Sri Lankan police on Saturday shot at a Tamil man in Mullaitivu after he demanded to see an arrest warrant.

Police in civil pictured with the gun used to shoot at the Tamil man

The 26 year old man, Vivekanandan Thijeevan was at home in the highly militarised Keppapilavu mode village when two police officers from the Mulliyawalai police station arrived stating the magistrate had issued an arrest warrant for him.

When Mr Thijeevan demanded to see the arrest warrant prior to being taken in custody, one of the police officers who was dressed in civilian clothes fired two shots at his feet. He was then forcibly taken into custody.

Five projects in the Sri Lankan president's home town of Polonnaruwa are to be given to Chinese companies, despite the government's previous announcement of competitive bids, the Sunday Times reported.

A memorandum of understanding between the two countries was signed in April for projects including drinking water supply, infrastructure and an agro-econonomic centre, the paper added.

The projects will be funded by Chinese loans, dependent on Chinese companies, workers and goods being recruited.

Tamil students at Eastern University staged a protest yesterday condemning the recent attack on a Tamil university student by Sinhalese students after he posted a picture commemorating the Mullivaikkal massacres on May 18 on a Facebook page.

The protesting students called on the university administration to take action against the perpetrators and to put an end to racially motivated attacks. The incident, which took place earlier this week, has seen no arrests and has seen the university authorities and Sri Lankan state condemned for its inaction and "partisan approach".

A debate on a no-confidence motion against Sri Lanka's finance minister Ravi Karunanayake has been scheduled in parliament on June 8.

The motion, brought by 37 members of the joint opposition, accuses the minister of "mishandling the economy and putting the country in an economic crisis", the Colombo Page reported.

Stating that the MPs had lost faith in the minister, the MP Bandula Gunawardena presented the motion to the Speaker and stated "the government obtained loans without making any records and it is difficult to serve as the Finance Minister without revealing the truth to parliament".

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) is to issue a directive on the treatment of people detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

The directives are aimed to regulate the arrest process, process to be followed after arrest and special measures related to the arrest of women and people under 18 years.

Sri Lankan Buddhist monks led a protest against the Eastern chief minister's comments to a navy officer, telling him to "just get out of here" at a civilian event.

Condemning the chief minister, who is a Sri Lankan Muslim, the monks and other Sinhala protesters chanted derogatory remarks against Muslims.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa says she will continue to press the central government in Delhi to get justice for Tamils in the North.

Responding to a letter by Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran congratulating her on her election victory, Ms Jayalalithaa said she would meet with the chief minister at a "mutually convenient time".

The Japanese government will provide Sri Lanka with loans worth over $340mn, for the construction of transmission lines and water supply facilities, according to a statement released by Japan.

"Prime Minister Abe expressed his intention to provide ODA loans, which amount to approximately 38 billion yen, for the construction of transmission lines in the North Central and Eastern Provinces and water supply facilities in the North Central Province, in order to further promote socio-economic development of Sri Lanka. The project of constructing transmission lines will allow the electricity generated at the power plants that Sri Lanka planned in the Eastern Province to be transmitted to the City of Colombo," the statement said.

The prime minister told President Sirisena, who is currently in Japan, that Sri Lanka will also receive two patrol boats, a part of their maritime security cooperation.

The highly opposed option of building 65,000 prefabricated steel houses for displaced people in the North-East has been termed as a ‘fair solution’ by a University Panel in Sri Lanka, reports The Hindu.

A panel from the department of Civil Engineering at the University of Peradeniya, deemed that the housing project was suitable despite concerns raised by the Tamil National Alliance and the Northern Provincial Council.