Mahinda Rajapaksa, an accused war criminal, and leader of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), was sworn in as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in a Buddhist ceremony today.
Mahinda took the oath in the presence of Sri Lanka's President, the Buddhist clergy, the Maha Sangha and other parliamentarians at Kelani Raja Maha vihara.
Tamil News
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Sri Lankan troops have been deployed at the Nallur Kandasamy Temple in Jaffna this week, as the temple’s annual festival – thiruvizha – began last month.
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Based on a tip-off that a youth group in Araly, a town north of Jaffna, was in possession of guns and swords, Sri Lankan police conducted a search in the town yesterday and arrested at least ten people.
The initial search yielded an indigenous gun and a sword in an area that is reportedly populated by Tamil youngsters. The police confiscated the weapons and arrested two persons in relation to the incident. The arrested have been detained in the Vaddukoddai Police Station and are...
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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivered his congratulations to newly appointed Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, following the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s (SLPP) election victory in parliamentary elections last week, as Beijing looks to expand ties with the regime.
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The two leading Tamil nationalist parties in the North-East announced the appointment of parliamentarians through Sri Lanka’s National List, as the new parliament gets ready to convene later this month.
The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) appointed its General Secretary Selvarajah Kajendren.
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Content warning: rape, murder
Krishanthi Kumaraswamy was an A Level student at Chundikili High School who was kidnapped, gang raped and viciously murdered by Sri Lankan soldiers and police officers on September 7th 1996. Three of her family members who went in...
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Indian’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka congratulated Mahinda Rajapaksa, after his Sinhala nationalist party obtained a two-thirds majority in parliament, stating that New Delhi is looking to “work very closely with the new Government and Parliament in Sri Lanka for further strengthening comprehensive bilateral cooperation”.
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Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa-led government has already shown that it “will wear its majoritarianism on its sleeve,” warned The Indian Express in its editorial looking at the outcome of the island’s parliamentary polls, adding that the Tamil national question “remains an unhealed wound”.
"Displays of muscular Sinhala Buddhism in the wake of last year’s Easter killings carried out by a group of Islamist radicals may have overshadowed the long-standing Tamil question, but it remains an...
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Tamil National Alliance (TNA) chief R Sampanthan said that the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) “bribed its way into winning a lot of seats by dispensing money and liquor to the people,” as he addressed the press in Trincomalee.
“We are willing to work with the government to create permanent reconciliation in the country,” he said. “However, I don’t consider...
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The extremist leader of the Sinhala nationalist organization Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), monk Gnanasara, has been appointed to Sri Lanka’s parliament through the national list.
He has been appointed through the “Our Power of the People Party,” which received 67,758 votes and was allocated one national list seat.
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Sarath Weerasekara, a retired Rear Admiral for Sri Lanka’s Navy and Rajapaksa ally, has called for the abolition of the 19th amendment following a successful bid for the Colombo District during the parliamentary elections where he gained the highest preferential votes.
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Following the landslide victory by the Rajapaksa’s in the country’s parliamentary election, which they effectively secured a two-thirds majority, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warns that the country’s leadership is “waging a campaign of fear and intimidation against human rights activists, journalists, lawyers, and others challenging government policy”.
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The Malaysian High Court will deliver a decision on a judicial review application to de-proscribe the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on September 17, 2020.
V Balamurugan, who filed the application, was one of 12 Malaysian Tamils who were arrested last year for alleged links to the LTTE, which remains as a 'terrorist organisation' in the country. All charges were dropped against the individuals in February this year.
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The Tamil National Alliance’s (TNA) M A Sumanthiran responded to what he called “very strange” allegations of vote-rigging this morning, as controversy continued over a dramatic late night recount in an intra-party battle over preferential votes, that saw Sri Lankan troops attack Tamils in Jaffna.
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In this interview, we speak to the leader of the Tamil National Peoples’ Front (TNPF) Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, who won a seat in Sri Lanka's parliamentary elections yesterday.
We discuss the path forward for international accountability, Tamil-Muslim politics, the role of...
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In this interview, we speak to the leader of the Thamizh Makkal Thesya Kootanii (TMTK), the former Supreme Court Justice and former Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C V Wigneswaran, who won a seat in Sri Lanka's parliamentary elections yesterday.
We discuss the...
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Hanspeter Mock, the Swiss Ambassador to Sri Lanka joined other states in congratulating the Rajapaksa brothers on their victory in yesterday's parliamentary elections.
He tweeted:
The Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Trine Joranli Eskedal also tweeted:
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Sasikala Raviraj, widow of assassinated MP Raviraj and a TNA candidate for Jaffna in the recent parliamentary elections, has called on Illankai Tamil Arasu Kacchi (ITAK) leader, Mavai Senathirajah and the Election Commissioner (EC) to investigate the recount of preferential votes in...
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The statue of former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian and human rights lawyer, Nadarajah Raviraj was covered with several different cloths following a recount controversy involving two TNA candidates in Jaffna last night.
Nadarajah Raviraj’s statue in Chavakachcheri was covered in black cloth on his face and red and yellow...
