Tamils in the Netherlands marked Maaveerar Naal last month, in a ceremony attended by hundreds of people.

The Sri Lankan army has been accused of building a new army camp on an LTTE cemetery in Amparai.

The army has been clearing land belonging to the LTTE cemetery in Kanchikudichchcaru, Amparai. Concrete boundary pillars are also being constructed, says Eastern Provincial councilor Thavarasa Kalaiyarasan.

A commemorative event for Maaveerar Naal was held last month at the Kanchikudichcharu LTTE cemetery. 

Sri Lanka’s president said his government is “totally committed to spread the Theravada Buddhism across the world,” reports the official President’s Media Division.

In remarks made at a religious ceremony in the South last week, Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena was quoted as saying, “Buddhism is the only religion which can calm the restless mind of the people and at present the western world also paying more attention to the Buddhism”.

Thousands of people across Italy marked Maaveerar Naal last month, in a series of events held across the country.

Seven Tamil journalists were honoured by the International Association of Tamil Journalists at an event held in memory of Eelam Tamil journalists that were assassinated or killed by Sri Lankan state forces.

Sri Lanka has been granted $1.34 billion in loans from the World Bank announced the government’s finance ministry, as it looks to stabilise the island’s struggling economy.

"This is a great victory for us and it will help us in the fiscal consolidation programme that the new government has started," said Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake.

The move will see loans spread out over 15 years, reports AFP. The loans will add to the government’s debt situation, which has reportedly seen over 95% of all government revenue is spent on repaying loans,

The commander of the Sri Lankan security forces in Jaffna met with senior Sinhala Buddhists monks from the South in Jaffna this month,  to discuss “reconciliation”.

A group of Sri Lankan police officers have been held on remand over the murder of two Tamil students earlier this year.

The five policemen have been remanded until the 30th of December following a court order by the Jaffna additional magistrate.

The two students, 23 year old Nadarasa Kajan and 24 year old Pavunraj Sulaxan, were shot dead on the 20th of October.

Batticaloa Chief Buddhist Monk, Ampitiye Sumanarathana, was released on bail after being charged for gathering people in a manner that disrupted law and order.

On December 3rd he led a group that insisted on letting a bus full of Bodhu Sala Sena (BBS) monks from the south into Batticaloa. Sumanarathana climbed on top of police barriers and recited hate speech against Tamils and Muslims. 

The leader of the TMVP, Sivanesadurai Chandrakanthan (commonly known as Pillaiyan) along with three party members, have been re-remanded over the murder of Joseph Pararajasingam in 2005.

Pararajasingam was the Batticaloa district parliamentarian and member of the current opposition, the Tamil National Alliance. He was shot dead on Christmas Day at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Batticaloa. 

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