Sri Lanka's parliament descended into a violent brawl today, with a UPFA MPs caught on film throwing a waste bin at the Speaker and a UNP MP photographed wielding a knife during the session. 

Another UPFA MP was videoed pouring water over the Speaker's chair, whilst photographs published by AFP show a former minister brandishing his middle finger to colleagues. 

A former LTTE cadre who underwent Sri Lankan government ‘rehabilitation’ at the end of the war died suddenly in Mullaitivu this week.

The body of 29-year-old Maria Jebesan Vijithan was taken to Mullaitivu district hospital for post-mortem after his unexplained death on Sunday.

However the coroner at the district hospital said that the cause of death could not be determined from the post mortem and that Vijithan’s body was being sent to Colombo for genetic testing.

Students at the University of Jaffna held protests in solidarity with Up CountryTamils in their struggle to achieve a 1000 rupee minimum wage on tea estates.

A protest was held by students at the main campus in Thirunelveli on Tuesday, and earlier in the month by students at the traditional medicine faculty in Kaithady.

Excavation of the Mannar mass grave, where over 230 skeletons have been unearthed so far, has been temporarily suspended.

The excavation activities, which had been taking place for over 100 days, have been suspended due to officers having to undertake official court duties, Colombo Page reports, and will resume again on November 27.

<p>The Tamil Nadu government is to formally rename Anglicised town and street names next month, to Tamil names with transliterated versions in English. &nbsp;</p> <p>Examples include Triplicane to Thiruvallikeni, Trichy to Tiruchirappali, Tanjore to Thanjavur and Tuticorin to Thoothukudi.&nbsp;</p> <p>"Names of places must be pronounced the Tamil way and shouldn't be tweaked to suit English usage. For instance, Thiruvallikeni is referred to as Triplicane," the director of the state's Tamil Development Department, K Vijayaraghavan told Times of India.&nbsp;</p>

Sri Lanka's president has said he rejects the no-confidence motion brought against the former president and his appointment for prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa. 

In a letter made public today President Sirisena said the motion had passed "without adhering proper parliamentary procedures."

"The President shall appoint as Prime Minister the Member of Parliament, who, in the President’s opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of Parliament. The opinion of the President cannot be questioned or tested. He is expected to evaluate the prevailing situation and decide on the person best suited for the country," Sirisena wrote. 

A group of British parliamentarians have written to the UK’s foreign secretary warning that “Sri Lanka’s political stability is at grave risk” and called for discussion on the suspension of trade concessions to Colombo.

The seven parliamentarians, who are part of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils, said they were “deeply disturbed by the recent, undemocratic actions” on the island, including the appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister. The letter from the lawmakers said Rajapaksa is accused of “perpetrating war crimes, crimes against humanity and egregious human rights abuses”.

The letter went on to state,

<p>The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) reiterated that it would not form a government with the United National Party (UNP), despite its support for the no-confidence motion against Mahinda Rajapaksa.</p> <p>Speaking after the passing of the no-confidence motion, the leader of the party Anura Kumara Dissanayake said,</p> <p>“The Ranil Wickremesinghe administration was acting against the people’s mandate on a large scale and a no confidence motion was brought against it earlier this year. We voted in favour. We stand for truth. There may be others who claim they stand for truth but that is not relevant for us and no one could associate us with them.”</p>

Sri Lanka’s arrest of Tamil parliamentarian Vijayakala Maheswaran, following her remarks on the LTTE, is a “flagrant abuse of the rights to freedom of expression,” write human rights lawyers Samir Pasha and Naga Kandiah in The Interpreter this month.

“Any citizen has a right to dissent against government actions and raise issues affecting communities,” they wrote. “There is an unarguable difference between this and making a call to violent uprising, promoting hatred or hostility… The government’s claim in protecting the public can only be exercised in criminal proceedings where absolutely necessary. In Maheswaran’s case, this distinction was not made.”

The former captain of Sri Lanka’s cricket team announced that he had joined Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party this morning.

Tillakaratne Dilshan took up party membership this morning, amidst Sri Lanka’s political turmoil which has seen Rajapaksa attempt to gain the office of prime minister.

Dilshan has previously praised Sri Lanka’s president, Maithripala Sirisena for the attempted move to implement the death penalty for drug traffickers.

In 2011, Mel Gunasekera wrote for AFP: