The Sri Lankan army handed out stationary to Tamil schoolchildren and basic supplies to pregnant Tamil women, at a military ceremony in Kilinochchi last month.

Over 5400 acres of private land in Jaffna is still under military occupation, the government agent N. Vethanayagam has said.

Of the 5400 acres of land still occupied by the army, 4700 acres fall within Valikamam North.

The Chief Minister of the Western Province called on Sinhala mothers across to island to produce more children in order to protect Buddhism and the Sinhala race.

Isura Devapriya said this week that Sinhala mothers must bear more children, telling an audience at Nugegoda that,

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said “relations between the United States and Sri Lanka have reached a high point” and called for further co-operation between the two governments, in a message to mark US Independence Day.

In a letter to US President Donald Trump, Mr Sirisena said that it was “especially after the election of the national unity government in Sri Lanka, that I lead” that relations between the two governments had grown.

Sri Lanka's Mahanayaka Buddhist monks of three divisions on Tuesday unanimously rejected the need for a new constitution or any amendment to the constitution, during a special meeting for the clergy in Kandy today. 

The constitutional change for a key promise of the new unity government which pledged amendments to the constitution in view of democratic reforms and reconciliation. 

Sri Lanka's former foreign affairs minister, Rohitha Bogollagama has been appointed as the new governor of the Eastern Province today, after Austin Fernando was appointed as the permanent secretary to the president. 

Mr Bogollagama, who trained as a lawyer, was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2007 till 2010 and spent much of his term denying increasingly substantiated reports that war crimes were committed by the Sri Lankan military in a systematic manner. 

In January 2010, Mr Bogollagama flatly rejected the UN human rights investigator, Philip Alston's calls for an international inquiry into war crimes, after a video emerged of Sri Lankan troops killing blindfolded Tamils. 

The Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena appointed the commander of the security forces in Jaffna, Major General Mahesh Senanayake as the new Army Commander. 

The release of Myliddy harbour is of ‘symbolic significance’ the TNA spokesperson and MP, M. A. Sumanthiran has said.

The Tamil National Alliance urged Sri Lanka to publish interim reports relating to constitutional amendments that are set to be proposed to parliament.

Speaking at a press briefing in Jaffna today, TNA spokesperson MA Sumanthiran further called on the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) to release their stance which they are due to present at a constitutional discussion on Tuesday.

Photograph Daily Mirror

Sri Lankans protested against the gazetted new Inland Revenue Act bill on Monday, arguing the bill was drafted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to increase the tax paid by citizens. 

Holding placards protesters from the Inland Revenue Trade Joint Front gathered outside the department's presmises, the Daily Mirror reported. 

The former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa accused the current government of betraying Sri Lanka and its military to what he described as the pro LTTE Tamil diaspora. 

The investment advice service, Moody's welcomed the New Inland Revenue Act gazetted by the Sri Lankan government, stating it would contribute to improving government revenues as well as paving the way for the third tranche of the International Monetary Fund loan.

The government is to regulate where protests and demonstrations can take place in Colombo with a Gazette notification by the Ministry of Law and Order next week. 

Protests and demonstrations would only be allowed in certain areas, with other roads prohibited,  the Sunday Times reported. 

Members of Sri Lanka's army concluded a three month training programme on nursery management and agriculture, reports Sri Lnaka's army website. 

Certificates were handed over to soldiers by Brigadier Randula Hatnagoda. During the programme army personnel learnt about theoritcal and practical aspects of cultivation of plants anf nursery management systems.