The Tamil-owned telecoms company Lycamobile has had its former CEO convicted and was ordered to pay a fine of €10 million after being found guilty of money laundering and fraud by a French court last month, just weeks after the company launched a Sri Lankan production arm looking to boost Sinhala-language cinema. The verdict in the Parisian court comes after years of controversial practices by the multimillion-dollar company, which is reported to have links with the war crimes accused Rajapaksa family in Sri Lanka, and is looking to expand its operations on the island further.
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran revealed how he, and others in the party, had called on leader R Sampanthan to step down, but the 90-year old politician refused to do so. Sampanthan has led the TNA since its formation in 2001, but in recent years has fought growing unpopularity, rifts within the coalition, and bouts of ill health.
Today marks 27 years since two Tamil activists were shot dead in a Parisian neighbourhood, a murder that shocked the Tamil diaspora worldwide and remains unsolved to this day. Kandiah Gajendran, also known as Gajan, was the editor of Paris based Tamil weekly 'Eelamurasu' and Kandiah Perinpanathan, known as Nathan, was in-charge of LTTE's international finance. The two men aged 30 and 32-years old respectively, were strolling down Boulevard de La Chapelle on the 26th of October 1996 - a neighbourhood which had a long established and thriving Eelam Tamil community.
The former British Prime Minister once spearheaded efforts on accountability for war crimes on the island. Now, he is drumming up investment for a controversial multibillion-pound Chinese project in Colombo.
The British Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, recently paid a visit to Jaffna where she met with Tamil parliamentarians and other officials, as part of her first visit to the island.
The 36th anniversary of Thiyagi Thileepan’s martyrdom is being commemorated throughout the North-East, with multiple organisations, groups and thousands of people participating in various commemorative events across the homeland.
On this day 28 years ago, the Sri Lankan air force dropped 13 bombs on St Peter’s Church in Navaly. More than 140 sheltering Tamils, who were encouraged by the military to seek refuge at the church, were killed on the spot. At least 13 children were amongst the dead, with many more succumbing to injuries later as the local hospital was swamped with the wounded.
On July 5, Eelam Tamils across the world remember and mourn the sacrifices made by the LTTE's elite women and men, the Black Tigers. “Karumpuli Naal” marks the sacrifice made by the first Black Tiger, Captain Miller, or Vallipuram Vasanthan, 36 years ago. In 1987, he attacked a Sri Lankan Army garrison in Nelliyadi in the Jaffna district, by driving a small truck with explosives into it. Forty Sri Lankan soldiers were killed in the attack.
In the town of Pulmoaddai, located in the Trincomalee District, more than 25 soldiers and monks are tirelessly working day and night to construct a new Buddhist vihara. Their objective is to complete the project swiftly, despite accusations of illegal deforestation that preceded it. Pulmoaddai, primarily inhabited by Tamil-speaking Muslims, lies within the Kuchchaveli Divisional Secretariat. Situated on the border of the Mullaitivu District, the town holds significant strategic importance as it connects the Northern and Eastern regions of the traditional Tamil homeland. Since the conclusion...
Many villages in Mullaitivu are being targeted for ongoing Sinhala-Buddhist colonisation by the Sri Lankan state. In the 80s, villages such as Manalaru, Othiyamalai, Amaravayal, Thennamarawadi and Kokkilai were violently, not only with Sinhala names, but also with Sinhala settlements populating the village following the massacre of hundreds of Tamils from each village by the Sri Lankan army. Before the massacre in 1984, over 367 families lived in these areas, with over 200 families cultivating paddy as their main livelihood while others grew livestock. These farmers were also unionised into diverse cooperatives to protect their livelihoods, which allowed them to accumulate a significant amount of wealth, according to locals.