The commander of the Sri Lankan navy and other senior military members visited a United States nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, as it passed by the region earlier this month.

The justice and defence ministries have failed to comply with requests by the controversial Presidential Commission on Disappearances to release a list of detainees in the custody of the government, the DailyFT reported.

In a press statement regarding an interim report it submitted to President Sirisena earlier this month, the commission said it made written requests to the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Justice to release to the commission "names of persons who were in custody of prisons, detention camps, refugee camps, and rehabilitation centres".

“While noting with regret that such requests had not been complied with, the Commission decided to notice the respective officers to appear before the Commission in terms of the powers vested in the Commission by the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry Act,” the report said.

Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena says it is his duty to steer the SLFP to victory at the election later this year.

Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa has accused Western nations of conspiring against him by backing the Buddhist nationalist organisation Bodu Bala Sena (BBS).

"Look at where the BBS travelled (Norway and the US)," said Mr Rajapaksa, speaking with AFP earlier this week. "It is clearly a (then) opposition project."

Mr Rajapaksa claims the work of the BBS subsequently lost him the Muslim vote, with Asian Mirror reporting him as saying, "I lost the election partly because minority Muslims ditched me thanks to the work of the BBS".

The BBS, accused of being behind a string of Buddhist nationalist inspired violence, had its headquarters ceremonially opened by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the former president’s borther and then defence secretary.

The president of the United States would not be able to fulfil the large number of pledges that Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena has done, claimed a Sri Lanka government minister on Friday.

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Health and Indigenous Medicine Rajitha Senaratne made the claim as Mr Sirisena marked his first 100 days in government this week.

Mr Senaratne praised the Sri Lankan president, stating that US Secretary of State John Kerry was “amazed” to see what Mr Sirisena had achieved in government.

The Sri Lankan navy has expanded its ship maintenance facilities by building a new side slip way in Galle, reports the Ministry of Defence.

The International Press Institute (IPI) said the Sri Lankan government’s 100 days in power “bows out with weak results for media freedom” and called for continued international pressure to ensure reform.

In a post marking 100 days since Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena was elected, Scott Griffen, IPI Director of Press Freedom Programmes, said that “On the one hand, we were given the impression that a dramatic shift had taken place – literally overnight – after the election… On the other hand, it was clear that, despite a general feeling of hopefulness, the memory of past disappointments weighed heavily on journalists in the Jaffna area.”

“For example, a common concern voiced was that the military authorities were continuing to subject journalists to surveillance, collecting material that could be used against them in the event of another regime change – or change of heart,” continued Mr Griffen. “The military was interpreted to be saying: “Our hands are tied but our eyes are open.””

"We will not allow any international inquiry to look at allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity," said Sri Lanka’s foreign minister in an interview with the DailyMirror.lk.

Mangala Samaraweera added that the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ investigation into Sri Lanka (OISL) could be referred to the domestic process when its report was released in September at the United Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Mr Samaraweera pledged to set up the domestic inquiry by late July and said that it would look to investigate and bring those accountable to justice.

Al Jazeera's 101 East programme examined the plight of thousands of widows struggling to survive, mainly in the North-East of Sri Lanka.

Speaking to several Tamil and one Sinhalese war widow, the programme highlighted the lack of support received by the Tamil women.

When questioned by Al Jazeera correspondent Drew Ambrose about the obvious difference in support given out, the minister of women's affairs, Chandrani Bandara denied that the Tamil war widows are not taken care of.