Sri Lanka’s prime minister warned that the island’s economic crisis will worsen, just days after the finance minister attempted to allay fears over the state of Sri Lanka’s economy.

Ranil Wickremesinghe told an audience that “economic sanctions imposed on Iran by USA and the high demand for oil as winter season approaches had also contributed to the crisis”. 

Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) has continued to target a Tamil journalist, summoning his brother for investigation on Sunday, after a friend was also summoned and investigated last week.

Prominent Jaffna journalist Uthayarasa Shalin was summoned by the TID in August, along with five others, in relation to the display of a map of the Tamil homeland during a festival at the journalist’s local temple in Aanaikottai, Jaffna.

Shalin had raised questions about his summoning, stating that he was not a member of the temple’s board. He was questioned in Colombo for several hours about his work and his personal life.

Sri Lanka’s newly passed Office of Reparations Bill must not be used to “sideline truth and justice” said Tamil National Alliance leader R Sampanthan in an address to the parliament on Thursday.

The bill, which was passed last week, has been criticised by Sri Lankan civil society for the fact the office would have no decision-making power or independence and would face excessive bureaucracy.

The Sri Lankan archaeology department is attempting to grab land belonging to a Tamil temple at the behest of Buddhist monks, the temple’s administration have said.

Tamils have lost all confidence in the Sri Lankan government, which has reneged on the promises it made to Tamil voters made during elections, Tamil students have said.

In a memo to the United Nations published to accompany their campaign for the release of Tamil political prisoners, Jaffna University and allied students across the North-East said “Tamils have lost any confidence in the Sri Lankan Government to address their legitimate grievances.”

The students also slammed the Sri Lankan President and his defence of the country’s armed forces at the UN General Assembly.

A pair of Sri Lankan navy ships left Colombo for India to partake in training exercises last week, as Colombo continues to grow its military relations despite concerns of human rights abuses.

The SLNS Sagara and SLNS Suranimala reached Cochin harbour in India, with a crew of about 200 officers and sailors on board, reports the Sri Lankan navy.

The exercise is the latest military training program the Sri Lankans have been involved in as the armed forces continue to participate in exercises across the globe, notably with the United States and India.

Sri Lanka’s finance minister has claimed the fall in the rupee to record lows this month is "not as catastrophic as people make it out to be,"  as the rupee fell to an all time low earlier this week.

"We have been trying to drive Sri Lanka toward an export-oriented economy," said the finance minister, who was attending the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Bali. "And this crisis, in a way, makes people realize the need to do so even more vigorously.”

“I don't consider it a crisis at all," he remarked.

Human bones were found in Achchuveli in Jaffna and were taken for analysis to Jaffna Teaching Hospital on Friday.

Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa confirmed that his party had received a “proposal” to form a coalition government, but denied reports that an agreement had been reached.

“We want to intervene to prevent a crisis in the country in order to help the people,” Rajapaksa told reporters. “However, there is no talk of a coalition government. There is only a proposal. We don’t know until it happens and the chances of it happening are extremely slim. However, if a proposal comes from that side, then we can decide on it as a party.”

The Sri Lankan army decided to launch a variety of projects with Tamil schoolchildren across the North-East to mark ‘World Children’s Day’, as despite criticism from local and international human rights organisations the militarisation of the Tamil homeland continues.