The Sri Lankan Government on Sunday said it would not accept UN Rights Chief Navy Pillay's challenge to improve its rights accountability record within a deadline.

Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs, Karunatillake Amunugama, said the government would function according to its own plan. "We will submit our progress to the next March session of the UNHRC. We have already completed most of the points raised by her while some of it cannot be implemented," he said.

The Sri Lankan government on Sunday said it would not accept UN Rights Chief Navi Pillay’s deadline to make progress on its rights accountability record.

The country’s Foreign Secretary Karunatillake Amunugama said the government would according to its own plan. “We will submit our progress to the next March session of the UNHRC. We have already completed most of the points raised by her while some of it cannot be implemented,” he said.

Sri Lanka is of the view that imposing sanctions on a country is a flawed instrument of policy which is simply an expression of naked power, External Affairs Minister Professor G.L Peiris said.

Minister Peiris said this when he  met his Iranian counterpart Mohammed Javad Zarif in New York, the External Affairs Ministry said today.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said today that it will take up the issue of the Tamil Nadu fishermen poaching in Sri Lankan territorial waters, with the central government as soon as it takes oaths next week.

TNA, spokesman, Suresh Premachandran told Ceylon Today that the problem of poaching in the northern territorial waters is going on for a long time and that soon a solution will be found to the problem  plaguing the northern fishermen . 

Trade unions in Sri Lanka are now gearing to commence a campaign to win demands for working people at the government's next budget.

The Coordinating Committee for a Joint Trade Union Alliance says it will commence a campaign to win the 21 demands it has presented to the Finance Ministry to be included in next year's budget.

The Colombo Magistrate's Court ordered for copies of the computer evidence pertaining to the case filed by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption against Former Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranaike be handed over to the defence.

Colombo Fort Chief Magistrate Mr. Thilina Gamage today (01) rejected the request made by Counsel Namal Rajapaksa to remove the Court order which prohibits Sanjeewa Bandara - convener of the Inter University Students' Federation (IUSF) from entering any university premises inside Sri Lanka.

Four Sri Lankan nationals who attempted to fly to Colombo using fake passports have been detained in Chennai, the Hindu newspaper reported today.

Mariam Sharmila, Parvathan, Sasikaran and Jeevandeeva attempted the board an Air India Express flight to Sri Lanka on Sunday morning.

Private buses on route numbers 163 (Dehiwela-Videsha Seva, Battaramulla) and 155 (Zoysapura-Mattakkuliya) have refused to operate from Tuesday (Oct 1) as they have gone on strike indefinitely, Lanka Private Bus Owners Association (LPBOA) President Gemunu Wijeratne said.