The Chinese ambassador to India, Le Yucheng said China is planning to open a consulate in Tamil Nadu’s capital Chennai soon, The New Indian Express reported.

Speaking to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Paneerselvam on Monday, Mr Yucheng said Beijing was keen on strengthening relations between state-leaders in India and provincial leaders in China and invited the chief minister to visit his country.

Mr Paneerselvam highlighted the key projects China was engaged with in his state, including the supply of laptops to students and utensils to families.

Mr Yucheng noted that China is also collaborating in developing a high-speed rail link between Delhi and Chennai and that a Chinese company is engaged in the construction of the Chennai Metro Rail project.

Sri Lanka's Ministry of Resettlement, Reconstruction and Hindu Religious Affairs said 22,000 children have been born into families in Indian refugee camps, from those who have fled North-East Sri Lanka.

The Sunday Leader reported Sri Lanka's Additional Secretary of the Ministry, Mohamed Naimudeen, as saying the 22,000 children were born to approximately 100,000 families. The refugees were from  Jaffna, Mannar, Trincomalee and Mullaitivu said Mr Naimudeen.

The United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Chairman of the United Nations Development Group Asia-Pacific, Haoliang Xu, will be visiting Sri Lanka next week, according to a statement from his office.

In what will be Mr Xu's second visit to the island, he is expected to meet with government officials, development partners and civil society groups.

Three members of Sri Lanka’s navy have been arrested over the killing of TNA MP Nadarajah Raviraj who was killed in Colombo, near the headquarters of the military police, in November 2006.

Police spokesperson Ruwan Gunasekara said the arrested were being interrogated under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

“The three soldiers including two officers will also be interrogated over the incidents of disappearance of several youth reported in 2006,” he said.

The government was accused of being behind the attacks by the TNA, diaspora organisations and the UNP. The US led international criticism of the government and urged it to conduct an investigation.

Then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered an inquiry and two suspects, Nalaka Mathagaweera and Aruna Shantha Ediriweera, were arrested in 2007. Mr Rajapaksa requested assistance from Britain’s Scotland Yard, who sent a team to work with the Criminal Investigation Department, who looked at evidence. Nothing came of the inquiry. 

The leader of the Tamil National Alliance, Rajavarothayam Sampanthan, expressed confidence that the Special Presidential Commission, headed by former president Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, can find a suitable solution to issues concerning Tamil by the end of this year, Ceylon Today reported.

"We have clarified to the former President all matters relating to the problems faced by the people of the North and East and urged that such issues be immediately addressed meaningfully. When Kumaratunga became the President in 1994, she was very keen about settling the grievances of the Tamil people and she also mooted a suitable political solution to those issues. We were however, unable to see anything come out of it" he said.

"President Sirisena won the elections. Everyone should benefit from the change that the Presidential election has ushered in. We believe that President Sirisena will respect the legitimate demands of the Tamil people. We should be clearly focused on winning those demands," he added.