Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeals has said it will hear the case on the murder of Tamil National Alliance MP Nadarajah Raviraj in December of this year, more than 11 years after his assassination.

The appeal, lodged by Shashikala Raviraj, the wife of the murdered parliamentarian, challenges the Colombo High Court's judgment on the case last year. An all Sinhala jury had acquitted three navy intelligence officials and two members of the Karuna group accused of the murder after a month long trial.

The Sri Lankan government is seeking foreign assistance in order to curb illegal drug trafficking on the island, after it emerged that it was becoming a transit hub to transport cocaine across Asia.

Sri Lanka’s Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayaka admitted that the island had become a ”transit point for mass scale drug dealers”.

Speaking to reporters in Colombo, he went on to add, "We have a responsibility to prevent and stop this."

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A former Sri Lankan military commander who stands accused of overseeing war crimes has backtracked over claims of responsibility for the military during the final stages of the armed conflict, and instead blamed Sri Lanka's former army commander Sarath Fonseka.

Speaking in an interview to Ceylon Today, Jagath Jayasuriya who fled his post as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Brazil last week after a law suit accusing him of war crimes, contradicted previous public statements on his role.

The new constitution being drafted for Sri Lanka must not be allowed to fail, TNA leaders told the visiting Assistant Secretary of State of the United States.

TNA leader R. Sampanthan met with the assistant secretary, Alice Wells, at the residence of US Ambassador Atul Keshap on Friday.

The Sri Lankan navy on Friday arrested three Indian nationals for allegedly attempting to smuggle in the banned weedicide glyphosate via boat. 

The men were arrested off the coast of Kudiramalai by navy officers attached to the Thalaimannar base, Colombo Page reported. 

They have been handed over to Thalaimannar police for further investigations. 

Sri Lanka's Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka should be stripped of his portfolio over his comments which betray the army, the leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF) Wimal Weerawansa said on Sunday. 

Mr Fonseka this week said he would be prepared to testify against the former military general Jagath Jayasuriya who has been accused of committing war crimes in the final stages of the armed conflict in 2009. 

Describing Mr Fonseka's statement as "traitorous", Mr Weerawansa called on the government to act. 

The Sri Lankan government is to strengthen its Special Task Force officers in order to combat "extremist" threats and "foreign terrorists", the Minister of Law and Order, Sagala Ratnayake said. 

"The officers should be provided with modern technological training to face new forms of terrorist threats that country could face in future, even though the Government is certain there is no LTTE threat," the minister was quoted by Ceylon Today as saying. 

A Buddhist ceremony was held by the Sri Lankan military in the East earlier this month to mark the appointment of a new Brigadier General Staff.

The United States will hold its first ever joint naval exercise with Sri Lanka in October, announced US Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells at the Indian Ocean Conference this week.

The assassinated ITAK politician V. Dharmalingam was remembered in Jaffna today on the 32nd anniversary of his murder.