India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka called for India – Sri Lanka relations to “look towards the future”, as he addressed an Independence Day ceremony in Colombo this week.  

High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka H.E. Taranjit Singh Sandhu was the chief guest at the event, where he highlighted that India was the 6th largest and fastest growing major economy in the world.

“Sri Lanka’s location in the proximity of fastest growing economy could bring in substantial advantages,” he said, according to an Indian government press release.

“Sri Lankan youth could fulfill their aspirations and make them a part of India’s growth story,” he added.

The Sri Lankan government has issued a statement denying that it broke international sanctions on North Korea, as claimed in a United Nations report last week.

The report, written by a group of independent experts examining the implementation of UN sanctions and submitted to the Security Council, accused Sri Lanka of continuing to accept imports of North Korean textiles.

Two Sri Lankan soldiers, including a commander, have been given death sentences for the 1998 murder of a Tamil man who had been taken in for investigation and later found dead with 21 wounds on his body.

On September 10, 1998, Gnanasingam Anton Gunasekaram of Thirunelvely, Jaffna was accused of being a terrorist and taken for investigation by Sri Lankan soldiers. He was later found dead with 21 assault wounds on his body.

The three suspects in the case were: Tony Bartemius, commander of the 51 camp in Achchuveli; Dixon Rajamandri, commander of the 512 camp in Jaffna Town; and Piyathasage Priyantha, a soldier serving in the 512 camp.

The General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena, the Buddhist monk, Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara was sentenced today for 19 years rigorous imprisonment to be served in six years for contempt of court. 

Mr Gnansara, who is currently admitted at Jayewardenepura hospital, was ordered to be arrested by the court. 

He was found guilty of four charges of contempt of courts including offence behaviour at the hearing of the disappeared journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda. 

The chief minister of the Northern Province, C V Wigneswaran has been summoned to appear before the Court of Appeal on September 7 over a contempt of court in relation to the removal of a former NPC minister, B Deniswaran. 

Mr Deniswaran was removed from his ministerial position in August 2017 following an investigation into corruption and the misuse of funds in 2016.  

Following Chief Minister Wigneswaran's call for resignations of those found to be involved in corruption, the ITAK launched a no-confidence motion against him, which was later withdrawn. 

The Divisional Council (Prathesa Sabai) in Kayts condemned the Sri Lankan navy's excessive use of water from civilian wells in Mankuli. 

Meeting yesterday, the Council passed a motion calling for an end to this practice and sent a letter to the Navy commander in Kayts, the Northern province's governor and the government agent of Jaffna. 

Locals reported that wells were becoming dry because excessive amount of water are being taken everyday.   

The navy is said to be using over 10,000 litres of water per a day for their own use.   

Microsoft announced this week the launch of Tamil 99, a virtual keyboard which the company said would be accessible to users of both Tamil Nadu Tamil as well as Eelam Tamil. 

"[The keyboard is] now available on Windows 10 to users of both Tamil (India) and Tamil (Sri Lanka) languages, thereby assisting the wide base of Tamil users in India and other countries such as Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa and Mauritius," Microsoft said in a statement. 

The Tamil Nadu government had in 1999 standardized and approved the layout of the original Tamil 99 keyboard.

As the funeral of the DMK leader and the former five-term chief minister of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi takes place in Tamil Nadu today, politicians in the North-East paid tribute, commemorating his achievements to the Tamil language and arts. 

Sentiments remain mixed however among Eelam Tamils, with many expressing regret and criticism of Mr Karunanidhi's stance on the Eelam Tamil struggle during his later years. 

"The Tamil speaking world is sorrowful," the chief minister of the Northern Province, C V Wigneswaran said in statement published today. 

The Northern Provincial Council’s Education Minister was questioned for almost six hours by Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Department in Colombo, over his refusal to hoist the Sri Lanka flag at a school function in Vavuniya.

Education Minister, Kanthaiah Sarveswaran had declined to hoist the Sri Lanka flag at a school function on November 16, 2017, when he had been the chief guest.

He was later summoned by the TID for investigation in Colombo.

Appearing as summoned at 9.30am on Tuesday, the minister was interrogated until 3pm about the reasons behind his refusal to hoist the Sri Lanka flag.

Sri Lankan military forces must release co-operative department owned lands in Mannar, the District Coordinating Committee said on Monday.

The Committee said that co-operative industries can only develop in the district if the specified land is made available for civilian use.

Demands have been made by the district for over five years but the Sri Lankan Army has so far refused to release the lands.