^{Photograph: Sri Lankan troops prepare for deployment to Lebanon earllier this month.}

Several human rights organisations have written to the United Nations calling for the deployment of a Sri Lankan military commander implicated in war crimes as the head of a peacekeeping force to be halted.

Several officials from the Australian government met with the Chief of Staff of the Sri Lankan Navy this week, where they discussed measures to be taken to prevent the trafficking of refugees fleeing the island.

The chair of Sri Lanka’s Election Commission Mahinda Deshapriya revealed that a lack of Tamil speakers hired by the government for election roles led to a “serious hindrance” to the electoral process last week.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Mr Deshapriya said there was a severe lack of Tamil speakers at district election offices and at the Government Printer.

A Sri Lankan court has once again extended an interim injunction which prevents any legal action from being taken against the former defence secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa for alleged financial crimes.

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.