The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) had a 75-member delegation participate at the eighth annual Jaffna International Trade Fair (JITF).

The 32nd anniversary of the Vaddakkandal massacre was marked today at the Vaddakkandal Government Tamil Mixed School in Mannar.

Former Sri Lanka Army commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka claimed that there may be “seven or eight” individuals in the armed forces who are responsible for war crimes, as he lashed out against Sri Lanka's former president for a loss of "discipline" in the army.

Sri Lankan soldiers in Jaffna took part last week in a programme designed to improve their knowledge of humanity and human life.

Kayts locals protested on Friday, calling for justice for the murdered pregnant woman and an end to the violence that has plagued the Tamil people since the end of the war.

Civil society, students and the business community all participated in the demonstrations, which included a human chain made on the main road and shops and businesses shutting down in solidarity.

The Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council called on the Sri Lankan government to lift the ban on all Tamil diaspora groups, in order to “make use of their talents and wealth for our betterment”.

Speaking in Jaffna on Thursday Justice C V Wigneswaran called for the de-proscribing all Tamil diaspora groups, and not just a partial lifting of a ban on the organisations, as was announced by the current government last year.

Sri Lanka's ministry of foreign affairs opened a new consular office in Jaffna on Thursday, with the foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera, the leader of the Tamil National Alliance, R Sampanthan and the chief minister of the northern province, C V Wigneswaran attending. 

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled on Thursday that Switzerland had ‘wrongly exposed Tamil asylum seeker to torture’ in deporting him and his family back to Sri Lanka in 2013. 

Stating that the deportation violated article three of the European Convention on Human Rights, the court ordered that €30,000 must be paid in compensation. 

Relatives off the disappeared have suspended their hunger strike after a date was set for a high-level meeting by the Sri Lankan defence minister.

A meeting at Temple Trees with the President, Defence Minister and Attorney General along with a team of ten representatives from the hunger strike campaign was promised by Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene, visiting the fasters.

The meeting has been scheduled for February 9^th.

A UN report describing Sri Lanka’s culture of torture should be a wake up call to the country’s president to comply with international obligations, an international justice group has said.

Sri Lanka continues to operate under a culture of torture and should immediately repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture has said.

The report of the Special Rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez on his mission to Sri Lanka in April-May 2016 documents that torture is still widespread in the early stages of detention, particularly to extract confessions out of detainees, and that the judiciary fails to scrutinise the practices.

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe claimed that he has no information regarding missing persons on the island and instead suggested that many of the missing may have left Sri Lanka illegally.

Bloomberg ranked Sri Lanka among the world's high risk countries for investment based on 29 indicators which included political and economic factors. 

Commenting on Sri Lanka's predicted unemployment rate for 2017 at 5.2%, Bloomberg said, “unemployment can serve as a proxy for the overall health of the economy. Long-term high unemployment levels eventually lead to less spending power among consumers, lower tax revenues for governments and possible social unrest."