The Sri Lankan military continued with its militarisation of the North-East over the Christmas period, with a series of events across the Tamil homeland during the festive season last month.

Since occupying the North-East, the military has involved itself into several aspects of civilian life in the region, despite opposition from local civil society and political representatives.

Norway’s prime minister acknowledged that her country’s role in mediating a peace process in Sri Lanka was unsuccessful and apologised for “for the way that the conflict in Sri Lanka ended up”.

Speaking to reporters in India, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said that “I’m sorry to say I don’t think our Sri Lanka efforts led to a big success”.

“I’m still sorry for the way that the conflict in Sri Lanka ended up,” she added.

Her comments came after she was asked whether Norway could play a role in mediating between India and Pakistan. “Nobody from the outside can make peace or make changes,” she told the media.

Two international non-governmental organisations have begun a worldwide initiative to try and collects names of the conflict dead, to estimate the final death toll from Sri Lanka’s military offensive which killed tens of thousands of Tamils civilians.

“We at least owe the dead the courtesy of collecting their names,” said International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) Executive Director, Yasmin Sooka. “The scale of human loss is important to quantify and the final list of names which we will collate can also inform the memorialisation process which is key for communities”.  

<p>Two court cases against former Northern Provincial Council members, T Ravikaran and M K Shivajilingham, have been adjourned today.&nbsp;</p> <p>The NPC member, T Ravikaran, and six others were arrested for participating in a protest against illegal fishing by Sinhala fishermen in Mullaitivu on August 2.&nbsp;</p> <p>Ravikaran and the others were charged with causing damage to public property during the protest. They were subsequently released on bail.&nbsp;</p> <p>Meanwhile, a second court case against Ravikaran and Shivajilingham was also adjourned today until May 27.&nbsp;</p>

The former advisor to President Maithripala Sirisena and presidential media director, Dr Suren Raghavan has been appointed the new governor to the Northern Province, replacing Reginald Cooray. 

Raghavan has been a university lecturer in Colombo, visiting professor at University of St Paul – Ottawa, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies – Wolfson College University of Oxford. 

<p>Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Governor has said Colombo may look to extend a loan agreement from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which was frozen amidst political turmoil on the island, He called on the government not to make any political concessions with the country’s budget ahead of forthcoming elections.</p> <p>"There is a provision for the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) to be extended by a year," said Indrajit Coomaraswamy. "The government could negotiate if it wants to."</p>

Sri Lanka is to face a shortage of milk powder following a decision by several leading companies to suspend milk powder imports, due to rising costs, the Sunday Times reports. 

Several milk powder company heads told the Sunday Times that the government has not allowed them to increase the price of milk powder to consumers, leaving them with no choice but to “stop imports and also stop selling existing stocks of whole milk powder”.

<p>A Colombo Municipal Councillor with the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) has been arrested over violence in the capital last October, where a protestor was shot dead amid&nbsp;political turmoil on the island.</p> <p>Councillor Kulathissa Deeganage was arrested by the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) in connection with the violence outside the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) premises in Dematagoda.</p> <p>The bodyguards of Sri Lanka’s Minister of Petroleum Arjuna Ranatunga shot into crowds blocking him from entering his office, after Colombo was plunged into crisis as Mahinda Rajapaksa was unexpectedly appointed as prime minister.</p>

<p>The Northern Province's governor, Reginald Cooray has faced criticism after he called off a probe into reports of negligence causing flooding in Kilinochchi.</p> <p>The probe, which was to be headed by Professor S Sivakumar of the University of Jaffna's Engineering Faculty, was set up amid reports Iranamadu tank was allowed to overfill before all the sluice gates were opened at once.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Speaking to the Sunday Times, Sivakumar said he was surprised when the governor called off the probe within 30 minutes of its planning meeting.&nbsp;</p>

Sri Lankan police claimed today two phones reportedly recovered from a bag of a suspect during the military search operation in Vavuniya on Tuesday, belong to a former LTTE cadre. 

The former cadre, who has not been named, is understood to live in Vavuniya. 

There was a tense situation in Vavuniya on Tuesday after soldiers and Special Task Force (STF) officers conducted a search operation in Puthur for a suspect.