Tamil war widows from the Northern and Eastern Province are being trafficked as slaves to the Gulf regions finds a feature report by Reuters.

Reports suggest that at least 1000 war-widows from the northern province may have been coerced into illicit job opportunities abroad which often puts them at risk of traffickers who sell them as slaves overseas.  

Security staff at the Eastern University in Batticaloa were attacked by Sinhalese students when a protest against the university’s administration turned violent on Tuesday, reports Battinatham.com.

Two of the security staff were hospitalised, including one female member of staff.

The Sinhalese students had reportedly protested for several days demanding accommodation and for academic suspensions to be revoked.

The Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) on Tuesday said the government should hold a referendum before the 20th Amendment to the constitution allowing provincial council elections to be held on one day was implemented. 

"One clause of the proposed amendment says the election for all provincial councils should be held in one day and that the day should be decided by parliament. Perhaps, after the amendment, an election for a provincial councils may never be held," he was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying at a news conference.

The chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday condemned what he described as the Sri Lankan navy's "unwarranted display of military might against poor innocent Indian fishermen" as "unacceptable". 

In his latest letter to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Palaniswami urged that the matter be taken up with the Sri Lankan government. 

Discussion of the no-confidence motion submitted against the incumbent Minister of Foreign Affairs Ravi Karunanayake has been delayed by 8 days reports aadaderana.lk.

The Parliamentary Secretary General of Staff Neil Iddawela stated that any motion of this nature must be analysed by the speaker to ascertain its compliance and legitimacy.

Mr Iddawela added that the motion must be submitted in Sinhalese, Tamil and English to be considered for further discussion.

Protesters gathered in Kilinochchi today to call for the release of all Tamil political prisoners who are currently detained in prisons across Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's president, Maithripala Sirisena paid a visit to Kandy to seek blessings at the Sacred Tooth Relic site which is holy for Sinhala Buddhists. 

The president visited the senior Buddhist clergy of the Malwathu and Asgiriya chapters in the country. 

The Buddhist monk accused of vandalising Sri Lanka's health ministry building was granted bail on Tuesday by the High Court in Colombo. 

Tempitiye Sugathananda was arrested on June 22 in connection with the protests against SAITM and was accused of vandalising the building. 

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The Sri Lankan government has issued a gazette on the 20^th Amendment to the island’s Constitution that will see all provincial council elections held on the same day.

As a result of the gazette elections in the Eastern, North Central and Sabaragamuwa provincial councils which were due to be held in September and October have now been postponed.

Election monitors have criticised the move and questioned the government's agenda in postponing the elections.

Mangala Samaraweera said his government has been able to “successfully address” both the island’s debt burden and issues of human rights, both of which had tarnished Sri Lanka’s international reputation, in a speech last week.

Mr Samaraweera, who recently became the government’s finance minister having previously held the foreign minister post, said his government would continue to make progress on those issues.

“When we came to office, this government was burdened with many thing,” he said. “Debt was one, human rights violations was another. We have been able to successfully address both issues by now.”