The Jaffna Muncipal Council has elected Tamil National Alliance candidate Emmanuel Arnold as its Mayor, reports asiantribune.com Beating candidates from the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) and the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) Mr Arnold received 18 votes with the other two candidates receiving 13 votes each. Thurairajah Eesan of the TNA was elected as the Deputy Mayor of the Jaffna municipality.
The stay order preventing legal against Sri Lanka's former defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was further extended today until March 28. The decision marks the fourth time the order has been kept in place, preventing the Financial Crime Investigations Division (FCID) from taking any legal action against accusations of misappropriating public funds in constructing the DA Rajapaksa Museum and Memorial in Medamulana. Mr Rajapaksa oversaw the military offensive during the final phase of the armed conflict, where tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were massacred.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is to decide next week on whether or not to support a no-confidence motion against the current Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe. Mr Sumanthiran was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying the party's parliamentary group would meet on April 2 to discuss the issue and decide its position. The no-confidence motion, reportedly signed by 55 MPs including a state minister and two deputy ministers, is to be debated in parliament on April 4.
The Sri Lankan navy has denied harassing Tamil Nadu fishermen, as reported by Indian media outlets on Sunday, describing the report as "baseless". "I strongly denied the Indian media claims that we damage fishing equipment of Tamil Nadu fishermen. It has been identified by both the Indian and local naval authorities that the Southern Indian fishermen enter local waters on each Monday, Wednesday and Friday via Katchatheevu islet. It was our duty to protect the Lankan territorial waters and to prevent any illegal activity in our waters," the navy's deputy media spokesperson, Lieutenant...
Thousands marched in cities across Australia to demand an end to its asylum processing policy and close its camps in Manus Island and Nauru.
A delegation of Tamil representatives from the TNA and diaspora organisations met with US officials this month. The group met with Deputy US Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Kelley E Currie, and Ambassador Alice J Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia.
The Tamil National Alliance would not have won elections if the Rajapaksas had not disarmed government-backed Tamil paramilitary groups, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has said. In a thinly veiled admission of the intimidation and violence meted out by paramilitary groups to suppress Tamil nationalist politics and dissent, Gotabhaya said that by disarming the paramilitaries before the 2013 Northern Provincial Council elections, “we gave them a chance to select their own people.” Interviewed by the Indian Express , former Defence Secretary during the war and brother of former Sri Lankan president Mahinda...
The Sri Lankan government said the country had emerged "proud" at the 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva this month. "Sri Lanka concluded the 37th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council with its head held high with the acceptance of Sri Lanka’s Universal Periodic Review Report followed by a strong supportive joint-statement by the United States, United Kingdom and other member nations," the government's news portal noted in a feature published today. The government's self-praise comes amid criticism of its failure to fulfil commitments agreed to in the 30/1...
The Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe this week stressed that monitoring of social media was a necessity in order to tackle hate speech. The government was criticised earlier this month after it prohibited access to social media sites in the aftermath of anti-Muslim attacks by Sinhala mobs in Kandy. "Some form of patrolling of social media is necessary to prevent the spread of hate speech in the country," Mr Wickremesinghe said at a ceremonry inaugurating the 24th president of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), the Sunday Times reported. "Unfortunately, the last few years...
Batticaloa Domestic Aiport is to commence service this week, after running only military flights for nearly thirty years. The beginning of service comes almost two years after the airport was opened to the public by the president in July 2016 following renovation. Service was delayed as the airport did not meet international civil aviation requirements. The airport has since had a new passenger terminal built and runway lighting system installed. Declaring the airport open for service the transport minister, Nimal Siripala de Silva said it was to expand tourism to the Eastern province.