Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 cases rose to 2,810 after five new persons tested positive on Tuesday, according to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health. 

The epidemiology unit’s latest situation report indicated 503 patients are currently receiving treatment in hospitals, with 80 suspected and hospitalised cases, pending diagnoses as of 10am IST on Tuesday.

Sri Lankan president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa insisted that Sri Lanka would be “free from drugs [the] same way as it was freed from terrorism” during a gathering organised by Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), according to Colombo Page.

Rajapaksa addressed the crowd last week and gave assurances that Sri Lanka will be “free from the drug menace for the future generations” and that “several measures are already in place to prevent drug infiltration and distribution.”

Tamil families of the disappeared were blocked by Sri Lankan police from holding their protest in Chenkalady, Batticaloa. 

The families were met by a heavy police presence who claimed to have obtained a court order from the Eravur Magistrate Court to stop the protest from going ahead. 

<p>A group of unidentified individuals threw bottles at candidates during the Tamil National Alliance’s campaign meeting in Jaffna this week.</p> <p>It is reported that the attack took place during an election campaign held in the Chulipuram - Kalvilan area on Friday night.</p> <p>The attack took place while the TNA candidate and also Jaffna’s mayor Emmanuel Arnold was making a speech at a campaign meeting.</p> <p>The unknown individuals mingled with the public during the campaign meeting, carried out the attack and fled from the scene.</p> <p>No one was injured from the attack. The police are investigating the incident.</p>

Civil society organisations in the UK have criticised the passing of a reviewed counter-terrorism bill, saying it will not enhance public security but instead further criminalise vulnerable communities, with the Tamil community mentioned amongst potential victims.

The UK government claim that the Review of the Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Bill is to safeguard the community from terrorism by reinforcing legislations regarding the sentence, release and surveillance of terrorism offenders. However with the bill drafted in the midst of the Coronavirus lockdown, rights campaigners have said the bill evades proper scrutiny from parliament and civil society.

The Sri Lankan army is set to be deployed in place of up to two-thirds of the police force at Nallur to supervise the annual festival of Nallur Kandaswamy Temple, according to reports from Jaffna.

The annual festival of the Kandasamy Temple began on Tuesday, 25th July with the ceremonial hoisting of the flag- Kodiyetram- and ends on August 20. 

Migrant workers who have been stranded in Jordan and looking to be repatriated to Sri Lanka were teargassed earlier today, as they stand a protest outside the Sri Lankan embassy in the country.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leader of the United National Party (UNP), has stated that the party will decide on a new leader “when the time is right”.

This statement follows calls from a senior UNP official for a change in leadership during his election campaigns. Navin Dissanayake, the UNP National Organiser and Nuwara Eliya District UNP candidate, recently criticised the leadership stating that the same person who had been the leader for 26 years could not continue to be the leader of the party.

Last week, the Court of Appeal (CoA) overturned a life sentence given to Jaffna University lecturer and former LTTE cadre, Kanesasundaram Kannadasan, under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism (PTA) for allegedly recruiting 'child soldiers'.

The appeal was filed last year questioning the indictments filed by the Attorney General (AG) department. M A Sumanthiran, who represented Mr Kannadasan, reportedly argued that since the AG department acknowledged that it could not justify it's inquiry, Kannadasan should be released immediately. 

Documents surfaced recently revealed that the UK’s intelligence agencies, MI5 and MI6, have trained intelligence officials from multiple countries, including Sri Lanka, as recently as last year.

Officials from Sri Lanka, Saudia Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, among others, all attended an International Intelligence Directors Course in 2019. The Ministry of Defence has described this course as one that “provides significant opportunity for intelligence diplomacy at the highest levels.”