Russia has suspended tea imports from Sri Lanka from December 18 onwards, after Khapra beetles were found in a consignment.  

The ban has prompted three ministers, the minister of plantations, Navin Dissanayake, the industry and commerce minister, Rishad Bathiudeen and the minister of science, technology and research, Susil Premajayantha, to visit Moscow urgently in order to seek a removal of the ban. 

The Australian government confirmed it had excluded offshore detention facilities in the islands of Manus and Nauru in its obligation to prevent the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of people in detention, following the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) this week. 

The move has been widely criticised by human rights groups who have long cited ongoing allegations of torture of asylum seekers detained within the facilities, which include a number of Tamils who have fled Sri Lanka. 

Sri Lankan authorities today released 16 Tamil Nadu fishermen after two months in detention, reports PTI. 

The men were arrested in October by the Sri Lankan navy for allegedly fishing in the island's waters. 

The release of the men was ordered by a court in Jaffna. The men are to be handed over to the Indian coast guard on Sunday. 

A lawsuit has been filed in Haiti against the UN and peacekeeping soldiers by mothers of 'peacekeeper babies' seeking child support and paternity payments, the Guardian reports. 

The legal team for 10 mothers who are struggling financially with raising children allegedly fathered by UN peacekeepers stationed in Haiti, have argued they were sexually exploited. 

Peacekeeping troops from Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Argentina and Uruguay have been implicated. 

The law suit was brought by the human rights group, Bureau Des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH). 

Sri Lanka's prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday announced the government would continue to subsidise essential items until April 2018 due to the high price of staples such as rice and coconuts. 

The Sri Lankan government announced a decision to import 100,000 metric tons of rice per month until the Tamil and Sinhala New Year in April, as shortages continue to impact on the market.

ColomboPage reports that though Sri Lanka's annular rice requirement is about 2.4 million metric tons a shortage has led to at least 30 percent of that requirement having to be imported.

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention stated that the use of torture by Sri Lankan security forces on Tamil detainees continues and called on the Sri Lankan government “to fully honour the obligations it has undertaken in accordance with the Convention against Torture”.

In a preliminary report released on Friday, the Working Group highlighted several areas of concern, including the use of torture, the transfer of cases of Tamil detainees to Sinhala-speaking courts, the detention of Tamils who return to the island and continued arrest of former LTTE cadres which creates a “revolving door of repeated deprivation of liberty”.

Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal has once more extended an interim injunction which prevents police from pursuing legal action against former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

The decision marks the third consecutive time that the order has been issued, preventing the Financial Crime Investigations Division (FCID) from taking any legal action. ColomboPage reports the court’s decision was made “despite the objections of the Attorney General”.

Members of the Tamil community across the North-East commemorated the 11th death anniversary of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s chief negotiator Anton Balasingham.

Malaysia is looking to strengthen ties with Sri Lanka as a visit by its prime minister, Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak on December 17. 

Malaysia's foreign ministry said a high level team would be visiting Sri Lanka, followed by the Maldives. 

“He is due to take up an important assignment related to Malaysia’s chairmanship of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in April 2020. Given the scale of CHOGM, which will involve 52 countries, early preparations are essential for it to be a success,” the ministry said.