The Sri Lankan minister for resettlement, D. M. Swaminathan, has been criticised for failing to meet directly with displaced residents of Valikamam North, during a visit to the High Security Zone on Monday.

The minister visited the area with a research team including former members of parliament, to discern the needs of resettlers and to tour areas marked for release from the High Security Zone.

The United States Embassy in Sri Lanka said that Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has promised to address human rights issues on the island and looks forward to working with him to “support this cause”.

In a statement by embassy spokesperson Joshua Shen, in the wake of a US State Department report highlighting “major human rights problems” on the island, Mr Shen said the Sri Lankan president has “promised to address human rights issues, establish good governance and the rule of law”.

“We are looking forward to working with President Sirisena and this government to support this cause,” he said, adding “the United States continues to engage regularly with the Sri Lankan government and civil society representatives to address long standing issues related to reconciliation, democratic governance, justice and accountability”.

A Sri Lankan government commission into disappearances began holding more hearings in Trincomalee on Saturday.

The much criticised Sri Lankan Presidential Commission to Investigate Missing Persons will be hearing oral statements from those it has invited to attend the new sitting, in three days of sittings at the District Secretariat in the city.

The commission, which has been marred by claims of military intimidation of witnesses, has been criticised by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), who labelled it “deceptive”. Highlighting Sri Lanka's historic failure of domestic inquiries, the Bishop of Mannar refused to testify before it and protests were held outside other hearings in the North-East.

The former president Mahinda Rajapaksa will contest the parliamentary elections in August as a prime ministerial candidate, former minister Kumara Welgama, who served under Mr Rajapaksa, said.

Mr Welgama said Mr Rajapaksa will contest under the UPFA's betel leaf symbol.

The former president's spokesperson meanwhile said an official announcement in this regard will be made on July 1.

Foreign monitors will be invited to observe Sri Lanka's forthcoming parliamentary elections, People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) said.

“The upcoming elections will be competitive as we will be seeing some major political parties contesting. With foreign observers, there will be a certain level of control on election day,” PAFFREL executive director Rohana Hettiarachchi told IANS.

Sri Lanka's president Maithripala Sirisena is seeking to increase the number of Sri Lankan military personnel who serve on internatioal peacekeeping missions.

Speaking at a military ceremony on Saturday, the president said discussions with the UN in this regard are ongoing.

A UN review recently called for a ban on countries to serve as peace keepers if their troops were involved in the sexual abuse of children.

Sri Lankan troops were expelled from Haiti for sexually abusing children in 2007, with 111 soldiers and 3 officers were repatriated back to Sri Lanka after being part of UN mission in Haiti and were accused of a string of sexual assaults, including rape of children as young as 7 years old. No prosecutions have yet taken place.

The governor of Sri Lanka's Central Bank, Arjuna Mahendran, is seeking concessional overseas loans to refinance some of the expensive debt the country has received and to reduce its reliance on global bond markets.

“We are looking at tens of billions of dollars” from lenders including the U.S., Japan and the European Union, Mr Mahendran said in a telephone interview with Bloomberg.

Concessional credit will “eventually refinance most of the commercial lending the country has contracted in the last five to seven years.”

“We are looking at hundreds of basis points of savings, which will be announced over the course of the coming year. Our debt-service profile on external debt will become much more benign within a year," Mr Mahendran further said.

The controversial Port City project will commence construction soon, Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga said on Friday.

The Chinese-funded development was initially put on hold over the legality of the project initiated by the previous government. President Sirisena on taking the presidency said the project needed to be reviewed.

Mr Ranatunga said issues delaying the construction would be resolved soon.

The project was reviewed by the new government along with several others initiated by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. Right after the election, the government announced it would cancel the project.

The Bodu Bala Sena on Saturday confirmed it would take part in the general election, due to be held on August 17.

General Secretary Galagodaaththe Gnanasara said to Ceylon Today that a new political party had been created and registered to contest the elections.

"We will give all the information in due course. At the moment, all I can say is that we will contest the general election on 17 August under a new party name and a symbol," the Thera said adding "all the information, including the name of the party and the symbol will be revealed at the end of this month," the monk said.