Sri Lanka’s struggling state-owned national carrier announced the launch of a new partnership with Yuvan Shankar Raja, the Indian composer and musician, for his concert in Colombo that took place on Saturday.

The French Government has initiated a joint cooperation with the Kotalawala Defence University (KDU) to set up a maritime security school in the heavily militarised region of Trincomalee, in the Tamil homeland, as part of a broader strategy for maritime security in the Indian Ocean region.

Several SriLankan Airlines flights at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake were delayed while three flights were grounded this week – one due to a reported sighting of a rat onboard – leaving serious questions over the national carrier’s long term future and a government minister issuing a stark ultimatum.

The airline is yet to disclose the reasons for the latest cancellations, however, the national carrier has been hit with a spate of technical issues in recent weeks 

The ongoing protests by Tamil Nadu fishermen in Rameshwaram, calling on the Central government to intervene and secure the release of their fisherfolk from Sri Lankan custody, has entered into its second week of protest.

A senior US official confirmed that Washington will be looking to send yet another vessel to the Sri Lankan navy – its fourth so cutter so far – despite the military’s history of human rights abuses, as ties with Colombo grow even closer.  

The Sri Lankan navy has barred fisherfolk from fishing along the Mathagal Sampilthurai area in Jaffna, warning them that they are banned from fishing close to the coast where a military-run Buddhist vihara is situated. 

Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) lawmaker and Rajapaksa ally Angajan Ramanathan called on the Sri Lankan military to release all lands occupied by the Air Force in the North-East, as the occupation of the Tamil homeland continues.

Sri Lanka’s president has formally appointed Deshabandu Tennakoon as the incumbent Inspector General of Police in Sri Lanka, an official who the Supreme Court found had personally participated in torture and whose appointment had not been approved by the state's Constitutional Council. 

Sri Lanka's foreign minister said his government must follow a policy that ensures they are “not forced or coerced into a camp to make sovereign decisions,” as he spoke in Colombo last week.

“Countries like Sri Lanka if we learn from our history cannot take sides," claimed Ali Sabry. "Sri Lanka must be open to working with anyone. Non-alignment means not becoming a bystander... Non-alignment means you are not forced or coerced into a camp to make sovereign decisions. But you make decisions. And you take your own choices.”

Marking 7 years of continuous protests by Tamil families of the disappeared, a statement from a coalition of organisations recalled how countless Sri Lankan government commissions have been appointed but none have brought answers or served justice, with many still to publish their findings.

Sri Lanka’s state minister for foreign affairs admitted that “majoritarianism in Sri Lanka led to discrimination of certain communities which led them to take up arms,” and called for power sharing – even as his government continues to refuse to do so.

Despite a boycott by Indian fisherfolk, the annual St. Antony’s church festival at Katchatheevu saw a significant turnout, with over 4,000 devotees attending the two-day event, including a heavy Sri Lankan military presence

The Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) of the Union Ministry of External Affairs has issued an emergency travel document for Santhan, one of the accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, to return to Sri Lanka immediately.