♦ Sri Lanka President Anura Kumara Dissanayake appointed Harini Amarasuriya as countrie’s Prime Minister on 24 September 2024. She is the third woman prime minister of Sri Lanka, following the world’s first woman prime minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike and her daughter Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. 

♦ Amarasuriya became a parliamentarian in 2020 under Dissanayake’s NPP coalition and will also hold the portfolios of foreign affairs, education and media.