The Sri Lankan navy on Sunday arrested eight Tamil Nadu fishermen for allegedly fishing off the cost of Katchatheevu, PTI reported. 

The men have been taken to Kaarainagar, the assistant director of fisheries, Gopinath was quoted by the paper as saying. 

The men's boats were also seized and fishing nets snapped. 

The arrest is the latest in the ongoing issue of Tamil Nadu fishermen being arrested by Sri Lankan navy personnel. 

The Sri Lankan prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Sunday visited the Gintota in Galle where Muslim homes and business were attacked amid clashes between Muslim and Sinhala residents. 

Pledging legal action against those responsible, Mr Wickremesinghe was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying, “a major disaster erupted because of people spreading rumours. We can’t station Police and military here forever. So everyone should live peacefully."

The Sri Lankan government has built an apparel village over Menik Farm, the site of a former IDP camp where over 300,000 Tamils were interned by the Sri Lankan army and where rape, torture and enforced disappearances of IDPs were reported to be occuring routinely. 

The village of garment factories was hailed by Sri Lanka's ministry of industry and commerce as a step towards reconciliation. 

However, the move has been widely criticised by Tamil civil society groups who have described it as an attempt to whitewash sites synonymous with the Sri Lankan military's crimes committed against Tamils. 

The Northern Provincial Council minister of education on reportedly refused to hoist the Sri Lankan flag at an event in Vavuniya. 

S Sarveswaran, who had been invited as the chief guest to an event at a school in Vavuniya, was requested to hoist the flag during the playing of Sri Lanka's national anthem. 

The event was held to distribute bicycles to students at the school. 

Jaffna's High Court judge M Ilancheliyan has ordered Sri Lanka's army commander Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake to appear in court on January 18 in relation to disappearances in army custody in 1996, Ceylon Today reported. 

Twenty-four Tamil youths disappeared after they were taken into army custody on July 19, 1996 at Navakkuli. 

Nineteen people were arrested by the Sri Lankan police after clashes broke out between Sinhala and Muslim people is parts of Galle yesterday, with reports of Muslim homes and businesses being attacked. 

Police imposed a curfew in Kurunduwatta, Maha Hapugala, Welipitimodara, Ukwatta, Ginthota and Piyandigama Grama Sevaka Divisions amid tensions in the region. 

The Law and Order minister Sagala Ratnayaka on Saturday urged people not to be "misled" by what he described as "false propraganda."

Sri Lanka reiterated its commitment to UNHRC resolution 30/1 on reconciliation accountability and justice whilst stopping short of accepting calls for a time-bound benchmarked action plan for its implementation in the final draft summary report of its Universal Periodic Review at the Human Rights Council.

The draft UPR summary report tabled on Friday afternoon said that 177 of the 230 recommendations made during the interactive dialogue of Sri Lanka’s Universal Periodic review on Wednesday, “enjoy the support of Sri Lanka.”

Sri Lanka's finance minister, Mangala Samaraweera reiterated his endorsement of the 2018 budget, stating that liberalisation was "non-negotiable". 

His comments come after the country's Minister of Ports and Shipping, Mangala Samarasinghe criticised the budget's proposed plan to allow 100% foreign ownership in the shipping sector as "completely wrong". 

Sri Lankan police instituted a curfew in Galle on Friday night, amid reports that a number of Muslim homes and businesses in Gintota were attacked by Sinhala mobs. 

Police spokesperson, Ruwan Gunasekara was quoted by Ada Derana as saying a curfew was imposed until 9am on Saturday in Kurunduwatta, Maha Hapugala, Welipitimodara, Ukwatta, Ginthota and Piyandigama Grama Sevaka Divisions. 

According to the paper, riot police and Special Task Force officers were deployed to the area to bring the mobs under control. 

Police in Jaffna had their leave cancelled until further notice due to authorities claiming that a clash could break out around the time of Tamil National Remembrance Day (Maaveerar Naal). 

The order was issused by the Northern Province's Senior DIG Roshan Fernando on Wednesday evening, the Daily Mirror reported. 

Previous years have seen the large scale deployment of police officers and armed military personnel across the North-East in the run up to Maaveerar Naal.