A week after over 100 asylum seekers, including Tamils from the North-East, drowned off the coast of Indonesia en route to seeking refuge in Australia, the Australian opposition leader, Julie Bishop, called for all aslyum seekers to be sent back to Sri Lanka without coming to Australia.

Bishop said,

"If the Government grants people from Sri Lanka refugee status, the Australian Government is accusing Sri Lanka of persecuting their own citizens,"

"Sri Lanka is already making a significant effort by preventing many boats from leaving their shores, however those who make it through should be the subject to an immediate arrangement to be transferred back to Sri Lanka without coming to Australia,"

"There is an extremely high rejection rate for Sri Lankan asylum seekers with the vast majority proving to be economic migrants."

"But once they are in Australia they can pursue their claims for asylum through our courts regardless of the merit."

External Affairs Minister G L Peiris has rushed to London in the hope of lobbying the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to revise its latest travel advisory, reports Colombo Page.

As the controversy over the training of Sri Lankan security forces personnel in India rages on , it has been revealed that the Sri Lankan president and Commander-in-Chief of the Sri Lankan Army Mahinda Rajapakse is due to visit the country later this month.

More than 1000 officers sent under the instruction of the Economic Development Minister, Basil Rajapaksa have been involved in the intimidation of Tamil and Muslim voters in three districts of the eastern province, Ampaarai, Batticaloa and Trincomalee, reports TamilNet.

The Sri Lankan government has declared September 3rd as a national day of mourning to commemorate the life of the Chief Prelate of the Sri Lanka Ramannya Nikaya, Weweldeniye Medhalankara Thero.

Ramannya Nikaya, who passed away at the age of 103, was a long standing upholder of the Buddhist order and spent most of his life disseminating the Sri Lankan Theravadic monastic tradition.

President Rajapakse and Ayatollah Khamenei (Fars News Agency)

President Mahinda Rajapakse met with the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei on Friday, on the sidelines of the 16th Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran.

China's Defence Minister Liang Guanglie, who is currently on an official visit to Sri Lanka spoke about China's national defence policy, and dismissed talk of the "China Threat Theory".

Guanglie said,

"On this point, the Chinese government issued a whitepaper China's Peaceful Development in 2011, solemnly declaring to the world that China will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development. The core idea of this path is that China will develop itself through upholding world peace and contribute to world peace through its own development."

"Up to now, China has dispatched around 21,000 person/times to 30 UN Peace-keeping missions, making it the largest personnel contributor among the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council. We have sent rescue teams for 18 times to conduct humanitarian rescue operations. Since 2008, China has sent 12 batches of naval task forces to conduct escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia. With the further modernisation of China's national defense, China will make greater contributions to world peace as a responsible member of the international community."

See also: China's support for Sri Lanka's militarisation (28 Aug 2012)

Indonesian authorities are holding in custody 50 asylum seekers from the island of Sri Lanka for the past two days, just after they survived the sinking of their vessel en route to Australia, and over 24 hours in the water. Over one hundred others perished.

The National Search and Rescue Agency spokesperson, Gagah Prakoso, said to AFP:

An event, part of a cultural exchange programme of Kalai Kaviri College in Trichy, has been cancelled after protestors demanded that the Sri Lankan participants be sent back.

54 students and 10 teachers from Sri Lanka came to participate in a programme on Thursday, but were told by college administrators to return to Sri Lanka as the programme had been cancelled.

Members of Naam Thamizhar Iyakkam protested outside the premises, shouting slogans against the Sri Lankan state and Mahinda Rajapakse.