Full text of joint statement:

The British Tamils Forum, the Canadian Tamil Congress, and United States Tamil Political Action Council acknowledge the Report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which emanates from United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution 19/2.

The Sri Lankan government has earmarked $150 million for an investment project in Uganda, in order to provide safe water.

See here.

The pledge follows a visit by the Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, last year.

Fiften asylum seekers who were deported from the UK have alleged torture and rape by Sri Lankan security forces on return, reports The Guardian newspaper.

In a Freedom of Information request of Home Office data showed that the 15 who were deported between 2009 and September 2012, had managed to escape once again to Britain where they alleged torture and rape.

On a visit to Jaffna, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has ordered the release of the Jaffna University students who were arrested late last year, for remembering those who had died in the struggle on 27th November.

According to the Government Information Department, Rajapaksa came to this decision after 'having taken into consideration the appeals made by the parents of these students'.

In a statement published on the Commonwealth Secretariat's website yesterday, the organisation refuted Sri Lankan media reports that the Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma had made public statements confirming Sri Lanka as the venue of CHOGM 2013.

Statement is reproduced in full below:

The Sri Lankan government is in the process of introducing new laws that will ban the sale of land to any foreigners, according to Land Development Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon, reported the state-run Daily News.

The Minister stated that,

“The new land laws are aimed at safeguarding the land rights of Sri Lankans”. 

The Sinhalese head of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, has been touted as a possible successor to Pope Benedict XVI by Forbes magazine.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has released her report on assistance for the Sri Lankan governemt on promoting reconciliation and accountability, as mandated by the resolution in Geneva last March.

The report details concern in several areas, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, militarisation and land grabs.

Sri Lanka has dropped plans for another $1 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund following disagreements over how the money should be spent, AFP quoted the central bank as saying.

The IMF usually extends loans to cover countries’ difficulties in meeting foreign exchange obligations, but Sri Lanka wanted to spend the loan at home.

The Sri Lankan defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told governments in the West to "engage constructively" with the Sri Lankan government.

Speaking at a seminar organised by the Lakshman Kadiragamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studeies and the Pakistan High Commission, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said: