Sri Lanka's election monitors threatened legal action of the government's decision to postpone elections in Provincial Councils. 

Elections were due to be held in the Eastern, North-Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces in October this year, however, the government announced last month that it would be postponing them until it was able to hold all provincial council elections on one day. 

Sri Lanka's Supreme Court ruled this week that the Inland Revenue bill the government was hoping to table this month is 'inconsistent' with the constitution, the Daily Mirror reported. 

Passing the bill would require amendments or a referendum to be passed in parliament, the Speaker of the House Karu Jayasuriya told parliament today. 

The Sri Lankan government has failed to deliver justice for the murder of 17 aid workers said French NGO Action Contre la Faim (ACF), marking 11 years since their murder in Muttur.

Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena called for an investigation into a statement released by the country's foreign affiars ministry which condemning the firing of an intercontinental missile by North Korea, saying it had not be sanctioned prior to release. 

The Co-Cabinet spokesperson Dayasiri Jayasekara said that Mr Sirisena nor the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe knew about the statement, the Daily Mirror reported.  

The Government of Sri Lanka and the United Nations signed a 5 year UN Sustainable Development Framework agreement (UNSDF) worth US $300 million on Thursday.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs Dr Harsha De Silva said, “We are extremely pleased that the UN will be investing over US £300 million for the development of Sri Lanka over the next 5 years. The 4 strategic areas of the framework; improved data, innovative public institutions, social security and resilience to climate change and disaster and especially evidence based policy planning are extremely important for the development of Sri Lanka.”

Sri Lanka’s newly appointed Commander of the Army, Mahesh Senanayake, payed homage to the 'highest Buddhist seats in Sri Lanka'  at the Temple of Tooth in Kandy on Friday.

Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake  "committed the age old tradition of paying obeisance to the highest Buddhist seats in Sri Lanka" and received blessings from chief prelates of the Asgiriya and Malwatte chapters according to the army website.

Families of Tamil youth that were arrested over recent weeks in relation to attacks against Sri Lankan police officers in Jaffna have accused the police of torturing two young boys and forcing them to sign statements.

In a complaint to Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission the families further accused the police of threatening to put a detention order on the arrested youth under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. 

The families maintain that they have evidence that their children were not present in areas the police claim they were during the incidents of violence.

On August 4th 2006, the Sri Lankan military lined up and summarily executed 17 aid workers with the French NGO Action Contre la Faim (ACF) in Muttur. The aid workers were mostly Tamil. Eleven years on, no one has been held to account for this crime. 

Marking 11 years since the massacre, ACF said,

“The Sri Lankan government has failed in its duty to uphold international humanitarian law and to protect civilians and aid workers, and it has failed in its duty to deliver justice for the perpetrators of the massacre of these 17 humanitarians,”

Condemning the massacre as a war crime, ACF said in 2007: 

“The Muttur slaughter can't be considered only as a "collateral damage" during the Muttur battle: our team has been specifically and deliberately targeted, their death has been organised execution style with bullets shot in their head. Everything was consciously and brutally planned: the victims were kneeling, unarmed and defenceless. The culprits of this massacre are the ones who were carrying the arms. We can assert that this massacre is a war crime in violation of the Geneva Conventions."

Thirteen Tamil youths have been arrested in the Vadamaradchi North area as of Wednesday, citing various violent infractions following tensions between locals and police.

The arrests follow the Sri Lankan Inspector General of Police's declaration that the police and armed forces would be joining forces to crackdown on violence in the Jaffna district.

Two Tamils were arrested in Nelliady for attacking a police inspector’s house.

A further eleven were arrested in Point Pedro for violent disorder, throwing stones at a police jeep and burning tyres on Point Pedro Road.

India's premier, Narendra Modi has taken up the fishermen issue with Sri Lanka, the external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. 

“The government regularly takes up the matter of early release and repatriation of Indian fishermen with the government of Sri Lanka. Our High Commission in Colombo provides humanitarian and legal assistance to the apprehended fishermen," Ms Swaraj was quoted by The Hindu as saying in response to a question by the CPI MP D Raja.