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.

The Minister for National Language and Social Integration, Vasudeva Nanayakara is to seek to ban Sinhala groups such as the Bodu Bala Sena, Ravana BAlaya and the Sinhala Ravaya.

A Cabinet paper will be submitted in two weeks time, reports Nanayakkara The Sunday Leader.

Nanayakkara said:

The opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, former president Chandrika Bandaranaike and United National Party MP Mangala Samaraweera reportedly held 'secret discussions' on 24th March - on Wickremesinghe's birthday - at the villa of the British expat Geoffrey Dobbs.

Geoffrey Dobbs, who owns hotels in Galle, is also the founder of the Galle Literary Festival.

A spokesman for the Bodu Bala Sena Organisation (BBS) claimed today that the organisation aims to create a moral society in Sri Lanka.

Programme Coordinator, Dilantha Withanage, blamed ‘groups with ulterior motives' for misrepresenting their campaign as a fight against Muslims.

Updated: 11:30 GMT

The news website Colombo Telegraph reported on Friday that it has now been blocked in Sri Lanka, with users unable to reach the site from within the island.

The Colombo Telegraph editorial board released a message urging readers to use proxy services to reach the site.

Read their message here.