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 Rajapaksa government obtained loans at high interest rates and wasted public funds on projects which had no return while stealing part of it", he said. 

Mr Premadasa said that the estimated cost of the Sooriyawewa international cricket stadium had been Rs. 1,200 million, but it had cost Rs. 4,200 million and questioned what happened to the additional money.

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

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.

The European Commission on Thursday delisted Sri Lanka over illegal fishing, following reforms.

"After a lengthy dialogue process Sri Lanka has now successfully reformed its fisheries governance system," the EU commission said in a statement.

"The country was issued with a yellow card in 2012 and been listed by the Council in February 2015. By today it has amended its legal framework, strengthened sanctions and improved its fleet control."

The UK Foreign Office in its annual human rights report, reported that positive steps made by the new Sri Lankan government were "less apparent in the north and east", highlighting the "continued reports of torture, and sexual and gender-based violence" documented in the OHCHR report.