The Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena this week condemned the prosecutions against former military figures in the country, stating "military commanders who led the successful campaign to crush separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009 should not be humiliated in such a way." 

Speaking at a meeting in Colombo he criticised the government commissions investigating former military figures on charges of corruption as political. 

The Sri Lankan army is failing to cooperate with the police over the investigation of the disappearance of the Sinhala journalist, Prageeth Ekneligoda, the Attorney General told the Supreme Court on Friday, reported Colombo Page. 

The Solicitor General was also reportedly told the Court, the brigadier leading on military intelligence  had failed to produce information requested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). 

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Students at the University of Jaffna were on Friday the latest group to come out in support of plantation workers who have launched a campaign demanding fairer wages. 

Earlier this week a smaller demonstration was held by locals in Jaffna also demanding wages were increased. 

An officer in Kodikamam was arrested on Friday in relation to the death of a suspect in custody of Chunnakam police. 

The suspect was found dead in a police cell in November 2011, reported Daily Mirror. 

A United States judge has reduced the sentence handed down to three Tamils for allegedly conspiring to buy weapons for the LTTE due to the “injustice” of the case, reports the New York Daily News.

Federal Judge Raymond Dearie said that the case has “just taken over my head... To say that I’m troubled is to put it mildly”.

He went on to tell prosecutors and defence lawyers earlier this year:

The UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues Rita Izsák-Ndiaye met with ministers from the Northern Provincial Council on Thursday, where she discussed issues faced by the Tamil people of the North-East.

Ms Izsák-Ndiaye met with the NPC’s Minister of Education T Kurukularajah and the Minister of Health P Sathiyalingam, as part of her 10 day visit to the island.

Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigation Division has arrested a woman in Jaffna over the alleged distribution of posters bearing images of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Sri Lanka’s prime minister announced that he would be travelling to Brussels this weekend to engage in negotiations with the European Union to restore lost trade concessions.

“I am traveling to Brussels on Saturday to begin talks on restoring GSP plus,” Ranil Wickremesinghe told the World Export Development Forum in Colombo on Wednesday.

“Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were given GSP plus around the same time but we gave it up,” he added, noting that “Bangladesh kept it and experienced fast export growth”.

The Sri Lankan government announced that a draft version of proposed new counter terrorism legislation has been forwarded to the “Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security” for further discussions.

Sri Lanka is to sign an agreement to lease 15,000 acres of land in Hambantota in order to creat a Special Economic Zone in the region, Colombo Page reported. 

Announcing the proposed agreement, the State Finance Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told reporters in Colombo on Tuesday, the economic zone would create millions of jobs. 

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