Sri Lanka's Central Bank is planning to raise $3.5bn through International Sovereign Bonds in order to tackle the emerging and serious debt crisis, the Sunday Times reports.

The bank said in a statement that the issuances in single or multiple tranches would be in US Dollar and Chinese Renminbi with a fixed coupon and medium to long term maturities where non-resident investors will be eligible to invest at the primary issuance.

A high-level Sri Lankan delegation, led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, is due to travel to China next week and will likely appeal to the government to write off the enormous loans Sri Lanka has racked up, according to the Sunday Times.

Mr Wickremesinghe will be accompanied by ministers Malik Samarawickrema, Sajith Premadasa, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Sarath Amunugama and Rauff Hakeem, with Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera due to join them in Beijing.

Senior UNP ministers are planning to meet with President Maithripala Sirisena over comments made by Highways State Minister Dilan Perera's recent comments, comparing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to a "Maradana rowdy". Maradana is a suburb of Colombo.

The ministers will ask the president to take appropriate action against Mr Perera, who is from Mr Sirisena's SLFP, the Daily Mirror reported.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena made moves towards granting retired military personnel contracts with public institutions, reports The Island.

Mr Sirisena ordered the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence to maintain a database of all retired military personnel, so that public institutions could offer them contracts. The move was also reportedly approved by the Sri Lankan cabinet “as a solution to the lack of technically and professionally skilled persons in the government”.

Tamil victims of torture at the hands of the Sri Lankan government reiterated calls for international judges and investigators in an accountability mechanism examining human rights violations, reports Deutsche Welle.

The German broadcaster spoke to two tortured Tamils, who described in graphic detail the torture and sexual violence they experienced when held by Sri Lankan authorities in the final months of the armed conflict and beyond.

Freedom From Torture's joint head of psychiatric services, William Hopkins, told Deutsche Welle that the victims "don't believe this (an inquiry) can be done by domestic judges".

Sri Lanka is keen to finalise a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China assured a senior Sri Lankan minister when speaking to a visiting Chinese delegation.

Speaking to a six member delegation of the government of China, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen, said,

“Our unity government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickrememsinghe is very keen on the FTA and continuing its work on it with no charge.”

A former member of the Catalan parliament and jurist backed calls for Tamil self determination and called for the recognition of the Tamil nation, in an address in London last month.

“As a Catalan and a former member of the Council of the Judiciary in Spain and of the Parliament of Catalonia, I understand and share the plight of the Tamil nation in the island of Sri Lanka, and its struggle for recognition, survival, human rights and justice,” said Alfons Lopez Tena.

Speaking at the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils annual event, the former MP went on to say,

“Any settlement for a lasting peace with justice and dignity for all involved requires to take effective measures to investigate, punish and prevent war crimes and human rights violations, and to address the conflict’s root cause: to recognise the Tamil Nation in the island of Sri Lanka, to guarantee Tamils’ home rule, to share power in a bi-national Sri Lankan state under the rule of law, to grant Tamils’ right to self determination, and to allow them to freely exercise it.”

Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran has slammed the government for its hegemonic attitude towards the Northern Provincial Council, in relation to a recently approved housing project.

In an interview with The Hindu, the chief minister said the government did not discuss details of the controversial project with representatives from the North-East. The project, which according to critics will see the construction of 65,000 houses unsuitable for the local climate, will be implemented by Lakshmi Mittal's firm, who is thought to be close to the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

“We’re completely kept in the lurch. The dominating, domineering and hegemonic attitude on the part of the government is irking us. It [the project] is not to our benefit,” he said.

The chief minister stressed that Tamils are not a minority in the North-East and that they would like to have a federal constitution.