Photograph: Yardstick Films

Secret filming at the Scottish Police academy revealed deep ties between Scotland’s police force and Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force – a notorious paramilitary unit that has been accused of directly carrying out war crimes.

Undercover footage provided by Yardstick films shows an interview with a manager of Police Scotland's international training unit, who said, "We know there are issues”. “We know the previous President was being taken for war crimes,” he added. “Yeah. The choices are we do nothing or we go in. UK government's position was we want to go in and do something."

The governor of Sri Lanka's Central Bank this warned that island's signficant debt was the achilles heel of the economy. 

"The underlying problem was that Sri Lanka allowed exports to come down as a share of gross domestic product and allow foreign commercial borrowing to go up," the governor, Indrajit Coomaraswamy was quoted by Economy Next as saying. 

“That was a suicidal set of policies - to allow exports to collapse and go on a foreign commercial borrowing binge.”

A new coalition was formed today to rival the Tamil National Alliance, following months of criticism at its failure to fulfill its mandate and what has been described as the undemocratic rule of the TNA leader, R Sampanthan and TNA MP, M A Sumanthiran. 

The Sri Lankan government is undertaking another large-scale project for Sinhalisation of Mullaitivu, an Northern Provincial Council member for the district has said.

The billion rupee irrigation scheme titled 'Hipul Oya' on the Mullaitivu border is another front to settle more Sinhalese families on the appropriated land of Tamils, NPC member T. Ravikaran told the council.

The government is attempting to replicate the colonisation of Manalaaru, now known only as 'Weli Oya', which has been transformed into an entirely Sinhalese division in Mullaitivu, Mr Ravikaran said.

The Sri Lankan military held a Buddhist ceremony at its headquarters in Jaffna this week, as it laid the foundation for a new building to be constructed.

The UK government funded culture and education body, the British Council, concluded a program of teaching English to Sri Lankan troops stationed in the Vanni.

“The aim of the course was to improve the speaking, writing, listening and reading capacity” of troops, declared an official Sri Lankan military website.

Sri Lanka's cabinet on Tuesday increased tax on foreign commercials, films and TV dramas. 

The move follows the proposal outlined in the 2018 budget by the finance ministry. 

According to new rules, a foreign film or TV drama will have to pay Rs 160,000 per slot, compared with Rs 90,000 previously.

See here for more. 

The British High Commission in Sri Lanka distanced itself from statements made by MP Lord Naseby in parliament, reports island.lk.

Responding to a query made by the island.lk, the high commission said,

Two Sri Lankan police officials charged with the shooting and killing of a Tamil man in Vadamarachchi have been granted bail by the Jaffna High Court.

On July 9, police opened fire on a hunter vehicle in Thunnalai, killing 24-year-old Yogarasa Thinesh.

The killing sparked protests in the Vadamarachchi region, with locals venting their anger on police vehicles and buildings.

Months of police crackdowns followed and relations between Vadamarachchi residents and security forces remain tense.

Sub-inspector Sivarasa Sanjeev and constable Muttalib Mohammed Mubarak were both arrested on the same day of the shooting and have been kept in remand since.

Human Rights Watch this week called on the Sri Lankan government to take firm steps towards tacking sexual and gender identity biases. 

Highlighting the Sri Lanka's contradictory public statements, HRW wrote: