General Secretary of the UNP Tissa Attanayake has claimed that extravagant trips aboard by the President and his entourage have contributed to huge losses being incurred by Sri Lanka’s airlines.

Stating that President Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister GL Peiris have travelled to more than 35 countries since 2010, Attanayake said that tax payers were funding these trips, with both Sri Lankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka running up losses totalling 24 billion rupees.

In an interview to Sudar Oli, the Sri Lankan military’s army commander in Jaffna, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe admitted that land in Jaffna was being taken by the military to build army camps, but dismissed the allegations of land invasion.

Sri Lanka's trade deficit for April widened by 2.6 percent year-on-year to $761 million, reported the Reuters news agency.

The export of tea fell 9.3 percent in April, after a record fall in January - April of 11.7 percent.

The export of textiles and garments was also reported to have dropped, 2.2 percent in April.

See here.

The US Embassy in Colombo has released a statement endorsing US Ambassador-designate Michele Sison’s earlier speech, which called for greater action on Sri Lanka’s human rights record.

The statement released by the US Embassy said,

The Sri Lankan envoy to Australia and New Zealand has claimed that Tamil refugees, fleeing the island, are ‘paid’ by smugglers to make the dangerous journey across the Indian Ocean.

In a radio interview by Ashley Hall on the AM program on ABC radio, Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe said that Sri Lanka has evidence that these payments have been made.

Extracts from the interview:

ASHLEY HALL: Who are the people on board these boats? Who's trying to leave Sri Lanka?

THISARA SAMARASINGHE: Oh they were a mix of people who were persuaded to come over by various organisations who were trying to get them out of Sri Lanka for whatever the reasons that they have.

There were economic concerns and they have been paid...

ASHLEY HALL: They have been paid?

THISARA SAMARASINGHE: Yeah, in the sense they have not paid for the moment and we do not know the exact arrangements, and I would prefer to keep this information with ourselves or with the investigators because they are continuing to stop and that has resulted in the 113 people being stopped before they boarded a vessel.

ASHLEY HALL: But you have evidence that people were paid to get on a vessel and travel to Australia and seek asylum?

THISARA SAMARASINGHE: They have evidence. They have not paid, the racketeers, these human smugglers, these international racket band, they do this for various reasons - for money, for…

Writing in The Guardian's Comment is Free section, the newspaper's readers' editor, Chris Elliott, expressed regret over the paper's decision last week to include a 24-page promotional Sri Lanka supplement in the same issue as the newspaper's reporting of on-going torture of deportees.

Elliott wrote:

The Sri Lankan Sports Minister has announced that he is considering introducing a law that will ban sportsmen who refuse to represent the country in international sports.

Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage told reporters,

The US has granted seven further countries, including Sri Lanka, exemptions from sanctions for importing Iranian oil.

South Africa, India, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Turkey were given a waiver from meeting a US deadline, which is looming at the end of this month, to reduce imports from Iran.

Countries, which haven’t been granted an exemption and fail to reduce imports, will be cut off from the US financial system.

As international pressure continues to mount on the Sri Lankan government over allegations of war crimes, External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris has praised the recent trip to London by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, stating many useful meetings were held.

Speaking in an interview with the state-run Daily News, External Affairs Minister G. L. Peiris said,

“Sri Lanka could be pleased with the way things are turning out with regard to the conduct of its international relations.”

Students at the Eastern University boycotted lessons for the third day on Saturday, protesting against the appointment of a paramilitary backed appointment of Dr Jaffer to the university's governing council, reports TamilNet.

Dr Jaffer, the director of the Kalmunai Base hospital is reported to be backed by the paramilitary leader come Sri Lankan deputy minister, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (Karuna).