The US Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal, who arrived in Sri Lanka on Monday for a three day visit of the island, said that a lot of hard work and some difficult challenges remained.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Sri Lanka's foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera, Ms Biswal said:

"President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremasinghe have put forth an ambitious agenda for their first one hundred days and much has already been accomplished in such a short time. But we recognise that there is a lot of hard work ahead and some difficult challenges."

A Tamil asylum seeker's transfer, ahead of his deportation, was postponed, after passengers on his plane protested by refusing to sit down and fasten their seat belts.

25-year old Puvaneethan was due to be transferred from Melbourne to Darwin, where he would have been prepared for deportation.

"After boarding QF838 in Melbourne, a number of passengers became disruptive. The passengers refused to follow cabin crew instruction so were offloaded and met by the AFP," a Qantas spokesperson said.

"The issue has since been resolved with the flight departing approximately 50 minutes later."

Mr Puvaneethan, who fears torture if he was returned to Sri Lanka, expressed gratitude to the protestors.

“I’m back in the room and I’m fine. I want to say thank-you to all the people who helped
me,” Mr Puvaneethan told the Tamil Refugee Council (TRC).

The Australian billionaire James Packer has been told he is unwelcome in Sri Lanka by its prime minister, after he decided to pull out of a multi-million pounds luxury resort due to the new government's ban on new casinos.

Mr Packer's plans to build a casino in the resort were approved by previous president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, who granted generous tax concessions for the $350mn-worth 400-bedroom hotel.

The new government, under President Maithripala Sirisena, banned the building of new casinos and withdrew the tax concessions, causing Mr Packer's Crown Group to withdraw from the project.