Vigils were held today in Chemmani and Mirusuvil in Jaffna, in Uyilankulam in Mannar, and Mulankavil to mark the first day of Tamil genocide remembrance week in the North-East.

The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) is launching launched a series of regional discussion with families of the disappeared starting in Mannar today, reports adaderena.lk.

The consultations are a vital step in the process to operationalise the functions of the OMP in its search for missing and disappeared persons said the Chairman of the OMP Saliya Peiris in a statement.

Sri Lanka’s central bank intervened as the rupee closed at a record low at the end of last week.

The central bank intervened by selling US dollars to support the currency, reports Reuters.

Officials at Sri Lanka’s central bank were not available for comments. Earlier last week senior deputy governor at Sri Lanka’s central bank Nandalal Weerasinghe said the bank would intervene to smooth high volatility and to support the rupee when necessary.

The Sri Lankan government has introduced the “Single Window Investment Facilitation Taskforce” as a mechanism to coordinate and speed-up the investment approval process, according to EconomyNext.

The taskforce is expected to help investors avoids the delays that are associated with the14 different approvals and licenses needed for project approval. 

See more here.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, former army commander and now minister, Sarath Fonseka, denies the enforced disappearance of hundreds of Tamils at the end of the war.  He told Al Jazeera that such claims are “definitely an exaggerated story.”

In response to the correspondent’s questions regarding the whereabouts of Tamil surrendees, Fonseka stated:

“I don’t know. I can’t visualise how it could have been taking place. During the war and the last two weeks of the war, we had a very good system where we had made a beautiful arrangement with everybody coming and surrendering to security forces. I even went there personally. I am 100% sure. Incidents of this nature never took place […] Just because of some 10, 15 family members come and say that our children were taken… they have gone missing, you can’t take it as gospel truth or something.”

The head of the Sri Lankan army announced its new “Directorate of Overseas Operations” was to be dedicated to defending the military from war crimes charges on Thursday.

The new office, which the military inaugurated in Colombo last month, would be dedicated to defending the military said Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Mahesh Senanayake.

“The Army has not told its side of the story, which is what the new think tank will do,” he said. “A few personnel may have committed crimes, but the whole Army cannot be blamed for that.”

The chief minister of the Northern Province, C V Wigneswaran met with leaders of Muslim civil society groups on Monday, to discuss how to tackle the increasing issue of illegal drugs. 

Muslim groups handed over a petition to Mr Wigneswaran urging him to take action on the issue. 

Members of Batticaloa's municipal council yesterday remembered those who had been killed during the final stages of the armed conflict. 

At the end of the council's session, members stood to hold three minutes of silence.

The Northern Provincial Council passed a resolution this week marking May 18 as a Tamil national day of mourning, in memory of the tens of thousands who were killed in the final stages of the armed conflict. 

The resolution was brought by NPC member, Ananthi Sasitharan during the NPC's 122n session on Wednesday, and was seconded by E Jeyasegram. 

It was passed unanimously without any opposition. 

On Monday, NPC members agreed that in line with the previous 3 years, a remembrance event should be held for those who were killed and appointed a committee to oversee arrangements. 

Members of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) on Wednesday joined families in Iranaitivu to clear land that was until recently under navy occupation and donated food items. 

On April 23 villagers from Iranaitivu staged a daring attempt to return to their homes, sailing to the island which continues to be occupied by the Sri Lankan military and marching to their homes, refusing to leave until they are guaranteed their land will be returned to them.

Whilst permitting the villagers to stay, the Sri Lankan navy remains on the island, fuelling uncertainty about the residents right to live in their own lands.