In this article, Stuart Cosgrove reflects upon the Meethotamulla garbage dump disaster in Colombo, earlier this year. It was, he argues, the consequence of rampant capitalist development that pays little heed to environmental consequence, and which presents as much danger as it does opportunity to the world’s poor. 

Sri Lankan authorities have arrested a man for allegedly trying to smuggle gold and jewellery weighing up to 1kg (2.2lb) hidden in his rectum. Customs officials found 904 grams of gold, worth about 4.5m Sri Lankan rupees ($29,370, £21,700) inside the suspect's rectal cavity. The 45-year-old Sri Lankan man was bound for India but was stopped at Colombo's international airport.

An early promoter and populariser of Darwin's evolutionary theory, the German biologist and artist Ernst Haeckel was a hugely influential figure of the late 19th century. Bernd Brunner looks at how a trip to Sri Lanka sowed the seeds for not only Haeckel's majestic illustrations from his Art Forms in Nature, for which he is perhaps best known today, but also his disturbing ideas on race and eugenics.

The death toll from Friday’s collapse of a large portion of the massive garbage dump in Meethotamulla, in the suburbs of Colombo, rose to 26 by yesterday evening. The bodies of seven children, along with 19 adults, have been found so far. Another 12 injured have been admitted to the Colombo National Hospital. Residents told WSWS reporters that there could be as many as a 100 people still buried under the debris.

A Christmas carol service in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo has accidentally printed out the lyrics to late rapper Tupac Shakur’s ‘Hail Mary’ in its programme instead of the 15th century Catholic prayer.  The mix-up occurred at the 2016 Catholic Joy to the World Festival at the city's Nelum Pokuna Theatre during one of Sri Lanka's largest Christmas celebrations earlier this month.

Colombo is realizing the unintended strategic consequences of closer ties with Beijing. By Jeff M. Smith.

Hardly anybody goes to Sri Lanka’s Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI) because they have a flight. No, the air transport hub is currently a daily flight or two away from being completely defunct, and the people who do go there tend to be tourists making a side trip from the nearby wildlife parks to see the stunning, fully modern airport in the middle of the jungle for themselves. I arrived at HRI, which is located in Sri Lanka’s southern Hambantota district, in the mid-morning to find a group of tourists huddle together in front of its passenger terminal. I asked them why they wanted to visit an empty airport.

Four elephants, including two calves, were killed by lightning in northern Sri Lanka in one of the worst wildlife tragedies to hit the country in years, officials said Sunday. A female elephant, aged about 25 years, and two of her calves, aged 10 months and two years, and an eight-year-old female were found dead Sunday just outside the Wilpattu wildlife sanctuary, an official said.

There is a worldwide shortage of corneas for transplant operations but Sri Lanka is doing its best to satisfy demand, without seeking any reward - at least in this life.

The principle of non-violence is central to Buddhist teachings, but in Sri Lanka some Buddhist monks are being accused of stirring up hostility towards other faiths and ethnic minorities.