<p>Sri Lanka's parliament was adjourned today until December 18 by the Speaker Karu Jayasuriya.&nbsp;</p> <p>The country has been in a state of political turmoil since October when the president sacked the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa.&nbsp;</p> <p>Prior to the adjournament, the UNP member Sajith Premadasa tabled a motion of confidence in the UNP leader, Wickremesinghe.&nbsp;</p> <p>The motion comes amid calls for Sajith to put himself forward as a contender for the leadership of the party.&nbsp;</p>

A new study has estimated that over 500 Tamils were forcibly disappeared in just three days, after surrendering to the Sri Lankan army in May 2009.

The disappeared include an elderly Tamil Catholic priest Father Francis Joseph, LTTE cadres and civilians who all surrendered to Sri Lankan troops at the time. The study commented that this event “was extraordinary by the number of people disappeared in one location and in a very brief period”.

The mother of a Tamil journalist disappeared in 2007 died on Sunday, following the death of her husband less than a month earlier. The couple had been actively seeking answers for the disappearance of their son, Subramaniam Ramachandran, until their last days.

Ramachandran, a local correspondent for both the Yaal Thinakkural and Valampuri newspapers was disappeared in February 2007 inside a Sri Lankan army camp in Vadamarachchi.

The Sri Lankan army announced that it had modified and refurbished two gun carriages that it had initially bought from the United Kingdom in 1986.

The Sri Lankan army announced that 131 new recruits had completed their training last month, as the military continues to expand its numbers despite calls for demilitarisation.

The Sri Lankan military organised yet another series of seminars for Tamil schoolchildren last month, as it continued with its militarisation of the North-East.

Despite opposition to military presence in schools, soldiers have ramped up their activities with Tamil schoolchildren across the North-East.

<p>A court case has been filed against Ranil Wickremesinghe, accusing him of part ownership in a company that does business with the Sri Lankan government, which could see him potentially lose his seat as a parliamentarian.</p> <p>Wickremesinghe is accused of owning 1.33 percent of equity in Lake House Printers &amp; Publishers, a publicly listed company, that reportedly supplies cheque&nbsp;books to two state-banks. In effect, this means Wickremesinghe’s company engages in business with the government, which would disqualify him from holding a seat as an MP.</p>

The revolutionary Tamil poet Subramani Bharathi or Bharathiyar was celebrated on the 137th anniversary of his birth by the Indian Consulate in Jaffna on Tuesday.

Prominent local figures including politicians, local government officials and elected representatives, and religious leaders attended the event held at the iconic Bharathiyar statue in Nallur.

Bharathi, popularly known as Mahakavi or great poet for his pioneering influence on Tamil literature, was born in Thoothukudi in British India in 1882 and died in Chennai in 1921.

Sinhalese and Tamil residents of Colombo protested at Fort on Monday, to mark International Human Rights Day and demonstrate solidarity with ongoing protests around the North-East and by up-country Tamils.

<p>Former LTTE cadres living in the Nanattan division of Mannar have expressed their frustration at the lack of support they have received in rebuilding their lives, despite meeting with local and central government officials to discuss their needs.</p> <p>Over 60 male and female former cadres live in the division, among whom at least 15 have lost limbs or are otherwise disabled.</p> <p>Speaking to local press, the cadres said they had been called to discuss their needs more than twice with the Nanattan divisional secretariat and with officials of the presidential secretariat.</p>