Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced that she will be visiting Sri Lanka later this month where she will hold talks with government leaders.
Sri Lanka's police spoke publicly this week about what they described as "cogent evidence" against the former navy spokesperson over the disappearance of 11 Tamil youths in 2008.
The Sri Lankan government on Monday signed a US$ 100 million credit agreement with the World Bank to support the island's higher education sector.
The Accelerating Higher Education Expansion and Development (AHEAD) operation is aimed at increasing enrollment in priority disciplines, improving the quality of degree programs, and promoting research and innovation in the higher education sector.
The Sri Lankan government rejected reports that new visa screening processes would result in visas not being issued, stating that visas would be issued "without any special test or delay irrespective of their country of origin".
Sri Lanka's prime minister and UNP leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday called for the SLFP and UNP to continue to work together as a unity government, arguing it was necessary for the country's development.
His comments came as Sri Lankan papers were increasingly dubious over the longevity of the unity government.
The Sri Lankan government had advised its ambassadors to lobby the UK, Canada and Australia over travel advisories that it feels "placed the country in poor light and threatnes to scare off foreign visitors", the Sunday Times reported.
The Sri Lankan government has introduced screening for tourists from Syria, Pakistan, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon prior to the issuing of visas.
The minister of internal affairs, S B Navinna was quoted by the Sunday Leader as saying, "the screening will be carried out in light of national security concerns."
The leader of the National Freedom Front and MP Wimal Weerawansa condemned the arrest of the former Sri Lankan navy spokesperson saying that he was a talented officer who had been arrested over the disappearance of "terrorists".
Commodore D K P Dassanayake was arrested this month of the disappearance of 11 Tamil youths in 2008.
Rejecting the conclusions of the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, Ben Emmerson following an official visit to Sri Lanka, the country's justice minister, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe described Mr Emmerson as someone who "lacked cailbre and diplomacy" and accused him of using "false facts" about the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
Senior Deputy Inspector General Lalith Jayasinghe has been arrested for allegedly helping a suspect in the murder of schoolgirl Sivaloganathan Vithya evade arrest in Jaffna.
The incident sparked widespread condemnation in the North-East.
The trial is set to be in Jaffna, after a request by the defendants to be transferred to Colombo sparked strong opposition from the local community.
Sri Lanka’s new defence secretary, Kapila Waidyaratne assured the protection of war heroes in a meeting with senior Buddhist prelates of the Asgiiriya, Malwathu and Ramanna chapters.
A Tamil journalist was summoned to Colombo by Sri Lankan intelligence last week and is facing ongoing investigation over the broadcast of a politician’s press conference.
Jaffna-based broadcast and print journalist T. Pratheepan was summoned to appear in Colombo by the Criminal Investigation Department last week to testify in relation to the broadcast of a press conference by Northern Province Councillor, M. K. Sivajilingam, in a ‘racial conflict-inciting manner’.
A Sri Lankan soldier who died in the 1991 Battle of Elephant Pass was honoured with an all-night Buddhist ceremony by the military in Jaffna this week.
