Sri Lanka's prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe this weekend sought to assure voters that local government polls would be held by early February 2018 at the latest. 

The exact date is yet to be determined, with the election commission having the final say. However, local papers have cited February 10th as the confirmed date. 

"The next local government election will be actually a trial to test the effectiveness of the new mixed electoral system introduced recently and if it is a success it will be used for the Parliamentary polls as well," Mr Wickremesinghe was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying at an event on Saturday. 

A Tamil journalist was attacked in a suburb of Jaffna on Saturday evening.

44-year-old Shanmuganathan Manoharan, an anchor for the radio Yaarl FM, was driving home in Chavakachcheri on Saturday when his car was obstructed by a three-wheeler.

Mr Manoharan and another person were beaten by three men who alighted from the three-wheeler.

The attackers escaped as soon as onlookers began to gather.

A complaint was filed at Chavakachcheri police, following which the department said they had arrested the driver of the three-wheeler.

Unemployment continues to affects Jaffna residents, with over 33,000 residents filing a complaint with the District Employment Bureau. 

A total of 33204 residents with qualifications including Bachelor degrees, A levels and O levels, filed the complaint, Adaderana reported. 

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Recent years have seen a number of protests across the North-East by unemployed graduates, who have repeated called on local provincial councils and the government to take action. 

Sri Lanka's trade deficit continued to widen in the first nine months of the year, despite an increase in exports, the Sunday Times' economic column noted.

Last year the trade deficit over the first nine months was US$ 6.1 billion, rising to US$ 6.8 billion this year. 

The deficit was expected to fall this year as export figures increased by 8.2 percent. However, despite this increase imports increased further by 9.7% percent. 

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Former LTTE cadres have only received a "tiny fraction of money" pledged by the government last year in the form of self-employment loans, Ceylon Today reported. 

According to the paper, 7858 of the 12,185 cadres who underwent the government's 'rehabilitation' programme applied for the loan, however only 1799 were deemed eligble. 

Banks cited the frequent re-arrest of former cadres by the Terrorism of Investigation Division as adding to their concern about lending. 

"Some of them are in prisons, and we don't know how to recover the loans," a bank official told the paper. 

Sri Lanka’s prime minister Ranil Wickrememsinghe defended the China’s and India’s stake in the Hambantota Port Project and the running of Mattala airport during a public speech on Friday.

Opening a new bus stand and economic centre in Ampara, Mr Wickremesinghe said,

Twenty fishermen from Tamil Nadu, India were arrested by the Sri Lankan navy on Friday for allegedly crossing into the island's waters. 

The men were detained along with two fishing boats and fishing equipment. They are to be produced at court in Point Pedro. 

The arrest is the latest in the ongoing issue of Tamil Nadu fishermen being arrested by Sri Lankan navy personnel. 

In October the chief minister of Tamil Nadu wrote to the Indian premier, Narendra Modi, urging him to intervene and secure the release of dozens of fishermen currently detained in Sri Lanka.

The body of a Tamil man reported missing over a month ago was found in a forest in Mannar.

Anthonipillai Saint Nicholas who ran a barbershop in Aandankulam did not return home after work on October 25, according to the police report filed by his wife.

On Friday, Madu locals reported to police the discovery of a decomposing body in forested land around the Poomalanthan village. The body was identified as Mr Saint Nicholas by relatives this morning.

The Northern Provincial Council's education minister, K Sarveswaran defended his refusal to hoist the Sri Lankan flag stating it was not acceptable to all communities. 

Asked by The Hindu about his refusal to hoist the flag last month whilst at a public event in Vavuniya, Mr Sarveswaran was quoted by the paper as saying, "the national flag was not accepted across sections of people and the issue of designing a national flag acceptable to all 'also forms part of any debate to resolve the ethnic conflict'."

He did not "disrespect" the flag he added. 

The European Union and Sri Lanka held the fourth dialogue on strengthening investment and trade. 

The EU's delegation, led by Ambassador of the European Union to Sri Lanka Tung-Lai Margue, included representatives from the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands. 

Ambassador Margue said the EU was studying Sri Lanka's latest budget, adding that some of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund objectives had been included.