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387 and rising - Chemmani becomes the island's largest mass grave
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Tamil Affairs
Activists protest mineral sand mining threatening East coast
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Tamil Affairs
Bharatanatyam world record in Colombo sparks row over recognition and costs
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Tamil Affairs
UNP demands Sri Lankan seek FBI material on Easter Sunday attacks
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Tamil Affairs
Yoshitha Rajapaksa granted bail following Bribery Commission arrest

Latest Headlines

Activists protest mineral sand mining threatening East coast
Environmentalists and civil society activists protested at Galle Face in Colombo on 17 June against proposed heavy mineral sand mining along the eastern coastline from Oluvil to Pothuvil, warning that the project threatens the land, fisheries and livelihoods of Tamil and Muslim communities across the Eastern Province.
Bharatanatyam world record in Colombo sparks row over recognition and costs
A Guinness World Record set by nearly 5,000 Bharatanatyam dancers at Galle Face in Colombo has sparked controversy, after activists questioned why the official recognition was awarded to organisers and an overseas instructor rather than the thousands of performers who paid to take part. The SANGAMAM-2026 event, held on 14 June, saw 4,988 dancers successfully set a new Guinness World Record for the Largest Bharatanatyam Dance Lesson.
UNP demands Sri Lankan seek FBI material on Easter Sunday attacks
The United National Party (UNP) has called on the Sri Lankan government to obtain the material gathered by United States authorities during the FBI's investigation into the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, questioning whether it has sought the evidence as part of its renewed probe into the bombings.
Yoshitha Rajapaksa granted bail following Bribery Commission arrest
The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court has granted bail to Yoshitha Rajapaksa, the second son of former Sri Lankan president and accused war criminal Mahinda Rajapaksa, following his arrest by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption. Yoshitha Rajapaksa was released on three personal sureties of Rs. 5 million each. Colombo Additional Magistrate Lahiru Silva also imposed a foreign travel ban on him. The order was issued after the court considered submissions made by both the defence and the Bribery Commission.
Tamil gold held by the army for sixteen years finally weighed, court hears
The weighing of some 10,000 gold items seized by the Sri Lankan army from the Tamil homeland during the armed conflict, the bulk of them the pawned jewellery and possessions of Tamil civilians, has been completed, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has told a Colombo court.
NPP opposes Nagapooshani Amman statue weeks after 88-foot Buddha erected at Nainativu
Nainativu Sri Nagapooshani Amman during the opening day of her annual Mahotsavam festival in Nainativu. The Velanai Pradeshiya Sabha has voted to install a statue of Nainativu Sri Nagapooshani Amman at the roundabout near the renovated Kurikattuvan Jetty in Jaffna, over the objections of National People's Power (NPP) councillors, in a dispute that comes weeks after an 88-foot Buddha statue was erected on the island of Nainativu.
Banner garlanding Jaffna MP with shoes torn down by the MP himself
A ten-foot banner depicting the Jaffna District MP Ramanathan Archchuna garlanded with footwear was erected along a main road on the outskirts of Jaffna on Friday, in a public expression of anger over his conduct, before the MP himself arrived and tore it down.
Chemmani mass grave toll reaches 366 ahead of ministerial visit
The number of skeletal remains identified at the Chemmani mass grave in Jaffna has risen to 366, as excavators uncovered further remains of children on Tuesday, at one of the largest mass graves unearthed on the island and a site long tied to the enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killing of Tamils by the Sri Lankan military.
India hands over USD 5 million defence aid package to Sri Lanka
India has handed over a consignment of military stores and a trauma care system worth more than USD 5 million to the Sri Lanka Army, deepening a defence relationship that has expanded, as the Sri Lankan military continues to occupy the Tamil homeland.
Sri Lankan authorities dig for alleged LTTE gold in Amparai but find nothing
Sri Lankan authorities carried out an excavation in the Eastern district of Amparai on Wednesday in search of weapons and gold allegedly buried by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but no items were recovered. The search took place on a privately owned paddy field in the Thoyyum Vattai Keel Kandam area, within the Sammanthurai police division. According to officials, the excavation was launched after information was reportedly received by the Amparai Special Police Intelligence Unit, alleging that LTTE members had buried weapons and gold on the land during the armed conflict.

Scared of a song

Monks above the law

Solidarity demands courage

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Tamil News

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Activists protest mineral sand mining threatening East coast

Jun 19
Environmentalists and civil society activists protested at Galle Face in Colombo on 17 June against proposed heavy mineral sand mining along the eastern coastline from Oluvil to Pothuvil, warning that the project threatens the land, fisheries and livelihoods of Tamil and Muslim communities across the Eastern Province.
Bharatanatyam world record in Colombo sparks row over recognition and costs

A Guinness World Record set by nearly 5,000 Bharatanatyam dancers at Galle Face in Colombo has sparked controversy, after activists questioned why the official recognition was awarded to organisers and an overseas instructor rather than the thousands of performers who paid to take part.

