A former Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) has been arrested by Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigations Department (CID) over the 2009 assassination of the Sunday Leader editor, Lasantha Wickramatunga.

The retired senior DIG, named as Prasanna Nanayakkara by southern media, has been detained for allegedly concealing evidence from investigations into the murder, which took place in broad daylight in Colombo. Mr Nanayakkara headed the Mount Lavinia Police Division at the time of the killing.

Sri Lanka's foreign minister, Tilak Marapana said on Tuesday that the UNP's election losses at the recent local government polls was due to the singing of the national anthem in Tamil at Independence Day. 

Speaking at a meeting of the UNP chaired by the prime minister, Mr Marapana was quoted by the Sri Lankan Mirror as saying, "the Sinhala Buddhist vote base of the UNP suffered by the day, losing 50,000 votes every times the Tamil version of the national anthem was sung."

Despite repeated calls for Sri Lankan military forces to stay out of the tourism industry, the Sri Lankan Army constructed and opened a tourist viewpoint in Point Pedro on Monday.

Sri Lanka’s government is in a crisis after coalition parties failed to reach a consensus on the way forward, following a massive defeat to former president Mahinda Rajapaksa at local government elections this week.

Both Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe are in dire straits after their parties suffered heavy losses at the polls. Crisis talks have taken place between the two, but no outcome has been announced thus far. Talks in Colombo earlier today led to reports that a “special committee” will be formed to submit reform proposals within the next 3 days.

The Tamil National Alliance on Thursday rejected reports it would join the unity government, after Sri Lanka's coalition government plunged into crisis following its poor performance at the local elections this weekend. 

"We will not join with the government until a solution to the national question is imminent, the TNA spokesperson, M A Sumanthiran was quoted by Athavan News as saying. The weblink to the article was subsequently tweeted by the TNA's official Twitter account. 

Three Hindu shrines across Mannar were vandalised last night, just one day before Hindus celebrate Maha Sivaraththri. 

The Vigneswaran temple in Thalaimannar, built in 1988 by the Indian Peace Keeping Forces, was broken into. Three statues have been stolen. 

Sri Lanka’s military in Mullaitivu declared open a new entrance to its 59 Division Headquarters earlier this month.

Sri Lankan troops across the North-East continued to impose themselves on civilian life in the region, with several divisions involving themselves in Thai Pongal festivities last month.

The Tamil Refugee Council has spoken out against the Australian government’s decision to deport a former LTTE cadre to Sri Lanka, stating that it “puts at risk his safety and possibly his life”.

The move to deport the Tamil asylum seeker named as Shantaruban comes despite the UN committee against torture issuing an interim measure request last year, formally asking that Australia “refrain from returning [Shantaruban] to the Republic of Sri Lanka while his complaint is under consideration”.

Reconciliation and lasting peace will elude Sri Lanka for as long as there is no accountability for massacres and atrocities, the advocacy group PEARL has said.

In a statement marking 22 years since the Kumarapuram massacre, the organisation said “justice for this case, amongst many, remains crucial for healing processes to commence.”

Reiterating the barriers to justice within the Sri Lankan judicial system, as found in the organisation’s 2017 report on the massacre, PEARL said: