Sri Lanka's prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, came together with the former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday, to seek words of advice from Buddhist clergy.

Meeting with the Hunupitiya Ganagaramaya temple's chief monk, Galaboda Gnanissara Thera, the pair were told to work towards the betterment of the country, the Daily Mirror reported.

Highlighting criticism of the prime minister's aggression towards the media, the Buddhist monk advised him, “Don’t lose your cool as you can be aggressive. DO so only when the need arises."

“Prime Minister is accused of being aggressive towards mass media these days and one has to be aggressive towards the media. The rulers of the country have the right to be aggressive towards media,” he added.

An asylum boat which left Sri Lanka was turned back by Australian border control, the Australian immigration minister, Peter Dutton said on Tuesday.

"We determined that those people aren't refugees and then they go back to their country of origin. We have a good relationship with Sri Lanka as we do with Indonesia," Mr Dutton was quoted by AAP as saying in a radio interview to Brisbane radio 4BC.

Stating that the "threat" of asylum seekers boats remained, Mr Dutton said, "We are dealing with possible ventures regularly."

The President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Takehiko Nakao met with Sri Lanka’s President on a two day meeting to the island reports Colombo Page.

President Sirisena during his meeting with the ADB president, discussed development projects including a electrification project in the southern city of Galle and called for further cooperation with the bank.

A group of Tamil political prisoners have launched a hunger strike calling on the government to release them without further delay, reports Ceylonews.

In a letter to the Commissioner General of Prisons, they prisoners said that they had been held for several years without charge
.

Tamil civil society held protests in Kilinochchi and Vavuniya calling on the government to take action on the ongoing sexual violence that people in the North-East faced.
Hundreds of members of civil society including teachers, school children, businesses and professionals marched through Vavuniya demanding justice for a series of rapes that had occurred in the North-East over the past month.

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has told the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leaders that there will be no drastic changes in the new constitution and the Northern and Eastern provinces will not be re-merged, reports Sudaytimes.lk.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, the prime minister said,

 A high level delegation from the German government will visit Sri Lanka in March to explore investment opportunities said Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake.

Sri Lanka Airlines has cancelled plans to reduce flights to European destinations reports Sundaytimes.lk.

The airline in a statement issued on Sunday added that London will remain Sri Lanka’s main gateway to Europe.

Sri Lanka reiterated that it will not return the islet Katchatheevu to India, reports the Economic Times of India.

Speaking to press Sri Lanka’s deputy Minister for Child and Women’s Affairs Vijaayakala Maheswaran said,

Sri Lanka has no enemies in the world, said Preident  Sirisena addressing Sri Lankan expatriates in Vienna.

Speaking at the Austrian National Library in Vienna, Mr Sirisena said,

Tamils in Chavakachcheri celebrated the Sri Meenakshi Amman temple's annual festival.

Austria has pledged to assist Sri Lanka in removing the European Union’s ban on fishery exports and regain the GSP+ trade concession reports Colombo Page.

President Sirisena who arrived in Vienna for a two day visit on Friday, met with Austrian President Heinz Fischer.

Sri Lanka and Germany agreed to strengthen bilateral relations by signing an array of agreements that covered education, language, museology, heritage and art conservation, higher education and sports, reports Colombo Page.

The two sides also agreed to foster and improve the volume of Sri Lanka’s exports to Germany.