After 2012 had the highest ever allocation for the Defence and Urban Development Ministry, Sri Lanka has once again planned to increase the amount of money allocated to the defence budget.

Last week, the cabinet approved the 2013 Appropriation Bill, estimating government expenditure at Rs 2.52 trillion (£12 billion).

A Sunday Leader journalist, Nirmala Kannangara, and photographer were stopped from entering the Suriyapuram camp in Nanthikadal by army officers last week.

The journalist and photographer were also threatened to not write anything detrimental about the army officers.

Tamil Nadu fishermen were attacked by Sri Lankan Navy personnel, reports NDTV.

The fishermen who were fishing around the Katchtheevu area on Sunday, were pelted with stones and had their fishing nets broken by the Navy crew.

See related articles:

Madras High Court urges protection of fishermen (25 Sep 2012)

Another attack on Tamil Nadu fishermen by Lankan Navy (07 Sep 2012)

Tamil Nadu fishermen fear reprisal attacks from SL Navy (06 Sep 2012) and our TG Comment here.

8 more fishermen attacked by SL Navy (19 Aug 2012)

The residents of Dambulla - a land claimed to be of sacred value to the sinhala Buddhists - have received written notice, asking them to vacate by the end of next month, reports Colombo Page.

The Attorney General’s Department has issued no correspondence regarding investigations into an assault on Uthayan’s editor, reported the newspaper. The editor, G Kuganathan was left severely injured when he was attacked in July 2011.

Jaffna’s Military Commander Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe has declared that the Army is in Jaffna to protect citizens and not to seize their lands or money.

Hathurusinghe claims that since the end of the war in 2009, the army has improved its rapport with the people of Jaffna by providing security as well as various developmental services.

An Uthayan journalist who attempted to visit the Tamil families 'resettled' into the Suriyapuram forests on Friday, was stopped by the Sri Lankan army soldiers, reported the newspaper.

The UN Refugee Agency expressed concern on Thursday, about the families who have been relocated from Menik Farm.

Despite seeing the closure of Menik Farm as a "significant step towards ending displacement", the UNHCR's representative in Sri Lanka Michael Zwack pointed out, "but there are still people displaced in different situations who need to find a solution."

A UPFA Pradeshiya Sabha member has been arrested over a series of rapes and murders of women in Kahawatta.

Lokugamhewage Dharmasiri, who is a former secretary of a cabinet minister, was arrested after in February after a 52-year old woman and her 19-year old daughter.

Tamil IDPs from Keppapulavu, supposedly 'resettled' by the Sri Lankan government earlier this week, were moved to the Suriyapuram forests by Nandikadal Lagoon, reports Uthayan and Tamilwin.

See here for coverage, including an interview, on TamilNet.

Dumped in little more than a clearing in the woods, families - many of whom headed by widows - have no access to drinking water, adequate shelter or food. 

According to Tamilwin, the families were moved by the Sri Lankan military from the Cheddikulam IDP camp to Vattrapalai school on Monday where they were told that they could return to their own homes. However, on Tuesday when the families demanded that they be allowed to return, the Sri Lankan military took them to the forests.  

Following the proposed closure of European embassies "that serve no purpose", Sri Lanka has announced its latest diplomatic relocation, with a new embassy to open in Manama, Bahrain.