The International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) has been allowed into Sri Lanka, after previously being refused access into the country.

The outgoing Indian High Commissioner to Colombo, Ashok K. Kantha, has said that India would never act against the interests of Sri Lanka, the state-owned Sunday Observer reported.

Sri Lanka will be introducing a new electronic national identity card for all citizens reported the Colombo Page.

The cards will be issued by Sri Lanka's Department of Registration of Persons, via 331 special units, said the department's Commissioner General, R.M.S Sarathkumara.

A man accused of killing 2 Swiss Tamil children and their cousin in a car accident in Colombo reportedly drove his vehicle into a secured military camp to hide, before eventually being arrested by the police.

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has grown by 7.7% in March, after growth of 10.9% in the first two months.

The island saw a total of 98,155 foreign visitors, with the largest proportion from Western Europe, however the arrivals from neighbouring India slumped.

The Sri Lankan Cabinet has approved a new law that would allow those who were displaced from the North between 1st May 1983 and 18th May 2009 to vote at the upcoming Northern Provincial Council elections, reports the Daily Mirror.

Former members of the provincial councils will be eligible to import vehicles, without having to pay import duty, if they served for more than 36 months, according to the Daily Mirror.

Azath Salley, the leader of a new political movement Unity of Diversity and Muslim Tamil National Alliance, who was arrested by the CID under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, was released on Friday and has been transferred to a private hospital.

Hours after Azath Salley was released by the President, the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, has publicly stated that Salley was arrested for allegedly conspiring with a Tamil Nadu group to launch a joint Sri Lankan Muslim armed struggle.

Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has decided to cut the reverse repurchase rate to 9 percent from 9.5 percent and the repurchase rate to 7 percent from 7.5 percent, a bigger reduction than expected by analysts.

"[T]here is now a need to stimulate the domestic economy, particularly in the light of the gradual moderation in headline inflation and subdued demand pressures in the economy," the Central Bank said in its May monetary policy review.

Economic growth slowed from 8.2% in 2011 to 6.4% in 2012, after a fall in demand for Sri Lankan exports, including tea and textiles, but the treasury has bizarrely forecast growth of 7.5% for this year.

Sri Lanka: why the unexpected cut? - Financial Times (10 May 2013)

The International Monetary Fund yesterday warned Sri Lanka against further easing of monetary policies.

Sri Lanka’s government says its economy will grow at a zippy 7.5 per cent this year, making it the self-styled fastest growing economy in south Asia.

Yet on Friday morning the central bank suddenly and unexpectedly brought interest rates down by half a percentage point, citing fears of a slowdown. Something doesn’t add up.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has instructed international schools across the island to include ‘history, religion and mother language’ as separate subjects in their curriculum.

According to ColomboPage, the instructions were received as,

Message from the Tamil Guardian team:

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