Sri Lanka’s security forces have demanded alternative land and financing for relocation in order for civilian land in the North to be released from occupation.

The Tamil journalist, Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, was remembered today in Jaffna on the 18th anniversary of his assassination.

The United Nations has asked Sri Lanka to immediately repatriate the commander of it’s peacekeeping contingent in Mali, following a review of his human rights background, AP reports.

The request to repatriate Lt. Col. Kalana Amunupure, the commander of Sri Lanka’s contingent of 200 soldiers in Mali, was made “based on recently received information” according to UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

Sri Lanka’s president has stepped up his personal security after he claimed there had been an alleged plot to assassinate him and Sri Lanka’s former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

“The president is very serious about this,” Shiral Lakthialaka, one of Maithripala Sirisena’s advisers, told reporters in Colombo.

“People in charge have taken measures to strengthen his security. Certainly his security has been beefed up. We need a broad investigation into this.”

The Sri Lankan government announced it had reversed a decision to award China a $300m housing deal, and has instead chosen to pursue a joint venture with an Indian company.

The announcement comes as Sri Lanka’s prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe visits new Delhi, where he will meet Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi on Saturday.

The deal would have seen the government-run China Railway Beijing Engineering Group Co build 40,000 houses in Jaffna, after a successful proposal by the Chinese in April. The project was halted earlier this year after locals protested, demanding brick houses instead of concrete structures.

Sri Lanka’s president called Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week, where he denied reports that he had told a cabinet meeting that Indian intelligence agencies were involved in an alleged plot to assassinate him.

In a press release by the Indian prime minister’s office, Sri Lanka’s Maithripala Sirisena reportedly stated the “mischievous and malafide reports were utterly baseless and false”.

Seven Tamils who were arrested in relation to the alleged possession of an LTTE flag and ammunition in Oddusuddan have had their charges dropped by the Mullaitivu court.

A total of 19 Tamils were arrested over the incident in which an LTTE flag and ammunition were allegedly transported in a three-wheeler.

Of these, 7 have had their charges dropped by the Mullaitivu court.

The remaining 12 have had their remand extended until October 29.

A frontline organiser of the recent commemorations in Jaffna of Thileepan’s fast unto death, has been summoned by Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID).

TID officers went to the home of Kanthaiah Prabhakaran, a local organiser and former LTTE cadre, in Maravanpulavu, Chavakachcheri on Thursday and issued a summons slip calling him in for questioning on October 29.

No reason has been stated on the notice for the summoning.