The United States Ambassador Michele J Sison inspected a new laboratory complex built for the Sri Lanka Ministry of Justice Government Analysts Department, earlier this month.

The laboratory facilities were built after the U.S Department of Justice entered into a $2.1 million Forensic Assistance Program to help technically enhance the Sri Lankan criminal justice system.

Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived in Tanzania to commence a 5 day visit to Tanzania and Seychelles. Rajapaksa’s arrival in Tanzania marks the first ever visit by a Sri Lankan president to the two nations.

“The only reason I’m out of prison is because my family paid. I was kept detained to get money from my family. There was never an official charge. No attempt was ever made to investigate the abuses I suffered. We don’t feel we’ll get justice out of the system,” 

“I was blindfolded and with my hands tied behind my back. Sometimes our heads were banged against the wall or we would be kicked on our chests. Many times I was half conscious or would lose consciousness. When I would come back I would find people hitting me. They used to say: ‘You must accept that you are part of the Tamil Tigers and you must sign these papers’”.

“For three days we didn't know what had happened to us, they just beat us. No questions were asked, only beatings and torture. We were kept in the same place but in different rooms. I could sometimes hear my friend crying as he was being beaten up and he could hear me,”

“They were trying to push me to sign by holding a pen in my hand and putting the paper in front of me, but I refused to do that, and after that the beatings started increasing. Once they hit my head so hard the blood was pouring down my side and there was a crack in my skull. You can still see the scars now,”

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the current ruling coalition, outlined today that it would support the implementation of the 13^th Amendment along with the proposed revisions, reported Colombo Page.

An NGO in Sri Lanka is under investigation after it invited activists from southern India for projects in the island’s northeast.

According to The Island the NGO, called Viluthu, invited several activists, including Sharifa Khanam and Ester Devakumari, who were arrested for engaging in NGO projects while on tourist visas.

"We were disappointed that the UK Government was so quick to support CHOGM being held in Sri Lanka."

Two Provincial Councils in the Sinhala south, Sabaragamuwa and Southern, have passed resolutions supporting the government’s move to change the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution.

The government planned to repeal provisions that would enable “Parliament to legislate on subjects allocated to the provincial councils” and to prevent “the scope for merger of two or more provincial councils”, reported the Daily Mirror.

Sri Lanka has called for the provision of greater market access to India in an attempt to help increase Sri Lankan exports and reduce the growing trade deficit with India, reported Colombo Page.

"On the first day, 30th May 2013, an intelligence officer of the Army had come to seminar, but the President of the MCC had told him that this was a program dealing with purely civil matters and that his presence was disturbing. He had left without saying any word.