The Sri Lankan government has announced Rs 45.5 million got welfare grants to disabled soldiers and their children from the military.

The grants, which were organised by the Ranawiru Seva Authority (RSA) were presented by the Secretary of Defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa at a ceremony on November 14.

The ceremony was also attended by General Jagath Jayasuriya. See more here.

A land survey carried out by military personnel in the Vettrilaikeni Kattaikadu Mulli region and Vadamarachchi East was halted on Thursday morning, after locals protested against further land grabs.

The surveyors arrived in the morning together with a large number of police officers.

"More than 3 acres of land were going to be surveyed today in Vadamaratchi East, Vettrilaikenu]i Kattaikadu Mulli region for military use, without land owners knowing," Northern Provincial Council member P. Gajatheepan told Uthayan.

2nd lead

The murder weapon used to shoot dead a former LTTE policeman at his home in Mannar on Wednesday night was found by sniffer dogs in Vellankulam on Friday morning, 200m away from the site of the shooting.

The victim, 34 year old Naguleshwaran Krishnasuwamy was in his own backyard working towards constructing his own home on Wednesday night, when unidentified gunmen entered his house and shot him at 8.30pm.

The Bishop of Mannar, Rayappu Joseph condemned the killing of a former LTTE police officer by unidentified gunmen on Wednesday night, and called on the international community to ensure an end to extrajudicial killings.

"[The latest killing] is an apparent bid by the gunmen to create a fear psychosis among the war-ravaged people in the North once again," the Mannar bishop was quoted as saying by Colombo Mirror.

The Jaffna University teachers' union condemned the heavy presence of military personnel around the university, stating that it was leading to widespread fear amongst students, reports Uthayan.

The heightened military presence comes days before the Tamil nation's remembrance day event - Maaveerar Naal - on November 27, which has been a focal point of military deployment across the North-East since the end of the armed conflict in an attempt to clamp down on memorial events.

"This [military presence] cannot be accepted, this has caused fear amongst not only the university students but amongst the entire university society.  The opportunity to learn independently will only occur when the army is discharged from the university environment," the union said on Friday.

Sri Lankan state-owned institutions have lost billions of rupees in the last year alone according to a report from the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE).

COPE, a parliamentary run committee headed by Minister D E W Gunasekera, stated that the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, National Paper Company and Sri Lanka Airlines generated a combined Rs.40.2 billion loss from May 7 to September 26, 2014, reported ColomboPage.

Meanwhile, Transport Minister Kumara Welgama told Parliament that Sri Lanka Railways had also suffered a loss of over Rs. 5 billion in the last year.

See more from the Island here.

The Vatican has confirmed that he Pope's visit to Sri Lanka will commence on the 13th of January.

Pope Francis will call on President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the first day of his visit, before travelling to the North-East.

He will lead prayers at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary at Madhu, in the district of Mannar.

Sri Lanka's Church previously said it would reconsider the visit in view of the poll, as it would be “inappropriate” for the pontiff to visit during the election period.

A senior lecturer at the University of Colombo warned of "impure groups in the country are joining foreign forces to snatch back the freedom won in 2009".

Speaking on Wednesday at a ceremony in Colombo, the lecturer, Dhamma Dissanayake called on everyone, particular the younger generation should "come forward against this threat", reported the state news agency, SLBC.

Unidentified gunmen shot dead a former member of the LTTE Police Department in Vellankulam in Mannar district on Wednesday night.

The victim, 34 year old Naguleshwaran Krishnasuwamy, was in his own backyard working towards constructing his own home when the gunmen entered his house and shot him at 8.30pm, his wife, Kavitha said.

Naguleshwaran served as a police officer in the LTTE Police Department in the LTTE run defacto state of Tamil Eelam.

Following the assassination, security has been tightened and patrols increased. The A32 was also closed off for a few hours.