Concluding her visit to the island the UK's state minister for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the prime minister's special representative on preventing sexual violence in conflict, Baroness Joyce Anelay reiterated there was "still much more to do, both to end sexual violence and to secure long term peace and stability."

Today marks ten years since the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP and human rights lawyer, Nadaraja Raviraj was assassinated in Colombo. 

No one has been sentence for the crime despite a decade passing. 

A witness in an inquiry into the assassination of Mr Raviraj earlier this year alleged Sri Lankan navy intelligence officials were involved. 

The witness, Sampath Prithiviraj, said the officials associated with the navy intelligence office in Gangarama had planned the killing.

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil WIckremesinghe said that a consensus has been reached on devolution of power under the new constitution within new constitution, reports Colombo Page.

Mr Wickremesinghe added that a consensus had been reached within parties like the United National Party (UNP) and United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA).

Speaking at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute on Tuesday, he said,

“We have reached consensus to a great extent on power devolution.”

Sri Lanka's foreign minister Mangala Samaraweeran and the TNA MP M A Sumanthiran travelled to Delhi this weekend, to meet with Indian government officials and discuss the long disputed fishermen issue.

A statement released at the end of the meeting on Saturday said that both governments agreed to set up a Joint Working Group on Fisheries to meet every three months and a meeting between the Ministers for Fisheries every six months.

The meeting came as Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena prepared to visit India.

Sri Lanka announced plans to launch at least five tourism development zones estimated to extend over more than 1500 acres of state-owned land, including in an area in the Eastern Province which has seen a spread in Buddhist sites. 
 
This public-private initiative includes the Ministry of Lands, the Ministry of Tourism and the Sri Lanka Tourism Club – a group of government recognised industry leaders.
 

The Sri Lankan military has used funds from the Department of Resettlement to build an auditorium at a Tamil school in Mullaitivu.

The 592 Brigade built the auditorium “following a request” from the school's principal reported an official military website.

The auditorium, built in Keppapilavu, was declared open by the commander of the Sri Lankan security forces in Mullaitivu in a ceremony last month.

The Sri Lankan military opened up a new dental surgery in Jaffna on Monday at a military base inside a High Security Zone.

The dental surgery was a “long-felt need for tri-service and Police personnel serving the peninsula,” according to an official military website. 

A Sri Lankan government appointed commission has admitted that the use of torture remains “routine”, with reports of undocumented sites across the island.

In a report submitted to the UN Committee Against Torture, which is due to discuss Sri Lanka this month, the  Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) recognised that there was a “routine” use of torture by Sri Lankan authorities. 

Locals in Batticaloa on Friday protested demanding the release of their land currently  occupied by the Sri Lankan military. 

The protest is today on its third day with demonstrators on strike as an expression of their anger with the continued military occupation. 

Sri Lanka's finance minister responded to comments from China's ambassador over Chinese loans to the island, as the spat between the two figures deepened this week.

China's Ambassador Yi Xianliang lashed out at minister Ravi Karunanayake after he criticised Chinese funding as "expensive loans". “We have regular, or fixed interest ratio for any developing country – 2%, not only for Sri Lanka... If you have some comparison with the commercial loan, commercial loan at least 5%.”