Despite serious concerns over the human rights record of Sri Lanka's military, the Sri Lanka's army has deployed 170 troops, out of a full contingent of 243, to support a UN peacekeeping force in Mali.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ali Sabry, has concluded his diplomatic visit to China, during which he agreed with Chinese Minister of Finance, Liu Khan, to expand economic cooperation between the two countries.

The visit Sri Lanka’s failure to secure a debt restructuring plan with China and being forced to hold separate discussions with the Chinese as part of the International Monetary Fund support. 

Speaking at a conference by the Conservative Environment Network on 19th June, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe faced damning questions over his complicity in human rights violations; growing militarisation across the North and East of Sri Lanka; and, the imposition of Buddhist viharas.

Following a fantastic debut and sophomore feature with 2018’s ‘Pariyerum Perumal’ and 2021’s ‘Karnan,’ Mari Selvaraj returns with his latest endeavour, the political family drama ‘Maamannan.’ Selvaraj focusses on tackling caste issues through his filmography, revealing the inhumanity and obstacles the Dalit community face under oppression and marginalisation.

Speaking to the British Tamil diaspora, Tamil Nadu President of Bhartiya Janata Party, K Annamalai, maintained that he would never forget the atrocities committed against Tamils in 2009 and pledged that India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, would deliver a political solution for Tamils.

Mr Annamalai was speaking at an event organised by the Global Tamil Civil Society at the Nakshatra Hall in Feltham in West London.

Image courtesy of thetime.lk

The Malayaha Tamil community held a protest last month to mark 77 years since a mass strike in 1946 when up to 500,000 plantation workers participated in a mass strike against land grabbing in Kegalle, Bulathkopitiya, in the Urulovaliya plantation.

A mass protest was held in front of the Vavuniya District Secretariat and Divisional Secretariat on Monday following the release of a beneficiaries list for the government's Aswesuma welfare program that left many vulnerable communities out whilst privileging those abroad, government employees and the wealthy.

Last Wednesday, a collective of women from low-income families in Mannar gathered to protest against their exclusion from the Sri Lankan government's Aswesuma welfare program.

They maintain that they were systematically excluded from the list of beneficiaries whilst those wealthy, with multiple assets and government, connects were privileged. 

In the early hours of last Thursday, 22 Tamil Nadu fishermen were arrested by Sri Lanka's Navy for allegedly illegally entering Sri Lankan waters and engaging in fishing activities.

They remain in detention. The Tamil Nadu fisherfolk were initally discovered by the Navy while they were patrolling near Delft Island. The fisherfolk were on board three boats, which were also seized by the Navy.

A new joint report, 'Mass Graves and Failed Exhumations', details a pattern of systematic failures by Sri Lanka to exhume and investigate mass graves across the island.