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Photo: Twitter/@GotabayaR
Police Legal Division Director SSP Ruwan Gunasekara, said that rallies and parades are banned until a week after the results of the parliamentary elections are announced.
He said, “according to Sections 69 and 70 of the Parliamentary Elections Act” the ban has been enacted to “maintain...
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The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) suffered high profile losses in Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections this week, losing seats to paramilitary groups, government-aligned organisations and other Tamil nationalist parties, amidst allegations of election fraud.
Tensions build over in Jaffna in the early hours of the morning, with Sri...
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Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa clan have dominated the island’s general elections this week, with the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) sweeping polls on a staunchly Sinhala nationalist campaign and putting the party firmly in control of parliament.
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The recount of preferential votes in Jaffna has caused controversy within the TNA and amidst the wider Tamil community, as Praviinaa Raviraj - daughter of assassinated TNA MP Raviraj and current TNA candidate Sashikala Raviraj - suggested some foul-play had occurred in the recount.
Early reports had suggested that Mrs Raviraj had come second or third in the vote count and was therefore guaranteed a seat. However after a recount was called, reportedly at the request of another senior...
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BREAKING - Sri Lankan police officers and armed Special Task Force troops have attacked Tamils in Jaffna, as they gathered outside an election office where a recount is currently taking place.#srilankaelection2020 #...
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Indian prime minister Narenda Modi called Sri Lankan prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa earlier today to congratulate him on an “impressive electoral performance by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party,” according to an official Indian statement.
The call to Rajapaksa came even before the final results have been announced, with...
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Photo: Facebook/Chavakachcheri Hindu Primary School
A man was victim to voter fraud at the Chavakachcheri Hindu Primary School polling station in Jaffna on Wednesday.
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Updated 23.55 GMT
The Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna's (SLPP) have swept polls across the South on their Sinhala nationalist platform as predicted, whilst the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) lost seats in the North-East, with final results just announced in Sri Lanka’s parliamentary...
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Polls closed in Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections on Wednesday with an all island turnout of 71%, and an even higher turnout in many regions across the North-East.
Though across the island the figure is a six percent decrease in turnout when compared to the elections in 2015, some had expected it to be much lower due to the coronavirus pandemic...
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Writing on the repeated fear-mongering over a revival of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), J.S Tissainayagam notes how the spectre of the LTTE has been used as a “foil to win elections and justify lapses in good governance”; as well as, a means of justifying the “justify continued coercion of the Tamils”; and, to attract “foreign military assistance for...
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Basil Rajapaksa, the National Organizer of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) announced that those who left the party during the Yahapalana government would be welcomed back to the party but would be held at a political distance, as parliamentary polls closed earlier today.
World News
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Kamala Harris has been announced as Joe Biden’s vice-presidential running mate in the upcoming US presidential elections, becoming the first Black woman and the first Tamil to be nominated for national office by a major party.
Harris, who is a senator and former California attorney general, was hotly tipped to be selected by Biden, with the New York...
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Jimmy Lai, the founder of a media company and pro-democracy supporter in Hong Kong, was arrested under Hong Kong’s repressive new national security law.
Lai owns a media company that was raided as part of his arrest, a move that signals the Chinese governments’ continuing clampdown on dissent in Hong Kong. China adopted this law six weeks...
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The descendants of the 1904-1908 Namibia genocide and leaders of Namibia’s Nama and Ovaherero people expressed concerns over the Namibian and German government’s handling of the 1904-1908 genocide, which they described as being treated as a “political game”.
“Neither the Namibian nor the German government has undertaken any effort to restore relationships with the affected Nama and Ovaherero communities,” said traditional chiefs Vekuii Rukoro and Gaob Johannes Isaak in a joint...
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Security forces clashed with protesters in Beirut during demonstrations against the country’s leadership after a blast on Tuesday at the city’s port killed at least 200 people.
Security personnel used tear gas and batons against protesters who are demanding the resignation of many of the country’s political elite following the explosion. Protesters...
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Photo of Juan Carlos I, former King of SpainOn Friday, the regional parliament of Catalonia passed a non-binding motion denouncing the monarchy following the recent decision of the former Spanish King, Juan Carlos I, to go into exile.
The house was presented with the proposal, “Catalonia is a republic and does not...
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Around 50 refugees are reported to have died after news broke of refugee shipwrecks off the west coast of Africa.
The two separate refugee boats were attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Islands from Western Sahara at the...
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A protest in a Peru oil field on Sunday ended with at least three Amazon tribesmen killed by police and 17 other demonstrators injured.
The indigenous people from Peru’s Amazon were protesting against PetroTal Corp, a Canadian energy company after they announced they will be halting operations in their Loreto location.
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Over 1000 anti-government protesters rallied in Bangkok’s commercial district on Saturday, after two protest leaders were arrested by Thai authorities and held overnight.
Human rights lawyer, Anon Nampa, and student activist, Panupong Jadnok, were charged on Friday and held because of their connection with a series of protests demanding the...
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The United Kingdom is considering deploying the military to block migrants boats in the English Channel before they enter British-controlled waters.
