- President Ranil Wickremasinghe says the Govt expects to provide medical insurance to every citizen in the country.
- Ministry of Defence refutes the allegations by UK’s controversial TV channel, Channel 4 over the Easter Sunday bomb attacks: reiterates the Govt’s unwavering commitment to the truth, justice & well-being of the Nation.
- Cardinal Ranjith says almost 15,000 persons were said to have had knowledge of the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks even though the Church was not informed of the attacks, according to the Report of the Special Presidential Commission: meanwhile, critics point out that even Cardinal Ranjith did not say Holy Mass that morning as was customarily done by the Cardinal.
- Indrajith Coomaraswamy (former CB Governor & Director of Galleon, the firm of disgraced US inside dealing convict Raj Rajaratnam) who is also widely considered as being responsible for Sri Lanka’s massive Forex borrowing spree from April’18 to June’19 which has led to the present debt crisis, says “the country will be hit by a fresh crisis far worse than any before if Sri Lanka allows elections to distract from the path of recovery, stabilization and growth”.
- COPE instructs CID to probe former Public Utilities Commission Chairman Janaka Ratnayake’s claim that petrol and diesel could have been sold at a price of approximately Rs.250 per litre, in 2022.
- Labour Minister Manusha Nanayakkara says Govt is planning to introduce a new Act to make it mandatory for Employers to pay EPF & ETF for plumbers, security guards and domestic aides: laments there are only 2.4mn workers contributing to EPF now: critics point out that present EPF Members are highly agitated that the Govt and Central Bank are now getting ready to substantially deprive the EPF Members’ of their rightful dues under the proposed Debt Re-structuring Process.
- Southern Province Irrigation (Hydrology) Director S Sugeeshwarathe warns that the overall hydro catchment situation remains dire and reservoir water levels are stagnating at just 26%, notwithstanding rain in other areas: urges residents to conserve spring water resources for agricultural needs, given the continued scarcity.
- Worker remittances record USD 499mn in Aug’23, up 53% from August’22, but down 8% from USD 541mn in July’22: nevertheless, cumulative figure for Jan-Aug’23 records USD 3,863mn, up 74% compared to Jan-Aug’22.
- Indian Cricket captain Rohit Sharma visits aging SL Cricket supporter Percy Abeysekera (Uncle Percy) at his residence in Ekala: the video of the visit goes viral on social media.
- Sri Lanka beats Bangladesh in the Asia Cricket Cup 2023 – Super 4 stage match, by 21 runs: SL – 257/9 (50): Sadeera Samarawickrama 93, Kusal Mendis 50, Pathum Nissanka 40: Bangladesh – 236 all out (48.1): Dasun Shanaka – 28/3, Mahesha Pathirana – 58/3, Mahesh Theekshana – 69/3.
