The US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues, Stephen Rapp, has expressed his disappointment at Sri Lanka’s progress on accountability issues.

Questioned by the Inner City Press on accountability, Rapp said the US sponsored two resolutions at the UN Human Rights Council, which "express our disappointment that provisions of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission haven't been implemented, in regard reconciliation... between Tamil and major communities in Sri Lanka and particular disappointment on accountability for the alleged grave atrocities near the end of the conflict on both sides."

The Deputy Minister of Investment Promotion, Faizer Mustapha, has joined the long line of Sri Lankan politicians opposing the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) proposals.

Mustapha says that holding elections for an NPC with land and police powers would be dangerous since the main Tamil party, the TNA 'still harbours a separatist line', reports ColomboPage.

The British government has rejected calls by human rights organisations to ban Sri Lanka from attending an event commemorating World War I.

Campaigners from Amnesty Scotland had called for the ban for the ceremony in Glasgow, but Westminster has dismissed concerns, according to the Herald Scotland.

A group of monks have raided and shut down an “illegal” Muslim slaughterhouse, which has been operating in Wattala for the past 12 years.

“I got a tip-off a week back from one of the residents of the area about the slaughterhouse,” Buddhist monk Dandeniye Samithananda told the Sunday Times.

“We decided to raid the place ourselves because the residents said that they have made series of complaints to the area police but action wasn’t taken to stop the operators.”

The monk, from a Buddhist temple in Kelaniya, said he was hiding outside the abattoir with other villagers, just after poya day, a sacred day every full moon for Buddhist, when the slaughter of animals is banned.

The Sri Lankan government claimed that the progress it has made in addressing human rights concerns and reconciliation is accepted by many in the international community.

Responding to criticism placed on Si Lanka in the General Debate of the 23^rd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, the Sri Lankan delegation expressed shock at Canada’s claims of “ on-going violations and human rights and lack of reconciliation in Sri lanka.

After deploying the usual rhetoric on resettlement, reintegration of ex-combatants, infrastructure development, the Sri Lankan delegate drew upon the nations membership and role in the commonwealth to validate claims of resettlement and reconciliation.

A senior Sri Lankan police officer - Colombo North's Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Vass Gunawardena - is a suspect in the murder of a Muslim businessman in Bambalapitiya last month, reports ColomboPage citing a local newspaper.

Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has not arrested DIG Gunawardena however. According to ColomboPage, sources in the police state that the CID is awaiting approval from the Inspector General of Police NK Ilangakoon, who is currently in Russia.