Features

Features

Latest news from and about the homeland

The road to 2028: How Sri Lanka's recovery could unravel again
File photograph. For the better part of two years, Sri Lanka's official story has been one of steady recovery: inflation tamed, reserves rebuilt, a debt restructuring all but complete, and an International Monetary Fund that keeps urging the government to "stay the course". Beneath that narrative, however, a cluster of pressures is now converging, some homegrown, some bearing down from a…

Sri Lanka’s deadliest prison riot in years kills 26

Jul 7, 2026
Sri Lanka’s prison system has been thrown back into crisis after two days of violence at Negombo Prison killed 26 people and injured more than 100, just weeks after rights groups warned the United Nations of overcrowding, custodial deaths and torture in detention facilities.
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The Isle of the Goddess: Nagapooshani Amman's Mahotsavam and the battle over Nainativu's identity

Jul 2, 2026
The annual Mahotsavam of the historic Nainativu Nagapooshani Amman Temple concluded this week, its closing days drawing thousands of devotees to an island whose ancient Hindu and Naga heritage is increasingly being overshadowed by a state-driven project of Sinhala Buddhist majoritarianism.
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Chemmani lights up with 427 torches to remember the victims of mass graves

Jul 1, 2026

A peaceful public mobilisation titled Urimaippantham, or Right of Bond, was held at Chemmani on Sunday, as Tamils gathered to remember the hundreds of victims whose remains have been recovered from the mass grave site.

K Bhagyaraj: Tamil cinema’s ‘screenplay king’ who lent his voice to Eelam Tamil causes

Jun 29, 2026
Veteran Tamil filmmaker, actor and screenwriter K Bhagyaraj, who passed away in Chennai aged 73, leaves behind a towering legacy in Tamil cinema, where he was celebrated as one of the industry’s finest storytellers.

As Burnham eyes Number 10, British Tamils face a largely untested record

Jun 22, 2026
As Andy Burnham emerges as the frontrunner to succeed Keir Starmer as Labour leader and British prime minister, British Tamils are weighing a record on Tamil justice that is far thinner than the outgoing premier's, yet not quite the blank slate it might first appear.

Keir Starmer, British Tamils and the promises still unmet

Jun 22, 2026

Keir Starmer at Downing Street Thai Pongal reception with British Tamils

Keir Starmer's announcement that he will resign as Labour leader, and remain in Downing Street only until his successor is chosen, brings to an end a premiership that began on the back of some of the strongest pledges a British party leader had ever made to Tamils.

News

Sri Lanka revives infamous Israeli-made Kfir warplanes

Jun 15, 2026

The Sri Lanka Air Force has carried out the first test flight of its upgraded Israeli-made Kfir C12 fighter aircraft at SLAF Base Katunayake, renewing scrutiny of a warplane closely associated with Sri Lanka’s bombing campaigns across the Tamil homeland.

Remembering 1956 – Sri Lanka’s first Anti-Tamil pogrom

Jun 15, 2026
This week marks 70 years since Sri Lanka’s first anti-Tamil pogroms, when government backed Sinhala mobs murdered more than 150 Tamils across the island – the first of many massacres that were to take place in the decades to come.

Jailed for a song: How Sri Lanka’s PTA was turned on a Tamil rapper

Jun 15, 2026

When officers of the Jaffna District Crime Prevention Division arrested a 24-year-old rapper from Kilinochchi on 2 June over videos of a music performance, they invoked one of the most feared pieces of legislation on the island: the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Sri Lanka’s reserves rise, but the numbers tell a murkier story

Jun 11, 2026
Sri Lanka’s rupee has continued to weaken against the US dollar, even as the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) reported a marginal increase in foreign exchange reserves, raising fresh questions over the true state of the island’s external account.
Sri Lanka’s deadliest prison riot in years kills 26
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The Isle of the Goddess: Nagapooshani Amman's Mahotsavam and the battle over Nainativu's identity
""
Chemmani lights up with 427 torches to remember the victims of mass graves
K Bhagyaraj: Tamil cinema’s ‘screenplay king’ who lent his voice to Eelam Tamil causes
As Burnham eyes Number 10, British Tamils face a largely untested record
Keir Starmer, British Tamils and the promises still unmet
News
Sri Lanka revives infamous Israeli-made Kfir warplanes
Remembering 1956 – Sri Lanka’s first Anti-Tamil pogrom
Jailed for a song: How Sri Lanka’s PTA was turned on a Tamil rapper
Sri Lanka’s reserves rise, but the numbers tell a murkier story
Sri Lanka’s deadliest prison riot in years kills 26
"" The Isle of the Goddess: Nagapooshani Amman's Mahotsavam and the battle over Nainativu's identity
"" Chemmani lights up with 427 torches to remember the victims of mass graves
K Bhagyaraj: Tamil cinema’s ‘screenplay king’ who lent his voice to Eelam Tamil causes
As Burnham eyes Number 10, British Tamils face a largely untested record
Keir Starmer, British Tamils and the promises still unmet
News Sri Lanka revives infamous Israeli-made Kfir warplanes
Remembering 1956 – Sri Lanka’s first Anti-Tamil pogrom
Jailed for a song: How Sri Lanka’s PTA was turned on a Tamil rapper
Sri Lanka’s reserves rise, but the numbers tell a murkier story