The Sri Lankan Federal Party (SLFP) on Thursday categorically rejected the inclusion of foreign judges in any accountability mechanism and said it would never support a federal structure. 

“We, the SLFP, will never support to divide the country via a federal structure under any circumstances. It’s not possible to get two thirds majority without our support for the new constitution,” minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told a presss conference in Colombo.

The commander of the Sri Lankn army warned that the military will “do what it must” in response to comments made by Northern Province Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran.

Speaking to reporters after paying tribute to Sinhala Buddhist monks, Army Commander Lieutenant General Crishanthe De Silva said he would protect the "unity" of the country as well as "national interests" according to Colombo Gazette.

Sri Lanka slid down 3 positions in the World Economic Forum (WEF) competitiveness index to 71st out of 138 countries.

Whilst South Asia continued an upward trend in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) Sri Lanka, received a rating of 4.19 out of 7, which saw it drop 3 places.

Summarising Sri Lanka’s position the report said,

A man employed by a newly constructed Buddhist vihara in Trincomalee has been arrested over a case of possible arson, after a neighbouring Hindu temple was set alight this week.

The man, Saman Nanayakkara from Kandy, is accused of setting fire to the Malai Neeli Ammam temple.

Tensions escalated in the region after the temple, which had been standing in the East for some 300 years, was destroyed during the armed conflict. Though attempts by Tamils to reconstruct the temple on its original site were made, Buddhist monks blocked the move and constructed a vihara close to the original site in June 2009.

Sri Lanka's deputy minister of public enterprise developement, Eran Wickramaratne on Monday rejected media reports which said the finance minister was being harrassed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

Local media had quoted the finance minister, Ravi Karunanayake as saying, "we have another 55 days for the budget, and as the finance minister, I get harassed, by nobody else than the IMF." 

Five Sri Lankan army soldiers have been remanded over the murder of two Tamil youth in Jaffna, 18 years after their deaths.

Jaffna District Court Judge S Satheeskaran ordered the troops to be remanded until October 10, and also called on Achchuveli Police to produce 11 other soldiers in court suspected to have had involvement in the murders.

The two Tamil civilians were shot dead by soldiers from the Achchuveli camp in 1998. No one has yet been held responsible for the killings.

Rejecting the statement made by the chief minister of the Northern province at the mass Tamil rally on Saturday, the Jathika Hela Urumaya on Tuesday called on the government to make a counter statement against what it described as "baseless allegations". 

"The government must make a statement with facts and figures as the international community may be misled by these baseless allegations," the JHU national organiser was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying. 

Students at the Jaffna Hindu College this weekend marked the 29th anniversary of the death of Lt Col Thileepan. 

Recent days have seen a number of remembrance events take place across the North-East remembering his hunger strike and fast unto death. 

India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reiterated India’s commitment to the proposed Economic and Technology Co-operation Agreement (ETCA)  between the two countries, reports Colombo Page.

Ms Sitharaman was speaking at the end of a two day visit to Sri Lanka, where she discussed bilateral trade and investment issues with Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) lowered the economic growth forecast for Sri Lanka  due to weak industrial performance and fiscal consolidation.

In a summary of growth in South Asia, the Asian Development Outlook 2016 Update said,

“While Bangladesh and Pakistan now see slightly faster expansion in 2016 than anticipated, growth prospects for Sri Lanka edge lower on weak industrial performance and fiscal consolidation.”
 

Noting Sri Lanka’s high external debt, the report added,