The Sri Lankan finance minister, Ravi Karunanayake, made clear on Wednesday that the ban on foreigners buying freehold land in the country, would include China's port city project, reported Reuters.

The project, which was initially agreed by the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, has been suspended pending further discussions since the new government came to power.

"There will be no granting of outright land ownership for foreigners. Investors will be able to obtain land on a 99-year lease arrangement. This provision will also be applicable to the port city project," Mr Karunanayake said as he addressed parliament on Wednesday.

A 15-year old girl died after being hit by a military vehicle on Thursday morning.

Students in a school in the North-East resorted to holding umbrellas while writing their exams.

Heavy rains meant that the roofs of the makeshift classrooms at the Iraanaipalai Roman Catholic Maha Vidhiyalayam, in Mullaithivu, were unable to keep students dry.

Sri Lanka’s 2016 budget fails to tackle risk of further deterioration in the fiscal deficit said Fitch Ratings last week.

The ratings agency found that Sri Lanka’s new budget relied on the presumption of a strong global trade environment, warning that Sri Lanka’s growth assumptions may be overly optimistic.

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa has criticised the involvement of foreign governments in Sri Lanka's affairs, including visits and demands to demilitarise the North-East.

Mr Rajapaksa criticised the government for allowing the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to visit military facilities.

"Officials of foreign organisations have been permitted unfettered access to Sri Lanka’s military installations such as the Naval base in Trincomalee. This has resulted in an immediate danger posed to members of the intelligence wing of the Navy,

"Officials of foreign governments have visited our country and made demarches to Sri Lanka’s leadership about withdrawing the military from the Northern province. Decisions with regard to the deployment of troops are matters that should solely be within the sovereign jurisdiction of Sri Lanka. I cannot approve of officials of foreign governments declaring that they will remain ‘cautious and vigilant’ with regard to military matters in Sri Lanka," he said in parliament.

Villagers in Mullaitivu marked 31 years since the massacre of 32 young Tamils by the Sri Lankan Army in Othiyamalai.

Photograph: Tamilwin.com

On the 2nd December 1984, men in the village of Othiyamalai, Mullaitivu were rounded up by the Sri Lankan Army, dragged to the village community centre and stripped naked and tied up by their clothes.