President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have condoled over the passing of former Indian Foreign Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Issuing his condolence message, the President described Ms. Swaraj as a "true friend of Sri Lanka" who helped in strengthening ties between the two neighbouring countries.

Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekara said yesterday that the SLFP MPs would not be attending the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) convention this Sunday. He said the decision was taken at a meeting chaired by President Maithripala Sirisena last night.

Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Youth Wing President Shantha Bandara is to fill the seat in Parliament made vacant following the death of UPFA Parliamentarian Salinda Dissanayake. Bandara, a National List MP, had in January filled the vacancy created by the resignation of M L A M Hizbullah when Hizbullah was appointed as the Eastern Province Governor. Shantha Bandara was elected to Parliament in 2010, but failed to win his seat from the Kurunegala District during the August 2015 General Elections.

President Maithripala Sirisena reached the Phnom Penh International Airport in Cambodia today commencing a four-day visit to the Kingdom at the invitation of King Norodom Sihamoni, the President’s Media Division said. They said the President’s visit to Cambodia will significantly strengthen the bilateral relationship between Cambodia and Sri Lanka, and expand cooperation in economic, trade, tourism and cultural fields.

Three members of the banned Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) Organisation have been arrested by the Ampara Police today. Accordingly, Mohidin Bawa Mohamed Ram alias ‘Abu Akran’, Mohamed Riyal Mohammed Sajeed alias ‘Abu Salman’ and Mohamed Ramsin Rush Dee Ahammed alias ‘Abu Alwakar’ were arrested following information given by the State Intelligence Service (SIS) officers.

Sri Lanka's main Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) says it will announce its views after the main political parties announced their presidential candidates. Leader of the TNA, R. Sampanthan said that he would focus on the policies of the presidential candidates before he can make a decision on whom the party should support. "We talk about presidential candidates on political platforms. After the political parties take a decision on their presidential candidates, the TNA will expresses its views. We should look into the opinion of the presidential candidates," Sampanthan said.

Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa and President Maitripala Sirisena had a crucial discussion last night with regards to the formation of an alliance in view of the upcoming presidential elections, informed sources said. The talks were held in a cordial atmosphere and informed sources said that it was successful. Sources also said the President had indicated that he would direct the SLFP on how the ongoing talks between the SLFP and the SLPP should continue.

The Tamil people will never vote for former President Mahinda Rajapaksa or any of his family members because of the various injustices they faced during Rajapaksa’s tenure as President, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, Mavai Senathirajah said in Jaffna on Sunday (04.)

A Sri Lankan linked to terrorism has been detained in Panama, reports from Panama said today. The Ministry of Security said that the suspect was linked to a criminal organization. Officers of the National Border Service (SENAFRONT) had arrested the Sri Lankan yesterday (Monday) after verifying his identity and verifying that the subject appeared in the database with a red security alert.

Ports, Shipping and Southern Development Minister Sagala Ratnayaka said there was no "secret meeting" between him and former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa at the latter's residence.

UPFA Parliamentarian Salinda Dissanayake passed away at a private hospital in Colombo after brief illness. He was 61. Dissanayake first entered Parliament at the 1994 General Election and held a number of Cabinet and non Cabinet portfolios in the People’s Alliance and the UPFA governments.

The Appeal Court today (Aug 5) ruled that the decision taken by former Northern chief minister C. V. Vigneswaran to remove former Northern provincial minister B. Deniwaran was unconstitutional. The two-member judge bench comprising Justices Mahinda Samayawardena and Priyantha Fernando claimed that a chief minister does not have the authority to remove such individuals from office.

President Maithripala Sirisena said he has not yet decided whether to contest or not at the next presidential election although there are many requests for him to contest. He expressed his views addressing the representatives of the Organisation for the Protection of Sri Lanka Freedom Party at a meeting organised by the former Minister Mahinda Amaraweera during the weekend. A large number of former provincial council members and electoral organisers who have not been called for any discussion in the last ten months have attended this meeting.

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) has decided to create a separate volunteer team for the security of former secretary of the Ministry of Defence, Gotabaya Rajapaksa who is tipped to be its presidential candidate at the upcoming election.

