A commemoration marking the 45th anniversary of the burning of the Jaffna Public Library was held there today, to remember its destruction by Sri Lanka's security forces and state-backed mobs.

Nishan Velupillay has been selected in Australia's squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, making him the first footballer of Tamil heritage to compete at the tournament.

Colombo Fort Magistrate Court has ordered the arrest of former minister and founder of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), Basil Rajapaksa, in connection with a case involving the alleged misuse of public funds amounting to more than Rs. 7.8 million.

^{Cover art by Sagi Thilipkumar}

At midnight on May 31, 1981, the Jaffna Public Library, the crucible of Tamil literature and heritage, was set ablaze by Sri Lankan security forces and state-sponsored mobs. The burning has since been marked by Eelam Tamils as an act of genocide.

 

Tamil families of the disappeared staged a protest in Vavuniya on Saturday (30), insisting that they do not need financial compensation but justice and an international investigation to uncover the fate of their forcibly disappeared loved ones.

The explosive revelation that one of the island’s most senior Sinhala Buddhist monks stands accused of repeatedly raping a child has laid bare a culture of impunity that has protected powerful members of the clergy for decades. It is shameful and symptomatic of a powerful political class that for too long has lived by its own rules. It cannot be allowed to continue.

Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal has overturned the conviction of a Buddhist monk who had been sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment for grave sexual abuse, ruling that the complainant’s evidence was unreliable due to inconsistencies, according to Newswire.

A detailed account outlines the 1958 anti-Tamil violence in Sri Lanka, tracing its escalation, key incidents, and widespread displacement amid nationwide unrest

Notorious racist Sinhala Buddhist monk Ampitiye Sumanarathana has pledged his support to Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake following a meeting in Batticaloa earlier this month, announcing that he would distance himself from what he termed the "Rajapaksa Nikaya".