Salaries for Sri Lanka’s Army, Navy and Air Force cost Rs 73.17 billion (US$ 560 million) in the year 2013 alone, stated a government minister on Friday.

Responding to a question raised in the Sri Lankan parliament, Chief Government Whip, Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, defended the record amount being paid out, saying that the security forces were needed for the “protection of the country”.

ColomboPage also quoted the minister as saying,

Defending Sri Lanka's opposition to the UN inquiry into mass atrocities, the country's minister of external affairs, GL Peiris, reiterated that Sri Lanka "will not kneel down before any powerful nation and compromise the national interests", reported the DailyMirror.lk.

One man has been killed and another injured during a hit and run incident near a Sri Lankan navy base in Mullaitivu, when a Sri Lankan military tractor crashed into a motorcycle on 2 August.

The military personnel driving the tractor ran away from the scene immediately after the crash, reported the Uthayan newspaper.

The deceased, a 24 year old father named Arugmugam Sivakumar, was found unconscious, trapped between the wheel of the tractor. He was admitted to Jaffna Teaching Hospital however succumbed to his injuries.

Students at Sabaragamuwa University, in the island's south, protest against arrest. Photograph BBC Tamil

Asylum seekers who were deported by Australia after their boat came into difficulty at sea as they fled Sri Lanka, have faced abuse with beatings and interrogations on return, the Guardian newspaper reports.

The group of 41 asylum seekers, including children, were taken to a Sri Lankan navy camp, where almost 100 Criminal Investigation Division (CID) officials were waiting for them the newspaper reported.

The Sri Lankan navy is to appropriate 617 acres of land in Mullaitivu in order to build a navy base, the Northern Provincial Council's deputy speaker said this week.

Despite locals holding land deeds for the area, an announcement stating the land is to be appropriated as the original owners have not been identified, Jeganathan said, appealing to the Chief Minister to act.