Sri Lanka’s newly announced cabinet was sworn in at the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy this morning, amidst an elaborate Sinhala Buddhist ceremony overseen by the clergy and the military.

Taking place at the Temple of Sacred Tooth Relic premises in Kandy, dozens of the senior Sinhala Buddhist clergy were present, whilst senior military officials overseeing the swearing in.

The Kandy Municipal Council confirmed that ‘Sinhala only’ lion flags had been raised in the town ahead of the swearing-in of Sri Lanka’s newly appointed ministers at the ‘Temple of the Tooth’, stating that they had now been removed.

^{Photograph: Army.lk}

The US Defence Attaché in Sri Lanka, Lt. Colonel Travis Cox, met Sri Lankan army chief and credibly accused war criminal Shavendra Silva for a ‘periodical review’ meeting on Friday, the day after Sri Lanka's parliamentary elections results were announced.

An official Sri Lankan military page posted photographs of the meeting, stating that the two exchanged mementoes and the "cordial discussion that followed focused on matters related, to bilateral importance and updates". 

'Sinhala only' lion flags were pictured flying alongside Buddhist flags in Kandy today, as the town prepares for the swearing-in of Sri Lanka’s newly appointed ministers at the ‘Temple of the Tooth’, in what looks set to be another Sinhala Buddhist ceremony.

Sri Lankan troops have been deployed at the Nallur Kandasamy Temple in Jaffna this week, as the temple’s annual festival – thiruvizha – began last month.

Another parent who was involved in a series of protests by the families of the disappeared has passed away in Mullaitivu.

Based on a tip-off that a youth group in Araly, a town north of Jaffna, was in possession of guns and swords, Sri Lankan police conducted a search in the town yesterday and arrested at least ten people.

The initial search yielded an indigenous gun and a sword in an area that is reportedly populated by Tamil youngsters. The police confiscated the weapons and arrested two persons in relation to the incident. The arrested have been detained in the Vaddukoddai Police Station and are reportedly being interrogated by the police. 

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivered his congratulations to newly appointed Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, following the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s (SLPP) election victory in parliamentary elections last week, as Beijing looks to expand ties with the regime.

The two leading Tamil nationalist parties in the North-East announced the appointment of parliamentarians through Sri Lanka’s National List, as the new parliament gets ready to convene later this month.

The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) appointed its General Secretary Selvarajah Kajendren.

Kajendren is a former MP and veteran Tamil activist, who was first elected in 2004. In 2010, he and other parliamentarians left the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to form the TNPF.