Following a landmark electoral win, which has secured the National People’s Power (NPP), a two-thirds parliamentary majority, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has urged Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to prioritise press freedom.

The death of a 27-year-old pregnant woman and her unborn child during childbirth at the Mannar District General Hospital has triggered widespread outrage, leading to protests and multiple investigations by health and law enforcement authorities.  The mother, an Eelam Tamil resident from Mannar was admitted to the hospital for childbirth on Monday night (19 November). She went into labour on Tuesday, during which both the mother and the baby were pronounced dead.

M.A. Sumanthiran, a prominent member of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) praised his party's performance in the recent Sri Lankan parliamentary elections, noting how they managed to win a seat in every district in the North-East.

“In the last parliament ITAK held 6 of the seats won by the TNA coalition,” Sumanthiran said at the Jaffna Press Club. “But this time we have won 8 seats while contesting on our own.”

The Sri Lankan Army headquarters has announced that a military camp in Karkovalam in Jaffna is to be removed, after almost three decades of occupation.

The land, comprising three acres, will reportedly be returned to its rightful owners, three Tamils from the area, within 14 days. It is the first move to dismantle the intense militarisation of the Tamil homeland in years.

China’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong, made a significant visit to the Northern Province, including Jaffna, where he evaded directly answering questions on China’s role in Tamil genocide and welcomed Sri Lanka’s outreach to India.

On the same day that Sri Lanka's President Anura Kumara Dissanayake finalized his cabinet of ministers, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation, led by Senior Mission Chief Peter Breuer, was in Sri Lanka to assess the country’s progress under the IMF program. The timing of the visit underscores the IMF’s keen interest in monitoring Sri Lanka’s economic direction and the government's adherence to program requirements.

Sri Lankan police in Murunkan, Mannar District, have had an attempt to prevent the commemoration of Tamil freedom fighters on Maaveerar Naal, rejected by a local court earlier today.

Tilvin Silva, General Secretary of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the main party in the National People's POwer (NPP) coalition, said the Provincial Council system set up under the 13th Amendment to the Constitution has failed to achieve its objectives and that his party would "provide a reasonable solution" to the island's ethnic conflict.

Image Source: Carlos Osorio / Toronto Star

Neethan Shan was recently acclaimed as the first South Asian and the first Eelam Tamil to serve as Chair of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), Canada’s largest school board.