Sri Lanka’s Presidential Commission of Inquiry has summoned for hearing in relation to alleged treasury bond scams that saw billions of rupees swindled from public funds.

The commission ordered the former Finance Minister and current Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake to attend a hearing on Monday.

Mr Karunanayake informed the commission he was unable to attend the summons on short notice due to official duties.

The summons comes after President Maithripala Sirisena extended the time period of the commission and extended the deadline for a final investigative report to be submitted in October.

The 55 Tamil detainees, including prominent political prisoners, killed by Sinhalese inmates at the Welikada prison in 1983 were remembered in Jaffna on Tuesday.

On the 25th July 1983 Sellarasa “Kuttimani” Yogachandiran, leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) and Ganeshanathan Jeganathan, a political writer, had their eyes gouged out in mockery before being killed by Sinhalese inmates at the high security Welikada prison in Colombo. A total of 37 Tamil prisoners were murdered the same day, and 18 more were killed two days later.

Sri Lankan soldiers at the Combat Training School (CTS) in Amparai, announced the opening of a new herbal garden inside the military headquarters on Saturday.

The former Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa condemned the Office of the Missing Persons Act, as a step to prosecute the country's armed forces, Ceylon Today reported. 

In a letter to the senior Buddhist clergy, Mr Rajapaksa urged them to take action on what he described as "acts of betrayal being committed under the guise of promoting reconciliation". 

Rejecting assurances given by the current government that the Act would not be enforced in a retrograde fashion, Mr Rajapaksa said, "That was an outright lie."

Sri Lanka received its largest warship to date from India, SLNS Sayurala. 

The ship was handed over during a special ceremony on July 22nd, with the India's High Commissioner to the island, Chitranganee Wagiswara present. 

The ship includes a landing and hangar facility for an Advanced Light Helicopter, the Sunday Times reported. 

Sri Lanka's Cabinet on Tuesday approved leasing Hambantota port to China Merchant Port Holdings, following months of delays. 

The approval was announced by the ports and shipping minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe, the Daily Mirror reported. However, it now needs to be approved by parliament. 

"The cabinet approved the deal and now it needs parliament approval. We will send it for approval this week," the cabinet spokesman Dayasiri Jayasekera told Reuters. 

The main suspect in the suspected assassination of the Jaffna High Court judge Ilancheliyan was arrested by Sri Lankan police on Tuesday morning. 

The suspect, identified as 39 year old Selvarasa Jayandan reportedly surrendered to Jaffna police station. 

Whilst the judge escaped unharmed, his police escort was injured during the incident and later died from his wounds. 
 

The Sri Lankan government has renewed the employment of the man who ran the island’s “most notorious torture site” in a move that shows “utter disdain for victims of torture and the UN system,” said the International Truth and Justice Project.

Batticaloa lawyers protested and joined their colleagues across the North-East in boycotting court proceedings on Monday.

The Sri Lankan Army's Mannar-based 542 Brigade held a blood donation event at the Murunkan Hospital on Sunday.

Hospital sources said that the donation was not requested by the hospital itself but that the event was initiated and organised by the brigade's commander.