The $1.3 trillion omnibus bill approved by the US Congress and signed off by President Donald Trump last month includes conditions on the funding available to Sri Lanka for the rest of the financial year 2018, including establishing a justice mechanism, addressing the plight of the disappeared, de-militarisation of the North-East and addressing the impunity of Sri Lankan peacekeepers involved in sexual abuse.

A Tamil man has been hospitalised after being beaten by police in Mullaitivu, causing tension between police and locals in the Keppapulavu-Kalliyadi area.

30-year-old Kamalathas Mariyanayagam was handcuffed and beaten by police on the street in Puthukudiyiruppu. He was reportedly kept in handcuffs when taken to the hospital for treatment.

Police alleged that he had provided information to sand smugglers about police activities.

Locals were angered by the brutality, accusing the police of beating an innocent man while being hand in glove with actual sand smugglers and earning lucrative bribes by ignoring and even protecting the illicit activities.

Several residents of Myliddy who were able to return to their lands on Friday for the first time in 28 years have found live explosives in their properties, particularly in dry wells and water tanks.

The Batticaloa Municipal Council paid tribute to Annai Poopathy at its inaugural sitting on Monday.

Family members of the disappeared marked Tamil New Year this week by dressing in black, as they continued their protest for justice and accountability for their loved ones.

The leader of the Tamil National Alliance marked the Tamil New Year, by spending the day in Colombo with the Sri Lankan president.

The Sri Lankan military held yet another show at it’s military base in Jaffna last week, despite calls for the army to vacate the privately-owned land on which the camp occupies.

The Sri Lankan Army released 683 acres of land from the Vali North high security zone after 28 years of occupation, although of the three village divisions released no village has been returned in its entirety and army camps remain dotted among the released homes. Those who were able to return, returned to find their old homes and infrastructure completely demolished.

The Sri Lankan Campaign said it was “deeply concerning” that the international community has a “growing timidity around the issue of impunity” on the island.

In a blog post on Friday, the group said that if left unchecked, impunity “is a trend which could fatally undermine the already slender prospects for meaningful action on the issue over the next 12 months – the timeframe for implementation currently envisaged by Resolution 30/1, after which scrutiny via the Human Rights Council will come to an end unless a further Resolution is adopted by its members”.

The Sri Lankan government has not done anything to reduce the military footprint in the North-East and oust Sinhalese who illegally occupy Tamil lands and houses said the Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran whilst in Tamil Nadu.

Mr Wigneswaran said that the Tamils that remained on the island faced serious problems from the Sinhalese, reports The Hindu.