Despite a recent announcement by the head of Sri Lankan Army in Jaffna, that armed personnel would not enter inside the premises of the University of Jaffna, two armed, uniformed soldiers were seen inside the university grounds today, reported the Uthayan.

According to the paper, the two soldiers were seen at 2.30pm walking around the memorial in front of the Kailaasabathi Hall.

India’s ministry of defence has called on the lower house of Parliament to disallow a debate on the issue of training Sri Lankan Armed Forces personnel, in a memorandum.

The Hindu reported that the note, issued on 13th of December by Defence Minister A.K. Antony, stated,

Sri Lanka’s deputy minister for labour and labour relations called for a ban of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on Tuesday, reports the Island.

Speaking in parliament, Sarath Weerasekara claimed that the TNA were still propagating the ideology of the LTTE and said:

"We are paying the price for not banning them then and we made a mistake by not doing so as can be seen clearly now.”

A Sri Lankan minister has refuted allegations of war crimes while talking to Japanese envoy Yasushi Akashi, reported the Colombo Telegraph.

Akashi had criticised Sri Lanka's failure to act on human rights issues during his visit.

During a visit by the head of the Pakistan Navy, Sri Lanka and Pakistan held discussions regarding improving the security relations over the weekend.

Pakistani Naval Chief Admiral Mohammad Asif Sandila held a meeting with the Commander of the Sri Lankan Navy, vice Admiral Jayanath Colombage, and other senior Naval officers where he was given a guard of honour.

 A member of the Northern Provincial Council, Ananthy Sasitharan, met with Norwegian parliamentary officials, Friday.

Sri Lanka is to offer its fisheries harbours to countries from East Asia and to Dubai, in a bid to prevent European countries from "exploiting fishing resources" in the Indian Ocean, reported the Sunday Times.

Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister Rajitha Senaratne stated that around 20 Chinese and 8 Japanese vessels had already been offered use of Sri Lanka’s harbours for fishing, adding,