Hours after Azath Salley was released by the President, the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, has publicly stated that Salley was arrested for allegedly conspiring with a Tamil Nadu group to launch a joint Sri Lankan Muslim armed struggle.

Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has decided to cut the reverse repurchase rate to 9 percent from 9.5 percent and the repurchase rate to 7 percent from 7.5 percent, a bigger reduction than expected by analysts.

"[T]here is now a need to stimulate the domestic economy, particularly in the light of the gradual moderation in headline inflation and subdued demand pressures in the economy," the Central Bank said in its May monetary policy review.

Economic growth slowed from 8.2% in 2011 to 6.4% in 2012, after a fall in demand for Sri Lankan exports, including tea and textiles, but the treasury has bizarrely forecast growth of 7.5% for this year.

Sri Lanka: why the unexpected cut? - Financial Times (10 May 2013)

The International Monetary Fund yesterday warned Sri Lanka against further easing of monetary policies.

Sri Lanka’s government says its economy will grow at a zippy 7.5 per cent this year, making it the self-styled fastest growing economy in south Asia.

Yet on Friday morning the central bank suddenly and unexpectedly brought interest rates down by half a percentage point, citing fears of a slowdown. Something doesn’t add up.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has instructed international schools across the island to include ‘history, religion and mother language’ as separate subjects in their curriculum.

According to ColomboPage, the instructions were received as,

Message from the Tamil Guardian team:

At 17:00 GMT today, our Twitter account - @TamilGuardian - was suspended. We have reason to believe false allegations were made against us. We will of course be appealing this suspension and will update @TamilGuardian readers in due course.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka will visit Uganda on Saturday take part in the Commonwealth Local Government conference.

Commenting on the Queen's decision not to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka later this year, the UNP spokesperson Ravi Karunanayake said:

"The queen has sent a strong political message. The message is improve your [rights] record,"

Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe has accused the Tamil daily ‘Uthayan’ of stoking communal flames in its editorial and driving Tamils towards another war.

The United Kingdom went before the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva earlier this week, as it faced criticism over its role in extraordinary rendition, torture and the removal of asylum seekers amongst other human rights issues.

Amongst the topics raised were the UK’s role in renditions to Libya, torture in Iraq and the deportation of asylum seekers to Sri Lanka, where they faced torture.

The office of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) in Amparai district was attacked last night.

According to reports, a group of unidentified people were threw stones at the office, smashing the glass in doors and windows.

The government of Sri Lanka told parliament on Tuesday that it cannot abolish the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and there would be no possibility of it in the future, due to "some dark shadows of the LTTE and terrorism."

The Dalai Lama has urged Buddhist monks in Myanmar and Sri Lanka to end the violence against Muslims in their countries.

Delivering a speech in the US on Tuesday regarding religious violence, the Tibetan Buddhist leader, said:

The Sri Lankan high commissioner to India Prasad Kariyawasam has called for the removal of bilateral trade barriers between Sri Lanka and India, reported the DailyMirror on Wednesday.

The leader of the JHU, a party in the ruling government collation, has stated that his organisation contains religious fanatics and racists at a media briefing at the JHU party headquarters in Battaramulla.