<p>Following weeks of political crisis and falling rupee, which dropped to record levels, the Sri Lankan prime minister today announced a plan to obtain US$ 1.9 billion from 'international sources' to stabilise the currency.&nbsp;</p> <p>The bulk of this will be obtained from international money markets, Ranil Wickremesinghe said, whilst, US$ 500 million will obtained from Chinese and Japanese bonds, and US$ 400 million from the Central Bank of India via a SAARC currency swap.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Indian officials visited Jaffna on Monday to check on the status of an India-funded cultural centre being built in the town.</p> <p>A team led by Deputy High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka Shilpak Ambule visited the site alongside officials from the Consulate in Jaffna as well as the district government agent N Vethanayagam, and municipal commissioner Jeyaseelan.</p> <p>Work on the centre, situated opposite the iconic Jaffna Public Library, started in 2017 and is due to be completed by the end of March this year.</p>

<p>Sri Lanka's finance minister, Mangala Samaraweera is to travel to Washington tomorrow with the aim of getting the next stage of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) External Fund Facility (EFF).&nbsp;</p> <p>The visit comes after weeks of Sri Lanka's political crisis left the country with a falling rupee and halting of international funding.&nbsp;</p> <p>“A key objective will be to negotiate the trajectory of continued fiscal consolidation while accommodating policies to support growth and strengthen the social safety net,” Sri Lanka's Finance and Mass Media Ministry said in a statement.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/Image/pictures/2019/North-East/190109%20mother%20of%20disappeared%20Vijayaluxmi%20Shanmugarajah.jpg"></p> <p>Another mother of the disappeared has passed way on Monday due to ill health, still in search for her son, who disappeared after surrendering to the army.&nbsp;</p> <p>Vijayaluxmi Shamugaraja, aged 68, from Thevipuram, Mullaitivu had been searching for her son, Shanmugaraja Arjun, who surrendered to the army in May 2009, at Valaincharmadam.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Two Tamil men and a woman have been arrested in relation to the military search conducted in Vavuniya last week.&nbsp;</p> <p>A Tamil youth from Nedunkeni, Karthik and a 20 year old man from Alamkulam, Jegatheeswaran Kajendran, and a 35 year old woman from Puthukkulam, Tharshiny Srikanth were arrested on Sunday.&nbsp;</p> <p>Kajendran is accused of possessing a locally made hunting gun.&nbsp;</p> <p>Srikanth was arrested when police officers arrived at her house searching for her husband. When she told them she did not know where her husband was, officers took her and her 10 year old daughter to the station.&nbsp;</p>

Dutch soldiers, alongside troops from Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Maldives and Pakistan, are amongst those currently undergoing a course on “Asymmetric Warfare”, conducted by the Sri Lankan navy in Trincomalee this week.

The twelve-week-long training will see the soldiers receive “maximum exposure of SLN’s hard-earned Asymmetric Warfare experience,” boasted an official Sri Lankan military website.

Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa has officially been recognised as the leader of the Opposition by Speaker of parliament Karu Jayasuriya, despite calls from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to not to allow him to take up the post.

The Speaker’s decision was announced by Deputy Speaker Ananda Kumarasiri when parliament met on Tuesday.

Shavendra Silva, a Sri Lankan army commander who headed a division accused of war crimes, has been appointed as the army’s Chief of Staff, according to several reports in the Colombo press on Wednesday.

Adaderana and the Daily Mirror stated that the army confirmed Silva was the 53^rd chief of staff of the Sri Lankan army.

Last year, the commander, who headed the notorious 58th Division of the Sri Lankan Army during the final stages of the armed conflict were tens of thousands of Tamils were massacred, was promoted by the current government to the post of Adjutant General.

<p>The Sri Lankan govenrment is having discussions with China regarding the importing of hybrid buses for the island's public transport &nbsp;system.&nbsp;</p> <p>Sri Lanka's State Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, Ashoka Abeysinghe said a procurement plan "had been finalised" for hydrogen powered and hybrid buses.&nbsp;</p> <p>“I went to China a couple of months ago and visited the Chinese companies,” Abeyshinghe said.</p> <p>“We are looking at hybrid buses as we do not have enough charging stations for electric buses,” he was quoted by Xinhua as saying.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Sri Lanka has failed to investigate a mass grave of over 80 skeletons discovered in Mannar in 2014, a TNA MP has accused.</p> <p>While commending efforts to investigate the mass grave in Mannar town in the Sathosa retail premises, excavation of which has unearthed over 200 skeletons, including those of children, TNA MP Charles Nirmalanathan said that other sites in the district have been ignored or even covered up.</p> <p>Referring specifically to the discovery of over 80 skeletons at a mass grave site in the Thirukketheeswaram area, Nirmalanathan said delays and adjournments in the Sri Lankan courts had resulted in a failure to investigate.</p>