After a break of three years, thousands of people travelled to Mannar to attend the annual festival to mark Feast of Our Lady of Madhu this week.

The festival, which was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, usually attracts large crowds of devotees every year.

On Monday, thousands were in attendance for the service, with the statue of Our Lady of Madhu brought out for all to see.

Local Tamils in Mannar celebrated the famed Tamil poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar this week, in a festival organised by the Mannar District Art and Culture Council and District Secretariat.

Sri Lankan security forces fired teargas and water cannons once more in Colombo, as they arrested at least 20 activists on Thursday.

Hundreds of university students were demonstrating in Colombo at a rally organised by the Inter-University Student Federation (IUSF), as police with riot shields and batons pushed back protestors.

IUSF leader Wasantha Mudalige was amongst at least 20 activists taken into custody, according to Journalists for Democracy Sri Lanka.

The party of the former Sri Lankan president has sought assurances from the government to pave the way for his return to the island, officially submitting a request for “the necessary security and facilities” required.

Sagara Kariyawasam, general secretary of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), told reporters that the party had officially sought the assistance of the current Sri Lankan government.

Methagu opened to both praise and controversy when it premiered last year, an inevitable situation due to the complex leader it depicts. The first film shows Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in his youth and the political state of the nation, as well as the oppression faced by the Tamils at the hand of the Sinhalese. We watch as an angry young boy decides to act boldly, rather than stand by and watch the genocide of his people.

Methagu 2 is a sequel, continuing a few years from where the first film concluded.

British Prime Ministerial candidate Rishi Sunak reaffirmed his commitment to justice for mass atrocities committed in Sri Lanka and discussed the possibility of applying targeted sanctions on Sri Lankan officials just as the UK has on Russians, in a meeting with British Tamil conservatives earlier today. 

Dulquer Salmaan has stirred controversy after the poster for his latest Telegu-language film ‘Sita Ramam’ features a fictional newspaper headline which states ‘Eelam group opens fire on City crowd’.

The film, released earlier this month, sees Salmaan in the leading role as an Indian Army Lieutenant in Kashmir and has nothing to do with the Tamil Eelam struggle. However, the poster with Mrunal Thakur and Salmaan caused outrage with its fictional headline.

Mithran Jawahar started his career on a high note. Remaking his mentor Selvaraghavan’s only Telugu film ‘Aadavari Matalaku Arthale Verule’ in Tamil as ‘Yaaradi Nee Mohini’ starring Dhanush, Selvaraghavan’s brother, Jawahar benefitted from the solid and nuanced screenplay. Jawahar has since remained in the rom-com lane, his other film of note being another Dhanush starrer ‘Uthamaputhiran’, a riotous sequence of laughs which bolstered Jawahar’s reputation for comedy. However, I was not a fan of Jawahar’s ‘Kutty’, causing some apprehension entering this film. 

The Sri Lankan navy boasted of its participation in the world’s largest multinational maritime exercise, led and organised by the United States.

The Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise 2022 was hosted by the US Pacific Fleet in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California.

Hundreds of Tamil fishermen rallied through Mullaitivu this week, as they demanded an end to illegal fishing by Indian trawlers and support with a crippling fuel shortage that has left many livelihoods at risk.