Sri Lanka has rejected a bid by a Chinese firm to build an oil refinery and sell fuel locally, over fears it would be a threat to domestic companies, Reuters reported. 

“The Chinese companies asked permission (to supply local markets), but we did not give them permission. We asked them to participate in tenders of local suppliers, if they want to sell locally,” government spokesperson Rajitha Senaratne told Reuters.

China Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering Corp, part of the state owned China National Petroleum Corp, together with Shandong Dongming Petrochemical Group submitted the proposal to build the island's largest refinery near Hambantota port. 

The UK’s Foreign Office Minister for Asia and the Pacific met with families of the disappeared in Colombo today.

A British Foreign Office Minister has said that the UK is committed to supporting Sri Lanka achieve its commitments on reconciliation and human rights.

The Sri Lankan government is set to receive a loan of US$75 million from the World Bank in order to address “challenges in the financial sector”.

Sri Lanka’s Secretary to the Treasury, Ministry of Finance and Media met with World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives Idah Pswarayi-Riddihough to sign the agreement from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA).

“A strong financial sector can help Sri Lanka sustain its developmental returns. Efficient financial markets can boost the competitiveness of Sri Lankan firms and overall job creation,” said Ms Pswarayi-Riddihough.

Photograph: ColomboPage

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister repeated his assurance that whilst all religions will be treated equally in Sri Lanka, Buddhism would continue to hold the foremost place on the island.

There is an “obvious gap” between the Tamil National Alliance’s (TNA) manifesto promises to the Tamil people in 2015 and the Steering Committee proposals it has accepted in 2017, said journalist J S Tissainayagam, in a piece for Asian Correspondent on Wednesday .

The TNA has “asked voters to support its demand for a constitution based on shared sovereignty” said Mr Tissainayagam, whilst “the UNP and UPFA manifestoes unequivocally rejected a federal constitution”.

Families of Tamil political prisoners have called for the TNA to pressure the Sri Lankan government and secure the rapid release of the political prisoners.

Hundreds of Jaffna University students staged a protest outside the university campus today, calling for the release of Tamil political prisoners.

Tamil farmers in Trincomalee have threatened legal action against Sinhala Home Guard members for the continued encroachment of their cultivation lands.

The lawyers of five Tamil farmers from the Thennamaravady village on the Trinco-Mullaitivu border in the Kuchchaveli division have written to five Sinhala Home Guard members as a first step to initiating court action against the encroachment.

The people of Thennamaravady were resettled after the end of the war following over two decades of displacement. The villagers fled to Mullaitivu and other places following an outbreak of violence and killings unleashed by Sinhala Home Guards in 1985.

The Australian government is demanding thousands of dollars to return the body of a dead Tamil asylum seeker to his family in Sri Lanka.

The cousin of 32-year-old Rajeev Rajendran, who took his own life on Manus Island after four years in detention, said he was told by the Australian High Commission in Colombo that the family would have to pay 9 lakh rupees, around 6000 USD to repatriate the body to Sri Lanka.