Two administrators of a historic Tamil temple in a Vavuniya village who were arrested last week following a complaint by Sri Lanka’s archaeology department have had their detention extended by the Vavuniya court after the case was adjourned to November 16.

The Lotus Tower, the tallest tower in South Asia standing at 356-meter, remains closed to the public despite an official opening ceremony in September and will be run by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL), which is under the control of the Defence Ministry.

Tamil villagers in Vanni were handed out artificial limbs at a highly publicised Sri Lankan military ceremony complete with Sinhala Kandyan dancers last week, as soldiers continue to occupy last swathes of land a decade since the end of the armed conflict.

The Indian government freed a group of 18 Tamil fishermen who had been arrested by the Indian navy last month, amid protests in Jaffna and calls from trade unions for their release.

Accused Sri Lankan war criminal Shavendra Silva saw off a contingent of soldiers heading for a UN peacekeeping mission to Mali this morning, despite the global body announcing last month it would ban all “non-essential” Sri Lankan troops.

The main witness in the case of the torture and murder of a Tamil man by Sri Lankan police in Jaffna continues to receive threats as the case awaits further hearing in court.

Updated 1130 GMT

Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, told a gathering in Batticaloa that his United National Party (UNP) was determined to devolve powers to provinces, whilst claiming that the armed conflict on the island came as people had forgotten their “Sri Lankan identity”.

Updated 2000 GMT

A fast-unto-death protest launched by a Sinhala Buddhist monk against signing a United States Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant ended just hours after it started when the Sri Lankan government and leading candidates rushed to assure the monk that it would not be signed before this month’s presidential elections.

A Tamil activist who has been searching for her abducted husband for over a decade has spoken on her disappointment with the Sri Lankan government over its lack of progress in investigating enforced disappearances.

Preparations are underway in the North-East to clear Maaveerar thuyilum illams, LTTE cemeteries, ahead of Maaveerar Naal on November 27.

A public awareness campaign demanding justice for the Tamil journalists killed, disappeared and attacked in Sri Lanka was initiated by Jaffna journalists to mark International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists on Saturday.

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Controversial British politician Lord Naseby continued to push widely debunked casualty figures relating to the final stages of the Sri Lanka military’s offensive in 2009, claiming that less than 6,000 civilians were killed.