Three Thai national women have been arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake with a consignment of ‘Kush’ and Hashish after arriving in Sri Lanka from Bangkok, Thailand.

The Irrigation Department has warned of a possible minor flooding situation in low-lying areas along the Mahaweli River.

The US Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere carried out a lethal strike on a high-speed vessel operating along established drug-trafficking routes in the Caribbean Sea, killing four people it identified as “narco-terrorists,” the military’s Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said Saturday.

The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) has issued landslide early warnings for six districts due to the prevailing heavy rainfall across the country.

The Department of Meteorology has issued an “Amber” advisory for heavy rains affecting the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in the Kandy, Nuwara-Eliya, Galle, and Matara districts.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Employment Arun Hemachandra will undertake an official visit to the State of Qatar from today (20) to 23 September 2026, leading the Sri Lankan delegation to the Sri Lanka–Qatar Joint Committee Meeting on labour and foreign employment cooperation.

Showers will occur at times in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, North-western and Northern provinces and in Galle, Matara, Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya Districts, today (20), the Department of Meteorology said.

Iran has conveyed its conditions to mediators for returning to negotiations aimed at ending its war with the United States, and Tehran wants to see an end to the Yemen conflict, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, said.

The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) stated that 169,071 individuals from 51,959 families have been affected by the ongoing El Niño weather pattern impacting the island.

A column of black smoke has been seen near Riyadh's international airport hours after air raid alerts were issued in the Saudi capital.

The number of dengue-related deaths recorded in Sri Lanka so far this year has risen to 75.

The Meteorology Department says showery weather in the South-western parts of the island is likely to increase during the next few days, starting from today (19).

UPDATE: The bodies of two of the four missing persons, swept away while bathing in the Ma Oya at Badalgama, have been recovered, according to police.

Sri Lanka’s former foreign minister Ali Sabry has expressed deep concern regarding the reported escalation of Sri Lankan national Anojan Sivarasa’s five-year prison sentence to a death sentence in Saudi Arabia.

Sri Lanka Police said that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has requested Interpol for the issuance of ‘Blue Notice’ for the arrest of former Minister Basil Rajapaksa in connection with three allegations.

A new WhatsApp number has been introduced by the Commissioner General of Motor Traffic to enable the public to submit written complaints regarding issues encountered during the registration of motor vehicles and inconveniences caused to the public by vehicles.

Sri Lanka Police said that two suspects have been arrested within an hour in connection with an armed robbery at a liquor store near Anuradhapura Junction in Trincomalee.

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that development projects can deliver results to the people more quickly when the political authority and the public service work together towards a common, people-oriented objective.