The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to Sri Lanka’s GL Peiris on issues of accountability, free media, human rights and demilitarising the North, according the spokesperson Victoria Nuland, a move that was rejected just hours later by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Asked if prosecuting war crimes and responsibility for the estimated 40,000 civilian deaths in the final phase of the armed conflict was discussed, Ms. Nuland replied,

Sri Lanka has announced that a new subsidy for fertilisers would be granted to farmers with supplementary crop cultivations, expanding a scheme currently only available for paddy farmers.

Minister S.M. Chandrasena stated that the new subsidy was decided by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapksa, after discussions with farmers. He announced that the new subsidy was a means of tackling a surplus of paddy cultivation.

A total of 234 Tamil detainees are now on hunger strike at prisons across the country, which has stretched into its fifth day, with more detainees joining the protest.

The detainees, some who have been held without charge for several years, have asked to be either charged or released.

India’s plans to lend ancient fragments of the Buddha’s bones to Sri Lanka have been slammed by Tamil Nadu activists.

Sri Lanka signed an agreement with India on Friday, permitting the transfer of the relics for the celebrations marking the 2,600th anniversary of Buddha’s enlightenment.

The request was made by President Rajapakse to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a visit last year.

Tamil Nadu politician Vaiko criticised India’s decision in a letter to the Prime Minister.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has slammed the Sri Lankan Supreme Court’s decision to rejection a petition on the government’s website censorship earlier this week, filed by members of the Free Media Movement.

Bob Dietz, coordinator of CPJ’s Asia Program stated,

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has used a presidential pardon to grant the former army General Sarath Fonseka release from prison, after he was jailed in 2010.

Around 2,000 supporters greeted Fonseka at his release, waving the Sri Lankan flag and chanting,

"Victory to our war hero! Victory to our leader!"

Addressing the Mullivaikkal remembrance event in Trafalgar Square, London on Saturday, Jan Jananayagam of Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) paid tribute to the thousands of Tamil lives lost, calling them “symbols of strength and courage”.

Taking the opportunity to remember life in the Vanni before the assault by the Sri Lankan Army, she stated,

“The Vanni was above all a sanctuary. A sanctuary from the horrifying lawlessness of the Sri Lankan state and its military apparatus.”

Addressing the Mullaivaikkal remembrance event in London, on Saturday, the Tamil Youth Organisation UK (TYO UK), condemned the ongoing abuses, colonisation and oppression taking place in the North-East and asserted, "history makes two things very clear. Justice cannot be compromised on and oppression will not be tolerated forever."

The British Tamil Forum condemned the continued oppression of the Tamil nation in their speech at London's Mullivaikal remembrance event on Saturday.

BTF asserted that the Tamil people will never accept 'servitude in their own land' and 'subjugation' will be 'resisted'.

For full BTF speech see here. See below for extracts: