Sri Lankan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Harsha De Silva met with officials from the United States State Department and World Bank to promote economic and business ties, reports the official government news portal of Sri Lanka.

The meetings were arranged “in the light of path breaking transformation taking place in Sri Lanka in terms of political reforms and addressing accountability issues”, reported the news portal.

The Sri Lankan military denied that it is currently running any businesses, reports The Sunday Leader. 

Military Media Spokesperson Brigadier Jayanath Jayaweera told the newspaper “We have no business ventures run by the military at present”.

“However, if specific places are being mentioned, I might be able to respond to,” he added.

Charges have been filed against six people for the 2006 murder of Jaffna MP Nadaraja Raviraj.

Colombo Telegraph reports that of the six against whom the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has filed charges, three are navy personnel and three are former LTTE cadres of the Karuna faction.

China is Sri Lanka's biggest investor, particularly in real estate, the Sunday Times reports.

Data from the Central Bank confirmed that China was the biggest contributor to Sri Lanka's foreign direct investment (FDI) with a high number of infrastructure and real estate projects on the island being developed by China.

A number of Tamil political prisoners will be released as soon as possible, the Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe has announced.

Paying an official visit to Jaffna on Tuesday, Mr Rajapakshe said that while the department had been taking steps to release all Tamil political prisoners, certain numbers of them would be released according to the offences committed and on the advice of the Attorney General.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, reiterating her stance that the Indo-Sri Lankan Agreements of 1974 and 1976 were the underlying causes of troubles faced by Tamil Nadu fisherman that were continuously detained by Sri Lanka’s navy.

Commenting on Sri Lanka’s Katchatheevu islet, Ms Jayalalitha said that the ceding of the island to Sri Lanka during the Indo-Lanka Agreements was the root cause of the fishermen’s problem.

Over thirty hospitals in the Northern Province are operating without permanent doctors, the Northern Provincial Council's health minister has said.

Health minister P. Sathiyalingam said that 32 out of 102 hospitals in the Northern Province had no permanent doctors and were functioning with trainee doctors and recalled retired doctors.

The central government has promised a solution to the shortage by December, Mr Sathiyalingam said.