Sri Lanka announced plans to launch at least five tourism development zones estimated to extend over more than 1500 acres of state-owned land, including in an area in the Eastern Province which has seen a spread in Buddhist sites. 
 
This public-private initiative includes the Ministry of Lands, the Ministry of Tourism and the Sri Lanka Tourism Club – a group of government recognised industry leaders.
 

The Sri Lankan military has used funds from the Department of Resettlement to build an auditorium at a Tamil school in Mullaitivu.

The 592 Brigade built the auditorium “following a request” from the school's principal reported an official military website.

The auditorium, built in Keppapilavu, was declared open by the commander of the Sri Lankan security forces in Mullaitivu in a ceremony last month.

The Sri Lankan military opened up a new dental surgery in Jaffna on Monday at a military base inside a High Security Zone.

The dental surgery was a “long-felt need for tri-service and Police personnel serving the peninsula,” according to an official military website. 

A Sri Lankan government appointed commission has admitted that the use of torture remains “routine”, with reports of undocumented sites across the island.

In a report submitted to the UN Committee Against Torture, which is due to discuss Sri Lanka this month, the  Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) recognised that there was a “routine” use of torture by Sri Lankan authorities. 

Locals in Batticaloa on Friday protested demanding the release of their land currently  occupied by the Sri Lankan military. 

The protest is today on its third day with demonstrators on strike as an expression of their anger with the continued military occupation. 

Sri Lanka's finance minister responded to comments from China's ambassador over Chinese loans to the island, as the spat between the two figures deepened this week.

China's Ambassador Yi Xianliang lashed out at minister Ravi Karunanayake after he criticised Chinese funding as "expensive loans". “We have regular, or fixed interest ratio for any developing country – 2%, not only for Sri Lanka... If you have some comparison with the commercial loan, commercial loan at least 5%.”

Sri Lanka's Health Minister stated that former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapksa masterminded the creation of Tamil gangs in Jaffna, in a press conference earlier this week.

Speaking to the media Rajitha Senaratne said the gang was created by Mr Rajapaksa during the armed conflict in order to battle against the LTTE. He went on to state that the group had acted with the full knowledge of the Sri Lankan military.

Leaked Sri Lankan State Intelligence Service documents have allegedly revealed former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa ordered the tapping of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge's phone, just weeks before he was gunned down in Colombo.

The documents, reportedly obtained by Colombo Telegraph, identified the Sunday Leader editor as a 'national security risk' and ordered tapping of his mobile phone on the 10th of September 2008. A number of other phone numbers were reportedly placed under surveillance, including current prime minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, however Wickrematunge was the only non-politician on the list. He was also the only person on the list to have been killed.

Britain's Minister for the UN and Commonwealth Baroness Anelay will visit Jaffna this weekend, where she will discuss reconciliation and strategies for tackling sexual and gender-based violence.

Whilst in Jaffna the minister will meet with Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council C V Wigneswaran and Governor of the Northern Province Reginald Cooray. In Colombo Baroness Anelay will hold discussions with Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and leader of the Tamil National Alliance R Sampanthan.

Sri Lanka and India today reviewed the defence cooperation between the two nations in their annual Indo-Sri Lanka Defence Dialogue, reports Colombo Page.

An Indian defence delegation, led by India’s Defence Secretary Mohan G Kumar participated in the talks which took place in Colombo.

The Annual dialogue has been reviewing and expanding areas of interest between the two nations defence establishments since 2012.