Councillors from the Northern Provincial Council staged a protest on Tuesday, after the council passed a resolution last week condemning state sponsored Sinhala settlements in Mullaitivu and across the Vanni.

Sri Lanka’s president vowed that he would provide the military with “every possible comfort and privilege”, as he addressed Sri Lankan Special Forces at a ceremony on Monday.

Maithripala Sirisena was overseeing a passing out ceremony, where seven Officers and 189 other rank personnel were inducted into the military, when he made the pledge. His statement is the latest in a series of remarks made over the years reiterating his support for the military. He has previously vowed to protect them from an international war crimes tribunal for mass atrocities committed during the armed conflict.

Moody’s Investors Service has found that Sri Lanka’s debt sums to 80% of its national GDP, a ratio larger than instability ridden countries including Pakistan, Pakistan, Rwanda, Kenya and Ethiopia.

The investors service said that a sustainable rebound in real GDP growth will be essential to support future gains in Sri Lanka, reports lankabuisnessonline.com.

The Sri Lankan navy on Sunday released just 1.5 acres in Vadduvakal currently occupied by the Gotabhaya Navy Camp, which continues to span across 617 acres. 

The 1.5 acres belong to three individuals, who criticised the navy's decision to release such a small proportion of the occupied land. 

The past three years have seen a number of protests across the North-East calling on the state's armed forces to release land back to residents. 

The Civil Security Department has ordered teachers working at its pre-school in the Vanni region to attend 20 days of 'leadership training' at the Theravil military camp. 

Teachers were given military uniform with instruction to arrive at the camp tomorrow dressed in this attire. 

The Tamil National Alliance will not field current Chief Minister of the Northern Province C V Wigneswaran as a candidate for the upcoming Northern Provincial Council elections, reports The Island.

TNA parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran is reported to have announced the decision in Jaffna this weekend.

In the face of repeated calls for the military to withdraw itself from civilian activities, the Sri Lankan army decided to hold an event to mark the upcoming Tamil and Sinhala New Year in Poonakari last week.

US military officials from the  US Pacific Command (PACOM) met with the head of Sri Lanka’s army last week, where they discussed “career development prospects in the Indo-Asia-Pacific Region” and “further expansion of security cooperation”.

The Sri Lankan navy has been accused of chasing off up to 2,000 Indian fishermen on Saturday night, as years of tension the two sides continue.

Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran denied that his party reached an agreement with Sri Lanka’s prime minister, in order to back him against a no confidence motion in parliament last week.

Sri Lanka’s Minister for Resettlement has said 500 acres of Tamil people’s land will be released in Valikamam North when earlier in the week the ministry’s secretary had pledged that 650 acres would be released.

Supporters of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress, a breakaway faction of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, protested against the election of a Tamil deputy mayor to the Kalmunai Municipal Council in Amparai.

A section of coastal land in Mullaitivu rightfully belongs to Tamil fishermen, a Mullaitivu court has ruled, defeating a case brought against the Tamils by the Fisheries and Aquatics Department on behalf of Sinhalese fishermen who contested the land rights.

The former head of Sri Lanka’s military intelligence has been arrested over the 2008 abduction and assault of a journalist, reports the Daily Mirror.

Former Military Intelligence Director and Chief of Staff of the Army, Major General  Amal Karunasekara, who is now retired, was arrested on charges of aiding and abetting the abduction of Keith Noyahr. Mr Noyahr was an associate editor of The Nation when he was abducted in May 2008.