Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesignhe reiterated to a group of Buddhist monks that both he and the president have agreed on Buddhism retaining the first and foremost place on the island, reports Reuters.

Mr Wickremesinghe was quoted as telling a group of Buddhist monks in Colombo,

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is set to provide Sri Lanka with US $4 billion of assistance over four years reports Lanka Business Online. 

The new scheme would see Sri Lanka receive between US $0.8 billion and US $1 billion per annum from 2014-2018.

Sri Lanka will receive US $ 1.34 billion of financial and technical assistance from the World bank over a 3 year period reports Colombo Page.

The announcement was made during a meeting between the World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka and Maldives Dr Idah Z Pswarayi-Riddihough and the Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera on Tuesday.

Sri Lankan minister Mangala Samaraweera said a proposed bill on enforced disappearances will not look at past cases of disappearances on the island and will “have only prospective effect”.

In a statement on the International Covenant on Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which has faced criticism from forces loyal to former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, Mr Samaraweera attempted to assuage opposition fears.

Tamil National Alliance MP MA Sumathniran said the police officers involved in the shooting must be punished for acting beyond the law.

Speaking to press in Jaffna today, Mr Sumanthiran said that although police must enforce law, they could not act above the law and shoot people dead.

See more here.

A Sri Lankan police sergeant has been arrested for robbing a Chinese woman in Wellawatta last month, along side two others. 

Rs 15 million are believed to have been stolen from the woman. 

The sergeant, who is understood to be with Gampaha police station, is to be produced before court today, the Daily Mirror reported. 

Tamil Nadu's fisheries minister, D Jayakumar condemned the fishing law passed in Sri Lanka last week and said the state would reject it. 

“We will not accept the legislation," The Hindu quoted him as saying. 

The minister also asserted that the only solution to the fishing crisis between the two countries was to "retrieve Katchatheevu" from Sri Lanka. 

Responding to reports that the TNA wanted to meet with the Buddhist clergy to discuss the clergy's rejection of constitutional change, the registrar of the Asgiriya Chapter, Medagna Dhammananda said they would welcome such a meeting. 

Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Division has named a former Sri Lankan navy media spokesperson, Commodore D K P Dassanayake as a suspect in the enforced disappearance and abduction of eleven Tamil youths in 2008. 

Sri Lanka’s newly-appointed Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, stressed the need to change the military’s “mentality” to suit a “post-conflict era,” before “somebody else” directed change, in a high level address today.

Speaking during his maiden address to senior commanders of Sri Lanka’s military Lieutenant Senanayake said,

The funeral of the Tamil man shot dead by Sri Lankan police took place in his Vadamaradchi hometown this morning.

Sri Lanka's foreign minister, Ravi Karunanayake reiterated this week that the government would never "betray" the country's forces and police. 

"We are not ready at any time to betray tri forces and police," Mr Karunanayake was quoted by the Colombo Page as saying. 

Mr Karunanayake stressed that the government "are responsible to protect the war heroes those who saved the country."

Sri Lanka's justice minister, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe has accused NGOs of attempting to influence the country's judiciary. 

"The government will not allow Non Governmental Organisations (NGO’s) to influence the judiciary to achieve their personal oraganisation goals," he was quoted by Adaderana as saying. 

On Sunday afternoon, Sri Lankan police shot dead a Tamil man in Jaffna. Though the facts around the killing are still not clear, with reports he may have been involved in illegal sand mining, what is known for certain is that Yogarasa Thines was completely unarmed. The police decision to gun him down, not only seems wholly disproportionate, but follows a sadly well-established pattern of Sri Lankan state violence against Tamil civilians, amidst a culture of impunity.