India and Sri Lanka held the tenth round of talks for widening the scope of the existing free trade agreement between the two countries.

A free trade agreement in goods has been in existence since March 2000, but talks are ongoing to widen the scope to include services and investments.

"The talks are going at a healthy pace and both the countries are targeting to conclude the talks by December for the Economic and Technology Co-operation Agreement (ETCA)," an official said, PTI reports.

A memorandum of understanding to hand over the management of Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport to India is being reworked by the Sri Lankan government, the Sunday Times reports.

The draft of the MoU is being reworked after it was presented to Sri Lanka’s cabinet, at the Indian government’s request.

“The Sri Lankan Government’s terms only allow for management control of the commercial activities of the airport while ownership and all statutory functions, including air traffic control and air traffic rights, will be under the control of the Sri Lankan authorities,” an official in Colombo said.

The Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) said it will continue to undertake civilian flights across the island, despite a suspension over airworthiness of some of its aircraft.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) had recalled the certificate of airworthiness (CofA) issued to the air force’s Xian MA60 aircraft, reports the Sunday Times.

The Sri Lankan military continued to exert its presence in Tamil schools in the North-East, declaring open a computer laboratory at the Sri Ganesha Maha Vidyalaya in Pungudutivu, Jaffna.

The Sri Lankan government announced that it managed to “convince” the European Union (EU) to ensure the LTTE is kept on a list of banned terrorist organisations, despite a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling last year.

“We have managed to convince the EU’s 28-member states of the continuing threat of the LTTE,” said Rodney Perera, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Brussels. “This was an arduous task since we had to update dossiers with tangible evidence, from the years past up to the present.”

The Communist Party of China (CPC) said it hoped to build ties with the former Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa and his new party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). 

The CPC's Vice  Minister of International Development, Guo Yezhou met with Mr Rajapaksa and the SLPP chairman, G. L. Peiris yesterday, the Daily Mirror reported. 

"CPC official commended the efforts taken by the former government to foster ties between Sri Lanka and China, while the CPC expressed its desire to enhance party to party relations with the SLPP," Mr Peiris was quoted by the paper as saying. 

Sri Lankan police yesterday arrested eleven Tamil youths, accused of being involved in 'Aava gang' violence. 

The youths, aged between 18 to 20, who were due to sit their A Level exams this year, are understood to be from Chavakachceri, Sarasaalai and Maravanpulavu. 

Four swords, a motorbike and other weapons were found in their possession, police said. 

The Office of Missing Persons (OMP) has said it would fund the excavation of Mannar mass grave site "as long as necessary". 

The OMP has faced fierce criticism from Tamil families of the disappeared and civil society organisations for its lack of independence however, with mothers of the disappeared boycotting OMP hearings. 

"There is no transparency adopted in the selection of the Commissioners for the OMP. Selections were made by the Constitutional Council in which Sinhala Politicians are also members, who repeatedly said that they will not allow any members of the Security force to face justice. Can OMP guarantee that alleged perpetrators will be brought to justice," mothers of the disappeared said in a letter last month. 

Sri Lankan police have failed to take any action on three Sinhala fishermen who were caught engaged in illegal fishing methods in Mullaitivu, local fishermen told Tamil Guardian. 

The three from Trincomalee were caught by the Mullaitivu fishermen using prohibited light machines, and handed over to the police on August 4. All three were released without any charge however. 

Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Governor said his government would be seeking a waiver from the International Monetary Fund after it missed a June forex reserve target.

Indrajit Coomaraswamy said that the forex reserve target was set last year, but “external conditions had since changed,” according to Economy Next.

Sri Lanka will not seek a waiver of the performance criteria, he added.

At a review earlier this year, the IMF said Sri Lanka has “many challenges” and called for Colombo to pick up the pace of slow structural reforms.