(news.lk)

The president of Fifa Sepp Blatter visited Sri Lanka last week, meeting President Mahinda Rajapaksa, before travelling to the North-East to inaugurate a new football stadium on the Jaffna peninsula.

"I was last in Sri Lanka in 2005 and I am delighted to be back again in your beautiful country. This is my third visit to Sri Lanka and I see a tremendous amount of development has taken place. The opening of the Jaffna Stadium is a significant achievement and Fifa is confident that this will serve to further develop football in Sri Lanka," said Blatter.

"Your President HE Mahinda Rajapaksa renewed his assurance to support the development of local football when we met him and of course FIFA and AFC will always stand behind you, guiding and channeling our resources to help Sri Lanka develop the game and bring its social benefits to your youth," he added.

Forced removal: The tearful Tamil father taken to the airport, after being removed from the Redcliffe detention centre. Pictures: Alf Sorbello/PerthNow

A Tamil family seeking asylum in Australia has been removed from a detention centre in Perth, in order to be taken to the government's detention centre in Nauru.

Protestors attempted to blockade the driveway of the detention centre in Redcliffe, but were dragged away by police, reported PerthNow.

Last year the government invested 16.3 billion rupees in the KDU, which houses under 1,500 students, training cadets for the Sri Lankan army, navy and air force.

The island's other universities, with over 88,000 students attending, received a combined government budget of 9.7 billion rupees.

Infographic: Colombo Telegraph

Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said the re-emergence of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam remained the foremost threat to the country's national security, reported Ceylon Today.

Sri Lanka's tourism industry is unlikely to be affected by the recent travel advisory from the UK, which warned of political violence ahead of the presidential election next month.

Industry experts told the Sunday Times that large-scale election violence was unlikely and the peak season was looking good.

“Bookings are great (for December) and I don’t expect any election violence that would deter arrivals,” one official said, adding: “These are routine advisories issued ahead of any election”.

Rumy Jauffer, managing director of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, said that arrivals would reach the targeted 1.5 million this year with China closing in on the UK’s position as the second largest country of origin.

British retail giant Tesco has donated 7,000 school uniforms to Tamil children in Mullaiththivu, at an event organised by the Sri Lankan army.

The 68th division of the Security Force headquarters – Mullaiththivu coordinated the event in Puthukkudiyiruppu with officials from Tesco PLC and Hydramani Apparels, its production partner in Sri Lanka.

Major General Jagath Dias, who stands accused of mass atrocities committed during the final phase of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka, took part in the event as the chief guest.

Earlier this year Dias was refused a visa to Australia over the crimes he is suspected to have committed in 2009.