UNP demands Sri Lankan seek FBI material on Easter Sunday attacks

Yoshitha Rajapaksa granted bail following Bribery Commission arrest

The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court has granted bail to Yoshitha Rajapaksa, the second son of former Sri Lankan president and accused war criminal Mahinda Rajapaksa, following his arrest by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption.

Tamil gold held by the army for sixteen years finally weighed, court hears
The weighing of some 10,000 gold items seized by the Sri Lankan army from the Tamil homeland during the armed conflict, the bulk of them the pawned jewellery and possessions of Tamil civilians, has been completed, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has told a Colombo court.
NPP opposes Nagapooshani Amman statue weeks after 88-foot Buddha erected at Nainativu

Banner garlanding Jaffna MP with shoes torn down by the MP himself
A ten-foot banner depicting the Jaffna District MP Ramanathan Archchuna garlanded with footwear was erected along a main road on the outskirts of Jaffna on Friday, in a public expression of anger over his conduct, before the MP himself arrived and tore it down.
Chemmani mass grave toll reaches 366 ahead of ministerial visit
The number of skeletal remains identified at the Chemmani mass grave in Jaffna has risen to 366, as excavators uncovered further remains of children on Tuesday, at one of the largest mass graves unearthed on the island and a site long tied to the enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killing of Tamils by the Sri Lankan military.
India hands over USD 5 million defence aid package to Sri Lanka
India has handed over a consignment of military stores and a trauma care system worth more than USD 5 million to the Sri Lanka Army, deepening a defence relationship that has expanded, as the Sri Lankan military continues to occupy the Tamil homeland.
Sri Lankan authorities dig for alleged LTTE gold in Amparai but find nothing

Sri Lankan authorities carried out an excavation in the Eastern district of Amparai on Wednesday in search of weapons and gold allegedly buried by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but no items were recovered.

The North-Eastern - Eelam Tamil magazine launched in Jaffna and Batticaloa

A new English-language print magazine has been launched in the Tamil homeland, with events in Jaffna and Batticaloa timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Vaddukoddai Resolution.

Bribery commission arrests Rajapaksa's son over naval training

Core Group raises concern over PTA and enforced disappearances in Geneva

Jaffna and Palaly protests mark 36 years since Valikamam North displacement
Displaced residents of the Valikamam North region of Jaffna held protests on Monday, in front of the Jaffna District Secretariat and near Palaly Junction, marking 36 years since their forced displacement and demanding the right to return and resettle in their lands.
Sri Lanka threatens legal action over Hindu worship at Kurunthur Malai

Sri Lanka's acting head of archaeology has claimed that no evidence exists of a Hindu temple ever having stood at Kurunthur Malai in Mullaitivu, and refused permission for the Tamil shrine at the site to be rebuilt, in the latest move in a years-long state-backed effort to seize the hilltop for Sinhala Buddhism.

'If we do not tell our own stories, others will' - Ana Pararajasingham on Uprooted
When Ana Pararajasingham set out to gather the stories of thirty-four Eelam Tamils scattered across the world, it was out of a worry that the history behind their displacement was already fading, even within the diaspora itself. His book, Uprooted: Stories from the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora, presents those lives not as isolated accounts of personal success but as the record of a people driven from their homeland who went on to rebuild elsewhere. He spoke to the Tamil Guardian about the process behind the book.
Seventeen UK Tamil student bodies demand PTA repeal

A coalition of seventeen Tamil youth and university student organisations across the United Kingdom has demanded the full repeal of Sri Lanka's Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and an end to the prosecution of Eelam Tamil artist Sangeethsan Ganeskumar, days after the rapper known as Hiphop Sangee was released on bail but left facing continuing charges over a song.

Gotabaya moves to prevent arrest under PTA as Easter Sunday investigation widens
Former Sri Lankan president and accused war criminal Gotabaya Rajapaksa has filed a writ petition before the Court of Appeal seeking an order preventing his arrest under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) in connection with investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.
Pillayan named as suspect in five 2008 Eastern Province killings
Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department has named TMVP leader and former state minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, widely known as Pillayan, as a suspect in a series of 2008 killings in the Eastern Province.
Thousands demand justice for Tamil man killed by police near Paris
More than a thousand people marched through the streets of Bobigny, in the northern suburbs of Paris, on Sunday in tribute to Puvaneswaran Vaithilingam, a French Tamil man who was shot dead by a police officer last month. 

