^{Fishermen in Batticaloa (Anton Croos)}

Fishing activities have been severely affected in Batticaloa, following several cases of COVID-19 positive individuals identified at a wholesale fish market in Peliyagoda, a suburban area of Colombo.

Sri Lankan police made several arrests across the East in the past week, with illegal weapons allegedly recovered across the province.

In Amparai district, seven people were arrested last week, allegedly in possession of eight firearms during a police raid in Thirukkovil.

An individual was also arrested in connection with locally-made firearms and ammunition found in Thirukkovil as well as in Hikkaduwa in the South-West.

Last month, seven were arrested, including a former LTTE cadre, on allegations of possessing and manufacturing illegal firearms in Amparai. 

Sri Lankan police warned Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) members and activists that they will be "taken away" if they commemorate Brigadier S P Thamilselvan today. 

A short while ago Sri Lanka Police entered our Kokkuvil Head Office and warned members not to commemorate Brigadier S.P Thamilchelvan, warning anyone commemorating would be 'taken away'. They also recorded names and contact details of all our activists present in the office.

Coastal flooding has severely disrupted the lives and livelihoods of villages on the north-western coast of Kilinochchi district, and some parts of Jaffna.

“Around 25 boats have come ashore and have been wrecked by the flood on Thursday” confirmed a fisherman from the village of Pallikuda, just south of Poonakary.

The fishermen said that their fishing nets, crucial to their livelihood were also damaged.

As many as 365 fishing families are occupying the area and for many, their income stems from the sea. The floodwaters have encroached into homes and compromised essential water stored in wells.  

Today marks thirteen years since S. P. Thamilselvan, the head of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was assassinated by the Sri Lankan air force (SLAF).

On November 2, 2007 Sri Lankan air force jets carried out a strike on a residence of members of the LTTE's political division. Five other LTTE officials - Lt. Col. Anpumani (Alex), Major Mikuthan, Major Nethaaji, Lt. Aadchiveal and Lt. Maavaikkumaran - were killed alongside Brigadier Thamilselvan, in the attack.

The assassination came as the Sri Lankan government ramped up its military offensive in the Tamil homeland. 

Former Air Force commander, and accused war criminal, Sumangala Dias has been appointed to become Sri Lanka’s high commissioner to Canada.

Dias’s appointment follows a worrying trending of appointing former military officials, accused of human rights violations, to senior diplomatic positions.

_{Ambassador Qi Zhenhong}

New Chinese ambassador, Qi Zhenhong, for Sri Lanka arrives in Colombo on 30 October 2020, and will take office after 2 weeks of quarantine. Ambassador Qi is a senior diplomat and former President of China Institute of International Studies.

Upon arrival Ambassador Qi issued a statement saying: 

“Our two countries are strategic cooperative partners based on sincere mutual assistance and ever-lasting friendship.” 

The locals of Neduntheevu, Jaffna have complained about the heightened illegal occupation efforts by Buddhist monks and the archaeology department - in particular the encroachment of the Vedi Arasan fortress in the Neduntheevu area.

The Buddhist monks claimed the Vedi Arasan fortress belonging historically to a Tamil Buddhist King and then went on to assess the archaeological details of the area with the archaeology department

Sri Lanka’s president Gotabaya Rajapaksa “has made explicit the link he sees between an all-powerful state and the centrality of Buddhism, whose more chauvinist priests he courts,” writes the Economist this week, as it warned that Rajapaksa is “amassing personal power”.

“Gotabaya’s message of security and competence, along with jabs at the Muslim and Tamil minorities designed to please the Sinhalese Buddhist majority, propelled him to the presidency,” wrote the Banyan columnist.

A local United Nations official in Sri Lanka reportedly “laughed at” concerns expressed by Human Rights Watch over the invitation of Sri Lankan prime minister and accused war criminal as the ‘Chief Guest’ for an event last week, a move the group had called a "slap in the face for victims of human rights abuses and war crimes”.

“They now want to take decisions on behalf of the UN,” the official was quoted by Sri Lanka’s Sunday Times as stating. “How much more stupid can things take,” he reportedly asked.