Sri Lankan police officers attempted to arrest Tamil protestors in Jaffna on Monday, after they entered land which has been illegally taken over by the government's Coconut Development Board.

Demonstrators, including Tamil National Alliance MP Sritharan, entered the 51-acre patch of land in Palai, Jaffna on Monday, demanding it be returned to its rightful owners. A decision had been granted in favour of the Tamil villagers by the District Development Committee, yet the Sri Lankan authorities continue their occupation.

The Sri Lankan government's claim on a continental shelf has raised objections from India, Bangladesh and the Maldives, reports the Dhaka Tribune.

Sri Lanka has made a submission before the United Nations that claims a portion of a continental shelf, an underwater land mass that extends from the seabed of a country, which Bangladesh also laid claim too.

A trishaw driver in Sri Lanka fled after he attempted to abduct and abuse two Scottish tourists who are currently visiting the island, reports the Daily Mirror.

The driver had reportedly picked up the women in his trishaw from Kandy, before driving to an abandoned building in Hantane, where he attempted to sexually abuse the women.

The leader of the Tamil National Alliance R Sampanthan is facing controversy over his 'disrespectful' treatment of two former political prisoners during a meeting in which he accused them of disrupting processes in getting them released.

Video footage shows Mr Sampanthan flicking through a newspaper while the two Tamil men speak about the plight of remaining political prisoners.

The former prisoners, Komahan Murugiah and Jeneevan Sivarasa can be seen telling Mr Sampanthan that they have not come to meet him for personal reasons, but that they were asked to meet him by the remaining Tamil political prisoners, while the TNA leader leafs through his paper.

Mr Sampanthan, barely lifting his eyes off the paper, then tells the men that the release of the political prisoners is an important issue for the Tamil people.

More than 600 Sinhala fishermen have now settled in 9 different coastal areas across Mullativiu said Northern Provincial Council member T Ravikaran, as he outlined details of state-sponsored colonisation of the Tamil North-East.

Mr Ravikaran also stated that at least 9 Buddhist viharas had been constructed in the Mullaitivu district in the last 6 years alone, all of which have been aided by the Sri Lankan armed forces.

The councillor detailed the long history of state-sponsored colonisation, recalling that in 1981 12 to 14 fishermen had been granted temporary permits to settle in Kokkilai and fish. Now the number in that village alone is 300.

The Chief Minister of the Northern Province Justice C V Wigneswaran was set to meet Sri Lanka's president and prime minister in Colombo today, in order to discuss the ongoing issue of military occupation of civilians lands in the Tamil North-East.

A high level delegation of Sri Lankan officials is in Washington DC to negotiate with the IMF about an economic programme to help ease its balance of payment crisis.

Finance minister Ravi Karunanayake and Central Bank governor Arjuna Mahendran are attending the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in the US capital.

A study by Sri Lanka's Sunday Times has found that low and middle income households will be worst hit by the government’s move to raise Value Added Tax (VAT) to 15 percent from May 2.

Telephone, water and electricity bills are due to rise, on top of an increase on consumer items, medical bills and private education.

Sri Lanka's president and prime minister are to head a series of high level security meetings in which new security measures are to be laid out, reports The Sunday Leader.

Sri Lanka's Intelligence Unit has been preparing a report to president to government leaders at a series of round table meetings, in the wake of remarks made by the Joint Opposition.

Opposition parliamentarians had raised concerns over security in the Tamil North-East after the reported discovery of explosives and weapons in Jaffna and Mannar earlier this month.

A Tamil man who was abducted by a white van from his home in Jaffna last week, has been found in Sri Lanka's notorious Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters in Colombo, reports Ceylon News.

Rajadurai Jeyanthan was abducted by armed men claiming to be from Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division in a white van last Sunday. His mother, who has since been desperately searching for his whereabouts was initially told he had been taken to Boosa Detention Camp in the Sinhala south of the island.

However Mr Jeyanthan's wife Menaka Jeyanthan told Ceylon News on Sunday that they had finally located him.

“Although we were told earlier that he had been sent to the Boosa detention camp, we visited him this morning (April 17) at the 4th Floor of the CID in Colombo,” she said.

The fourth floor of the CID headquarters in Colombo is infamous for torturing detainees. See one account from 2012 here.

An official at the Jaffna HRC had earlier told Ceylon News that abductions have continued in the North-East, with Rajadurai Jeyanthan's case being the third complaint they have received in April alone.

The Sri Lankan government says it will analyse the latest US State Department country report on human rights.