"I'd like to send my best wishes to everyone in Britain, Sri Lanka and around the world celebrating Aluth Avurudda and to all Tamil communities celebrating Puthandu today.  I know that millions of people across five continents will celebrate their New Year with their friends, families and neighbours.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Tamil and Sinhalese communities in Britain for their fantastic contribution to our country. From education and medicine to culture and business you have played an incredibly important and positive role in modern-day Britain.

"I wish everyone in Britain and around the world who is celebrating New Year this weekend my very best wishes.
 

The US Ambassador-at-large for Global Criminal Justice, Stephen J. Rapp, said at an event in Washington that the US will continue to work to keep the Sri Lanka issue alive, with a view to see justice some day.

Rapp was speaking last Thursday at an event organised by the America Bar Association-International Criminal Court Project, the Aspen Institute Justice & Society Program, and the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, entitled International Criminal Justice: Mass Atrocities, The International Criminal Court, and the Role of States.

The BJP’s candidate to be the next prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, is due to campaign extensively in the Tamil Nadu, reported The Hindu.

The controversial Hindu nationalist politician will visit Chennai, Krishnagiri, Coimbatore, Salem, Erode and Ramnad over the next week, with a view to capturing votes for his alliance, which includes Tamil Nadu parties, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, Pattali Makkal Katchi, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Indhiya Jananayaka Katchi and Kongunadu Makkal Desia Katchi.

Meanwhile the Sri Lankan government has said it is holding a series of talks with Indian politicians, including Narendra Modi.

The killings of three Tamil men last week, who the Sri Lankan military claims were attempting to revive the LTTE, has spread terror amongst the Tamil population. The culmination of weeks of heightened military activity in the North-East, including mass arrests, interrogations and widespread house to house search operations, the killings serve as a collective warning and reminder to the Tamil people of the state's response, capability and preparedness to curtail any Tamil resistance. As public executions do else where, the killings seek to enforce control through violence and fear. Under the guise of counter terrorism measures, the Sri Lankan state is terrorising the Tamil population, on a scale not seen since the end of the armed conflict. Inducing fear, which disintegrates not only Tamil political space, but also social space, is the primary goal.

The Tamil woman whose body was found yesterday in a well in Visvamadu has been named as 32 year old T. Rajasulosana.

Rajasulosana was found, floating in a well with lacerations on her neck, after barking dogs led to villagers discovering blood on the ground, which led them to discover the body, locals told the Tamil Guardian.

The Labour MP for Washington and Sunderland West, Sharon Hodgson, said she withdrew from a planned trip to Sri Lanka over the government’s refusal to cooperate with an international inquiry as mandated by the UNHRC last month.

The trip was called off after a senior Labour figure intervened, causing the two Labour MPs, Ms Hodgson and Stephen Hepburn to pull out and leaving the remaining MPs no choice but to cancel the trip, Channel 4 reported last week.

“I have a long-standing interest in seeking justice for those who have been the victim of war crimes and human rights abuses in Sri Lanka, and was a co-signatory to a letter in 2010 calling for an independent, international inquiry into them," Ms Hodgson said.

The leader of the Labour Party Ed Miliband wished the British Tamil community as they celebrated Chiththirai Thiru Naal, praising the "many positive contributions British Tamils have made to this country’s social, cultural, political and economic life”.