- President Ranil Wickremesinghe has expressed his gratitude to all non-executive government employees who reported for duty on July 8 and 9, despite the trade union actions. Furthermore, the Head of the State highlighted that the special salary increment for these government employees, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, comes as a mark of the government’s gratitude towards them.
- The operational office of the United National Party (UNP) in Dambulla has been attacked by an unidentified group, Minister Harin Fernando said, hinting at pre-election violence. Minister Fernando said the UNP office is located at the residence of former Dambulla Municipality councillor Maya Padeniya.
- The Cabinet of Ministers has green-lighted the second multi-sectoral national action plan (2024-2028) for the elimination of sexual and gender-based harassments in Sri Lanka. Joining the Cabinet press conference, Cabinet Spokesman Bandula Gunawardane said that since policy involvement is necessary to ensure the rights of women, men, children and all diverse groups to live in a fair and social environment without any violence, the first national action plan to address the harassments based on sexual and gender sociality was implemented with an integrated approach during the period 2012-2020.
- Cabinet approval has been granted for the amendment of the Constitution of Sri Lanka to substitute the clause related to the President’s tenure from “exceeding six years” to “exceeding five years”. According to the government, it is observed that there is an irrelevancy regarding the term of the President and the period of the Parliament in articles 30 (2), 62 (2) and 83 (b) of the Constitution.
- USAID Mission Director for Sri Lanka and Maldives, Gabriel Grau highlighted that being a long-term partner and Sri Lanka’s largest export market, the United States supports efforts to boost exports and improve efficiency for businesses and government agencies.
- Actress Piyumi Hansamali has filed a petition with the Court of Appeal seeking a writ order to suspend the investigations being carried out against her by the Illegal Assets Investigations Division of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
- Sri Lanka’s envoy in Riyadh has launched a new initiative to celebrate the country’s expatriates building their professional careers in the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia is one of the top destinations for Sri Lankan expats, with tens of thousands of them living and working in the Kingdom.
- The Cabinet of Ministers has granted approval to take necessary steps to provide ambulances to the ‘1990 Suwa Seriya’ Foundation, free of charge as a grant. Issuing a statement, the Department of Government Information (DGI) stated that ‘1990 Suwa Seriya’ Foundation had been initiated by the utilization of 297 ambulances which were obtained from India’s TATA Sons Pvt. Ltd, under a grant of the Indian Government in 2016, with the objective of providing the pre-hospital treatments and emergency treatment services.
- State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya stated that the final decision regarding the lifting of the restrictions on vehicle imports will be taken in the second week of August. The State Minister pointed out that the committee appointed to look into the matter met recently and agreed to submit the final report to the Cabinet within the second week of August.
- Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara cricket legend believes investment partnering national cricket boards could help smaller nations compete at the highest level. Sangakkara was speaking at World Cricket Connects, an event at Lord’s hosted by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) designed for the leading voices in the game to discuss the health of cricket and consider the path required for its future success.
