A Fundamental Rights application on the right to build an Islamic religious school was dismissed by Sri Lanka's Supreme Court, the Sunday Times reported this week. 

Buddhist monks and locals had demonstrated against the building of the religious school. 

The unity government has failed on one of its key election promises to end corruption and prosecute those previously responsible, this week's editorial in Sri Lanka's Sunday Times concluded. 

The Sri Lankan Finance Ministry is being queried on how approval was granted to establish a controversial ethanol distillery in Kalkudah, Batticaloa.

Sri Lanka's minister of ports and shipping, Mahinda Samarasinghe, said this week that an agreement was "virtually finalised" with China Merchants Port Holdings on the Hambantota port city deal. 

“I don’t see any major issues now on the table. We’re confident we can finish it soon,” Mr Samarasinghe was quoted by Economy Next as saying. 

Sri Lanka's Joint Opposition are planning to stage a protest on Monday demonstrating against the government's plan to hand over the re-development of the oil tank facilities in Trincomalee to India. 

The Joint Opposition parliamentarian, Dullas Alahapperuma, was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying that "they would gather all the anti-government forces to compel the Government to revise its decision to sell country’s assets."

Sri Lanka's Joint Opposition are planning to stage a protest on Monday demonstrating against the government's plan to hand over the re-development of the oil tank facilities in Trincomalee to India. 

A merger of the North-East is looking unlikely, the spokesperson for the Tamil National Alliance, suggested today at a press conference.

Speaking to journalists at his Jaffna office, TNA MP and spokesperson M. A. Sumanthiran, said that while the TNA's demand for a merger had not changed, he personally believed that if a merger were not to happen now, a possibility for it would be more likely to arise in the future.

Sri Lanka's president Maithripala Sirisena this week promoted the current army commander, General Crisanthe de Silva to Chief of Defence Staff. 

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has had discussions with the unity government's UNP And SLFP regarding clearly the defining the meaning of 'unitary state', which translates into the Sinhala word 'Ekeeya'. 

Quoting a senior government official, Ceylon Today said that the discussions were aimed at including a Tamil equivalent of the word. 

The Sri Lankan army have laid the foundation stone for a new building at a military-run holiday resort in Kayankerni last week.

The Governor of the Eastern Province Austin Fernando, a former defence secretary, is to be appointed as the new Secretary to the President reports Adaderana.lk

The appointment comes following the resignation of PB Abeykoon, who cited personal reasons for vacating the post.

A feasibility study is set to take place looking at an Indian government led project for a 50MW solar power plant in Trincomalee.

The governments of Sri Lanka and India signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in a host of development projects including a solar power plant in April this year.

Sri Lanka’s reform progress was “slower than expected,” warned the World Bank’s Sri Lanka Development Update (SLDU) report, published Thursday. 

Stressing that “Sri Lanka faces a number of challenges that increasingly put its future economic growth and stability at risk”, the report said "adopting a piece-meal solution to address the challenges is unlikely to be successful."

Sri Lanka’s Minister for Justice and the Buddha Sasana launched a scathing attack on Non-Governmental Organisations in Sri Lanka during an interview this week.

Agreeing with ongoing discussions on the need to regulate NGOs, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said,

“Most NGOs act with objectives seriously detrimental to the national interests. They have become a hindrance to national reconciliation and religious harmony.”