The Indian Defence Ministry has announced it will move members of the Sri Lankan Air Force from Tambaram air base in Tamil Nadu.

A day after strong condemnation from all major parties in Tamil Nadu, the Ministry of Defense released a statement saying the personnel will be moved.

"All Sri Lankan trainees are being sent off today from this Station as per instruction of the Ministry of Defence," said the statement.

Sri Lanka Cricket has named 56 foreign players who will play in the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League.

The list is dominated by players from Australia (18) and Pakistan (13).

There are no India or England players - apart from Azhar Mahmood.

See ESPNcricinfo’s report here, including the list of names and values of their signings.

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.