Moody's Investors Service said that Sri Lanka’s government liquidity and external vulnerability risks will remain elevated and that it would continue to face “material credit challenges” ahead, in a report published this week.

The report on Sri Lanka’s fiscal reforms, stated that in particular “persistently high government liquidity and external vulnerability risks will maintain pressure on the sovereign's credit profile, as large external payments come due in 2019-2022”.

Sri Lanka’s Election Commission announced that Local Government elections across the island will be held on February 10^th, 2018.

Chairman of the Commission Mahinda Deshapriya announced that the date would be the same for all 341 councils across the island at a media briefing on Monday.

A widely criticised Sri Lankan army food festival failed to draw local crowds in Jaffna.

The Sri Lankan navy concluded a military exercise in Trincomalee this week, held in order to “improve preparedness for an array of terrorist attacks”.

British parliamentarians have called on Sri Lanka to release a list of all those who surrendered or were detained by the security forces during and after the armed conflict, in a message of support with families of the disappeared, as their protest passes 300 days.

The international community should demand Sri Lanka to investigate enforced disappearances and prosecute those responsible writes journalist J S Tissainayagam in a piece for Asian Correspondent.

“Sri Lanka’s responses to questions on accountability for rights violations at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in November were evasive and packed with clichés,” said Mr Tissainayagam.

The Sri Lankan state’s failure to release coastal land in Trincomalee has meant that many of the district’s fishing communities remain displaced and struggle to carry out their livelihood.

Representatives of Tamil fishing communities across the district met to discuss the ongoing challenges at a meeting of the Trincomalee District Fishing Association on Saturday.

Three Sri Lankan fishing trawlers were released by Indian authorities on Saturday, the navy media unit reported. 

The release of the trawlers, which were confiscated for allegedly crossing into Indian waters, comes amid ongoing tensions between the two states over the issue of fishermen straying across the Interational Maritime Boundary Line. 

Sri Lankan ministers are to submit a renewed proposal on Tuesday for construct two power plants in Trincomalee and Norochcholai, Puttalam. 

A Joint Cabinet Memorandum was submitted by minister of special assignments, Sarath Amunugama and the minister of power and renewable energies, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya.

According to the proposal the plants are to be "clean coal" power plants with "minimal environmental damage", the Sunday Times reported.  

Russia has suspended tea imports from Sri Lanka from December 18 onwards, after Khapra beetles were found in a consignment.  

The ban has prompted three ministers, the minister of plantations, Navin Dissanayake, the industry and commerce minister, Rishad Bathiudeen and the minister of science, technology and research, Susil Premajayantha, to visit Moscow urgently in order to seek a removal of the ban. 

The Australian government confirmed it had excluded offshore detention facilities in the islands of Manus and Nauru in its obligation to prevent the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of people in detention, following the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) this week. 

Sri Lankan authorities today released 16 Tamil Nadu fishermen after two months in detention, reports PTI. 

The men were arrested in October by the Sri Lankan navy for allegedly fishing in the island's waters. 

The release of the men was ordered by a court in Jaffna. The men are to be handed over to the Indian coast guard on Sunday. 

A lawsuit has been filed in Haiti against the UN and peacekeeping soldiers by mothers of 'peacekeeper babies' seeking child support and paternity payments, the Guardian reports. 

The legal team for 10 mothers who are struggling financially with raising children allegedly fathered by UN peacekeepers stationed in Haiti, have argued they were sexually exploited. 

Peacekeeping troops from Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Argentina and Uruguay have been implicated. 

Sri Lanka's prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday announced the government would continue to subsidise essential items until April 2018 due to the high price of staples such as rice and coconuts.