Villagers in Mullaitivu marked 31 years since the massacre of 32 young Tamils by the Sri Lankan Army in Othiyamalai.

Photograph: Tamilwin.com

On the 2nd December 1984, men in the village of Othiyamalai, Mullaitivu were rounded up by the Sri Lankan Army, dragged to the village community centre and stripped naked and tied up by their clothes.

Photo: FirstPost

Incessant rainfalls have continued to swell reservoirs and rivers in Tamil Nadu, with the capital Chennai among the worst affected area.

Large parts of the city are under water, and its international airport has been closed for a second day.

Rains have caused the closure of schools for 17 days now, with electricity and communication lines suspended.

More rain fell on the city in one day than in the UK in an entire year, with  a record 49 cm of rainfall in Tambaram in 24 hours, from 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday.

A Tamil political detainee, held in a rehabilitation camp under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, was robbed by police while he on day release to visit his sick daughter at their home in Chavakachcheri, Jaffna, Sri Lanka Mirror reported.

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera has 'accused' former president Mahinda Rajapaksa of making "secret deals" with the LTTE and the diaspora, The Island reported.

Mr Samaraweera brought pictures to the parliament, which showed Mr Rajapaksa with some diaspora Tamils.

"I would like to give these photographs to my friend in the opposition, MEP leader Dinesh Gunawardena. I have heard that Dinesh Gunawardena has a Rajapaksa shrine at his home and he is worshipping the Rajapaksa’s pictures. So, Dinesh can take these, too, and put them up there in that shrine," he said.

Former Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, who was detained for the murder of former Tamil MP Joseph Pararajasingham, was remanded until December 16 by the Batticaloa Magistrate Court today.

A Sri Lankan court on Thursday extended the detention of 14 Indian fishermen until December 17, reports the PTI.

The men, who were arrested on November 19, were charged with violating the International Maritime Boundary.

An event hosted by the global One Billion Rising movement, due to take place this Saturday in New York City, will discuss state and police violence against women in several countries, including Sri Lanka, the US, Somalia, Palestine, India and China.

The discussion, which is co-hosted in Columbia Law School by the African American Policy Forum and the Centre for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies at Columbia Law School, will have several prominent academic speakers and will be moderated by Laura Flanders.

Dr Nimmi Gowrinathan, an expert on gender and violence, will lead the discussion on Sri Lanka and state violence against Tamil women.

The capital of Tamil Nadu, Chennai, and other areas in the state have flooded after heavy rainfalls.

The downpour is set to continue for the next 4 days, which is likely to worsen the current situation.

People living on banks of the Adyar river in Chennai were evacuated, according to local officials.

Many Chennai residents used Twitter to provide help and advice to locals and brought awareness of the hardship faced. Many are tweeting their phone numbers and offering shelters in their own homes to those in need, while several others complained about the lack of coverage in national media.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena held a meeting with nine senior army officers who lead military operations during the final stages of the armed conflict in 2009, to allay concerns that they be prosecuted for mass atrocities.

The Sunday Times reported that at the meeting, which took place at the Outreach Hotel in Negombo, the military officers explained their role during the final phase of the armed conflict.

Tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed during the closing stages, with a UN report released in September outlining reports of violations of international humanitarian law. A subsequent UN Human Rights Council mandated an accountability mechanism to prosecute the perpetrators.

The senior commanders, some of whom are reaching their retirement age of 55, reportedly did not inform the Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiaratchchi or Army Commander Lt. Gen. Chrisanthe de Silva that they would be meeting the president, breaking Sri Lankan military protocol.

US Ambassador Samantha Power praised the Sri Lankan president’s pledges to reduce his presidential powers as “striking” in an address to the UN Security Council this week.

A Tamil youth has been arrested for photocopying the suicide note of R. Senthuran.

The 23-year-old man from Jaffna, Balendran Prakash, was arrested by Koppay police on Tuesday.

Rajeswaran Senthuran committed suicide last Thursday in protest at the ongoing detention of Tamil political prisoners.