The Sri Lankan High Commission in the United Kingdom demanded an apology from the leader of the UK Labour party Ed Miliband, after he sent out a message marking Tamil New Year earlier this month.

Sri Lanka’s Acting High Commissioner Chanaka Talpahewa immediately sent a letter to the British opposition leader, accusing him of making a mistake in wishing only the Tamil community a happy new year, reports the Island. Some 70 million Tamils across the world had marked the occasion earlier this month.

The Sinhalese New Year also fell on April 14, and the Sri Lankan High Commission reportedly “showed their displeasure” that the Sinhalese community in the UK did not receive Mr Miliband’s wishes.

Writing on the landmark hundredth day of the new government's reign, The Economist said it had wasted the period, and that President Maithripala Sirisena has "a long way to go" to fulfil his promise to build a "new country".

The Economist highlighted the lack of power President Sirisena has within the government, which has blamed failure to fulfil pledges on divisions in the coalition, but also pointed out the strength of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

"His morale is high, lifted by queues of fawning fans who visit his village home. Many are provided with transport to his increasingly frequent public events. The media give him plenty of attention. His extended family still wields clout, despite the arrest by financial police on April 22nd of Basil Rajapaksa, one of his brothers, who used to be in charge of the economy," the paper said.

The Sri Lankan government may send an investigative team to Ukraine to probe reports that weapons were supplied to pro-Russian separatists through the Sri Lankan embassy in the country.

Ukrainian Ambassador to India Oleksandr Shevchenko met with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera on Tuesday to discuss the claims, amid reports that Sri Lanka’s former Ambassador to Russia played a key role in transfer of weapons.

The brother of Sri Lanka’s former president and former Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa has been arrested by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division of the Sri Lankan police, according to the latest reports.

Mr Rajapaksa, who only returned to Sri Lanka yesterday after leaving the island soon after January’s presidential election, was reportedly questioned by police for 7 hours this morning.

He was then arrested along with the former Secretary of the Economic Development Ministry Nihal Jayatilleke and former Divi Neguma Fund Director General R.R.K. Ranawaka, accused of corruption and misusing public funds. He is to be produced in the Kaduwela Magistrate Courts shortly.

Speaking to PTI before the arrest took place, former president Mahinda Rajapaksa accused the current Sri Lankan government of “making wild allegations” of corruption against him and his family.

“They have no evidence,” said Mr Rajapaksa. “This is a witch-hunt. Neither I nor any member of my family has ill-gotten money. Show us the money, where is the evidence?”

The Federation of National Organisations (FNO) warned that the present government was betraying national security by dismantling military basis in the North-East, as Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe did during the ceasefire.

The FNO, made up of many political organisations, businesses and civil society groups based in the south, last month warned against an "Eelam agenda" being pushed throught the 13th Amendment.

Speaking at a press conference, the general secretary of the Patriotic National Movement, Wasantha Bandara, said the government was already removing the Sampur Naval Base and had handed over the lands to its first owners. However, there have been no credible reports of any displaced people resettled in Sampur.

"According to our information, more than 400 sailors who were on duty at the Sampur Naval Base have already been transferred to the Boossa Navy Camp in Galle," he said adding that the same “appeasement” was made under the ceasefire agreement in 2002 and thousands of Sri Lankan servicemen died in Muttur in confrontation with the LTTE at a later stage.

Speaking to a Tamil magazine, whilst on study tour in Tamil Nadu, the students said, that in international airport in Jaffna would aid the aviation industry in South India.

Adding that a new airport would reduce unemployment, the students said,

Trincomalee’s Urban Council member, S Nanthakumar, has urged the government to allow international and local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to support the resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sampur.

The Sri Lankan government has vowed to streamline processes to obtain investment permits, in order to lure more investments from Asia and Africa, according to The Jakarta Post.