The TNA were urged under no circumstances to barter away war crimes accountability for "political concessions" by the Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) during a press conference on Sunday.

The TNPF is a group of former TNA parliamentarians and civil society members, formed in early 2010 in exasperation at the TNA's reluctance to base its policies on the Tamil nation's rights.

A district court in The Hague ruled on Friday, in the case of five Tamils accused of procuring funds, that the LTTE is not a terrorist organisation.

Speaking in parliament on Thursday, UPFA member, A H M Azwar, expressed sorrow at the end of Gaddafi's rule.

Writing in the Canberra Times, retired Australian diplomat Bruce Haigh called on Australia to reject the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe.

The head of Channel 4 News and Current Affairs has told a Lords communications committee that a protest against the broadcaster earlier this year was arranged by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence.

An internal report by a panel on the Commonwealth, due to be presented at the summit in Perth next week, has slammed the ‘failure’ of the 54-member organisation to address human rights issues of its members and said only prompt action will save the Commonwealth from irrelevance and its eventual demise.

The TNA (Tamil National Alliance) called on the government to stop all registration of lands in the North-East, reverse the inclusion of the Sinhala region of Welioya into Mullaitivu District and stop the deployment of a Sinhala government agent to Mannar, during talks with government delegates on Thursday.

A group of Vedda, indigenous people on the island of Sri Lanka, have protested outside the residence of the Trincomalee governor, the BBC Sinhala service reports.

The group, hailing from a remote village in the district, claimed their ancestral land was being appropriated by a Buddhist monk, with government officials in the district ignoring their plight.

The parliamentary standards watchdog will be conducted a fresh investigation into the Fox's dealings with Werritty, the watchdog's commissioner announced today.

The watchdog was asked by the Labour MP, John Mann, to investigate allegations that Fox allowed Werritty to live rent-free in his London flat, paid for by parliamentary allowances.

Carefully skirting around a direct admission of guilt, the British former defence secretary, Liam Fox, whilst addressing parliament on Wednesday, said,

"The ministerial code has been found to be breached. For this I am sorry."

Tamil politicians across the political spectrum protested in Vavuniya on Monday, against the on-going settlement of Sinhala citizens into Tamil areas, whilst Tamil refugees remain homeless and face increasing obstacle to land registration.