Updated 29 Dec 2014

Latest reports from the Disaster Management Centre, suggest that 30 have died and 15 disappeared.

Over 1 million people have been affected, with several thousands displaced reports the Uthayan.

The heavy rainfall is expected to last in the region for longer than expected

Thousands have been displaced by the heavy flooding in Batticaloa.

In Mannar, 8,979 people including 2,434 families have been displaced, reported the Jaffna based newspaper Uthayan. Thirty-nine temporary welfare centres have been set up.

Heavy rainfall since the 22nd December has damaged thousands of homes, with hundreds being reported as irreparable.

From the Vakarai division alone, 8234 people are reported to be sheltering in public buildings, with a further 16,661 seeking refuge with friends and family.

TNA calls on government to assist flood victims in East (26 Dec 2014)

Displacement and deaths as heavy rains and flooding continue in East (26 Dec 2014)

The leader of the Bodu Bala Sena has accused Rauff Hakeem, the head of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress of being a “political prostitute” and accused him of conspiring to separate the country, together with opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena and the Tamil National Alliance.

Speaking a day after the SLMC’s defection to the opposition, BBS leader Galabode Gnanasara said Hakeem had done the same thing in 2005 and 2010, when he also defected to the opposition.

“This time he is halfway through, and repeated the same move,” he charged.

A Tamil family who were removed from an asylum centre in Perth, Australia will not be sent to a government detention centre in Nauru, announced Australian authorities.

The Tamil couple and six month old baby girl were being held at Darwin, from where they were to be sent to Nauru detention centre, where they were originally being held. The young couple were moved to Perth for the woman to give birth.

Following the birth of their daughter, the whole family were to be sent to Nauru detention centre. Their removal from Perth sparked protests, as activists blockaded the driveway of the Perth centre where they were being held.

Since then, the Australian government has announced that 31 babies, including the girl born in Perth, and their families would not be sent back to Nauru.

The National Bhikku Front, an organisation of Buddhist monks, has called on members of the security forces to vote for the common opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena.

The ultra-nationalist organisation reassured the military that Sirisena would never conduct an internal or international investigation into war crimes, as he said in his manifesto, which proved that soldiers were safe.

The Bollywood actor Salman Khan and Sri Lankan actress Jacqueline Fernandez are currently in Colombo campaigning for Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, reports the Indian Express.

An office of the opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena was attacked on by unidentified assailants on Sunday night, according to the DailyMirror.

The office in Mahiyangayana, in Uva Province, was attacked by 15 men, who shot at the building and damaged vehicles.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has warned against the threat posed by social media site Facebook, used by those who are pushing for a change of government in Sri Lanka.

Speaking at a rally in Hanwella, Rajapaksa said the country’s youth was being drawn to believe the propaganda distributed on Facebook, reported Colombo Gazette, adding that some people claimed he would face the same fate as Libya’s Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

The president said that as long as he has the support of the Sri Lankan public, no one will be able to harm him and that he used the powers of the executive presidency to end the war, as the people desired.

Rajapaksa also said he would not remove the High Security Zones, nor would he reduce the military presence in the north, as he will not compromise national security and allow the country to be divided.

The Sri Lankan military is interfering with the functioning of schools in the North says the president of the Ceylon Teachers' Union.

The head of the organisation, Joseph Stalin, said that more than 69 schools under the  Palaly Teachers Training College division remain shut down and occupied by the military.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) on Sunday announced that the party will support the common opposition candidate in the upcoming presidential elections.

The SLMC leader, and government’s former justice minister, Rauf Hakeem, announced the decision after sending his resignation to Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Sri Lankan government has stated it fears the latest defection from the ruling alliance by the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) is part of an international conspiracy to divide the country.

The ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) General Secretary Susil Premajayantha stated that in negotiations the SLMC had demanded a separate Muslim administrative district.

Aalen, Germany

Tamils in Germany held remembrance events on Friday in memory of victims of the tsunami that hit the North-East of the island of Sri Lanka, and across South Asia, 10 years ago.

Events took place in Berlin, Aalen, and Essen where Tamils gathered by the newly erected Mullivaikkal memorial.

The police Special Task Force (STF) has been deployed in regions of Sri Lanka following clashes between opposition and government supporters on Friday night.

Government supporters arrived at an opposition election rally and attacked vehicles of opposition members, including that of the former president, Chandrika Kumaratunga, reports the Colombo Gazette.
 
Clashes occurred after a rally was held in Beruwala in support of the common opposition presidential candidate, Maithripala Sirisena.