The Asian Development Bank is set to grant Sri Lanka $1.4 billion over the next 4 years for “health, sanitation, education and energy” projects according to the Official Government News Portal of Sri Lanka.

ADB Country Director for Sri Lanka Sri Widowati was quoted as saying,

"ADB remains active in Sri Lanka and we want to do more. We will continue to focus on infrastructure development, including renewable energy, transmission efficiency, expansion of water supply urban areas with lower leakages at the same time focusing on the education sector.”

Sri Lanka has dismissed Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire’s comments to the Tamil Guardian, criticising the country for not attending the summit on ending sexual violence in conflict, held this week in London, saying they were not invited.

Acting High Commissioner Neville de Silva said the criticism was "surely misplaced", according to The Sunday Island.

"British Foreign Office specifically noted earlier that Sri Lanka cannot participate as it had not been invited" he claimed.

"Swire might remember that he wrote to External Affairs Minister, Prof. G. L. Peiris, referring to the upcoming summit," he added.

“Since the Minister was unable to attend, he nominated officials to participate. When the high commission contacted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in order to announce our participation and register the participants, the British Foreign Office specifically said that Sri Lanka cannot participate as it had not been invited", De Silva told The Sunday Island.

The United Kingdom has reiterated concerns over the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, highlighting the North, in a statement in parliament earlier this week.

Speaking as the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence was under way, Senior Minister of State Baroness Warsi stated in parliament,

A missing school boy has been admitted to Vavuniya hospital, after he was released by a group of unidentified persons and discovered blindfolded near his home, earlier this week.

The student, seventeen year old Mahalingam Rajeevan, was reported missing after he failed to come home on May 27th.

"We believe that in national policy formulation to combat violence against women, it is necessary to focus on gender equality and the empowerment of women to enable them to fully enjoy their human rights and fundamental freedoms."

A senior police official from Jaffna has said that anyone gathering in groups unnecessarily will be arrested, reported the Uthayan.

Vimalasena said that gatherings around public places, such as temples, will not be allowed.

The official asked the public to report any such incidents to the police, adding that those gathered are behind murders, thefts and robberies.

A survey by the UNHRC in parts of Sri Lanka’s Northeast found nearly 40% of women feel they are not safe at home, with militarisation being a key reason, press reports quoted the UN Population Fund’s representative in Sri Lanka, Alain Sibenale, as saying.

Sibenale was speaking Wednesday at an event at the British High Commission in Colombo to mark the ‘End Sexual Violence in Conflict’ conference being held in London.

See reports by Daily Mirror and Colombo Telegraph.

“This [sexual violence] is an issue that has affected every part of Sri Lanka but at the same time, we need to recognize that the North and East have specific degree variations of vulnerability that do differ from the rest of the country,” he said.