Singapore’s Minister for communications and information launched a new book describing how there has been a thriving Tamil community within Singapore dating back more than 2000 years, at an event celebrating Tamil history on Saturday.

The Sri Lankan government announced a controversial new law prohibiting women from wearing a ‘pottu’ - a coloured dot worn by many Tamil women on the centre of the forehead - from all official passport photographs.

According to the Department of Immigration and Emigration, the ban has been implemented to abide by the international practices of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) where photos must match an individual’s natural look.

Sri Lanka’s defence secretary has accused the Tamil diaspora of forcing the Swiss embassy into acting after one if its embassy staff was abducted, and claimed the diaspora influenced British politicians into ensuring a Sri Lankan soldier was found guilty by a British court of violating the Public Order Act last week.

Illegal sand miners have fled from sites in Vadamarachchi, Jaffna, after three days of unauthorised sand mining operations, due to deep concern and protests from local residents. 

Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary, Ravinatha Aryasinha, has warned the Swiss Embassy employee who was abducted, that her status as a Sri Lankan citizen means she is liable to face legal action if found in breach of law.  

A Sri Lankan government minister has slammed “Western countries” and “British imperialists”, commenting on a Swiss embassy employee being abducted in Colombo and the UK Conservative Party’s manifesto pledges on Sri Lanka.

The head of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress has said the lack of Muslim ministers in Sri Lanka’s latest cabinet is “just fine”, as he argued that the new government headed by an accused war criminal would treat all on the island fairly.

“They won with a majority,” Rishad Bathiudeen told reporters in Colombo. 

Amnesty International released a graphic novel highlighting the discrimination faced by LGBTI people in Sri Lanka. 

The novel, ‘Spectrum: Four Stories of Discrimination Faced by LGBTI People’, follows four characters to illustrate the ‘discrimination and violence in their daily lives, from workplace bullying to police harassment.’ 

A retired Sri Lankan soldier who was protesting outside the Swiss embassy has now claimed that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had falsified evidence about the navy abduction ring which killed 11 youths.