The Indian Defence Ministry has announced it will move members of the Sri Lankan Air Force from Tambaram air base in Tamil Nadu.

A day after strong condemnation from all major parties in Tamil Nadu, the Ministry of Defense released a statement saying the personnel will be moved.

Sri Lanka Cricket has named 56 foreign players who will play in the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League.

The list is dominated by players from Australia (18) and Pakistan (13).

There are no India or England players - apart from Azhar Mahmood.

Seven people, including two local government members of the ruling party UPFA, have been arrested in connection with the rape of two teenage girls, reported The Island.

Tamil Nadu chief Minister Jayalalitha has objected to nine Sri Lankan air force personnel being trained at an Indian airbase near Chennai, and called on the Central government to immediately cancel the programme and send the participants back, PTI reports.

Sri Lanka’s defiant response to criticism of its clampdown on press freedoms by the United States and rights groups came from none other than Prof. GL Peiris, the former peace negotiator held in high esteem by the international community, now Foreign Minister in President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Sinhala-nationalist government.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for an end to the harrassment of media outlets and journalists in a report released on Tuesday.

In a statement, HRW said,

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Media and Information, Keheliya Rambukwella has told Sinhala paper Divaina that the government is planning to ban all websites that ‘sling mud’

A Tamil political detainee transferred to the Mahara prison after being attacked in Vavuniya has died this morning, reported Pathivu.

A Canadian court has found a former Sri Lankan naval officer not eligible for asylum because the Sri Lankan Navy was complicit in war crimes.

The Tamil Saiva priest of the Aathi Paraasakthi temple in Valveddithurai was attacked by Sri Lankan soldiers, reported TamilNet on Tuesday.

A total of 15,780 people were reported missing to the ICRC until the end of last year.

Sri Lankan police have arrested 53 people for failing to clear stagnating water and other mosquito breeding grounds around their homes.

The United States has decided to not change the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) benefits to Sri Lanka.

The GSP country practice review of Sri Lanka was closed based on the Sri Lankan government’s efforts to address worker rights issues over the past few years.

Six Tamil political prisoners, who were transferred from Vavuniya prison to Anuradhapura prison in amidst of the recent attacks, have been attacked by prison officials, reported Uthayan on Saturday.