^{Photographs: @JDSLanka}

Sri Lankan police officers have reportedly removed portraits of assassinated journalists that had been placed at the anti-government protest site at Galle Face in Colombo.

Today marks the 17th anniversary since the abduction and murder of Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram.

Sivaram, popularly known under his nom-de-plume Taraki, was abducted in front of Bambalipitiya police station in Colombo on April 28 and was found dead several hours later in a high security zone in Sri Lanka's capital, which at the time had a heavy police and military presence due to the ongoing conflict. His killers, highly suspected to be linked to the government of then-president Chandrika Kumaratunga, were never caught.

Long-time Rajapaksa ally, Ali Sabry, who has recently been appointed as Sri Lanka’s finance minister has also secured the position of Justice minister.

Sabry was appointed yesterday upon arriving in Sri Lanka following discussions with the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC.

Read more here: Sri Lanka meets with US and IMF heads as talks over bailout continue

"No, I will not resign, don't worry. I can be sacked but I won't resign" Prime Minister @PresRajapaksa pic.twitter.com/6TEB31jgYL

United States Congressman Steven Horsford has expressed his intent to begin a congressional investigation of 'foreign asset' fleecing committed by US citizens who sit in the Sri Lankan administration. 

Horsford revealed that he would be in consultation with US Congressman Gregory Meeks, who heads the influential House Foreign Affairs Committee and is also a senior member of the Congressional Financial Services Committee, to initiate the probe. 

Pope Francis has urged Sri Lankan authorities to reveal the identity of those responsible for the 2019 Easter Sunday bombing. 

Catholic leaders from the island allege the bombings was a plot to influence the election outcome in favour of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The Pope met with a delegation of the family of victims and survivors in Italy and delivered an address.

The Center for Investigative Reporting and RPX examined the US government’s failure to charge accused war criminals in its latest Reveal podcast entitled ‘My Neighbor the Suspected War Criminal’, with footage revealing the moment current Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was served papers for a civil lawsuit.

A Sinhala Buddhist monk, alongside Sri Lanka police officers, reportedly attempted to block Saiva Tamil worshippers and priests from visiting the historic Rajavanthan shrine in Muthur, Trincomalee over the weekend. 

Although the monk threatened and hurled racist abuse at the worshippers, they defiantly visited the Hindu Rajavanthan shrine whilst Sri Lankan police and intelligence personnel took photographs of the worshippers. 

Singapore has executed Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, a 34-year-old Tamil Malaysian man who has an IQ of 69 - a level that indicates an intellectual disability – despite global outcry over the sentencing.

Campaigners have called his killing a “tragic miscarriage of justice”.

Last-ditch appeals by the family of a disabled Tamil man have been rejected, as Singapore’s highest court scheduled the execution of mentally disabled Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam for just a few minutes time.

The Tamil Malaysian has been on death row since 2010. Dharmalingam was convicted on charges of carrying a meagre 42.72 grams of heroin into Singapore, a country that has received widespread criticism over its harsh drug laws.