India's external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj raised the issue of a "perceived delay" in Indian backed projects with Sri Lanka's president on Friday, as she met him for discussions at the sidelines of the Indian Ocean Conference taking place in Colombo. 

Former army commander Sarath Fonseka, with then commander Jagath Jayasuriya

Sri Lanka's former army commander, Sarath Fonseka on Friday said he was ready to test

The next round of talks on India’s Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) with Sri Lanka is due to be held in October reports the Dailymirror.lk.

A source close to the ETCA negotiation team said,

An eyewitness in the case of the 2011 murder of a Tamil youth by Sri Lankan police received death threats prior to testifying at the Kayts Magistrates Court, the court heard.

The witness, a detainee at Welikada prison, received death threats by unidentified individuals while being held at Anuradhapura prison on Wednesday night, en route to the Kayts court.

Five police officers charged with the murder were also being detained at Anuradhapura prison.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena claimed his government had “defused” the issue of accountability for war crimes since coming in to power and avoided an international criminal tribunal.

Sri Lanka's former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa called on the government to support Jagath Jayasuriya, the former military general who has been accused of war crimes. 

Cabinet minister Patali Champika Ranawaka and JHU general secretary urged the government to protect the former military general, Jagath Jayasuriya who has been accused of war crimes. 

"The government should represent him and deny allegations," Mr Champika said at a press conference. 

Sri Lanka's prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe on Thursday assured delegates of the Indian Ocean conference taking place at Colombo that the country would not enter any military alliance with any country. 

Sri Lanka's new justice minister, Thalatha Athukorala pledged that no former military personnel, who she described as 'war heroes who saved this country' would be sent to international courts. 

Marking International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the chief minister of the Northern Province, C V Wigneswaran criticised the government's failure to make progress on the issue despite promises made to the international community. 

International cocaine smugglers are using Sri Lanka as a transit hub to transport cocaine across Asia say authorities, Reuters reported.

Narcotics officers have recently made seizures of cocaine smuggled in containers of sugar from Brazil. Around $140 million worth of cocaine was found mainly in the Brazilian sugar containers.

Produce is usually transferred into smaller boats at sea and then brought ashore. 

Sri Lankan authorities released 76 Indian fishermen on the day that the Indian external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj arrived on the island to participated in the Indian Ocean Conference. 

The men were arrested and detained, with their fishing boats confiscated in separate incidents over recent months. 

A Sri Lankan court on Thursday granted bail for a Brigadier arrested over the military's shooting of protesters in the island's south in 2013, reports Ada Derana. 

Brigadier Anura Deshapriya Gunawaredena was arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for allegedly ordering soldiers to fire at the crowd who were protested for clean water. 

The Sri Lankan government is due to open an embassy in Erbil announced the head of the Kurdistan Region's Department of Foreign Relations (DFR) this week.

Falah Mustafa said that his government had approved requests from Sri Lanka, as well as Ukraine, to open honorary consulates in the Kurdistan region.