The Mullaitivu district government agent said 2300 houses had been damaged by the extreme flooding last month within that district, with 86 homes completely destroyed and 2297 homes partially damaged. 

Speaking to journalists on Friday, Roopavathy Ketheeswaran said that 10,118 families had been affected and 24,293 acres of plantation destroyed. 

More than 120,000 people were affected across the Vanni due to the floods, according to data released by the government’s Disaster Management Centre (DMC).

United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MP M. L. A. M. Hizbullah, who entered parliament as a national list MP after failing to win a seat from Batticaloa in the last election, has been appointed as the governor of the Eastern Province.

Hizbullah assumed his seat in the current parliament as a national list MP after the UPFA failed to secure any seats in the Batticaloa District in the 2015 general election.

Muslims in Vavuniya protested on Friday for the release of their lands which are still occupied by the Sri Lankan army.

Owners of land in Ramayankulam and Cheddikulam protested outside the mosque in Andiya Puliyankulam after lunchtime prayers on Friday.

 Public bus drivers in the North engaged in strike action on Friday in protest of the Sri Lanka central transport board’s failure to address their complaints about mismanagement and corruption in the board’s regional management.

Bus services from all seven bus depots in the Northern Province ground to a halt during the strike.

The former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa said he would be contesting the polls under a broader coalition, speaking to journalists today. 

"Sri Lanka Freedom Party would also be included in this coalition," Rajapaksa, who is currently a member of the SLPP party, added. 

Rajapaksa made these comments whilst taking up his work at his personal office, following religious prayers with senior Buddhist clergy. 

<p>Sri Lanka's Speaker, Karu Jayasuriya has backed the former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa as the country's opposition leader, despite objections from the TNA and party leaders such as Rauff Hakeem and Mano Ganeshan.&nbsp;</p> <p>Informing party leaders of his decision, Jayasuriya said anyone could take up the matter through a judicial process.&nbsp;</p> <p>Jayasuriya announced last month he would be recognising Rajapaksa as the opposition leader, following Ranil Wickremesinghe's re-appointment as prime minister with the support of the TNA.&nbsp;</p>

Two youths were arrested yesterday over a post on social media mocking the rampant bribery by Sri Lankan police.

The two youths, aged 23, posted photos of themselves offering bribes to life size cut outs of traffic police officers along the Puttalam-Colombo road. 

The youths were arrested on charges of damaging public property and humiliating the police. 

<p>Sri Lankan police have reportedly arrested yet another Tamil man over the shooting of two police officers in Batticaloa, which took place in November last year.</p> <p>The man, identified as 31-year-old George Niranjan, was arrested for perverting the course of justice, with regards to the police investigation of the shooting.</p> <p>The arrest came after Niranjan reportedly denied he had any knowledge on the shooting, after police stated that he had initially said he was willing to provide information on the incident.</p>

A Sri Lankan government minister has blamed “foreigners” for the construction of a sign in Colombo with Sinhala, English and Chinese script, but no Tamil.

The sign, at the Metro Colombo Solid Waste Management Project, was photographed and tweeted to the Sri Lankan minister, causing outrage from many Tamils on social media.

Mano Ganesan, Sri Lanka’s of Minister of National Integration and Official Languages, blamed “foreigners” for the sign, stating that it was constructed at a “Chinese site”.

A senior UNP leader and Sri Lankan government minister thanked the navy for creating a “very cordial environment” in Nainativu last week, where the military maintains a large camp and has helped to construct a Buddhist vihara.

Harsha de Silva was visiting the island, which has been occupied by the Sri Lankan military for years, when he tweeted photographs posing with the chief monk of the vihara on the island.