A former Sri Lankan police officer testified before a magistrate of how police in Colombo were instructed to destroy evidence relating to the murder of Sunday Leader editor, Lasantha Wickramatunga in 2009.

Senior Superintendent Hemantha Adhikari, who now works as a security guard at a private company, confessed before the Mount Lavinia magistrate, and revealed how he was reportedly instructed to destroy evidence gathered from the crime scene.

His confession, which came about as the former police officer reportedly “feared his own arrest”, comes in the wake of several senior officers being detained regarding the assassination.

Bell Helicopter Textron, a US-based aerospace company, marked 50 years of sales of helicopters to the Sri Lankan military by presenting an award to a military official in Singapore earlier this month.

Dozens of Sinhalese in London, describing themselves as "patriot Sri Lankans", demonstrated in Westminster on Saturday in support of Brigadier Priyanka Fernando, the Sri Lankan Defence Attaché that was seen making death threats to Tamil protestors.

The demonstrators held placards with slogans such as "Eelam is a delusion" and "arrest and deport them", while chanting "Sri Lanka, one nation."

The demonstration was billed as a mass rally on Sinhalese social media platforms but turnout remained under one hundred.

ITAK, the main constituent party of the Tamil National Alliance, urged the international community to hold the Sri Lankan government accountable for its commitments around reconciliation, accountability and human rights.

In a statement welcoming the UN Human Rights chief’s report, the party said they “strongly endorse” the High Commissioner’s recommendations and “strongly urge the international community to hold… Sri Lanka accountable.”

A global watchdog has warned that there are deficiencies in the Sri Lankan government’s efforts to stem money laundering, including in the implementation of sanctions on North Korea and Iran.

The announcement by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) comes just weeks after the European Union placed Sri Lanka to its blacklist of countries at risk of money laundering.

The FATF said that whilst steps had been taken by Sri Lanka since November 2017, deficiencies remain. In particular it highlighted the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions on Iran and North Korea.

The United States navy is set to return to Sri Lanka in the coming months, as part of this year's Pacific Partnership exercise.

US troops will conduct civic-action projects, community health exchanges, medical symposiums and disaster-response training. The announcement is the latest project to be held between the two militaries, which have seen increasing closer relations.

Throughout 2017, several military co-operative exercises were held, including anti-terrorism training for Sri Lankan troops.

A Pillaiyar temple in Chemmani, Jaffna was vandalised this week, with the statue of the deity smashed. 

The attack, by unknown persons, occurred on Thursday evening. 

The police are reportedly investigating the incident, which is the latest in a series of incidents of vandalism targeting Hindu and Christian places of worship across the North-East. 

The Sri Lankan brigadier and defence attache to the UK, Priyanka Fernando, who was seen making death threats to Tamil protesters in London, received a hero welcome on board the Sri Lankan airlines flight he took back to Colombo this week. 

Brigadier Fernando was recalled back to Sri Lanka amid widespread calls, including from cross-party UK parliamentarians for his expulsion and for him to be investigated by the police. 

In a photograph tweeted today, he is seen taking a selfie with the staff of the state carrier, Sri Lankan airlines as he flew home. 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said this week it would continue to work with the Sri Lankan government on economic reforms, as outlined in the Extended Fund Facility programme. 

.“With regard to the current Extended Fund Facility programme with Sri Lanka more specifically, I would like to stress that the Fund remains fully engaged with the authorities as they continue to implement the IMF-supported economic reform programme to make growth more sustainable and inclusive,” IMF spokesperson Raphael Anspach was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying. 

Sri Lanka continued to rank poorly in the 2017 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), performing even worse than it did under former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

According to the 2017 index compiled by Transparency International, Sri Lanka ranks 91^st with a score of 38.

The score is an improvement of just 2 points from last year, matching the same score as 2016. However it continues to lag behind the 2012 score of 40, when Mahinda Rajapaksa was in power.