Updated 1130 GMT

Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, told a gathering in Batticaloa that his United National Party (UNP) was determined to devolve powers to provinces, whilst claiming that the armed conflict on the island came as people had forgotten their “Sri Lankan identity”.

Updated 2000 GMT

A fast-unto-death protest launched by a Sinhala Buddhist monk against signing a United States Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant ended just hours after it started when the Sri Lankan government and leading candidates rushed to assure the monk that it would not be signed before this month’s presidential elections.

A Tamil activist who has been searching for her abducted husband for over a decade has spoken on her disappointment with the Sri Lankan government over its lack of progress in investigating enforced disappearances.

Preparations are underway in the North-East to clear Maaveerar thuyilum illams, LTTE cemeteries, ahead of Maaveerar Naal on November 27.

A public awareness campaign demanding justice for the Tamil journalists killed, disappeared and attacked in Sri Lanka was initiated by Jaffna journalists to mark International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists on Saturday.

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Controversial British politician Lord Naseby continued to push widely debunked casualty figures relating to the final stages of the Sri Lanka military’s offensive in 2009, claiming that less than 6,000 civilians were killed.

US-based advocacy group PEARL (People for Equality and Relief in Lanka) launched the second in their series on Sinhalisation of the North-East last month, examining the state-sponsored demographic changes in the Kokkilai region of Mullaitivu.

Despite over a decade since the end of the armed conflict, Tamils in the North must wait another two years for their land to be returned from military occupation if New Democratic Front (NDF) presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa is elected, claimed a current Sri Lankan government minister.

A Batticaloa based journalist for Vasantham TV was admitted into hospital on Friday, after being attacked by a group of unknown persons.

Mohamed Saji of Kattankudy was reportedly on his way to his office on Friday, when he was assaulted.

As Sri Lanka gears up for a presidential election in just a few weeks time, Tamils on the island find themselves faced with a familiar decision. Almost five years after an election that was hailed as the dawn of a new era for Sri Lanka, the island has instead seen pledges of reforms broken and the failure to address key issues towards accountability, justice and a lasting peace. With leading candidates choosing to boast their Sinhala nationalist credentials, for Tamils in particular, the future seems bleak.

Outrage has erupted over social media after images of recently issued stamps in Sri Lanka with a racist depiction of Tamils surfaced.

Tamil families of the disappeared demonstrated outside the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) central executive committee meeting on Sunday, as the party’s leadership decided unanimously to endorse Sajith Premadasa in the upcoming presidential election.