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."

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.

The Nallur Kandasamy Kovil's annual Thiruvizha officially commenced on Friday with the inaugural flag-raising ceremony.

The historic temple's festival will last 25 days and traditionally sees thousands flock to Jaffna from across the Tamil homeland as well as around the world.