Despite an increasing number of arrests by the Sri Lankan Navy, asylum seekers remain undeterred in their attempts to flee the island, reported AFP.

Tamil asylum seekers from Udappuwa who were recently arrested, told AFP,

"We will try to go again after the case is over. We just have to wait for some time."

Eight Tamil Nadu fishermen from Vellapalam, were found by Vedaranyam on Sunday, with internal injuries, allegedly as a result of an attack by the Sri Lankan Navy, reported The Hindu.

One fishermen had a knife wound, whilst others alleged to have been attacked with pipes and ropes, and their nets slashed. The men are admitted to Vedaranyam hospital.

Sri Lanka announced that it would be contesting the British Foreign Commonwealth Office's updated travel advice, warning Britons of an upsurge in nationalism, sexual offences and anti-western rhetoric.

With the burning of Union Jacks and the barracading of UN offices all but a distant memory, the Secretary of External Affairs Ministry Karunathilaka Amunugama was shocked by the updated advice.

An Indian housing project for Tamil IDPs has been declared 'on track', despite only 1,000 of the much vaunted 50,000 houses having been constructed, since the scheme was announced more than two years ago.

Ashok K. Kantha, High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka hailed the completion of the first 1,000 houses earlier this week, despite the houses having been formally handed over to Tamil IDPs some 8 months ago.

The Tamil Nadu government asserted that there had been 167 attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy from 1991 - 2011, and those included attacks within Indian territorial waters.

The attacks had resulted in the deaths of 65 Tamil Nadu fishermen, with 180 injured.

See here and here.

The state government's Advocate General Navaneethakrishnan made the submission before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court which included Justice PPS Janarthana Raja and Justice M Vijayaraghavan on Friday.

According to The Hindu, the Centre's advocate, Additional Solicitor General M Ravindran, argued that there was 'no chance of the Sri Lankan Navy having entered the Indian waters as such movement by the warships would amount to waging a war.'

A team of engineers have had to be flown in from China in order to try and repair the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant in Norochcholai, after a series of failures have led to power cuts across the country.

The plant, built using a USD $455 million loan from China's EXIM bank, was constructed by Chinese workers from the China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has inaugurated the launch of yet another Chinese-funded project in the country, an irrigation project in North Central and Eastern Provinces.

The project is estimated to cost US$210 million, with 85% of the funds being provided by China and the construction is set to be undertaken by the China CAMC Engineering Corporation.

Sri Lanka is ready to host this years annual Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) next month, said the current chairman and Sri Lanka's speaker - Chamal Rajapaksa.

The conference takes placed on 7th- 15th September in Colombo. Over 600 delegates from 54 countries are expected to take part.

A case of demand … and supply.

The head of Sri Lanka’s market regulator resigned Friday, saying he come under pressure at the behest of powerful stock market players being investigated for stock manipulation. (See Reuters’ report)

Securities and Exchange Commission chief Tilak Karunaratne had been pushing for investigations into stock market malpractice, including so-called pump-and-dump deals in which investors are lured into apparently cut-price equities.

"I don't even call them investors. They are crooks. The pressure from those crooks goes elsewhere and then in turn that party is exerting pressure on me," Karunaratne told Reuters.

Although he did not elaborate, he didn’t need to.