Kalyananda Godage, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Malaysia has been recalled abruptly by Colombo after he was accused of sympathetic involvement with Tamil organisations in Malaysia.

Mr. Godage came out of retirement at the age of 76 to take up this position.

His service will come to an end at the end of August after serving only eight months.

Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris, took an exception to Godage’s request for answers, that were posed by Tamil groups during a meeting in Colombo.

An Australian report, ordered by the government, concluded that it was necessary to introduce disincentives for those seeking asylum in Australia, Canberra should introduce off-shore processing, but increase the overall intake of refugees to 20,000.

HSBC in London has “unreservedly” apologised after displaying the Sri Lankan flag in its New Malden branch, following protests from the local community.

The display drew objections from the Tamils in London, who remonstrated that the display brought back memories of rape, torture and massacres endured at the hands of a genocidal state.

Complaints from the local community, with the support of local parliamentarian Mr Edward Davey, have led to apologies from the bank and the removal of the flag.

The Minister for Power Champika Ranawaka is seeking approval from the Sri Lankan cabinet to raise the borrowing limit of the state owned Ceylon Electricity Board to Rs 74.2 billion, reported LBO.

He said the funds will be used to meet increasing fuel needs, settle debts and pay independent power producers.

Sri Lanka’s nationalist organisations demonstrated against the Tamil Eelam Supporter’s Organisation (TESO) conference which was due to take place today in Chennai.

Participating in the demonstration march in Colombo, chairman of the Sinhala nationalist ‘Patriotic National Movement’ Gunadasa Amarasekara told Colombo Page that he thought the conference was an attempt to divide ‘Sri Lanka’ by Tamil Nadu politicians.

Marking the final day of the London 2012 Olympics, Tamils stood in solidarity with the hunger striker, Gobi Sivanthan, and protested against Sri Lanka's inclusion.

Crowds gathered to the spot in Stratford, by the Olympic stadium where Sivanthan had been on hunger strike since 22nd July, as he broke his protest fast at 4pm of the final day, as planned.

Amnesty International’s Chief Executive in India has said that a UN-led impartial investigation is the only way to achieve justice for victims of Sri Lankan war crimes.

Mr G Ananthapadmanabhan told the Hindu that justice could only be ensured by an investigation which was impartial and led by the United Nations, saying,

Sri Lanka’s Chinese-built power coal plant in Norocholai, Puttalam has broken down again, as power cuts are set to be imposed across the island by the Ceylon Electricity Board.

The UN has announced it will allocate $55 million to strengthen basic services in eight countries with ‘neglected humanitarian emergencies’.

Afghanistan, Cameroon, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Sudan will be in receipt of the funds from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to help provide food, water, health and other basic services.