The UK Foreign Office in its annual human rights report, reported that positive steps made by the new Sri Lankan government were "less apparent in the north and east", highlighting the "continued reports of torture, and sexual and gender-based violence" documented in the OHCHR report.

The Sri Lankan cabinet on Thursday approved the increase of basic salary for state sector employees by Rs 10,000.

The increase will affect employees of companies fully owned by the government, public corporations and statutory boards.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena held a meeting with various media organisations in Colombo on Tuesday, where he warned them that the behaviour of some organisations was "unsatisfactory".

Sri Lanka's Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) arrested yet another Tamil man who was returning from the Middle East on Tuesday, reports Ceylon News.

Muthulingam Jeyakanthan was returning from Doha last week, after travelling there to seek work in 2013. The father of two from Mullaitivu was arrested on his return to the island shortly after he landed at the Katunayake International Airport on April 12.

His lawyer Dominic Premanand told Ceylon News this was the second such arrest to have taken place in April alone.

The homes for Tamil IDPs which are due to be built by Indian giant Arcelor Mittal, after a controversial deal with the Sri Lankan government, have come under fire by experts from Moratuwa University.

Engineers Prof. Priyan Dias and Dr Rangika Halwatura and architect Varuna de Silva published a preliminary report of their study, which found that the homes for the Tamil war affected people have inadequate foundations, insufficient roof support, are at risk of corrosion, are poorly ventilated and have no hearth and chimney, The Sunday Times reported.

Meanwhile the TNA has attacked the government over the housing scheme.

Spokesperson M.A. Sumanthiran accused the Ministry of Resettlement of adopting a disorganised approach in selecting the beneficiaries to provide the homes, The Nation reported.

Sri Lanka’s military occupies over 67,427 acres of Tamil land found the British Tamils Fourm in a desk study conducted using field data from sources in the North-East and official government statistics.

In a statement released on Monday, the BTF said,