The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) has demanded the government recall its ambassador from the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, after Sri Lanka co-sponsored a resolution which granted it two further years to set up a hybrid court to prosecute for mass atrocities;.

As Tamil Nadu voters look to elections next month, the ruling AIADMK pledged it would ensure a war crimes investigation into mass atrocities committing during the final stages of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka. 

Annai Poopathy, who fasted unto death in protest against the atrocities committed by Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF), was remembered yesterday by the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) in Kurunthaiyadi Munmaari village in Batticaloa. 

The Sri Lankan military unveiled the construction of a Buddhist stupa inside its headquarters in Amparai this week, as the armed forces continue to erect Buddhist monuments across the North-East.

The commander of Sri Lanka’s army warned the military will be launching a war on drugs that will be “identical to how we finished off LTTE terrorism”, in an ominous announcement in Colombo this month.

Sri Lanka’s president lashed out against a UN resolution that his government co-sponsored at the Human Rights Council in Geneva last week, calling it a “betrayal” of the military and rejecting its terms.

Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry has revived its counter terrorism unit with its most important priority being to coordinate efforts to lobby for the continued proscription of the LTTE abroad, Colombo Gazette reports.

The unit was revived to coordinate more closely between defence, law enforcement authorities and other relevant agencies, and Sri Lankan missions abroad on counter terrorism and crime, according to the newspaper.

Sri Lankan plantations are under investigation by international ethical label groups after an expose found illegal wage deductions were leaving some workers taking home as little as 26 rupees (14 US cents) a day.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has hit back at claims by Sri Lankan government officials that have appeared in the Colombo media, stating it “seriously misrepresents” her meetings with the government delegation.

“I am deeply disappointed by the spin that has been put on my discussion with the Sri Lankan Government delegation,” said Michelle Bachelet in a press release this morning.

The Sri Lankan government is reported to be hesitating over Japan's US $1 billion loan for the third phase of the Central Expressway project, stating the conditions attached are too severe. 

Families of the disappeared this week expressed fury at the UN Human Rights Council's decision to grant a two year extension to Sri Lanka to implement resolution 30/1. 

Devotees and residents of Neeraviyadi temple in Mullaitivu accused police of partiality over the occupation of the temple by a Buddhist monk.