Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa claimed today that western countries were intent on bringing dummies into power around the world, adding they were trying to do the same in Sri Lanka, reported the DailyMirror.

The District Disaster Management Group announced 1,428 families have been displaced due to floods in Mannar, reports Uthayan.

According to figures obtained by the Jaffna daily, 2,903 members from 758 families in the Mannar region Secretariat division, 41 members from 12 families in the Naanaattaan Region Secretariat division and 2,714 from 658 families in the Manthai West Secretariat Division have been displaced and are now residing in temporary camps.

The Chenmai mass graves were first discovered after a Sri Lankan soldier, charged of raping and murdering a Tamil teenager in July 1998, revealed the whereabouts of a mass grave site where he had been tasked with burying over 400 bodies.

Ravana Balaya, a Sinhala Buddhist organisation, announced that it will be supporting incumbent Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, at the forthcoming presidential elections, on Sunday.

ColomboPage reported that the announcement was made at the annual Ravana Balaya congress that was held in Colombo. The leader of the organisation, Buddhist monk Iththakande Saddhathissa, reportedly vowed to defeat opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena, stating that his candidacy was an attempt to cause division amongst Sinhala leaders.

The announcement follows another Sinhala Buddhist group, Boda Bala Sena, pledging their “unconditional support” to Mahinda Rajapaksa. See more here.

Also see more of Ravana Balaya's activities in the past year in our earlier posts: