Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has decided to cut the reverse repurchase rate to 9 percent from 9.5 percent and the repurchase rate to 7 percent from 7.5 percent, a bigger reduction than expected by analysts.

"[T]here is now a need to stimulate the domestic economy, particularly in the light of the gradual moderation in headline inflation and subdued demand pressures in the economy," the Central Bank said in its May monetary policy review.

Economic growth slowed from 8.2% in 2011 to 6.4% in 2012, after a fall in demand for Sri Lankan exports, including tea and textiles, but the treasury has bizarrely forecast growth of 7.5% for this year.

Sri Lanka: why the unexpected cut? - Financial Times (10 May 2013)

The International Monetary Fund yesterday warned Sri Lanka against further easing of monetary policies.

Sri Lanka’s government says its economy will grow at a zippy 7.5 per cent this year, making it the self-styled fastest growing economy in south Asia.

Yet on Friday morning the central bank suddenly and unexpectedly brought interest rates down by half a percentage point, citing fears of a slowdown. Something doesn’t add up.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has instructed international schools across the island to include ‘history, religion and mother language’ as separate subjects in their curriculum.

According to ColomboPage, the instructions were received as,

Message from the Tamil Guardian team:

At 17:00 GMT today, our Twitter account - @TamilGuardian - was suspended. We have reason to believe false allegations were made against us. We will of course be appealing this suspension and will update @TamilGuardian readers in due course.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka will visit Uganda on Saturday take part in the Commonwealth Local Government conference.

The consul general for Sri Lanka in Uganda, Vellipillai Kanathan, announced that the head  of state would spend for days in Uganda.

Commenting on the Queen's decision not to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka later this year, the UNP spokesperson Ravi Karunanayake said:

"The queen has sent a strong political message. The message is improve your [rights] record,"

Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe has accused the Tamil daily ‘Uthayan’ of stoking communal flames in its editorial and driving Tamils towards another war.

Hathurusinghe said the editorial on the Northern Provincial Elections was an attempt by Uthayan editor and TNA MP Saravanabavan to further his own political prospect and this could be taken as “very unpatriotic”.

The United Kingdom went before the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva earlier this week, as it faced criticism over its role in extraordinary rendition, torture and the removal of asylum seekers amongst other human rights issues.

Amongst the topics raised were the UK’s role in renditions to Libya, torture in Iraq and the deportation of asylum seekers to Sri Lanka, where they faced torture.

The office of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) in Amparai district was attacked last night.

According to reports, a group of unidentified people were threw stones at the office, smashing the glass in doors and windows.

The government of Sri Lanka told parliament on Tuesday that it cannot abolish the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and there would be no possibility of it in the future, due to "some dark shadows of the LTTE and terrorism."

Asserting that the government would not use the PTA to curtail political opposition or government critics, Sri Lanka's Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne said: