Nagarasa Alex, a 25-year-old resident of Sithankerni, Jaffna, has reportedly died due to alleged torture by Sri Lankan police. The incident has sparked outrage, with a video circulating on social media capturing the young man's harrowing account of the brutality he endured. Alex, who was remanded by order of the Jaffna Mallakam Magistrate Court, passed away on Sunday.
The government of Sri Lanka has been elected to the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), despite its continued efforts to eradicate Tamil culture and embed Sinhala Buddhism in the North-East of the island. Sri Lanka will now serve for the term 2023-2027, after securing 144 votes out of 188 member states in Paris last week.
A Sri Lankan lawmaker has admitted that the island is one of the most militarised places in the world, as the government continued to spend huge amounts on the defence sector despite an economic crisis. “For every 100 citizens, we have 1.5 soldiers,” Eran Wickramaratne of the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) told Sri Lanka’s parliament . “We are among the top 10 countries with the highest number of soldiers per 100 civilians.” “In 2022 we spent 4 percent on education, 5 percent on health and 7 percent of GDP on defence,” he claimed. “Around 60 percent of this sum is for wages.” What Wickramaratne...
The United States has agreed to lend US$553 million to build a new container terminal in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo’s port – a deal that that will see Washington work with India on the island as it grows ties across Asia.
More than $100,000 has been raised by the Tamil community in Canada to fight an appeal challenging a previous court's decision to uphold Bill 104, Ontario's Tamil Genocide Education Week (TGEW) Act. A statement from the National Council of Canadian Tamils, Canadian Tamil Youth Alliance and Canadian Tamil Academy announced a total of $102,374 had been raised so far, as they sought to ward of a legal challenge to the act, which was passed in 2021. TGEW was introduced by MPP Vijay Thanigasalam in April of 2019 and was enacted to recognize the genocide against Tamils in Sri Lanka and aimed to...
In a landmark judgment, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has found the Rajapaksa brothers, including two former presidents, guilty of mishandling Sri Lanka’s economy and driving it into its current economic crisis. On 19 May 2022, Sri Lanka officially defaulted on its international debt. As a result of the current economic turmoil citizens have faced issues of food shortages, skyrocketing inflation and difficulty accessing essential goods. Sri Lanka owes an estimated $35.1 billion dollars in foreign debt, of which 19 percent was owed to China, 7 percent to Japan, and 5 percent to India. The court’s...
The victims of the St James' Church bombings who were killed by Sri Lankan government airstrikes were remembered on Monday. A memorial service was held at the church in Gurunagar, Jaffna, to mark 30 years since the massacre. Candles were lit by relatives of the victims and church members. On November 13, 1993, Sri Lankan government airstrike to the Church. It is estimated that at least nine Tamils who had gathered for worship were killed in the attack. The ancient church was also destroyed in the repeated airstrikes. Leading up to and during the 1990s, Sri Lankan air force jets bombed several...
Responding to the arrest of Tamil student demonstrators, who had protested in solidarity with cattle farmers in Batticaloa, Tamil National People Front leader (TNPF), Gajen Ponnambalam, slammed the double standards of the Sri Lankan Police. Ponnambalam noted that student protesters were initially accompanied by the police who facilitated the demonstration; only later to chase after and arrest the peaceful demonstrators for allegedly staging an illegal protest. As Ponnambalam details, the reasoning for the arrest was that they did not give notice. Not providing notice is not a crime as it is...
Mahinda Rajapaksa with Palestinian Ambassador Dr. Zuhair M. H. Dar Zaid at a meeting last month Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa and 158 other Sri Lankan parliamentarians signed a letter to the UN Secretary General calling for Israel to “be held accountable under international laws and the universal humanitarian regulations for the blatant war crime that they commit now and before alike.” The letter comes as the war between Israel and Hamas continues to escalate with the death toll reportedly standing at 11,423 Palestinians and at least 1,200 Israelis. “The brutal Israeli...
Singer and songwriter Diluckshan Jeyaratnam has recently turned musical theatre actor. His onstage debut in acclaimed musical ‘Hamilton’ in Germany, playing both the titular role of Alexander Hamilton and Mr Burr, has led to a quick succession of announcements on his involvement in theatre productions ‘Avenue Q’ and ‘Wicked.’ Diluckshan will also be opening for singer Hariharan’s March 2024 concert in Germany.