The Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s central committee today appointed President Maithripala Sirisena as the chairman of the party at a meeting at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute earlier today.

The unanimous decision came after former president Mahinda Rajapaksa told the UPFA coalition, of which the SLFP is the main constituent party, that he is prepared to hand over chairmanship to the new president.

The European Union (EU) has suspended all fish imports from Sri Lanka, putting in place a ban that could cost Sri Lanka as much as $200 million.

The ban on Sri Lankan imports was announced in October 2014, in response to Sri Lanka failing to deal with illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), a move praised by environmental non-governmental organisations, such as Greenpeace.

The EU alone had €74 million of imports in 2013, but Sri Lanka Seafood Association spokesperson Channa Weeratunge estimated that Sri Lanka could stand to lose as much as $200 million.

A spokesperson for Sri Lanka’s army has said no decision has been taken to reduce the number of troops in the military, noting instead that over 20,000 people had been recruited into the armed forces for "development projects".

According to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence, when questioned by reporters on plans to reduce the size of the armed forces, army spokesperson Brigadier Jayanath Jayaweera responded by saying no such decision had been taken.

“Members of this House may not be aware how closely the British Government and their representatives work with our colleagues in the European Union on issues such as this—in Sri Lanka as in Georgia—to exert pressure and bring it to bear. There is of course the UN human rights investigation, which will continue. The UN Human Rights Council will discuss that at its forthcoming meeting in March.”