Sri Lanka’s interim government has not addressed Tamil concerns, said former Tamil National Alliance MP MA Sumanthiran in an interview with the Sunday Leader.

Commenting on the interim governance's progress on issues relating to the disappeared, political prisoners, Tamil land and the national question, Mr Sumanthiran said,

“We placed those concerns before the President and brought them to his notice right at the beginning. Few steps were taken in the months of January and February but thereafter nothing happened and we could not see a progress.”

The Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) will contest all five electoral districts in the North-East in Sri Lanka's parliamentary election, the party leader, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam told reporters on Tuesday.

Nominations for Amparai were registered on Monday, Mr Ponnambalam said, adding that nominations in other districts would be filed over the next few days. Nominations in Jaffna district will be filed on the final day for all nominations, July 13.

Photographs BattiNews

Human remains were found in a sporting ground in Trincomalee on Monday during an excavation was ordered by a local judge, reports BattiNews.

The excavation was ordered by the court after human remains were found in February 2014 as reconstructive work was taking place at the sporting grounds.

The release of a United Nations report on mass atrocities committed by Sri Lankan troops influenced the decision by the Sri Lankan government to hold parliamentary elections in August, reports Reuters quoting government sources.

The UN report, widely expected to details massacres of Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan soldiers during the final phase of the armed conflict, is due to be released in September. With the possibility of a late August leak, incumbent Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena announced elections for August 17, well before any release is expected.

In doing so Mr Sirisena is attempting to stop an expected rise in popularity for former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was in power during the final massacres. A report that criticises Sri Lankan troops is believed to strengthen his popularity, reports Reuters.

Sri Lankan army troops held Buddhist ceremonies in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi this week, to invoke Buddhist blessings on the military.

The Union Minister of State for Transport, Pon Radhakrishnan, said India’s government is considering a proposal to establish a rail link between Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu and Talaimannar, in the Tamil-dominated North-East of the island.

The minister, speaking to reporters in Chennai, said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government is considering a proposal to establish a bridge to connect the two countries.

In June India’s road transport and highways minister, Nitin Gadkari, said that a proposal for bridging the divide across the Palk Strait had been submitted to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), for a pre-feasibility study and subsequent financing, however the Sri Lankan government said it has not held any discussions with India on this issue.

Sri Lanka’s former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapksa says he has applied to have his US citizenship cancelled.

Speaking to Ada Derana in response to conflicting reports regarding the forthcoming elections, the former president’s brother said he will not contest the polls in August, but that this decision was unrelated to the issue of his dual citizenship.

“This has nothing to do with my citizenship issue,” he said, adding that he has already taken measures to cancel his dual citizenship. “I’ve already handed over the relevant documents to the US embassy, in this regard.”

There have been repeated demands that the former defence secretary is prosecuted by US authorities, as he is a citizen of the country.

In March Mr Rajapaksa said that if he was to move to the USA, he would be prosecuted and sentenced to death by electric chair.

The Sri Lanka Press institute (SLPI) “vehemently” condemned the reactivation of the Sri Lanka Press Council by Maithripala Sirisena.

Labelling the new president’s actions as a “threat on media freedom”, the SLPI said,

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP for the Eastern Province P Ariyanethiran stressing the need for an international process to solve the “ethnic issue,” rejected Sri Lanka’s announcement of carrying out a domestic inquiry, reports Ceylon Today.

“As we urged for an international inquiry the government is now emphasising on a local inquiry. We do not trust a local inquiry. We believe only in an international inquiry and we are very firm that the culprits should be punished.