Daily Express Sri Lanka

28/07/2026

From being wealthy to poor and back to wealthy again, Sir Philip Christopher Ondaatje (93), the Sri Lankan-born English Knight and Canadian businessman, philanthropist, adventurer, writer and bobsledding Olympian for Canada, passed away on July 20, 2026.

From being wealthy to poor and back to wealthy again, Sir Philip Christopher Ondaatje (93), the Sri Lankan-born English Knight and Canadian businessman, philanthropist, adventurer, writer and bobsledding Olympian for Canada, passed away on July 20, 2026

16/07/2026

Sri Lanka spent up to 16 times more on debt repayments than on education last year – the widest gap of any of the world’s most indebted countries – a new UN report revealed, highlighting how developing nations are being trapped in a spiral of debt servicing and eroding public services

Sri Lanka spent up to 16 times more on debt repayments than on education last year - the widest gap of any of the world's most indebted countries - a new UN report revealed, highlighting how developing nations are being trapped in a spiral of debt servicing and eroding public services

07/07/2026

A minister accepting “responsibility” after the fact, without a credible account of why security and monitoring systems failed so completely that inmates could dismantle CCTV networks and storm an armoury-adjacent dispensary, is not accountability; it is a press statement. Real accountability requires answering uncomfortable questions: why was intelligence on an active drug-trafficking dispute inside the prison not acted on before it turned lethal? Why, after 2012 and 2020, were the same structural vulnerabilities… inadequate staffing, porous security, unresolved contraband networks… still in place in 2026?

A minister accepting "responsibility" after the fact, without a credible account of why security and monitoring systems failed so completely that inmates could dismantle CCTV networks and storm an armoury-adjacent dispensary, is not accountability; it is a press statement. Real accountability requir...

03/07/2026

The question Sri Lanka must now answer is not whether it can maintain an income classification. It is whether the recovery that produced this upper middle-income milestone can be made to work for the millions of people for whom it has not yet arrived. That is a harder question than any the World Bank’s Atlas method can answer. But it is the only one that ultimately matters.

On Wednesday (July 1), Sri Lanka was formally reclassified by the World Bank as an upper-middle-income country. The announcement arrived quietly, embedded in the Bank's annual revision of country classifications, a bureaucratic update that nonetheless carries enormous symbolic weight for a nation th...

19/06/2026

There are films that disturb you. And then there are films that undo you. The Voice of Hind Rajab, directed by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, belongs to the second category. And it does so not through spectacle, but through the unbearable intimacy of a child's voice

19/06/2026

There are films that disturb you. And then there are films that undo you. The Voice of Hind Rajab, directed by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, belongs to the second category. And it does so not through spectacle, but through the unbearable intimacy of a child’s voice.

There are films that disturb you. And then there are films that undo you. The Voice of Hind Rajab, directed by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, belongs to the second category. And it does so not through spectacle, but through the unbearable intimacy of a child's voice

09/06/2026

Why Sri Lanka’s proposed Chartered Institute of Media Professionals deserve scrutiny and not applause

Sri Lanka's proposed Chartered Institute of Media Professionals deserves serious attention, but not automatic celebration. In principle, any effort to strengthen professional standards, improve training, and recognize ethical journalism sounds timely and even overdue. Yet the value of such a body de...

01/06/2026

In a historic move, Sri Lanka's Buddhist hierarchy has suspended Ven. Pallegama Hemarathana, the 71-year-old senior monk and chief custodian of the sacred Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi tree, over allegations of sexually
abusing an 11-year-old girl. This is the first major disciplinary action of its kind in recent memory.
But this case is not just about one monk. It exposes a deeper, more painful truth: too often, the ochre robe has been treated as a shield against accountability. The data is stark, nearly 300 Buddhist monks accused of child abuse in just three years, yet charges brought against fewer than 30.
The suspension happened on Vesak Day, the day we commemorate the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and passing. There is bitter symbolism
here. It is time to re-embody the Dhamma in protection for children, justice for victims, and institutions unafraid to act.

Read the full editorial below.....

In a rare and striking disciplinary move, Sri Lanka's Buddhist hierarchy last week stripped 71-year-old Pallegama Hemarathana of his responsibilities as chief custodian of one of the faith's most sacred sites, a venerated fig tree grown from a sapling of the very tree believed to have sheltered the....

08/05/2026

Chandrasena is not the first high-profile figure entangled in a corruption investigation to die under circumstances officially ruled as self-inflicted. Ranga Rajapaksha, the Acting Director of the Department of External Resources at the Ministry of Finance, suspended in connection with the alleged cyber theft of US$2.5 million from the Treasury, was found dead behind his home in Kuliyapitiya shortly after giving statements to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on three separate occasions.

When a pattern repeats itself, it stops being a coincidence. It becomes a question of institutional credibility.

Chandrasena is not the first high-profile figure entangled in a corruption investigation to die under circumstances officially ruled as self-inflicted. Ranga Rajapaksha, the Acting Director of the Department of External Resources at the Ministry of Finance, suspended in connection with the alleged c...