A navy ship with over 900 US marines and navy sailors on board has docked in Trincomalee today, as the United States continues to expand military relations with Sri Lanka, despite ongoing concerns of human rights abuses.

The amphibious transport dock ‘USS Anchorage’ (LPD 23), with the embarked 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), is visiting as “part of a growing U.S.-Sri Lanka naval partnership,” said a US Embassy press release.

Alongside exercises with the Sri Lankan military, approximately 300 Sri Lankan naval academy midshipmen will tour USS Anchorage, the press release added.

Sri Lanka's Office of National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) has denied reports that three radio dramas it produced have been banned from being broadcast over allegations that they "insult Buddhism”.

According to reports in the Daily Mirror and The Island, the dramas, which were scheduled to be broadcast on Independent Television Network (ITN) Radio, had been censored. Media and Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera had earlier tweeted an article from the Daily Mirror entitled "Rethink ban on ONUR radio dramas: Mangala"

The ONUR has since stated on social  media that no such ban is in place and said there were "false allegations of insulting Buddhism".

Attempts are underway to reopen a Sinhalese school in Jaffna which is currently being used as part of a Sri Lankan Army camp.

Old students and teachers of the Jaffna Sinhala Mahavidyalaya are due to meet to discuss efforts to reopen the school which was closed in 1985 when the Sri Lankan Army displaced residents of the Jaffna district. From then the school building came under Sri Lankan Army occupation.

The school was originally built in 1965.

The Sri Lankan government is again seeking a buyer for the debt-ridden national carrier, SriLankan Airlines, Bloomberg reports.

Sri Lanka’s Finance Ministry will seek preliminary bids for the airline, which has at least $1 billion USD of debt, by September or October.

The move comes a year after talks with sole bidder TPG Capital collapsed.

The Mahaweli Authority has issued land permits to 8 Sinhalese settlers that have been squatting on Tamil-owned land in Mullaitivu, defying a court order to return the lands to their original owners.

Sinhalese settlers and fishermen occupied Tamil-owned lands in Kokkilai, Karunadukkeni and Kokuthoduvai after the residents were forced to displace in 1983. The settlers built permanent houses and continued to occupy the lands after the war, requesting the Sri Lankan state to issue deeds in their names.

Japan’s defence minister was taken on a tour of the Sri Lankan navy camp in Trincomalee earlier today, as part of his visit to the island.

A public interest litigation petition has been filed in by a non-governmental organisation in India to refer Sri Lankan navy attacks on Indian fishermen to the International Court of Justice, prompting the Director of Fisheries to call for the central government to put diplomatic pressure on Sri Lanka to “avert such instances in future”.

Director of Fisheries G S Sameeran filed a report in response to the petition by Fishermen Care, stating that “Indian fishermen... are apprehended/shot at/harassed by Sri Lankan Navy repeatedly”.

Tamil villagers in Trincomalee confronted officials from the Sri Lankan government’s Land Surveying Department on Tuesday, who were reportedly surveying land so that they could construct a Buddhist temple in the region.

The Sri Lankan government officials had arrived at Thiriyai in the Kuchchaveli division in Trincomalee, when locals gathered at the area they were surveying as they fell within areas of private land owned by the villagers.

Five Buddhist monk students were remanded by Matara Magistrate Court on Monday over the ragging of a first year student at the University of Ruhuna. 

The five, who are second year students, were charged last month under the Anti-Ragging Act over the incident which is said to have taken place at the Bhikkhu hostel in Eliya-Kanda on July 18. 

They have been remanded until November 3, Colombo Page reports. 

The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) member, T Ravikaran and six others, who were arrested after participating in a protest earlier this month against illegal fishing in Mullaitivu by Sinhala fishermen, have been ordered to appear before the Magistrate's court on October 30. 

Mr Ravikaran and others were charged with allegedly causing damage to public property during the protest. 

Local fishermen protested for almost a week against police and government inaction against illegal fishing by Sinhala fishermen in the area.