Seven people, including two local government members of the ruling party UPFA, have been arrested in connection with the rape of two teenage girls, reported The Island.

Tamil Nadu chief Minister Jayalalitha has objected to nine Sri Lankan air force personnel being trained at an Indian airbase near Chennai, and called on the Central government to immediately cancel the programme and send the participants back, PTI reports.

Sri Lanka’s defiant response to criticism of its clampdown on press freedoms by the United States and rights groups came from none other than Prof. GL Peiris, the former peace negotiator held in high esteem by the international community, now Foreign Minister in President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Sinhala-nationalist government.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for an end to the harrassment of media outlets and journalists in a report released on Tuesday.

In a statement, HRW said,

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Media and Information, Keheliya Rambukwella has told Sinhala paper Divaina that the government is planning to ban all websites that ‘sling mud’ at the government.

A Tamil political detainee transferred to the Mahara prison after being attacked in Vavuniya has died this morning, reported Pathivu.

The 29-year-old, who died after medical treatment at the Ragama Hospital had proved unsuccessful, has been identified as Nimalaruban from Nelukulam, Vavuniya.

A Canadian court has found a former Sri Lankan naval officer not eligible for asylum because the Sri Lankan Navy was complicit in war crimes.

The claimant “had been complicit in the crimes against humanity because he had a long service with the navy, an organization that was known to regularly and systematically commit human rights abuses against the LTTE, the Tamil population and individuals suspected or perceived to be LTTE collaborators or sympathizers,” the Immigration Review Board found.

The Tamil Saiva priest of the Aathi Paraasakthi temple in Valveddithurai was attacked by Sri Lankan soldiers, reported TamilNet on Tuesday.

The brutal assault happened shortly after the priest had reminded a soldier who had entered the temple premises wearing boots, that this act is considered sacrilegious.

A total of 15,780 people were reported missing to the ICRC until the end of last year.

In its annual report, the ICRC president Jakob Kellenberger said that "thousands remained unaccounted for, leaving relatives without definitive information about their fate".

The missing individuals include 1494 children and 754 women.

Sri Lankan police have arrested 53 people for failing to clear stagnating water and other mosquito breeding grounds around their homes.