A temporary police checkpoint in Maniyanthottam, Jaffna was set ablaze by unknown persons on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka’s Army Chief Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake met with Northern Province Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran to offer army leadership for school cadet programmes, reports the army website.

The Commander also cited examples of the Army’s potential for deepening civil and military cooperation.

Sri Lanka's military has received strong cirticism from civil society for its pervasive involvement in civilian affairs of the northern province. 

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The Tamil National Alliance using support of the EPDP to form gain control of Local Governing bodies will be considered as forsaking party policy for personal gain, said the Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran.

Mr Wigneswaran was speaking at the opening of the office of the Tamil National Green Movement , reports Tamil Diplomat.  

China would never interfere in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka nor attach additional conditions to its assistance to Sri Lanka, the Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka has said.

Ambassador Cheng Xueyan’s remarks came at a meeting with the Secretary General of Sri Lanka’s National Economic Council, according to a press release by the Chinese Embassy.

The Sri Lankan Cabinet has granted approval to abolish an economic management committee headed by the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The decision was made in a cabinet meeting chaired by Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, who has previously submitted two cabinet papers requesting the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management be disbanded.

The President said that the CCEM has done nothing fruitful to the country in its existence.

The Central Bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission were also removed from Wickremesinghe’s National Policies and Economic Affairs Ministry today, as tensions between the coalition parties continue.

Protesters in Trincomalee on Tuesday called on the government to release Tamil political prisoners, many who have been detained for years without charge under Sri Lanka's notorious anti-terror legislation. 

The United States president, Donald Trump reauthorised special trade tariffs for a number of countries, including Sri Lanka. 

Signing the US Omnibus Spending Bill on March 23, Mr Trump ensured GSP was authorised until December 2020. The previous programme ended December 31, 2017.  

Sri Lanka's minister of industry and commerce, Rishad Bathiudeen sought to downplay the importance of the trade tarrif however. 

A Sri Lankan police inspecter was arrested today over the killing of 27 inmates at Welikada prison in 2012. 

The inspector, Neomal Rangajeeva was arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and is expected to be produced before Colombo chief magistrate tomorrow, Colombo Page reports. 

As tensions between Sri Lanka's coalition government continue and a no-confidence motion against the Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe is set to be debated in parliament next week, the president, Maithripala Sirisena today took away two key institutions from within Mr Wickremesinghe's remit. 

In an Extraordinary Gazette the Central Bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) were moved from the National Policies and Economic Affairs Ministry, led by Mr Wickremesinghe, to the Ministry of Finance. 

European Union ambassadors this week visited Kandy, the site of anti-Muslim attacks by Sinhala mobs earlier this month, and reiterated the importance of making sure Sri Lanka addresses religious and ethnic hatred. 

Meeting with senior Buddhist monks of the Asigiriya chapter and the Malwatte chapter, the ambassadors "emphasised the importance of starting a systematic dialogue with other religious leaders to avoid the recurrence of recent violence."