The Sri Lankan army and police arrested a group of deserters in a joint operation this week, reports The Island.

The deserters were arrested in the villages of Kabalgastenna, Watagalatenna, Udahena, Kahatagastenna and Hingulwala.

Amnesties were declared for all deserters earlier year, with over 23,600 deserters having handed themselves over.

The United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Miroslav Jenča, will being a five day visit to Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

The visit comes following UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York last month.

Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake urged China to help Sri Lanka through its financial crisis by adjusting loan rates, on Sunday.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post , Mr Karunanayake, said,

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe met with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong on Friday to discuss the promotion of bilateral cooperation between the two governments.

During his visit Mr Wickremesinghe also met with Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugratnam, Minister for Economic and Social Polices Mr K Shanmugam and Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan.

Former senior LTTE official Subramaniam Sivakamy, better known as Colonel Thamilini, has died at the age of 43, due to cancer. She was reportedly hospitalised a few days ago and passed away this morning.

Col Thamilini, from Paranthan in Kilinochchi, was the head of the LTTE women's wing political division and one of the most senior members of the movement to be detained by the Sri Lankan military in 2009. She was held in Welikada prison for 3 years, before being moved to Poonthottam rehabilitation camp. She was released to her family in June 2013.

The Sri Lankan police have cordoned off an area in Ariyalai, Jaffna after the discovery of the skeletal remains of two women earlier this week.

The police have reportedly brought forensic experts to exhume the area and denied entry to anyone else who attempted to access it.

The Sri Lankan government hired two new hangmen last week, after calls for the abolition of the death penalty on the island.

Though the role has been described as “light administrative work”, Prisons Commissioner General Rohana Pushpakumara said "in the event the government wants to carry out executions, we should be prepared".

One of the 14 applicants interviewed last week as a former Sri Lankan soldier. "I'm angry at drug traffickers, murderers and those who rape children, so I will not hesitate a moment if I am asked to execute them," he said. "If they are not implementing the death penalty then I will quit."

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said a “Compassionate Council”, composed of Buddhist monks and other religious leaders, will decide on whether those accused of international humanitarian law violations would be granted amnesty.

Speaking to the Straits Times Mr Wickremesinghe said the “bulk of cases” will be dealt with by a Truth Commission. “And from there starts the role of the Compassionate Council,” he said. “They will be the key people.”