The Tamil diaspora across the world held a series of rallies earlier this month, in solidarity with families of the disappeared in the North-East who have been protesting for over 500 days.

Hundreds attended protests in their respective cities and supported the call for international pressure onto the Sri Lankan government to meet the families’ demands.

A gang of men on motorbikes smashed up a home in a Jaffna Town suburb on Thursday night.

The men were armed with swords and also used iron rods and axes to break things in the house.

They threatened the home's residents and broke the house's doors and windows and also threw a petrol bomb before leaving the vicinity.

The attack took place at a home on Thamarai Road in Vannarpannai.

Father Sakthivel, the head of the National Movement for the Release of Political Prisoners, urged the government to release all political prisoners. 

Speaking at a meeting with the organisation and the leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), R Sampanthan, Father Sakthivel said around 107 political prisoners were currently imprisoned. 

The past 3 years have seen a number of protests across the North-East of families of those imprisoned calling for their release. Many have been held without charge indefinitely under Sri Lanka's notorious anti-terror legislation, the Prevention of Terrorism Act. 

A Tamil refugee, deported from Australia this week and detained by Sri Lankan police on arrival in Colombo, has been charged by the Sri Lankan authorities for illegally leaving the country. 

The offence is understood to carry a maximum sentence of a fine of 200,000 rupees and prison term of five years.

Thileepan Gnaneswaran, a 30 year old father of one was deported after his application for a temporary protection visa was denied.

There is "absolutely no threat to the security in the Northern region" the state minister for defence, Ruwan Wijewardene was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying. 

"Certain groups of people are making groundless statements to incite fear in public," he reportedly added whilst speaking at an event in Diyagama. 

In recent days Sri Lankan government officials have sought to reassure the Sinhala electorate that there was no threat to national security in the North-East and that there would be no demilitarise of the area or removal of army camps. 

Sri Lankan Navy personnel have returned a food hall of the Varatharaja Perumal Kovil in Ponnalai after having occupied it for 23 years.

After the Army captured the area from the LTTE in 1995, the coast from Ponnalai to Keerimalai became inaccessible to civilians with only the Sri Lankan Navy occupying the region.

Facebook is to implement a new policy starting in Sri Lanka and later in Myanmar where it will start removing ‘misinformation’ that could incite violence.

Under the new rules, Facebook said it would create partnerships with local civil society groups to identify misinformation for removal, the New York Times reports.

Facebook has been criticised for allowing misinformation and hate speech to spread on its platform.

Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal has fixed a date for the appeal case of a Sri Lankan politician and 3 others who were convicted of murdering a British aid worker and raping his Russian girlfriend at a holiday resort in 2011, Adaderana reported. 

Sampath Vidanapathirana, the former chairman of Tangalle Prathesa Sabai and a close associate of the former Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was convicted of the murder after the British aid worker Khuram Shaikh was shot and stabbed whilst on holiday in southern Sri Lankan on Christmas Day. 

The Sri Lankan government is growing frustrated over China’s delays in concluding a Free Trade Agreement, the Nikkei Asian Review reports.

Colombo sent Beijing a formal request to resume talks over three months ago and has not received a response, with some observers saying China has turned a cold shoulder due to the current government’s hesitation to incur more debt.

The Chinese are reported to be “unhappy” about various clauses being put forward by Sri Lankan negotiators, including a proposal to review the agreement every ten years.

The JVP leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake warned parliament against transferring Mattala airport to India, arguing it would be a threat to national security. 

"Issues with national interest should be considered than losses or economic benefits of the airport. An airport is important in military affairs in a country. It can pose more threat to national security and sovereignty of the country," Mr Dissanayake was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying.