Investigations into the Sri Lankan Army’s killing of Tamil civilians in the run up to and during May 2009 could take up to 5 years according to Sri Lanka.

The Associated Press reports that the government recommended for inquiries into alleged killings to be concluded within a year and for court proceedings to start up to four years after that.

The Jaffna University Academics (JUA) said at a press conference about their industrial action,

"Unbeknownst to the public, this government is going to change the face of free education. There will come a day when education in schools as well as at university will have to be paid for. It is with the purpose off deterring this that university lecturers continue to strike.

A failed Tamil asylum seeker, known as Mr X for safety reasons has been reported missing since he was deported from Australia.

Spokeswoman for Refugee Action Collective, Sue Bolton, said that Mr X’s family had waited outside the airport for more than 14 hours but received no news about his whereabouts.

Mr X’s claims to asylum that he had been arrested by the army and tortured due to alleged affiliation the LTTE were rejected and he was deported from Australia on Wednesday, despite a UN appeal against his return.

 The leading Tamil political party has called for international monitors to be deployed to monitor polls during the Eastern Provincial Council elections, after threats of violence and concerns over electoral fraud.

Australian officials have deported a Tamil refugee, suffering from mental illness.

Amidst outrage by human rights organisations, the man was the first of around 150 Tamils who are expected to be deported to Sri Lanka, where they are facing torture on their return.

Sri Lankan Army officers from the operational camp of the occupying military in Vanni, have been enforcing the acceptance of death certificates on to families of missing persons in the Mullaitheevu district.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, TNA MP Suresh Premachandran noted that some of the families say that they personally handed over their living family members at a military check post during the final hours of the 2009 war and are now being forced to sign death certificates.

The Sri Lankan electricity board has announced it will cut the electricity supply across the country for three hours a day, after the Chinese-built Norocholai coal power plant failed for the 5th time in 16 months.

"We are facing difficulties in balancing the supply and demand," the ministry said in a statement. "The only alternative is to carry out power cuts across the country until further notice."

The drought on the island has compunded the problem in electricity supply from hydro-power plants.

Last week was the gorvernment's much hyped about Social Integration Week. True to form, the event kicked off with an example of what integration is in Sri Lanka - the national anthem sung in Sinhala only.

The week was said to ensure a 'united nation' and 'reintegrate all ethnic groups as one nation, free of ‘petty’ social and cultural differences.'

Australia's handling of Tamil asylum seekers arriving boat, has been criticised by human rights organisations base in the country, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

The executive director of Human Rights Law Centre in Australia, Phil Lynch, criticised the country's close liaison with Sri Lanka, including security and military cooperation.

The Tamil Nadu fishermen, arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on Saturday night, will be remanded in custody until August 6th. The twenty-three men were presented to a court in Mannar today and said to be detained at Anuradhapura prison.

Local fishermen groups in Rameswaran have urged an indefinite strike till all the fishermen are released.