Sri Lanka’s cabinet ministers are planning to curtail powers of the independent Auditor General to hold those responsible for fraud accountable warned anti-corruption organisation Transparency International.

The anti-corruption organisation called on the government to keep in line with international best practices and maintain the powers vested to the Auditor General, and expressed concern at the attempts by Sri Lanka’s cabinet to edit key parts of the National Audit Bill.

Sri Lanka is hoping to complete steps towards accession to the Madrid Protocol, and international trademark registration system by next August, LBO reports. 

The system would allow Sri Lankan brands to register their trademarks across jurisdications through a single process, providing greater protection internationally to the brands. 

New members were appointed to the body assigned the task of securing the accession, the Intellectual Property Advisory Commission (IPACSL) last week. 

Twenty-seven Indian nationals were arrested on Sunday during a special raid in Jaffna by the Intelligence and Investigation Unit of Sri Lanka's Immigration and Emigration Department for allegedly violating their visa conditions. 

The 22 men and 5 women were reportedly engaged in employment whilst on tourist visas, Colombo Page reported. 

Earlier this month 3 Indian nationals were arrested in the East by the Special Task Force and the Navy for violating their visas. 

Sri Lanka's proposed Inland Revenue bill woudl be presented to Parliament on August 25th, the finance minister, Mangala Samaraweera was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying on Monday.  

The announcement follows a similar announcement last week, however the bill was not presented. 

The bill, which has been strongly backed by the International Monetary Fund, had to be amended after the Supreme Court said parts of it violated the country's constitution. 

The European Union on Monday reiterated its support for credible justice and full implementation of the UN Human Rights Council resolution co-sponsored by Sri Lanka. 

"There is no change in the EU support for the full implementation of the UN HCR resolution #EU4HumanRights #lka," the EU's delegation to Sri Lanka tweeted this morning. 

"But the critical element is that justice has the victims at its heart and facilitates national healing #lka," it added. 

Sri Lankan Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa stated that lesbianism “equals sadism” and advocated the rape of lesbians by convicted sexual offenders to “cure” them, reports Economy Next.

Referring to a landmark May 2000 ruling, when Mr Rajapaksa was head of the Press Council of Sri Lanka, the current justice minister stated that homophobic hate mail that had been published in The Island had been done so in “good faith”.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena called on all people on the island to come together and “build a society in this Buddhist country,” during a religious ceremony in Matara last week.

The southern president went on to call on young Bhikkhus in particular to “act in a manner which protects the dignity and recognition of the noble Bhikkhu society”. Mr Sirisena went on to heap praise on senior Buddhist monk Kirama Wimalajothi Nayaka who had been “elevated to the position of Chief Sanganayake of South Sri Lanka”.

Sri Lanka’s Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa called on Buddhist monks to lead a campaign against the current Sirisena unit government for political change, reports island.lk.

Speaking at a public meeting in Anuradhapura, the Justice Minister criticised Prime Minister Ranil WIckremesinghe and President Maithripala Sirisena, stating,

The Sri Lankan government has pledged to build 50,000 brick houses in the North-East, following months of protest against the initial proprosal of building 65,000 pre-fabricated houses. 

The Secretary to the Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation, V Sivagnanasothy told the Sunday Times, “The prospective owners will decide the kind of housing they prefer. Tenders will be called for construction work that would accommodate local participation."

The Bhutanese government has issued a circular to medical students in Sri Lanka to return home should the ongoing strikes continue beyond October this year.

The circular called for Bhutanese students from the Universities of Colombo, Kelaniya and Peradeniya should return home in October and “wait in Bhutan until the situation in Sri Lanka improves or some alternative arrangement is made.”The statement further added that payments to the universities would be suspended until classes resume.