The Investment Promotion Minister, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene, submitted a Cabinet memorandum this month,  seeking to overrule current legislations that ban sales of private or crown Sri Lankan land to a foreign national or company.

Arguing that the Finance minister has the power to overrule legislation, Abeywardene is looking to acquire legal exemption for 69 acres of land to allow a Singaporean Company to establish a private university and related infrastructure.

A senior official, who revealed that the government was manipulating GDP growth data, is going to be sacked, reported LBO.

H.S. Wanasinghe, an accounts director at the Department of Census and Statistics, complained to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and an opposition MP that the government was manipulating data, and has now been found guilty of leaking confidential information.

Sri Lanka has declared to have done everything "humanly possible" since July 2012 to implement the National Plan of Action on implementing the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

Lalith Weeratunga, secretary to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, briefed the United Nations in Geneva on Tuesday on 'progress in the reconciliation process in Sri Lanka'.

Weeratunga's explanations come in the wake of international criticism over Sri Lanka's lack of progress.

The parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth (FCO) Affairs, Mark Simmonds, outlined today, that the FCO was already working to gain the necessary majority at the United Nations Human Rights Council to pass a resolution calling for an international investigation into war crimes committed in Sri Lanka.

Responding to questions regarding the UK position on Sri Lanka’s lack of progress in working towards a credible investigation, Simmonds said,

The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal has released the full report of their high profile session held in Bremen, Germany last month, where they unanimously ruled that Sri Lanka was guilty of genocide.

Released at the Geneva Press Club, the full report discloses the panel’s findings, where they ruled that not only was Sri Lanka was guilty of genocide, but that the UK and USA were also guilty of complicity. The role of India was decided to be examined further.

Sri Lanka’s opposition has denied reports from the government that it had assigned two of its MPs to join the government delegation travelling to the UN Human Rights Council session in March.

UNP MP Kabir Hashim said the decision had not yet been made, but the party is ready to discuss participation if the government extended an invitation, denying that one had been received.

UNP to join Govt's team against resolution at UNHRC (22 Jan 2014)

The US embassy in Colombo announced a new program to revive the fishery community in the Maradankerny Division of Jaffna.

The initiative, in partnership with Sevalanka, is part of a “significant USAID livelihoods project worth $1.5 million USD that focuses on empowering economic opportunities and accelerating permanent resettlement for many displaced families”, in the North-East, a press release by the embassy said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s secretary, Lalith Weeratunga, will visit the United States today, to hold discussions over progress made by Sri Lanka on recommendations from the highly discredited Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission.

Weeratunga, who has been assigned responsibility of the National Action Plan for the Implementation of the Recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), spent the past week briefing envoys of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.

Excavations at the site of the Mannar mass grave revealed another skeleton today, reported the Uthayan.

The latest discovery brings the total number of human remains found at the site in Thirukketheeswaram to 44.