The Sri Lankan armed forces are to hold a defence seminar on ‘Countering Violent Extremism’ with hundreds of participants at the end of this month, according to army media.

The seminar, held for the seventh consecutive year, is to be attended by 800 participants, including 200 foreign representatives, according to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence.

Sinhala Buddhist monks from the Asigiri Sangha Sabawa have opposed reported moves to bring about a no confidence motion against Sri Lanka’s justice minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe.

The Asgiriya Maha Lekakhadikari, Medagama Dhammananda, said the Asigiri Sangha was “opposed to any move by some politicians to bring a no-faith motion against a minister actively engaged in Buddhist activities,” reports the Daily Mirror.

Muslims in Pottuvil protested on Wednesday demanding Sri Lankan wild life officials stop occupying over 650 acres of land in Pulipiditchachenai in Mathurankuli. 

The march was organised by the Farmers Association of Pulipidichasenai who said the officials came in 2007 and stoped them from entering their homes. 

The no-confidence resolution against Sri Lanka's justice minister, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe was adopted by the United National Party's Working Committee at a meeting held on Friday. 

UNP MPs accuse the minister of obstructing fraud and corruption investigations into the Rajapaksa regime. 

The resolution was put forward by MPs Ashu Marasinghe and seconded Sydney Jayaratne, reported Colombo Page. 

Original monument to Thileepan before its dectruction (Tamilnet 2003)

The destroyed monument to Thileepan in Jaffna will be restored and maintained by the Northern Provincial Council, the council chairperson C V K Sivagnanam announced on Thursday.

Sri Lanka will appoint Eastern Naval Commander Rear Admiral Travis Sinniah as Navy Commander next week reports Dailymirror.lk.

Rear Admiral Sinniah was the senior most naval officer in active combat operations at sea during Sri Lanka’s war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Sri Lanka’s Army distributed spectacles to 40 Tamil civilians in Kilinochchi as part of a larger distribution programme launched by the Security Force Headquarters – Kilinochchi.

The event was headed by Major General Sarath Weerawardena as part of the first phase of distribution with the Colombo based Opticians.

Officers from both the 65^th and 57^th divisions of Sri Lanka’s military in Kilinochchi attended the event last weekend.

Sri Lankan soldiers have begun clearing up the 30-year-old grave of an Indian army officer in Koppay, Jaffna.

The grave, to a Major General killed in battle in August 1987 while heading an Indian Peacekeeping Force camp in Koppay South during Indian occupation, was left to ruin after the forces withdrew from the island.

The request to restore the tomb came at the request of the Indian Army’s Southern Commander, P. M. Hariz, who was a serving soldier during the IPKF occupation.

The Tamil Nadu government is pushing New Delhi to discuss the restarting of a ferry service between India and Sri Lanka in order to facilitate the repatriation of refugees, the Times of India reported on Wednesday. 

A meeting that was due to be held between Tamil Nadu officials and the Ministry of External Affairs was cancelled due to "political turmoil", an official told TOI. 

"Now a letter and a report have been submitted to the Centre to aid structured resettlement of refugees who want to return," the official said. 

Sri Lanka's finance minister on Thursday announced he would be introducing tax cuts and subsidies for loans to small businesses as a result of the droughts and flooding. 

"Our measures today will increase economic growth and make this country an entrepreneurs' paradise," Mangala Samaraweera was quoted by AFP as saying. 

"Businesses would be offered heavy-subsided loans up to 750 million rupees ($5 million) and tax cuts for commercial vehicles to encourage entrepreneurship."