<p>Sri Lanka's Chief Justice, Nalin Perera today appointed a seven member bench under him to hear the fundamental rights petition filed against the president's dissolving of parliament.&nbsp;</p> <p>The appointments follow the Supreme Court's decision earlier this month to temporarily stay the president’s order and fix a court date for December 5.</p>

Sri Lankan police this morning arrested the former Northern Provincial Council member M K Shivajilingham for attempting to mark the birthday of the LTTE leader V Prabhakaran at his ancestoral home in Valvettithurai. 

Officers confiscated a cake and other items. Shivajilingham was later released. 

<p>The Sri Lankan army has said it occupies only 1300 acres of private land in the North-East, contradicting even conservative estimates of land occupation from other sources.</p> <p>In October, the Mullaitivu district secretariat said that almost 5000 acres of privately-owned land was under military occupation, although this figure referred to the ‘tri-forces’ i.e. the air force and the navy, as well as the army.</p> <p>Similarly, Tamil and Muslim land activists in Amparai said in September that 3000 acres of private land remained occupied in the district.</p>

Tamil journalists in Batticaloa laid the foundation for a memorial to be built in remembrance of fellow Tamil journalists that were killed during and after the war.

At least 41 Tamil journalists have been killed by Sri Lankan state and paramilitary forces.

The memorial is to be built in Batticaloa town’s Gandhi Park on the efforts of the Batticaloa Tamil Journalist Association.

The Sri Lankan military is set to hold an exhibition and symposium on cyber warfare later this month, as the commander of the army warned of improving technology in order to fight “future enemies”.

“Future enemies are not visible and the Army may have to fight against this invisible enemy,” said Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake. “We need to improve our cyber space capabilities to match with the advancements, being made by foreign nations, elsewhere.”

The Sri Lankan military continued with its militarisation of the North-East this month, holding a seminar for schoolchildren in Trincomalee.

 

The Sri Lankan army reported that it had recovered the body of a Tamil man, who was reported missing by his wife.

The man, identified by the Sri Lankans as 42-year-old Kanagaiyya Udayakumar, was reported missing by his wife earlier this month.

The military claim the man died after he had “fallen victim to an unprotected electric wire”.

The Tamil National People’s front held an event in Jaffna today to honour the families of those who gave their lives in the Tamil armed struggle.

<p>Supporters of Mahinda Rajapaksa have targeted Tamil National Alliance MP M A Sumanthiran across social media in recent days, accusing him of misleading the UNP.</p> <p>SLPP councillor Senani Samaranayake accused Sumanthiran of being the “new boss” of the UNP and tweeted a video of him in parliament, claiming that he had used “filth” when speaking to the UNP’s Ranil Wickremesinghe and Lakshman Kiriella.</p> <p>Both Kirella and Sumanthiran dismissed the accusation, with the TNA MP telling Colombo Telegraph that the video showed him explaining the electronic voting system in parliament.</p>

<p>Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa reiterated his call for parliamentary elections in a speech delivered earlier today, calling for the public to support him as they did during the height of a military offensive that killed tens of thousands of Tamil civilians.</p> <p>Rajapaksa, who is currently vying for control of the prime minister’s office, warned that “the fate of our country and the futures of our younger generation was at stake”.</p>