<p><img alt="Image removed." src="/core/misc/icons/e32700/error.svg" title="This image has been removed. For security reasons, only images from the local domain are allowed." height="16" width="16" class="filter-image-invalid"></p> <p>The speaker of Sri Lanka’s parliament, Karu Jayasuriya, has accepted the request of Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, the General Secretary of the UNP, to appoint Sajith Premadasa as opposition leader.</p> <p>The Daily Mirror claims that the appointment of Premadasa would be announced by the speaker formally when parliament begins on 3 January.</p>

Valikamam North residents have been angered by the building of a Buddhist temple on privately owned land currently occupied by the Sri Lankan army.

The new shrine which Sri Lankan soldiers have been working on is located on a two-acre property in Thaiyiddy.

The property is part of the thousands of acres of Valikamam North still occupied by the Sri Lankan army, despite highly publicised releases of fractions of the area over the past four years.

A group of Tamil and Sri Lankan torture victims who launched a court case against current Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for torture damages have decided to withdraw their cases, in order to prevent him from asserting immunity.

This move has been made to ensure that Rajapaksa is held accountable and allows the victims to retain their right to resubmit their cases once he leaves office. 

Street art murals have begun appearing in Sri Lanka pushing Sinhala nationalist rhetoric and honouring Sri Lankan soldiers, including an infamous brigadier who currently faces a court case in Britain after he motioned death threats to Tamils last year.

The murals, in the city of Kandy and other places on the island, have been emblazoned with Sinhala nationalist slogans and imagery, including the words “one nation”, murals of lions, Sri Lankan troops and ancient Sinhala fighters in battle scenes.

The Sri Lankan government has reacted angrily to the release of the Conservative Party manifesto in Britain last month, with several Sri Lankan politicians and Colombo’s High Commissioner stating the party’s pledges are “unacceptable” and calling for the manifesto to be “amended”.

Britain’s Conservative Party has emphasised its continued backing for “international initiatives” for reconciliation, stability and justice “across the world” and in “former and current conflict zones”, singling out the situations of divided states in Cyprus, Sri Lanka and the Middle East.

However, on the island, Sri Lankan politicians have been up in arms.

Since the Sri Lankan civil war ending ten years ago, “there has been little progress in tracing those who disappeared during and after the violent end to the war,” the BBC reports. 

In a video report, the BBC states that around 20,000 Tamils are estimated to still be missing. 

“Many believe their relatives are alive and in the hands of the security forces - a view rejected by the government. These families meet and hold daily vigils to protest and to keep their relatives’ memories alive.”

<p>Sri Lankan police have detained a Muslim man under Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) regulations, reportedly investigating an alleged plot to assassinate Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa or one of him family members. Four Tamil men who were also arrested were released on bail shortly after.</p> <p>The five were all tenants of a house in Jayawardenapura and arrested by Katunayake police.</p>

Ten Tamil families are facing a new land-grab by the Sri Lankan navy in Punguduthivu.

According to a notice issued on November 22, the navy is to appropriate over 14 acres of land belonging to ten different owners in the coastal village of Vallan on the islet of Punguduthivu.

The land is being seized for the establishment of a base for the Sri Lanka navy ship Gotaimbara. The Sri Lankan navy already occupy large swathes of the islet.

Earlier this week Sri Lanka's new defence secretary stressed that military bases would not be removed from the North-East, despite ongoing calls from Tamils for demilitarisation and land return.

CID officials have announced a new investigation into comments made by former Minister Rajitha Senaratne, who held a media conference prior to the elections with someone who alleged to be involved in ‘white van’ abductions.

The killing of 32 Tamils in Othiyamalai, Mullaitivu by the Sri Lankan army in 1984 was commemorated on Monday, thirty-five years after the massacre.

On December 2,1984, men in the village were rounded up by soldiers, dragged to the village community centre where they were stripped naked and tied up by their clothes.