Four US government officials will be visiting Sri Lanka over the next two weeks, the US embassy confirmed on Thursday.

Highlighting the Sri Lankan government's "lack of both accountability and meaningful attempts at reconciliation", Canada's foreign affairs minister, John Baird, urged Sri Lanka to take "decisive action" following the release of the LLRC report and "demonstrate the principles of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law."

In a statement published Wednesday, Baird expressed concern that, "the report does not fully address the grave accusations of serious human rights violations" and noted that "many of the allegations outlined by the UN Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka have not been adequately addressed".

"We continue to call for an independent investigation into the credible and serious allegations raised by the UN Secretary-General’s Panel that international humanitarian law and human rights were violated by both sides in the conflict," Baird urged.

Baird had raised concerns regarding accountability for war crimes, with his Sri Lankan counterpart, GL Peiris, September last year, and criticised the UN's inaction on the issue.

Wednesday's statement adds to the on-going calls from a number of Canadian MPs  and prime minister, for a credible, independent investigation into the allegations.

Warning that there continued to be a "threat", Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary, speaking at a lecture on ‘Future Challenges of National Security in Sri Lanka’ on Tuesday, said,

“LTTE front organisations can encourage and facilitate ex LTTE cadres and those who escaped from the military during the war and pave way for a re-emergence.

Those who did not surrender are probably following the ideology of the LTTE. Even though 11,000 of them were rehabilitated there must be cadres who are not 100 per cent rehabilitated."

“We cannot forget everything just because we defeated them militarily. Still the threat is there. There are lots of enemies in the international front taking active steps to derail the path the government is taking to achieve economic development.”

Despite renewed calls for Sri Lanka to curtail its ever increasing militarisation of the North-East, the Defence Secretary justified the military's sweeping reach, saying,

“That is why we still maintain a strong military and that is why a considerable portion of the budget is given to the military. Still it is only two and a half years after defeating the LTTE militarily."

“To establish a camp anywhere in Sri Lanka is a decision and concern of the country as it is a sovereign state."

“In 2011, Sri Lanka ranked fourth worst in the world in terms of allowing murders of journalists to go unpunished, according to our global Impunity Index.

Paramilitary groups are threatening private cable TV operators in Jaffna, into surrendering their businesses to a paramilitary monopoly - MBL Cable Network, reported Tamilnet.

Citing "government permission" the paramilitary groups have told private cable TV operators that their businesses were now illegal and they must now buy channels from the paramilitary network.

Sri Lanka will refuse to share territorial waters with India, said the Fisheries Minister, Rajitha Senaratne, on Tuesday.

India had proposed such an arrangement in an attempt to avoid disputes over fishing.

Senaratne said,

The Sri Lankan government's Media Minister and Cabinet Spokesman, Keheliya Rambukwella, stated the government plans to amend the 13th Amendment, "in view of the LLRC’s recommendations, on going discussions with the TNA and establishment of the Select Committee on the National Question".

Speaking to The Island newspaper, in an interview published on Monday, his comments are the latest in a steady line of mixed messages from government spokespersons on the 13th Amendment, in the run up to the next round of talks between the government and the TNA.

India's External Affairs Minister, SM Krishna, is due to arrive on a four-day visit just before the TNA-government talks, scheduled to take place from the 17th January to the 19th January.His remarks came just after the government proclaimed that they were willing to discuss land and police powers, which came just before one a government minister, speaking on behalf of the government, vehemently refused to even discuss the issue.

See here for The Island interview in full.

Extracts are reproduced below:

Q:- The Tamil National Alliance wants land and police powers to be implemented in terms of the 13th Amendment. Is the government agreeable?

A:- We have serious concerns about granting land and police powers in toto.

Concluding that Sri Lanka's cricket team were in "crisis", the Sports Minister, Mahindananda Aluthgamage criticised the "politics" that he claimed had beset the team.

He vowed to give the players a "stern lecture" on their return home, when speaking to reporters in Colombo, following the team's poor performance in South Africa.

Aluthgamage said,