News Probe sought into alleged unpaid hotel taxes in Pasikudah Published 9 mins agoon 2026/07/25 Batticaloa District TNA MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam yesterday called for an immediate investigation into allegations that hotels operating in the Pasikudah tourism zone have failed to…
News Probe sought into alleged unpaid hotel taxes in Pasikudah
Published 9 mins agoon 2026/07/25
Batticaloa District TNA MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam yesterday called for an immediate investigation into allegations that hotels operating in the Pasikudah tourism zone have failed to pay the statutory one percent tax due to the local authority under the Pradeshiya Sabha Act for several years. Raising the issue in Parliament, Rasamanickam said 17 hotels, currently operate in the Pasikudah tourism area, and, while making payments to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), had allegedly failed to meet their mandatory tax obligations to the local council. He said any failure to collect the revenue represented a significant loss of public funds that could have been utilised for local infrastructure development, sanitation, public services and community welfare programmes. The MP said the issue highlighted the wider neglect of tourism development in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, despite their considerable tourism potential, noting that adequate budgetary allocations had not been made for the sector since 2018. He said several hotel properties in Pasikudah had been leased to major investors, under the post-war tourism development programme launched during the tenure of former Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, and stressed that investors must be held responsible for fulfilling all legal and tax obligations. Rasamanickam also alleged that an SLTDA official, identified as Mahir, who had served at the Pasikudah office for nearly 12 years, had failed to cooperate with requests for information and had acted in the interests of certain hotel operators. He said the allegations required an independent inquiry. The MP urged the Ministry of Tourism, SLTDA, Ministry of Local Government, the Auditor General and other relevant authorities to conduct a comprehensive investigation, recover any outstanding taxes and take legal action against those found responsible for violating the law.
News National-level cybersecurity facility Lab established
Published 9 mins agoon 2026/07/25
Sri Lanka CERT has established the Malware Analysis & Threat Hunting (MATH) Lab, a national-level cybersecurity facility aimed at strengthening proactive cyber defence across government institutions and Critical Information Infrastructure (CII), marking a significant shift from reactive incident response to intelligence-led threat detection. The launch of the MATH Lab comes as Sri Lanka continues to expand digital government services and online public platforms amid growing cyber threats, including phishing attacks, data breaches and the exploitation of exposed digital assets, said a media release. It said: Cyber threats have increased in complexity and frequency as Sri Lanka keeps growing its online public platforms and digital government services. Phishing campaigns, data breaches, and exploitation of exposed digital assets pose growing risks to national systems. While the National Cyber Security Operations Centre (NCSOC) offers centralized monitoring and incident response, it was evident that a specialized capability centered on proactive threat identification and sophisticated analysis was needed, which is why the MATH Lab was created. The MATH Lab complements the NCSOC by introducing advanced and specialised functions, including proactive threat hunting, actively searching for hidden threats within networks before they cause damage, using globally recognized methodologies. The MATH Lab will continuously monitor publicly accessible digital assets of government organisations using External Attack Surface Monitoring (EASM) to find weaknesses, configuration errors, and possible points of entry for attackers. To improve collective defence, the MATH Lab will collect, analyze, and disseminate actionable threat intelligence to relevant government stakeholders through national cyber threat intelligence (CTI) dissemination. Through structured monitoring of externally exposed government assets and intelligence led investigations, the Lab aims to detect threats at an early stage, reduce attacker dwell time, and prevent large scale cyber incidents before they escalate. The MATH Lab is designed to support over 250 government entities by enhancing coordinated national defence mechanisms. It enables a more unified and intelligence-driven approach to cybersecurity across multiple sectors such as health, education, energy etc. Sri Lanka CERT is strengthening the nation’s autonomous cyber capacity by developing cutting-edge local competence in malware analysis and threat hunting. This improves national self-sufficiency in managing sophisticated cyber threats and lessens dependency on outside responses. The establishment of the MATH Lab demonstrates Sri Lanka’s commitment to protecting its digital infrastructure and ensuring trust in public digital services. It represents a forward-looking investment in national security, technological capability, and institutional cyber resilience. Sri Lanka CERT remains committed to continuously improving the country’s cybersecurity posture and working collaboratively with government institutions to safeguard Sri Lanka’s digital future.
News Two killed and two children injured in trishaw accident
Published 9 mins agoon 2026/07/25
People assisting the salvage of ill-fated vehicle Text and Pic By S.K. Samaranayake Nallathanniya Police stated that a three-wheeler, travelling from Nallathanniya to Maskeliya, on the morning of the 22nd, went off the road near the Mohini Waterfall, on the Nallathanniya road, and plunged down a precipice of about 10 feet. The accident resulted in the deaths of two individuals and left two school children injured. Police investigations revealed that the victims who died in the accident are K. Selvam (46) and R. Divakaran (26). The deceased were residents of the lower section of Mulgama, Nallathanniya. The injured victims of the accident have been admitted to the Dickoya Hospital, and the Nallathanniya Police are conducting further investigations regarding the incident.
