A controversial new Sinhala colonisation program in the Tamil North-East of the island will also see new villages being constructed in the Sinhala south and named after former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Housing and Construction Sajith Premadasa said the ‘Village Reawakening’ program was to construct a new village in Hambantatota after Mr Rajapaksa, who is accused of overseeing and directing mass atrocities during the final stages of the armed conflict on the island.

“We are hoping to build villages to be named after all former presidents and rulers of Sri Lanka,” added Mr Premadasa, himself the son of a former president R Premadasa who initiated the scheme.

Last week the minister opened a new village in the Tamil North-East as part of the program.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Sri Lanka 141st out of 180 countries in its annual World Press Freedom Index for 2016.

The latest ranking is an improvement from last year, where under the previous government Sri Lanka had ranked 165th.

“By electing Maithripala Sirisena as president, Sri Lanka freed itself of the reign of terror imposed by the Rajapaksa family and its allies,” said RSF, adding “the new government said journalists and cyber-dissidents would no longer have to fear reprisals for their political views or for articles on such sensitive subjects as corruption and the military”.

“The Tamil media – long a target of the authorities, including after the official end of the civil war in 2009 – have seen a decline in harassment and hope it will last,” it added.

A 25 year old Tamil was arrested on Thursday for watching a YouTube video of a Tamil Eelam song, produced by the LTTE, on his mobile phone.

The man, who was watching the video near his home in the Gurunagar part of Jaffna, was caught by police officers in civil clothing, who heard the song and took the mobile phone from him, before arresting him.

A list of people who surrendered during the last phase of the armed conflict in 2009 was not submitted to the Mullaithivu magistrate court by the army, despite a pledge by the 58D Brigade Commanding Officer to do so.

Mullathivu Magistrate MSM Samsudeen ordered the officer on February 17 this year to furnish the list by April 20, however the state counsel was not present in court, causing the case to be postponed till May 17, according to Ceylon Today.

A writ of mandamus regarding people who went missing after surrendering to the army was submitted at a court in Vavuniya, before it was transferred to the court in Mullaithivu. When the witness statements were recorded in December 2015, the officer testified that the names mentioned were not amongst those who surrendered and when pressed said that there was a list of names of all those who surrendered.

The Minister of Hosing and Construction Sajith Premadasa said on Wednesday that the government had no option but to increase the VAT due to the debt run up by the previous government, under Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Sri Lankan navy declared that it has arrested a group of asylum seekers who were attempting to flee the island on the early hour

Tamils in America have called on US authorities to arrest Sri Lanka’s former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who is currently reported to be visiting the US.

An update on the Ministry of Defence website, which requires approval for foreigners to travel to the North, was made in error, military spokesperson Brigadier Jayantha Jayaweera claimed, according to Ceylonews.

Speaking to the news website, the brigadier said it was a technical mistake.

“The web link which was originally published in 2014 got republished when we transferred the web server. There is no travel restriction for anybody to travel north whatsoever,” Brigadier Jayaweera told Ceylon News via phone.

He said that the technical team has been informed to deactivate the link as soon as possible.