- President Ranil Wickremesinghe invites all Tamil political parties to discuss issues facing the Tamils: urges the resolution of these issues amicably without outside interference: asks that it be done prior to the 75th independence celebrations.
- State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya says Welfare Programme “Leave No One Behind” has attracted nearly 4 million applications: also says those will be screened and applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria will be eliminated.
- Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa castigates government on failure to implement National Action Plan on Persons with disabilities: raises concerns about accessibility issues at state institutions for nearly 1.7 mn such persons.
- Central Bank says Sri Lankan economy has “shown signs of stability in the 2nd half of the year”: also says economy will “transition onto the path to recovery from the latter part of 2023”: attributes recovery to “progress so far in relation to IMF-EFF programme, debt restructuring negotiations, & reforms already undertaken”.
- Activist and wife of missing journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda, Sandya Ekneligoda complains to Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya that she has not been allowed to enter Court premises since 2020 following the Covid outbreak: seeks permission to attend hearings in relation to her husband’s disappearance.
- Labour and Foreign Employment Ministry says Saudi Arabia has agreed to recruit more Sri Lankans for the construction and health sectors and to increase the minimum wage of domestic workers.
- Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe says a Sports university will be a reality soon: its site to be the Diyagama Sports Complex.
- Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella repeatedly calls for the government’s staff level agreement with the IMF: President Ranil Wickremasinghe says IMF has said not to release details of the agreement reached with them so far, till the current round of negotiations is completed.
- IGP orders that complaints regarding ragging incidents in universities be investigated by the CID.
- Reports emerge that the Australian “dating app” woman accusing cricketer Dhanushka Gunathilake of sexual assault has demanded AUD 100,000 to “settle” the incident, and later reduced the demand to AUD 25,000: also reports that Gunathilaka has decided to deal with it through “legal” means.
