Sources: Xinhua
Sri Lanka introduces a four-day workweek for the public and education sectors to preserve fuel as the 2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis continues to restrict fuel shipments to the region. 2026-03-16
Sri Lanka repatriates the bodies of 84 Iranian sailors killed when the frigate IRIS "Dena" was sunk by a United States submarine off the coast of Galle on 4 March. Thirty-two rescued sailors remain in Sri Lanka while authorities continue to host other Iranian naval personnel under humanitarian arrangements. 2026-03-13
A bus carrying Buddhist pilgrims in Kotmale, Sri Lanka, swerves off a cliff, killing 21 people and injuring 35 others. 2025-05-11
Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka wins the 2022 Booker Prize for his novel "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida". 2022-10-17
Former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa returns to Colombo, Sri Lanka, after seven weeks of exile. 2022-09-2
Sri Lanka reports a record for the second consecutive day of 4,355 new cases of COVID-19, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 394,355. 2021-08-23
Sri Lanka approves the emergency use of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as the country faces its third wave of the pandemic and the highest number of active cases since the pandemic began. The minister overseeing the situation says that Sri Lanka will try to secure five million doses of the vaccine as India has restricted the supply of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. 2021-05-8
The MT "New Diamond" is towed out of sea off the coast of Sri Lanka amid major fears of a massive oil spill after the ship caught fire yesterday, killing one Filipino crewman. The Panamanian-registered ship carries about 270,000 tonnes of crude oil. The government of the Maldives has expressed worry, with a presidential minister saying that the country needs to take all precautions to prevent oil from reaching its shores. 2020-09-4
More than one million people are affected by flooding in Sri Lanka, with 21 dead and 270,000 made homeless. 2011-01-13
Australia immediately suspends all new asylum claims by people from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. 2010-04-9