Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesignhe reiterated to a group of Buddhist monks that both he and the president have agreed on Buddhism retaining the first and foremost place on the island, reports Reuters.

Mr Wickremesinghe was quoted as telling a group of Buddhist monks in Colombo,

"We are in the process of preparing the new constitution ... the president and myself have agreed to maintain the priority given to the Buddhism in the constitution as it is".

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is set to provide Sri Lanka with US $4 billion of assistance over four years reports Lanka Business Online. 

The new scheme would see Sri Lanka receive between US $0.8 billion and US $1 billion per annum from 2014-2018.

The reports emerge following a meeting last week between the ADB Country Director for Sri Lanka Sri Widowati and Sri Lanka’s Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera.

Currently the ADB provides Sri Lanka with US $0.5 billion assistance per annum.

Sri Lanka will receive US $ 1.34 billion of financial and technical assistance from the World bank over a 3 year period reports Colombo Page.

The announcement was made during a meeting between the World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka and Maldives Dr Idah Z Pswarayi-Riddihough and the Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera on Tuesday.

This particular tranche of World Bank funding, which from  the International Development Association IDA, has increased from the US$ 600 million that was provided from 2014 to 2017.

Sri Lankan minister Mangala Samaraweera said a proposed bill on enforced disappearances will not look at past cases of disappearances on the island and will “have only prospective effect”.

In a statement on the International Covenant on Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which has faced criticism from forces loyal to former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, Mr Samaraweera attempted to assuage opposition fears.

“We would like to state that this Act will have only prospective effect, and no retrospective effect in any way,” he stated.

Tamil National Alliance MP MA Sumathniran said the police officers involved in the shooting must be punished for acting beyond the law.

Speaking to press in Jaffna today, Mr Sumanthiran said that although police must enforce law, they could not act above the law and shoot people dead.

See more here.

A Sri Lankan police sergeant has been arrested for robbing a Chinese woman in Wellawatta last month, along side two others. 

Rs 15 million are believed to have been stolen from the woman. 

The sergeant, who is understood to be with Gampaha police station, is to be produced before court today, the Daily Mirror reported. 

Tamil Nadu's fisheries minister, D Jayakumar condemned the fishing law passed in Sri Lanka last week and said the state would reject it. 

“We will not accept the legislation," The Hindu quoted him as saying. 

The minister also asserted that the only solution to the fishing crisis between the two countries was to "retrieve Katchatheevu" from Sri Lanka. 

“Retrieving Katchatheevu is the only solution to the problem. We will definitely retrieve Katchatheevu,” he said. 

See here for more. 

Responding to reports that the TNA wanted to meet with the Buddhist clergy to discuss the clergy's rejection of constitutional change, the registrar of the Asgiriya Chapter, Medagna Dhammananda said they would welcome such a meeting. 

“We are happy to have met the TNA parliamentarians including the Opposition leader and clear up misunderstandings if any,” he was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror. 

Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Division has named a former Sri Lankan navy media spokesperson, Commodore D K P Dassanayake as a suspect in the enforced disappearance and abduction of eleven Tamil youths in 2008. 

The magistrate, Lanka Jayaratne has also issued an arrest warrant for another suspect, Lieutenant Commander Prasad Hettiarachchi, Adaderana reported. 

Five intelligence officers are current remanded by the court until July 19th. 

Sri Lanka’s newly-appointed Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, stressed the need to change the military’s “mentality” to suit a “post-conflict era,” before “somebody else” directed change, in a high level address today.

Speaking during his maiden address to senior commanders of Sri Lanka’s military Lieutenant Senanayake said,