British Home Secretary Priti Patel has appointed Dan O’Mahoney, director of the Joint Maritime Security Centre since 2019 and a former Royal Marine, as the UK's ‘Clandestine Channel Threat Commander...
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Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, laid the foundation stone for a controversial Hindu temple dedicated to Ram in the northern city of Ayodhya where a mosque was demolished by Hindu mobs nearly 30 years ago.
Houses and other buildings close to the temple were painted yellow - Hindu colours - whilst Modi participated in a Hindu ceremony, marking a definitive milestone in the...
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Myanmar’s military and 10 ethnic armed groups agreed to hold bilateral meetings during the state-level Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee (JMC-S) meetings to discuss the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), amidst hopes of a renewed peace process between the groups.
The military and armed groups have assented to meet individually to talk over troop deployments and territorial boundaries proposed in the NCA.
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Hundreds of children asylum seekers, some as young as 8 months, have been rapidly expelled from the United States to overflowing Guatemalan shelters, citing COVID-19 risks.
Shelter operators are seeing a rising number of children being sent back to Guatemala with many of them unable to return home due to gang violence and...
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Photo of accused war criminal Zlatan Mijo Jelic
Croatian President, Zoran Milanovic, presented former general and alleged war criminal, Zlatan Mijo Jelic, an award for his service during the 1995 Croatian war of independence...
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Over 135 people have been recorded as dead thus far and around 5,000 injured by two massive explosions that have torn apart the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
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Recent protests took place in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal in opposition to oppose Hong Kong’s new national security law.
The new security law has outraged Chinese communities in Canada as it is seen as an erosion of basic freedom and as a further attack against Hong...
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Photo: Palestine Action
Members of Palestine Action – a network formed last week to raise awareness about the Palestinian struggle – stormed the central London office of Israel’s biggest private arms company to protest and highlight Britain’s complicit role in the Israeli apartheid.
“We are tired of being ignored.”...
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An umbrella group representing more than one million Brazilian medical professionals, filed a complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) last week, citing Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro's government of being “criminally negligent in its management of the COVID-19 pandemic” and “risking the lives of healthcare professionals and of members of the Brazilian society... -
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was sentenced to 12 years in jail last week, after a Malaysia High Court found him guilty on all seven counts in the first of many multi-million-dollar corruption trials.
The case was centred around his involvement in the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) – a sovereign wealth fund set up in 2009 when Najib Razak was prime minister. Razak, who was in office from 2009 to 2018, pleaded not guilty to the charges of criminal breach of trust,...
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The European Union has blocked funding to six Polish cities, making up nearly a third of Poland, because of their attitude toward the LGBTQ community.
According to a statement from the EU’s commissioner for Equality, six towns in Poland have adopted homophobic policies, calling themselves ‘LGBT-free zones...
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A small group of Thai Royalists held a rally in response to the largest anti-government demonstration since Thailand imposed a state of emergency to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
The rally, which was held on Thursday, was mainly attended by mainly senior citizens with a few college-aged students....
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Photo of a spokesman of China's foreign ministry, Wang Wendin
China has demanded that the European Union “stop meddling in Hong Kong affairs and Chin’s internal affairs”; after the Union decided to limit the sale of technology for use in Hong Kong, over concerns about its...
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Recent documents in the British High Court reveal allegations of a “rogue” British SAS (Special Air Service) unit carrying out night-time executions of civilians in Afghanistan.
A collection of files, previously withheld from the UK court, have brought to light communications between high ranking officials...
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The Hong Kong government announced that elections scheduled for September would be postponed by a year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Pro-democracy opposition candidates argue that this is another in a series of attempts to weaken their chances and slow the momentum growing around their platform.
The move to postpone...
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Zimbabwe’s security forces have forced a lockdown in Harare, on Thursday, clearing people off the streets and forcing businesses to close a day before planned anti-government protests.
In Harare, the capital, armed soldiers and anti-riot police manned checkpoints, telling people to leave...
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Around 100 vulnerable asylum seekers, including minors, have been relocated to Finland and Germany from Greece and Cyprus refugee camps, according to the EU’s asylum coordination agency.
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New York City police have come under criticism after a viral video showing officers, including some in plainclothes, were seen arresting a protester and taking her away in an unmarked van as protest continued across the country.
Videos of the arrest have circulated on social media, attracting scrutiny from politicians and civil rights groups.
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US Congresswomen, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – who was subject to a verbal attack by Florida Republican Representative Ted Yoho – slammed the comments and the apology made by Yoho, at the House Chamber, in Washington, D.C.
She emphasised the incident as extending the “culture of lack of impunity and accepting of violence and violent language against women” and that “an...
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The University of Hong Kong has fired an associate law professor, Benny Tai, under criminal charges for his role in the 2014 pro-democracy “umbrella protests.”
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Australian supreme court granted a bid on Sunday to prevent Black Lives Matter protests from happening in Sydney, accepting police concerns about possible coronavirus outbreaks.
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Two people have been killed and between 20-30 injured by security forces during renewed anti-government protests on Sunday in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, over corruption, rising unemployment, and poor public services.