The former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa said he would be contesting the polls under a broader coalition, speaking to journalists today. 

"Sri Lanka Freedom Party would also be included in this coalition," Rajapaksa, who is currently a member of the SLPP party, added. 

Rajapaksa made these comments whilst taking up his work at his personal office, following religious prayers with senior Buddhist clergy. 

<p>Sri Lanka's Speaker, Karu Jayasuriya has backed the former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa as the country's opposition leader, despite objections from the TNA and party leaders such as Rauff Hakeem and Mano Ganeshan.&nbsp;</p> <p>Informing party leaders of his decision, Jayasuriya said anyone could take up the matter through a judicial process.&nbsp;</p> <p>Jayasuriya announced last month he would be recognising Rajapaksa as the opposition leader, following Ranil Wickremesinghe's re-appointment as prime minister with the support of the TNA.&nbsp;</p>

Two youths were arrested yesterday over a post on social media mocking the rampant bribery by Sri Lankan police.

The two youths, aged 23, posted photos of themselves offering bribes to life size cut outs of traffic police officers along the Puttalam-Colombo road. 

The youths were arrested on charges of damaging public property and humiliating the police. 

<p>Sri Lankan police have reportedly arrested yet another Tamil man over the shooting of two police officers in Batticaloa, which took place in November last year.</p> <p>The man, identified as 31-year-old George Niranjan, was arrested for perverting the course of justice, with regards to the police investigation of the shooting.</p> <p>The arrest came after Niranjan reportedly denied he had any knowledge on the shooting, after police stated that he had initially said he was willing to provide information on the incident.</p>

A Sri Lankan government minister has blamed “foreigners” for the construction of a sign in Colombo with Sinhala, English and Chinese script, but no Tamil.

The sign, at the Metro Colombo Solid Waste Management Project, was photographed and tweeted to the Sri Lankan minister, causing outrage from many Tamils on social media.

Mano Ganesan, Sri Lanka’s of Minister of National Integration and Official Languages, blamed “foreigners” for the sign, stating that it was constructed at a “Chinese site”.

A senior UNP leader and Sri Lankan government minister thanked the navy for creating a “very cordial environment” in Nainativu last week, where the military maintains a large camp and has helped to construct a Buddhist vihara.

Harsha de Silva was visiting the island, which has been occupied by the Sri Lankan military for years, when he tweeted photographs posing with the chief monk of the vihara on the island.

<p>A draft for a new constitution for Sri Lanka is to be presented to the Constitutional Assembly next week, according to a report in the Daily Mirror today.</p> <p>The Daily Mirror reported that “top government sources” said the draft was being prepared by the steering committee of the constitutional assembly headed by current Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe.</p> <p>See more <a href="http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Draft-of-new-constitution-to-be-prese…">here</a>.</p>

Investors from Singapore and Hong Kong met with the leader of the Tamil National Alliance over the development of Trincomalee. 

A number of states have discussed the development of the region since the end of the armed conflict. 

Sri Lanka’s tourism minister admitted that Colombo had missed their tourism target of 2.5 million visitors for the year, blaming “political instability” after the island was plunged into a crisis that saw lawmakers attack each other in parliament.

Sri Lanka fell some 200,000 visitors short from their target with Minister of Tourism Development, John Amaratunga stating it was due to the turmoil at the end of last year.

<p>The excavation of human skeletons at the mass grave site in Mannar resumed yesterday, after ten days of suspended activity.&nbsp;</p> <p>In total, 280 sets of human remains have been recovered, including 274 full skeletons and twenty-one skeletons of children. As well as signs of torture, observers had been disturbed by the discovery of bones bound by metal.</p> <p>The findings have raised fresh concerns over the fate of forcibly disappeared Tamils.</p> <p>Last month some of the remains were sent for carbon dating in Florida, USA.&nbsp;</p>