India's Adani group have submitted a proposal to the Board of Investments of Sri Lanka (BOI) and the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to develop a USD $1 billion renewable wind power project in Mannar. 

The Adani group has proposed to develop a 1,000 MW wind energy project in Mannar and has also expressed interest in a second wind energy project in Poonakary - situated in the Northern Province. 

Organised by the National Fisheries Cooperation Movement and the Northern Province Fishermen's Association, Mullaitivu District Fishermen's Associations and the general public participated in a signature drive in front of the Mullaitivu Market on Friday. 

The fishermen are gathering support for their demand to implement a law that proscribes the use of trawlers as it affects local fishermen. 

The Sri Lankan soldiers who attacked a Tamil journalist, Vishvalingam Vishvachandran, in Mullivaikkal during Maaveerar Naal have confessed to committing the assault and apologised to the victim after the military initially claimed that the assault was "unverified, exaggerated and factually incorrect."

The apology was tendered in the presence of Crime Prevention Department officials on November 30, following which the soldiers were released with the consent of Vishvachandran, the complainant. 

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Sri Lankan authorities to "immediately open a new, impartial investigation" into the attack on Tamil journalist Vishwalingham Vishwachandran. 

Last week, four Sri Lankan military personnel viciously attacked the Mullaitivu journalist for taking a photo of a Mullivaikkal road sign. The Lanka Sri journalist was thrown against barbed wire and was admitted to Mullaitivu hospital for his injuries.

The massacre of 32 Tamils in Othiyamalai, Mullaitivu by the Sri Lankan army in 1984 was remembered this week. 

On December 2, 1984, men in the village were rounded up by Sri Lankan soldiers, dragged to the village community centre where they were stripped naked and tied up by their clothes. 

Sri Lanka Podjuana Peramuna (SLPP) parliamentarian Mahinda Samarasinghe, a staunch defender of the Rajapaksa regime, will take up the ambassadorial position in the United States following a request from Sri Lanka's president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, according to reports.

Mahinda Samarasinghe who resigned from parliament on November 25, is expected to fly to the United States next week and assume his duties as ambassador in Washington DC.

We take a look back through Samarasinghe’s history and how he has denied war crimes, rejected claims of media suppression and been a firm supporter of the Rajapaksas.

The Chairman and Ranking Member of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken today, calling on him to prioritise “the importance of a substantive and durable political solution” in the US engagement with Sri Lanka.

The letter by Representatives Gregory W. Meeks and Michael McCaul, states “Sri Lanka faces several challenges – from an impending financial crisis to an unresolved ethnic conflict – that could affect long-term stability”.

It goes on to state,

Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Governor, Ajith Nivard Cabraal, has claimed that Sri Lanka will be able to pay off the country’s debt “seamlessly”, as inflation on the island has reached an all-time high for the past 12 years in November.

“The repayments will go through seamlessly; we are confident we’ll be making those payments on time. There is absolutely no worry about that” Cabraal claimed.

Responding to a meeting between British South Asia Minister, Lord Ahmad, and Tamil National Alliance spokesman, M.A. Sumanthiran, C.V Wigneswaran has called on the British Minister to recognise Tamils as a sovereign nation.

“The Indo-Sri Lanka Accords of 1987 has recognised the North & East as places of historic habitation of the Tamil speakers. They are the majority in their areas” he stated on Twitter.

Sri Lanka’s Bar Association (BASL) launched an Anti-Torture unit focused on tackling issues of police brutality, torture, and deaths in police custody.

During the launch of the new unit President of BASL’s Counsel, Saliya Pieris, affirmed BASL’s commitment to ending “torture and custodial violence”.