Hundreds of new photographs from inside Mullivaikkal in 2009, where tens of thousands of Tamils were slaughtered in a Sri Lankan military offensive, have been released by TamilNet this week.

The photographs, taken from inside the infamous No Fire Zones, show the aftermath of Sri Lankan military shelling.

The nominee for the next US ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina Teplitz acknowledged that “the Tamil community is very concerned about progress made towards reconciliation, accountability, justice,” in her testimony to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations last month.

Responding to questions posed by the committee on the “reconciliation prospects between the Tamil and Sinhalese communities”, Ms Teplitz said, “there remain significant differences”.

The Sri Lankan military organised a clean up of the grounds of a hospital in Kilinochchi in May, almost 9 years after the area was heavily bombarded by the very same security forces.

The Sri Lankan government is reportedly planning to build a third international airport in Trincomalee, local papers reported on Thursday. 

The airport appears to be part of plans to re-develop Trincomalee as a tourism hub, which the government says will be completed by 2050. 

The Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe said, "when you look back at Sri Lanka's history, we were a hub in the Indian Ocean where there were several ports."

The Sri Lankan military ran a cataract clinic in Jaffna this month despite ongoing calls from civil society organisations and the NPC to stop taking part in civilian affairs. 

Over 150 locals were examined at Palali military hospital on July 4, with around 20 undergoing treatment the following day. The rest are to reportedly receive their treatment in Colombo. 

The event was organised by the army commander deployed in Jaffna. 

Since 2003, the Sri Lankan Navy has used threats against local government officials to have their electricity bills paid by a Jaffna divisional council.

Valikamam West divisional council (prathesa sabai) has paid out over 7 lakh rupees of local funds to foot the Navy’s electricity bills, which included electricity for the navy camp and power used to extract water from the Ponnalai Water Supply Scheme.

Member of Vali West council, N. Ponrasa said in the council’s sitting on Tuesday that the Sri Lankan Navy should reimburse all the money paid out by the council in 15 years.

The Sri Lankan cabinet has reportedly approved a special provisions bill that will allow the involvement of the Sri Lankan armed forces in drug enforcement across the island.

The bill, a  joint proposal by Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Minister of Law and Order Ranjith Madduma Bandara, will see an increased military involvement in drug prevention activities.

British parliamentarians have launched an Early Day Motion on the UK’s weapons sales to Sri Lanka, calling for the immediate end of all arms exports to Colombo.

The motion, brought forward by Liberal Democrat MP Edward Davey,  “notes that Sri Lanka remains of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's list of countries with serious human rights concerns and that an estimated 200,000 military, police and intelligence personnel remain in Sri Lanka's north-east region resulting in a repressive militarised environment”.

The motion goes on to state that it

The Chief Minister of the Northern Province has criticised the Sri Lankan President’s attempt to prioritise development as a route to ‘national unity and integration’, over a political settlement, as well as criticising the Sri Lankan government’s approach to development in the North-East.

“National Unity and Integration cannot be forged by foisting so-called development on the politically affected people of the North and East,” Chief Minister Wigneswaran wrote in a letter responding to his appointment as a member of the Presidential Task Force to Direct, Co-ordinate and Monitor Development Activities in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

The Sri Lankan president blamed the use of “social websites and illegal drugs” for an apparent increase in murders and rapes, as he pledged to sign orders to execute the death penalty on the island.