The massacre of ten Tamils, including a local parish priest, by the Sri Lankan army was remembered today in Mannar. 

Armed soldiers arrived at the Vankalai Church on January 6, 1985, and shot dead Father Mariya Bastian and nine other locals, including children who were living with him, at the entrance of the building. 

The Sri Lankan military announced that it had constructed houses for two “deserving” Tamil families in Jaffna, where it continues to occupy vast swathes of lands, without stating how the Tamil families were chosen.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, currently Sri Lanka's opposition leader, vowed not to allow the country to be divided through a new constitution. 

Referring to attempts by the UNP and TNA to establish a new constitution for the island, Rajapaksa warned it would "pave the way to divide the country". 

The 'World Day of War Orphans' was marked at event in Barathipuram, near Muttur, Trincomalee today. 

A local Hindu organisation distributed educational material and books to students, particularly those from families of the disappeared. 

 

The Sri Lankan military held a series of elaborate events in Mullaitivu last month as two divisions celebrated their occupation of the region, almost ten years since army's massacre tens of thousands of Tamils.

Human rights lawyer and former leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Kumar Ponnambalam, was remembered today in Jaffna and Batticaloa, 19 years after his assassination in Colombo.

A Sinhala Buddhist monk called for Sinhalese people in Mullaitivu to receive rights over the land which they illegally occupy, and said that military forces should not be removed from the North, during a visit to flood-affected families in Mullaitivu.

Seelarathana, a monk from the Colombo suburb of Battaramulla, made the remarks while visiting families in the areas of Kokkilai and Nayaru, where local Tamils and representatives have been contesting ongoing Sinhala colonisation and land-grabs, especially under the Mahaweli scheme.

<p>Former Chief Minister of the Northern Province and Supreme Court judge C V Wigneswaran has criticised the Sri Lankan army commander for saying that those who were in hiding from the LTTE now criticise the army’s activities in the North.</p>

<p>The Indian ministry of external affairs (MEA) has not yet approved plans to prepare a report on developing Jaffna’s Palaly airport, with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) citing political instability as a reason for the delay.</p> <p>The AAI has completed a detailed project report for developing an airport in Kalay in Myanmar but the MEA is yet to give the required permission for a similar report to be produced on Palaly.</p>

<p>Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has agreed a $1.85 billion loan to Sri Lanka to build a Light Rail Transit (LRT) system.&nbsp;</p> <p>The agreement was put on hold in November in response to the country's political turmoil which followed the president's sacking of the prime minister and attempt to dissolve parliament.&nbsp;</p> <p>JICA will also provide technical assistance for the project.&nbsp;</p>

<p>After weeks of political crisis and a falling rupee due to foreign outflows, Sri Lanka announced this week it intends to further limit foreign holdings of government securities to 5 percent, down from the current 10 percent.&nbsp;</p>

The Mullaitivu district government agent said 2300 houses had been damaged by the extreme flooding last month within that district, with 86 homes completely destroyed and 2297 homes partially damaged. 

Speaking to journalists on Friday, Roopavathy Ketheeswaran said that 10,118 families had been affected and 24,293 acres of plantation destroyed. 

United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MP M. L. A. M. Hizbullah, who entered parliament as a national list MP after failing to win a seat from Batticaloa in the last election, has been appointed as the governor of the Eastern Province.

Muslims in Vavuniya protested on Friday for the release of their lands which are still occupied by the Sri Lankan army.

Owners of land in Ramayankulam and Cheddikulam protested outside the mosque in Andiya Puliyankulam after lunchtime prayers on Friday.