World News

UN experts demand independent investigation into death of Indigenous leader in Nicaragua

Jun 16
UN human rights experts have demanded an independent investigation into the death in state custody of Indigenous Miskito leader Brooklyn Rivera, warning that his prolonged enforced disappearance and death may amount to crimes against humanity for which the Nicaraguan government bears legal responsibility.
Baloch activists accuse state-backed death squads of new killings
A fresh wave of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances has been documented across Balochistan this month, as Baloch rights groups recorded the recovery of several bodies of men who had earlier been forcibly taken, and appealed once more to international institutions that have largely ignored the province.
UN experts demand investigation following Israel’s killing of Lebanese journalists
Three UN experts called for a full and independent investigation following Israel's killing of three Lebanese journalists.
Sudan hospital ‘drone strike’ kills 64, including children
At least 64 people, including 13 children, have been killed in an attack on a hospital in Sudan’s Darfur region, as violence continues to devastate the already collapsing healthcare system.
FIFA fines Israel for racism and discrimination but clears settlement clubs
On Thursday, FIFA sanctioned the Israel Football Association over breaches of racism and discrimination, but cleared Israeli clubs playing in settlements.
UK jury acquits woman of terrorism charge over Hamas comments
A woman who told a protest crowd that Hamas is “fighting for freedom” has been found not guilty of expressing support for a proscribed organisation, following a closely watched case in a British court.
Two Indian journalists detained for filming docked Iranian warship
Two Indian journalists were detained for filming a docked Iranian warship in Kochi, Kerala.
Spain withdraws ambassador from Israel amid Gaza genocide and Iran war tensions
Spain has withdrawn its ambassador to Israel in the latest escalation of a deepening diplomatic dispute between Madrid and Tel Aviv over Israel’s assault on Gaza and the recent United States and Israeli attacks on Iran.
Former Syrian colonel charged with crimes against humanity in landmark UK case
A former colonel in Syria’s Air Force Intelligence has appeared before a London court charged with crimes against humanity, in what prosecutors say is the first case of its kind brought under British law.
UN peacekeepers refuse order to leave South Sudan opposition stronghold

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has said it will keep its peacekeeping force in the town of Akobo despite an order by the South Sudanese military to vacate the area ahead of a planned offensive.

'India stands with Israel,' Modi says during state visit
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded a two-day state visit to Israel on Thursday, bolstering cooperation in multiple areas, including defence, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and agriculture.
'Journalists being killed in record numbers' - 129 press members killed in 2025
A record 129 press members were killed in 2025, according to the latest report by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Scotland’s ‘independence within reach’ says first minister
Scottish independence is “within reach”, First Minister John Swinney has said, as a new poll projects the Scottish National Party just one seat short of a majority ahead of this year’s Holyrood election.
UN investigators warn RSF assault on El Fasher bears ‘hallmarks of genocide’
A United Nations fact-finding mission has determined that atrocities carried out during the siege and takeover of the Sudanese city of El Fasher bear the “hallmarks of genocide”, condemning the conduct of paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters in Darfur during the ongoing conflict.
UK moves toward new law to ban Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
As international criticism mounts over the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) involvement in Tehran's fatal suppression of anti-government protests, the UK government reportedly set to introduce legislation that would enable it to officially outlaw the organisation. The action comes after the European Union made the decision last month to put the IRGC to its official list of terrorist organisations, adding groups like Islamic State, Hamas, and al-Qaeda. 
Tibetan diaspora votes worldwide for government-in-exile
Tibetans around the world began a global election on Sunday to choose a parliament and political leadership for the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).
'Mother of all deals’ - India and EU forge landmark trade and security pact
India and the European Union have announced a sweeping free trade agreement that both sides have hailed as the “mother of all deals”, concluding nearly two decades of intermittent negotiations.
'Old world order is not coming back' - Carney calls for middle power unity at Davos
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has warned that the global order that shaped international politics for decades “is not coming back”, urging “middle powers” to act collectively as great power rivalry intensifies.
Syrian government and SDF forces agree on four-day ceasefire
The Syrian government has announced a four-day ceasefire with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) after the army continued to seize territory in the country’s northeast.
UN court begins hearing on Myanmar Rohingya genocide case
This week, the charge that Myanmar committed genocide against the Rohingya went before the International Court of Justice for three weeks of testimony. 
OPINION
Did Mullivaikkal End History?
Safeguarding Memories: Why Archiving Tamil Stories Matters
The 'Emancipation Proclamation' and 'Vaddukoddai Resolution'
CULTURE & COMMUNITY
In Pictures - Colonel Shankar memorial sports tournament 2026 held in Switzerland ""
Mannar's ancient Thiruketheeswaram temple marks close of grand festival ""
Keeping the flame alive - Tamil Eelam's musical legacy honoured at Eluchikuyil 2026 ""
INTERVIEW
'If we do not tell our own stories, others will' - Ana Pararajasingham on Uprooted
'This will waken things up' - Scottish MSP on Tamil genocide recognition
From Vadamaradchi to the Élysée - the Tamil baker who conquered Paris