Sri Lanka's minister of ports and shipping, Mahinda Samarasinghe on Saturday welcomed the signing of the Hambantota deal arguing it would help to alleviate the country's considerable debt burden. 

"According to the ultimate agreement signed today, the Treasury will directly receive a sum of US$ 1.12 billion. In addition the Chinese Company has agreed to invest another US$ 600 million in the future," Mr Samarasinghe was quoted by Colombo Page as saying at the signing ceremony. 

Only a few hours after the much delayed Hambantota port city deal was signed, the JVP on Saturday threatened to block the implementation of the deal, warning of its influence on workers at Sri Lanka's Ports Authority. 

“The parties may sign a paper today but the workers at the ports authority could always prevent it being implemented," the JVP leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, criticising the government's signing of the deal with China's state owned company yesterday ahead of any debate on the issue in parliament. 

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the US Prasad Kariyaswasam will become the new Secretary to the ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr Kariyawasam took over as Sri Lanka’s ambassador to the United States in June 2014, at a time when Sri Lanka was facing heightening pressure from the US and the Untied Nations Human Rights Council for failure to deliver on justice and accountability for mass atrocities in Sri Lanka.

A seasoned diplomat, Kr Kariyaswasam has held postings at the United Nations in New York from 2005-2008, Geneva from 2001-2004 and in India from 2009-2014.

Sri Lanka’s Burueau of Foreign Employment has signed a MoU to train interns from Sri Lanka in Japan, reports Adaderena.lk

The agreement signed with the Chairman of Japan’s international Manpower Development Organisation, will result in knowledge and technical expertise exchange from Japan to Sri Lanka.

The MoU, which will give interns from Sri Lanka training, is expected to be implemented from November.

The Sri Lankan government has condemned North Korea for firing a ballistic missile earlier this week and called on the international community to “unite in words and deeds to seek solutions to this grave situation”.

Labelling the missile launch a “significant threat to international peace and security”, Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it condemned the firing “and the series of recent similar hostile acts by DPRK in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions”.

The Sri Lankan Navy issued interest free loans to 1,000 sailors on Friday, as part of an ongoing welfare initiative.

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has ordered the Defence Ministry to compensate a Tamil couple for violating their fundamental rights by seizing their house in Colombo, after accusing them of having links to the LTTE.

The three-storeyed house in Wellewatte was seized by Sri Lanka’s Defence Ministry through a Special Gazette in December 2009, reports The Island.

It had been raided by the Terrorist Investigation Division, who accused the Tamil couple of providing medical treatment for LTTE cadres.

An Indian Air Force (IAF) delegation conducted sky diving exercises in Amaparai earlier this month, alongside Sri Lankan troops according to an official military website.

Sri Lanka's cricket team has refused to play the T20 tournament in Pakistan citing fears over the security situation in Lahore. 

"I had spoken to my Sri Lankan cricket counterpart during the ICC meetings and I had invited him to send his team to Lahore to play the T20 matches and start the series against Pakistan with rest of matches to be played in the UAE," the Pakistan Cricket Board chair, Shaharyar Khan was quoted by local press as saying. 

The Sri Lankan military has arrested around 4500 deserters from the army, air force and navy in 2017, the military spokesperson Brigadier Roshan Seneviratne said. 

"Eight officers and 4410 other rank personnel have been arrested till yesterday [27th July 2017] since the end of the General Amnesty on midnight 31st December 2016," he was quoted by Adaderana as saying. 

"Eight officers and 3529 other rank personnel of the army, 805 navy and 76 air force deserters have been taken into custody."