President Maithripala Sirisena said today that the Attorney General had informed him that the private member bill presented in Parliament to abolish death penalty was illegal. He said this at an event held in Divulapitiya today. The President said that the drug smugglers, criminals and rapists were the happiest about the fight against the anti-drug campaign and added that no room should be spared to fulfill their motives.

The U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka had informed that their recent security alert to American citizens for the upcoming holidays is a common procedure and not only for Sri Lanka, Defence Secretary Gen.Santha Kottegoda confirmed. He was referring to the Security Alert that had been issued by the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka to their citizens reminding the current Level 2 Travel Advisory for the upcoming holidays on August 2.

Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leader V. Ananda Sangaree has commenced discussions with several parties at his residence to form a new Tamil Alliance against the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). He said the other Tamil alliances should unite against TNA since it has not done anything positive so far to the Tamil people in the country. The TULF leader said the proposed new alliance will be formed to resolve problems of the Tamil people and several Tamil political parties already agreed in this regard.

Six passengers including three women were killed and 52 others were injured when two buses collided head-on at Waskaduwa in Kalutara this morning, police said. They said a Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) bus travelling towards Colombo from Elpitiya had collided with a private bus travelling towards Galle at around 5.15 a.m today. The injured were admitted to the Nagoda Hospital.

Southern Province Governor Keerthi Tennekoon has handed over his resignation to President Maithripala Sirisena. His resignation follows the resignation of the Governor of the Central Province, President’s Counsel Maithri Gunaratne and the Governor of the Uva Province Marshall Perera.

The UNP has postponed the signing of MoUs with several other political parties which was scheduled to be held tomorrow. The UNP was planning to sign the agreement with the parties in the alliance on August 5 at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium in view of the forthcoming presidential election.

Thousands of military and police personnel have been deployed to provide tight security for a series of religious and cultural festivals being held this month. The move came as the United States embassy issued a fresh security warning to US citizens to take precautions. An intelligence source said yesterday that the security measures were essentially precautionary and not based on inputs pointing to specific plans or activity.

The National Election Commission has ruled out the possibility of holding provincial elections this year if no court order is received before August 15. NEC Chairman Mahinda Deshpriya told the Sunday Times that if any order for PC elections was not received within the next 10 days, it would clash with the preparations for the presidential election. Provincial Council election, therefore, would have to be held next year.

Nadaraja Sedurupan, the founder of an LTTE website and a pro-LTTE supporter of the Tamil diaspora, has been arrested by the Nelliyadi Police. Sethurpan, is a Norwegian passport holder and was arrested on Friday. The suspect has been arrested following a warrant issued by the Kilinochchi Magistrate's Court for threatening a person over the phone and failing to appear in court in connection with a ransom case.

The US Embassy has reminded US citizens in Sri Lanka of the Level Two travel advisory issued after the terrorist attacks, in line with the upcoming holidays in the country. Issuing a security alert, the Embassy stated that "terrorists may attack with little or no warning" places of public gathering.

Nine Sri Lankans have been arrested with gold worth Rs 28 million at the Bandaranaike International Airport today (Aug 3). The suspects had been arrested while they were attempting to smuggle the gold weighing nearly three kilos from the country. Officers attached to the Criminal Investigations Department unit at the airport had apprehended the suspects.

The European Union (EU) has offered to help Sri Lanka counter violent extremism. During a bilateral meeting with Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana in Thailand, EU High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini stressed the EU’s solidarity with Sri Lanka following the Easter Sunday attacks.

Governor of the Central Province, President’s Counsel Maithri Gunaratne tendered his resignation today. He submitted his resignation letter to the Presidential Secretariat. The Governor of the Uva Province Marshall Perera had also tendered his resignation to President Maithripala Sirisena this week.

The Examinations Department has announced that the Grade Five scholarship exam paper would be considered to be a confidential document even after the exams tomorrow (Aug 5). Accordingly, re-publishing, selling, or being in the possession of the exam paper would be considere an offence, the Department said in a statement. Individuals aware of such law violations have been requested to contact the following numbers :