Over 1300 foreign citizens were refused entry into Sri Lanka last year, including 217 Indian citizens, the Sunday Times reported. 

Entry was also refused to 210 citizens from China, 239 from Pakistan, 166 from Afghan, 41 from Egypt and 6 from Syria. 

Citizens from Pakistan, Egypt, Syria and Afghanistan required special clearance from Sri Lanka's State Intelligence Service (SIS), the paper reported. 

See more here.  

An European Union delegation will visit Sri Lanka next month as part of a formal monitoring process following the granting of GSP+ earlier this year. 

The delegation from Brussels will visit from the 5 to 13 September and "will begin the process of monitoring the implementation of the 27 international conventions which make up for the GSP plus" the EU Chargé d'affaires, Paul Godfrey told Ceylon Today in an interview. 

Stating that the assessment "would be made purely in terms of the implementation of those 27 conventions", Mr Goddfrey added that "counter-terrorism legislation and areas such as torture, rights of children are part of that."

We want to see Sri Lanka fulfill the UNHRC co-sponsored resolution the European Union's Chargé d'affaires told Ceylon Today in an interview published Sunday, adding "we are disappointed that we haven't seen more progress". 

Sri Lanka’s Secretary to the Ministry of Defence attended a military exhibition in Russia this week, as part of a visit to the region after expressing interest in Russian arms and ships.

The Japanese government donated eight new fishing boats, engines, fishing nets and cooler boxes to fishermen in Sampur last week, reports The Island.

Japan’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka Kenichi Suganuma visited the region to officially hand over the donation to the Sampur Fishermens’ Society. The donation is part of a project funded by the Japanese government and implemented by the Sevalanka Foundation with a grant of approx. Rs. 13.5 million.

See more details of the project from The Island here.

The United States Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs is set to address a conference being hosted in Colombo in September, according to a State Department press release.

Alice Wells, who also serves as the Acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, will travel to Dhaka, Islamabad, and Colombo from August 28-September 2.

During her visit, the State Department reported she “will meet with government officials, business leaders, and civil society representatives to discuss our cooperation in the region”.

Sri Lanka’s Chief of Defence Staff reiterated to reporters in Kandy that there was no threat to “national security” in the North-East this week.

The Sunday Leader reported Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne as stating the police and military were “doing their job and there is no threat” after a spate of violent incidents in the North-East.

Sri Lankan soldiers took part in a religious ceremony last week to unveil a newly constructed Buddhist stupa in Jaffna, reports official military media.

Sri Lanka’s government has ordered the Security Forces Headquarters in Jaffna to facilitate the visit of a high level delegation from the Buddhist Maha Sangha to Jaffna reports island.lk.

Sources from the military said that they wanted to assure the Buddhist delegation that the security forces and government were "firmly in control" of the situation in Jaffna.

The visiting Buddhist delegation is expected to meet senior armed forces deployed in Jaffna at their army headquarters in Pallaly.

Civilian lands in Trincomalee occupied by the Sri Lankan Port Authority for decades, should be returned immediately to its owners, an Eastern Provincial Council member has stressed.

The Minister for Ports and Shipping, Arjuna Ranatunga, had promised that lends held by the authority would be released quickly, the EPC representative for Trincomalee, Jegatheesan Jenarthanan highlighted during a public meeting at the District Secretariat.

“That promise is yet to be fulfilled,” Mr Jenarthanan said.