Steps are reportedly underway in Jaffna’s Eluvaitivu Island to survey and acquire privately owned Tamil lands for the use of the Sri Lankan Navy, as military land appropriation in the region continues.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath on January 12, 2025, during a brief transit visit to Colombo, using the meeting to set out Beijing’s stance on rising global instability and to reaffirm support for Sri Lanka in the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah.

Activists, media freedom organisations, and the family of disappeared journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda have strongly condemned the promotion of a Sri Lankan military intelligence officer who is currently facing criminal charges in connection with his abduction and disappearance.

Marginalised Tamil tea plantation workers took to the streets of Colombo on Wednesday, abandoning Thai Pongal celebrations to demand land rights, secure housing, and rehabilitation after recent climate disasters devastated their communities.

Udaya Gammanpila, a hardline Sinhala nationalist and former Sri Lankan minister, publicly celebrated the departure of outgoing United States Ambassador Julie Chung this week, describing her tenure as a “curse” on the country and staging a media spectacle to mark her exit.

Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake seemed to launch a critique Sinhala Buddhist expansionism in Jaffna this week, even as monks continued colonise various parts of the Tamil homeland under his tenure. 

Tamil parliamentarian Sivagnanam Shritharan has once again drawn attention to what he described as entrenched discrimination in the Sri Lankan state’s handling of land disputes and places of worship in the North-East, highlighting the destruction of Saiva temples and Christian churches under military occupation.

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake laid the foundation stone for a controversial 50-megawatt wind power project in Mannar, despite sustained opposition from Tamils who say the initiative threatens their lands, livelihoods, and environment.