The Sri Lankan government illegally imported commodities from North Korea in violation of sanctions placed on the country, according to United Nations experts last week.

UN experts monitoring sanctions named Sri Lanka, alongside other countries including India, Pakistan and China as having flouted restrictions on North Korea.

The Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe has reiterated his stance that the government "has no desire to send soldiers to any court", Adaderana reported. 

"The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, ratified by Sri Lanka, will be effective only for the future and not for the past", he added, echoing the words of this former foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera. 

The Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena leaves for New York today to attend the 72nd UN General Assembly which commences on September 19. 

Mr Sirisena is scheduled to address the Assembly on September 19. 

Sinhalese residents and Buddhist monks in Trincomalee staged a protest against Sarath Fonseka and Ranjan Ramanayake on Saturday.

Sri Lankan troops serving as United Nations peacekeepers in the Central African Republic received medals in a ceremony to mark their contribution this week.

The Japanese government has committed to providing US$1.2 million in aid towards demining efforts in the Northern Province.

The Sri Lankan navy received a ship from the Indian government on Saturday.

Sinhala Buddhist monks staged a rally in Colombo yesterday in support of Myanmar’s military offensive in the Rakhine state, which has displaced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims.

The Tamil National People's Front continued its commemorations of Lt. Col. Thileepan with tributes to mark the second day of his hunger strike.

A sudden police operation round-up in Thunnalai on Friday morning has resulted in three arrests.

Point Pedro police said they carried out the operation in the early hours following an anonymous tip-off.

Thunnalai and surrounding villages in the Vadamaradchi area have been subjected to repeated operations, including deployments of Special Task Force troops.

Thileepan was remembered in Mullaitivu at an event organised by the Tamil National People’s Front in Puthukudiyiruppu.

24 Tamil civilians killed in a Sri Lankan Air Force strike on Mullaitivu in 1999 were remembered in Manthuvil, the location of the massacre, today.

Families of former LTTE cadres and members of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) gathered in Nallur today to remember the 30 year anniversary of Lt Col Thileepan commencing his fast unto death. 

The event was held at the Thileepan memorial, which was cleaned and decorated yesterday by TNPF members ahead of the commemorations. 

Students at the University of Jaffna today remembered the day Lt Col Thileepan commenced his fast unto death in Nallur on September 30, 1987. 

Laying flowers in his memory, many students and members of staff gathered on the campus grounds to recall his sacrifice 30 years on. 

The grounds were cleared and decorated, and a temporary monument set up, by the university's Student Union.

The event was watched by intelligence personnel, which student union leaders said they had grown accustomed to.