS messages, contacts or call logs, captures the screen, or listens in the background. Generally competent coding, however, is not the end of it.

Sri Lanka’s Police have given citizens no reason to trust them offline or online with anything, and especially personally identifiable information (PII) like NIC details. Independent scrutiny of apps launched by Police only ever occur after their public release, which is to get things completely backwards. E-government, and digitalisation should not ask citizens to blindly accept or install official apps especially given decades-old, significant, and enduring trust deficits in large sections of our society around anything to do with the state’s involvement in personal lives, and information.

This app, albeit to a somewhat lesser degree than the one in 2025, is a case study in the general lack of any rights respecting guardrails, and compliance testing in what the government rolls-out – which is a significant, and growing issue I’ve written about at length.

As flagged in some news reports, registration for this app asks for your national identity card (NIC) number and photographs of both sides of the card. Foreign nationals hand over passport numbers and photos. Children without an NIC register through a parent or guardian, whose NIC number and card photos the app also takes. The code includes a feature that detects NIC details in photos. An SOS alert feature can add voice recordings, photographs and a GPS trail. Vampior’s privacy policy names none of this, listing name, email and phone number before relying on a catch-all for “other information that you voluntarily provide”. There is nothing voluntary about a registration screen that will not proceed without submitting both sides of one’s NIC. The Play Store declaration lists name, address, phone number, and approximate location. No mention of identity numbers, document images, voice recordings or precise location (when activated, which is thus a feature in the app).

Tellingly, PII submitted through the app, as well as SOS location streams, complaints and chatbot conversations do not travel to police.lk but to appv2.vampior.com, the developer’s own domain, sitting behind Cloudflare, a US company routing traffic through servers worldwide. There may be good reasons for this, but there’s zero documentation around where the data ends up, why those choices were made, or whether it stays in Sri Lanka. Google handles all the notifications, maps and embedded videos. Yet the app promises that Police “will not share your location or any details with third parties”, which is, prima facie, a claim its own architecture contradicts. Google lets developers exclude service providers when declaring sharing, so the Play Store’s “no data shared” label isn’t very helpful. At launch, Police mentioned only an unnamed private partner, leaving it to our imagination as to who this could be.

The SOS button is, in practice, a live tracker, since pressing and holding it sends precise GPS coordinates to the server every two seconds while the alert stays active, including with the screen off, which background location access permits. This obviously has its uses, and is only activated on-demand. That said, the privacy policy and in-app notice speak only of location-based features and location during SOS. Neither tells users that SOS means continuous tracking, feeding a server that also keeps an SOS history. What may save a life will likely generate official plaudits, but from a rights, and privacy-first perspective, citizens deserve to know how long the server keeps their movement records.

The ‘Interactive AI Police Assistant’ chatbot is also rather problematic. The About screen describes it as: “Smart conversational bot offering instant legal guidance, complaint tracking, and station locations.” The app promotes it as offering instant legal guidance, complaint tracking and station locations, yet the app itself contains no AI code. Every message, along with the conversation so far, goes to the developer’s own servers at appv2.vampior.com. When you are logged in to the app, each request carries tokens that tie the chat to your NIC-based account. The app does not reveal what AI model is used for inference (i.e., to answer queries). It could be a developer hosted AI model or relay content, and commentary to a foreign AI company such as OpenAI or a Chinese variant in mainland China. Users simply have no idea, and given how the chatbot is presented, including for ‘legal guidance’ (which I didn’t test), this is potentially a nightmare for end-user privacy. To wit, the respective privacy policies do not mention chatbot transcripts, and nothing discloses how long Vampior keeps them or how anyone can delete them.

The app stores a registered user’s actual password on the phone, albeit in encrypted form. Bizarrely, however, there’s leftover developer logging left in the app (which is very sloppy) that writes registration details, and one-time passcode responses into system logs that diagnostic reports or rooted handsets have a very high likelihood of exposing. In other words, the PII stored on the phone isn’t as secure as it should be. Vampior’s verified servers can also potentially block access, force updates (which may introduce new features, and substantially change the way the app works), and restrict SOS to certain areas. Who potentially decides which parts of the country get an SOS button, and why is this an architectural consideration?

Whether any of this is lawful can be established by mapping the app’s features, and failings against Gazette of 22 July 2026, which brings sections 2 and 3, and Parts I and III, of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) by 1 January 2027 (Part II’s rights and Part VII’s penalties still await an implementation date, which is its own story). From January, Schedule V obliges controllers to tell people who the controller is, what data they collect, who receives it, whether it leaves the country and how long they keep it. The app and its policies fall way short on each count. Nobody can say whether Police, Vampior or both act as controller, which leaves duty, disclosure and redress unattached to anyone. Section 7 demands proportionate collection, yet registration takes an NIC number and both sides of the card. Children’s data, and photographs that may reveal ethnicity, fall into special categories under Schedule II’s stricter conditions. Section 20 requires a government department to publish a Data Protection Officer’s contact details. I found none. The 2022 text kept public authorities’ data in Sri Lanka by default, though the 2025 amendment scrapped it, barring transfers abroad only for categories the Minister prescribes. Other transfers need compliance with the Act’s core duties or an exception such as informed, explicit consent, but the Police app’s silence on server location(s) makes neither verifiable. On current evidence, at the time of writing, the ‘Sri Lanka Police’ app would emphatically not meet the PDPA’s transparency, minimisation and accountability requirements on 1 January 2027 – which in turn suggests the Police have no clue about compliance, why it is not something optional even today or how it can be engineered in their digitalised service delivery.

None of this inspires any confidence in precisely what’s sorely lacking in Sri Lanka, and the Police rightly seek to establish – a general public that trusts the institution, and uses what it puts out to strengthen public safety, and security. Beyond any one app, the greater tragedy may well be in the near impossibility to find anyone within the institution who appreciates this fully.

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