The Sri Lankan navy on Saturday detained twelve local fishermen for allegedly using unauthorised nets off the coast of Viduthalaitivu. 

The men and their equipment were handed over to Viduthalaitivu fisheries inspector, Colombo Page reported. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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 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.

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. 

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. 

The Sri Lankan government released 77 Tamil Nadu fishermen on Saturday, PTI reported. 

The fishermen had been detained over the past few months by the Sri Lankan navy accused of crossing over into Sri Lankan waters. 

"They will be handed over to the Indian High Commission," Nishantha Dhanasinghe, the commissioner general of prisons was quoted by PTI as saying. 
 

Sri Lanka signed on the US$1.1 billion Hambantota port city deal with the state owned China Merchant Port Holdings on Saturday following months of delays. 

The outgoing Canadian High Commissioner has paid a farewell call on the TNA leader as she prepares to leave her Sri Lanka posting.