The leader of the UNP, Ranil Wickremasinghe, left on a two day official visit to India today.

According to party sources the visit is following an official invite by the Indian government.

He is to hold bilateral talks with the Indian president Pranab Mukherjee, reports Colombo Page.

The suspects in an attack on a Muslim business have been released, after a court in Colombo dismissed all charges against them.

Seventeen people, including 3 monks, were arrested after last week’s attacks on a clothing store owned by Muslims, one of several attacks on Muslims in recent months.

"The case was dropped because the parties (police and the victim) did not want to proceed," a court official said, who declined to be named.

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, an opposition Marxist party in Sri Lanka, has called upon all 'Sri Lankans' to completely reject the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Comission, a report by the Office of the High COmmissioner for Human Rights, and resolutions passed at the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2012 and March 2013.

Prominent members of Tamil Nadu's film industry held a day-long fast on Tuesday, in solidarity with state-wide student protests.

The protest by the South Indian Artistes Association, led by Sarath Kumar, appealed to the Union government to recognise the resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu assembly calling for a referendum on the issue of Eelam. Concerns about Tamil fishermen's grievances at the hands of the Sri Lankan navy were also voiced.

The Barnabas Fund has reported that there has been a sharp increase in attacks on Christians by Buddhists in Sri Lanka.

The charity said there were 10 anti-Christian attacks in March alone, including the bruning down of a church and a “brutal attack” on the home of a pastor.

Police are also accused of threatening a pastor to stop holding Christian services.

The leader of the DMK has slammed the Indian Central government for their 'discriminatory' approach, on the subjects of attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri lankan security forces.

Commenting on the contrasting approach that the Centre has used when Italian marines were accused of killing two fishermen from Kerala, DMK chief M Karunanidhi, said,

The Sri Lankan cricket player, and skipper for the IPL team Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kumar Sangakkara, spoke out about the IPL controversy at the sidelines of an event in Hyderabad to NDTV.

"Politics in this case has affected/restricted our presence, our belief to play in every part of India. But I don't think, sports and spirit of cricket is ever going to be curtailed by such prejudice,"

400 soldiers from the Sri Lankan army's 'Sinha regiment' are set to leave for Haiti as part of a UN Peacekeeping mission later this week.

The deployment follows the expulsion of Sri Lankan troops for sexually abusing Haitian minors in 2007, with no prosecutions or punishments having taken place. 111 soldiers and 3 officers were repatriated back to Sri Lanka after being part of UN mission in Haiti and were accused of a string of sexual assaults, including rape of children as young as 7 years old.

Travel between Colombo and Chennai has dropped by at least 30%, reported the Sunday Times, quoting travel trade sources.

Officials from the Defence Ministry have also advised Sri Lankans not to travel to Tamil Nadu, due to the recent protests in the state, according to the president of theTravel Agents Association of Sri Lanka, Saman Premakumara.