The Japanese government donated eight new fishing boats, engines, fishing nets and cooler boxes to fishermen in Sampur last week, reports The Island.

Japan’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka Kenichi Suganuma visited the region to officially hand over the donation to the Sampur Fishermens’ Society. The donation is part of a project funded by the Japanese government and implemented by the Sevalanka Foundation with a grant of approx. Rs. 13.5 million.

See more details of the project from The Island here.

The United States Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs is set to address a conference being hosted in Colombo in September, according to a State Department press release.

Alice Wells, who also serves as the Acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, will travel to Dhaka, Islamabad, and Colombo from August 28-September 2.

During her visit, the State Department reported she “will meet with government officials, business leaders, and civil society representatives to discuss our cooperation in the region”.

Sri Lanka’s Chief of Defence Staff reiterated to reporters in Kandy that there was no threat to “national security” in the North-East this week.

The Sunday Leader reported Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne as stating the police and military were “doing their job and there is no threat” after a spate of violent incidents in the North-East.

Sri Lankan soldiers took part in a religious ceremony last week to unveil a newly constructed Buddhist stupa in Jaffna, reports official military media.

Sri Lanka’s government has ordered the Security Forces Headquarters in Jaffna to facilitate the visit of a high level delegation from the Buddhist Maha Sangha to Jaffna reports island.lk.

Sources from the military said that they wanted to assure the Buddhist delegation that the security forces and government were "firmly in control" of the situation in Jaffna.

The visiting Buddhist delegation is expected to meet senior armed forces deployed in Jaffna at their army headquarters in Pallaly.

Civilian lands in Trincomalee occupied by the Sri Lankan Port Authority for decades, should be returned immediately to its owners, an Eastern Provincial Council member has stressed.

The Minister for Ports and Shipping, Arjuna Ranatunga, had promised that lends held by the authority would be released quickly, the EPC representative for Trincomalee, Jegatheesan Jenarthanan highlighted during a public meeting at the District Secretariat.

“That promise is yet to be fulfilled,” Mr Jenarthanan said.

A 14-year-old Tamil boy from Mannar has been missing since Thursday.

Sebastian Saliyan Mark of Vankalai, did not return home on Thursday after going for class at a private tutorial centre.

His father filed a report with Vankalai police and said he was last wearing a white shirt with blue sleeves and denim jeans.

Young Tamil artists from across Europe last month remembered the 1983 pogrom against the Tamils, Black July with an exhibition at the City University in London. 

The exhibition, which was organised by the Tamil Youth Organisation UK, featured artists from the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark. 

The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) worked alongside the Sri Lankan navy on an environmental project in the south this week, reports official military media.

The PHU leader, Udaya Gammanpila filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Friday against the proposed 20th Amendment to the constitution. 

Mr Gammanpila said the Amendment should only be passed following a public referendum.