A court in India has sentenced two individuals, who were accused of trying to revive the LTTE by procuring cyanide capsules. 

The two men, K Krishnakumar and V Subashkaran were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the District Judge A Kayalvizhi, The Hindu reported. 

Mr Krishnakumar was the prosecution said found to be in possession of 600gm of cyanide powder and 75 cyanide capsules on July 20, 2015. 

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^{Photograph Tamilwin}

A 15 year old girl was reported missing in Jaffna this week by her parents. 

The girl, Kasthuri, who is originally from Mulliyavalai East, Mullaitivu, was staying at her relative's house in the Kalviyankaattu region of Jaffna when she disappeared on April 18th. 

Sri Lankan police on Saturday arrested 8 Tamil youths for allegedly taking part in sword fights in the Kokkuvil region over the past two days. 

The youths, from Manipay and Tellipalai, have been accused of being associated with the 'Ava gang'. 

Police officers in stations across the Jaffna division this week had their leave suspended indefinitely, with the North’s police chief citing failure to tackle gang violence around Jaffna town and its suburbs as the reason.

Journalists from across the North-East gathered in Batticaloa on Saturday to participate in a demonstration calling for media freedom and demanding justice for the killings of numerous Tamil journalists. 

The demonstration was held on the thirteenth anniversary of the abduction and murder of the Tamil journalist and editor of TamilNet, Dharmeratnam Sivaram. 

The owners of the ‘Sridhar Cinema’ building in Jaffna town have filed a case against Douglas Devananda, leader of the EPDP, in a bid to recover their property, which is currently illegally occupied by the EPDP, and to recover damages accrued over the 22 year illegal occupation.

The Sridhar Cinema was built by the family which owns the land, on Stanley Road, in 1974 but was closed down around 1990 due to the war, when the landowners also fled Jaffna.

Police officers in stations across the Jaffna division have had their leave suspended indefinitely, with the North’s police chief citing failure to tackle gang violence around Jaffna town and its suburbs as the reason.

Officers belonging to the nine police stations in the Jaffna division have had their leave cancelled by the Northern Province’s Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police, Roshan Fernando.

On April 22, youths reportedly entered three homes in Thenmaradchi and Chavakacheri, including the home of a local government official and vandalised the properties. 

Tamils across the North-East remembered S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, referred to fondly as Thanthai Chelva and the father of Tamil nationalism, with a blood held in Batticaloa and a commemorative event held at his memorial in Jaffna. 

The Sri Lankan government has placed a ban on the construction of a genocide memorial in Jaffna University, student union representatives have reported.

Construction on the monument to commemorate the thousands of Tamils killed in the final stages of the war, including Jaffna University students, began last week.

After some initial disagreements between the student union and the university administration about the location of the memorial, work went ahead with the monument being located close to the existing Maaveerar (LTTE martyrs) monument in the campus grounds.

Reform policy implementation in Sri Lanka looks to “become slower and more challenging,” as “pressure for more populist policies” may rise as Sri Lanka enters an election cycle, said Fitch Ratings today.

“Recent political developments in Sri Lanka have created some uncertainty over reform momentum and fiscal consolidation, and prolonged upheaval could undermine investor confidence ahead of large external debt maturities in 2019-22,” said the agency in a statement released from Hong Kong.

Parliament was effectively suspended until 8 May upon resignation of coalition minsters,” it said.

US soldiers in military uniform held a music concert in Trincomalee on Wednesday, as they marked their arrival on the island for this year’s Pacific Partnership exercise with the Sri Lankan navy

The exercise, set to take place over the next two weeks, will see at least 36 different events with personnel from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, France, Peru, and Japan, alongside Sri Lankan soldiers.