Senior UNP member, MP Ravi Karunanayaka, called on Sajith Premadasa to take a lead at the Southern Provincial Council election next year, whilst announcing his intention to contest as UNP, for the Western Provincial Council.

The head of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, has said that neither he nor any of the bishops on the island will indulge in politics or affiliate themselves with a political party or group, reported The Island.

Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force (STF) has the provision to expand to up to 10,000 troops stated the STF Commandant earlier this week, as training continued to take place with more troops being recruited.

Despite a recent announcement by the head of Sri Lankan Army in Jaffna, that armed personnel would not enter inside the premises of the University of Jaffna, two armed, uniformed soldiers were seen inside the university grounds today, reported the Uthayan.

India’s ministry of defence has called on the lower house of Parliament to disallow a debate on the issue of training Sri Lankan Armed Forces personnel, in a memorandum.

Sri Lanka’s deputy minister for labour and labour relations called for a ban of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on Tuesday, reports the Island.

Speaking in parliament, Sarath Weerasekara claimed that the TNA were still propagating the ideology of the LTTE and said:

A Sri Lankan minister has refuted allegations of war crimes while talking to Japanese envoy Yasushi Akashi, reported the Colombo Telegraph.

Akashi had criticised Sri Lanka's failure to act on human rights issues during his visit.

During a visit by the head of the Pakistan Navy, Sri Lanka and Pakistan held discussions regarding improving the security relations over the weekend.

Pakistani Naval Chief Admiral Mohammad Asif Sandila held a meeting with the Commander of the Sri Lankan Navy, vice Admiral Jayanath Colombage, and other senior Naval officers where he was given a guard of honour.