A Northern Provincial Council member was interrogated by Sri Lankan military personnel at his family residence on Saturday.

Sri Lanka's economy requires a substantial amount of foreign direct investment in order to sustain the current economic growth, said Minister for Investment Promotion Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, according to Ceylon Today.

Speaking at the World Investor Forum in Geneva, Abeywardena said Sri Lanka needed $5bn in FDI, in order to achieve anticipated economic gains by 2016, but that current projections show, only $4bn will be raised.

"Sri Lanka requires a substantial amount of investment to sustain the current growth momentum and embark upon its sustainable development goals successfully."

"The private sector plays a major role in financing investment projects, so long as they generate profits. The challenge before Sri Lanka is to motivate them to finance the investment that could fill the resource gap, as the private sector is mainly driven by profits; the national priorities of a particular country may not necessarily be the priorities for the private sector," he said.

In separate incidents, two dead bodies have been found in Kokkaddicholai and Oorani, in the Eastern Province this week, reports Batti News.

In Kokkaddicholai, 32 year old Arunasalam Kirubakaran was found hanging on Thursday, said the Eastern Province based website.

The Sri Lanka Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa is to meet with India's National Security Advisor (NSA), Ajit Doval, in New Delhi next week for "high-level" talks, reports The Hindu.

Sources in New Delhi, confirmed the meeting however did not "get into the details", the paper added.

The opposition party UNP denied that a deal had been reached between the TNA and the UNP, stressing that the party would not agree "to any conditions of any political party", the Colombo Gazette reports.

The Sri Lankan navy has reportedly damaged the fishing nets of some 20 Indian boats, who were fishing near Katchatheevu, reports PTI.

Fishermen Association president S Emerit stated that 535 boats had left Rameswaram to go fishing, when Sri Lankan navy personnel in 5 navy vessels approached them near Katchatheevu. The Sri Lankan troops then proceeded to snap the nets of 5 boats and threatened the fishermen at gunpoint, said Emerit.

The latest incident comes as the Sri Lankan navy handed over 94 Tamil Nadu fishermen to the Indian Coast Guard, releasing them from custody.

Earlier this week, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Paneerselvam wrote to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the Sri Lankan navy's treatment of Tamil Nadu fishermen.

See our earlier post: Tamil Nadu CM seeks Modi intervention for release of fishing boats held by Sri Lanka (16 October 2014)

Teachers in Neduntheevu have been forced to pay thousands of rupees for festivities thrown during Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit to the region earlier this week, reports Colombo Telegraph.

Rajapaksa had visited the Neduntheevu Maha Vidyalaya on the 14 October, where he opened the “Mahindodaya laboratory” at the school.

Teachers at the school have been ordered to pay Rs. 7000 each by the school administration, for the festivities thrown during Rajapaksa's visit.

The events thrown cost Rs. 108,000 over the Rs. 200,000 budget, said Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) General Secretary Joseph Stalin.

The high court in Vavuniya has been without a judge since the retirement of the previous judge nearly two months ago, reports the Uthayan.

Due to the absence of a judge, several important cases, including a large number of cases under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) are being postponed, law sources told the daily.

Tamil Nadu’s former chief minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa has been granted bail by India’s Supreme Court.

Jayalalithaa was forced to resign her position as chief minister last month after being sentenced to 4 years in prison for corruption.

Her lawyers had argued for her release on bail due to her health condition and are appealing her conviction.

The Supreme Court ordered her to "complete all paperwork" relating to the appeal against her conviction within two months in the Karnataka high court, warning it would not give her "a day more" if she failed to complete the necessary procedures.

The Sri Lankan military inaugurated science lessons for 300 students in Mullaitheevu on Tuesday, reports the army.lk.

The student science course, to be taught in Tamil, was sponsored by Singapore.

Northern Provincial Councillor Ananthy Sasitharan has spoken out against the abuse of Tamil political prisoners in Sri Lanka's prisons, and has called for their immediate and unconditional release.

In a press release on Thursday, Ms Sasitharan expressed her horror at the 'savagery', violence and abuse, which Tamil political prisoners are subjected to and vowed to mobilise to protest against their ongoing detention.

Full text of press release below:

"The Northern Provincial Council has passed countless motions calling for the unconditional release of Tamil political prisoners locked up for years under the suspicion of the same government of Sri Lanka which claims to have achieved peace and reconciliation after the war, but there has been no visible progress.

That Tamil youth are massacred and tortured in jail is known by all, since 1983 and continuing to the present day. The sudden deaths of Tamil political prisoners in prison are frequently justified or covered up by the state.

The General Court of European Union has annulled the Council’s measures taken against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which was designated as a terrorist organisation by the EU, on procedural grounds.

In a judgement delivered on Thursday in Luxembourg, the Court determined that the Council had not carried out the necessary checks when determining a ‘competent authority’ during the case.