Sri Lankan soldiers who were injured and the families of those killed in action will be allocated more relief through the National Defence Fund Act, declared Sri Lanka’s Lands and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Gayantha Karunathillake.

Mr Karunathillake told a press conference yesterday that the act had been amended following a proposal by Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena in his capacity as Defence Minister. 

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The international community is worried about the reform agenda in Sri Lanka, the ambassador to the European Union has said.

“The reform agenda: that’s the big worry that the international community has got,” Ambassador Tung-Lai Margue said in an interview yesterday, according to dailynews.lk.

“We understand that it has always been a shaky coalition, and obviously recent actions have shown that a lot of people are not happy.”

Despite mounting pressure since suffering a heavy local election defeat last week, Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister remained defiant, insisting he will stay on to complete his term.

Speaking at a press conference in Colombo, Ranil Wickremesinghe said he would continue as prime minister as per Sri Lanka’s constitution.

However, he added that the United National Party which he heads, will be restructured in light of their election defeat.

Sri Lanka’s Appeals Court ordered the Attorney General to present a review of an investigation into the 2012 Welikada Prison, in the coming weeks.

Several Sri Lankan military personnel were arrested in connection with the gang rape of a nurse in the south of the island.

A captain of the Sri Lanka Corps of Military Police was arrested on Wednesday by Narahenpita police, following the arrest of an army doctor and driver earlier in the week.

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^{Photograph: Sri Lankan troops prepare for deployment to Lebanon earllier this month.}

Several human rights organisations have written to the United Nations calling for the deployment of a Sri Lankan military commander implicated in war crimes as the head of a peacekeeping force to be halted.

Several officials from the Australian government met with the Chief of Staff of the Sri Lankan Navy this week, where they discussed measures to be taken to prevent the trafficking of refugees fleeing the island.

The chair of Sri Lanka’s Election Commission Mahinda Deshapriya revealed that a lack of Tamil speakers hired by the government for election roles led to a “serious hindrance” to the electoral process last week.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Mr Deshapriya said there was a severe lack of Tamil speakers at district election offices and at the Government Printer.

A Sri Lankan court has once again extended an interim injunction which prevents any legal action from being taken against the former defence secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa for alleged financial crimes.

A former Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) has been arrested by Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigations Department (CID) over the 2009 assassination of the Sunday Leader editor, Lasantha Wickramatunga.

The retired senior DIG, named as Prasanna Nanayakkara by southern media, has been detained for allegedly concealing evidence from investigations into the murder, which took place in broad daylight in Colombo. Mr Nanayakkara headed the Mount Lavinia Police Division at the time of the killing.