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JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Excavations at the Chemmani mass grave end on Wednesday with 582 sets of human remains identified, among them those of children, and no decision on whether digging will resume before a court date in October. Wednesday is the 56th and final day authorised by the court for the third phase of the excavation, and the 110th day of digging at the site on the outskirts of Jaffna since work began in May last year. Whether a fourth phase goes ahead rests on a hearing set for Oct. 14,

COLOMBO — Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe warned on Tuesday that Sri Lanka faces a second bankruptcy when heavy debt repayments resume after 2028, and said the government was spending its remaining preparation time on the Constitution and the judiciary instead of on rebuilding foreign-exchange reserves. He spoke at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall at the launch of Yuddha Dekakata Ura Dee, or Shouldering Two Wars, by Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, whom Mr. Wickremesinghe a

COLOMBO — India’s defence minister, Rajnath Singh, is expected to visit Sri Lanka next week for talks with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, in what would be the most senior Indian defence visit to the island since the two countries signed their first formal defence cooperation agreement last year. Mr. Singh is also expected to meet Air Vice Marshal Sampath Thuyacontha, the secretary to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence, according to people familiar with preparations for the visit. Mr. Dissanay

COLOMBO — The European Union has set out the legal and human rights reforms it expects Sri Lanka to carry out to keep preferential access to the European market, weeks before new rules require Colombo to apply again for the concessions. The reforms are set out in an assessment by the European Commission and the European External Action Service of Sri Lanka's performance under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus, or GSP+, covering 2023 to 2025. The document, SWD(2026) 192 final, was submi