<p>A Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka’s Central province committed suicide earlier this week, purportedly after being chased for money he had obtained from over 100 individuals on the pretext of obtaining foreign visas for them.</p> <p>The 28-year-old monk from Nilambe, Galaha, hanged himself on Wednesday near his vihara.</p> <p>He had charged 8500 Rs each from 108 individuals, promising to obtain work visas to Vietnam.</p> <p>Virakesari reports that the monk had been unable to obtain the visas and may have committed suicide after being chased for progress on the visas.</p>

The Tamil festival of lights known as Karthikai Deepam or Karthikai Vilakkeedu was celebrated by Eelam Tamils on Friday.

The festival falls each year on the full moon night of the Tamil month of karthikai (November). Origin stories behind the festival vary regionally, although one reason is to celebrate the birth of the Tamil god Murugan.

Sri Lankan police tortured two Tamil youths on November 19, a complaint registered with the Jaffna Human Rights Commission detailed. 

"They hung me upside down and beat me, asking me if I was in the LTTE," one of the victims, Pirakash Balasingham from Elalai, Jaffna said. 

Balasingham, who was returning home in an auto with his brother-in-law at around 10.45pm on November 19 said they were stopped by police officers who were carrying out road side checks in the area. 

Responding to a Sri Lankan police petition, Jaffna Magistrate Court on Friday issued a ban on the use of what it described as the LTTE flags, symbols and maps at the planned Maaveerar Naal event in Koppay Thuyilum Illam. 

Earlier this week Koppay police applied for a ban of the remembrance event under section 120 of the penal code - inciting or seeking to incite hate - and Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) regulations. 

British Tamil university students on Friday commemorated Tamil fighters who gave their lives to the liberation struggle at this year's Youth Maaveerar Naal (Tamil Remembrance Day) in London.

Students from universities across London gathered at City University to light candles and lay flowers in memory of the Maaveerar.  

Tamil Danish students paid tribute to the Maaveerar at a remembrance event at Århus University, Denmark on Thursday. 

University and college students from across the country gathered at the event to remember fallen LTTE cadre, who sacrificed their lives for the Tamil struggle. 

Students at the University of Jaffna have begun preparations for Maaveerar Naal, which is set to be commemorated next week.

The Tamil National People’s Front held an event in Kilinochchi this week, where they paid tribute to the parents of fallen Tamil fighters, ahead of Maaveerar Naal next week.

<p>Sri Lanka’s Attorney General has withdrawn an appeal against the acquittal of a group of Sinhala extremist monks from the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), who were charged over a 2008 attack on a church.</p> <p>The withdrawal of the appeal comes just days after Sri Lanka’s president Maithripala Sirisena hosted an official meeting with monks from the extremist group, who were earlier pictured protesting for the release of the BBS leader and posing with racist flags.</p> <p>The accused, which includes two Buddhist monks and ten others, reportedly attacked the Calvary Church in Talahena in 2008.</p>

<p>Lawmakers loyal to Mahinda Rajapaksa staged a walkout this morning after the composition of the parliamentary select committee was passed,&nbsp;made up of a majority of opponents of the former president.</p> <p>The parliamentarians from the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) were protesting against speaker Karu Jayasuriya’s appointment of MPs to the parliamentary select committee, which includes UPFA, five from the United National Front (UNF) of Ranil Wickeremesinghe, and one each from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).</p>